Weekend Review..

It's been awhile since I've blogged. There has been so much going on and so little has changed at the same time. If that makes any sense.

My mom and dad came down Friday night to watch the girls all day Saturday while Adam and I attended a Home Stretch class for First Time Homebuyers in St. Paul. You may think that is silly being we already bought a house, but it's required for us to take advantage of some programs available. Since we don't qualify for any of the first time homebuyers money or anything like that - this was the one thing that we could do. We'll end up getting 20% of the interest paid on our mortgage back in our tax return [each year] we own the house. It made sitting through a nine hour class, reviewing things we've already gone through, a little easier.

Adam and I both agreed though, if we were just starting out and took that class, we would have given up right away. Buying a house sounds so much scarier than it really is. We were glad to have the extra "review" of everything, but I have to admit, the last hour or so I was really started to nod off. A few other couples or people I should say were in the same situation we were, already having a purchase agreement and closing dates set. For others, this class was their first step. I wonder if they were scared? It's kind of like lamaze classes. They either scare the crap out of you or make you want to hurry up and get it over with. Maybe this class made them want to jump right in and get started, who knows.

The girls seemed to enjoy their time with grandpa and grandma. They were playing on the playground when we got home and all their toys (that haven't been packed yet) were spread out all over the deck. It looked like they had a blast. They were both in dresses and Alexa had her hair in braids. My mom said Lillian even went poopy on the potty chair. What a thrill.

Needless to say we were ALL wiped out. Grandpa and Grandma were exhausted from all the playing, dancing, book reading, doctor playing, ect. and Adam and I were mentally exhausted from the information overload of our class. Adam got started on making tacos and rice right away for dinner and then dad treated us to a Sonic Blast for dessert. We walked over there and sat outside. It was a little chilly, but gorgeous. We walked through out townhouse complex (a.k.a. the "ghetto") on our way home. My parents were really able to see what a crappy place we've been living in for 2 1/2 years. The people living there don't care at all about anything really and it looks pretty trashy. It's not a safe place for us to be raising our girls.

We all collapsed on the couches when we got home and popped in the movie "Paul Blart - Mall Cop". It was pretty good. Kevin James is awesome!

They left after breakfast on Sunday, as my dad had to get to work at the golf course that afternoon. We were able to pack a little and then take the girls to the park after Lilli's nap. The weather was pretty much perfect. Alexa is so proud of herself for being able to pump on the swings all by herself. She will show off to anyone who will watch her. Lillian likes to swing too, she lays her head back, closes her eyes and just relaxes with the wind blowing in her hair. Afterwards, we treated the girls to Sonic again. We have to take advantage while it's so close, cuz when we move we'll most likely not venture off that way very often just to eat Sonic. We sat outside again and Lillian snuggled onto my lap (scared of a Harley Davidson looking couple) and shared a butterfinger blast, while Alexa ate an icecream cone and Adam a grape slushy. We took a walk around the lake after our treat and found a couple bouncy balls along the way. The gentleman's yard in which they were in said we could have them. He said they weren't his, they must have blown in his yard by mistake and had been there awhile. The girls enjoyed kicking them around the lake. We stopped and let them play at the park a bit before we took a trip to Farmington to drive by our house. We wanted to see if they were busy moving and had been keeping up the yard. The yard looked pretty dry..we need rain SO BAD!!

We ate dinner and gave the girls a bath when we got home and then just kinda relaxed a bit. Then wouldn't you know we decided to get back in the car and drive back to Farmington. We aren't excited or anything..ya know. Ha! We drove around the house, it looked pretty dark. I don't know if they were sleeping or gone for the night. We also saw this family a few houses down watching a movie outside. They had a projector aimed at their deck. SO COOL! I immediately made note to make friends with them once we get moved in. How fun is that..bon fire in the back yard, sprawled out on blankets or lawn chairs watching a movie. A re-invention of the drive-in movies, that's for sure. All I know is I want to be a part of it.

The girls fell asleep and Adam and I quietly argued about "paint". What colors, where to paint..ect. Ugh! I feel like we avoid the conversation, because he has his own ideas and I have mine and we know they both clash. He accuses me of wanting "my" way all the time and I accuse him of it always being "his" way. We both agreed on one thing and that was to let our dear friend Sara decide. She, well actually her husband, so kindly volunteered her services. She will be coming over after work on Wednesday (the day we close) and help us figure things out. Little does she know...she's going to figure itl ALL out for us. Ha!

Happy Memorial Day!

I personally enjoyed the extra day to sleep in and so did my kids. All four of us cuddled in our bed for a long time before we decided to get up for the day. We laid around, watched Regis and Kelly and part of The View and then got up and got ready for the day. We took the girls to the park and enjoyed being outside. Another nice day, a bit windier, but nice. The girls made a couple friends at the park and played hide and seek with them. Alexa and her new friend Hannah had something in common to talk about, too. They are both "moving". Hannah is moving to Atlanta. They shared stories of all their toys being boxed up and ready to be moved.
We ate lunch when we got home and laid Lillian down for a nap. My intentions were to continue packing, but I just felt like being lazy and ended up falling asleep by Alexa on the couch watching "Enchanted". Even though I didn't sleep really well, I rested pretty good and it gave me just enough energy to get up and pack. We made another huge dent in our stuff and every day the pile of boxes gets bigger and bigger in our den. Soon you won't be able to walk in there. Alexa and Lillian love to crawl through the maze of boxes and find the smallest of areas to hide in. We lost Lillian once for a few minutes and found her squished between some boxes, just sitting there reading a book. We only worked on packing for a few hours, but boy did we get a lot done. The girls could not have been better helpers. Alexa labels all the boxes and Lillian, well, she helps, too. I feel like I have things organized with each box labeled with what is inside and where it needs to go in the new house once it gets there. I'm trying to make it easier for me to unpack and also for the people helping us move know exactly where to put the box. Organization!
We got lazy again after dinner and sat and watched the Bachelorette and then Newlyweds before going to bed.

There are some people I have to thank before I close here..

Mom and Dad - THANK YOU SO MUCH for all you have done for us. You know what I mean! PLUS, a HUGE THANK YOU for watching the girls on Saturday. I hope you enjoyed being with them as much as they did with you. Alexa wants to show you again how she can pump by herself on the swings. She is so very proud of herself. She can get herself going without even a push.
Your love and support is what has gotten us where we are right now.

Benski - You are a beast!! We appreciate you being here for us so much. It's so nice having you close by. You help out with the girls when we need and we are forever thankful. A thank you in advance for helping us move and again for watching our precious babies. We're going to miss you this summer.

Rachel - You are the coolest office manager (besides me-of course). You've gone over and beyond your duties to help us out and make the move to our new house so much less stressful by getting us out of our lease and being so patient throughout this whole process with us. You ROCK!

Vic and Sara - You guys are so awesome. We could not have asked for a better realtor (and his wife). You've made the process fun and we've made life long friends. We love you!

Barb, Mike, Rich, Shelly and everyone else we've been so gratefully been in contact with the last few months - We appreciate all your help, advice, support and kind words. You all have made our home buying process so easy and fun.

And to ALL our family and friends...especially Linda, Juan,Dre, Tyler and Tiny for helping us haul all our stuff to the new house. We appreciate your help in advance and all your hard work moving. Tiny - this will be your 3rd time helping us move now? You know our stuff better than we do! Ha!

Thanks again for all your love and support. We love you all!! God Bless you! :)

Ok.......does anyone else feel like I just won an Academy Award? Sorry for the long speech...but we really do appreciate you all and everything you've done for our family.

Love, Dawn