For Sale - Day 32

It snowed about 2 inches here last night. The entire house was shaking with the force of the wind (no lie). My guess is that the storm actually woke up the baby at 4 am. He was screaming bloody murder and would not be consoled. Into mommy and daddy's bed with the wet, crabby boy and a bottle. By 4:30 am we were able to get a little sleep until my alarm went off at 5:45 when I usually go work out at the local club. My head was pounding! Good-bye, summer-time arms! You're not going to be happening today! Around 6:30, Buck came running in for his morning pee session complete with counting to 10 out loud. The baby slept through that, thankfully, but then Buck tried to get into every corner of the bed. RKZ and I tried to explain that Buck would have to lie on my side (the farthest in the room),  and by the time Buck figured out our hushed whispers, Thunder was crawling over me and trying to hit his brother on the head.  "Good morning!!" 

Here in Calgary, they have a few expressions for this type of morning/day/situation: "shmaz", "gong show" and the ever popular "a pretty bad one, hey?" 

It was definitely capped by this view (see above) out our window. I would look into flights somewhere warm, but the airport is delayed and might be shut down for the day. We're trapped!! Oh, and we have a birthday party to attend at 10 am. 

People looked at the house yesterday. Why do real estate agents think it's ok to show up 15 minutes early? The boys and I literally opened the garage and there was the agent's mercedez at 1:42 when they were scheduled for 2 pm. Nice first impression. I don't think they'll be making an offer. And the house is closed today on account of weather. Seriously. 

For Sale - Day 31

Today, RKZ is 39 years old (baby). I want to post 2 poems that remind me of him. The first is Ogden Nash and RKZ will love it: 

The Perfect Husband by Ogden Nash

He tells you when you've got on
too much lipstick
And helps you with your girdle
when your hips stick.

The second is from a University favorite of mine, Anne Bradstreet (c. 1612 - 1672 a Puritan immigrant)

To My Dear And Loving Husband by Anne Bradstreet

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompetence.
Thy love is such I can no way repay.
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persever
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

I liked the idea of this poem when I was 20. I finally understand this poem at 40. My husband is an amazing, strong, patient, loving man (he'll be so embarrassed now). The boys adore him and scream with excitement when he comes home. I was watching a TV show the other night and a character was explaining that she had grown bored in her marriage after 7 years. No matter how many years RKZ is here with me - it won't be enough. Thank goodness for forever.

Happy Birthday, my dear and loving husband. Thanks for help with that girdle :)

For Sale - Day 30

This is a "year ago today" picture. Not too much has changed - except Thunder walks and Buck can read and we are trying to sell a house. I just love how young Thunder looks here. 

This is a shot of Thunder recently. I don't think I've posted yet on how our 16 month old insists on feeding himself with utensils. I still can't get our 4 year old to use a fork instead of his fingers. 

Day 30 and still not much. RKZ has contacted people to get us moving into our new house in May. I think things will settle for us once we're in the new place. I'd rather spend the day opening boxes than policing my children to make sure they don't break anything the stagers left. No movement (sales) on any of the houses on our street, so at least it's not just us. It's still intermittently snowing, so the weather could be affecting the looking. Calgarians are big on warmer weather. 

Speaking of which, I am going to have a warm-weather deprived break down. My skin is pasty white and I am sinking into SAD (seasonal a-something disorder). It's supposed to be coldish and rain (or snow) all week. It's the spring when Canada kills me. RKZ told Buck to "make sure mommy doesn't stick her head in the oven" while he's at work. The Silvia Plath references are a family favorite. 

For Sale - Day 29

Birthday Party weekend! Buck has a little female friend from school whose parents are very "earth friendly." I only put the quotes to set the phrase apart, not to mock. They are lovely people. The birthdays that they organize are plastic free and have organic carrot cakes. This year, Elly's was a spring celebration birthday. The kids were encouraged to dress up as spring characters (you know, nature things). Buck refused. If it's not a superhero or someone directly involved with the Froce, he's not having  it. Happily, there was an amazing face painting artist at the party. Because most of the girls chose to dress as fairies, Buck decided that it was high time a dragon showed up to eat said fairies. I had to get a shot of the result. The artist is truly an artist. By the end of the party, 6 other little boys were dragons as well. Now, how do I train THIS one?  

