Making a house a home

Well, it appears that we're finally buying a house here in California! We've been at it now for months. You wouldn't think that in the current economic situation where so many people are trying to sell their homes that it would be that hard to actually buy one...au contraire, mon frere! We've had a heck of a time. The very first home we saw when we started our search was perfect...until we found out it already had an accepted offer. We found another great home but were outbid. We visited house after house only to be disappointed that we couldn't seem to find a house that had all we were looking for. We finally reconsidered one home, decided it would work and put in an offer...only to find out that the owner had decided to take a loan modification and was no longer selling. We visited more houses followed by more disappointment. Then we found another "perfect" home; it was really special. We placed the winning bid and the owners accepted our offer and the paperwork headed off to the bank. Then, however, we received an e-mail from the realtor asking us to back out of the deal as the current owners had decided to take a loan modification to try and save their home. Aaarrgghh! I feel that God has a plan and it appears that he does. After spending part of last weekend looking at more houses, on Sunday, the very first house that we looked at in this comedy of errors popped back up on the market. The other deal had fallen through and so we grabbed our realtor and put in an offer....and it was accepted! Yeah!! So, we've spent the last week getting a house inspection done and meeting with landscapers as there's an HOA requirement that the backyard be professionally landscaped. If everything continues to go well we should close around the 1st of May. Hopefully, we won't run into any more snags! As I can't post without a picture, here are a few shots of Lauren taken by my very talented friend Ms. Tracy Cook.

Top o' the morning to ya!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from our little leprechaun!

The Thrifty Hat

I've been looking everywhere to find a hat similar to this one in the picture above. I finally found this one at the flea market of all places (it was new)....and it was only $3! I also found a few other photo props for a total of $18. I was so excited as I felt these "treasures" that I carted home had mucho potential. Doug, however, has given me three weeks to use 'em or lose 'em. I guess they do look a little worse for wear. So, I'll need to get busy taking pictures with them. Look for some new shots soon!
Side note: Some of you have asked me how I get my pictures to show up in a larger format here on blogger. I am terribly unsavvy when it comes to computers but I played around with this until I figured it out. First of all, you need to have a template that supports it. I think I have the lefty stretch. After you've uploaded your photos, select the "Edit Html" option next to "Compose" in the upper right hand corner of the posting box. Then it's just a matter of doubling the numbers you find there. There will be four numbers you'll need to work with. Change the 10px to 20, the 400 px to 800px, double the height, and finally s400 to s800. Hope that helps!

Waitin' for a train

A thousand miles from home and waitin' for a train...

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

Anna pulled out the tube of chapstick and said, "I'm going to chap my lips.". After she put it on, she said, "Okay, my lips are chapped."

Listening to Bob Seger singing "Night Moves" on XM the other day, Lauren asked, "Why does he keep saying "Guy-Fu"?" I guess "night moves" sounded like "guy-fu" to her.

Anna heard me telling Doug that I was worried Jacob might be getting cradle cap. "What's cradle crap?", she asked.

The girls were reciting a nursery rhyme the other day. It went like this: "Jack be numble, Jack be quick!".

We were discussing buying a new bed (headboard, footboard and frame). Anna asked, "Can it please be mine? I'm the only one without a head."

On the way to Monterey, Anna kept asking, "Where are we going again? Canada?"

Once we arrived in Monterey, Lauren started singing a song about being so happy to finally be in "Mon-te-pay".

In the hotel early Saturday morning Doug and I were talking about what we were going to do that day. Anna sat up in bed and said, "Could you guys please keep it down? I haven't had a dream yet and I'm trying to dream about mangoes."

Driving from Target back to our house, Lauren saw some construction work.

L: What's that for?

Me: They're building a new road.

L: Why?

A: So people can get to the pool easier. (The construction is right by the neighborhood pool.)

Me: Actually, they're building a bypass. Lincoln is too busy and this new road will route people around Lincoln.

A: God made too many people, right?

Me: Well....

A: Does God make people or do people make people?

Me: God plays a big role in it.

A: And I thought Daddy put the bones in there.

L: Is Nandy with God? (Nandy is their great-grandfather who passed away a year ago.)

Me: Yes, he is.

A: I miss Nandy. He was a good fellow.

Anna kept interrupting Lauren when she was trying to talk. Lauren yelled at her, "Anna, stop that! It's so fus-tur-ating!!"

Anna's class had to draw a picture and write a sentence about what they would do if they were elected to be President of the United States. Anna wrote, "If I were President, I would wear a sparkly dress and pick flowers."

What's the idea of messing up my boy?

Have you guys ever seen the "Tom and Jerry" cartoon where Tom keeps dirtying up Tyke, Spike the bulldog's little son? I think it's the funniest thing when Spike asks Tom, "What's the idea of messing up my boy?" I think I need to start asking Doug the same question. He keeps giving Jacob a "pitot tube" (basically a tube that serves as an aircraft's speedometer) or as Lauren calls it a "peanut tube". I had just given Jacob a bath last night and he was all nice and clean when I handed him over to Doug. I went to bathe the girls and when I came back I found him looking like this....

Notice the little spike on top of his head. He reminds me of a kewpie doll I had when I was little. Doug has done this same thing to each of our children. I'll have to go back and see if I can find the pictures of the girls with their pitot tubes as well.

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean...

After the lack of photos the day before, I really wanted to get some pics of the kids. We headed down to the beach at Carmel where it was so cold! I managed to bribe the girls with promises of a treat if they would cooperate with me. They "said" they were cooperating but it didn't seem like that to me. Here are a few shots, anyway.