as we come to a close...

we are definitely closing on friday. well, i should say....it looks much better than it has i feel as though i would like to briefly share the struggle that has been our existence for the past two months....

• we were pre-approved for our mortgage on july 31
• we looked at a billion houses and the one we finally chose, we had seen in our second night out
• we made a bid on the house and found out that night, that the program we had been selected for had been cancelled. we would now have to come up with $x for closing costs. that is not a lot but it's $x more than we were told on july 31. driving home, my sister broke down and in the span of an hour and a half, waiting for a tow truck,  our alternator went. ($x later...) not to mention the $x we had just given for "hand money" for good faith on the mortgage.
• accepted the bid after some haggling we went through the crazy 15 day rush to get this, that and the other done. 
• everything was completed but with the credit crunch, the simple paperwork become super complicated and quite arduous....
• then we plan to go to IKEA one night and our brakes went!!! it was the worst grinding you've ever heard....(X million dollars later) we still haven't made it to IKEA...
• the day before closing, we realize we can't close yet but now have to wait one week for a last minute issue. 
• chris in the midst of the chaos found out he had two stress fractures and is forbidden to run til january and that his bank was boughten out (that was for yins locals) by PNC...thus placing his future at the bank in jeopardy...
• now here we are closing, painting, and moving in two days...

many tears have been shed, mostly by chris :)...but it's over. we are moving to a great house. and His faithfulness is new every morning and we are living in sheer grace right now. overwhelmed and horrified but dearly loved...

"today i consider myself the luckiest (wo)man on the face of the earth"

i have never been more proud as a mother, person, or woman in my life....

it was an all day struggle....

...it just finally came out.

...max dropped the kids off at the pool....

more news

well, it's been a really stressful few weeks for us. for those of you who think that this buyer's market means "easy like sunday morning" closing remember that we are also in a mortgage crisis. it has not been an easy few weeks for us. paperwork, changes, emotional rollercoasters, etc...well, it has all come to a head today....we got our final approval and will close next week. we were originally supposed to close tomorrow. however, for reasons that are way toooo complicated and incredibly boring, i'll spare you the details, we are now closing next week. 

also, it is important to mention that our beloved "cockageah" may be lost forever....we can't find him anywhere and are desperately hoping he was accidentally packed in a box....he loves this bear...it was a gift his first week of life and he has loved this bear since he was born. we always kept him at home except for transition times to a babysitter...well, we broke our own rule, and we fear he may be gone....please pray for his safe return...

probably my most favorite quote came from wells tonite....

"what do you want to be for halloween...a cat or dinosaur?"

(i found both cheap...cat last year...so cute)

"i don't want to dress up"

"max, do you realize that you will score lots of candy by looking cute and begging for candy?"

"ok, i'll dress up like a big boy and wear gutchies. people will think that's cute...you do."

TRUE AND TRUE

one

this U2 song has been playing in my head all weekend. 

i have always been surrounded by U2 fans and always LOVED them but was not die hard....

after this weekend--i'm hooked. they don't need to release anything else...their old

stuff is sufficient for me...

more hilarity

we have been crazy for about two months. we've had colds on and off. we made the bid on our house and it was accepted and now...we close in a few weeks, um, well, ten days. it's been wild. i haven't posted many pictures lately, so here are a few of this past weekend. wow, what a weekend. our brakes went all of a sudden on saturday and it cost a fortune to replace...it was rough....but we used public transportation on monday while it was getting fixed and it was quite a ride...we really enjoyed it. we definitely enjoy our car more...

making muffins with daddy...

first day on the potty and the day i hurt my back...this is his bear "cockageeah". he named it that a few days ago. it was crazy...so sweet...

playing with his matreshka doll (russian nesting dolls) a gift from olg...that hat is a size 3-6 months...what? how does that fit? it does fit though...so cute

barrel full of monkeys cheater...

my inlaws have houses being built in their plan and sometimes we sneak on them when no one is working..he loves it soo much...

we had another ultrasound yesterday everything was good. she is growing soo much. max finally asked the question that no parent wants to hear....

"how did the baby get in there?"

...gulp...

