Five Question Friday

1. Do you swim in the winter?
Sometimes, but not a lot. Usually it is something special, like on a trip at a hotel or one of the indoor water parks in the Dells. My friend/sister-in-law's MOPS group does a fundraiser and we try to make it.

2. Do you love or hate winter?
A little of both. I love the snow and watching it fall but I don't like the cold. My favorite thing is to go sledding.

3. Do you put makeup/actual clothes on when you know you're going to be home all day with just family?
I don't usually wear makeup so that would be a no. I always put on actual clothes. Since I'm a stay at home mom I'm always home all day with just family, well two daycare children as well. Some times it's just sweats.

4. How old were you when you had your first alcoholic beverage?
I don't remember for use, I think I was 20? It was a Christmas Eve church service with my grandmother. The church was having communion with wine and grape juice. Upon reaching the serving plates I found red and white cups. I figured the white was wine and choose the red. It was not grape juice. By the time I reached my seat about 6 rows back my cheeks were flushed and I was getting hot flashes. My aunts and grandma Bonny thought it was hilarious. I obviously can't hold my alcohol.

5. How many ill calls in a 12 month period do you think are acceptable?
My husband and I have talked about his since his work say 0 and I find that impossible, especially is you have young children. My work gave us 10 days for the year, which could accumulate up to 100 days. Personally, I think about 5 is acceptable if you don't have children. I figure you get the flu and are out for 3 days and 2 extra just in case. If you have children I think 10 is acceptable.

Overwhelmed

We've only been looking at homes for about a month now, and I already feeling tired and overwhelmed. Part of me just wants to choose one of the homes we have already seen and buy it. The other part of me wants to keep looking. It's only been a month! Buying a house is such a big decision, I don't want to rush and make a bad choice. I'm just not very patient right now.

We still have quite a few homes we still want to see, so no decision will be made any time soon.

Patrick's First Birthday Party (A Story in Picture)

The Invitation

Playing with the Balloons

Yummy, Red Balloon

My Friends and Family

Pizza!

Clean Up!

I Fell and Hit My Head.

Getting Ready for Patrick's Party

We've spent the last two days getting ready for Patrick's first birthday party. Michael rented a Rug Doctor and cleaned the carpets. They were looking pretty bad after a year of spit up, drool, and other things. The kitchen and bathroom were cleaned yesterday and today, so the house is presentable to the party tomorrow.

I made Patrick's cake today. I only need to frost it and decorate it tomorrow. I even made some penguins to go on the cake and one snowman. The other snowmen didn't turn out well. I'll post pictures of his party tomorrow.

One Year Old

How in the world did that happen? It's hard to believe that Patrick is one year already. He's grown so much and is fun to watch play and interact with. He is definitely my little athlete. He sat on his own at 5 months, crawled at 6 months, and was walking by 9.5 months. At 11 months he started climbing on chairs and has since learned to climb on anything he can reach and get a hand hold on. He's even figured out how to use other objects to boost himself up. He never seems to to cease amazing us.

He as recently taken to stomping his feet as he is walking around. Another favorite and new thing is to put a toy in his mouth and then hum behind it. Yet another amazing feat, he has learned to open doors as well as how to climb on the baby gate. Pretty soon, he'll figure out how to get over the gate. I'm running out of ideas of how to keep him out of the bathroom and our room. Looks like we will have to buy two more baby gates and hope he doesn't climb over them.

He's been having a hard time lately with napping. He is refusing to nap in the mornings. After lunch he takes a nap but only about 1.5 hours. Then he's waking up in the middle of the night. Not sure if the two are related, but I think they might be. My other guess is he's going through a growth spurt.

It's been a fast year, and I'm sure all the other's will go just as fast.

Helping Daddy clean the carpets.

