House Drama Unveiled

Well there has not been a lot of talk about the supposed house contract that we signed way back when in December.  It is time to unveil what has been going on in the chaos of the Prebish house that was then it wasn't.  In early December, I think, Jacob had been sick all week and was not sleeping well and Aaron busted his chin ending up in an ER trip to get it glued.  Mommy was tired from sleeping in a recliner, being up and down all night or not sleeping at all.  Jon had Friday off and decided to do some "research".  When Jon "does research" there is a secret motive, this time I was too tired to ask questions or even care what secret plot he was working up.  It was Friday afternoon about 3:00 that I got a text from Jon saying "we may need to go look at some houses this weekend".  We had been talking about moving within the next two years and what we wanted to do.  Several times he would say things that indicated he wanted to move things up but then we ended up right back at the 2 year mark.  I told him do not ask me to look or talk about particular houses until you are ready to get the ball rolling because I am not a very patient person.  So that day when he sent the text I believe my response was along the lines of, "We NEED to go like it can't wait until Christmas? Because, really we have enough on our plate right now to rush out and look at a house for 2 years from now."  Well come to find out he had scouted out a good lot, with a good floor plan with a really good price.  Needless to say we drove around for some time talking, looking at the lot, and floor plan.  The end result of that was the next day we went in to sign a contract to begin building this house.  It was exciting to look at and pick out things for our future house.  They let us know they would not start building until the end of Jan or beginning of Feb, so we had some time.  Fast forward to Jan, we decided to go ahead and get all of the design center stuff out of the way so we were good to go and they could start the house as soon as they were ready.  We spent two Saturdays previewing and finalizing the details but finally sorted it all out.  So, again all we had to do was wait a few weeks and hopefully they would begin.  The neighborhood we contracted in was a brand new neighborhood and things had started to get busy, so we were hopeful we were soon going to see some progress.  Then came the week that I was SURE they were going to begin construction.  I drove by one day on my way home from work and took pictures of all of the progress in the neighborhood and sent it along to Jon.  Little did I know at that very time he was having a totally different conversation about our house with the builder.  I got home that night and Jon had the laptop at the dinner table, I hate technology at the table and ripped into him about.  Well as soon as we prayed for dinner he explained why it was there.  Apparently as I was stalking "our new neighborhood" he was talking to the builder and they were explaining to him that they signed a contract with us for a lot that they did not own, therefore they could not begin construction.  As he was telling me this I was thinking, and this is when he is going to say...just kidding.  But, it never came.  After a few minutes as it sunk in I realized this was not a joke it was real, at the moment I realized that it took everything I had not to bust out in tears.  I had waiting for several months with so much excitement...and remember I told you I AM NOT PATIENT.  Why God, why are you doing this?!?!?!  I asked myself that question so many times over the next 2 months.  One drama statement followed another with lots of stress and anxiety about what was supposed to be an exciting time.  The end result turned out to be we could wait and they "might" begin construction in Nov '15 but would have it completed within two years of contracting or we could withdraw.  This was a hard decision for so many reasons.  First, in about Jan we came across the knowledge that our lot was in fact under priced by about $20,000 as Jon had suspected.  So, that is hard to walk away when you KNOW you are locked into a steal of a deal.  And two we were having a hard time finding something we liked better.  We were not in a hurry so our initial thought was, we will wait this out.

Fast forward a few months....We were waiting for one of the other builders in the neighborhood to release all of their floor plans because they had the one other lot we might have been interested in.  Well a week or so ago that finally happened.  Once they released them we spent some time reviewing them and decided that we were going to make the jump to the other builder, lot, and house.  At this point we were hopeful we would get all of our money back but also knew that was not going to keep us from changing.

So the final result is, we signed a new contract for a much better lot and house.  I am so excited to see this start to develop and finish the end of October 2015.  I am also happy to report we got a contract cancellation noting we will get a full refund from the original builder.

So, tonight Jon informed me the Realtor is coming for a initial look at our house in about 3-4 weeks.  Oh my, that kind of made my heart skip a beat.  So if you see me in the next few weeks and I look a little frazzled, just remind me it will be ok......

Trip to LA and Disneyland

We recieved some sad news a few days before spring break, that Jon's grandpa was not doing well.  It was a sad situation but also provided the family with some relief when he passed away because he had been slowly slipping away for awhile.  We wanted to be there to celebrate his life so we made arrangements to go to the funeral.  Since it was spring break we took advantage and made it a bit of an extended trip.  First of all, let me describe to you the sight we brought in the airport.  IF you have multiple small children then you have lived this before but it was crazy.  We had; two adults, two children (one of walking ability one not), 3 backpacks (Aaron is a ticket passenger so we brought him a carry on), two carseats, a stroller (single), and two suitcase.  So, how do two adults carry all of this?  We are still asking ourselves this.  Once we finally made it to the ticket counter I managed to snap this

 

 

It is a long way to travel and at last minute, flights are...well expensive.  So, in order to cut cost and keep from traveling in the weeee hours of the night we took two flights to get there.  I decided that the shorter lay over would mean a shorter day of travel.  I however did not think about how long it would take us to get our crew from one plane to the next in only 45 minutes.  Thankfully our flight coming in was on time and our gates were pretty close together.  We worked out a system as we walked through the airport where I would take one kid in and change their diaper, while Jon kept walking to get food.  I would meet him and swap kids, as he continued walking to the gate.  Once both children were changed I would eat the food Jon brought me to the gate.  It was hectic but we made it...and we even had time for them to stretch their legs a bit before we got on the next plane.