"the things i say because my mama is a therapist"

i need to share some of the recent comments from my son who is clearly being raised by someone who is overly concerned about his emotional IQ...

"mommy, i'm really mad at you right now."

"why?"

"because i asked you for some more chips and you told me that i was all done. i really wanted more but you said "no" and it hurt my feelings!"

"when the new baby comes...will mommy still love maxy?"

"caleb bit my arm and that was NOT nice. he made a bad decision"

watching national geographic kids, there is a video that has a bear trying to catch a fish swimming upstream,

he said "c'mon bear. you can do it. don't give up! keep trying...."

these are a few i could think of but i had a looong list earlier today....so funny.

it's underwear day!!

i never thought these two sets of words would come out of my mouth...

 "thank GOD for elmo!" 

and 

"wells peed on the potty!!"

we have had quite a ride with the potty training. i vowed not to get stressed out about it...however, last christmas, nina got this potty training video...i remember my sister telling me that she intercepted it from max's gifts so i didn't feel like our mom was pressuring me to get him trained. i was grateful for her doing that because i may have felt bad...like i should have been more "on the ball" with his bathrooming...well, this summer came and went and he was NOT READY. the main thing that stands out to me is his screaming bloody murder when i pulled underwear out of his drawer...he hated it. two weeks ago, he screamed when i put his underwear on OVER his diaper...yikes. again, not ready...all of last week, i would casually mention that saturday was underwear day...he didn't EVER respond to it...he said nothing at all when i brought it up...finally on friday, my sister in law said "is tomorrow 'underwear day'?" she said max had told her that....without fussing...so we went full steam ahead. 

saturday morning came and i took off his soaked dippy and threw it away. i put on the underwear and he said "i'm such a big dog now!" (chris calls him big dog) and we set the clock for 30 minutes....the morning was flying by, we watched elmo's video about the potty....30 minutes really goes by quickly...at about 1030, i bent down to pick something up on the bathroom floor and turned to get max to lift him up and SNAP!!!!! my back "went out"...i wanted to cry sooo badly because the pain just SHOT UP my back and i couldn't stand up....it was terrible...that being said, he decided that was the time to pee on the potty....we were so excited...we both laughed and screamed...it was so exciting. we called chris, he was golfing, and he was so excited too..

he has only had two accidents, that really were my fault...i should have let him use the potty before i did...but i'm almost 7 months pregnant...i really had to go...and then one time the first day after his nap...not bad huh??

im finally on the mend from this back thing....i was such a jerk at work yesterday...i can't believe myself...today was a bit easier...tomorrow i go back to the chiropractor...should be a lot better tomorrow morning...

also, i need to tell you about my sweet, sweet son...he asks to pray several times a day. he loves talking to God. it has boosted my prayer life dramatically. he prays for the baby, he thanks God for construction trucks, and he prayed for an ambulance the other day and thanked God the lights weren't on...meaning everyone was safe in the back....what a babe!!

i'm so proud to be his mum! 

working in middle school...

i work with middle school students all day. this is my second year doing that...i LOVE those kids. they are such a neat, amazing, HORMONAL group of people...that being said, articles like this, baffle me more than ever now. the maturity level, in my opinion, could not allow attraction. these poor students are being abused by their teachers in the "name of love" and it's forever distorting their view of relationships. the woman in the aforementioned article said, "We (translation "I") didn't see age anymore...in my mind he quit being a teenage boy...to me, he was a man." this inspired chris to say "it doesn't matter what she saw....what matters is what it was."

OK not profound...pretty obvious...but it immediately caused me to log in and delete my quote at the top of my page from anais nin..side note.....i LOVE her. she has amazing quotes and as we have been contemplating names...that one is a lead dog (a-NYE-iss) but i hesitate because of her "other writings"....questionable at best....granted that does not determine our daughter's future buuut....in ASL when you name a child they say "is she named in honor of" (rough translation but more accurate than "named after".) BACK TO THE QUOTE...it was "things are not as they are but as we see them"....it sounded a little off to me but i still liked it...i chose the route of perspective instead of realitivity...chris hated it...so NOW i see clearly why....

that was a huuuuge ramble but i had to get it out before i got ready to see my MS kids...