Morning At the Park

When I woke up this morning I was surprised to find some nice weather with temps in the low 60's and slightly windy. I decided to take the boys to the playground at Lake Waterford to enjoy the nice weather. They both had so much fun running up and down all of the ramps, swinging, and going down the slides. We stayed for about an hour, but then more kids started to show up and it became difficult to keep track of both boys on my own so we left.

Zak has turned into such a dare devil. He has no fears when it comes to trying new things. He was climbing up and all over the big kid playground and was not very interested in staying with Ryder on the toddler playground.

After leaving the playground we made a trip to Once Upon A Child. I love this store because they have nice clothes for very cheap. I went looking for some Orioles clothing (Ben made a comment the other day how the boys had outgrown all of their O's clothing) and Easter outfits for them. I was successful and found 1 O's tank jersey, 2 spring sweater vests, and 2 light weight long sleeve button up shirts to wear under the vests.

This weekend we plan to get laundry done and get things ready for next week because Ben will be away for training in Kansas City from Monday morning until late Thursday night. It will be a long week, but the boys and I will survive. I hope to be able to make plenty of trips to the mall play area or even outside to playgrounds if the weather is nice again.

Nice Weather

This afternoon it was actually pretty nice outside so we took advantage of it and let the boys play in the front yard while we switched car seats from Dani's car to our car. We brought the infamous penitentiary outside to keep them contained.

While we were outside playing the neighbors from across the street brought a gift to the boys. The mother and her two daughters came across the street with two toy lawn mowers, one for each of the boys. She said they had way too many toys and were trying to go through them so wanted to know if we would like them. Of course we said yes and the boys seem to enjoy them. Now that we will have a backyard (even though it is small) this will give the boys something to play with out there.

After eating dinner we decided to give the boys a bath because they were pretty messy. While they were in the bathtub Laura and Dani stopped by to pick up Dani's car (we got our car back today after getting a new thermostat and water pump) so they joined in and helped bathe the boys and played for a bit before leaving. We brought the boys into our bedroom for a bit and Ryder decided to have a little too much fun! He was so proud of himself and not very happy when we made him help clean it up.

When It Rains It Pours

This saying has definitely been true for our family the last few months. We have run into some really bad luck with various things over the past few months. We thought finally our luck was changing and good things were coming since our offer was accepted on the townhouse, we qualified for the good loan, and everything else seems to be running smoothly with the townhouse. Well, tonight things went downhill for us once again.

We took our car to get the emissions done (it passed) and then went to meet Ben's family for dinner. As we were stopping at a light by the mall the car just died and started smoking. We got the car pushed off of the road and Ben's sister picked up the boys and I to take us to the mall. Ben had a friend from work meet him and help out with the car. They finally got it to start, but as soon as they started to drive it the car started to smoke badly again. So they got it to a service center and dropped the keys off in the after hours drop box. Tomorrow morning Ben will call there and check on the car to see what is wrong. We are hoping it will be something that can be easily fixed and won't cost too much or end the life of the car; considering we just signed all of the paperwork for the mortgage loan and won't be able to buy a new car.

Dani (Ben's sister) was awesome tonight and let us just bring her car home so that we could get home from the mall and so that we would have a car for any emergency that might arise and cause us to need a car to go out. Ben's family has some coordinating to do since Dani let us borrow her car and we are grateful they were able to help us out like this. Hopefully the car will get looked at tomorrow and fixed ASAP.

Cute Pictures

I finally got a chance to download some cute pictures of the boys from the last few days. Some of them really show off their new hair cuts which I am still in love with! We have only put gel in it the first day and ever since then their hair has pretty much stayed sticking up.

As for an update with the townhouse...

There has been a lot going on the last few days since we had the inspection and decided we were definitely going to buy the townhouse. We have met with our new lender and we are getting locked in at a 5% fixed rate with an FHA loan which is great. We signed the paperwork last night for the loan and they are ordering the appraisal. We have also gotten out home owner's insurance all worked out through Nationwide insurance and they have contacted our lender to get the papers they need. We are scheduling a meeting to sign paperwork with them before closing. I am waiting on a call back from the title company we have chosen to use. Our realtor got us in contact with this title company because she has worked with them before and they have a great flat rate going on for this month that we were able to get.

The inspector did find that there is aluminum wiring in the house which was common for when the house was built (1971). He said it is not a big deal, but is known to be a fire hazard. After doing some research Ben and I have decided this will be our big ticket item for the house. We have contacted an electrician and Ben will be meeting him at the house tomorrow to get an estimate on how much it will cost to switch out the aluminum. Other than that everything is cosmetic and we will slowly work on those things.

We are hoping to do the cleaning, painting, and minor fixes (new locks, fix a few windows, etc) done the first weekend after closing so that we can move in the first weekend of April. It really all depends on how much we are able to get done that weekend after closing though.

