Visiting Family

This past weekend we headed up to the Memphis area to spend time with Bruce's family. Here are a few pictures that Bruce's mom took while we were there:

The first evening that we were there, we celebrated Bruce's 31st birthday.

Having a snack while at Grandpa and Grandma's.

Daddy showing Brinley Grandma's pretty flowers.

Fourth of July Weekend (Nearly a Month Late) and More!

Wow! I can't believe it has been over a month since my last post...but a busy month it has been. As most of you know, my parents, brother, sister-in-law and nephew came to visit us Fourth of July Weekend. This has become somewhat of an annual tradition for my parents, as they have been coming to visit on that holiday weekend for the past three years. However, this was Brandon, Emma and Cole's first visit, and we were so happy that they were finally able to do so. Their visit included a morning at the beach (which the babies loved!), dinner at one of my and Bruce's favorite restaurants in Ocean Springs--Jocelyn's, a visit to the Katrina Memorial in Biloxi, a tour of Beauvoir (the last home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis) and last, but not least, a walk-through of our new home.

The babies playing with the toys that Cole brought.

Cole and his Daddy enjoying the beach.

Brinley and her Nana wading in the water.

The gang at Beauvoir.

Brinley and her Uncle Bubbee reading a story the morning that everyone left to go home to Texas.

The following weekend, Bruce, Brinley and I moved into our new home with the generous help of some WONDERFUL friends of ours. Within the first few days, we had the living room, kitchen and dining area set up to our liking. There are still a few decorative touches that I would like to finish in Brinley's bedroom and the guest bathroom. Also, the master bathroom still needs a little organization, and the master bedroom still needs a few pieces of furniture swapped around in it. Other than that, things are going well. The spare room, which is acting as a storage room at this point, still needs some work. There are probably a handful of boxes in there that I need to go through, but I'm taking it one day at a time--and I have to with a little one under my feet that likes to 'help' Mommy. We still haven't fully decided what the spare room is going to be used for (whether it be an office, playroom, etc.) so that makes it kind of hard for me to find homes for things. Of course, time is also a huge contraint for us. Since Bruce commutes out of town for his job, that cuts down quite a bit on our weekday evening time which means that all the major household chores get squished into the weekend. Through trial and error, we're trying to find a routine that works well for us.

I think the one thing that we have absolutely fallen in love with about the property is the yard. At first Brinley was a little unsure of the different textures of the grass, sand, gravel and mulch that cover various parts of our property, but now I think she loves to explore. She definately knows the word "outside" so Bruce and I have to be careful not to use it unless one of us is able to take her out to play...otherwise we're asking for a fit.

Brinley and her Daddy kicking the soccar ball around one evening after Bruce got home from work.

She LOVES to play with her ball outside.

I can safely say that Bruce and I still haven't gotten used to the quietness of the neighborhood. You wouldn't think that would be such a hard thing to get used to, but it is, especially when you're used to living living in a crowded apartment complex right off of a busy highway. There are times during the day when nothing in the house is running--not the washing machine or the dishwasher or the dryer-- and I feel like I have to turn on the radio because it is just too quiet. The good thing about the quiet is that we have so many little critters come and visit our yard--various wildbirds, butterflies, squirrels, and the like.

Mr. Squirrel that comes to visit our backyard nearly everyday...

...and a pair of wildbirds that decided to sit on one of our side fences in the backyard.

I hope y'all have enjoyed this update and that everyone is doing well. Until next time...

Recent Photos

Here are a few pictures--at the request of a few of the ladies of Long Industries--that have been taken during the past few weeks...

Eating Ritz crackers w/ cream cheese as an afternoon snack...

...and being a goof-ball.


Pestering...err, I mean 'studying' A'Pexi while she is trying to nap.

"Uhhh....I wasn't doing anything Mom."

Watching Daddy grill chicken for supper...

...and being a cutie pie!

Daddy reading "Panda Bear" after he came home from work yesterday evening.

Our home-schooling lessons are paying off! Brinley recognizes over two dozen animals by pointing when you ask her where a particular one is AND recognizes several letters of the alphabet as well as various objects around the home. We are so proud of her!

We Are Unofficially First-Time New Home Owners

As I know y'all are dying to know the whole story of how this happened so quickly, here goes...

This past Saturday, Bruce and I received an e-mail notice for a home that just went on the market. After looking at pictures of the home together, we realized that it was the same exact floor plan of a brand-new home that we had recently walked-through and loved but had went off the market very quickly. Infact, the new home that we walked through first is almost directly behind the home that Bruce and I accepted an offer on today. The only differences are (and most of them are great differences) the lot of the home we will own is over half of an acre versus the third of an acre lot that the new home is on; the garage doesn't face the street but has been turned 90 degrees to face the side unlike the new home; the current owners JUST added a fence to the enormous tree-filled backyard which the new home doesn't have AND it already has a security system and wood blinds installed--both things that the new home doesn't have or wouldn't typically come with if we were to have the builder build us one. The only negative, which really isn't that big of a deal when you consider all the positives, is that the home we are planning to close on before the end of the month is four years old.

Like I've mentioned, Bruce and I fell in love with the home immediately. It is a little smaller than some of the homes we've been looking at, but we absolutely love the layout of the rooms and openess of the floor plan. Anyway, we actually ended up putting an offer through our real estate agent before we even left the house Sunday afternoon. On Monday, we received news that the current owners made a counter-offer, so we put a counter-offer in that evening. On Tuesday, we received news that the current owners counter-offered our counter-offer (if that makes any sense). Initially, Bruce and I weren't exactly ecstatic over their counter-offer, but the more we thought about it and slept on it, we realized (for many reasons) that we should accept their offer...so we did!

