May! And putting the house on the market...

May was the big month we had been waiting for.  The month where we finally put the house on the market.  We had filled up the storage unit with all sorts of treasures, donated truckloads of stuff to local charities, and cleaned and spackled and painted the house.  All personal pictures were put away, kids' artwork was taken down, the house was clean, and perhaps a touch sterile even!  We put the house on the market after Mac left for a humanitarian medical mission in Honduras, so the kids and I had the pleasure of keeping the house pristine through showings and one open house.  After about a week and several showings (usually during dinner time, ugh) we had an offer.  Our realtor said it wasn't a good enough offer, and we could "do better".  At the same time as I was considering this offer (Mac was pretty much out of the loop, being out of the country), another offer came in.  This offer was better, but the realtor was a little bit insane.  So we went with the insane realtor, since it was Mo Money.  I was in fact happier with this offer because they were flexible with the closing date, allowing the kids and me to stay in our Maryland house through most of the summer which meant we could finish up the neighborhood swim season and have more time to prepare for the move. 

As it turned out, the offer we accepted was a lot better than the final price we were paid...  Our inspection was fine, but the inspector used a lot of "wishy washy" words that Insane Realtor interpreted to mean the house was likely to flood, and the deck was likely to lift the entire house off the ground by 3 or 4 inches over time...  She was a little bit hysterical.  So, after giving them just about everything they wanted off of the inspection sheet (which really wasn't much, since there was no water damage in the house and the roof, and even though Insane Realtor thought there must be water damage, there was no need to repair anything based on her hunch...), in comes the Appraisal Death March. 

But we have to back up a bit...  Our next door neighbor was a landlord renting out the house to some neighbors we didn't like at all.  We were happy to see these people move out, but a little worried about the "for sale" sign that came up when the terrible neighbors left.  This was all in late April, while we were getting ready to put our own "for sale" sign up.  Anyway, the landlords inexplicably put the house up for sale for a HUGE loss!  HUGE!  And also way below what comparable houses were going for!  It was insane!  The house went under contract within a day, and was sold before our appraisal was performed...  And it was sold for significantly less than our house's contract price.  So our house, although fairly priced compared to other comps in our zip code and area, was appraised low due to the very low price of the house next door.  We had to renegotiate with Insane Realtor, and finally the deal went through.  I was really ready to just say "forget it" when they were hemming and hawing about it, but eventually they came around to accept the new contract even though we gave them less closing money AND we refused to fix the deck "issue".  In the process, Insane Realtor called our realtor names, accused him of being "sneaky", and basically made a total fool of herself!  Crazy lady!

So, Mac was back during a lot of the negotiations and for many of the inspection repairs.  He got to experience his share of the real estate negotiations!

I'm attaching some pictures of our house all cleaned up and ready for sale.  These are my pictures, so not as good as our realtor's with the wide angle lens, but they do serve the purpose of walking us all down Memory Lane.  The kids miss the house. 

The first house we owned...  Where we lived for 9 years!

What you see when you walk through the front door.

What you see when you walk to the front door.

The eat-in kitchen

The view from the kitchen

Our living room



The back yard.  Very small but about twice the size of our yard now.  What fun our puppy would have had with all the plants!  But alas we did not have him when we lived in Maryland!  And that is why there were plants in the backyard in Maryland...



The master bedroom.  It was large but narrow- we had a seating area even!



The boys' room

The girls' room

The play room. 

Another view of the play room.

The teen's room.

The room where I spent entirely too many hours of my life.

May wasn't just about selling the house though.  We also had a series of track meets,  some swim meets, and Luke brought home Pancakes the hamster to visit us for a weekend.  (This was actually before the house was on the market!)

Luke and Pancakes:  very good friends!

He loved that little rodent...

Izzy thinks he's so cute!



Steven actually prefers the ipod.

In May, we also had some Big Cub Scout events, like the promotion of Luke from a Wolf to a Bear.  I think.  We aren't doing Cub Scouts this year so I lose track...



Luke is in the back row, middle scout, with a yellow cap and a big smile!

Josie also had many Special Events at preschool, including Muffins for Mom, where the 3 year old preschool class made muffins (yum) to share with their moms.  Josie cracks me up at these events because there are always 2 muffins to be served-- a mini muffin (for the preschooler) and a big muffin (for the adult.)  Josie always takes the bigger muffin for herself!  Haha!!  She did the same thing at Donuts for Dads (which happened earlier in the preschool year, but of course Mac was working at 9:00 AM on a Friday, strangely, so I had to go in his place to that one too...  Where I ate the tiny donut...).

Here she is in her classroom showing me two little toys that were very meaningful to her I'm sure.

So that was May.  A busy month with lots of Major Changes.  We survived, but barely. Mac had a good time in Honduras and learned a lot, and the kids all were good sports about vacating our house on a moment's notice to let complete strangers come and take a look.  (Even when that meant staying out of our house one school night from 5 pm until 9:30 pm!  I was the mom with 5 kids walking the aisles at Safeway way past bedtime...  Fun times.)  Needless to say, I'm really glad that it should be years and years until I have to put a house on the market again!!! 

Spring Break

April, from what I remember of it, was a Very Busy Month.  We were starting to enter panic mode with the house sale preparations.  My focus was on decluttering and storing as much stuff as possible in our storage locker.  We made many donations, and many trips to our storage unit which was stuffed to the tip top!  Mac took his only week of leave to do some major projects (repainting mostly), which left him with only a few days to join the kids and me on our Spring Break vacation to Yakima.  We were there for Easter this year which meant Grandma's Easter Egg Hunt, where if you are very lucky and a shrewd bargainer, you can come away with some serious money!!