It's Monday - again :) We're one day away from the 30 day mark. Still asking St. J for all the help we can get - still cleaning our house day after day and avoiding making fish for dinner (sad, as it's everyone's favorite dish). I'm off to a mom's workout with Thunder and Buck is at school. Facepaint is dutifully removed although I think the dragon is in there someone - or has transferred to the little one.

For Sale - Day 27

Another day with no pictures! Such a bummer that I'm technologically slow...I promise to add some next week. Buck had his first soccer game today. He is "Team Red - the Raptors." Buck even scored a goal! He is in the "under 6" group, so there are a number of kids older than our boy. His height makes it seem like he's almost 6, but his goofy run wasn't fooling anyone. Still, we were proud that Buck didn't shy away from anyone and would go after the ball. He also kept score and would tell anyone who would listen that they 'were winning.' True to form, the coaches discouraged score-keeping. Buck would have none of that non-competitive party line. Our 16 month old was also a star as he can already kick with both feet and move the ball down the field. He was sad not to be a part of the team.

No looks today as far as the house. It's really snowing hard outside, so we were happy to sit around and watch TV and nap. A LOT of napping today :)

"What do you want from me?"

So, it's 11:11 (really) and RKZ and I are just home from a nice school function. A little blotto on wine and beer (love Catholic school :) and ruminizing over Montana and blogging. First, Whitefish, Montana is about 4 1/2 hours away from here by car. I didn't know it is so close, so when I heard, I jumped at the chance to go. I just never thought of going before.

Whitefish is lovely. It looks exactly the way you picture Montana - large mountains with beautiful trees and blue, blue lakes. The air is clear and clean and warm (it was near 80 most of the time). The people were friendly and open. Moms and kids were exactly the same at the playgrounds. Only everyone was calm. Very calm and seemed happy.

I can't explain the entire visit because a bit would be slanderous. I only would like to go with RkZ next time. I want to stay in the area and explore. Rk and I are so mellow about exploring and the boys go along with that. I want to hike around the gorgeous lakes and see where the best campgrounds are. I want to take our trailer and wake up smelling the morning semi-chilly air. It will be a fun, experimenting summer. We will try to forget this sell-our-house deal. We will ride bikes and toast marshmallows. My boys are such a gift.  4 hours away is Target, TJ Maxx and Ross. All American stand-by stores. But also, the American flag and fireworks and ingrained patriotism. It might seem cliche, but it's something to miss if you don't daily feel it.

No news on the house. It's so great to have Rk home again. I don't even care what they want.

For Sale - Day 26

These pictures are entirely unrelated to the post or our trip to Montana, but I didn't want to do another "no picture/bad grammar" post. 

We are now in negotiation-limbo. The offer was fine, but contingent upon the sale of the buyer's house. Our realtor researched the chances of their house selling for the price they're asking and came up with "It's not a great offer. Don't take it unless they'll remove the house selling." I was/am emotionally disappointed as we wait for their final answer. I feel badly if they can't afford our house without selling theirs (seems normal) but RKZ has a great point that we can't assume their risk (which is what we'd be doing as our house would be tied up all summer and if theirs doesn't sell, we'd be back where we started). RKZ said that if they love our house, they'll take the risk. If not, someone else will buy it. I was just so happy to think that this might all be over. 

On a positive note, we've had 2 people look at our house since the offer. The realtor was the same (same card) so I'm hoping it was the same people (or the realtor knew that the second people would really like it). I'm still totally relying on St. Joseph to put in some prayers for us. 

