THE house????

Our poor kids.  Every time we go somewhere we take "the long way home".  We drive through neighborhoods looking at houses, hoping something we like will be for sale.  There are plenty of houses for sale, but most are greenish/brownish stucco jobs, which we really are not fond of.  Often when we find a house we like (from the outside anyway) we come home & look it up online.  We've got expensive tastes because many of these homes are a bit out of our price range.  We've also spent too much time looking online at the MLS trying to find the perfect house.  We have a realtor to call, but have yet to call her since we are renting a house until June 1.

Well, yesterday Mason & I went to lunch at an old BYU friend's house (at Mason's preschool open house we recognized a mom as someone who had lived above us in an old house when we were first married).  Anyway, she'd invited us over yesterday.  After lunch & a little playtime, it was time to come home, but not straight home, I took the long way.  I found a neighborhood in American Fork that I'd not driven through yet.  There were several houses for sale.  Mason hopped out to pull flyers (the kids love doing that).  Then we headed home, where I began looking at the homes from the flyers online.

One really jumped out at me, I just loved it.  When Todd got home I told him I'd found our house.  He loved the pictures too, so we called & set up an appointment.  It's a for sale by owner, brand new house, never lived in, price way reduced.  We took the whole family & spent 45 minutes going around & around.  For the most part it's everything we want, the family room is a little small & so is the lot, but everything else is perfect.

I took my mom & sister through it today & they really liked it too.  We've been working with a banker this week to get approved, so if everything works out we might make an offer next week. Yikes, a little early, but I don't think we are going to find a better house!  I'll keep the happening posted.

A day of rest, not really

I know Sunday is a day of rest, but I think that's only for people without children. Actually, today was better than some.
Sarah is becoming a very good reader & finally decided that she could read to Mason. They both seemed to enjoy it. This could be a very good thing since I'm very sick of his favorite Blues Clues books! Today was the primary program at church. In our Rochester ward the kids would go up to the stand after the sacrament. Here, they were up there the entire meeting. Great for us, not for the teachers. It was nice to just have Emma, one is really easy!
Mason is in a class with just one other sunbeam & a CTR 5 (our junior primary is not very big). Part way through the program all three of them disappeared. They were tired of the seats & decided the floor would be better. Their teacher just smiled & shrugged her shoulders. I did not blame her one bit, I thought it was funny. Later Mason discovered how bouncy the choir seats are & was really going to town up & down.
Mason & Sarah both did great with their parts, no tears, no shyness, just fine.

Cascade Springs

Yesterday we went for a drive to Cascade Springs. It's a pretty series of ponds & waterfalls up in American Fork Canyon. I'd been there probably 20 years ago & Todd never had, so we headed up with my parents & sister Becky.
The road through the canyon is very winding. Last summer as I rode up there with my family, Mason got sick (really gross, even though it really struck my mom funny). Yesterday I was a bit nervous for him, so we just rolled down his window & he seemed to do fine. I kept asking him if he felt ok, he'd respond "no, I'm sick, I have a cold." (which he does)
Sarah rode with my parents & about talked theirs & Becky's ears off. They asked if she got tired of talking & she told them that her voicebox never gets tired. I told her that her voice might never get tired, but I bet their ears get tired of listening sometimes. She kept right on going.
We had fun walking around the falls. Mason liked pushing Emma for a while, then he begged for his turn in the stroller.
The leaves were just starting to change, so we had some green & yellow & a few orange trees. Very pretty!

Road kill

My nephew, Isaac, came Friday to drive the Barbie Jeep with Mason (he really wished it was blue, not pink & purple, but was ok with it since it's fun).

As they drove to the far side of our large backyard, Isaac came running over to tell Lori & me that there was a dead squirrel on the lawn.  Gross!  Nothing like having road kill on your lawn for the toy jeep to hit, which they did not, luckily.  

So, I scooped the stiff & recently watered corpse up with a shovel & threw it onto the vacant lot next to us.  I should have thrown it over the fence to a stream area behind us, but I was afraid that if I hoisted it up to high it might slide off the shovel towards me.

Last night we had a big family party in our backyard.  The toy jeep was a hit, but so was the dead squirrel in the vacant lot.  I saw the kids looking at it.

This morning as I opened my bedroom blinds & saw a familiar creature on the back lawn.  I wondered what the chances were of having another dead squirrel back there.  As I scooped it up I realized it must be the same one, due to it being much more decomposed than the other & I could not easily see Friday's in the vacant lot.  So, I'm guessing some little body or maybe some other creature deposited it back on my lawn last night.  So gross.  I once again just threw it onto the vacant lot, for fear of it sliding off the shovel before making it over the fence.  I'm hoping for no more surprises tomorrow morning!

He's on to me

Mason hates to stop whatever he's doing to run to the bathroom.  He'd rather dance around until the last possible second.  I try to get him to go by suggesting that maybe this time it would be a different color, such as pink like the strawberry milk he drank.  It usually works & after he goes he always says, "it's just yellow".  

Well, tonight he was doing the dance while we were outside.  I told him to run in & go.  He said no.  I said that maybe it would be red like the fruit punch crystal light he'd had for dinner.  He told me no again and said, "our bodies just make it yellow".  Too bad, now I'll need a new trick to get him in there! 

New set of wheels

All the Jeep driving around here (see previous post) made us decide to buy a new set of wheels for our kids. We've been wanting to do it all summer, but never did. Now that summer is over we decided to go ahead as an early Christmas present since a gift like this is quite cruel in the winter! We ended up with the Barbie Jeep. Mason was thrilled. He'd driven the Glines's Barbie Jeep every chance he could get, so he did not have a problem getting one. We'd wanted a blue, not so girly type, but those were only available online & it would be a while before it would arrive. Having to wait 18 hours for the battery to charge was torture enough for the kids!
They look so thrilled here, hmmm.

Driving

Sarah & her friend from down the street, Kylee, had a birthday party to go to Friday night of a girl in our ward who lives around the corner. When Sarah got home from school she told me Kylee was going home to get changed into pajamas (it was a pajama party) then she was going to come pick Sarah up in her Jeep. She was a bit deflated when I told her it was only 4:00 & the party was not until 6:30. Kylee was true to her word though and showed up at 4:30, in the Jeep. They played, had some dinner, then drove on over at 6:30. Mason was VERY JEALOUS! I just had to laugh as they drove away thinking, are those girls 6 & 7 or 16 & 17?

Mason's Firsts

Mason started preschool yesterday. We'd gone to the open house last week & he was very excited about it. When the time came to go, he got a bit nervous. He was a bit upset that his backpack was empty (what should have been in it?). I told him maybe he'd bring a frog home in it (his preschool is called A Leap Ahead Preschool & a frog is the symbol).
He did not want his picture taken, so I took this & showed it to him. He decided it would not be so bad to cooperate & have a better picture.

Here he is in his classroom. He had no problems with me leaving. At the end of class, Miss Cathie brought all the kids outside to the waiting moms. The first thing Mason said to me was "Mom, I have a frog!" Here it is.
Today Mason started gymnastics at the American Fork Rec Center. He'd watched Sarah take gymnastics & was thrilled that it was finally his turn. He loved the long trampoline, a little too much. The kids were to swing on the bar, bear walk across some bars, then jump down the trampoline, get off, & start all over again. Mason missed the get off part. He'd jump down to the end, then turn around, jump back to the start, then turn around & jump to the end again. It was really funny. He can't wait to go back next week!