Trick or Treat - Smell My Feet

Caution!!! Six-year old humor ahead!!!

The Chainsaw Man

Okay - one more, then we'll quit for the day. Earlier today we posted our first audio blog (keep reading - you'll see it). After we listened to it with the kids, Adam decided to keep reading the rest of our blog. A few minutes later, he came out all excited. "Mom - there's FIVE comments on one of our blogs!!". Tammy responded, "That's great - but I think on Shane's blog there is one entry that has TEN comments." "Wow!" said Adam "He must really be a really nice man!". After a few minutes, he said, "By the way, who is the chainsaw man?". "WHAT??" "You said the chainsaw man had TEN comments on his blog." "No! Shane's blog - as in UNCLE Shane!" "Oh. Ooops."

We all got a kick out of that one. Sometimes we think that kid needs to have his hearing checked.

Inspector Gadget

Okay - so we're going blog crazy today - I think this is entry number four for the day. Last week I had a chance to visit our new home with the home inspector guy. It was an awesome experience - if any of you homeowners haven't had a chance to go through a home with an inspector, I highly recommend it. Future homeowners - when you buy your house, be sure to go with the inspector to look at it - it's very enlightening. I learned a tremendous amount about caring for the home - things I'd never even thought of.

All-in-all the house was in great shape. He said that homes built in our area in the late 80's are some of the best built homes around. That's because we were just emerging from the recession of the 80's and only a few new homes were being built. Because of that, they were done with more care. For example, he said that most homes built in the 90's (during the housing boom) are already starting to show some cracks in the foundation. That's because they were building houses so fast that they didn't allow the foundation to properly set up before they started building on it. He said our foundation looks to be in great shape.

I crawled up in the attic with him to look at the insulation - which was very thick. The attic is also well-ventilated (I think it was 100 deg up there that day - he said normal would be close to 120 on a day as warm as we had) which means the roof will last longer (it's already 16 years old and he said we could get another 5-10 out of it). It also means that our utility bills will be lower.

He reviewed a number of saftey devices we could put in the home. Since the fireplace has a gas starter, he suggested something called a damper-stopper (or something like that) that holds the damper slightly open in case the kids decide to turn on the gas - it won't gas the whole house. Knowing our kids - that's probably not a bad idea.

Anyway, enough rambling about the inspection. Suffice it to say that it was a great experience for me to learn more about home maintenance than I ever thought one would need to know!

Rollie Pollie Ollie

Well the long awaited day has finally come. About two weeks ago Ben finally rolled from his back to his front. Now there is no stopping him. I was starting to worry a bit when 6 months came and went and he was still just laying there on his back. But now I don't worry anymore. I am hopeful that someday he might actually crawl. Now when you lay him down on the floor he just rolls and rolls all over the place. Across the room, down the hall, until he gets wedged in a position that he can't get out of. (Yesterday it was between the clavinova and this big potted plant we have; he was even trying to pull the leaves off the plant). The kids think this new development is great fun. Lizzy is particularly fond of "helping" Ben roll over. Today we were eating lunch and Ben was on the floor. He started in the living room where we could see him, but then started down the hall. We couldn't keep the kids at the table because they all had to check on his progress. "Now he is by the kitchen," or "He's almost to the bathroom". I must admit that I am quite pleased myself. I don't feel like he needs to be held all the time now. He enjoys rolling around and is happy, which frees me up to do a few things (like make a million phone calls). It couldn't have come at a better time!

Odds and ends

Well, we have a house all picked out and we have said that we are willing to pay money for it, and the owners of that house said sure, we'll take your money. You would think that would make things in our life slow down a little bit, but now the "fun" is just beginning. The last week or two have been spent looking for just the right mortgage, just the right homeowner's insurance, just the right appraiser, etc. We haven't even begun to pack up our current home!! It has felt like both Greg and I have been on the phone or email almost constantly with various companies. (The kids are tired of me closing them out of our room because I need to make or take "an important phone call"). We think that all our effort and homework has paid off though, and we feel, as we so often have in our marriage, the blessings of paying our tithing. We feel like we got a great mortgage at a great rate, one of the very best rates in the country right now (we would know since we talked to practically everybody!!). We are going to be paying much less for our homeowners insurance than anticipated thanks to BYU's arrangement with Liberty Mutual insurance. Perhaps the most amazing miracle of all is what has happened with our tax assessment. The home we are buying was assessed at far above the value of the surrounding homes. Like 50 or 60 thousand more. It seemed unusually high. It is a nicer home, but not that much nicer!! Greg sent an email to the assessor asking about it and the appeal process. The very next day the assessor answered back saying the current owners had already appealed and the assessment had indeed gone down effective in just two or three more days. We couldn't believe it!! So between the great deals on mortgage and insurance, and the decrease in taxes, our monthly payments will be less than we had planned on. We have just felt that the Lord has really been with us through this whole process. We are so thankful things are going well. There is still a lot to do, but we are anxiously awaiting the day when we can move into our new home.

Down by the bay...

