Long overdue...

Well, it seems as though life has gotten a little crazy and my blogging has taken a back seat for a while. I apologize for that, but you'll soon understand why.

Mark and I finally put our house on the market on March 16th (Monday). We were both pretty excited, but figured it would take a while before we got any bites. Well, that morning that our Realtor put it on the market, we got a call an hour later to do a showing. Thank-goodness our house was clean. So for a few days in a row we had showings. We also had three more scheduled for the past weekend and this past Tuesday. We were pretty excited that people were interested in our house.

Mark told me the Monday we put the house on the market we would have it sold by Friday. In this slump, I told him he was crazy. Friday came, we were as always busy cleaning and looking at potential new houses (oh yeah, we are building a house on my parents land, in case I forgot to mention) and we got a chance to go out to dinner just the three of us. It was way past due. Then, on Friday night around 7:40 we got a call from our Realtor saying that we had an offer on the house. You have got to be fricken kidding me. So he came over around 8:15 that night, showed us the offer and left us to think about it. It was way too low for our liking, so we waited to see if we had any more bites and then put in a counter offer on Monday afternoon. By Monday evening the house was under contract. Just like that....we sold our house.

I'll be honest with you, I'm a little sad about it. This was our first house we purchased, we've put so much work into it, we had Jack here, and so many other experiences and now we have to leave in a little over a month. I'm really excited to be building a brand new house....but a little piece of me wants to cry every time I think about it.

So for now we're trying to find a house we like and in our price range, packing, taking care of work related things, Relay is starting to get into full swing and trying to stay calm amidst the craziness.

As you can see, it has been a little wild around here, but it's all worth it. We will be living up in Rouses Point for about 5-6 months while our land dries, we get the foundation in and the house is being built. It'll be a huge change, but Grammy and Gramps have a room for Mark and I and a room for Jack. We couldn't ask for anything better.

Speaking of Jack....he's been a wonderful child lately. He just goes with the flow, has a few melt downs along the way but heck, he's almost 2. He has really enjoyed the nice weather and wants to be outside every second. When we can't get out, he enjoys penguin bowling...or his version of it.

He's also been into some heavy lifting....
And of course all of that hard work means he has to take a nap...

I know what you are thinking Jack..."Mama, why do you take such silly pictures of me?"...
Because he is just too darn cute....
Enjoy the nice weather everyone. We'll be in Albany in the weekend visiting with Aunt Donna, Tasha, Dylan, Trystan, Danielle, Ray and baby Taylor...and we can't wait. Tallman's be prepared...my son is a wild one!!

Playdate and more

So as always, things have been crazy around here. A little crazier than normal, I'd say. Our house will officially be on the market tomorrow afternoon. Our Realtor came to take pictures today, do measurements and get the final papers signed and the house will be put in the MLS system tomorrow. I'm a little nervous about how quickly it will sell, but we'll see.

So while finishing up IEP's, cleaning the house and packing, Jack and I had a playdate on Thursday. I say Jack and I because Jack got to play with Gage and I got to play with some camera's that Gage's mommy, Barbie brought over. Barbie and I have been friends since 5th grade and she asked me to assist her in shooting a wedding at the end of August, so I figured I might as well start practicing with the camera's I'm going to use and I've been wanting to get together with her for a while, so it worked out perfect.

Gage and Jack were getting along great at first, until my kid decided to tickle Gage (which they were both laughing about) and then he proceeded to pull him down to the ground. UGH.....only my kid. I quickly pulled him off of Gage because no child should have to be tackled to the ground when being hugged. Well, Jack attempted to hug him two more times throughout the night and both times brought him to the floor. My kid is a lover...just a little too lovey sometimes. Gage was a great sport about it though...he got a little upset, got a hug from his Mommy and then was back to playing. Thanks, Gage!

Barbie showed me her awesome camera's and I can honestly say I feel like a moron when it comes to cameras. I thought I knew a lot after working at Sears for what....5 years...and having my own SLR, but holy crapola, she has got a lot of great stuff for her camera's that I have got to learn to use. Makes me want to go out and buy a new lens and external flash =) We didn't do too much shooting because I was more interested in what some of the buttons did and we talked about what was going to be done during the wedding, but we did get a few cute shots of our boys.

This is when I turned the TV off....I thought Gage was going to kill me...
They had enough of the camera in their face...
Jack trying to kiss Gage...
His confused expression....
His newest trick....putting something on his head and saying "achoo"
It was a great night and I had a lot of fun, I just hope Gage wants to play with Jack again. My kid can be a little too much for any toddler to handle....he's just too "hands on"...if that makes sense. At least he'll make a good husband....he'll always be hugging his wife.

With all the packing, painting, cleaning, and working we haven't had much time for anything else. The house is looking good though....although a lot of it is packed up right now. We're hoping to be out of here by the summer, but I think that's wishful thinking. We'll let everyone know how it goes.

Have a great week and I hope everyone enjoyed the weather this weekend. I know we did!

Mean parents....

The last couple sets of pictures I've taken of Jack happen to be ones that he may hate us for later. I thought everyone would get a kick out of them.

With Gramp's goofy hat...
No pants, pulled up socks and Elmo slippers....we are so mean....
Things have, as always, been a little hectic around here. Mark and I have decided to put our house on the market and find something bigger so we are fixing up some little things here and there to make our house ready to sell. My dad has land that we've decided to build a house on so we've also been trying to find a house as well as fix ours up and get our work done in the meantime. Of course it's still the busy time of year for me and I'm still trying to get my blood levels up (and of course Iron count...yes, I am a mess) so needless to say I am exhausted lately. It will all be worth it though when we can finally move into a bigger house.

Not much more has been going on around here...everyone is adjusting without Marble. It's a little strange not having to put a dog out, but I know she's much happier right now. Newton has also been very lovey lately, which is out of sorts for him.

Hope everyone has a great week and enjoy the nice weather we've been having, you never know when it'll change again.

A good dog....

I just wanted to let everyone know that we unfortunately had to put Marble to sleep today. It has been about two months now where she has had difficulty walking and has not been able to jump up on the couch (her favorite spot!). We have been hoping that with the help of some medication it would all get better...as it usually does. This time however, medication did not work and she kept getting worse.

For the past week it has been very difficulty for Marble to walk and she began losing control of her bladder. We were really just playing it day by day and hoping she would bounce back. Saturday night we came home to her unable to move at all and in obvious pain. She hasn't been eating or drinking much and has been loosing a lot of weight. Yesterday we decided that it was time she be put down because she was in so much pain. I slept next to her on the couch last night just petting her to help her calm down. She would bark if she moved the wrong way because it hurt so much. I didn't have the strength to bring her to the vet, besides she is Mark's dog and I know how much he wanted to be there with her when something happened. So Mark and his mom took her around 2 this afternoon. She went peacefully and was no longer in pain.

She was a wonderful dog who was loved by many and will be missed terribly. She lived a good, long life (15 1/2 years) and always had the energy of a puppy. We know that she is no longer in pain anymore and she's up with her buddy Missy in heaven.

With the only cat she ever got along with, Newton...
Marble and MissyAt the new house...
Getting cozy in the bassinetHer favorite place to be...
We love you and will miss you Marble, you were a great dog.