Hopeful!

Our new home?

We got the call today that the bank counter offered & we counter offered back. They accepted our counter offer!!!!!! Now we are waiting for the next step in this process. It should take about 10 days. The bank will have to sign a whole bunch of papers and then make sure their are no liens on the property. If everything checks out okay we can move on to the next step, the inspection. It's not officially our home but the whole process is moving in the right direction from what our agent tells me. I am so very excited.

I will show more photos once we know for sure but I thought I'd give you an idea of how cute this home is. Yes it has a 3 car garage. That 4th garage that has been added on the the house has rocks for flooring. Dean already told me that if we get the house he will pour a concrete floor in there, insulate and add drywall, texture & paint,

IT WILL BECOME MY STUDIO!!!!!!!!!

The garage is as deep as the house. He also said he would frame in a small area at the front of the space so I could store all of my Rubbermaid containers of decorations & such. There is enough room for me to set up a space for sewing & painting & then some. I could work on projects and leave them unfinished for a day if I needed. I wouldn't have to worry about cleaning them up so we could eat at the dining room table. Nope just close a door & come back to it when able. I envision a whole lot of art getting accomplished in that little studio.

The 3 car garage is perfect for all of Deans tools & projects. He joked that all someone had to say is the house had a 3 car garage & he was sold....didn't matter what the rest of the house looked like ;) What guy doesn't want a large garage?

I'm so hopeful!

27 weeks & Running out of Room

A big mess!

Have I mentioned we are running out of room? Bursting at the seams? That this new baby WILL be sleeping in a dresser drawer if we don't find a larger home very soon? If I seem redundant I apologize. I am so very excited that we have wonderful in laws whom are willing to help us get into a bigger home. The process of looking for said home has proven to be a bittersweet one. We have only been looking for a few months but the process has been a little frustrating. None of the houses we have looked at are really what we want. There is always something major that would need to be fixed or changed to make the house livable. Sometimes the houses are too small or in the wrong neighborhood. One home was really old, but huge and we could have made it work (with a good scrubbing and huge remodel). It looked like a good deal until Dean crawled under the house only to discover fire damage that had been covered up and repaired in a very shady way. That one was out of the question. We've put three offers on three different homes and two of the three have been rejected. The last one we haven't heard back on yet, however there are 54 other offers ahead of ours and it doesn't look promising.

Well last night we went and looked at a home & let me tell you it's perfect. It has all the things Dean & I both want in a home for our little growing family. I am trying not to get my hopes up on this one, but we put an offer in on the home this morning. This is the only home we walked through & neither of us mentioned::

major remodel

don't touch anything girls this house is disgusting

the bathroom will have to be remodeled before the children take a bath in it

this will need to be removed

this will need to be rewired......

Seriously the list goes on. None of those things were mentioned. In fact I could envision having parties on the back porch, and family dinners out in the cool summer night. I could see our kids enjoying the huge back yard & the garden Dean would plant as soon as we moved in. I saw just how perfectly our furniture would fit. I loved the new kitchen and the huge dinning room. The list goes on of positives for this home. Really in truly I'm very hopeful & praying that if this is the right home for us that we will be able to call it "our home" in the near future.

While I am on the topic of running out of room, I'm officially 27 weeks. Although I'm extremely excited about a home birth there is always a little fear of the unknown. My sister in law gave me this book for Christmas & I am so grateful she did. I find it very comforting to read. I love the many birth stories that are included. This will be my 4th birth and I really do feel I can trust my body to do what it needs to do when it comes to birth. Sloan was my longest & hardest birth. My water broke around 3pm and I delivered her sunny side up the next day around 11:15 in the morning. Zoe came really fast, 7 hours from start to finish. Aris came even faster, about 5 hours from start to finish. I am guessing this birth has a good chance of going even more quickly if history repeats itself. Dean's biggest fear is that the baby will come too quickly & he will have to deliver him. I am worried about the same thing. Dean is one of the toughest guys I know. He can crush his foot against a rock riding a dirt bike, ride 30 miles back to camp bloody & swollen & then wrap his foot and go to work the next day no problem. However the dude can't handle blood on anyone else. If the baby came before the midwife I would be delivering him myself & checking to make sure Dean hadn't hurt himself after passing out. My midwife assured me that she would be there as soon as I feel I'm in labor. I felt so relieved to know this. There will be no messing around this time. No cleaning the house until the contractions are super close together for this girl. Nope! Aris was delivered at 7cm dilated. I'm not taking any chances with this little guy, lol! Can you tell I'm getting excited about the big day even though its weeks away? So much going on right now. The unknown is both exciting & a little unnerving at times. Only time will tell how life takes it's course. We shall see!

Hope you all enjoy this beautiful Monday!

Newest Card

March's Card

You can download this card for ::free:: at Simply Sweet Marriage. You can also find other sweet things to add some spice to your marriage ;)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. It was rainy and cold all day yesterday. Last night it snowed & although it's in the 30's here today the sun is shining. It almost feels like a cold spring day. Sunny days have been scarce around here lately so I am soaking it in.

Dean turned 33 yesterday. The girls are going to a dear friends home to play for a few hours so we go out for lunch today. I'm looking forward to some one on one time. We don't get to go out (kid free) very often so I'm sure it will be fun.

What are you doing this weekend?

Early Morning Painters

Mommy can I paint?

Is always met with such hesitation & joy.

Hesitation because I know just how much fun they will have making a mess, I mean art. They are both covered in paint. My bathroom sink is also.

Joy because they love it so much. Because I love the look of determination on their faces as they mix paint. I love the way their chubby little hands take such care in each brushstroke. I guess a little part of me hopes that one day they will love art just as much as I do. In the end it's worth it. Always is & always will be.

Thinking Ahead

Sketch for April's card

Thinking ahead has never been one of my strong suits when it comes to art. I think I have mentioned this on more than one occasion. I'm not very good with planning out an art project & making magic happen on time. I tend to wait until the last minute & then work furiously under pressure to get said project finished. There is almost always someone on the other side waiting patiently for the project to be completed. This whole process completely drives my husband nuts. He's somewhat of a planner when it comes to "projects". Let me tell you this part of art is no fun. It is something that haunts me. Daily. I'm not kidding here folks. If you saw the list of things I need to do on my art list you would run screaming into a wall, repeatedly. Ahhhhh!!!!!!

Then this sweet gal stopped by my blog and said hello the other day.

I'll be participating in ::this:: each week.

I realized the other day that I don't do any art for myself anymore. You know just for the joy of it all. For the heck of it! I am hoping that by participating in Feathers group I will find that "joy" again. If you are interested in this joining this group please go to the above link to find out all the details. You don't have to be an artist to join. Anyone is welcome. No matter what your artistic skill. I hope you'll join me in the fun. Just run on over and say hello.

P.S. Thank you Heidie for being so very patient with me :)