Our Little House: Part 2

This is the inside of our Little House.

Upstairs bathroom.

Manny's room. Notice the improvised drum stand and drum sticks. He forgot his sticks at school and the stand is lost somewhere in storage.

Our room, looking from Manny's room. All of our beds are on the floor. And we have blankets for curtains. It's like we are back in college. :)

Manny's room from our room and the steps going downstairs.

Our room.

Ryan's office and our 2nd bathroom. A washer and dryer are supposed to go here but, we shall see. Whatever we buy has to be moved to the new house and I really want to move as little as possible.

The kitchen. Gearing up for chocolate chip cookies. Notice the missing drawer. The landlords don't have it. ???? So, that leaves me with 2 tiny, tiny drawers.

The dining area. Johnsie is playing computer games.

The living room. We only brought in the futon. Our couch is so heavy. The dogs have always claimed this piece of furniture, hence the sheet. They have never been able up on any other furniture and I think they are going to be lost when this is downstairs once again.

The dining area taken from the steps.

It really is tiny. I can vacuum the whole main floor with out unplugging and I actually can still have slack in the cord. Less to clean right? So I am NOT complaining.

Our Little House

My boys out on OUR lot. We closed on Friday so, it is officially ours. Poor N is hidden behind the weeds.

Our Little Town. I love it. Every morning, I take N to school and we come into town with this view. I love it. I need to be a little higher up on the hill to get a really good picture. For now this will have to do. It is so picturesque.

Our little rental house.

We rent in the town next to ours. The towns are right next to each other so, it isn't a big deal. But, since we aren't living in our school district, we need to bring N to/from school each day. It takes us exactly 10 minutes to get there so, no biggie.

It's Been Awhile

I haven't posted in forever. Christmas was great but hard. We left on the 28th and arrived in NY on the 29th. 21 hours of driving. The boys and the dogs did awesome. Out little rental house is small but it gets the job done and lets face it, a smaller house means less cleaning. Right!

I will post pictures of Christmas, the rental house and NY soon. I am using hubby's computer and all of my pictures are on the family computer. We are getting cable and internet sometime this week. Ryan has an air card for his work computer and we can't download the software onto ours.

Anyway, I hope all had a great holiday.

Daddy's home!

Ryan's plane got in on Friday and I really wanted to tape the kids seeing him for the first time, it's been 2 1/2 months, ya know. Anyway, his plane got in early and he was already at the luggage claim and the kids saw him before I even had a chance to get the camera out.

I was able to capture the dogs seeing him for the first time though.

Lancelot was a little more reserved than Isabelle. And oops, Ryan forgot to take his dress coat off first. I spent the next day defurring it.

Last Pics of the House

Since, we close tomorrow, I thought it would be nice to get some last pictures of the kids in front of the house.

Wow, my shadow sure looks taller than 5'4".

A and N.

Trying to get D to join in.

Take 1.

Take 2.

Take 3.

This is as close as I could get. It is so hard because D never wants to look at the camera.

I can never get over how cute they are!

Moving Day: Part 1

What a crazy, long day. The movers, 4 wonderful guys, arrived at the house a little after 8:00 am. Bernie, the driver and his step-son Brent, from Texas, Bul, the Portuguese wonder, from Georgia, and Kerry, the amazing packer, from MN, all showed up ready to work. And work they did!

The boys' room. Just to let you know bunk beds are not fun to take apart by yourself. But, I got 'er done.

Had to take a picture of our tribute to our team the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux. We painted this a few years ago in the boys' room.

Our bedroom.

The dining room area. Hi, Isabelle.

Storage room.

Ryan's office.

The family room.

Kerry spent the whole day packing the truck. Brent and Bul were the runners who carried the stuff to the truck. Bernie tagged everything.

Getting ready to load the snowmobile. Bul is in shorts. He said, being cold is just a state of mind. Brent is at the front on the snowmobile.

Push!

The laundry room after.

Our bedroom after.

A's room after.

The boys' room after.

The living room after.

The family room after.

The wet bar after. This was never used as a bar. It was my craft area.

The guys left about 8:30 pm. It was such a long day. The guys were amazing. It seems we have a little more stuff than the average bear. Oh well. It all made it on the truck with some clever packing and shoving by Kerry. However, our picnic table which folds up did end up getting strapped to the back.

Now my in-laws and I are off to clean the house. We close Monday morning.

NY Lot

I wasn't able to post any pictures while I was in NY so, here we go. I thought I had taken more photos but I guess I mostly videotaped. Which is actually way better for my kiddos to get a feel for the land. Ryan and I were able to get so much accomplished while I was out there. Plus, it was so great to just spend time together.



You can't see much. This is a little way back into our lot. I am facing the way the front of the house will face.

This is facing the same way but at the edge of the property. I guess about where we will put the mailbox.

