Stakeout

Our house is still on the market, hasn't sold yet (as of October 23rd).  We've had two different sets of lookers who were deciding between our house and another one and apparently they chose the other one :)  We've dropped the price twice and now we'll just wait for the right buyer.  Go horrible economy!

Sometimes when we have showings they're right before Lilly's nap or I need to do something and can't just leave for two hours, so we do a stakeout at the school across the street from our house. Then we can go back home as soon as the lookers leave.  It caused a little confusion for Lilly in the beginning ("Why can't we just go home?"), but she's gotten used to it by now.  Some people find it to be stalker-ish but it's actually fascinating :)  You can learn all sorts of interesting things about the lookers!

Here's a picture from one of our showings.  Lilly in her seat in the car, snack in hand,  Addie anxiously panting in the"way back" (as we used to call the back of my mom's maroon-interior station wagon), and in the distance, our house.

If you think that staking out your own house when people are looking to buy it is really wierd, then you just don't know how curious (nosy) I am :)

Fall

Two nights ago we were still sleeping with the summer blanket on our bed and the air conditioner on all night.  Last night I slept in my warmest pajamas and I am finally pulling my Uggs back out of the closet this morning.  The low on Saturday night is 35.  Brrr!  We are determined to sell our house before the heat needs to be turned on after reminiscing over our $880 gas bill from one month last winter.  Seriously.  That is a mortgage payment, not a gas bill.  So, should you find yourself coming to visit us (and we do love visitors) - bundle up!

I realize that I've been remiss in updating my blog with some of our biggest goings on.  So here they are...

1) Tory is here with us now!  She's been living in Seattle for the past couple of years and decided that she's always wanted to live in NYC and now is the time to do it.  She was slightly sidetracked by a bad ankle break and the ensuing surgery, but she's here now and on Saturday she and I head for the city to try to find an apartment for her.  Job still to be determined.  In Tory fashion, I'm sure she'll find something fabulous.  Lilly is obsessed with "Touw" and likes to follow her around.  It totally works for me, though, I got to go for a run by myself in the middle of the afternoon.  The middle of the afternoon!  Those two are are a couple of peas in a pod.  It's so much fun to have her here - we're secretly hoping she won't find an apartment too quickly...

2) Potty-training - Lilly has been doing an awesome job on the potty.  She's only had one peeing accident, but who could blame her, she was playing with her five year old friend whom she just adores.  I decided not to be quite such a hard-core and she wears "naptime/nighttime undies" (aka Pull-ups) when sleeping, which has been working out a lot better for all involved parties.

3) We thought we were going to get an offer on our house last week, but it hasn't materialized.  We have another showing today that we're hopeful about.  Last weekend we had an open house (in addition to the two realtor open houses that we've had) and all the neighbors got to have a good stare :)  Mike's getting a little stressed out that it hasn't sold yet, but it's only been on the market for two weeks today and I know that God is working on things that we can't even imagine.  Things are still slowly coming together in Austin and I have a feeling that everything is going to happen all at once.  If you want to check out our listing, you can see it here.  Click on the picture of our house to see more pictures of the inside.

4) For anyone who has seen my hair lately, it had gotten a *little* light.  And when I say "a little light," I mean like a teenaged Jersey girl, dark roots and all.  Since Tory is here I got to go have it fixed a bit yesterday.  After three hours with my new friend Giovanni, I'm in much better shape.  I have plans to head to the dentist next week too...

Lilly is lying in bed singing "Wheels on the Bus."  I think it's time to go get her!  Have a great day! 

We're moving (again)!

For those of you that haven't heard, we're moving to Austin, TX!  We've really had an incredible time in Connecticut, made amazing friends, and Mike has so enjoyed working here, doing what he does, with the people he works with, but God has been calling us for some time to something else and we just couldn't ignore that anymore.

He's got a great opportunity (that's still coming together) to work at/for a new church in Austin (Austin New Church) and then to eventually start another church in Austin connected with ANC.  I've never seen him so excited about something.  God has been preparing both of us for this for a long time.  We've seen a lot going on in the church lately and ANC has an amazing vision for really, actively living out our faith in other people's lives.  We're so excited to get to be a part of it.

So, we are moving across the country for the second time in less than a year.  That prospect is a bit daunting, but we'll go wherever God calls us and do whatever he asks of us.  We've quickly finished up a lot of the house projects that we had put off for a while and put our house on the market on Friday.  This clearly isn't the best market to try to sell a house in, but we know that God's got great things in store and we're just trusting in what he's doing and so thrilled at getting to really live our lives with him.

Hook 'em horns!  (And Go Buffs!)

Pictures of Lilly's summer adventures

Lilly spent her summer...

Having special breakfasts with Dada

Searching for shells with "Uncle Tuck" and Nannie

Hanging out in the ocean

Swimming at the pool

Eating waffles

Going for walks

Making sand castles

Visiting friends

Loving on Dada

Playing at the Spray Pad

Learning how to give a thumbs up

Collecting things in her "puwse"

Kissing on Mama

"Growing" a lobster

Eating at The Wayfarer

Having picnic dinners on the porch

Wearing her last ever diaper

Wearing big girl undies

Watching videos

Celebrating Addie's birthday

"Making" brownies at Grandma and Grandpa T's

Kickin' it at the beach

Rockin' the GRB 4th of July parade

Hangin' with the whole fam

and last but certainly not least -

Cruising for ice cream in the convertible with Mr. Beebens