The Deal is Off

We just found out the buyers backed out of the purchase agreement. They felt it was going to be a lot of work and money to redo the bathroom in the attic and the kitchen. I am wondering if they were thinking of using the attic as the master bedroom. We do not use it as that and I could see the tub and floor needing to be updated if someone were to plan on using it everyday.

Back to square 1, I guess.

On a happier note, as today has been quite depressing with the passing of Michael Jackson, Jake is starting to walk more! He is trying more and more to walk to whatever he needs to get to. He loves it that we get so excited when he does it! We are so proud of him!

An offer has been made!

We have an offer on our house. The house went on the market last Thursday and after our first showing on Saturday, we had an offer. We accepted their offer. The buyers need to have an inspection done for their FHA loan. Their offer is contingent on the inspection. We have that tomorrow morning. Hopefully, everything will go well. Yesterday, we had our city inspection. St. Louis Park requires an inspection on all houses that are for sale. I was hoping Joe would have been able to be around when the inspector came, but it was just me. I did a lot of nodding and smiling because I did not fully understand what was being said. They did e-mail the results, which was helpful. The major things we need to do are to add a railing on the stairs going to the basement and painting the fascia on the house. We had a railing on the stairs before we finished the basement, but we took it off. Now, we have to make sure it is up to today's code. The rest of the things are pretty minor, like smoke detectors and attach the utility tub to the floor or wall in the laundry room. We have until the closing, August 17th, to finish the tasks. Joe will have a bit of work to do!

So, where on earth are we going to live?? We are in the process of finding and looking at houses. We are still focusing our search to Shakopee. We are looking for a newer house (our house now was built in the 1920s), more bedrooms, more closets, a fenced in yard, a deck, a walkout basement, a larger garage, and a few other things. We had been searching a lot online and drove around to the 13 we were interested in last night. We were able to see some things that were not evident in the photos online. We narrowed our list down to 8, or maybe 10, I cannot remember. There are 4 that we really like and hope to see later this week or early next week. Hopefully we will find something we like...and quick! Our realtor said we need to have a contract on a house signed by the middle of July in order to close relatively close to the 17th of August. We are brainstorming back-up living arrangements!

Walking update....no real update on that subject! Jake still loves to crawl and it is his most favorite form of transportation. He will be daring, more often lately, and take a few steps to move closer to a piece of furniture/toy/family member. He just isn't quite ready to take the "big step" quite yet. We keep hearning of friends' kids who are younger than Jake that are walking. Jake must be mentally preparing himself and will dazzle us with his talents, soon! We are enjoying the time we have before he starts going at full speed!

On the Market

As of last week, our house went on the market! We have had a few showings, which we are excited about. It has been a bit crazy trying to keep the house clean with a dog and a one year old!

This week, Jake and I went up to St. Cloud to see Katie, Matt, and Hailey. The weather was not all that nice, but it was fun to hang out and play. Jake and Hailey had a good time together. It was nice that Matt was able to come home before we left, so Jake could play with him.

On Saturday, we went to Canterbury Park with Joe's mom and step-dad. It is an annual tradition to go the Saturday before Father's Day. Joe's grandparents were there, along with some of Joe's aunts, uncles, and cousins. Dan and his girlfriend did well, but the rest of us didn't do all that well. Jake liked seeing the horses. His Grandma Dee even bought him little horses and some ice cream!

Babies, Birthdays, Picnics, and Flowers

I have not been good at updating our blog. Hopefully as school is out, I will have the time to catch up!

My best friend, Jessy, and her husband Tom welcomed twin boys this past Saturday. Welcome to the world, Gabriel and Nicholas! I am so excited for more boys. Most of my college friends have all had boys! I was able to head up to the hospital Sunday night to meet them. I was able to sit and feed Nick. He was so tiny and very cute. I forgot what it was like to hold a newborn!

I am holding Nick and Jessy is holding Gabe. I ended up having a flat tire when I walked out of the hospital. I do not know how to change a tire, so Joe and Jake had to make the trek up to Coon Rapids to help me out. It ended up being a 4 hour trip from when I left the house in the first place.