Due to the time difference we made it there early afternoon and had the opportunity to walk and pick Olivia and Grady (Jon's cousins who are in 4th and 5th grade) up from school.  The weather was beautiful so the kids played at the park for a little while after we got there.

Although it was a sad time, it was also a wonderful time to spend with family that you don't see very often.  Olivia and Grady were so good with Aaron and let him play with them even when he was probably too little.

 

 

We flew in on Tuesday and the funeral was on Thursday.  We had a day to kill so Grandma, Grandpa, an Uncle and some great aunts and great uncles...watched Jacob while Mommy, Daddy, Aaron and Auntie Shawna went to Disneyland. Here are a few pictures from the day.  We were even able to get an hour and a half nap in amongst all the fun.

Aaron had a great time.  He loved the rides, but really prefered the ones that were open to the ouside I think.  He was absolutely exhausted and quite possibly over stimulated the whole day.

 

Thursday was the funeral and I am very sad that I did not snap any picture of family that was gathered together.

The big boys even let Aaron play legos, he was in heaven!

On Friday we decided to take Aaron to California Adventure since that had more of the Disney Jr. and Pixar characters that he would know.  This day Jacob came with us and Laura met up with us late in the day.  We stayed until the parade at the end of the day becuase I figured he would love seeing all of those characters.

After 5 days, two day of Disney, a funeral and lots of travel...I can say we had a good trip but it was nice to be home.

 

 





Forgotten hopes and abandon wishes

Well, as you can see...I did not keep up with my regular posting of family life when I went back to work.  I have come to realize that life as a working mom does not leave much/any time for your interests and hobbies.  You spend your days working then your nights and weekends keeping everyone else happy, healthy, and making their hopes and dreams come true.  As a mom, it is in our nature to put ourselves, hopes, and wishes on the back burner.  I believe that when you work so hard to bring that baby to your home, a little bit of you leaves the priority list.  Do not get me wrong, there is nothing I would rather do than be a mommy and wife.  It makes my heart feel very full to spend time doing things for my family as a mommy and a wife, however I am worn out and forget to do things for me.  So with all of that being said, I am going to try this pledge again... and see how well I do.  If you happen to notice it has been awhile and I have not posted give me a nudge. ;)

What a Merry Christmas it was

After having the craziness of going back to school, and sorting everyone's schedule out I was ready for the break.  The Christmas season seemed to fly in and out this year which makes me very sad because it is my favorite time of the year.  I love all of the fun activities that the season offers, I love the smiles and uplifting attitudes (why can't that last all year) and most of all, I love the family time.  We were very blessed this year again to have pretty much all of our family present for Christmas.  We had a slow start to the Christmas festivities because both boys ended up fairly sick with a nasty cold right before school got out.  However, we still made the most of the time we had.  Aaron had a fun Christmas party at day care that Mimi so graciously attended.

A few days before the holidays, the boys and I went to my moms house to make gingerbread houses..  My mom found Snoopy gingerbread house kits at the grocery store which were perfect, this season he was totally into Charlie Brown Christmas.  Jacob sat in the high chair and watched as Aaron, Mommy and Mimi decorated, Aaron had the best house by far.

Then, the Wednesday before Christmas my Dad, Barbie and Spencer arrived for a few days.  I feel so fortunate that they are willing to travel down here each year and spend Christmas with the boys.  I love to have that time for them to wake up to them, play with them, and participate in the bedtime routine.  We went to Church on Christmas Eve, and my mom and Rick met us there as well.  It was a great service which was followed by "real snow" for the kids.  Well last year we didn't even go out there because we knew Aaron was probably too young.  This year we decided to give it a try and he was still not too sure.  However we did get a cute picture or two.

Then we headed back to our house for our little family tradition of steaks and potatoes for Christmas Eve dinner.  This year we started the ever so popular tradition of a Christmas Eve box.  In the box both boys got new pj's, a stuffed animal, a movie and popcorn.

We woke up Christmas morning and did breakfast and Santa at our house, my mom and Rick came over.  Then after we had showered we headed to my mom's house for the mass of presents and dinner.  It was so nice because everyone including Jon's mom, dad, sister and grandma were there.  I love that we can spend the holidays with all sides of our family together.  I am also forever indebted to Nora and My mom who do a bulk of the prep and cooking for these holidays.  I do not have pictures on this computer of the mother load of gifts we had but the boys were spoiled and love all of the new toys they were given.  As we were loading up the gifts to haul home, Jon made the statement of "We are doing this at our house next year".  So, I guess I will have the opportunity to repay them since we will host most of Christmas next year.

Here are some other random pictures from the season.

We hope everyone had as Merry of a Christmas as we did.  We hope that the start of 2015 finds you rested and in good health.  Our house is in pretty good shape in the rest and health category, we hope it stays that way for awhile.