running up the mountain.

Every day when we drop Andy at school, Andy asks if he can "run up the mountain." It's a hill in front of the building, and all of the kids love to run up and down before and after class. Yesterday, for the first time, I let Rowan out of the car to run up and down before the big kids got out of class. Let me tell you, he's not the only one. Lately it feels like we are all running up the mountain with the way things are going. Let's just say the relationship with our broker has been less than pleasant. We are looking to make changes, but everything takes time and patience. Something I am not particularly blessed with. It has definitely been a learn-as-you-go process, and we are covered in grass stains right about now.

friday. phew.

In fact, make that a double. This week has been a roller coaster. We received one low-ball offer the very first day the house was on the market, and we finally have closed the door on the possibility of making a deal with the potential buyer. Which we are totally okay with. We just want to see more people coming through the door and have some buzz going on this place. So far, everything we have heard has been good. The house is clean, well-maintained, well-priced. We just haven't seen the traffic we'd been hoping for. So, we just need to be patient and find our right buyer.
That last part is the hard-part.

Today was (in the words of Andy, the future weatherman) "lovely." So the boys and I walked to the pizzeria near our house to pick up slices to go. By the time we got home, Henry was famished. He was first to the dinner table (he didn't even wait for me to reheat the slices -- he had to eat). And he was the last man standing. Slow and steady. That's our hen.

 He was eating for so long, he decided to put his feet up while he finished his last few bites.

Speaking of bites, here are just some things I wished I had more time for this week, and will be revisiting over the weekend:

• Have you heard that Michael Pollan is coming out with a new book? I loved The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. So I am intrigued to find some time to read his latest work.

• It's no secret that I seriously heart Emily Henderson. So to hear that she teamed up with the Jealous Curator for a project that sounds super-awesome is no surprise. I only hope this idea flourishes and spreads to all kinds of places, because how amazing would it be to have a party in a super cool locations that is decorated with specifically curated art?!? My 40th birthday will be November 28, 2017, so you have time to make this happen. And seeing that date made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. 

• Do you dream of going to a secret supper party? I do. Tom, does not. Every now and then I try to convince him to attend something less threatening. Like this supper party that's also a cooking class. Maybe one day. . . 

Here's wishing you a happy weekend!

living in a museum.

We are not having fun. No one is having any fun. We are living in our house, but barely. There are whole rooms that are completely off limits. We barely play with anything. Because we never know when we are going to get a call for a showing. But to be honest, the calls have been few and far between. And we are growing impatient. And frustrated. And just plain grumpy. And sad.

keeping it clean.

I don't know if I've told you this? -- we're selling the house. Yup, and it's a lot of work to keep the house clean. Have I mentioned that? Oh, only a couple billion times? Okay, I'll try to stop, then.

So, about that. Since I'm trying to keep the house clean, I've decided the little pieces of cut vegetables are just too much extra work for me right now. You know -- those little balls of green from the florets of broccoli, or those little squares of diced onion that inevitably fall off the cutting board and onto the floor when you are chopping. Yeah, those. I don't particularly feel like vacuuming those up at night after a long day of vacuuming every single crumb that these guys drop. So, we are in vegetable withdrawal (not to mention packing on the pounds -- but that's a story for another day). So, since I have no veggies, and nothing else to talk about right now (because we are still waiting), here's a really great link to cleaning and storing all sorts of vegetables from Design Mom. 

And to go with it, here is a picture of berries that I used on this blog almost two years ago. Because hey, berries are fruit. And fruits and vegetables are friends.

I seriously need a nap.

Or a glass of wine.  Oh, did I say "Or"? I meant "And."

the best things come. . .

. . . to those who wait.

And so we are.

Waiting.

For that offer to come.  The one that will make us say, "it's yours."

Until then, we will hang out at the library, the beach, the playground, our parents' houses, the pizza parlor, and any other place we can come up with to keep us out of the house and keep the house clean.

friday, phew.

I'm not sure where to begin today. There is so much going on in our lives, our home -- and in the world; holy cow! it's all too much to process. 