As always, when we visit Yakima, first on the agenda is Playground Fun. 

Guy has a *little* height advantage over Steven!! 

Luke, Grace, Josie, and Isabel teetering and tottering.

Wonder if Josie will ever grow out of the toddler swing?  With a sister like Isabel pushing her, it's doubtful!  Too much fun!

When Mac arrived, we took some time to tour Seattle. 

On our way to the Space Needle.  Grandma and Kate decided to go shopping downtown instead of going to the Space Needle!!  Imagine that!

A gorgeous day in Seattle!

What is Steven looking at?

Ah yes...  the stadiums.  Football is closest (CenturyLink Field), and baseball (Safeco field) is the other.



Reminiscing about the view from when Mac proposed to me...

And there he is, the guy who said "I always park in McDonalds when I come here.  They don't actually tow you!"  Too bad that just after he proposed and I said "Yes", we watched a tow truck pull up to start hooking up the car right next to ours...  We luckily made it to my car in time...   

Finally Isabel got a turn!

Steven, Luke, and Isabel.

Me, Josie, and Isabel.  Josie wasn't really happy to be up there that day.  Wasn't really loving the Space Needle, the wind, or the fact that she could only see a view if she was lifted up!

We were lucky to be able to see Ben and Cara in Seattle.  We met up with them in the downtown area.  Cara was in the last weeks of her pregnancy, and looking very fit and energized!  So Mom and I knew she still had a while to go...  There was an Anime convention going on in the downtown area, so there were lots of adults dressed up in interesting costumes.  Fun!  Although technically a convention is not required for dressing up in Anime costumes in Seattle. 

Kate in Pike's Place Market

Hard to see us all- but here is Mac, Isabel, Josie, Luke, Grandma (way behind Luke), me, Steven, and Kate.  Behind us is where they throw the fish around. 

A favorite Aunt and Uncle (actually Cousin and Husband) - Such fun to see them!

While in Seattle, we were also able to have a fun Easter egg hunt and delicious brunch at my Aunt and Uncle's house!  Mac had to fly back to Maryland, so he wasn't there.  But we ate enough delicious Belgian waffles to make up for his absence...

Ummmm, yeah someone's being an egg-hog...





Now back to Yakima for more Easter activities!  We decorated Easter eggs with Great Grandma.  Fun!  And messy!  All the kids did at least one egg.  Even Guy, although I have no photographic evidence...

Look at that concentration!

Squiggles and glitter.  Beeeeautiful work Grace!

Great Grandma and Josie discuss different decorating techniques.

We also had an Easter egg hunt in Yakima. This is the one where the goal was to gather a LOT of money. (Hey kids-- look for the little eggs that are taped shut!) We give the kids a limit-- so each child can find a certain number of eggs. After they hit their number, they can trade the eggs, or open them, or whatever. These are The Rules and most of the time it works out pretty well!

Wow.  That was the trickiest egg to find.  No way was it out there for, say, a 3 year old to find...

Grace follows the money (lots of money eggs in the vines on the fence) while Guy heads for the eggs way way WAY up high in the couch-swing.  Thankfully his reach is something like 8'6" so no prob.

Ahem.  A RULE is that you open your eggs INSIDE the house...  Rule breaker.

If I were an egg, where would I be?

There it is.  The money egg.  Josie had a lot of money eggs!  She drove a hard bargain too-- she traded money for Squinkies, but she would always make sure to get a good Squinkie or two, and she never paid more than 85 cents!

Looks like Guy is analyzing his booty.  I think Guy was the only one who followed The Rules.

Eventually we had to get back to boring old regular life in Maryland.  When we got home, Luke discovered a very neat surprise.  He noticed birds flying in and out of the hedge in front of our house.  He thought to look in the hedge and see what the big deal was.  And he found a bird nest filled with little blue eggs!

Robin eggs!  How cool!

Luke studiously tracked the progress of those eggs, and made sure that we didn't knock them over or scare away the mom and the dad.  Usually the mom robin was nearby, and the dad was scouting from a higher perch.  The first thing Luke did after coming home from school each day was to check on the progress of his birds.



The baby robins just born-- You can see there are still 2 waiting to hatch. They looked like little aliens. Very charming...


One week after they hatched, they were covered in feathers and getting pretty big.

Only a few days after the previous picture, the baby birds had grown significantly!  The mom and dad robins were always bringing them worms, and they seemed to be looking a little bit tired...  Soon after this picture, these birds vacated the nest.  It was a fun process to observe!

We also had our daily crazy life of sports and what not going on in Gaithersburg.  The kids all ran track, which turned out to be a lot of fun!  Luke found his event (400m dash), and Steven found his (1600m run), and Isabel discovered that she just loves to run.  She was best at the 200m, but she really enjoyed racing a lot!  They also had the long jump and softball throw as a nod to the Field part of Track and Field.  (Woot!)

Luke ran the 50 yard, 100 yard, 200 meter, and 400 meter all at about the same pace.  So...  400m is probably his best bet!

The girl crossing her arm in front of her with atrocious form?  That's Isabel.  Hard to see, but the 200m was usually one of the last events and so you'll just have to take my word for it!  She always ran with a big smile on her face, and atrocious form...

I promise Steven is in this picture somewhere!  But this is a sprint also (the 200m), and Steven was much better at the mile.  All that swimming!!  He's a faster sprinter in swimming and slower at the long distance swims, but the reverse for track (or as swimmers call it, "dryland".)

Speaking of swimming, we of course had swim meets to attend in April.  So a couple of shots from those, and that will do for April.  A busy BUSY month.

Breast stroking Isabel

Flying Steven