Justin age 5

Tomorrow my baby turns 6- so hard to believe. But tonight I share with you pictures of my 5 year boy! He was deep into PCS- photographer's child syndrome- so pretty sure I tricked him to get this picture.

Becky took this picture in Cape Cod last year and it is so classic. It seems Jack and Jessica had set up an elaborate game on the dock which involved lots of rules and things that had to be followed before you were allowed to jump off the dock. But here is the thing about Justin- he doesn't really like rules and things and he just wanted to jump- so he did! Look how happy he is! Look at Jack yelling at him- so funny.

This is the Justin we had the joy of living with last fall- so cranky I wanted to sell him. Things have improved greatly.

Justin age 4

Oh my goodness I almost forgot this post! Here is my little cutie at the sweet age of 4- clearly I wasn't sure how long was too long for his hair.

The house saga...

So... I have house news, but I have no happy ending. I was hoping to blog all about everything when I had an end but alas that is not happening and people are asking. So here goes.

We put the house back on the market at the beginning of May. We were on the market for two weeks when we got two offers. They were both contingent on the sales of their houses. One offer was for almost full price and one was for full price and they included a love letter to our house. We accepted the love letter option- BUT they asked us to take our house off the market for 2 weeks while they tried to sell their house and we agreed.

Unfortunately the contract between the lawyers took 2 weeks to get back to us and the 2 weeks off the market officially started then- so in the end we were off for 4 weeks which was very irritating. They did receive an offer in that time but negotiations fell through. We saw a house we FELL IN LOVE WITH but since we had no real offer we did not bid and that house sold in 5 days- grrr. We went back on the market on a Monday and on Friday July 3rd a family came through at 10:30 and by noon we had a full price non-contingent offer. They wanted us out by July 30th- ha! We agreed on a closing date of August 17th. We gave the contingent offer people the 48hour notice and they withdrew their offer.

Now on to buy a house for us. When we accepted this offer there were 2 or 3 houses we would be have been happy to buy. As we went to make offers on these house they were all sold just before they got our offer. So.... here we are. We have no home as of August 17th. Now let's be clear, in this age of internet house shopping I am aware of EVERY SINGLE house in my town that is on the market (it is a small town). I have seen the inside of most of them in the areas in which I am interested in living. Here is the thing. We don't hate our current house, we actually like it a lot. We are not moving because we just want anything different. We really wanted the "right" house. Now we are in a quandry. a) buy a not perfect house that is a little above our price range and then not be able to buy furniture or fix it up in any way since we maxed out or b) buy a not perfect house that is well below what we are looking for- fix it up and sell again in 2 or 3 years or c) rent a house and then jump on the "perfect" house as soon as it comes on the market.

We are leaning towards option C at this time. Here is the problem, there are not a lot of houses for rent in our town. What is for rent has a list of people interested and they are willing to sign a 6month or year long lease- we are not that interested in that option. Although since most of the houses come on in the Spring we will consider a 6 month lease. Here is the other issue- in our town there are 3 elementary schools that serve grades 2-6. Jessica has already attended one of them. The majority of the houses we like are in a different district. She knows this and is aware that she is most likely changing schools. We REALLY wanted to know where our new house was before school started and truly that makes me so sad that we might be pulling her out of one school after it has already started. So we can try to rent in the district we think we will most likely be ending up in- if we can find a house. The other option is that my elderly neighbor was moved out of is house a few months ago and they have not put it on the market yet. I contacted his son and he said that we should keep looking for a place to live but that if come the closing day we still have no where to go we are welcome to move into Ted's house. They are going to be putting Ted's house on the market come the fall so it is not a long term solution and living next to my current house would be a little weird to say the least. Keeping the kids out of the back yard would be hard, and how many times will I be pulling into that driveway by mistake??

Yes, I know "it is all going to work out" and don't forget "everything happens for a reason" oh and "it wasn't meant to be". But for now it just stinks! So that is the House Saga so far....

Davis Farmland

I think I know a girl who is stalking my blog to see these pictures- Hi Katelyn!

Davis Farmland is a place that I have been meaning to go to for a few years. In my quest to be the fun day tripping mom this summer we headed out there with our friends. It is recommended for ages 2-8 so I knew I had to get there this year. It is a petting farm and has a big sprinkler park. Here we are waiting in the long line to get in- Justin had picked up a rock and put it in the waistband of his shorts so he wanted to share that- weirdo. Can you see Jen? She is trying to hide from my camera.

Look! Justin is AGAIN posing and smiling- love this new phase.

They have a whole "pretend" area. All of our kids enjoy that and they were having quite a good time. Here are Katelyn and Justin roasting pretend marshmallows over a pretend fire.

A different version... I won't share all 10 versions of this picture I seem to have :)

Justin loved this thing. You put food into the cup and then pull a rope and it dumps the food at the top for the goats that climb up there- he didn't care that there weren't any goats up there.

Lauren loving on the baby goats- we had to drag her out of their pen.

Here is the Llama that stole Jessica's feed cup- we thought it was so funny. A farmer guy went in and got the cup back and refilled it for Jessica.

Jessica took my camera and went off and took 45 pictures- I deleted most of them but here are two that she took.


