Just sit back and chill

This is something I've never been good at...chilling...After a long exhausting process over the last few months of we're selling our house...we're not selling...back to we're selling our house....we found a house we love...we lost the house we love...

We have once again decided to just sit tight and not sell our house. A culmination a many things has brought us to this decision. Go ahead...if you feel like you are on a seesaw when you read about our plans then I'm right there with you.

The potential buyers that we had for our home have failed to contact us for 1.5 months. Maybe not that long but that's what it feels like. They weren't going to be a traditional sale anyway. They were interested in a lease purchase option. So now that we do not have any offers on the house, the house hasn't shown in 3-4 weeks, and there is NOTHING on the market that we like (in our price range)....we really began to look at the overall picture. We have so many things going on in our life right now. Ben is once again applying for a driver position at work (please please please pray for him that he gets this position. There is so much stuff going on at work right now and we really need a moral boost here). Our neighborhood continues to go downhill in the sense of all the homes in foreclosure that are dropping the values of our homes. We just found out this week that there is a home on our street that is 1450 sq ft that either just sold or is listed at $90000 under foreclosure. How can we compete with that? We have 1500sq ft and bought our house for $144900. Our only option would be to rent our home in the event we found a house we wanted to move into and we just aren't sure we are comfortable handling a rental property right now.

So...we are taking the house off the market...again...and we are going to sit tight and chill. We want to wait and see how things pan out in a multitude of areas. I want things to feel settled for a bit. Alli's 2nd birthday is coming up and Ben and I've said from the beginning that we would like a 2-3 yr gap between our kids. So we will probably be considering having another child before long. We would love to have at least 2 kids so that Alli isn't an only child and grows up with a brother or sister that she can be close to and have as her best friend. I love my siblings and have many fond memories of our childhood and adult years. I would love for Alli to one day say her brother or sister is her best friend.

I was really hoping that Alli would be out of diapers by the time we add another child to the mix but this monkey is just bound and determined to delay the potty training process. I know kids MUCH younger than her already close to being out of diapers. Alli runs from me when I tell her she needs a diaper change...not a good sign. This monkey has been on her OWN schedule from day one. She was lazy about crawling....lazy about walking and now she will be lazy about potty training. So...work in progress....

Have a good week everyone.

Ok forget everything I said...

Well today we went to access the potential repairs needed on the home and thank goodness for Craig Gibbs! He looked the house over for us and we realized there are some problems that make the house not worth the investment. So grateful for his knowledge and willingness to help us out!!!

So again...moving on...patience will pay off...

HUD Horrors!!

Well this entry could become long and drawn out. So I will leave it short, sweet and to the point. We lost the home we were going to purchase through HUD. HUD uses 3 different agencies to list their houses. Each have different policies. Some of the policies are so new even to the listing agencies that they don't know all the rules. The listing agent for HUD helped "guide" our realtor through the application process and we followed his directions to a T! But they sent back 3 times for corrections. Little did we know HUD has a rule that if 3 or more corrections are needed in the contract then the contract is null and void and they go with the next highest bidder...so that they did...and we don't get our house.

Moving on. . .

We were upset but we went back to the drawing board and have noticed another house over in the Hunters Point subdivision. We love this area. We drive through it often on our way to that side of town. We've noticed this house has been vacant for a while and recently went bank owned. Rod took us through the home and we think it just might work for what we want out of a home. If we can get it for just the right price then we can get a "203k loan" which allows us to add money on top of the price of the home for the cost of repairs and upgrades to the home. So we will see how this plays out. We're going to take a look at it tomorrow with a contractor to get a rough estimate on what it would cost for the work that needs to be done to it. We are excited and see the potential but we HAVE to get the house at the right price or it just isn't worth it. So here it is:I like that it puts us closer to a part of town that I shop at most. It also puts us closer to mom's and Shannon and Rusty's. So...as with all things...if it is supposed to work out...it will.

I can tell Alli is getting closer to the lovely age of 2!! Within the last week she has developed a high pitched scream during her "fits". We have successfully developed the toddler temper tantrum. I can't help but laugh sometimes. It is so comical to me when she gets so worked up. I know it doesn't help the situation so I try not to laugh where she can see. I try to remain patient and calm with her and without giving in to what she is pitching a fit over...she eventually calms down after a minute or two and we are over it.

One funny thing Alli is doing lately is telling people bye bye. If she is in the front yard or anywhere she can see cars drive by, she will wave at them and say "bye bye". It's pretty cute. One day she was in the front yard with me and someone drove up to the stop sign at the cross street in front of our house. Alli began waving and saying bye bye to them. They turned left in front of our house to leave the neighborhood. They saw Alli waving at them and waved back. Alli continued to wave and say bye bye so in response they put they hand out their sunroof and gave her a very big wave bye bye. I love how outgoing she is. It's pretty funny and cute.

