Home is where the heart is

Our hearts are getting packed up and ready to fill a new home with love and laughter.

After 11.5 years in our humble home we decided on a whim to put her up for sale and in just 6 days we had an offer.  We accepted the offer and with it we started looking at houses rather frantically for fear of being homeless.

The first one we walked into was our house.  I could see us playing in the large yard, mowing the plush grass, chasing eachother around the house and "hunting" in the oasis of the open field beyond our one acre where we had earlier seen two deer.  I pictured our Christmas tree up and lit, our dinners, cozy and quaint around a refurbished thrifted table.  I saw our kids wildly excited to hide in the house and have us seek them out.  I saw pj's on, sitting near the fireplace, reading books and snuggling.  I saw myself looking out the big, beautiful windows smiling while watching my husband out the window grilling on our deck.  I saw rocking chairs on the porch as we toasted a successful summer night and watched the stars come out.  I saw our future.  I saw our children's future as they grew.  I saw the next 30-40 years of our lives and it was wonderful.

We continued to look at 3 more houses and then stopped off at my parents to collect our kids before heading out for 2 more but my heart tugged at me and I knew my parents had to see our "deer" house.  We quickly changed courses and set out once more to see the house.  They loved it.  They approved and shared in our dreams.  I knew it was meant to be but we could only be sure if everything fell according to plan.

Everything slowly but surely fell into place and now we wait for the financing to be approved and we try to be patient.

It's hard to say how fast the last 30 days has gone.  We left for Vegas with it sitting in the back of our heads and returned home to say "why not?".  We finally fixed and de-cluttered things around our house that we had only dreamed of doing for years but never really felt the need to do.  Oh complacency, where are you now?  (My lazy susan's are not so lazy anymore and we need not stare at the food in them any longer.)

We signed and signed and signed paperwork and now we are just a few short weeks away from saying forever goodbye to 11927 Woodbine St, NW, respectively.

Just a few short days away from falling in love with our deer house I was offered a chance to transfer to our new Champlin clinic in an epic re-organization plan that will make our clinics "hubs" for the nursing homes closest to them.  I would be the coordinator for Champlin and have a handful or so of coworkers under me waiting for assignments.  It all has just come together too perfectly almost.  Moving 15 minutes away from where we are now would have easily added another 20 minutes to my already 30 minutes commute.  This will bring my commute down to 15-20 minutes and save on gas tremendously.

My heart is ready and at the same time heavy.  The first night I met D we ended up coming back to his place and as he sat on the counter talking amongst friends I knew I would need that man in my life.  A few nights later we sat in our now playroom and watched MTV while talking all night until the sun nearly came up. I fell in love in this house.  We brought Deucer home to this house and he helped us demo much of what it is today from the 70's yellow/orange carpeting he helped rip up with his teething.
Deuce's entire life was in this house and for that reason alone we are sad to say goodbye.  Add to that the fact that we brought our first baby into this house and then our second baby and my heart nearly breaks as I think of someone else turning their rooms into an office.

Yes, this house holds many, many memories.  Too many to recall for you but it is too small and we knew this day was coming for a long time.  In fact, we have been on a 5 year arm for about 9 years now, thank you very much low, low, low interest rates!

The bathroom begs for mercy when we all pile in there for the kids' bathtime.  Our bedroom is just that, where we sleep and no room for anything else.  Our yard is a pitiful excuse for grass (CR is known for notorious sand grass and we were no different).  Our kitchen currently lends itself to washing clothes and frying up bacon at the same time.  Our one car garage hasn't seen a car for years since the kids bikes and toys go into lockdown every night.  She is small, she is old, she has been our home.

I cannot quite wrap my mind around owning stairs.  I grew up with them and took them for granted.  The stairs just intrigue me.  One level living is convenient and all but we are going to own stairs soon.  We will have 3 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms, two living rooms, a fireplace, a bar in the basement and room to fill up every crevice and hiding spot with memories.  Yes, we will be those new home owners who are in awe of everything we have lived without for years.  It will indeed be 365 days of thanksgiving and praise for years to come.  It will be moving in with what we have and slowly but again surely filling up the place with our own signature.  It will be time consuming and budgeting to get to where I see us in the next 15 years.  It will be trial and error at what furniture would be best and if that plaid wallpaper should come down today or yesterday.  It will be so fun and so rewarding and so darn exciting because we will do it together, as a family.

