Dallas Arboretum - Beautiful Day

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. Today has been beautiful. So this morning at the last minute, I decided to take the kiddos to the Dallas Arboretum. I figured it would be fun and let's call a friend last minute. It worked out well. We got there before the big, huge crowd and got a few pictures.

We then played on everything. Jackson went one way and Kaitlyn went the other way. It was enough to wear me out totally. But generally, they did pretty well playing on the different play structures.

We also ran into a long line of motor carts. One of them had Laura Bush. They were driving by, but Kaitlyn and Jackson decided to cross the sidewalk to the other play area. Luckily, they stopped and let us go by. It was a packed place! I ended up putting the little monkey backpack with leash on Jackson so he wouldn't go too far.

Here are some photos.

The New House - 1600 Bar Harbor

So things are pretty much just insane right now. It has been insanity for the last month. We put our house on the market March 6. It sold on March 7. We found a house on March 8 that was only on the market 4 days and already was in negotiations with another buyer. Somehow we got the deal. Then the inspection went well last week. So far we think our inspection went well, still waiting on the full report to come back. And Sunday night, Brandon put some of our furniture that we are not going to take with us on Craigslist. We have pretty much sold almost everything in just a day or so.

We close on both houses on April 24 and then have that weekend to move. Let the packing begin which I am still in denial. How in the world are we going to move all of our stuff???

Here are photos of the new house from when we went during the inspection. The kids were with us so we didn't get to take a ton of photos.

News Travels Fast

Well, after weeks of stress and hard work, we put our house on the market on Friday. We received five showings on Saturday and two offers. We accepted one. We then on Sunday went to sign the papers and look for another house. We found one in a convenient location in Flower Mound. It has four bedrooms and three baths and a game room as well as a room to make into study or whatever we want. All of it has been updated too so we can move in easily.

We liked it because we didn't have to do anything and has the same great backyard as well as workbench in garage. It is close to a park and the elementary and junior high are around the corner.

Here are some photos.


We are very excited and it happened so fast that I am having lots of anxiety. It is hard to leave the community that Jackson, Kaitlyn and I are in everyday. We are checking the house out again tomorrow for the inspection and I plan to check out the area to get more comfortable. This is a good change as we will be more central to family and work and in a good area as well. We can hop on 121 and see friends easily too.

House Update

So we went through all of the rig-a-ma-role to get the house ready to sell. We had the maids, photographer and real estate agent. What a crazy time. We should be up and running in the next day or two. The sign is going to be in the yard today! I still have so much to do. I spent all this time just getting cleaned out, but we have a huge mess in the garage and I have stuffed things in every nook and cranny just to get the pictures done. Now it is time to go through that and use more boxes.

We couldn't believe anyone not wanting this house, but of course we are little biased. Our first house holds so many memories and so much sweat put into it. We can't wait to find our new home. We had a long list of what we wanted - cul-de-sac, trees, big yard, media room, three car garage, but all of this has been sucked away. There are two main things we want now - play/area game room and big yard. If we get that, we will be happy.

My problem now is that I keep finding some real dream homes in Allen and well within our budget, but we want to move more west. Darn the luck. Tomorrow Jackson and I will go with the real estate agent to look around in Flower Mound in the morning so we can try and get more looking done.

Falling Down

I just get a kick out of this age with Jackson. He is loving everything and learning everything. We were playing with towers on Friday and when I said fall down, he would fall down. He also likes to roll over, although, in this video, he didn't roll too much.

Elmo and Cousins

We ordered tickets for the Sesame Street Elmo's Garden show in December. The show was Friday night at 7 pm. We were able to get the kids down for a late nap and then go to Grand Prairie, an hour from north Plano. We were so excited.

We walked in and Brandon and the kids went straight to the souvenir section. Jackson loved Elmo and says memo for Elmo. Kaitlyn was a little under the weather and took a little bit to warm up. Jackson loved his little Elmo doll and Kaitlyn got a little light.

We had perfect seats before an aisle so they could see perfectly. Jackson danced to the music and Kaitlyn didn't move a bit as she watched all the characters. She wanted to go up on stage and dance with them and give them all hugs. At intermission, two men came out with a huge bundle of Elmo balloons. They made a killing on those because all the parents got their kids a balloon. What are they trying to do to us parents? Luckily, our kids were more interested in looking around than the balloons. The show was still going on when we left around 8:30.

On Saturday, my cousins Andrew and Erin with their two kids - Drew and Ella, came over for dinner. They were in town for some shopping. The kids made themselves at home while we caught up. Drew and Kaitlyn have always liked each other. Kaitlyn laughed as Drew tried to pull her off the couch that kind of stuff. And Jackson had his most laughs watching Kaitlyn and Drew. Ella had so much fun in all of the dress up stuff. She really is so friendly and talkative.

In other news, cousin Shellie is making very small steps in rehab. She took some steps with a cane and can move her left arm a couple of times.

We are putting our house on the market on Wednesday. We cleaning up like crazy.