Past few weeks

It has been crazy. We were going along all good. Loving our home and our lives. Then we decided to check again to see if any waterfront opened up that we might like. We do that ever so often. Go nuts and wonder about waterfront. So we find one. And it's pretty cool. But it has a whole Mother-In-Law suite. What would we do  with that we wonder. So we call my MIL. Guess what? She has been needing to ask us about the very thing. She needs to move in sooner than later. Well that's pretty inspired so we look at the cool waterfront house and get an offer in. AT THE SAME EXACT TIME someone else puts in an offer. They offer cash. I can't do cash right now. They win. No cool waterfront house for us. 

In the mean time we pray a lot and decide MIL does need to move in soon-ish. Like within the year. It is time to look for a place with a separate suite. So we look. We look and look. I fall for several that go under contract before I can even offer. What is going on? The housing market here is picking up in a  huge way. So weird. But we trust in the Lord and know something will work out. 

Then I see Bess. As in the house on Bess Road. I know online that I'm gonna buy this house. My husband is not as sure, but he wants to see it. I drive by it like 10 times before my agent gets me in. I know the school there, the parks (FOUR really close), I map out how to get to the grocery stories. I peek in the windows. I own this house in my mind. Here it is: 

 Look at those trees. LOVE. It is huge. The price is good. We get in. The MIL area is so nice, way bigger than the last one. Perfect. The boys all get separate rooms AND Brian gets an office AND I get a craft room. It has the coolest terraced backyard patio situation. Hardwood floors. Miles of cabinets. It does need a new roof and a new AC system. It's Florida people, can't mess around with that stuff. Even with those expenses it's still a good price. So we go home and pray. My prayer is something like, "Please let Brian know this house is perfect. Or let me know it's not... but I know it is." I'm sure Brian's is something like, "money, square footage, roofs, plumbing, electrical boring boring" Together we just ask for guidance. We go to bed. In the mean time I have been getting sick. Brian wakes me up in the middle of the night to tell me he thinks we should put an offer in.

That offer was just officially accepted. We need a home inspection but otherwise we are good. We should be moving in about 40 days.

That means I have to sell this house! (New house purchase is not contingent on this house sale, but I can't just hang out with two houses, so I gotta sell this one.) So taking down photos and paintings, packing, repainting, carpeting, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. And I'm dog sitting and  hosting a friend's kid's party in the next month. (Neither one I'd give up for the world, love the dog and all the people involved, so no one offer to break those plans, I'll work it out)

So that's great for whatever this mystery illness is. It is the same one I always have. Sore throat, cough, mostly at night, tired... Then nothing and it gets better. I'm allergic to stress.

In other news Ethan had his birthday party. I am tired and can't blog all about it, but look at this awesome Tie Fighter he and Stephen built. Love those guys.

Huge Flamingo

Here is one of the largest balloon sculptures I've made. It is a huge flamingo. I LOVE IT.

Weight loss, Disney, house hunting, balloons...

We really have been busy. Last month we went to Disney twice. Here are some pictures:

 Calvin LOVES Ethan. You can so see it here in this pic. Total adoration.

 Calvin became a pirate. Jack Sparrow made it official. This was a big deal for him. Calvin loves pirates. That Jack Sparrow was REALLY good too.

 Splash park joy.

 Wet Ethan.

 Meeting Jake. HUGE deal.

 Stephen was always there of course, but he was serious about rides and such and didn't ever want to stop for photo ops. I did catch a few. Here he is with Ethan.

 Calvin was happy to pose though!

I could post 50 pics of Disney, but I think that covers it. We had a blast.

