Weekend of Fun

So this weekend was very busy, but full of so much fun. Friday consisted of a coffee/house/banana bread/sandwich party with OBaby and Mrs. O. Then, my sister and I went and looked at paint chips. If you see her, tell her that the house won't look like sesame street if she uses bright colors. She is afraid of it always being a 'Sunny day.' I told her not to worry, but I don't think she is quite sold yet.

but this weekend was tremendously fun because we had GUESTS! My two girlfriends from wheaton came and visited me. I love my little Natalie (the manatee) and Jaime so much! We hit up the state fair - their first ever state fair - complete with cheese curds, malts from the dairy barn, mini donuts, and fresh french fries. Yum! After the fair, I introduced them to the gargantuan that is the Mall of America. Not too bad for a Saturday afternoon. It was a success.

Sunday was time for partying on Lake Minnetonka - courtesy of cousin Quinn turning NINE. Tubing, boating, fishing, swimming, and EATING (mmm zestar apples from the apple house!) lots of delicious things.

Monday the girls took off, and we played dinner hosts to Jon and his girlfriend (whom we had met once before, at our wedding... didn't really remember her all that much). After a terribly difficult round of extreme croquet, we all pitched in to make tacos for dinner. An intense game of NERTS followed. The evening was topped off with Apple Cinnamon doughnuts from a local apple orchard.

All in all, I would say the weekend was a smashing success - complete with dirty dishes and laundry that has accumulated. Now I need to get down to business about losing some weight... this weekend was a food hiatus. :)

Meeting with Mrs. O

So today I met with the wonderful Mrs. O. It was so delightful meeting her for the first time, despite having gone to Wheaton together. And her small baby is darling! The chubby cheeks on that little man are so cute. It was very refreshing to see/talk to someone who was down to earth. Hoorah for being 'fun-employed.' The chocolate hazelnut coffee was pretty delicious (if I can say that despite not being a coffee connoisseur) as was the scone (which I can speak with authority). Maybe a little dry, but very lemon-poppy-y. Mmmm... Now I am inspired to bake delicious tasting things. But then I think of how it will go straight to my thighs and stomach, and then it seems slightly less appealing.

Yesterday I started in on the unenviable task of weeding one of the weed patches - but I wondered if it was really worth it since we are thinking of putting in a patio. Or maybe a deck. How ambitious. But then I was thankful that Spencer dealt with the two carcasses that had been in our lawn (a dead squirrel in the front found when he mowed the lawn) and a dead bird that was in our weed patch. I found that one on wednesday. Normally you would think that the bird would die by running into a window. But there were no windows there - so I suppose that would be natural selection at its finest: a bird that runs into the side of a house (no reflection) should die. According to Darwin.

Now I am sitting in my first fantasy football draft. Ever. And I have money riding on it. A lot. Could be interesting. I hope I win. Probably won't. It was pretty entertaining... Just finished. I think my brother thinks I'm an idiot. Oh well.

Well, off to Monticello where we will spend in the night, then hang with the niece and nephews.

Thanks, Mrs. O and OBaby for a wonderful morning! Can't wait until next friday.

Family and Photoshop

This weekend was full of family and food - can there be a better combination? Saturday we hosted, and on Sunday, we went up to my brother's. Here are some darling photos from this weekend. I promise photos of our house will be up soon.

98% of the way there...

so close and yet so far... closing tomorrow. painting friday. moving saturday...

baby!

my little nephew was born yesterday at between 10-11 am. Mom and baby are doing fine. 8 lbs 2 oz. Caleb Aaron!

I'm excited to see and meet my newest little one! :)

we ditched the table today, the chairs for our table have been purchased and are in transit. ah.. packing, how i long to finish you.

and so the packing commences... we close May 28th, my contract is up May 31, and we move in the weekend of June 6-8, with the wedding of one of my friends (and cousin!), Kara, on the 7.

Busy next few weeks preparing to have more 'major life changes.' I think they called it 'eustress' in 11th grade health class.

Congratulations to my friends who graduated this past weekend!

Congratulations to Lou, on the birth of her son, Gabriel.

Congratulations to Rachel, on the birth of her daughter, Micaela.

Congratulations to Danielle, on the birth of her daughter, Isabel.

Soon, I will be an aunt again... any day baby #3, Chuckers, will be born. Pray he has no food allergies and that the delivery will go well. Poor C. and S. will have some major adjustments coming - especially S.

Fjord is stalking around the apartment - I think he enjoys having boxes and piles of laundry out to hide/jump/play/sleep in.

mmm also made this delicious orange chicken recipe - I'll try to post it soon, but I'm off to do some pack/sorting before bed.

- M

Home Sweet Home

We bought a house!

That being said, it is contingent on a few things, but for the most part, we are homeowners. We close on June 30, and couldn't be more excited.

Our home is 2.5 miles from Spencer's work, so for most of the year, he will commute by biking. We were a little disappointed after our first house hunting excursion because we found a beautiful house - but it was the very first house we looked at. We said that we really liked it, but continued on and saw about 20 more houses in the same day. We went back to the realtor's office, and were seriously considering putting in an offer, but the house was bought literally 5 minutes before we called.

After that little bit, we were a bit nervous that we wouldn't be able to find a house in our price range with the things we wanted. We found one that we were going to make an offer on, but the website for doing comparable listings was down. (total God intervention). After sleeping on it for 24 hours, we were feeling very uncomfortable with moving forward, so we decided not to make an offer. As soon as we decided that, it was as if a huge weight was yanked off our shoulders. (that house is still on the market... and had been for 200+ days when we were considering buying it, nice but 'half-assed' updated).

We then came to 'the house' - cute little one story near the first home we had liked. We walked through it and decided we wanted to make an offer. We saw a few more houses before deciding to go back to the office and put together a deal. Our realtor called the seller's realtor to see if there was action on the house - there were 2 other couples thinking about putting in offers. We prayed that if it was God's will for us to be in the house that we would get it and at a price we could afford. After enlisting the parents as prayer partners, we sent off the offer. To complicate matters, our realtor was going to be at his son's play tonight, so everything (offer vs. counter offer etc.) would have to be done by text.

I was worried about the hassle of all of that considering there would most likely be a bidding war among the three potential buyers - a sellers dream. We made the offer at 4:30 and heard from our realtor around 5:15 - they had countered by moving the selling date back to May 31 - thus ensuring 2 months of rent in our apartment w/o living in it, and an extra $3,000 on the house. Our realtor thought that was a decent counter offer, but wasn't satisfied with the closer closing date - we could do it, but why waste 1 month rent? He countered by keeping the extra $3,000 added on to the price of the house, but keep the closing at June 30. The seller accepted and at 5:30 we got the call saying that it had been accepted. So much for a headache! Everything was solved long before our realtor would have been doing everything by text, and none of the other potential buyers hopped in!

Unless something major happens, we will be moving in during the month of July! We are so excited that God has led us to this home and are looking forward to meeting our neighbors. We hope that we will be a light for him on our block. God has been so good and blessed us with so much.

Pictures found HERE

I'll actually try to link the pictures in when I have more time, but it is bedtime for me (especially since I am recovering from an unknown illness... swine flu? PANIC! no... probably not)