Aside from the weather, which has been crazy all across Texas, May has been a VERY busy and hectic month for us. We finally listed our house at the beginning of this month, two weeks later than we would've liked, but there were some relocation benefits Clark needed to straighten out before we could put the house on the market.
50 showings in 3 1/2 days.
Eight offers.
It was an insane weekend. We were out of the house ALL day for those days and I had bags packed for the kids so we had extra of everything and tons of snacks. LUCKILY Michael and Marisol said we could come to their house if we needed so I took full advantage of that. We spent three full days there and I don't know what I would've done without them. We were able to just relax, swim, play, watch movies, cook, etc... while they were at work. Occasionally we'd come drive by the house to see if anyone was here. Sometimes if the house was empty I'd slip in the back door to grab what I needed then pull away just as someone was coming through the front door.
We accepted an offer then went through a rough inspection process mostly due to the fact that this house is older and has some issues. Fortunately the buyer stayed motivated and we are headed for closing the beginning of June. I usually don't have issues with sleeping but this month I have lost so much sleep to worry and anxiety over selling this house. Especially when we are looking at and putting an offer on a house in Michigan. There are so many working parts that have to align and work together. I'm so grateful we are coming to the end of this process. In fact it can't come fast enough! We are just so excited to get things moving since we've been anticipating this move for so long now!
This Texas house has been a huge blessing to us so it's bittersweet to see it go to someone else. Someone who doesn't know that we used the wet bar for a huge baby bar station, or that we used the master walk-in-closet as Caleb's napping space for two years, or that the nice beige textured family room walls are actually wood paneling that Clark spruced up while I was on bed rest in the hospital, or that our coat closet was actually used as a scream closet when I just couldn't take the stress anymore and needed to let it out, or how this once giant house was quickly filled up by three babies.
You know, stuff like that. As good as the memories are here, there are also hard memories, long days/nights, stressful career building moments for Clark, long commutes, etc... Clark and I have been in a funk and we know with the kids starting preschool in the fall and Clark shifting in his career a bit, we hope we will wake up and try to enjoy all the time we spend in Michigan. These have been challenging years for us in this house and we know our Michigan chapter will be much different (with the hopes we don't have another set of triplets). We don't have a lot of friends in here Texas but the ones we do have are awesome. We are SO sad to be leaving them. When we moved to Texas we moved with friends from college so there were already comfortable friendships built in. We're starting from scratch now so this will be new territory for us. Plus the kids are at the age where they will start making friends too so we hope to have a lot of new faces in our lives.
I took a picture of the house because the two green pokey plants in front are in full bloom and they are the best they've ever looked. We are just so proud because we've managed to kill everything in our front yard except those plants. They really stayed strong and will probably be there for years to come!
While we were prepping the house and having inspections done, we still had to stay busy. None of this house stuff affects the kids so of course they want to party all day long. We did manage to finish out our alphabet preschool with our friend Hazel. Christie kept all the craft letters we did over the year and they look so cute all hung up! I totally dropped the ball on Z and forgot the craft so she made one up herself to finish it out. We had a great time doing it with the kids. Now we'll let the teachers do it next year so we can relax. :)
I managed to come across a big roll of paper that I was able to take home with me. The kids had a great time tracing their bodies, drawing huge pictures, and sprawling out all over the floor. That was a fun activity that took a while. We still have a lot more paper too!
On one of the VERY few days when it was sunny this month, we headed up to the Village Beach right in the middle of a shopping area. It's kind of cool and we'd only been once before. However, this time I was ready with swimsuits, baby powder, sun screen, sand toys, water, snacks, towels, extra clothes, etc... I really didn't care what they did or how they did it. This made for some other stressed out moms though because the triplets were playing in the huge sandy water puddles and other moms didn't want their kids doing that. I kind of felt bad that we were the bad trend setters but I also didn't feel bad at all. It was one of the first times that I really just didn't care! It was so liberating. I just sat and relaxed in the shade. :)
The day before our house went on the market, I was trying to keep the house looking nice and it was stressing me out because the kids were making huge messes with their toys. So I vetoed all toys and said the kids needed to be creative. So they pulled the chairs together, asked for popcorn, and pretended to be at a movie theater.
