Buying a House

Its a crazy thing, buying a house. I've never been through it before.  Even more crazy? Doing it all while Pat is in Germany.  Its been going like this:

Realtor emails or faxes Pat the papers he needs to sign and then Pat scans and sends them to me. I print, sign, scan and send back to realtor or lender or inspection people or...

At least I've learned how to scan to PDF's and email. For that I am so grateful. What a chore it would be to drag all my kids around to just go sign my name a few times...multiple times a day!

But its getting done. We should close July 17th. We'll stay here in this cozy Townhouse for at least another month while we do some fix-ups around the new (to us) house. Although I wish it were now. This townhouse is no treat. Sure its has more square footage than our Phoenix house. But its all divided up in small spaces. Absolutely no room at all for any running around - or skipping - or even "big steps!" There's also no front or backyard at all. Luckily, we live near the end of a "circle" as the boys call it. So we can walk a few houses down and the kids can ride their tricycles around and around...in the street! Awesome! I can hear it now, "But you said we could play in the street!" Also it echoes quite a bit. Its so loud. Sad for the older couple that we share a wall with. They do not like us one bit. In fact a couple of days ago, we all went out through the garage to go to "the circle" and spent a little time in the garage gathering things to play with. Well, this older couple were in their garage doing whatever and when they heard/saw us in the garage - they shut their door immediately. I would like to think that I'm just being paranoid. But when the man is walking his dogs - that miraculously we never hear - probably cause our kids are too loud - he never returns a smile or hello. Good thing this is only temporary or I feel their would be a fight to have us evicted! For real!  Pat hasn't had to work from here yet. When he gets back from his traveling...good luck to him on getting anything done since he spends a majority of his time on conference calls. Cheers.

Thats the townhouse. More to come on the real house...

Only 3 1/2!

This post is purely for my memory's sake...but you can read if you like.

How old is this sass of mine? He's three and a half. At this tender young age, my Lane Donovan is turning into quite a character.

Mom to Lane, "Lane love, could you please____ (fill in the blank.)"
Lane to Mom, "But Kyle does such a good job!"

Mom to Lane, "I'm sorry you chose to hit Kyle with that puzzle. You'll need to bring it to me and come sit with me for a little while."
Lane to Mom, "You just need to leave me alone. I'm very busy right now."

One more. Mom to Lane, "I need you to come and eat your dinner now."

Lane to Mom, "Calm down!"

Nice...

What?! Already?!

And what's worse? My sweet little Kyle Garrett is often referred to around here as Kyle Parrot. It won't be long before I start hearing these *sweet* things come out of his mouth, too.
SIGH!

I NEED the camera more than you do

These are the words I said to my husband as we were getting ready to part ways at our Phoenix home. "I'll have the kids with their cousins for 10 days and I'm sure there will be lots of photo opportunities. You can use the video camera for any final farewells to the house, right?"

I took the camera. Are you ready for ALL of those precious, photographic moments?
...So am I...

I didn't take ANY pictures! Not ONE! Dumb, I know. What a dork. You might ask, "Were there not any worthwhile moments spent between 8 kids under the age of 8 to be captured for time and prosperity?" "No shenanigans to always remember and use for blackmail later in life when these toddlers are teenagers?" Oh, of course there were. For some reason my brain turned off to the fact that I do indeed own a camera that while somewhat of a fossil, is still capable of capturing these life moments. Luckily for me, my sister was able to remember AND use her camera. I'll have to hope that she will be willing to share some of these pictures with me - and then I to you. So sad!

Then you might ask, "Have you taken any pictures since you arrived in Vancouver?" "Is it not one of the most beautiful places to live with gorgeous views of rivers and mountains and trees? With an amazing view of Mount Hood and the Columbia River every time you drive home?" "Do you not want to remember the tiny townhouse that seconds as an echo chamber you endured to live in while you waited to move yet again?" I better go and find, dust off and charge my little camera!

We do have a family reunion to go to in Spokane in a couple of weeks - I better leave the photo taking to Pat. He's better at it anyway.

For now, here a few last memories of our life in Phoenix:

A quite unflattering for everyone but best that we could get in the glaring sun with anxious kids who are ready to get in the car and go picture. Lane had already been in his car seat for about 30 min prior to this picture. We had to coax him out...notice the grip I have on him!