So weight loss. It is slow. VERY slow. I'm frustrated. But I'm way healthier too. I have been working out a lot and I can feel that I'm stronger and have more endurance. So that's very good. I have not lost much though. I did finally take "before" shots. Here they are (no makeup, in my pj's with wet hair, super duper sexy I know):

 One of the most fun things going on is the balloon making. I am thinking I really should consider parleying this into a job. I'm actually pretty good. And it is FUN. And seeing the kid's faces is GOLD. Look at this cute puppy balloon:

So I told you we were done with house hunting. Then Brian sees a house in our neighborhood that is for sale on the water. We love our neighborhood. We want water... We check it out. It is a bit of a financial stretch, but not impossible. It is huge. There are trees in the backyard that you could put swings or forts on. And there is water. It has a downstairs mother-in-law suite. My mother-in-law is interested. That would help the financial. Me, the MIL and the kids are game. Then Brian decides no. I will admit I'm confused and frustrated. I think it could be great. But I already live in a beautiful home that I love, so I'm not really upset. Maybe a little. I guess I'm torn because I can't tell how serious he is about looking for a waterfront property. waterfront is his dream. I want to see him get that. I guess if I have a dream it's a slightly larger house. But I'm not hung up on that. I am pretty much living the dream already. (the Mother-in-law part will have to be revisited. There may be a need there in the not too distant future, but my great house now does not have a possibility for that.) So that's that I guess. I'm trying to be a cool and supportive wife and not a shrew who insists on moving.

Kids are all doing well. Calvin got out of that not-sleeping-always-fussy thing. He is always happy and sleeps fine now. Ethan is back in school and doing great. His writing needs work, but otherwise he is fine. I expected that so I'm happy. He is actually enjoying it now which is new and great. Stephen continues to do great. He is a cub scout now and LOVES THAT. Here he is in his adorable uniform. He already has some new swag on it, he got his bobcat and two activity badges.

I painted the table and chairs in my dining room. I love it.

Well I guess that's all for now. Of course there was more, but that's all I can think of to add. We are good, happy, fairly healthy (cold going around the house) and having fun. Can't ask for much more. 

Calvin and sleep

For two nights in a row Calvin has messed up my sleep. Yesterday he woke up well before dawn and though it was time to get up and talk to Mommy. ONLY Mommy will do for this. So I got up WAY early. The night before Brian and I had been up way late too, so I was tired. And crabby. Then last night the same baby would NOT GO TO FREAKING SLEEP! He was up talking to me till 2am. If I left the room he would scream and wake up everyone else. Brian tried to lay with him but all he did was cry for me. WTHECKCALVIN! And today he might have slept in, but today is the day he CANNOT sleep in because I leave in the morning and am gone for hours. 

Look at my little sleep eating monster. SLEEPING. Brian lets him nap sometimes. If I catch him doing this in the middle of the day I wake him the heck up. Or take a nap myself. But isn't he sweet? 

Last night while talking to me he goes, "Mommy, guess what?" "mmmff,wha??" "Baby butt!!" "mmmmok" (these noises are me mumbling because I'm trying to sleep.) "Mommy guess what?" "mmmmzzz" "Shake your baby butt!!" then he jumps up and shakes his baby butt. It's one in the freaking morning, but still so cute.

 Anyhow I'm tried. But after picking the kids up at school I bring  them to the Children's Museum. Gotta let them play and also keep them out of Brian's hair, as he is working from home. I bring in my balloon stuff to work on a few things. And I'll be honest, I hope a few kids want stuff too. And they do! I ended up making a balloon for every single kid. Like 40 of them by the time I leave. (there was a group there.) And everyone loved it. If I had taken the offered tips I bet I would have made $30 to $50 dollars. I made:
monkeys
puppies
monkeys on trees.
flowers
swords
a pig
monkey on tree hat
horses
unicorn
zebra
ladybug bracelet
a football (which I'd never made and didn't like AND they wanted it in red of all colors, but the kids loved it)
I think that's it. I taught a few kids how to make their own swords and they loved that.
I'm exhausted, but it was so much fun! I have a party coming up for Church where I'm doing balloons and a charity event where I'm doing them too. (North Florida School of Special Education) So I'm excited.

Here is a recent creation. It is a snail. I LOVE his mouth.