New Hair Cuts

Last night I pulled out the clippers to give the boys haircuts. Just as we started Ben and I finally decided to give them a haircut we have talked about doing, but never did. We gave the boys mohawks! They look so cute. We shaved the sides and back like normal and left the tops long. Today when we made a trip to Lowes (start pricing out things for the townhouse) we used hair gel and spiked their hair. Here are a few pictures (they aren't great because I used my cell phone and we were in the car).

Home Inspection

This morning Ben and I went to the townhouse for the home inspection. They found no lead, no mold, and no termites. The inspector said that everything looked good and only found cosmetic things which we already knew about. Now that the inspections are done and nothing major was found we are going to buy the townhouse! We will close on it Friday March 27 and then plan to do cleaning and painting that first weekend with the hopes of being able to move in the following weekend. It will all depend on how much we can get done the first weekend in the house. While we were there I took a few pictures to show everybody. As soon as I turned on the camera my battery light started flashing. So I had to snap a few quick pictures and then use my cell phone for a few more. The pictures are not great and are at odd angles since I was battling the dead batteries. I didn't really get any pictures of the bedrooms because I was rushing to try and get a few various ones before the battery died completely.

As you walk in the front door, living room

through living room, kitchenoff kitchen, deck & backyard

back of the house
as walk in front door, stairs to go up
standing master bedroom looking down hall

at end of hallway will be boys' bedroom probably

bedroom (boys' playroom probably)basement (built in bar)
unfinished laundry room

We were supposed to meet with the lender tonight, but just received a call to re-schedule since his family is all sick. So we will now be meeting with him Monday night.

Relaxing Afternoon

Today the boys decided they didn't need a nap which has become a pretty normal occurrence in this household. So after I got some stuff printed out for the lender tomorrow night and closed bedroom and bathroom doors I let them have run of the house. They were pretty excited about this and had fun running around with the dogs and climbing up and down the stairs.

I turned on Sesame Street and to my surprise they both stopped dead in their tracks and just stared at the tv watching it. I then gave them their snack cups and water cup. Zak climbed onto the couch and sat with his snack and is still watching the tv. Ryder has been watching it on and off, but is more interested in chasing Batman around and sharing his snack with him.

Tomorrow is the big day for us. We are having the home inspections (including mold, lead, termite) at 10am. If they find nothing major then we will be going through with buying the townhouse. Also, if it all goes well we will be meeting with our new mortgage lender and doing the paperwork for the loan. Rich & Laura are going to watch the boys while we are at the home inspection which will be a few hours. I think they plan to take them to the mall to play and get lunch then hopefully the boys will nap. If we do meet with the lender then we are taking the boys to Annapolis so Colleen can watch them for us. We would be going around dinnertime so hopefully the boys will nap since it might be a late night for them.

Adding Fat & Using a Fork

The boys' pediatrician wants us to start adding in more fat to their diet. He suggested using oil when cooking, frying things, peanut butter, and adding butter when ever possible. Ben took his suggestions to the extreme the other night during dinner...

He only fed them a few bites of butter, but they really liked it! It was pretty gross to watch them inhale pieces of butter. We knew they liked it on bread and pancakes, but who would have thought they would eat it like this?

Today at lunch I gave the boys a cheese quesadilla and peach slices. Recently they have started to use a fork pretty well. I got a few pictures of this..

House Hunting Update

We did put an offer in on a townhouse which is located in Edgewood, MD which is in Harford county. This morning we got the news that our offer was accepted! Of course, this does not really mean we will be getting the house because we still have to get the home inspections done. If we find anything that is really wrong then we will back out of the contract since we won't have the finances to fix anything major. Hopefully the inspections will happen this weekend so we will know more after that.

I did want to put a message out to everybody who is reading. Even if we don't get this house we will be looking into other places and be moving in the near future. If anybody out there is looking at buying new living room furniture let us know if you have nothing to do with your old stuff. We realized that we only have bedroom stuff, kitchen table and only 2 chairs, bookcase, and a rocking chair. Which means we are lacking a couch or other seating. So, keep your ears open for anybody who might have an extra cough or other seating and let us know.

I also wanted to let everybody know when the day does come that we move we will be going without cable and Internet for a few months. We want to make sure we get the major bills under control before adding in the "extras". We need to get into our own place, but it will make money really tight so we are trying to be smart about how we spend it. So I won't be able to update the blog much. We will try to make some trips to see friends and family who have wireless Internet so that I can make updates and so on, but more than likely it won't be very often. This is probably going to be the hardest part for me, living without the Internet.

Random Stuff

I just went through and uploaded pictures from the last few days and thought I would post a few of them.

The other day Ben finally got his work uniforms and when he brought the box home the boys decided to have fun playing with his new clothes. After a while Ryder had enough though as you will see.

We bought the boys Valentine's Day shirts, but ended up not going out on Saturday so they wore their shirts last night when we went to dinner at Mum Mum's. We also had fun and spiked their hair which everybody seemed to make fun of, but Ben and I thought it was cute!

We had a family dinner last night to celebrate Ben and Jamison's birthday (Feb.11)

Today I had to run some errands so the boys stayed home with Tracy and Dave. When I got home they had taken some cute pictures and videos.