House Hunting 102

Next lesson in buying a home, set a maximum and stick to it. We've set a maximum that we are comfortable with but are having a hard time staying there. The biggest problem is that prices are negotiable so we've looked at a few homes above our limit hoping to get a lower price that is in our budget. This makes me a little uncomfortable since there is no guarantee that the owner will go as low as we need them too. Do homeowners usually accept offer $20k less?

I have two favorites of the homes that we have visited. One is right in our range but needs some work done which then adds to the cost. It is very close to Michael's grandparents, only about 2 blocks away, which I like. The other is older and very large, definitely has space to grow into as the family grows. It's about $20k more but doesn't really need anything besides personal touches which any home would need. Both homes will need appliances so tomorrow I'm window shopping to see what I like and how much I will need to save. We do have another 6-7 homes we would like to see. We plan to re-look at our favorite homes all in one day and then make a decision. This is still a few weeks away, and I don't want to rush into anything.

House Hunting 101

First lesson in house hunting, make a list of what you must have in a home. Not wants or would like, but must have. This has really helped Michael and I so far in our search for a home. We've been able to cut some homes right away due to this. My must have is pretty small, 3 bedrooms and a bathtub. Michael's is also pretty small, Air Conditioning and a garage. Everything else is negotiable. We do have some strong preferences but there will have to be some give and take.

We've been looking at homes for about two weeks now. Not that long considering it's such a big decision and a large investment. We are looking to buy a home in FDL since it is nearer to his work. We hope the move will help save on gas money and will open up more opportunities for me to do daycare. Plus it will help us build equity instead of continuing to rent.

We've seen four home together and I went to five open houses today. We've also sent a list of ten properties to the agent to look at. Our goal is to visit homes in groups of four or five and then pick our favorite one or two from that grouping. Then we will revisit the favorite homes and narrow it down more from there. So far we really like a home on Western and at the open house I really liked a home on South Main.

Here's to more showing and more lessons in home buying.

Five Question Friday

1. What is the weather like where you are and do you like it?

I love windy weather, especially in the summer when it is warm out. I love the feel of the wind rushing by. It's almost like the wind it trying to clean things up by blowing things all away.

2. When you're sick what do you seek comfort from?

My bed and a cold rag. I don't get sick to often, but when I'm feeling down I just want to crawl into my bed and stay there all day.

3. What do you need to do before the end of the month?

Pay the bills. Almost all our bills are due right at the end of the month or the 1st of the month. We only have one bill due in the middle of the month and I hate it.

4. Have you ever served on a jury?

No, I was called for jury duty but not selected to be on the jury. It was right at the beginning of summer break during college and I didn't have much money. I could have been working instead of sitting in a room all day.

5. If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?

I think a bird. I love heights and I think I would enjoy being able to fly up high in the sky. Maybe a small but quick hummingbird or the large stately eagle.

Wordless Wednesday

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

That year went way to fast and a new year looms before us. If people are correct we only have this year left, then that is it. Having Patrick made this years slipping bye even more pronounced I think. He's almost a year old now.

Our family saw many changes this year as well. First was Patrick's birth, then Michael's job change to shift work. I'd have to say this work change has been difficult for the family, but we've adapted and are making the best of it. I also lost my job due to the budget battle and I'm now a stay-at-home mom. I do have one child that I'm watching but could really use another.

Birth

Christmas, almost a year



We are looking forward to many new things this year. My sister is due in May with another cousin for Patrick. Michael and I are looking at possibly buying a home and moving to the FDL area. We will be much nearer to Michael's work which will save money on gas since it's about half the distance. FDL is also where his family lives and, I hope, I'll have a better chance of finding more children to watch since FDL is larger and we know more people. We are also planning a family vacation in August with Michael's parents and brother's family. We are going on a cruise! I've never been on a cruise before.

I revisited my New Years post from 2011 to see how I did. Not to bad, but obviously there were some things that I did do. I'd say my greatest disappointment is that I have been relaxed on my daily devotions and reading of my Bible. My goal is to do better this year.