We went to the sprinkler park after we ate our lunches. They boast having one of the largest in the state. We thought the kids would be in there forever but there was a bit of a breeze so they bailed out pretty quick. Katelyn and her cousin in the sprinkler park.



We went over to the the little racers next. I think this might be my favorite picture of the day. Justin and Lauren waiting in line.



The kids spent a long time in the sand box and playground area. At the end we had a great day- long and fun. Thanks for hanging with us K family!

Bad Parenting Moment

So we went to Jack's birthday party at the Canoe Club. It was an overcast and slightly chilly day. I knew I was instructed to bring bathing suits, but since it wasn't that kind of day I just forgot. I felt so bad. The kids were in the river, using their water shooter things and my kids couldn't participate. I had no extra clothes in my car- nothing- so they had nothing to change into if they got wet and it was chilly. They were so bummed. Jessica went out onto the boat and had fun. But I could tell it was killing Justin. I felt horrible. I hate when that happens. When you feel like you failed them. They were pretty good about it- Justin was not giving me a hard time. Finally half way through Justin turns to me and says, "please can I get wet?" So finally I agreed. We ended up stripping him down to his skivvies. He couldn't have cared less- he was so happy to join in the fun. Jessica was still bummed and didn't quite understand why I wouldn't let her do that. Here he is- smiling for Becky- SO HAPPY. Smiling for pictures is new and while I could do without the strained look on his face I am enjoying not having him yell at me and turn away.

Fourth of July!

Yeah yeah I know I am a little late- and actually all of these pictures are the 3rd of July. We were invited to go to the Cooks house to see the Westfield Fireworks at Stanley Park. They are walking distance to the park which is great- we don't have to worry about finding a parking space and we get to hang out with friends- what could be better. I took none of these pictures- so thank you Bec and Emily.



We had sparklers! Um don't ask Matt about it- he thought it would be a good idea and a time saver to light 8 at once- turns out he was wrong. But the good news is that there is no permanent damage.

Bec and I both brought tons of glow stuff for the kids to wear to the fireworks.

Addie took a picture of the parents before we left- thank you Addie! (note bag of ice in Matt's hand- no worries he is fine now).

The kids couldn't wait to get to the park- many people had been there for hours picnicking. Note the orange things in Miles' ears- they were earplugs and they meant that he was able to stay for the whole show for the first time- yeah earplugs!


The fireworks started and Justin went over and cuddled in Emma's lap- love that Bec caught this moment before he moved.
It was a great night- already looking forward to next year!

3 days until Justin turns 6- 3 year old Justin.

Here he is- my little 3 year old cutie. Now I think you can start to see resemblances to the boy he is now.

The kids used to follow Marc around the yard pushing their mowers when he would mow...


This is one of my favorite pictures of him from the Outer Banks that year (thank you Bec!)
Justin started preschool in the fall- I know I have shared this picture more than once, but it just makes me smile. Note: he is still in pull ups.

Justin age 2

This picture says it all about Justin when he was almost 2. He found the one loose board in our fence and found a way to escape. I watched him work his way down the fence until he found it and then he was gone. We let him do it once for the camera and then Daddy screwed the slat back in place- Justin was a little upset.

The biggest thing that happened just before Justin turned 2 was he broke his leg. While originally upset by this turn of events I now refer to it as the best thing that happened. See Justin was a runner- and when he broke his leg I was able to catch him. That first summer on the Outer Banks would have been SO much harder if he didn't still have a little limp that slowed him down.


hmm grabbed this picture quickly- and just realized I did some fancy wording on the bottom.

Justin age 1

Back from Newport and I have LOTS to do- but of course no interest in doing it. So here are my Justin age 1 pictures.

This picture was taken at JC Penney and it was my idea since this is all he did at age 11 months.

We were travelling from Maine on Justin's actual birthday- so the last day in Maine we celebrated with dirt cake since Justin loved to eat dirt.


Oooh I just love those dimples!


This was his posture as he learned to walk.

6 days until Justin turns 6

Ok, I have LOTS of blogging to do- July 4th, Davis Farmland, Cape Cod- but I didn't want to forget to do this for Justin. I am already telling you I will miss tomorrow's post since I will be out of town, so look for 2 on Monday.

We will begin with one of the last pictures before he was born- I think this was taken in the waiting area. They were trying to send me home, saying I wasn't ready, I was refusing to leave. Nope no sir I was done being pregnant (he wasn't due for another week but that is totally irrelevant). We had told Dee she could be there for the birth and had called her to say that we were at the hospital but don't rush over since I was probably going to be sent home. 20 minutes later we get a call from the front desk that someone was there- it was Dee, she wasn't missing a minute of this birth!

Dee and I love to tell the getting born stories but I won't regale you with those right now- but feel free to ask Dee she would love to share. Justin arrived around 7:20 in the evening on July 24th. The delivery was fairly easy- that is the way I roll. We were all so surprised at how much he looked like Jessica. But unlike Jessica he was able to nurse right away.

Grandmommy brought Jessica the next day to meet her new brother.

Dee came back the next day too she couldn't stay away.

Awww....

Aunt Sheri came to stay with us for his first week. When Jessica was born we did not want anyone to stay with us. But when Sheri told us she was coming we were pretty happy. It was a long week for us!


Ok, off to Newport, be back on Monday.