House Showings from Hell

Our house is for sale...that's right it is STILL for sale.  We did end up switching Realtors several months back and we have gotten a few nibbles since then but no big bites yet (fingers crossed that one comes soon).  We got the call last week that someone wanted to come see our house on Sunday at 1:00.  We were of course thrilled to get another visit but it's very hard to keep your house in showing condition when you and your spouse work full time, have two children, and are involved in a million other things.  So, we spent the entire week getting organized and cleaning up but just planned for a big cleaning fest on Saturday.

Saturday morning rolled around and we did spend the morning cleaning but we were in no hurry.  So, at 11:00 on Saturday the doorbell rings.  Dan goes to the door in time to see a Realtor trying to get into the key box.  He opens the door and the Realtor says that she and this couple are here for a showing.  Dan quickly apologizes and asks them if they could give us 10 minutes because we were told that the showing was to take place on SUNDAY at 1:00.  The Realtor tells us that she is going to take them to another house and then come back.

Now let me set the scene for you a bit.  When the doorbell rings, the children are running around the house like the wild children that they are.  I am standing at the stove where I have just started cooking Hamburger Helper for lunch.  We are in the process of decorating so the living room looks like Christmas has just vomited there...plastic bins out, decorations littering the floor, nothing has been vacuumed in at least a week and everyone of us is still in our pajamas.

So Dan closed the door and looks at me and I yell "just hide stuff!".  So Dan, Brynn and I spend the next 10 minutes literally running around the house like crazy people just shoving stuff in cabinets and under the couch, vacuuming, throwing the hamburger helper (pan and all) into the fridge, etc.  Colton thinks this looks like great fun so he just begins running around in circles because everyone else is running. The dog can not understand what the excitement is about so she is just running around barking and the cat is hiding in our bedroom looking terrified.  We did the best we could (the results were actually not to shabby) and then toss the kids in the car (yes we are all still in pajamas) and get out of there so that they can do the showing.

So following that bit of excitement, Dan calls our realtor and explains what happened and to verify that this was the showing that was actually supposed to happen 26 hours later.  The realtor told us that she has no notice of any other showings so we just laugh it off and say it was all a big miscommunication and it's in God's hands anyway.  Moving forward to Sunday...

Saturday night Dan went to a bachelor party so I was on my own Sunday morning.  I knew it was going to be a bit crazy because I needed to get ready to attend a funeral, get the kids ready for church, get Brynn packed for a day of Nutcracker rehearsal and drop the kids off in Felton where Dan was meeting us.  I was pretty organized so I was in great shape.  However, 20 minutes prior to leaving, I realized my keys are missing.  So I spend the next 30 minutes (which would have been spent straightening up) frantically tearing the house apart (aka:  making things look worse in the house) looking for my keys.  I finally find them (at which point I am running late) so I toss the kids in the car and literally run out of the door.  BTW:  Colton had hidden my keys in his favorite hiding spot deep inside the kitchen cabinet.

After a very long day of funeral, church, Nutcracker rehearsal we get home to find a realtor's card on the table. This means that they have shown the house!!!!  OMG...I quickly run around the house to see what they saw.  Let me mention a few of my favorite things here...the dirty pan from this morning's scrambled eggs, was sitting on the stove, dirty dishes in the sing, this morning's dirty jammies on the steps, little tiny shoes haphazardly lining my upstairs hallway, the dog chilling in the playroom along with the pile of laundry that came out the dryer that I did not have time to fold, laundry room door hanging open, totally disheveled bed completed with blanket half on the floor thanks to the kids jumping on it in the morning, a pile of folded laundry on the chair in my bedroom, curling iron and make-up hanging out on the counter in my bedroom, etc., etc., etc!!! 

Do you know that feeling when you just can't believe that something just happened and you desperately hope that you are dreaming? That's exactly what we felt! Can you imagine what those people must have thought when they were looking at the house?!!!

I'm guessing that we did not make these sales. Someday this will be funny...

Brynn's Thanksgiving Feast

I actually have a list of blogs that I need to do but since this one is very belated...I will start here.

Just before Thanksgiving Brynn's school had a Thanksgiving Feast.  Each child was invited to bring two people to come to the feast.  My boss allowed me to sneak out for a couple of hours so I could attend but unfortunately Dan had a meeting and couldn't make it (although he did get to go to Colton's), So Brynn invited Grammie to be her other guest.

