I have shocking news for you all...we didn't close on our house today!!! How sad. The seller messed up and now we have to wait for a judge to sign off on the deed before we can close. I'm still not exactly sure why that is, but it is something to do with the fact that it is a foreclosed home and Fannie Mae insured it. I don't know. All I do know is that we're totally bumbed. I was so excited to get in there and clean, clean, clean and Todd was so excited to tear into it and get going. Oh well, it should close in 2-4 weeks. If not then we're in trouble because our low interest rate will be no more come July 12...also we have a deadline to be out of our apt and have no where to go once that happens. So, we could all use your prayers!!!

On a lighter note, Mom, I just realized that Harry Potter book 7 comes out while you are here in Kansas. Are you up for a midnight jaunt to WalMart to purchase the most aniticipated book of the season? :) Too bad if your not, because we're going. Also good news, we still have our cell phones, although I'm not sure how. Anyway, we are getting a phone line to our apt this week, so we'll post the number when we get it. Tanner is now rolling over and he has started to baby laugh. It is so cute. And my last "lighter note" is that the weather was absolutely perfect today!!! Okay, I feel better. More info later.

phone woes

Well, sad news...we are not going to have our cell phone for very much longer. It could be turned off any minute now. So, when we get our phone lines up and running at our new house, then we will post our number for you all.

the house...finally!!!

Our cute little cul-de-sac

A veiw of the deck/backyard from the Master Bedroom

The Master Bedroom...purpley!!!

A view of the living room from the dining room

The kitchen

We have recently found out that the Internet connection we were using at our apt was owned by some college students right below us. Well, these college students...moved back home and now we are Internet-less!! Oh the tragedy of it all. So, this evening finds me at the library with Riley, Tanner, Todd, and our trusty laptop using the library's Wi-Fi access. Dearest Internet, how I have missed you!!!

Now, down to business. I am posting pictures of our soon-to-be new house. Isn't it cute? We are so excited to be out of our apt and into our home. We are still set to close on May 31 and are counting down the days.

We went to our soon-to-be Ward on Sunday and we loved it. Nobody could replace our Wilkes-Barre Ward however, but at least they are not a bunch of "dummies" as my grandma would say. They were very nice and made us feel welcomed. Riley even did amazingly well, even for being at church during naptime--1:30-4:30. YIKES?!?!?

Annie and Val will be interested to know that the Ward Choir sang...and they were really good. I was impressed. To Cherrie, Riley did really well in nursery, so thanks for all your hard work to get him to this point. :) He did however scream bloody murder when he had to put the nursery's train back in the shelf so he could go home...no avoiding that I'm afraid. I'm sure all you Wilkes-Barre folk can picture it now.

I got invited to a play group that the moms have each week and I learned that even here in Kansas, Riley will be one of the only boys his age...lucky duck. Todd was introduced throughout Elder's Quorum as "Todd, he works for Garmin." Apparently that is pretty impressive. (side note, We get discounts all over the place when we drop Garmin's name...like we get 10% off at Quiznos!) Anyway, we think we are going to really like the Ward.

Well, I would love to blog longer, but unfortunately Riley is being a stinker...hard to believe I know...so I must go. Love to all.

Home-Owners Again

Well, we're home-owners again...almost. The bank accepted our offer and we are going to sign all the papers tonight. Hooray!! Once your a home-owner, it's hard to not be anymore. Our Realtor is going to try to get a closing date on May 31st, so we'll let you know. Yea!!! (Can you just feel the excitement oozing from this posting?!?!) :)

Little Tanners

Here is our sweet little Tanner boy. He is getting so big I can hardly believe it. He is only 3 months old...but he seems so big. He is starting to reach for things to grab and he puts everything in his mouth. Riley was not a child to put things in his mouth, but I know we are going to have to be careful with Tanner and what he is able to grab. Tanner sleeps through the night, most nights anyway. It is really nice. He is as sweet as they come and he LOVES his big brother. Thankfully the feeling is mutual. Tanner is the first person Riley wants to see when he wakes up. It is pretty cute.