Last night I went to the Kindergarten orientation for Andy's would-be school if we stay in this district. First we met some of the teachers, the principal, the school nurse; then we watched a slide show of what the typical day in kindergarten looks like. And then we got to tour the classrooms. That was when it hit me. In only a few months from now, no matter where we live, Andy is going to get on the bus and ride off to kindergarten.  He will officially be a "kid." Not a baby. Not a toddler. Not a preschooler. And I cried. And so did ALL OF THE MOMS I was sitting with. Something about seeing that classroom turned us all into piles of mush. And here I go again. 

My baby is growing up, and there is not one thing I can do about it. It really is a lot to process. 

In other news, we have our first open houses this weekend -- which I am feeling good about -- but it is also overwhelming. We want the house to sell so that we can move forward; but it is scary. It's scary to leave the familiar. To know we will have a time limit to find a new house. To know we will be upending our kids. To not know anyone in the new neighborhood that we can rely on. So wish us luck. The floors are so clean you could eat off of them, even if your name isn't  Rowan or Henry!

And finally, since I had no computer over the weekend and for the beginning part of the week, I have no fun links to share. But here are some pictures of a project I finished up recently. Its a baby quilt for a good friend, and I think it's cute and happy and just what this space needs for a boost on a day like today! 

 Have a great weekend, and maybe we will have some good news to share by Monday! Fingers crossed!!!

you picked a fine time to leave me, lucille.

Tom went to Chicago yesterday. He was also supposed to come home from Chicago yesterday. But there were storms. Oh, were there storms. So now, we are hoping he gets here today. But he might get here tomorrow. We've had three showings so far on the house. Hoping today is a slower day but that things pick up over the weekend for the open houses. We are fall-asleep-standing-up tired.

yay! my computer is fixed!

My computer had to visit the "hospital" for the past few days because someone was a little too rough with mommy's trackpad when she wasn't looking. But we are all fixed and back to normal. . . if living in our house as if we don't really live here can be called normal! We spent the entire day away from home yesterday while the brokers' open house went on, and then some additional showings. So far things seem to be going well . . . I'll keep you posted. 

Here's Henry looking much older with his new (and long overdue) haircut:

for sale.

Please, please, please. Let this be quick.

almost ready.

Here are the pics we'll be posting on MLS as of this coming Tuesday. Yikes!!!

Let me know if you want to buy our house. . . for above-asking price, of course!

ignoring the obvious.

Today I'm not going to talk about every little problem that keeps cropping up where we least expect it, causing our heads to spin, with less than a week until our house goes on the market. Instead I'm going to show you a picture of Rowan on his scooter, enjoying this gorgeous, ant-hatching weather.

under construction.

Things are loud around here. We've decided to go with our gut and turn the playroom back to it's original purpose as a bedroom. Which also means we've decided to add some walls and a ceiling to the basement. Considering we started the work this morning, things seem to be moving along quickly. But even so, the noise is throwing the kids out of whack. To quote Rowan, "I want those men to go home."

Here's how we're looking as of lunchtime.

Not too shabby, right?

swimmingly.

Here's a pictures of our future Michael Phelps. Rowan's been loving the swimming lessons this year. A huge difference from last year where he spent most of his time reading the letters on the walls of the pool room.

He's been jumping in and out of the pool and swimming (with his floatee) without holding on to Daddy. Pretty soon he'll be off to class with Andy and Daddy will have to start swimming with Henry!

In other news, we made some progress around here this weekend. We emptied out the basement to start work on the new "playroom" this week, and we are moving forward with converting the playroom back to a bedroom -- thanks to lots of babysitting by mum mum and papa. The clock is ticking. . . let the countdown begin!

what do you think?

I need some opinions. Please tell me what you think. If you were a cute [of course they'll be cute!], young, (probably) kid-less couple looking to buy your first home, would you be off-put by the playroom? Would it be a red flag to you that we are using our guest bedroom as a playroom?

Here's how it looks today.

Here's how it looked at the time we bought it.

What do you think? Is it necessary to convert it back to a guest bedroom to give the illusion that we have "plenty" of space in this house and we are not bursting at the seams? Would putting a twin bed in the room help? Or would that make people think we have one of our kids sleeping on the main floor by himself. Does the room need to be completely neutral and not a kids' room at all?

Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think. We could really use the help! Thanks! xoxo