Not much new here...

...just packing and trying to entertain 3 little ones. I'm hoping it's the full moon that is affecting their attitudes lately. That would mean they would (hopefully) return to 'normal' sometime soon. We'll see. I'm sure moving next week will throw them off too. Oh well. At least it's getting nice outside so we can go for walks and enjoy some warm weather.

I can't believe we move in a week!! It's coming up so fast. Hopefully I'll have more pictures for you soon. Just haven't been taking many lately. Next month, after we are somewhat settled in, I'll definitely have some more. Maddox and Beckett will be 3 soon. I should at least take pictures on their birthday, right?!

Spring is here

...hopefully to stay. We're ready for it!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. We've been a bit busy, what with packing and getting ready to move (in 2 weeks!!), taking care of 3 adorable kiddos and trying to get a little sleep in there.

Speaking of 3 adorable kiddos, here are my little couch potatoes. The boys were pretty excited to get to watch "Cars". Marketa was just excited to be sitting with her big brothers--the snack helped a little too. I think that's the only reason she sat still for 5 minutes.

Here are my 3 favorite guys.

After the snow melted and it warmed up a bit, we were outside enjoying some sun...

Marketa was loving it!!

Beckett, riding his tractor, working, I'm sure.

Maddox, always the hard worker...probably going to get a load of rocks with his dump truck.

23 weeks

23 weeks and feeling good

23 weeks with Marketa

23 weeks with Maddox and Beckett

Buying a house

Well, we're finally getting out of our townhouse. It's been good to us for the last 8 1/2 years, but we've more than outgrown it. With baby number 4 on the way, we decided to get on the ball and God totally made it happen. To Him be the glory!! Here's how it happened...

We were intending to sell ourselves (FSBO) and were getting things touched up and ready to go. A few weeks ago we saw a house come on the market that we wanted to try and snatch up at a great price. I called Roger on March 1 to ask him about putting an offer on the place. After a few minutes of chatting about that particular house, he explained that it was most likely a short sale and that we'd have to sell our place before even putting an offer on the house. There was already a long list of potential buyers for that one, so it was probably out of the question. That being said, Roger said we should act quickly to sell our place in this market and try to get into a place soon to take advantage of the tax credit ending in April--our thoughts exactly. As it happened, he was showing townhouses to a girl that afternoon--2 story townhouses in the same price range that we were wanting to sell ours at. After thinking about it for the rest of the week and talking to Roger that Friday, we decided to have him show it and take a commission if she bought. Apparently 2-story townhomes in Ankeny are not very desirable right now, so we thought we'd take advantage of the opportunity (placed before us by God) and get rid of it a little faster, taking less money, but less stress in the long run. Who wants 4 kids living in a 2 bedroom townhouse with no yard??? Didn't sound fun to us.

Later that week, Roger's buyer had narrowed it down to 4 places, all the same units as ours. After looking at ours a week ago, she dropped the other 2 near us and had to make the decision if she wanted to live in WDM or our place. WDM was closer to work but our place was 13K less. We threw in a 2k gift card so she could buy furniture and that was it. She chose our townhouse, after sleeping on it for 2 nights--that was fun! Not long after we all had made a verbal agreement (like 30 minutes), Roger got a call from the realtor in WDM saying they'd drop their price by 3k. Roger told him it was too late. If he had gotten that call earlier in the day before the girl decided on our place, she would have taken that deal. God's timing is awesome!

The next day (last Wednesday) we started looking at houses. Keep in mind, we had been looking online at everything in our price range around here. We had narrowed it down quite a bit already. Now it was time to see some houses in person. We looked at 3 on Wednesday, but only liked 1 (and we really liked that one). Thursday we looked at 6 more, plus a second look at the 1 from Wednesday. Of the 6 others, there were a few that would have been ok, but we weren't real excited about the size, use of space and locations. We put an offer on the one we really liked and it was accepted that night without much hassle.

Now we just have to get through the loan process and pack and move, all by April 9! It's crazy, but we have really felt a peace about it. If any of you know Scott pretty well, you might know that typically he takes a LONG time to decide on a purchase. He does a lot of research and weighs the pros and cons...I love this about him, but sometimes it can take forever to make a seemingly simple purchase. Many times it comes in very handy and I trust his judgement when it comes to spending money since I know it can be difficult for him. With this house, he was quick to come to a decision and we knew that it was all God...He had worked out all the details of the sale of our place and now the purchase of this home. It has come together so easily and quickly...it couldn't have happened any other way. We are looking forward to moving in and getting settled before baby #4 comes this summer.

