So it's been over a month since I last updated my blog. I have gotten several complaints from friends wondering why I haven't updated it. (I guess people are actually reading this!) Winter is upon us and that has brought cold weather and snow. The snow fall here isn't such a big deal as we are use to Michigan winters. (and we are very glad we aren't battling this Michigan winter!) But the cold temperatures are outrageous! We have had days of actual temp in the -11 (yes that is negative 11!) Add the windchill on top and we have seen -25! It has been very hard to adjust to such cold temps. The kids don't understand why they can't go out to play and why they have to be driven to school when we only live a block away. We also are finding that our 1300 sq. ft. of apartment space has become even smaller when there is no escape to the outside.

Christmas was yesterday. This Christmas season has been interesting. It was hard to decide which traditions we do just to do and which traditions we do because it has meaning. I waited for the kids to ask, when do we get to do gingerbread houses? When do we get to bake? When do we get to celebrate Jesus' birthday with cake? None of which were ever asked of me. So that lead me to ponder, what is important during the Christmas season? I also struggled with the feeling that we weren't in a place that is home. We are living in this townhouse on a temporary basis. I don't know how long temporary is, but in my mind, this is a stepping stone and I don't feel settled. I struggled with having traditions and feeling like home when I don't really feel like I am home. In the end, we did bake cookies for Santa, we did have cake yesterday to celebrate Jesus' birthday. The kids seemed to enjoy Christmas just like every other year and we were together as a family.

An update on our house. We officially took the house off the market in December. Our contract with the realtor had expired and we decided that since we weren't there to keep the driveway and sidewalk clean and since there aren't a lot of houses sold in the winter we would not renew the contract at this time. Our hope is to do some painting in the spring to make it seem new again and relist in the spring. I am not optimistic that it will sell even after relisting. The economy is so bad right now and houses are a dime a dozen, but I also know that if we don't try it will never be sold. So we will get back on the house selling band wagon this spring and hope and pray that someone will think our house is the best house for them. And if not, the contingency plan is to use it as a vacation home until the market is better in a couple of years and sell it then.

RacObama Wins ~ Part 2

This morning we told the kids that Barack Obama won the election. Evan told us "I know, I voted for him."

Enough said.

RacObama wins

As Evan and I were driving home after picking him up from preschool today, he precedes to tell me that "RacObama won in our class today" Really. I asked him who he voted for. He told me "RacObama", "but in the other class (the other PreK class) NcCain won" He then asked me, "so who really won RacObama or NcCain" I told him we would have to wait to see.........

St. Joseph

So we went home to winterize the "beach house" this weekend. While we were there, we finally buried St. Joe. We have had the statue for several months, but he has been sitting on top of the cupboard in the kitchen. So we decided in a last ditch effort to get the house sold before winter sets in, we would bury the statue. I got a call today from our realtor that we had a showing scheduled for today. We haven't had a showing for several weeks now so I wonder is St. Joe going to work now that we have accepted the idea of having this property for a long period of time? Stay tuned.........

The Beach House

We have emotionally come to terms with the fact that we might not sell our house anytime soon. We have been lovingly referring to it as the "beach house". We have decided that really there are worse places in the world to have a property that you can't get rid of. At least it is a place that is a great place to visit in the summer. Living in a land locked state it is nice to have a place you can go to that is minutes from the lake. Of course, it isn't a property that we would have purchase as a vacation home, but we have it so we might as well enjoy it. So ideas of summer vacation plans are now revolving around the
"beach house"

Now what?

We had a lead on a potential renter for our house. Long story short, she just emailed me to tell me that after telling me how wonderful my house was and how excited they were to rent it that they have found another place to rent that is furnished and "inexpensive" We are not really interested in renting the place, we would rather just sell it, but since that hasn't worked for us as of yet, and this opportunity kind of fell into our lap, we decided it couldn't hurt. We don't want to advertise the house as a rental and we don't want to put just anyone into the house, so when a friend connected us with this family, I thought for sure it was a perfect temporary solution to help us ride out this crazy market. So I sit here now and wonder, how many tests are we going to be put through with this house before something happens in our favor? At the rate we are going, we will never own another home because we can't get this one sold and even if we do get it sold, we will walk away with little to no equity which means we will have no money for a down payment on a home here. And as times goes on, all of our savings will be sucked up by the double housing that we are currently paying, the mortgage payment there and the rent here. It is amazing how many people tell us to just foreclose on the house, "let it go", "give it back to the bank" I don't see how that solves the problem. All that does is make us people who don't keep their word and people with bad credit who really won't ever own another home considering the new tighter conditions to qualify for a mortgage. Moving back isn't going to solve the problem either. Now what?