The boys bedroom that Pat was so sad to prime and paint. We'll miss you our jungle friends!


Nora enjoying and expressing her joy of new found freedom to unlocked kitchen cabinets...even if they are empty.



The boys on their last Friday of helping Dad with the recycling. He's even thoughtful enough to give them a little step so they can reach! Many a fun Friday morning remembered for them.

Rah Rah Rah for Rocket...

From the mouths of Lane and Kyle, "Mom, let's go super fast like rocket! Go faster, go faster!" - In case you have the pleasure of not knowing what I'm talking about - rocket is from the (in my opinion) obnoxious Disney show Little Einsteins.

Seriously kids, I already go fast enough. My life (at least the last 5 years) has been a whirlwind. Let's recap:

Dated (officially, whatever that means) my husband - 3 months
Engaged - 2 1/2 weeks
4 1/2 years into wedded bliss - almost 4 babies and two major moves
Sold our house - in 3 weeks.
Moved to WA and bought a house in less than one week!

Good Grief! I have a feeling that things won't be slowing down any time soon. Now if only I could keep up with blogging...as well as 3 toddlers!

Here's to my attempt at catching up!

Soon...

Yes, I am aware that I haven't posted in a long time. I'm working on it. We are here in Vancouver...trying to find room for all of our stuff in this tiny rental. But - we have put in an offer on a house - more on that to come. I only have half of a day left with Pat until he leaves for Germany ( tomorrow morning) for 2 weeks! Yikes!

Better go and find the bottom of more boxes while I can. There's so much to report and I'll do it as soon as I can!

Cheers!

7802 S. 26th St

I've been thinking a lot about good byes. How does one really say good bye? I don't like them. Honestly they make me feel quite uncomfortable. Its not that I don't care about the loved ones being left behind...I think most can probably relate. Its just weird.

After 32 years in Arizona - its time to leave. We're leaving Friday (tomorrow) morning to spend the week in Salt Lake with my sister while Pat finishes packing up and clearing out. While I've lived lots of places in my life where I've shared in and hold many dear memories, it will be the strangest to leave this little house in South Phoenix. You may say, "Its just a little house. What's the big deal?" I'll tell you...
Pat and I were married here...in this very backyard. This was where we eloped. For those who didn't see our wedding announcement might not know how truly bratty we are...here was the picture.


Yes, we're sticking out our tongues. Wording on announcement: "what do you mean you missed the wedding of Jessica and Patrick? Hhhmmm...love us anyway! Adventurous, I know. Pardon the distraction...moving on...
And this is where 2 months later we had our PWG (post wedding gathering.) We had all three baby blessings here in our family room that was filled with friends and family.
I could go on and on but its really not necessary.
I didn't get to say good bye to everyone that I wanted to see. And I didn't get to do everything that I wanted to do. But that's the way it goes, I guess. How do you say good bye to 32 years? My way seems to have been to just be in denial about it and act like its not really happening. While it seems to work for me - it probably makes me look like a big snob who just doesn't care enough. I do, really. Its just been crazy. *SIGH* I'll say that I'm so grateful for BlogWorld. So I can still keep in touch with everyone. And still feel like I am a part of what's going on.
THANK YOU! To Danya and Kimberly for putting together a dessert farewell party for us tonight. It was so nice to see so many people who came to see us off. We have loved our ward, and our friends, etc...
Enough for now. When I get the pictures from Danya - I'll post them. What will I do without my personal photographer? Good Grief!
Its almost 11pm and I still have soooo much to do. Tis the life of a mom!
Cheers!

Artist

To pass the time of being stuck indoors - because its too wicked hot to go outside - we've had lots of art time.



Lane asked me to draw a turtle and then he copied it to draw his own. Pretty good, considering what he had to work with. I didn't know he could draw so well. I really ought to give in to his begging for more art time. I am usually too lazy and don't want to deal with the clean up. Not so much from Lane but from Kyle who thinks he's just as big.
I'll try to be nicer and let this budding artist bloom. Maybe in the future we'll try to pretend that we wear clothes around here and dress him before the photo! But then maybe he wouldn't be a true artist...nevermind.