Monkey

Just some photos from today

Somebody is really obsessed with dancing right now - can you guess who?  Sydney had a creative dance instuctor come to her preschool and she just got so excited about it.  She is asking to take dance lessons.  As soon as we are moved, I plan to look into getting them both into dance.  Creative dance seems like the best option. 

This little lady has been a bit bolder than usual lately.  I think the whole move thing is getting to me and to her!  We try hard to find fun things to do around the house during this chaotic time.  She thought that tying my leg up would be fun.  Good thing I am flexible!  Crazy girl.



Sketch Me

Creative iPhone app turned jpeg by creative photoshop guru means I have the cutest artwork "sketch" for the new house.  Thinking BIG in the playroom so that I can look at it everyday and think how lucky I am to have two little girls that enjoy and love one another.
Jen, thought you would love to see the print.  Let me know if you want a copy!

Listening and watching my girls play Stawberry Shortcake - love their imagination.

Little bakers and little taste testers

When we are bored, we bake!  I don't buy many packaged foods so when we want a treat we have to make it ourselves.  The girls don't mind because they love to help me bake.  They especially love to lick the spoon.  Sawyer especially.  Can't you tell!

Random

 This face...oh she is so sweet and silly all at the same time.

Starting the process

We are so excited to be starting the process of figuring out paint colors and furniture for the new house.  Seems that I can't sway too far in color from what I already have.  It is a good thing Jim lets me choose!!  The girls are excited to be moving near our family.  Sydney pretty much tells everyone she is with about out move.  A few more weeks and it should all be set.  Still waiting for the inspection report on this house.  I will breathe easier as long as that comes back positive.

Picture Time

Things are going our way

I don't want to jinx anything, so I am not going to go into too much detail.  We got our buyout offer from the relocation company a couple of weeks ago and it was horrible.  In a last ditch effort to get our house sold outright, we lowered the price to just what we wanted to get (just over what we bought for 2.5 years ago).  This created a huge amount of interest and a ton of showings.  The girls and I have been crazy busy over the last two weeks.  The poor girls have been put through the ringer, for sure.  Showings that ended up being scheduled during nap time, getting in and out of the house so much for multilple showings on the same days, etc.  Not to mention all the work that is required of me to keep a house with two dogs and two kids clean and show ready. 

In the end...it was all worth it.  We went into a multiple bidding situation (3 to be exact) and got an offer over asking price!  It is still early, the offer is with the relocation company for review and (hopefully) approval, buyers want to do just a general inspection since the relocation company did all the major ones, so it is not 100% done.  I just hesitate to get my hopes up too much, but this is huge.  The buyers are relocating from Georgia and work for GE so they are using the same relocation company.  So hopefully that is to our benefit too.  This is a solid offer, so I will think positive! 

We won't need to bring any cash to our closing in PA.  We got exactly what we wanted and expected to get when we first put our house on the market.  Go Christine (our awesome and extremely smart realtor)!!!!  We feel like our luck finally changed. We are so pleased with the home we found in PA and think it will be a wonderfu house for us.  We will miss this house so much.  I hope the new owners will love it as much as I do.

Please keep us in your thoughts and hope that all continues to go well.  Ater over 5 months of nothing going our way, we are very grateful that it is turning out well for us.  Things happen for a reason, that is what I have told myself for this entire process. 

Anyway, after a very exhausting week last week, the girls and I were spent to the max.  This is what lots and lots of showings and many missed naps look like on my girls...

Birthday Love

I forgot to post these two photos from Sawyer's bday celebration.  Mommy and Sawyer love. 

 She might give me gray hairs with some of her antics, but she really is the kindest, most amazing little girl. 

More Outdoor Photos

Sawyer needs to learn the rules of dodge ball...no tackles!

Sister love

Snowflakes

We have been outside playing so much these last few weeks.  It is so nice having the mild winter weather and now more daylight!  This afternoon we took the girls out to play after their naps.  They have been stuck inside the last few days as I have been running around like a crazy person having to prepare for 5 house showings this week.  It was nice to run free today.  The snowflakes were huge and they had a great time catching them.

Sydney and the Golden Light

And an experiment with White Balance.  Can't decide which color I like better.

A baby to a big girl

This is my absolute favorite picture of Sawyer.  It was taken on her 1st birthday.  It hangs in her room in an adorable frame.  I plan to fill the new house with a ton of these whimsical frames.  I already have images in mind for the walls.

Playful Morning

Aunt Adrien, Uncle Mike and Teddy got the girls bouncy balls for Sawyer's birthday.  While Sydney was at school this morning, Sawyer and I had a blast bouncing it back and forth.  Dodge ball in the house may not be a good idea, but we had fun anyway!  It brightened her day as she isn't feeling very well.  Her cold seems to have become a sinus infection.  Off to the doctors tomorrow for her well visit and now a sick visit.  Poor thing. 

Valentines for School

Sydney's Valentine's party was today.  I kept it simple but she liked the gift we gave her friends.

Sawyer Molly's 3rd Birthday

Sawyer, my sweet, joyful, bold, spirited and precious girl will be turning 3 at 10:30ish tonight.  We celebrated with the older cousins this morning and she had such a fun time being spoiled. 

I asked her several times if she wanted a cake or cupcakes or cake pops and she consistantly answered cake pops.  So I was busy last night making the cake and forming the balls.  This morning I finished them with coating and sprinkles.  She loved them!  We did get her one cupcake so she at least had a chance to blow out her 3 candles. 

We had so much fun celebrating with Bethany and Jared.  They had a great time visiting with Julia, Jon and Sarah too.  I got a taste of what it is like carting teenagers all around town!  Thanks to Mike and Amy for housing the kids all weekend so they could hang out with the BFF's!