Riding a bike

Ok, so here is a proud moment. Evan who just turned 5 has been trying to learn how to ride his bike without training wheels. We have tried a couple of times to take the training wheels off and work with him to ride the bike and each time he just wasn't quite ready. Most of the time it is the older two kids who are encouraging Evan to ask dad to help him. Evan is interested in learning, but it is mostly Aaron who is encouraging Evan to try again. Well, this last weekend, we were at a festival all day on Saturday. Bill and I were tired from a long day of walking and standing in line for important things like face painting and moon walks. Got home late in the afternoon and of course I didn't plan ahead for dinner so I ran to the store to get some food for dinner. I drive into the driveway and immediately hear Aaron and Jenna calling to me saying "Mom, come here and see this" I turn the corner and to my surprise, here comes Aaron running along side Evan riding his bike without the training wheels! Aaron took it upon himself to train his brother to ride his bike and apparently Evan was ready because he was riding like he had been riding for years! I went inside and asked Bill if he knew what was going on. He said yeah, they asked and I told Aaron if he was careful with his brother he could help him. I told him he better go look because he was riding his bike. Aaron was doing such a great job of sticking with his brother to make sure he was safe and Evan was doing a great job of balancing. He even within minutes was able to start the bike himself without any help from Aaron. Apparently all it took was a moment when dad was too tired to run beside a bike and Aaron willing to help to get Evan to learn how to ride his bike! Go figure.

2 strikes

We got another offer on the MI house this weekend. It was a LOW offer. Considering we have already lowered the price $22,500 over the last 6 months and we currently have the house listed for the price we purchased it for almost 8 years ago, the potential buyer offered 10k lower than our current listed price. He was not willing to go any higher and we weren't willing to go that low. This is our 2nd offer that hasn't panned out. I wonder to myself if buyers are just so confident that they can abuse sellers that they just make offers on houses they really can't afford to buy just hoping they will find a desperate seller who will give the house away. I also wonder to myself, what is the lesson I am suppose to learn out of this experience? I don't think the lesson is to move back to Michigan, aside from the house, this transition has been unbelievably smooth. All of us have adjusted very well to our new life. Bill and I have jobs we both love, the kids are doing great in school, so I ask again what is the lesson to be learned?

So for all those sellers who have been taken advantage of from their buyers and settled out of desperation, this one is for you. We turned down the buyers offer and said we would wait it out a little longer. Here's hoping the 3rd times the charm!

It was meant to be

I started a new job this week. When we originally decided to move, we had made a pact with each other that I would not go back to work for 1 year as we tried to adjust to our new life, however, as we started to get settled and as the kids started back at school and as the stress of the house still for sale has taken its toll, I had 3 moments of weakness in which I hopped on the computer, found ads for open positions and sent off my resume. 2 times I did that, within hours of sending out my resume, I got a response from the potential employer asking to set up an interview. I went to the 1st interview and immediately fell in love with the idea of having that position. I felt the interview went well and I knew I would get called for a 2nd interview. That same week, I had another interview with the other potential employer. That interview also went well. The first employer was a part-time position at a church. I really connected with the panel of people I interviewed with and I really liked the idea of working in a church environment. The 2nd employer was a full-time position in the medical field. I was not thrilled with the thought of working full-time yet, but knew that part-time positions in my field are hard to come by.

I first got an offer for the full-time position. It was with great contemplation that I decided to turn down that job offer. In a leap of faith, I really felt that I was better suited for the part-time position and that the part-time position fit better with my family needs. It was a tough decision. The full-time position would have been enough money to continue to pay the house payments in Michigan forever and would have eliminated a ton of stress, but it would have also added different stress to our family and we decided it really wasn't worth the strain on the family for me to work full-time. So without knowing if I would get the offer from the part-time position, I turned down the full-time position.