Paige turned 1! Yeah! We had an Elmo themed party at my parents' house. Hailey was even able to come down. It was a lot of fun to see the two one year-olds playing together. Hailey helped Paige open the presents and Jake wanted to play with most of them. Paige loved her cake. She even rubbed some into her eyes. Needless to say, a bath was in order!
Here are some pictures from a picnic Jake, Jamie, and I had at Lake Calhoun. It was over Memorial Day weekend. We stopped to have a picnic.

Joe has been working very hard to get the yard to look nice, now that we are getting closer to putting the house on the market. He enlisted the help of his mother and Dan. They did an amazing job. They created two little gardens and spruced up three other ones. Joe continues to work hard at getting grass to grow in areas that Kirby has ruined. It looks great. A man stopped by yesterday and was trying to sell fertilizer. I wanted to tell him that our lawn looks pretty good. Check in with the neighbors who have weeds overtaking their yard.

The Keys Have Been Found!

As I was getting ready on Monday morning, I was thinking of the places where Joe's keys could be. I wondered if he had checked the bag he used when he went fishing. I asked him if he had checked it and he said yes, he had. So, I didn't go check it myself, like I usually would. I was in the bathroom and looked out the corner of my eye and saw him looking in his closet, inside the bag he just told me he checked. Guess what he found?? His keys. He claims he didn't check that one pocket before. Yeah, right! At least they have been found. My mom thinks he should have GPS on his keys! Maybe for Father's Day...

Smart Moves

Both Joe and I should be proud of our intellectual genius moves yesterday. We were at my parents' house to celebrate Paige's first birthday (pictures to come later). Joe had to work during the day, so he met Jake and I there afterwards. He called to tell me he was at our house, to shower and change, but he couldn't get into the house. See, Joe lost his set of keys. He had work keys and house keys on that key chain. We are not sure where they are. Joe had used our spare key, which we hide outside, the day before. But, he forgot to "hide" it again. So, Joe had to come in his work clothes to the party. After we had cake and watched Hailey swim in the 70 degree cold pool, Joe and Jake were going to head home. I was planning on hanging out by the bonfire (bomfire as Hailey calls it). About 20 minutes after my boys left, Joe called my cellphone to let me know he couldn't get into the house. He did not take a key or garage opener from me. Side note...we only have 1 garage opener. Joe blames my sister for losing it when were on our honeymoon. Jamie and I blame Joe. As I saw his number show up on my phone, I knew exactly why he was calling. At the same time, my brother Mike and Nikki were heading home and could easily drop off a house key for Joe. I went to go look for my car keys to take the house key off. Ah...no car keys. They were in the diaper bag that Joe left with!! My mom and I were laughing so hard by this point. I called Joe back to let him know that he could get into the house with my keys. Fortunately, my parents have an extra car at home and I was able to borrow it for the night and returned it the next morning.

We are on a mission to find Joe's keys. We have two different sets of key hooks in our house. You'd think his keys would have a nice home there. Apparently, not!

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, it was just mommy and Jake around this weekend. Joe went up north fishing with my dad, brother, and uncle. They left on Friday afternoon and will be back sometime tomorrow (Wednesday). This is an annual trip, which Joe really looks forward to. Last year, Jake was only 2 months old and did not realize his daddy was gone. Well, he did this year! When he wakes up in the morning, he says "Da Da?' He asks about a thousand other times throughout the day. There happens to be a picture of the three of us on his changing table. Jake picks up the frame and points to Joe everytime.

Jake had his 1 year pictures taken on Saturday. He was in a pretty good mood, until I took his ball away from him. Then, he was sitting on the floor and leaned back too far, and fell over and bumped his head. He was pretty much done with pictures at that point. Luckily, the photographer caught several cute shots.

On Sunday, we packed up our stuff and our dog, and went to spend time at Grandma's house. It is so nice to hang out there. Jake has so much more room to move and Kirby can play with all the other dogs. We helped Grandma buy flowers for her house. Monday was a really hard day for Jake. He was pretty crabby all day. Nothing would make him feel better. It was a long day. I tried to find some moments while Jake was sleeping to hang out with my sister by the pool.

Jake has a new obsession. He has to listen to the book Goodnight Moon before bed each night. I think Joe and I have it memorized. I used to love this book as a child, so I think it is cute that he does, too!