The pre-school put together such a beautiful event. Everything was decorated and they had huge tables set up.  Brynn was so proud of the decorations that she helped to make.  They had a full thanksgiving meal including turkey, gravy and all of the fixings.  The kids all sang a Thanksgiving song and after we ate some of the characters of the Nutcracker Ballet were on hand to entertain.  It was such a beautiful event and I am so grateful for Brynn's pre-school...what a wonderful blessing they have turned out to be!

My place setting:-) 

Brynn in her Pilgrim Hat

On this Turkey they had each child answer the question "What will you do for Thanksgiving?".  The answers were too funny.  One little girl said that she was going to sit on the couch with her Mommy while her Daddy cooked.  Another child said that they would probably go to McDonalds.  Neither of those were my child...shew.  Brynn said, " I don't remember but I think Mommy will cook and Daddy will help."

On the place mats they had asked each child how to cook a turkey. That got some pretty funny responses too.  Brynn said to cook it for 3 minutes and then cool it for 3 minutes...IF ONLY!

Holiday Weekend Wrap-Up

Ahhhh...what a fabulous long weekend! What is it about long weekends that make it so hard to go back to work?

Anyway....the long weekend was full of delicious food, family time, decorating for Christmas and plenty of shopping.  Does it sound like my perfect weekend or what?!

Our general tradition is to put the Christmas tree up on Black Friday.  However, I would personally put the Christmas tree up on Halloween if Dan would let me get away with it.  So much to my surprise Dan agreed that we could put the tree up last Wednesday...gasp, before Thanksgiving!  Dan's parents had come over for dinner so we all had a fabulous time decorating the tree.

Brynn was a big helper hanging the ornaments this year.

Colton showing off his new ornament which he refused to put on the tree and instead carried it around with him for two days.  Elmo is now missing a foot.

Once we got the tree up, Brynn was inspired to "play Nutcracker". What that means is that she pretends to be Clara (performing the key parts) and assigns roles to everyone else who happens to be nearby.  She then gives each person very specific directions about what they are supposed to do.  It was so fun to watch.  She assigned her Pops (her grandfather) to play the role of Mouse King, Daddy had to be Drosselmeyer, and I was the Nutcracker.  I was particularly delighted by Pops's performance of Mouse King...what a good sport.

Clara sleeping before the mice arrive to take the Nutcracker.

We had a very relaxing Thanksgiving.  We spent the morning on the couch watching the Thanksgiving parades and cooking some goodies to contribute to dinner.  After a short naptime, we went to my Dad and Stepmom's for dinner.  It was a huge family feast!!!  I think there were at least 14 children there under the age of 11 not to mention at least that many adults.  It was super loud, fun and delicious.  We did manage to fit in a quick Christmas card photo shoot while there...and thanks Denise because they are great.  (You will just have to wait to get your card to see that pic).  Here are a couple of other pics:

Some of the kids

Two of my nephews...Ronnie and Hunter

 Colton REALLY enjoyed his cupcake!

Brynn trying to follow her older cousins.

Black Friday was a huge success...perhaps a little too successful!  I am not sure my credit card (or my husband) has gotten over the shock!  However, we only have a few more odds and ends to pick up and we will be completely done.  We left my cousin's house at 6:30 and did not return to her house until 4:00.  We timed it just right because we missed most of the crazy shoppers.  And...we got home just in time to head to my Dad's house for leftovers....still yummy!!!

We did have two crazy mishaps over the weekend with house showings but that will require some explanation so I will save it for another blog:-)

Black Friday...It's on!

One of my top 3 favorite days of the year is almost here...that's right people, Black Friday is two days away and counting!!  I am a bit of shop-a-holic.  I get a serious high from black Friday because it is the one day of the year where Dan does not have a heart attack when I go out and give the credit card a hefty workout.  In fact...when I get home with arm-fulls of shopping bags, he doesn't even as how much I spent (probably fear).  Ah...the freedom:-)

Black Friday is a long standing tradition for the women in my family.  When I was a little girl my grandmother would take my cousins, siblings, Aunt and I out shopping and we would each get to pick out our own Christmas present.  After we were done shopping my grandmother would treat us all to lunch.  I remember us kids begging my grandmother and Aunt to start the shopping later (we thought getting there at 8:00 was crazy).  These days my grandmother just gives everyone money (because she has 5 million grandchildren and great grandchildren) so she doesn't go anymore and over the years the Black Friday Shopping has dwindled to just my cousin and I (and my sister-in-law when she can)...but Denise and I are die-hards.  It's also funny that now we are begging my grandmother to come over earlier to watch the kids so that we can leave on our shopping expedition at 6:30.  Since we are such Black Friday experts, I will share with you some of the lessons we have learned over the years.

