A Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

Kiki Turns Two

Last Friday we didn't know for sure that we were closing on our house until about three hours until the appointment. This meant we didn't know where we would be on Saturday for Mikea's birthday. So we decided to celebrate a day early.

For weeks and weeks Mikea has talked about her "doggie cake". She was so excited when we placed it in front of her and began to sing that she tumbled out of her chair and landed directly on top of her head. Poor baby! It was so sad. She's holding a bag of ice on her head in this picture:

She forgot all about her mishap once she tasted her cake and began opening her presents, once of which was a fairy princess outfit that will double as her Halloween costume. Once she put it on she couldn't stop hopping and twirling around and looking at herself in the mirror. It was precious.

We also got her a toy ironing board and vacuum cleaner set, which are now the most sought-after toys by all of the children in our house.

Happy birthday, little sweetheart! We are so thankful to God that He placed you in our lives!

The 500 Babies on the Move

One of the biggest challenges in moving was keeping the 500 Babies entertained and happy during the final weekend of packing and moving. We had to put everything in storage because there was a five-day difference between closing on the old house and closing on the new one. We also had to try to maintain as much of their routine as possible, despite the fact that they were without beds for several days.

They slept on the floor:

They played with cardboard boxes: (Which we all know kids prefer to real toys anyway.)
At Grandpa and Grandma's house they jumped in Baby A's bed:

And watched deer across the backyard fence:

After a week of transition and excitement, the kids were definitely out of sorts. Mikea began having several crying fits a day, Joe cried at church last Sunday (both at Sunday School and during the Children's Message - something he's never done before), and Daniel? Well, Daniel probably handled the changes the best. He didn't seem to show any adverse affects. (Baby A. did great as well.) Things are slowly getting back to normal, but we are also having to find new systems and routines here in the new house. (More on that later!)

Finally!

Well, with an abundance of help from family and friends we are finally moved into our new house. It's been quite an adventurous couple of weeks, and we still have to unpack and finish settling in, but all of the hard parts are over and we are enjoying life in our new home.

I plan on doing a few posts to catch up on what's been going on, but in the meantime why not go over to Jamie's blog and scroll down to see what the 500 Babies did last Tuesday when we closed on our old house? The kids had a blast and when you look at the pictures you'll see why. Thanks, Jamie!

What's Going On

1. Our offer on the new house was accepted! Another buyer made a similar offer on the same day we did, but the sellers decided to go with us. We move in about 10 days.

2. Everyone in our household has been sick over the course of the last two weeks. Nothing too serious, but we're all weary of feeling yucky and are ready to feel better.

3. The kids are having a blast with their Grandpa and Mim who are visiting for the first time from Michigan! I think Grandpa and Mim were having fun, too, until they got sick. (Wonder how that happened?)

4. We are still waiting and praying about the situation with Baby A. So far his CPS case worker has not heard from the baby's mother, so it is looking more and more doubtful she will not get him back. His grandmother has stated that she wants custody of the baby, but there are issues with her situation as well which would make it unlikely for her to be a placement. We are very optimistic about our chances of adopting him.

House Hunting

We finally went house-hunting last Saturday. We left the three older kids (including a feverish and vomiting Joe) at home with Grandma and took the baby with us. The search began with a rocky start when we arrived at the first house and our agent realized he left his master key at home. The last thing I wanted was an hour round-trip to retrieve the key, but thanks to my quick-thinking husband, who asked our agent to drop us off at IHOP, we enjoyed an unexpected leisurely breakfast together.

After a year of looking at houses online, to be able to actually go inside them was pretty exciting. We felt like we were on one of those house hunters shows, "Oh, this is nice. A walk-in closet." "Oh look, a double vanity. That's nice." "Hmmm, this house needs some work." "Oh, look a dead roach."

We fell in love with the perfect home that amazingly was the lowest-priced house on our list. But the next day when we were all set to make an offer we found out it was a short sale, which meant we might have to wait months before the bank lets us know if our offer was accepted. We didn't have months. We had 28 days.

So Wednesday evening we headed back out to look at several more houses. (Despite the fact that the clock was ticking and it's incredibly stressful to have no place to live, these house-hunting trips have been fun because they've been the closest thing to a date Billy and I have had in a long time. Of course it's a date with a real estate agent and two-month-old baby tagging along, but I'll take what I can get.) This time around we found a house we loved even more than the first. The house was incredibly beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that I didn't want to keep looking at it because it seemed too good to be true. It was only two years old, the exact size we wanted (4 bedrooms + game room/loft), less than 5 minutes from Billy's school, and it even had a fenced-off vegetable garden in the back! I knew the price had just been reduced on the house and I knew it couldn't last long. We decided to make an offer, and while waiting to hear back from our agent yesterday, I kept searching for the house online but I couldn't find it. I was convinced it had already been sold. But around noon we heard back from our agent that the house was indeed available and the owners were ready to make something happen. There have been two previous buyers for the house but both deals fell through.

We're making an offer on the house tonight, and obviously a lot has to happen before it's ours (including finalizing the sale on our current house.) But we're excited at the possibility that after months and months of work on our house and getting it ready for showings and all of the headaches involved (and lots and lots of prayer), the end may be in sight and within a few weeks we will be moved into our new home!