Visiting NY

Well, I am out in NY visiting Ryan. We have some ground work to do so, we can begin to build our house. Ryan already purchased a lot, 5 1/4 acres. We are really excited about this. Our lot back in MN is about 2/3 of an acre, so this will give us even more you to play.

Today, Ryan is taking me to the lot and will introduce me to the town that will become our home. Emotions are everywhere.

Yesterday, when I left, Grammy had to pull D off my leg, screaming. I have never been away from him for more than just a quick overnight at Gram and Gramps' house. And they only live a few miles from us. It was so hard to leave him. I teared up a few times through the day. I am now getting a glimpse of what Ryan is going through.

I will be back home on Sunday but, I plan to take pictures of the lot and town to post here.

Off to go check things out.

Changes

Lots of changes here. First and foremost, Ryan's beloved Grandmother Mary passed away yesterday. She was a wonderful, giving woman. She gave the biggest, tightest hugs. I loved so them and will truly miss her.

Ryan left NY yesterday and arrived back here in MN this afternoon. He slept for 2 hrs at a gas station during the 20 hr drive. I love having him home, even though I really wish it was under better circumstances.

We also had our 4th house showing today and the couple made an offer. We plan to counter offer but are basically considering the house sold. Tomorrow we will haggle and hopefully it will all be done. They asked, even though they realize it is quite unlikely, that we close on Oct. 30th. What? We really have no options yet in NY. Well, maybe one possibility and we were actually starting to think about building. The contractor we talked to said we could have a house done by around Christmas. So, what to do? What to do? Rent? Maybe?

So many changes happening so fast. It does give me comfort to know that I do have another guardian angel watching over my family during this time. It will be so hard to move the boys away from their Gram and Gramps and their Sissy.

Grandma Mary, You will always be in my heart.

This Sucks

I have never been away from Ryan for more than a week in the past 18 years and now, today, he left and I have no idea when I will see him again. He left to go start working in NY and to look for a house for us while the kids and I stay here and try to sell this house.

Wow, words really can't explain how I feel at this minute. I love him so much.

It was hard watching him say bye to the kids. D really had no clue, which Ryan said actually made it easier. I of course am still a blubbering fool.

We all have web cams and we will be able to see each other every night, but Ryan is still scared that his relationship with D will change since he is so young and right now they are so close. I think everything will be fine especially since they will be able to talk and see each other every night.

I truly hope our house sells fast and that we can be together again. Of course, it will be bitter sweet because when we are ready to all leave, we won't all be leaving. Our oldest, A, will stay here and live with her grandparents since she is a senior and is already taking some college classes. Hopefully, after graduation she will come and live with us in NY.

It's Official

The house is officially on the market as of today. Even though we still may have many months here because who knows how fast the house will sell, that sign in the front yard makes it seem final.

Now I guess the real hard part starts. Keeping the house clean. D, my little tornado, seems to make a mess in every room.

1st Show

Yesterday, we had the first showing of our house. It felt so weird. Almost like I was being violated. People were walking around my house, making comments about my stuff, while I wasn't there. I know I will get used to it but, it just made me feel uncomfortable.

Anyway, the people liked the house but, they were concerned about the garage needing new shingles and that we don't have either vinyl or steel siding. However, they are considering it. Our yard is going to be what sells our house. It is so big.

I really do hope it sells fast. The longer it takes to sell, the longer Ryan and the kids and I will be separated. I have never been away from him for more than a week. (work conferences.) I know I shouldn't complain because their are people whose loved one is away serving our country and they have been separated for many months. However, it still stresses me. I love him so.

We are still looking online for houses we are interested in. Once Ryan gets out there our choices will narrow since he will be able to rule out some. Jeepers, this whole process is hard. Ugh!

Moving

Ok, so, Ryan got the job in NY. It is with the same company he worked for and he will be doing exactly the same thing, just in a new territory. He needs to be out there by Sept 15th.

Scary, because that means packing and selling the house is all up to me. We do have 2 families already interested though and it isn't even technically on the market yet. Which is so nice because if we can sell it ourselves it means no realtor fees. Which means a bigger down payment.

A is going to stay here and live with Ryan's parents since she is a senior. Moving won't be hard but, leaving her will be. I don't want to even think about it because it makes me cry every time.

The boys and I will leave after the house sells. Which who knows when that will be.

I will keep you posted. I am not blogging as much right now because I am cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.

MIA

I feel totally MIA. Ryan was laid off last week, out of the blue and we have really no idea what is going to happen. There is a potential job offer in NY and we hope that he gets it otherwise unemployment here we come.

We both have been frantically running around getting the house ready, so we can put it up for sale. We have so many projects that we started but never got around to finishing. Now, we have given ourselves 1 week to get everything done.

I will keep you posted as we find out more.