1.  You want to go early but not too early.  If you get there at 5:00 am you will be shopping with the crazies...you know those people that will push, shove and run over you for the last pair of 25 cent socks.  Not really fun anymore.

2.  Black Friday is not a day for looking cute.  If you chose to wear your cute boots, you will be sorry!  Two hours into the day you will feel like the balls of your feet have no more skin on them.  Which leads to buying new shoes to wear to finish out the shopping day (Denise and I have both learned this lesson though it did take us two years).

3.  Bring your ponytail holder!  You are going to want to have a ponytail holder handy at all times.  Shopping is hard work and sometimes it gets very hot.  Besides...you never know when you are going to have to wrestle someone over the last pair of 25 cent socks!

4.  Bring a friend.  Some of the lines are super long so it's a lot more fun if you have a friend with you that you can gossip with while waiting.

5.  Leave your coat in the car.  If you are carrying your coat around you have less hands to hold shopping bags and you are going to get too hot to wear that thing.

6. Be sure you stop for lunch. Shopping takes lots of energy so you must rest and refuel.  Besides...Black Friday people watching is some of the best!!!

I have a few more tricks up my sleeve but I'm afraid I cannot share them.  Black Friday shopping is a sport; therefore, it would be crazy to reveal all of our secrets:-)  Denise and I have spent our week stretching and carb-loading to prepare...it's on:-)

Me and my partner in crime (no this is not on Black Friday:-)

Giving Thanks

November means that it is time to start the annual Thankful Tree in the String Household.  I think it's important for all of us to remember how blessed we truly are and this is our fun way of doing it.

Sorry...I can't figure out how to rotate the pic:-(

Each night we trace our hands to make "leaves" for our tree.  We write one thing that we are thankful for on each leaf and then hang it on our tree (which is prominently displayed on the back of our front door).  We look forward to doing it each night and it's fun to watch our tree grow.    What we are thankful for each day is usually a reflection of how the day has gone....you can find everything from wine to belly laughs on the tree.  I love to see what the kids come up with!

It's not quite done yet (we do it for the whole month)...I'll try to remember to post a pic of the complete tree.  On December 1st we take pictures of the tree and than take it down.

My Heart Melts

Brynn and Colton have reached a great age where they really play with each other and enjoy spending time together.  Today on the way to school, I turned around and saw this...

They were just happy as clams holding hands as we drove to school.  My heart melts...all is right with the world:-)

Happy Birthday Sis!

I wanted to take a moment to wish my sister, Kim a very happy birthday!!!

Kim and her family live in Louisiana (air force) and Brynn and I just got back from a wonderful visit with her.  I was really bummed that Dan and Colton weren't able to come with us (just too expensive) but I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to do this with Brynn.  The whole thing was just so special.  She was the perfect little traveler even when we had to sprint through the Airport to catch our last flight.

Almost small enough to be a carry on:-)

Chillin' in our hotel room the night before our flight.

 I just loved Louisiana...kids have great manners, lots of beautiful land and they fry everything...what's not to love.  We managed to squeeze in lots of fun stuff (I learned to shoot a handgun and ride a four wheeler (next time I need an automatic four wheeler!)) but the best part was just spending time sharing a few (or more) glasses of wine with my sister. 

Cousins:-)

 

Helping out the boy scouts with a food drive.

My oldest niece...where has the time gone?!

This boy cracks me up.  My four wheeler coach.

The view from the porch...sigh.

Trying to get a nice picture...

Yea...that's about right!

At the zoo

Playing dress up

Kaylee and I playing Slumber Party on the Wii.

I told you they fry everything...pickles!

It was such a wonderful trip but I miss them even more now:-(

Wedding Bells are Ringing!!!

I have a ton to catch up on but most importantly  I have great news!!!!  My sister-in-law Patty got engaged over the weekend!!!!   If you can't tell by all of the exclamation points...I am so excited for her and her FIANCE!!  They are planning an October wedding.  Congratulations Patty and Ross!