I will write a totally separate post about Montana. I love Montana. It's absolutely amazing. We had a good time...RKZ is home now. Do you hear that sigh? It's me...

for sale - day 24

I'm in Montana, blogging from my phone while Thunder sobs his head off and refuses to nap.RKZ is in :outon for work. Glory to God, via St. Joseph- we got an offer. I honestly believe that it was the people I saw leaving the house the day after we buried the statue. The offer is "counter offer low, but will probably end up in our range. Once again, my parents were right. St. J's feast day is May 1st - you'll know where the Party will be!

For Sale - Day 22

My youngest is currently crying himself back to sleep after sleeping only 45 minutes in what should be a 2 hour nap. That happens, these shortened naps. I remember them happening with Buck. The problem is that Buck is currently on a play date with a friend from school (at said friend's house) and this was meant to be mommy "catch up with emails and shower" time. Why does it always seem to work out that the kids can't or won't go along with mommy-time schedules? He's moaning away up there and I'm sure Thunder is hungry for lunch (possibly part of the reason he woke up). So now begins the dilemma of whether to pick him up and feed him (resulting in being awake until he is just ANGRY at 4 pm), or to let him lie there hungry where he might just get so bored & irritated with his nominal mommy that he falls asleep again until at least 2pm (it's 12:30 here, btw). I know that there is no right answer. 20 different parents would do this 20 different ways. I'm tired. I miss RKZ (currently somewhere near Arizona on his way to Houston in the company jet). I want a mulligan-day where I am suddenly single and childless and I can sit around and watch movies on the women's network with no one talking like a pi-cachoo (spelling?) or yelling at me in his crazy 1/2 language where my name is "mmuehhhh."

No word from yesterday's lookie-loos. We had another showing this morning, so St. Joseph could be working his mojo as we speak.

A girlfriend whose husband is also away & myself have decided to take our children and drive to Whitefish, Montana tomorrow. We'll stay for 2 nights and basically not clean our hotel room. Our children will bathe in their indoor pool & we will go to Target and Ihop and Olive Garden (strictly American franchises). There is a chance we'll be stopped at the boarder as moms trying to escape with our children. O, the drama!

For Sale - Day 21

A family came to look at the house today. We went to church, avoided the family (spied on them a bit while they looked) and then had a play date (here) with some friends. The weather has been lovely. I've made many observations, but then forget them all after 2 glasses of wine. Hopefully more tomorrow!

For Sale - Day 20 (St. Joseph the Worker, Pray for Us)

Paraphrase of the card that comes with the kit: 

For centuries people have put their hopes and trust in St. Joseph. Many home sellers have turned to the practice of burying a statue of St. Joseph to help increase their chance of selling their home...For this practice to be truly effective certain practical matters should be addressed by the seller. All necessary repairs should be made, care should be taken in presenting the home and a fair market value for the home should be reflected in the cost. With his said the power of St. Joseph to intercede in your behalf is truly remarkable. 

My family used to move nearly every 4 years when I was a kid. Even if we didn't leave whichever city we lived in, we moved houses MANY times. My parents are like home selling & moving pros. Normally, I listen to their advice in this area very closely. Since we put our house on the market, both of my parents have been asking, "Did you get your St. Joseph statue?" everyday. Many of you know that I am anti-superstition. It is very hard for me to ask for or believe in "signs" or to trust in anything (even God, though I love Him, but that's a totally different story). I'm just not a "magic mojo" kind of person. So, I have been seriously balking at getting a St. Joseph statue with only the motivation to sell my house.

I explained my reservations to both of my parents at different times, and they both said, "Get over it - we would put the statue in a closet and it always sold within a few days. Just make sure you say the prayer too. It's not the statue, it's the prayers of St. Joseph." Hmmm. That, I could live with.