 Here are some of my balloons. I have a lot of them. Yo

Dreams

Do any of you have reoccurring dreams? I have had a few, some drop off, some I've always had.
1. Super hero/spy dreams. Not always the same, but a common theme in my dreams is that I have to save the world with either my super intelligence or some amazing martial art type powers.
2. Sharks. I'm not really afraid of sharks in real life, but in my dreams they always kill my dad. Which would suck. I like my dad a great deal.
3. Aliens. I'm totally freaked out by aliens. I'm actually not going to dwell on this because it will freak me out. But remember those Time Life Books on Aliens? They were HORRIBLY scary to me. Just the commercials, I never saw the actual books.
4. One where me and my mom are trapped in a bathroom. We can't get out and I cry and cry and my tears fill up the room and we both drown in my tears. This is the most upsetting for me. I always wake up terrified from this one. So much so that I have to get up and turn on lights and stuff. (because you are so less likely to cry yourself to death if the bathroom light is on?)
5. The house dream. I dream all the time about a certain house. Actually found this house on my recent house hunt. Freaked me out. But it had a sagging foundation and was in an area my kids could not play outside without armed escorts, so I didn't buy it. Two story, 100ish years old, lots of great molding/trim, my bedroom looks out over the back yard, which is fenced, storage under the stairs, play room next to the kitchen...
6. My least favorite: The normal day dream. Like I dream that it is tomorrow. Wake up and feel cheated. I mean no sharks, aliens, super powers or amazing houses? No fair! Also in that dream I always get something done that I've been putting off and wake up all happy that it is done, but nope, still need to do the thing.
7. Teeth stuff, usually that they fall out, sometimes they break.

So those are my most common ones. What about you.

I read that all blog posts have to have a  photo so here is an unrelated photo:

Calvin with fishing pole balloon

Surgery, colds and my mom.

I had a bit of surgery last Monday. It went well but knocked me on my butt. Then I got this super cold that is going around. I actually cried yesterday I felt so bad. UGH. I'm sure you want to know more about the surgery though? I had girly stuff done. I can't have babies anymore. But that's not WHY I did it, I was having problems, and this is a two birds one stone solution. Because I have enough  babies. The perfect number of babies. Anyhow fairly minor, but I'm taking a while to feel 100%, then I came down with this nasty cold. 

The good news is that my mom came up to help me out for about 5 days. Awesome! My mom rocks. She spoiled me and my kids. She cooked and cleaned. She sang me Soft Kitty and rubbed my back. She took the kids to and from school. She read books with them. Awesome. 

The last day she was here I was feeling a bit better and she took me shopping. Yippee!

Look at this amazing Octopus picture! She also got me the floral/shell stuff that is in the blue vase and the birds. 

 These are not from mom, but I have not shown them. I got these on vacation, then framed them. I love them.

 Mom also brought me this painting. It has been in her house for a while and I coveted it, now it's mine!

 She also bought me a new shower curtain. Which needed a new liner, and hooks, then also new bath mats. But it is an amazing transformation! I liked my bathroom before, but this is awesome. I moved the old curtain to the boys' bathroom and it looks awesome there! So it's like TWO new rooms!

I realized I didn't take any pictures OF my mom while she was here. Imagine a slightly older, skinnier version of me reading to my kids here:

Nice isn't it! :) 

Well I'm going to go nurse this cold more. Talk to you soon.

Balloon Animals!

A few weeks ago I went to a library story time. There was a lady doing balloon animals. She only was making the dog. (seen here in orange in the middle photo) I was entranced. I've always liked balloon animals. I watched her make dog after dog and decided I could do it. She happily let me try as there were way more kids than she could make for and appreciated help. And I could do it! I always assumed I'd not be able to. 

So I went online and ordered a bunch of Qualatex balloons and a pump and a simple instruction book. (Which was silly, don't get a book, go to youtube.) I tore through that 100 balloons in a few days. I can't stop making stuff. At the party where Stephen got sick I made probably 20 balloon dogs. Then I came home and started studying how to make more advanced animals. Like the penguin. How cute is he? The flower looks simple, but it is one of the hardest for me. The monkey and bunny are not too hard but I won't be able to memorize them for a bit. Swords are the most easy, I even taught Stephen and Ethan to make those. 

I'm hooked, I placed a second order for a few hundred more balloons yesterday. Love it! 

Where is this new hobby going? No where. I mean I'd love to make them for kids I know at parties and such, but no, I'm not planning on a balloon business. I just love making these critters and seeing the joy they give kiddos.