A week later, I returned for a 2nd interview with the church. I got and gladly accepted the offer for the position. As I talked with one of the pastors about the position, he commented that they were really worried that they would find a qualified person who would be willing to work part-time. That struck me as so interesting, because I was on the other side of the fence thinking that part-time positions don't come along very often and I need to grab it while it was available. It was definitely a situation in which God had a plan!

I have only been working there for a couple of days now, but I can already tell it is a place I will fit in well and will enjoy working.

As far as the 3rd resume goes, I have had a phone interview for that position prior to the offer from the church. I am curious if I will be called for an actual interview for the position. I am a little tempted if I get a call to go to the interview just to see if I would get the job offer. Then I would be 3 for 3!

Labor Day Weekend

The Davidson clan

We decided to go visit Grandma Davidson for Labor Day weekend. Now that we have moved closer, it isn't such an ordeal to go visit. We decided to take advantage of the holiday weekend to visit. Grandma was very excited to see the kids. It had been about 1 1/2 years since she last saw us.

On Saturday, the boys were in the back yard playing with some relatives that also stopped by to visit. They were in the backyard building a fort by dragging sticks out of the wooded area into the back yard. They were working really hard on it for a long time. Aaron came on the porch complaining of chigger bites. He was itching feverishly at his legs. Someone suggested spraying him with bug spray. Dad lifted his shorts leg to spray his legs and found hundreds of seed ticks all over his leg! We immediately started trying to get the ticks off his legs while also checking the other boys. Both Aaron and Evan were covered in ticks. Both boys were immediately stripped down to their skiveys and the removal procedure started. We found yet another use for duct tape. It worked the best at getting the ticks off. The boys were crying and howling because not only were their legs itching, but their hair on their legs was getting pulled everytime we pulled a piece off tape off. Evan kept crying telling me "I only like Michigan and Waterloo!" Needless to say, they didn't go anywhere but the porch and driveway for the rest of the weekend.

Aside from the tick episode, we had a great time visiting with family.

The Fort

The tick victim

Preschool has lots of rules

Evan started preschool yesterday. He was a little nervous going into class, but I was able to leave him without any meltdowns. When I came to pick him up, I was walking down the hallway and could hear the class talking. They were taking turns answering get to know you questions. It was Evan's turn (great timing on my part!) His question was what did you do on your summer vacation. Evan stated, I can't remember. I of course was sending him telepathic messages trying to help him out. The teacher gave him some ideas, like did you ride roller coasters, did you go camping, etc. He said, I don't know I just can't remember. When we got into the car to go home, I said Evan, don't you remember going to the cabin, going to the beach, going to the carnival and riding the rides? OH YEAH! He says, my teacher asked me those questions! He also told me "Mom, preschool has a lot of rules". I asked him like what kind of rules, he told me "don't walk under the monkey bars" I said that is probably a good rule!

Back to School

Today was the first day of school for Aaron and Jenna. It was their first day at their new school in their new town, in their new state. They both seemed less nervous about it than I did. I was of course worried that they would find friends to play with and that they would settle into the class without being the obvious newbie. So Evan and I walked them to school and sent them off to have a fabulous first day while Evan and I were off to have a coffee date with some other ladies new to the area. I worried all day that they were doing ok, that Jenna got through the lunch line ok. Finally, 2:30 arrived and it was time to pick them up. I promised Jenna I would be outside the school to walk them home, knowing she was nervous about the whole block she would have to walk home from school. Evan and I made sure we were there before school got out so she wouldn't panic. We waited and Aaron came strutting out as if he had been going to this school for years now. I asked him how his day was, he said great. Then it was Jenna's turn to come out of the school. I saw her smiling face which was a good sign and then I couldn't believe my eyes when I realized she was walking out hand and hand with another little girl. Jenna's first words to me were, "Mom can Maddie come over to play?" I think she had a good day! Aaron summed up his day as this, "Mom, you know what the best part about the day was? We got a brownie with our lunch!"

House still on market

Well, I got the news today, the alleged buyer can't get his financing approved so he has rescinded his offer on our house. Even though he was pre-approved for the loan, he was unable to come up with the down payment. I have mixed emotions about this. I am relieved because it felt like a crappy deal anyway, but I am sad because it keeps us in this stressful financial situation. So back to square one, looking for a buyer on the house, hoping one will come alone before we are totally ruined financially.

