First, we lost the house. Prior to leaving for NY we had done an inspection. The inspector found some larger structural cracks that could lead to big problems down the line if not corrected, along with other safety "must fixes". The house was an estate sale--the owner had passed away and the two sons were selling it. One of the two sons was not willing to do the right thing and have these issues fixed. When we pushed for it, they opted to refund us our deposit and end the deal...then the next day they did offer a $10,000 credit, but we didn't want to settle on that without a proper inspection from a structural engineer since it could be thousands to repair, and we were hesitant to put more money into it (it was several hundred dollars) when the sellers may back out again if it cost more than that...so we walked away. I was slightly bummed, but surprisingly calm and at peace with it. I think it's a faith thing--just trusting in God and his plan, I know he has something better in mind that will come along. There isn't one house out there....I also remember back before we bought our house in Greenville. We had put an offer in at another place and were outbid. We were bummed at the time, but in heinsight I am so glad we were because we ended up liking our house so much more.
We actually did find a house we like A LOT more. It was actually one that we saw a while back--it's a split level home in Oakland. Matt and I both really liked the house a lot from the get-go. Despite us both really liking it, we had dismissed it because the taxes are much higher there which makes the monthly expenses higher than if we went with a greater mortgage but lesser taxes....We had done a walk through to see what we might be missing out on...The house has always been on the back of my mind. Well they recently lowered the asking price so I said, well maybe it's more affordable now...with the high taxes, it's still really pushing our budget despite the lowered price. Matt and I were talking though, and said maybe it's worth stretching the budget a little bit and getting a nice house with the space, in move-in ready condition with no big issues vs. buying smaller in our budget that we'll quickly outgrow or buying a house with lots of fixing up and/or bigger issues....So we put in an offer. There wasn't a lot of wiggle room, but they have accepted our offer. So now as long as we can get through the attorney review period without another person coming in and outbidding us, and as long as there aren't any big surprises during the inspection, it should be ours! (There shouldn't be any big surprises though--we found out that they had 2 other offers that fell through due to old septic...after second person walked they sucked it up and put in a brand new one and fixed other smaller issues that also had come up on it--so hopefully there's no deal breakers this time). So I am praying all works out. This place just feels like "home". But as I said, I am at peace with things...I am excited and hopeful, but just saying "thy will be done God".
Aside from the house stuff, things are going well. I'm feeling much more refreshed since the last blog. Mom watched the girls for me one afternoon so I could have a little "me time", and then Lisa just offered to watch the girls for me on Wednesday so I could go to lunch with my friend Cortney. It's amazing how just a little time here and there can do wonders. We also solved the problem of the personal space thing by moving a bed down to the basement. Once I heard the house was falling through, I suggested to Matt that we try it since we don't know when we'll be in our own place now. Staying with Lisa and Bruce has been working out really great. I am really enjoying the time with them, and I feel like we've grown even closer and have had lots of special moments together. Lisa has also been such an incredible help to us with the girls which I have really appreciated. In one way I am going to really miss living with them when we get our own place...but at the same time I am anxious to have my own bed, be surrounded by my things, and not be sleeping in the basement or my child in the laundry room. Haha... The issue was mainly having to share a bedroom with one or both of the girls and having to constantly tip toe in and be quiet, not having any alone time amongst ourselves or each other to retreat to which everyone needs sometimes. So now we have Ashley in the guest room, Emily still in the laundry room, and us in the basement. Not ideal, but it's working out good. It's also been nice because Emily is happy and pleasant all day long, but at night she reaches a point where she gets very fussy and tired, yet fights and fights sleep. It was hard trying to rock her and put her to bed while everyone was hanging out (even though everyone was quiet and courteous)--now I can take her downstairs and turn all the lights out, have no distractions and help her to settle down. And now they can enjoy normalcy without a crying infant. So it's worked out good.
The trip to NY was lots of fun...Hectic and exhausting, but fun. We visited with lots of people--Cheryl and I spent almost every day together for at least a few hours during the day with the kids, which was really nice to have some quality time. In the past, I'd always visit and it'd always be group things with mom and all of us. It was nice having one-on-one time. Then we also visited with Aunt Arlene, Krissy, Conan, the kids; Aunt June and uncle Alf, April, and we visited with some friends like old neighbors Julie and Jenn, the old Schuylerville gang--Nicole Lantz, Carolyn Bruce, Melissa Gamache and her bf Justin, and the kids. We went to parks, playgrounds, out for ice-cream, to bounce houses, trip to Yado Gardens, fun trip to go wedding dress shopping for Cheryl followed by lunch, etc..We also had some fun time at home with new toys, building bonfires and roasting marshmallows, etc.
Since being back we've gotten on more of a normal routine again which is nice. Yesterday was Lisa's birthday, so Andrew, Lauren, and baby Ben came over last night to celebrate. We also went strawberry picking the other day which was lots of fun. Earlier in the week our friends Laura, Tim, Blake and Chase Heatley from Greenville were in the area visiting some family so we got together with them and went for a hike. It was fun seeing them, and Ashley did GREAT! Great Grandpop Mike and Lenore are in town, so we will be visiting with them either today or tomorrow.
Well here are some pics (not in order of course) of the events...I'll post some house pics later....
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