Our New Abode

I've been meaning to make this post for the last month, but I just never got around to doing it. My brother Steven told me he would not send me any more pictures of my new nephew until I blogged about the new house, so here it is. :)

Last August, we put our home in Lansing up for sale. It was a wonderful place for us, but it was not where we wanted to be long term. Jordan and I both had things we wanted in our "rest of of lives" home. And since home prices were so low, we decided it was the time to try and make the switch. We did not actively search for new homes while we waited for our house to sell. We just looked at homes online. There was one house, however, that we really wanted to see. So this past January, we went and looked at a home we just LOVED. It had everything we wanted. It was rural, had lots of land, rooms for each of the boys, a big tub, a pole barn, a formal dining room. We had found it! But, our house wasn't selling. So we waited, and waited, and waited.

A few months after we saw the house, the owners said they were tired of trying to sell(I knew the feeling!) and asked us to write an offer that was contingent of the sale of our home. We were so happy we had a chance to get the home we wanted. But, before we could submit our offer, someone came in and made a real offer. We were crushed.

In May, after about 48 showings of our Lansing home, we finally got an offer! We had a few places we were looking at online, but none of them struck us like THE house. We decided to call and ask if the sale of the house we really wanted was final. It wasn't. There was a hold up, and we were told if we could make an offer within the next couple of hours, it could be ours.

Of course, we made the offer, and we got it!! We moved into our beautiful new home on the 1st of June, and we are so happy here! It is going to be such a wonderful place to raise our boys.

Notice the difference in the color of the grass in theses two photos. The one with the green grass was taken a few weeks ago. Since then, it has not rained hardly at all, and my poor grass is dying!!!! You usually don't have to water your lawn here in MI, and our futile attempts to water some of it have done little. There is just too much of it.

View from the road

Our very long driveway

Living Room

Entry Way

View from the stairs. Note the very 80's style chandelier that MUST go.

Kitchen

Living Room window

View into the dining room

4 Seasons sun room

Family Room

I love this little area at the top of the stairs.

Vance's room

Hallway to Mason and Miles' rooms

Mason's room

Miles' room

Master Suite

Cute little window in the master

Can you hear the angels singing? This is the big tub that I have dreamed about for years! It was my biggest requirement for our new home!

Walk in closet

back porch

Back yard

The angels are singing again. This time for Jordan. This was his requirement. This pole barn is HUGE!

Our property is about 5 acres. We love every bit of it. I sure hope it rains soon. I miss the green grass!

Miles's Seventh Birthday

My sweet Miles turned seven in March. I love this boy! He is awesome. He brings so much joy to our family. He is great with playing with his brothers, and always listens to Mom and Dad. He is becoming a really good reader, and I think he is going to be like his dad and have a very good math/science mind. He wants to be a chemist when he grows up.

Opening his birthday presents

This cake was my first attempt at fondant. I even made the fondant myself. It was fun! (and thanks Maria for all your help!)

Enjoying his Lego Harry Potter Quidditch set

Miles' Birthday Party

So, I have to admit that I am not the biggest fan of hosting birthday parties. Just not my thing. But, I try to be a nice mom and give in every once and a while. Usually, for my kids fifth and eighth birthdays. But Miles just begged and begged to have a party this year. I caved, and we actually ended up having a very fun army themed party for Miles' seventh birthday. Sorry the pictures are blurry. I REALLY need to buy a new camera.

The party soldiers (they all got dog tags to wear). Miles was the general.

Musical chairs

My old standby at birthday parties- Pizza!

Noah

Playing pin the tank on the battlefield

Presents

Cupcakes

See the guns and swords. All the kids would have gladly have spent the whole time playing with these than playing games. They were constantly running off to the basement to play with them.

The cupcakes were thoroughly enjoyed!

All Miles Wants for Easter is His Two Front Teeth

Miles lost his two front teeth yesterday. The have been loose for a while, and Jordan was having a grand time trying to get them out. Miles was afraid to go near him! On Monday morning, one of his teeth fell out while I was wiggling it. I left the other one in, so Jordan could have a part in the removal process.

This is how Miles' second tooth came out:

Miles and his love of hot sauce

So I meant to post this video months and months ago, but never got around to it. And as I watched Miles douse his meal with hot sauce the other day, it reminded me about it. This kid loves hot sauce on everything! And the more, the better. :)

Mm Mm Good

Vance was playing out in the snow yesterday, when he opened the door and handed me a big chunk of snow and an icicle that had fallen off the house. He told me they were for our dinner, and told me to cook them. So, to humor him, I put a pot on the stove, and put the snow and icicle in it, but did not turn it on.

When he came back inside, he was still insistent that those items were for dinner, and wanted them to melt, so I turned the stove on low, and started to melt them. But who wants just ice for dinner? Not Vance!

Next he had me add a few grapes. Then a bit of flour and sugar. Then a handful of crumbled potato chips, and bit of cereal that had strawberries in it. But his creation was not finished. Next came some milk, butter, nuts, and some oats. Then it was finished. But luckily he did not insist that it be consumed!!

Gross!!!

Vance's Mousy Friends

The other day, Vance was in the bathroom, taking care of business, when he called me in. He pointed at the heater vent near the toilet, and informed me that a family of mice live in the wall. He says he talks to them every time he goes to the bathroom. It's so funny to hear! First he goes in there, and knocks on the wall to let them now he is there. Then I guess they talk to each other. The best part is that he thinks they need toilet paper to make their nests, so he always leaves a little pile of paper on the floor for them to take when we are not looking. I am often sneaking in the bathroom to take the paper away, so he thinks his little friends (whom he calls his mousy friends) came to take it. I know it's kind of a waste of toilet paper, but I know this won't last long, and I think it's so stinking cute! I love his imagination.