As much as I would love to give each and every one of you an actual tour of 'our' new home, I know that's just not possible. But here is a brief virtual tour...Enjoy!

View From The Front Yard

View Of The Back Yard From Patio

Family Room From Front Entry

Kitchen and Dining Area From Living Area

Master Suite From Doorway

And The Winners Are......Not Us.

Incase any of you are wondering how our housing situation is coming along, Bruce received a call from our realtor yesterday afternoon and we were out-bid on the house. We knew when we placed the offer Tuesday afternoon that two other couples had placed offers the previous weekend, and that the seller was waiting for ours to make a decison. When Bruce and I found out about the other offers we actually ended up raising our offer to the asking price (still a bargain since it is a foreclosure), but apparently one of the other couples had already offered ABOVE the asking price.

So...now that we have that behind us, we are in a toss-up between continuing the 'house-hunting game' or building. Both of course have their pros and cons. We'll definately keep you all updated as to what we decide.

Sorry this is such a short post, but I need to finish paying bills and writing out my grocery list for tomorrow. I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend. Bruce will be working a bit of over-time on both Friday and Saturday, so it will be a weekend full of lots of 'Mommy-Brinley time'. Maybe I'll remember to take some pictures of her being her little self.

The End of House-Hunting?

Okay...so you know how I wrote in the last post to just give us a week, that we'd probably change our mind about wanting to build a home. Well, a week went by...and Bruce and I are planning to put an offer down within the next couple of days on a house that he and I walked-through this past Saturday. In all honesty, we were really planning to take the weekend off from the whole house-hunting game. Infact, I had been so sick of walking through houses that I told Bruce to just get a big cardboard box, and we can live in that for the rest of our lives.

Well, all that changed when last Thursday we received a notice from Prudential for a house that seemed to have a lot of potential. It is in a great area, is only 4 years old and has only had one owner. Better yet, it is foreclosed, so the bank that owns it now is asking about $40,000 below its market value!!! Anyway, I receive the e-mails at home, and like I previously said, I've been so sick of walking-through houses that I almost didn't show it to Bruce, but something gave me a nudge and before you know it I was forwarding it to Bruce's work e-mail address so that he could take a look at it and be thinking it over while he was at work. After spending most of that evening going back and forth on whether or not we wanted to spend our time and energy on ANOTHER walk-through that would only probably end unsuccessfully, we decided to set up an appointment with our realtor for Saturday afternoon.

I guess after being through over a dozen homes in the past few weeks and seeing what we've seen, we really didn't have high hopes for the house. However, all that changed very quickly. Bruce and I were very satisfied with the house after walking through it. Sure, there are a handful of things that we would like to upgrade or change over the next few years, but that would be expected with any home we would buy. We knew almost immediately after we were finished that we wanted to meet with our realtor within a few days to crunch numbers and quite possibly put an offer in. So, at this point, that is our plan. As of right now, we have an appointment set for tomorrow afternoon, and I guess we'll just see what comes out of it.

About the rest of last weekend--Bruce worked Friday again. As much as I hate him spending so much time away from Brinley and I, I try to keep in mind that in today's economy I should just be thankful that he has a job and one where he is needed. Sunday, we just took the day easy for the most part. Bruce and I spent as much time as Brinley allowed crunching numbers on our own. We did make a trip down to the pond that is in our apartment complex. You see, earlier in the week, we had hotdogs for supper and had few buns leftover. Instead of discarding them, we decided to take Brinley down the pond to feed the ducks. What ended up happening was Daddy held Brinley the entire time while Mommy fed the ducks. Not exactly a picture-perfect moment.

Speaking of pictures--I know it has been a while. Infact, I realized this past weekend that I haven't taken a single picture this month! I promise I am going to try to do better and get some pictures of Miss Brinley taken and posted.

Well, wish us luck concerning the house. I am hoping that I'll be able to start sending out 'new address cards' to everyone soon, but I know that if something doesn't work out that it was for a good reason. Either way, we will definately let you all know how it all goes!

House Hunting Update

This past weekend was a busy one for us. Bruce worked on Friday which, as most of y'all know, is out of the ordinary for us. However, a few weeks ago he was able to get approved to work over-time for the next several weeks, which gives him the opportunity to try to catch up on work, if there is such a thing. Between Bruce working late in the evenings and then working on Friday, mine and Brinley's week together was a long one, while our weekend together as a family was just too short.

On Saturday, we drove over to Mobile to walk-through several homes with our realtor. Although, none of them really hit the spot, it made us realize how much we both really like one of the homes that we walked-through the previous weekend. Unfortunately though, (there always has to be an 'unfortunately', doesn't there?) that particular home is already under contract. (Trust me, when Bruce told me that, he was so upset that I think he had tears in his eyes.) However, after finding out who the builder was for it (the paperwork said one builder and our realtor kept saying another), it looks like we may be going this route. First things first, Bruce has to get pre-approved by one of the builder's approved lenders. (Apparently in today's economy and the way banks are failing, they don't allow their customers to lend from just anyone.) Secondly, we're hoping to get an appointment with the builder within the next week or two to discuss where we are wanting to build, what our options are and what our budget is. So at this point, that is what our plan is. Like I told my mom couple of days ago, Bruce and I might change our mind next weekend and want to buy a bungalow in Australia....who knows....

Sunday was a rather gloomy, stormy day here on the Gulf Coast, so we just took it easy. Bruce did venture out to catch the new Star Trek movie during Brinley's nap. (Yes, for those of you who weren't aware of this already, I am married to a Trekkie....oy!) Asside from that though, we really didn't venture out much. Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Sorry there aren't any pictures this time around.