The Bride and Groom:-)

Hershey's Miniatures (totally random blog of the week)

I have one question about Hershey's Miniatures (you know those little mini candy bars that come in a bag with about 49 other mini candy bars)...Why?!  Why on earth do they make them?  I'm guessing that the theory is that you could just have one little mini candy bar and not a whole giant one.  Let's be real...that doesn't happen! Do you know anyone that just has one of those little candy bars and then ignores the other 49 little candy bars taunting you from the bag on your desk (or from in your drawer...or from the break room)?  I don't!  We as Americans are not known for our will power to abstain from things.  I think Hershey's should just discontinue them or only sell them individually.  Maybe I will sue them for intentional infliction of a big booty!

Oh wait...I hear a little chocolatey voice calling my name from the break room...

Happy "Half" Birthday Brynnie

Dear Brynn,

Today you are 4 1/2 years old.  You are so grown up that it sometimes takes my breath away.

You are very into soccer and ballet right now.  You just finished up your second soccer season and are getting all geared up to be in your second Nutcracker Ballet.  You adore watching the big girls at Nutcracker rehearsal and are already planning for the day when you will be "one of the big girls".

You absolutely love your Pre-K class and get very upset if you have to miss a day of school.  We are blown away with how smart you are.  You are eager to learn and adore the art projects.  You love telling us all about the things you have learned at school.  Just last week you came home and told us all about nocturnal animals. Your best friends at school are Carley and Caleb. 

Your favorite color is purple and you love anything Disney.  For Halloween you were Rapunzel.  You love to read books, play with your little brother and get pedicures with Mama.  You would still rather do an art project than just about anything.

You are looking forward to taking an airplane ride to Lousiniana with Mama to see Aunt Kim and family and you simply cannot wait until Christmas.  You plan to ask Santa for Bullseye from Toy Story for Christmas this year.

Mama and Daddy are so proud of you Brynnie!  Words cannot express how grateful we are to have you in our lives.  You are mature, talented, beautiful and very tender hearted.  I adore every minute of being your Mama!

xoxo,
Mama

Trying to copy the big girls at dance:-)

 

Birthday Camp-in

Dan's birthday was Saturday and we had big plans for the weekend. We were supposed to go to Voshell's campground for the weekend with family.  We love fall camping trips and were so excited to go.  I had done the shopping and bought every single type of breakfast meat I could think of, smores makings, several types of chips, and ordered a large cake for Dan's birthday (eating junk food is probably the most important part of camping).  But...

 On Thursday afternoon I got a call from Colton's daycare with the information that Colton had a 102 degree fever.  I rushed to pick Colton up and on the way home he started doing some kind of crazy wheezing thing.  At this point, it was 4:00 but I decided to just take a gamble and try to call the doctor because the last time Colton sounded like that he ended up in the ER.  Our pediatrician was not in the office but there was another pediatrician in the office that was willing to see him.  Thank goodness I took the gamble because it turned out that Colton had a major ear infection and a bronchial infection that does not play well with asthma.  The doctor was able to put him on antibiotics and a steroid but warned me that there was a very good possibility that Colton would end up in the ER for a heavy duty breathing treatment sometime over the following three days.  She also told us that had I not brought him in and gotten the steroid there was 100% likelihood that the would have ended up in the ER that night...thank goodness for Mama's intuition!  I was super bummed to have to cancel our camping trip but I knew we didn't have a choice.  Colton's asthma is usually worse at camping because of the campfire and allergens so we knew if we went anyway we were guaranteeing ourselves a visit to the hospital.

By the time I got home from the doctor with Colton, Brynn was laying on the couch looking terrible and had a fever.  Dan took her to the pediatrician on Friday morning and we learned that she had a sinus infection...ugh!

By Saturday morning (Dan's birthday) everyone seemed a little bit better.  They were all at least well enough to be sad that we were missing out on our camping trip.  So we decided to have an indoor camp out in hopes of making some kind of celebration for Dan. So the kids and I decorated the living room to look like a campground.  We then made camping food...burgers, macaroni salad and of course chips.  Since Mom & Glenn had already been exposed to our "den of germs" they were able to join us for our little celebration and some cake.  It wasn't quite the super fun weekend that we had anticipated but we did make the most out of it. 

Dan and the kids sitting around our "campfire".

Camping:-)

Happy Birthday Daniel...we love you!!!