There is a very funny story that goes with my friend and I trying to find a store with the statues, but it's a bit long. Suffice it to say that we went to one store - no luck - and had to drive across the city during rush hour to a place I have only been to about 3 times. My friend was also raised as a Mennonite (not the funny clothes, but the theology for sure). They tend to be extremely on the "not Catholic" end of the Christianity scales...I spent the hour long ride addressing her thinly veiled fears of bringing an idolatrous abhoration into her home. See what the stress of selling your home will do to a girl? To clarify to the readers - we (all Catholics) believe that the Saints are just praying for us TO God. The Saints have no power of their own - like the Vice President of the USA, sort of. There is always someone they have to ask. Saints like Mary and Joseph are special to us because (duh) they are the parents of Jesus. Doesn't everyone with awesome parents listen to their requests in a special way?

Eventually, we both ended up buying statues. It was funny that when we asked the teenaged clerk if she had any St. J's statues, she asked, "Are you selling your house?" and immediately handed us the kits you see in the picture. I also bought another statue that is a bit nicer to put up in the house out of respect to St. J (since I figured I'd be burying the first one).

This morning, Buck and I decided to bury the little statue in the planter in the front of our house. Here are the pics:

The actual statue. It's about 8 inches high. 

Buck with the statue in the front yard (better idea of the size). 

Buck burying digging the hole. Side note: it's 60 degrees today, we're loving the heat! 

St. Joseph in the hole. It's actually a nice looking statue.  Rock marks the spot! So we don't forget him. 

The clerk at the store was adamant that there are no strict "rules" regarding the statue...only that we say the prayer every day (and give a donation to poor after he helps sell the house). But the kit came with some bullet point suggestions. 

• Bury upside down next to the 'for sale' sign (we didn't)
• bury it 3' from the rear of the house (nope)
• simply place it anywhere on the property (the Ma and Pa Joad form). I guess we did this too. 
• Bury it next to the street facing the home (no)
• Bury it in the front yard (sort of)
• While specifics don't truly matter, what does is the belief and trust in St. Joseph to help (this, I have, I just don't presume to think that what is easiest for me is what is best or God's Will)

Since it is most important, I'm including the prayer from the kit. We'll be praying it every night until our home is sold. Probably even after if this is done as quickly as people seem to hint at :) There is also the idea that we'll keep the statue in a place of honor in our home after we sell. That, I can easily promise. 

The prayer: 

O St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in you all my desires. O St. Joseph, help me by your powerful intercession, and obtain for me from Jesus all spiritual blessings. So that, having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers. O St. Joseph, I never grow tired of contemplating you, and baby Jesus asleep in your arms: I dare not approach while he rests near your heart. Press him in my name and kiss his dear head for me and ask him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath. Amen. 

and PS - please sell my house. ha.ha. 

For Sale - Day 18

Hoonka's mom and my mom on the kiddie airplanes at the aerospace museum. Sometimes 1 picture is enough :)

No looks at the house today. 2 VERY nice playdates, though. You can tell I'm out of touch with the world these days as a VOLCANO erupted and spread ash all over Europe and I had to hear about it from a teenager. I blame American Idol - or Vampire Diaries - and I'm not talking about the teenager.

3 quick lessons from today: (a) after a fight with my beloved (RKZ), we have decided it is better if we try and move into our new home early because the stress isn't worth it to our relationship, (b) since most of the staged furniture actually belongs to us (and many of the decorations), we will cancel the rental at the end of this next month (May 18th, actually) whether the house is sold or not. We both believe that we can make the house look nice enough for people who will more than likely be settling for a bad location (to them). This will also save us a good chunk of change. (c) The Daily readings have all been about Trust. Trust in God, trusting in the people who love me, trusting ourselves. I trust that good will come from all of this stress if we deal with it using love and not selfishness or greed.

And I'll be buying a St. Joseph statue to plant in a closet tomorrow.

For Sale - Day 17 (B)

We just had some "junk" mail that lists the average days for houses to sell in our community = 2 story houses (there have been 7 so far this year) take an average of 35 days to sell.

Just think! You have around 17 more days (at least) of reading this count down(up).

No offers today. A lot of rejections. More first dates.

The symphony of science. I love this.