Amid all the house stress, I actually flew out to Idaho by myself!! The trip was much needed and couldn't have come at a better time. I flew out Friday afternoon so that I could attend two family sealings in the Rexburg temple! My nephew, who is five years old, was just adopted through foster care by my older sister and her husband. So he was sealed to them and all his brothers and sisters got to be there too. Three of her kids have been sealed that way so it was awesome to see them all together in the temple. His name is Emilio and it seems like he was always meant to be part of the family.
After attending Emilio's sealing in the morning, we went to Darla's house for lunch and hanging out. I seriously felt so lazy all day because all I did was sit and eat as a result of having no kids to care for or chase after. It was nice.
After a few hours, we headed back to the temple to see my brother Taylor get sealed to his wife Ginger! Like Emilio, it seems she was always meant to be part of the family. After that ordinance, Ginger's girls came in and were sealed to Taylor and Ginger as well. Taylor's boys got to attend and witness the sealings and again, it was awesome to see them all together in the temple. It was amazing to see these eternal families be forged and created through the sealing power. I'm so grateful that I got to be a part of these special events and have my testimony be strengthened.
After Taylor and Ginger's sealing, we headed to Deanna's house for dinner which was catered Cafe Rio!! Hello.....could the day get any better? This was actually my second Cafe Rio meal since arriving in Idaho so I was feeling really lucky! So good. We ate and talked and ate and talked. Oh and there was cobbler for dessert. I'm pretty sure I gained ten pounds on this trip! Well worth it though.
I flew back the next day after attending church, taking a nap, eating lunch, and spending time at the park with my brother Spencer and his family. Such a fun trip. The only ones we were missing were Clark and the kids!
Don't worry, Clark got time to rejuvenate and rest after the weekend. There's nothing that a cuddle with Beary can't cure. :)
I've been feeling an urgency to get the triplets on pedal bikes for some reason. I haven't wanted to fork out the money for new bikes so I've been dragging my feet. However, their balance bikes had become limiting and the kids couldn't go very fast or far on them. Plus I wanted the kids to have something fun to do all summer since our lives are going to be in upheaval for the next couple months. I sold the balance bikes, found Leah's bike on Craigslist, and bought the boys' bikes on clearance at Walmart. So after all was said and done, the bikes cost $30 each so I felt pretty good.
We went over to the elementary school parking lot and started working with them. I had no idea what to expect because apparently kids can transfer directly from balance bikes to regular bikes without the help of training wheels. In the first ten minutes of working with the kids, we were getting super worried especially with Leah because she seemed to not get it at all. After another 20 minutes, I am not kidding, they were pros. It was AMAZING to watch. They were over-the-top excited/proud and could not stop pedaling and smiling. Clark and I just watched in amazement. Leah, in particular, was so proud of herself. She struggles with her own confidence and courage so this was such a boost for her! This summer is going to be awesome.
Because Clark and I were so proud of the kids, and because we made them wear long pants and shirts to protect knees and elbows in 90 degree weather, we went straight to our favorite frozen yogurt store. We even got a free cup of yogurt too because they were having a special that day. Score!
I'll talk more about our house in Michigan in a later post when I have pictures but we did find a house! I flew to Michigan for a few days ahead of Clark so I could scout out all the available houses and narrow down our search. I viewed 23 houses. Once he arrived, we had about seven houses to choose from. We then narrowed down to two, one of which backed up to the elementary school, then finally chose 'our' house! It's on a cul-de-sac so bike riding will be awesome and it has huge trees in the backyard for a future zip line or tree house. It was built in the 90's so we'll enjoy some interestingly colored carpet and wood trim but we really had no complaints about the house. It even had a wood-working shop in the basement! We are so excited about it and just hope that the inspection process goes smoothly! More information to come on all that.
This next month we will be homeless as we are in between homes and traveling to see family. So it's going to be a crazy time but we are looking forward to it!
No comments:
Post a Comment