Our MI house

We have accepted an offer on our house in Michigan. It is not the fairy tale ending one would hope. We are losing our ass on the place financially, but the silver lining is that we will be able to move forward without having the stress of the unsold property lingering over us. I started "window" shopping for a house here in Iowa today. We'll have to wait until the dust settles from the house from Michigan and we did sign a year lease on the apartment we are living in, but it never hurts to start looking right?

We are taking inventory of the blessings we have in our life despite the loss on the house. We are all healthy, Bill is gainfully employed and loves his job, the economy here is very healthy, we won't have to make a mortgage payment and rent each month, and we still have some savings. So for that and many other things, we are very thankful.

Today's my birthday

At what age does your birthday become just another day? For the last couple of years it has felt just like another day. When I was a kid, I counted down the days starting when school got out for the summer. When I was turning 18, I couldn't wait to be old enough to buy a lottery ticket. When I was turning 21, I had a calendar I made so that I could cross off each day to count down the days until the big celebration with my friends from work. At 30, my friend Claire and I put together a 30th birthday bash.

I watched Aaron recently celebrate his 10th birthday, painstakingly trying to decide what ONE thing he would do to celebrate his birthday. Would it be going to a movie, going to the local pool, going to Chuck E. Cheese, it was a tough decision. I have also watched him over the last couple of days ponder what is the best way to spend his birthday money. In theory, he has spent it about 100 different ways. Watching him enjoy his birthday, made me realize for me it was just another day.

So in an attempt to celebrate the magic, I am enjoying the kids making me breakfast this morning. We bought some cinnamon rolls in the can yesterday so they could make them for me. While I was drying my hair this morning, I had several interruptions such as, how do I turn on the oven, what do I put the rolls on, where is the grease to grease the pan, can you come "pop" the can open for me. I came downstairs quickly realizing I needed to supervise. All 3 kids were afraid to open the can of rolls because they don't like the popping sound it makes. In my bravest effort, I opened the can without incident. After the rolls were safely in the oven, Evan, who is 4, came up to me and told me I was so brave. I asked him why he said that and he preceeded to tell me that I was so brave because I opened the can of rolls. I guess that in itself is the magic I have been missing on my birthday, enjoying the moments in which I am so brave in my son's eyes. (On a side note, it is now 10:08 and we are just getting ready to enjoy this fabulous birthday breakfast, thank goodness, I don't plan on the kids making breakfast every day!)

Starting a blog

So I decided to start a blog to keep family and friends updated on our new adventures. We recently moved from Michigan to Iowa in pursuit of our own field of dreams of sorts. We left behind many fabulous friends and family not to mention many wonderful memories, but we are looking forward to many new adventures. As I tried to squeeze as many last minute visits with friends before we left Michigan, it was suggested to me by Jean and Paula, a couple of wonderful gals that I should start a blog. They both thought it would be a great way for people to keep tabs on us and they both said that I was so funny that it would be fun to read (no pressure there!), so here we are, 4 weeks into the move and I finally have some time to figure this whole blogging thing out.

I have lived in Michigan my whole life, same general area as a matter of fact except for the college years when I moved to Michigan State, only to return back to the area I grew up in, so to say this move has been without trepidation, would be silly. The movers showed up and immediately started packing up our precious belongings. Having never moved using movers, I didn't know what to expect. I was thinking that it would take them a good 2 days to get everything packed up since we had sooooo much stuff, but leaving mid morning for my daughters dental appointment and returning an hour later to my whole kitchen packed up, I quickly realized that things were happening quicker than I could even imagine. By the end of the 8 hour day, they had our whole house packed up. Thank goodness a dear friend Betsy had told me to pack a bag of clothes and essentials before they arrived, otherwise, I would have been standing in our blank house, not knowing how we would brush our teeth! The next day was loading of the truck. At one point, our whole basement lined our driveway in the form of boxes and at that moment I thought there was no way on God's green earth that those guys were going to get all of our stuff in one truck.

Amazingly, 8 hours later, most of our precious stuff and memories were packed up and driving away heading to Iowa. It left me standing in an empty house that we still own having a moment, remembering all the things that had happened while we lived in that house, realizing that this event (the relocation) that we had been talking about and preparing for for months, was here and was very real. After shedding a few tears, it was on ward and upward to new beginnings. And so the story begins..........