New House

Here are some pictures that the realtor took for me when she was at the house today for the home inspection.  Looks good to me.  I find it interesting that when I tell people that I haven't seen the house (just got these pics today) that all of the women act as though I'm crazy.  This is the 3rd time I haven't seen a house before making an offer, and the 2nd time I haven't seen the house until after closing.  So far, so good.

And this cracks me up:

The master bedroom closet.  So, our clothes will take about 2 of those sections...but hey, lots of room for food storage!

If life gives you bees...make honey

A few weeks ago the walk home from school was made more interesting by a huge swarm of bees around this tree.  A couple of days later this is what we found.

Samuel turns 7!

Samuel had a very specific list of things he wanted for his birthday.  It included: surfboard, beef jerky, watch, wallet, scooter, giant frisbee, DSi and some DS games.  He did not get the surfboard, but did get the beef jerky, along with a few other items on the list.  Here's the cake that the kids decorated.

Not sure why it's blurry, but I do know that after Henry took this picture, my camera had green frosting all over the lens and lens cover.

Yum! Beef Jerky

Incline

What's a trip to Pittsburgh without a ride on the incline? 

There is a window so that you can see the gears pulling the incline.  That's Sadie across the way.

The Allegheny and Monongehala Rivers combine to make the Ohio.

Samuel's Field trip to the Zoo

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not an animal person.  Therefore, going to the Zoo is an activity I reserve for Grandma.  However, Samuel really wanted me to go on his field trip with him...so being the great Mom that I am, I sucked it up and went.

Houses in Florida

A couple of weeks ago my Mother-in-law and Brother-in-law flew out to Pittsburgh so that I could go look at houses in FL.  We crossed paths at the airport on a Wednesday morning.  I started bright and early Thursday and looked at about 18 houses.  Friday, Ben and I looked at some that I had already seen and some new ones.  Saturday we went and saw more.  In total I saw 35-40 houses.  No wonder I had a headache! After working so hard and so long to get my house ready to put on the market I found it completely laughable that this is what my choices were in FL:

Yuck! No idea what animal left those little goodies.I guess this is how you get a pine tree in Florida.

My Summer of Numbers

Just got back from 5 days in FL looking at 35 houses (more on that later.)  Thank you to my Mother-in-law and Brother-in-law for coming out to watch the kids!

Home for 4 days which include 2 baseball games, 1 field trip to the zoo, 1 offer made on a house, 1 last day of school, 1 birthday, 1 appraisal and packing for 1 week in UT.

9 days in UT.  1 wedding, 4 dentist appointments, 1 fishing trip, lots of family and lots of friends!

Home for 2 days.  1 orthodontist appt, 1 well child visit, 1 day of Sadie saying goodbye to pre-school, unpacking, laundry and packing for trip to Nauvoo.

Drive to Nauvoo for 1 family reunion.  11 hours, 4 kids, 1 adult, 4 fiddler crabs, 2 beetles, 1 night in a hotel, 1 stop in Kirtland, OH...just to get there.  Then, 3 days in Nauvoo.  Lots of family.  Drive home...repeat first part of trip, in reverse.

Home for 12 days.  Hopefully 1 trip to Idlewild or Kennywood (amusement parks), lots of good-byes, lots of watching other people pack lots of boxes and load them into 1 huge truck, 1 closing (hopefully!), and 1 drive to FL.

In FL for 5 days.  Watch other people unload 1 huge truck (hopefully into a house, not our 2 room tent, or a storage unit.)  1 closing (please, please, please!) 

Drive 1 mini-van, 4 kids, and 1 adult (maybe 2?) to Franklin, TN for some yet-to-be-determined amount of time.  See 2 parents I haven't seen in 15 months. 1 brother getting sealed, meet 3 new cousins, 1 new aunt and 1 Oliver.

Drive to Atlanta.  1 trip to Varsity, at least 4 slaw dogs and 2 orders of onion rings, maybe even 1 or 2 fried pies. 1 stop at Stone Mtn, 1 laser show.

Drive to FL....drop dead from sheer exhaustion.

Burn interior of 1 mini-van, because, get real....you know what it will look like!

116 hrs 55 min, 7498.73 miles.  (of course 3700 miles are flying...so only 3798.55 miles driving).  Did I mention the flight to Utah takes place over 13 hrs and 3 flights?

Aah! This is the stuff memories are made of!

Kids

Last night during Family Home Evening we were coloring.  Some of the colors Sadie was using:  gravy and smoothie.  In my very literal world, they were gray and light purple.  And, why, does she think gravy is gray?  Yuck.

The other day I was putting Samuel in bed and we were chatting.  I told him that we had an offer on the house and that it was possible that we would be moving soon.  He got really concerned about our neighbor George.  John George lives next door and is getting up there in years.  He is a widower with a daughter in Atlanta.  His elderly brother lives in NY and his sister is around here somewhere, but I've never laid eyes on her.  We try to help him out with snow and other things.

Samuel is very concerned that we are leaving George all alone.  His solution to the problem?  He would like me to have another baby so that we can give it to George.  Then he won't be alone.  I thought that was so nice.  He also included him in his prayers that night.