Here's a little info about the house, in case you're interested. We'll take pics (before and after) once we are settled in a bit. It's a 3 bedroom ranch built in the late 70s. A good portion of the basement is finished. We love the large family room downstairs. They even threw in the pool table. We'll keep it for now, but will probably sell it in the next few years, unless we really use it a lot. There is a 3 seasons room off of the kitchen and a deck off of that, behind the garage. The back yard is ok in size, but it backs up to a park--the park I grew up by. Yep, that's right, we can go to the edge of our backyard and see my dad's fence!! The location is the main reason I wanted to look at the house in the first place. That and the fact that it's a ranch in our price range--not many of those that are big enough. I love having the park so close for the kids to play at and ride trikes/bikes around. Having Grandpa Denny so close is just a bonus!!

God has blessed us so much in the past year: Marketa with her kidney (missing one) and everything being ok, Scott losing his job, getting a temporary extension, getting his 60 day notice at the end of the year, applying and interviewing for only one job and getting it before the 60 days were up--meaning, since he stayed on at Allied, he kept all of his benefits (insurance, vacation, etc). And now, selling our townhouse and buying a house all within a week. It has been amazing. I'm sure there are many more blessings, too many to count. These are just a few of the larger ones that people (many of you) were praying about for us. Thank you so much for those prayers. God heard you and answered quickly. He is awesome!!

Cuddle you

"Beckett, cuddle you!" That's what I heard coming from the kids' room this morning. They are still playing the 'taking a good nap' game (lucky for me, besides today, they have taken a nap every day for a week!). Today they added cuddling to the game.

Beckett, cuddling with Maddox. Then, "night, night, sweet dreams"...

...and kisses. So precious!

Maddox, tucking Beckett in for his turn and giving him kisses.

Meanwhile, Marketa likes playing in our closet with mommy's shoes, taking them off the shelf and trying them on. Man, she's starting young!

This ones for you, Beth

Scott's sister requested a post. We haven't been up to much except for getting our place ready to sell. Here are a few pics from the past week.

Marketa decided to fix up her outfit, doing a little off the shoulder number, during nap time.

Beckett, hiding out...they like to go between the dresser and bed, pull out the drawers and "lock" themselves in. This is also the corner they typically do their "business" in.

She loves talking on the phone.

My boys and their cheesy grins. I'm just happy I could get them both to smile and sit long enough for me to snap a picture. They move fast!

Sleep

It's highly overrated. I can't complain. My kids sleep 12+ hours at night. It's nap time that has become a frustration lately. Marketa does pretty well, but those boys...that's another story. The last few weeks have been interesting. When they do nap, they sleep for 3 hours, and have been that way for quite some time. Over the last 10 days, they have only napped 3 days (one of them being right now). I know, some would say that maybe they are ready to give that nap up...I beg to differ. When Beckett is telling us he is tired and wants to go to bed at dinner time (5:45ish) and another night standing and crying/screaming in the tub that he is tired and wants to sleep (at 6:15), he obviously still needs the rest. Sometimes they just have too much fun in there. I read them a story, pray, sing a song, basically get them all settled down, they are yawning, clearly tired at 1. I tuck them into bed and 15 minutes later I hear a party going on in there...giggling and talking. It's cute sometimes, but when you know the attitudes that will pop up later, it's not so cute. I've tried ignoring it, I've tried disciplining, I've tried explaining that they need to obey and make mommy, daddy and God happy. They get all that and agree. Then they promptly forget once they are tucked in and mommy is out of the room. We'll see how the rest of this week goes. I'm praying it gets better, for all of our sakes. Skipping one nap here and there is not a problem. Going several days in a row...that's a problem.

Here is my sleeping beauty. I've actually had to wake her up lately around 7:30 so that she'll take her 9am nap. Crazy!

Here are my boys...pretending to nap. Yep, that's right. It has been a game for them the last couple of days. They tuck each other in, give kisses, 'night night', 'sweet dreams', the whole bit.

The video won't upload so that you can see them in action, pretending to nap. I'll try again later.