Birthday boy

Blowing out the candles.

It turned out to be a good thing we had to cancel because just about everyone who was supposed to be there ended up getting sick. Kelly, Ava, Aiden, Emma...we hope you feel better!!

Trick or Treat

Our family has a long standing tradition of getting together at my brother and sister-in-law's house to celebrate Halloween.  I'm not sure how long we have been doing this but I know it started before Dan and I even had kids.  We get the kids all dressed up and make them stand around for the traditional pictures and then we follow them around as they trick-or-treat.  We used to be able to get away with just stopping at a few houses and then going back the house and eating yummy food (and candy).  However, as the kids get older we find ourselves spending more and more time doing the actual trick-or-treating.

The annual group shot (with Patrick).  Emma wanted nothing to do with standing next to the scary decorations!

My little Rapunzel

 Elmo

The skeleton laying on the ground is actually my nephew Ronnie.  Scary right?!

 Emma keeping her eye on the scary stuff

The first house.

Unfortunately Dan and I ended up having to make a hasty exit from trick-or-treating.  While we were out, I started to feel dizzy and faint.  I ended up getting really disoriented and couldn't get myself together.  I had had stomach issues all day which I assumed was the result of a weekend of eating really crappy food so I hadn't eaten or drank much because I just didn't feel like it.   Turns out my "stomach issues" were really a stomach bug.  We went to the emergency room and learned that I was very dehydrated which was causing a blood pressure issue that was responsible for the fainting.  So we spent the remainder of our evening in the hospital getting pumped full of fluids rather than eating yummy food with our peeps:-(

Great Job Wolfpack!

I am super behind on blogs so it's another double blog day:-)

The 2011 fall soccer season has officially come to an end.  The team got together this weekend to celebrate with a pizza party.  The kids enjoyed eating pizza, playing games and getting the much anticipated end of the season trophy (Brynn has been asking all season if she was going to get a trophy).

Brynn and her friend Carley showed up in the same shirt.

chowing down!

Congratulations Wolfpack!

 It was a fun season.  Unfortunately it rained pretty much every Wednesday (our practice night) so the season felt short but Brynn really loved it this season.  She had a blast playing with her cousin and some of her close friends.  She loves that Daddy is one of her coaches and had decided that her Uncle Patrick should coach next year too (because her cousin is on the team too).  She said that she can't wait to play again and is going to be "really good" next season.  I may be biased but I already think she was a star:-)

Go Brynnie go!!

Huddle time with Assistant Coach Daddy:-)

 

Fall Harvest Parties

Last week both kids had their fall harvest parties at school.  Brynn's party was first and I was able to sneak out of work for a few hours to attend.  All of the kids dressed up in their costumes and then went trick or treating to the various offices in the building and to a couple of parents.

My little Rapunzel...with her wig falling off:-)

When they were done trick or treating both of the classes marched outside for a photo opp.  The attempt to get 25+ kids to stand together and look at the 15+ parents that were eagerly snapping pictures was nothing short of comical.


This is just Brynn's class.



We then all marched back into the classroom where we listened to a Halloween story, played some games and ate a yummy lunch.  Brynn declared that it was "the best party ever".

Story time

Get that pinata!

Brynn and her BFF Carley after getting turned into mummies.



Lunch



Next up we went to Colti's school for "Trunk-or-Treating".  For some reason, we weren't able to participate last year so we had no clue what to expect for this.  The general idea is that parents pull up their cars, decorate their trunks and hand out candy to all of the kids.  I had no idea how seriously some people would take their decorations!

The above picture is the first car I saw when I got there.  I'm not going to lie, I started to feel a little bad about my hastily bought dollar store decorations.  Fortunately, I was able to team up with a friend and I think the end result was not too shabby.  It's kind of hard to see but we had cobwebs and pumpkin garland hanging from the top too. 

There were a ton of kids there and they all had a blast "trunk-or-treating" and running around the parking lot in their costumes. Thank goodness Grammie and Grampie were able to come help out because it was crazy...and so much fun!

It was freezing out!  This is Colton running around with his little Superman cape hanging out the back of his coat:-)

Colton just wanted to run around so Brynn worked the cars for her and Colti

Cutest little witch ever!  This is Sophia who is one of my best friend's daughter and she also one of my dance students.

We finished off our Fall Harvest day with Pizza at my Dad and Stepmom's. You can bet we all slept great that night:-)