For Sale - Day 17

We did hear back from yesterday (or Sunday's) people - again with, "The house is perfect, it's just too noisy in the back." To clarify, we live in a quiet "woodsy" suburban neighborhood. People choose it because it is a bit like a mountain town (little shops/coffee/wine bar close by). Our home faces a Highway. This highway would be nothing in any of the major cities I have live in. It never even crossed my mind that it would be "loud" to have our bedrooms facing a highway. To be clear, there is a large green space behind our house, the highway is probably 1/2 a mile away. This, it seems, is too close and loud for the 9 people who have come to see our house. All of my Calgary friends have scoffed at this. One of my girlfriends is from Toronto (Canadian New York) and she laughed out loud when I told her. She said, "You just need someone from out of town who would think it's actually quiet." And to a California girl (at least by adoption), it is really quiet. But it can be loud in the summer with the windows open when the big trucks rattle down the street...but only for the baby whose window faces toward the backyard/highway.

I keep telling myself that it's only been 17 days. 17 days! And we had more people look at 9:15 this morning. Maybe the high way was quiet then ;)

Not nearly through the Easter shots yet!

The fam at an air & space museum outside of Portland. 

RKZ reads a story with Buck

Thunder playing with the rental house lights again! Grandma J and T-gun

For Sale - Day 16

We've had one showing already this morning and have another scheduled for 4:45. No word from yesterday's people. RKZ talked to our realtor. She had some good things to say, but it was hard for me to understand what she was talking about. Bummer. So far, I think we've had 7 showings (8 after the next one). Not sure what the average is. 

Our spring activities are just beginning and that includes a Tues/Thurs 6am "express workout" for me. I've been getting up at 7 am quite regularly and 5:30 sorta smacked me in the face this morning. I'm feeling groggy even now. But it was a good workout. 

Generally, I like Tuesdays with Gymnastics for Buck in the morning and then Sportsball after naps. Thunder and I have a "play date" at a friends' house and it's a relatively calm day. With the 2 showings, today has been a bit of a shmaz (or shmoz - it's a Canadian expression). We're getting a lot of first dates but no seconds. What's a matter? Aren't we pretty enough? :) 

Hoonka's dad played "horsey" with all the boys!! Love the falling picture

Grandma J reading a fuzzy book to Thunder (from the Joads) 

Ma Joad and T-gun. I think I have this picture of my mom with almost every grandchild.

Hoonka's mom reading to the cousins. It was a banner day when the Grandparents showed up to Portland. 

For Sale - Day 15 (B)

It's only 5:23 pm here - but no word or anything. All of the lights were turned off (which I always think is nice) as a symbol that someone came by. When I was bringing in the groceries, a couple drove past and looked at our back yard and then our neighbor's backyard (the house that's also for sale). I'm like a crazy person, reading in to everything... but at least someone was driving by!!

For Sale - Day 15

Well, after a weekend of no calls, we have a showing today at 3:45. I am cautiously optimistic. It's a very good time for us. Thunder will be up from his nap and I needed to go to Costco anyway. We'll see what happens. I am currently running around cleaning and doing laundry/preening my house while Buck watches "The Empire Strikes Back" upstairs. He is on a major Star Wars kick these days.  Hoonka let Buck help make the dye for the Easter eggs. She is a great mom. He was so excited that he asked to dye eggs yesterday. I wanted to say yes, but I think it's a nice special aspect of Easter that he'll look forward to all year. 

 

Thunder looked on until I could help him dye his own egg. A-man used a pink crayon to make a design. 

K-man (KK) begins to draw on his egg as well. 

Now it's Thunder's turn! All strapped in and ready to make a mess! Yeah! 

For Sale - Day 14

We interrupt this lovely Sunday to show you all pictures of the inspirational garden in Portland. It's inspirational because it is the dream of my future home's backyard. Nothing this grand (and no huge fountain), but I love the stone work, the hedges that are geometrically placed (with the 'maze' idea) & the open, calm, planted feeling of it all. It's only an inspiration because I wouldn't ever make my backyard look like this. There's just something ordered about it & I love that. 

