Bedtime Trouble!

Tonight we found out, a little too late, that Robert wasn't quite as tired as we thought when we put him to bed. We had heard him running around a little bit but figured as long as he was being quiet and not waking his sister we'd let him stay up there. Well about 30 minutes later he came sneaking down the stairs and sat by me on the couch. I should have known something was up as he usually doesn't come downstairs unless we say it's ok. As he's sitting next to me he has a huge grin on his face and is swinging his foot back and forth. It was dark in the living room but I notice 2 of his toes look a little different and then I realize they've been painted. He found a bottle of my nail polish in my room and painted 2 of his toenails. We took some pictures downstairs and then I went up to look at the damage...

If there is one thing I love/hate about my son is his ability to copy everything we do after seeing it just once. Tonight I'm thankful for this ability as every time I paint my toenails I put a towel down. Robert couldn't find a towel but used an old gift bag to paint on and this is the ONLY thing with nail polish on it. Big sigh of relief!! Here are some pictures of his evening art project.

Needs to work on staying in the lines!
The minimal mess on our bed! The yellow fabric is the gift bag he
used under his toes. That is one proud boy!Future Blackmail!!

And now time for bed...

Moving!!

Our house has finally sold, or rather we'll be closing on it soon, and thus we needed a new place to live! Because of the timeline and wanting to save up more money we decided to rent and are happy to say that we've found a great new home in Apple Valley off of County Road 46 and near Cedar Avenue.

Here is a brief description of our new place with pictures following! The house is a one-story with a walk out basement AND an attaced GARAGE!!! If you can't tell I'm a little excited about having an attached garage. On the main level of the house are 3 bedrooms, a full bath, kitchen, dining area, and living room. The rooms are all decent size and the kids will get more room but our bedroom will be a little smaller. Based on who will spend more time in their rooms we're okay with this change! Downstairs is a finished basement with a 2nd living room which will be our play room! There are also 2 additional bedrooms downstairs, one we'll use as an office and the 2nd as a guest room. Along with that there is a 3/4 bathroom and laundry/storage room along with a few additional closets and storage spaces. The basement walks out into a nice size backyard that is partially fenced and contains 3 garden beds so we can have both flowers and a garden, not to mention a great space for the kids to play. Here are the pictures!

Master Bedroom

Izzy's room (looks identical to Robert's minus the ceiling fan)
Main Bathroom

Kitchen/Dining Area...a little on the small side but we'll make do

Main Living Room

Downstairs Living/Playroom

Downstairs Bathroom
Office

Laundry/Storage

We are going to be moving in 2 weeks, which doesn't leave a lot of time to pack but it also means we don't have to live in boxes for too long. We'll be moving on St. Patrick's Day (Saturday, March 17th) and are open to any and all volunteers that would like to help...we pay in food! I probably won't be doing any posts again until after we move but look forward to more pics after we move with all of our personal touches on our new home. Have a great week everyone!

Time with Grandma and Nick!

The past few weeks have been very busy for us and we're thankful to family and friends for helping out with the kids. The first big change was Eric deciding to join a new real estate firm a little over a week ago. He joined the MN Real Estate Team and that group has been the number one team in MN since 2006 so needless to say he is happy with the switch. The group, unlike Keller Williams, provides leads for their agents and Eric has been very busy since day one with all of the leads and already is working with serious buyers. The switch has been great for him and the perfect rejuvination to the start of spring.

With the switch it has meant that his schedule has been getting busier and busier and thus juggling staying home with the kids and being a full time realtor is getting trickier. Thankfully I'm in my down season and my work hours are a lot less but even with that we have been needing more help and our thankful to our families for helping out!

On top of this we found out that after months on the market our house is getting close to closing with a projected date of the end of this month or early April. We were really excited to hear this but then it also meant we needed to find a new place and fast! Last weekend we went and looked at some properties and decided to rent for awhile to help save up cash and allow us more time to find the perfect property. The house we have chosen is great and located in Apple Valley. I'll do another post on it but we are excited for the change and to be closer to family and friends...even if does mean moving further away from our awesome babysitters and friends Molly & Jess.

So instead of relaxing awhile we'll be busy packing and getting ready for our next adventure and moving in 2 weeks. Eeek!!

This past week my mom came up to help watch the kids while I worked during the day and finished my senior swimmers/diver scrapbooks at night and allowed for Eric to do a lot of showings. It also gave us a chance to go out and celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary! Here are some pictures she took of the kids and there movie night with Uncle Nick.

Practicing their piano skills!

Movie night with Uncle Nick and Grandma!
A little sleepy...
Learning to play games on PBS's website!