My sweet, tender hearted boy has voiced over and over again that he doesn't want to move.  Sure he loves the deer house but he is insistent that he loves our house and his room.  He wants to take the walls with him and I understand, our hearts beat the same.  It will be uncomfortable for our kids the first few weeks understanding and adjusting their point of view to our new surroundings.  It will be hard to say goodbye and there will be tears, probably lots and lots of tears but tears that are happy and sad all at the same time.  It will be hectic and stressful moving in December days before Christmas but I have a feeling that those will be the memories that will stick with us forever, like "remember when we moved and Mom was deadset on putting up the tree first thing but Dad wanted help with the important stuff only to have Mom set up that tree and when we awoke a few days later Santa had found our new house and filled it up with toys?"  Only Daddy agrees the tree and the beds will be first and foremost and the rest will follow as it may.  : )

This is a good dream.  The kind of nesting I have never done before.  I constantly feel the energy of change these days and after seeing our "dear, deer" house again this morning and getting the stamp of approval from Uncle Kevin, house owner times 5 and cabin builder extraordinaire, I feel confident that the first house we looked at is our home.  It should be noted that 5 deer scurried across the backyard as we stood in the living room...Riley is going to love this house!


I am still being cautiously optimistic, we still have some headaches to get through but this dream is getting closer and closer and it is going to be an incredible December indeed!

It's been real 11927 but 9101 here we come!

The MLS number to our future is # 4312596.

The great pumpkin fail

My mind has been running a thousand and one miles an hour for the past few weeks.  My next post will certainly be written with all my heart but this one has been in the works for weeks so for now, lighthearted fall fun.

Not exactly the fall I had envisioned.  The weather has been cold, bitter even at times.  We've had more rain this fall then I remember getting all summer so with that said we didn't go out and do everything I had wanted but we managed to make the best of what we did and here's just a few of the highlights.

1. Fall leaf hunts.  We did this multiple times but our favorite was when Daddy came and the colors were at there best.  We walked along the skinny deer trails and some of my absolute favorite pictures came out of this "hunt".  We gathered up all kinds of leaves and when we got home Riley sorted first by color then by size.  Great and easy little lesson and one you can only do for a short time here in MN!

2. Trunk or treating.  Church always does the best trunk or treating and this year was especially fun since the times changed a bit so it wasn't in the dark.  Riley wasn't nearly as scared as he was in the dark the last few years and our little Lu even dressed up and came along.  She didn't really understand not eating everything as she got it but eventually we persuaded her to keep moving along.  Our faves include yet again the glow sticks...nothing betta than a glow stick for Moms and kids!  No sugar but all the fun!

3.  The farm.  Oh we love this farm.  It's so serene and peaceful.  The peacocks and a few pigs, goats and chickens just roam around and the pumpkins are always in perfect display patterns with varying colors from orange, white, green and yellow.  We enjoyed the peaceful hay ride and we stalked the peacocks pleading with them to spread their tail feathers.  It didn't happen but we did take two of those pretty feathers home with us!

4.  Trick or treating.  Riley was all ready to go this year.  He was the seasoned pro to Alyssa's fumbling always a few steps behind.  The kids did great and in the 10-15 houses we hit we have more than enough candy to carry us well into 2013!  Eek, 2013!  The weather was mild and we made it home by 7:15 so we could pass out candy too!  It was kind of cute when we decided to dress up Alyssa as a chicken for warmth and debated about having her use her Toto basket.  Riley suggested putting her kitchen eggs in the basket since she was a chicken and we went with it.  Later on FB someone hilariously pointed out whether or not there was a CR shortage on halloween buckets.  Haha, a little redneck trick or treating with a target bag and an Easter style basket! ; )

5.  Snuggles, lots and lots of snuggles since I haven't worked a full week for the past 3 weeks we have been enjoying eachother, a lot!

What happened to my baby boy?  And this was last years school picture!  

Both kids surprised me in bed at 5 a.m. and started fighting about touching eachother, I came back from the bathroom and discovered this.  They decided holding hands would solve the problem.  So much for a california king being big enough for 2 littles and a mama smooshed against the edge!  

It was a great fall but with us being gone for the Light up the Night parade and then missing the Grand Day parade (Anoka is the halloween capitol! ; ) I feel a bit disappointed in our activity check list but we made the best of it and I think our kids will be happy to look back and see a few pictures of 2012.