We decided to try out audio blogging. We all took a turn talking. Just click the button below!

A new home!

We found our new house and bought it today! Just when we were starting to think we were running out of options - the perfect house pops up. This house has been on the market for quite a long time and was one that we had not checked out because it was priced too high for us to afford. Well, the sellers must have been getting desperate because they kept lowering their asking price until it came almost within our range. So yesterday we headed out to see it and fell instantly in love with it. We went back today to check it out again and still felt really good, so we decided to make an offer. We were able to negotiate with the sellers until we got the home into our price range (barely). We actually ended up paying $50,000 less than they were originally asking a year and a half ago, so we feel like we are getting a great deal.

Here's a link to the listing: Click Here! There are several pictures, but the pictures don't really do it justice. It's got a nice size fenced yard (.37 acres) and is right across the street from one of the nicer parks in the area.

One of the things that may have kept the house from selling in the past is that it is built to be handicap accessible. So, instead of steps leading into and out of the house, there are ramps. There's a master bedroom and bath on the main floor and another master bedroom and bath upstairs. They actually used to have an elevator in the house, but took it out when they moved and turned the elevator shaft into three huge closets (upstairs, main, and basement). The basement is very nicely finished and the kids so far have loved playing down there.

Well, that's about all I can say about it. If you want to know more, you'll have to come and visit! We'll be closing on May 24th (our house and the new one) and moving in on the 25th.

I wanted to post this picture from the other day. The day Lizzy was having her very two year old day, one of the other things she did was to give Ben a colored pencil, which he somehow managed to get on his face (luckily he didn't poke his eye out!!). I wonder how hard he had to press to get it to color on his face... Thanks Lizzy!! 

Nauvoo

We decided we needed a break from the stress of house shopping so we headed to Nauvoo this morning. It was a perfect day to be there - mid 70's, low humidity, light breeze. While Tammy was in the temple, the kids and I played outside and enjoyed the spring weather. I actually remembered to bring the camera this time (well, Tammy remembered) so we took some pictures.

Families are forever! 

Ready for the ox ride. 

Throwing rocks into the mighty Mississippi. 

Adam and friend Natalie racing up the hill. 

HHEELLPP!!!! Anna rolling down the hill in front of the temple. 

Lizzy in Nauvoo after an exciting game of hide and seek. 

Our two year old

Today Lizzy had a very two year old day. She spilled 3 or 4 cups of stuff, emptied all the movies out of the closet, screamed at the park for all the world to hear (we are talking tantrum like screams here), but still made us smile. I told Greg when he came home that she was having a very two year old day. Then later, just before bed, I gave her a drink, which of course she spilled (on purpose, I don't know), it was grape soda by the way, and while I was cleaning that mess up Greg came in and asked what happened, and I told him again that Lizzy was having a very two year old day. Lizzy piped up and said, "Yep! I 'm just sweet little Lizzy". To which Greg and I just cracked up over. She really is sweet, just some days are more trying (and messy) than others.

Rejected

Well, Saturday morning we put in an offer on a house that we loved!! We felt like it was a very fair price; it was 97% of the listing price, which is what most houses sell for. We did ask for the fridge and an old ping pong table that was down in the basement and of course, we asked for a home inspection. They countered our offer at only $900 off of the asking price and wanted to move the closing date out a month (leaving us with no place to go for a month). They also balked that we wanted a home inspection, saying that we just wanted to nitpick over everything (any smart buyer gets a home inspection). We countered their counter offer with the same price we started with, but dropped the fridge and ping pong table and agreed to move out the closing date the extra month, in effect raising the price for us a good $3,000 or more. They rejected our offer, saying they needed more money. Our agent was not too thrilled with this man, who seemed to have a bad attitude, and according to her, became smug when they rejected our offer. Needless to say we were not thrilled either. So we lost the house that we really wanted. I guess we could go back and make another offer, but we haven't felt like that is what we should do. We are disappointed, but really feel like things will work out for the best. It is a little scary knowing we have a deadline to be out of our house (May 24 th is when we close) and not having a place to go. We would love to avoid moving into an apartment for a month or more. Why move any more times than you have to? Anyway, we didn't expect this to happen, and nobody likes to be rejected!

Ben update

In the midst of all the house stuff going on, I haven't blogged about Ben's visit to the doctor last week. He weighed in at 16 something, which is about the 25-30 percentile. He was 3oth percentile for his height, and you guessed it, his head was a whopping 80th percentile. Poor kid doesn't have a chance with both Finch and Ebbert genes. He still is not rolling over from back to front, but is starting to sit a little bit by himself. He still loves to be held, but that's not so bad. He is sleeping decent at night. He will usually sleep from about 9:30 until 4 am, when I will feed him and he will go back to sleep until about 7 am. He has started eating baby cereal, which he likes. The hardest part is keeping him straight up enough in his seat for him to eat. He is very pleasant and cheerful and easy to be around. Lizzy calls him Benny boy and is constantly smothering, smooshing, or pushing on him. Ben takes it all very well. We are sure glad to have him as part of our family.