She likes to do things to be helpful and feel like a big girl. Tonight, she helped me hang her shirts on hangars and I lifted her up to hang them in the closet. She also loves to stand on the stool and help me "cook". She also helps me water plants and feed the dogs. Her face lights up and she gets this huge grin. I try to encourage her as much as I can to do these things and to build her confidence and her desire to help. She's growing up so fast!

Stuffy love

When Alli was born, her Nana Love gave her a soft teddy bear. Alli never showed a lot of excitement in regards to stuffed animals until she got her Violet dog on her 1st birthday. The teddy bear has always sat on a shelf above her changing table. Yesterday Alli looked up at the shelf while I was changing her diaper and said "dog dog". She thought her bear was a dog. So I told her it was a bear and then she asked for the bear. Ever since I brought the bear down off the shelf...she won't let it out of her sight. Here are a few pictures to show what I mean.

Picky eater habits

Well Alli is truly our picky little eater. She knows what she wants and definitely what she DOESN'T want. Last night I brought Ben some pulled pork bbq to work for his dinner. Alli said she wanted to eat so we let her try out the bbq and to my shock she kept wanting more. Then I had a small epiphany. I realized that Alli has never refused to eat anything pork. She LOVES bacon and sausage...she also liked pork chops when we made them and now she likes pulled pork. It took me a while to realize this because we don't cook with pork all that often. We eat more chicken and beef. I guess I will need to start incorporating this more often. Now if only I could disguise some veggies in with what she does like....oh well. At least she eats something.

Easter Weekend

We've had a wonderful but crazy busy weekend. Alli went to a birthday party yesterday for a little girl in her nursery class. It was at a local park and the kids had so much fun. They got to play on the swings and slides, run in bubbles and do a small Easter egg hunt. I was there without Ben so I didn't bring the camera. It was too bad though because she was having so much fun! I hope she is able to develop great friendships through the children at church.

This morning we did Alli's easter basket when Ben got home from work. Here is a video of Alli playing with her Mr. Potato head.

I was able to grab a few quick shots before church. Unfortunately we don't have any of all three of us together but I do like the individual shots we got with Alli.

Thank you Grammy for her beautiful dress!

This afternoon we had an Easter egg hunt at mom's. My camera battery died so I will have to get some pictures from Shannon. But we were able to get a couple. Here is one that I thought was adorable.

playtime!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and was able to feel the beautiful spirit that surrounded this day.

Frills and Dirt

We recently spent the weekend visiting with Ben's family. His sister's and their boys were in to visit. We had a great time and Alli loved playing with her cousins. She napped horribly that weekend but you wouldn't know it because of all the fun she had with the boys.
Below is a preview of our future frilly/tomboy; pushing the stroller with the soccer ball in the other hand. HAHA That's my girl! Who ever said you can't be girly and play in the dirt?

Papa Smith loves his grandkids and spent a good majority of the weekend carting them around in the wheelbarrow.

Carter is a few months younger than Alli but is SO adventurous. It was great for Alli to be around him. She has been so gun-shy of grass and if the ground is uneven she wants to hold your hand. After watching Carter run around without a care in the world, she followed right behind. We loved it!

Alli really started to show her first signs of jealousy this weekend. She loves her Papa Smith and didn't want to share him.

Love Michael's face here. haha

My future athlete here with an awesome action shot captured by Ashley. Thanks Ashley for grabbing all these shots! I really should've brought my camera down.

One of Alli's newest obsessions....pushing this umbrella stroller around. I finally had to collapse this thing and hide it in my car.

Alli playing around while we cleaned out the car

Alli found daddy's medical gloves in the laundry room and had fun trying to put them on. She loves to help our with cleaning. Any time we sweep, vacuum, mop, dust...etc....she wants to help. Ben was cleaning the house the other day for a showing and she helped him dust. I think its cute and hope it lasts...but I'm realistic and know that one day she will fight me tooth and nail. :)

She's been sticking her tongue out a lot the last 36 hours. I think it's funny. Oh yeah and excuse her high-waters...if the 50 degree weather would ever go away them I would be able to stop putting clothes on my daughter that are too short for her. Poor thing is too skinny and too short for the pants that I have that are 24 months and her 18 months clothes...as seen below....are too short. yay. I'm not buying her any more pants...not with summer coming on.

We are looking forward to this weekend. Alli is going to a birthday party on Saturday and Sunday is Easter and we are doing an Easter egg hunt with Shannon and Rusty's girls! Love it! Look out for more pictures!