House Update

We are moving along.  We had the home inspection and appraisal.  Nothing major, just minor stuff.  We took the suggested repairs from both of those reports and forwarded them to the seller.  She agreed to make all those repairs and send us documentation on the repairs as they are made.  She hired a contractor and he begins work today.

Fingers still crossed but we are on track for an April 8 closing.

So Money

He's a swinger.  We give him a big push and say "Get out of here!"Everytime we go to the park we have such a great timne, but there are always sad children like the one next to us looking on longingly.  Where are their parents? What could be more important?

Sean's New Joke

Sean is quite a character.  He's got a real good sense of humor and was in fine form this weekend.  The baby has a bouncer that is way too small for Sean.  Sometimes though, when he is feeling ornery, he will try to sit in it.  I caught him trying to climb in it and gave him a little swat on the butt, like "Get moving rascal." 

He was a little mad and showed me a thing or two by smacking his own bottom. I laughed and laughed and then he laughed and laughed. We cracked up for about 15 minutes while he gave me sly looks and smacked his own butt!  Of course, now spanking is out as a punishment (not that we are spankers) because he will just think we're having a laugh!

Some More Pics

Here are the last of the listing pictures.  Here is the corner of the living room.  On the other side of the fireplace there is built-in shelving.

This is the dining room.  

When they built the Florida room on the side of the

 house, they had to fill in a window.  It is a kind of permanent frame.  I foresee arguements about

 what will get to hang in this special place.

Here are the two bathrooms.

 

 

The blue one is really pretty.  It has floor to ceiling tile.  The bottom half is blue and the top half is white with little accents, like flowers and birds that match the blue.  The other bathroom is pink (not really my thing) it has matching pink wallpaper on the top half of the walls.  As soon as I can figure out how to replace wallpaper, I will be doing that.

Here is the kitchen.  These cabinets are more modern.  On the other side of the kitchen is a fireplace.  Seriously.  Like from back when people would actually cook things in a fire.

Lastly is the Florida room.  All the windows have been replaced since this picture was taken.  And those funky shutter things are gone.

Offer Accepted

We are so excited!  We came to an agreement.  We, of course, still have the home inspection, appraisal, and making sure the contracted repairs get made.  But it looks pretty darn good.

And More House Pics

Here are the pictures from the listing. This is the front of the house. Please, picture it without the a/c unit in the upstairs window. The sellers installing central a/c is part of the contract. Notice the picket fence, large tree, and porch that extends across the whole front. All major selling points for us. The right side is the Florida room. Around the left of the house is a carport. There is a small front yard, a small backyard, and a larger side yard.













Here are three of the four downstairs bedrooms. They are each painted a different color. Actually each room in the house is a different color. Jonathan has dictated no more white walls ever. The yellow and green rooms would be the boys' and the orange room is the largest bedroom. It has its own gas log fireplace. There is a fourth bedroom downstairs. It's a cornflower blue and for some reason has intricately painted floors. Looks like it might have been a nursery 30 or 40 years ago. It will be my craft room/guest room.

Here is the entrance way. So, so pretty.

This is one corner of the upstairs. It's all one big room. It is finished but it hasn't been spruced up in quite some time. It needs painted and the floor is not in as nice condition as the downstairs. Jonathan wants this huge room as his "mancave"/office. In addition to this giant room, there is also a huge amount of attic space.

The kitchen is large, but it is not an eat-in kitchen. There is a huge formal dining room. The house also has a very large Florida room. We haven't decided what we will do with it, yet. There is a laundry room and mudroom in the very back. It has two bathrooms. They are very old fashioned but one of them has floor to ceiling tiling which is just amazing. The other one has mostly tiling but some wallpaper. Getting new wallpaper in there is on my list of improvements.

As it stands, the seller has responded to our offer with a few simple questions and a request to move the closing date to her Spring Break. They are teachers. They have asked for an extra 24 hours because they already had an a/c guy coming in today to give them a second estimate on the installation. We agreed. We should know by this time tomorrow. Our realtor feels good about the whole thing. Fingers are still crossed.

More House Pictures

We put in an offer on the house we like. We went to see it again yesterday but we get so excited exploring the house and yard that we forget to take as many pictures as we wanted. Here is a picture of Sean and I on the porch. This is the far side of the porch in front of the Florida room.

Here is a picture of the big tree on one side of the house. There is another similar tree in front of the house with a swing hanging from one of the branches. This is a view of the picket fence and looking down the street towards "downtown."

And here is a picture from the main hallway. Although it's not of anything in particular it sort of shows you the neat little accents we like about this old house. There are 12-ft ceilings throughout, hard wood floors in every room, decorative doors between most of the rooms, and cute little nooks and mirrors built in throughout the house. There is also built in shelving in the living room, kitchen (not just cabinets), and bathrooms. Jonathan and I love built-in shelves. But it is 102 years old so there are some improvements that need to be made, too.






The neighborhood is also hundreds of years old, so it is a mix of beautiful historic homes and mansions and other older homes that have fallen in to disrepair. There are also a few apartment buildings on our street that take away from the charm, but what are you gonna do? Here is one of the neighboring houses. This one is for sale if anyone would like to be our neighbor. This one is nice but there are others much grander. A few of them have actual historic markers in their yards. I can't wait to walk the neighborhood and read about what role the house played in the Civil War or what famous American slept there.

So wish us luck that our house buying goes smoothly.

I'm OUT...

Not of the closet, out of the Army. No backdoor draft for me!

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAR

The kids were suitably impressed by mom's fierce lion.

ASSPODS?

Last week I attended the Army Senior Safety and Professional Development Symposium.  Ah, who could ever forget their time at ASSPODS?

Eli

Too cute for words.

Monster

It may look like Elijah is being tortured, but it is just the tickle monster.  He's a bit ticklish, unlike Sean who was stoic as can be.

House Hunting

We are looking for a house and this one has struck our fancy.  Old Southern charmer.

Swinging

Sean=too fast for the camera.  He's really taken to the swings!

Cold!

It was cold up in them there hills! We went from t-shirts at home to full winter gear there. After all, it was probably darn near freezing! Even Sean agreed to wear his hat. You know it must have been cold. What you can't see in these pictures are the crazy ducks still hanging out in this stream 9and a crazy fly fisherman!)

Sean at the Aquarium

We went to Gatlinburg with almost the whole Kendall clan (minus Mr. Humbug Justin) over New Years. One of the big new attractions in the area is a world class Aquarium. Sean LOVES looking at the fish. When a person is in there with them? All the better.

Eli's new friend

Eli got this very hungry catepillar for Christmas. It has been trying to eat him ever since. Or, sometimes, vice-versa.

Mom and Eli

Eli is either VERY HAPPY or VERY ANGRY. Little middle ground. He's pretty happy here, as you can see.

Return from Christmas Visit

Full load.

Sean, our personal GPS

Since he was a wee lad, Sean has had an uncanny sense of direction. He thinks he knows where he wants to go. If you make a wrong turn, this is what you get. Lovely!