p.s. check out those cheeks and eyelashes. The eyelashes are from Todd and the cheeks...you got it, those are from me. :)

The House We REALLY Want

Okay everyone, here it is, the house we really want to get. I took the boys to look at it again today and to look around the neighborhood...and now I love it even more. There is the cutest little park about 2-blocks away that we played in for an hour or so, and Riley loved it. Also, I met 2 really nice moms of 2-year olds who were there. They love the neighborhood and have a mommy-toddler group they go to that meets once a week. So, we exchanged numbers and then all went out to Einsteins for lunch. It was kind of funny though because they kept telling me about the church that they go to that is non-denominational and "totally rocks"...literally. They have a band up front and apparently the drummer breaks his sticks every week because he gets so into it. Funny. Anyway, we'll keep you posted. The water inspection is tonight around 5pm and then if that goes well then we'll turn in our offer tonight.

Crazy phone number?!?!

Just a note, if any of you get a phone call from an unavailable number with a phone number of 000123456...or something crazy like that...then that is probably Todd or me. We are calling from our computer, not our cell phone since those minutes are almost up! So, please pick up if you see something strange like that on your phone. :)

Inspection

Well, the inspection went great...better than great actually. The inspector called this house a diamond in the rough. Everything is in really good condition. He said that he has seen a lot of homes that people are actually living in that are much worse than this house. The crappiness seems to be only skin deep...we can do that. Cosmetic work is Todd's forte. We still have to inspect the water however, since it had been turned off and couldn't be turned back on until tomorrow morning. We're not foreseeing any major problems with that...although you never know. So we have our offer all ready to go after the final inspection tomorrow morning. Wish us luck!

New House...maybe?!?!

Here is a little house update...we may have found the house we are going to buy. It is a foreclosure in the NICEST neighborhood. It is in a little cul-de-sac very close to Todd's work...less than 2-miles away. It is by far and away the crappiest house in the neighborhood...hence the foreclosure, but it has a lot of potential. Anyway, Todd is going to go through it with an inspector today to see if there are any MAJOR, unseen problems. We'll keep you posted...whether you want us to or not!!! :)

The Homestead

We had so much fun today. Our Realtor told us about this petting zoo close to our apt, so I packed up the kids and went. It was amazing. It encompasses this huge area of land and is full of all kinds of farm animals, playgrounds, interactive exhibits, ponds, water fountains, bridges, more playgrounds, raceways where the kids can ride John Deere tractor tricycles, movie theaters, etc... The best thing about this place, is that it is FREE!!! The funny thing is, is that I would totally pay to get into this place. Anyway, it started to rain pretty hard, so we were ONLY there for about 1 1/2 hours before we had to book it to the car. Riley of course was pretty ticked that we had to leave the "train"...ie a big tractor seen in a picture above. I can't wait to show my nieces and nephew this place when they come to visit this summer...so, you guys better come and visit!!! :)

p.s. The only sad thing was that we had to go alone. I miss my friends!!!

We Made It...barely!!!

Well, we finally made it to Kansas. Todd and I thought we might lose our minds on the trip out...there was a lot of driving...but we made it just the same. The kids actually were pretty darn good. We stopped quite a bit for Riley to get out and play and for Tanner to stretch his little legs, which we think cut down on a lot of tantrums and crying. Kansas is really nice, but really humid. I think there is going to be a lot of crazy bugs here!!! Our apartment is nice too, but very small. The funny thing is, is that we have MUCH more storage space in our tiny apt than we did in our big house. We are sad to have had to leave all our friends in PA. We want to thank everyone who helped us move. There is NO WAY we could have done it without the help of our friends. THANK YOU!!!! Sorry if this blog is a little bit scattered. I am still trying to catch up on many days worth of missed sleep. Love to all.