We're on day 14. It actually makes me feel better to count the days our house has been for sale. 14 days is like... nothing in actuality. This weekend has been (as the kids say) chill. CSG dropped by yesterday and we watched the Masters for a while. We went to Mass this morning surrounded by a crowd of very loud kids (ours included and adding to the chaos) and we went to the mall to look for random things that we never did find. It's been so nice to hang out with RKZ. Oh! And Buck and I went on a date to see "How to Train your Dragon" yesterday afternoon. It was a cute movie & I enjoyed the 3D. Buck had a little pee accident (only the 3rd one in my memory) because he didn't want to miss any of the movie. I totally understood. 

For Sale - Day 13

We interrupt this normally "song-inspired" blog to a countdown (or up) the number of days our home has been on the market. It is Saturday, we've been up for 13 days and had only 5 people look (one looked twice but settled on 'more expensive and brand new'). I have been in "hurry up" mode for 10 of the 13 days, RKZ seems to have just reached that point as today as he wants to call and harass (in a nice way) our realtors. This is, I'm certain, spurred on by the fact that no one has called for a showing today - even after someone had to cancel on account of weather on Thursday night. My guess is that they have children, and a life, so maybe the weekend was already out of the question (which is why they were coming on Thursday).  I think marriage is an amazing thing because we seem to balance out each other's crazy pretty well. After waiting for an actual human child to be given to us, I am now completely over caring whether we sell this house in 2 weeks or 2 months (OK, completely over is an exaggeration, but it's in perspective now). 

More pictures of Portland. Here is the rainy egg hunt with Hoonka (T-gun in carrier under her jacket. Not a funny extra boob). Poor Thunder is bundled and alone in the background. 

 

Matching $1.50 plastic buckets (they could have been more - not sure). Hoonka ran into the store to get them while we waited. Thunder isn't quite getting the "on the head" look. There's always next year! 

I am philosophically amazed at how old I look in this picture. Granted, it's not my best shot, but I'm more struck by the wrinkles and weird neck/chin/cheek thing going on. Hoonka is somewhere around 8 years younger than me and has incredible skin. I now hate her :) Love this picture of A-Man and Buck, though. They got along so well. Cousins are the best. 

"Broke in to the old apartment - 42 steps from the street"

BuckThunderKK (K-man) and fireman Thunder always wanted to sit in his new cousin (T-gun)'s baby carrier. 

Since about 1989, the band "Bare Naked Ladies" has been my favorite band. I can still remember the first time I heard the song "If I had 1,000,000,000 dollars" when a friend produced a cassette tape with this "new song from a band in Canada." I have seen the band a number of times all over North America at this point. I love them. They recently lost a band member (one of the 2 lead singers) after a sad split dealing with some personal issues. The singer's name is Steven Page and he was arrested for cocaine possession. In the words of Ed Robertson (the other lead singer and Steven's bandmate of 20 years), "In some Rock and roll bands, a drug arrest is no big deal; but not in OUR rock and roll band." It was obvious from the article that the entire band was devastated by Page's actions. It's a small blip on the reality of life these days, but it was a sad event when I heard that Page left the band. 

RKZ and I went to see BNL (the band's shortened name) last night for the first time without Steven Page (in my experience, they've been touring all year) and it was amazingly good. The band performed a lot of old songs that they have been leaving out of stadium shows (we saw them in a more intimate venue). They played all of my favorites with only 1 exception. The band seemed a bit tired and sad - but they are all in their 40's now also (aren't we all?). They made only one comment about being together for 20 years and the keyboardist said, "19 GREAT years." It was the only semi-comment on Page not being there and the last year being so hard for them. Very Canadian to use a positive comment to get a sad point across. Overall, RKZ and I both loved the show. 

One bummer of last evening was that it snowed about 1 1/2 inches of wet, sticky snow. We were scheduled to have someone come and see the house at 8pm (which would have been a hassle for our babysitter, but she was willing to sit in the car of an hour), the the lookers cancelled because of the weather. I was a bit relieved and we believe that they'll come see the house this weekend. Our house is now one of the lowest for what we offer in our neighborhood. I am praying Rosaries like crazy to get the house sold so that we can move (and give all of this rental furniture back). Nothing broken yet, at least. 

Off to get some milk for Thunder! 

"Somebody's knocking on the door"

These are pictures of the boys at 15 months. I love to look back at old pictures and see how they compare. It's fun to see how similar they are (I'm thinking that means all babies are surprisingly similar at developmental stages). Two posts today because I'm feelin' it!

"here we are now, entertain us!"

I took this picture on my cel phone and sent it to myself so that I could post it. In Portland, they have this amazing coffee place where parents can tele-commute while their kids play in little play areas. There is great food (organic-ish) and the boys really enjoyed playing there for a while. At one point (right before this picture), all of the boys decided to join Thunder in the baby-only area. This picture totally sums up Thunder's reaction to an onslaught of elder cousins and his brother. It's fuzzy, but our little guy sure gets the point across. 

There are so many things I want to blog about today...and all of them are relatively boring. We attended a great 2 year old birthday yesterday. The 4 year olds played and wrestled outside while the 4 month - 2 year olds fought over toys inside. The moms drank wine (seriously - it is the 50's here) and told funny stories about our lives to each other. We have a nice circle of friends here and I can forget sometimes because I like to obsess about being lonely. The weather has also been warm enough that Buck can get away with wearing shorts and a long sleeved shirt (his favorite look). A simple attitude change has really helped me to stop stressing over selling our house and moving. Also, our good friends (Barbie and Ken) are also moving and their house is now in direct competition with our own. It could be a bummer, but we're choosing to ignore it and go to the movies together instead. 

RKZ (the sweetest husband ever) bought us tickets to see the Bare Naked Ladies (I love them) tonight, and I'm very excited to sit through an entire concert with RK and just BE. More Portland pics tomorrow. 

"Got to be good-looking cuz he's so hard to see!"

We're just back from Portland, Oregon (well, "just" means Monday night, of course). We were lucky enough to spend a week with cousins (and brother & sister-in-law) for Easter and the baptism of newest (out of womb) cousin/nephew, T-gun. I have about 200 pictures (seriously) of the trip - so I'll try and go easy on the readers by posting just the ones I REALLY like. We rented a small house near CoachK1 & Hoonka's house & they let us borrow a car for the week, so it was a really fun and stress-free (mostly) time.  It was also amazing to get away from the "for sale" stress which we daily live under here. Sadly, RKZ could only make the trip Thursday night (Good Friday is a day off for most everyone in Canada); so the trip with just mommy and the boys Monday - Thurs. This worked out ok because CoachK1 had to work also, so Hoonka and I managed the crazy life of boys 4, 3, 2, 1 and 7 weeks. Go, Mrs. Duggar. Go Hoonka, for that matter. 

Our first big event was a puppet show organized inside of a yoga studio (very Oregon).
Thunder doesn't sit long enough for 2 shots. 

  

This is the inside of our rental home (not too clear for you). Toys are borrowed from the Kelly boys. 

T-gun. He was like this a lot. 

  

The boys mostly ran around the yoga studio until the show started (only yelled at once - record!) 

After the show, the puppeteer brought the animals around for a little "show and tell." The show was an inch worm turning into a butterfly - very un-Easter -  Easter show. But it was cute and the spider puppet burped a lot and played practical jokes, so our boys were BESIDE themselves laughing. 

Home front: we had a serious look on Monday, but the buyers chose to buy a new house for $800,000. RKZ is convinced that this is a good sign in that we were up against a brand new home. Currently, there are 9 houses for sale on our street (about 4 in our price point). I'm not totally worried we won't sell, I just don't want to deal with it anymore. Last night, I fell asleep thinking about all of the people who are terrified that they might lose their house this week. There are moms who are afraid that their families won't have a place to live. There are so many families who DON'T have a place to live.

I decided to get over worrying. It is what it is. And we are really blessed.