Needs, wants and updates

So the house I mentioned in the previous post has been sold. No big deal. We weren't crazy about the brick front of it anyways. We have found another house in Pittsford that we are waiting to get inside of. The house in Pittsford is a short sale*. I had no idea what that meant until yesterday and it means that the people that owned it owed more on it than it is worth. So the bank has the house now and it is on the market for $20,000 below assessment. So IF we like it maybe we can get it even cheaper!! Because right now the bank is just losing money on it!

When we moved into the house we are in now the big things I wanted were a master suite, 2 full baths, an eat in kitchen and a dining room. What I got was a small bedroom and 1 1/2 baths and an eat in kitchen. So.... lets try this again! This time what we NEED are
1) 3 bedrooms- preferably 4
2) Eat in Kitchen
3) Dining room- I would love this extra space for when our families are over
4) A backyard that is big enough for a pool and a swing set
5) Space that would be a playroom for the kids
6) Space that would be an office/scrapbook room for us
7) 2 full baths
8) A master bedroom -with walk in closets would be nice!
9) A spot for Ryan to park his big enclosed trailer
10) Two car garage
And it would be nice to find a house on a cul-de-sac. For some reason I just think that this would be really nice for the kids to ride their bikes and playing without worrying about too many cars. I would like for the house to be at least 2000 sq ft. And moving closer to where the kids will be going to school would be a big plus as well. Oh and a black top driveway would be heaven! Right now our house is 300 feet off the road and to blacktop the driveway from the road back to the shop would cost $10,000!!! So that never happened.

The house that we found in Pittsford has 3 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths and is in a cul-de-sac and has a backyard that is big enough for a pool and swing set. Hopefully soon we can get inside to see the rest to see if it meets our needs!

*When we bought our first house it was also foreclosed upon. We seem to have a knack for it! Our first house cost only $32,000!!! Yes, it was a steal! The house we are looking at now is $160,00 which with a down payment for our current house would put the mortgage and our living expenses with us living off of one paycheck for everything! That would be seriously awesome!

An update on my Mom. Her brain tumor has grown 2 cm in one month so it has to come out. She is scheduled for surgery on January 14th at Strong. She is a nervous wreck about it. I'm pretty sure she will be staying with us for a bit while she recovers. (She lives alone). My brother and sister in law are flying in from Hawaii on the 13th so that they can also be here while she has the surgery. So prayers please!

A hunting we will go

Ryan and I bought our house in 2003 and at the time it was just the two of us so our 1500 sq ft house with 3 bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths seemed so big! But now we are bursting at the seams!! When Madison was born she got the big bedroom and the other bedroom was an office that we turned into a playroom for her. We then finished off the basement into an office. Then we had Cooper and the playroom became his room and the basement was refinished yet again into a playroom. Which left no space for our computers. Ryan's desk top is in our bedroom on a folding table and my laptop stays on the floor in our bedroom or on the kitchen counter. It really isn't working for me anymore. So we always said that when we needed more space we would add on.

To add a master bedroom and bathroom over the garage would cost $20,000 and that is with Ryan doing all the work himself. So it really makes the most sense financially speaking to buy a bigger house. So today we drove by 16+ houses and we only found 1 that we liked. Right now we have 7 acres so I am having a hard time with the 0.5 acre size lots!! They seem ridiculously small. But the house we found is in a neighborhood which would be great for the kids! Right now we live on a street that really doesn't have many kids so it would be great to go outside and have close neighbors with kids. That is a big plus to me. The house we found is in Perinton and is 2600 sq ft and 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. So it is much bigger than where we are now. And it would only be a 15 minute drive to Penfield for the kids school instead of a 35 minute drive! And as far as the outside goes I guess as long as there is room for a swing set and a pool that is really all we need. Oh and the best part is that I would get a scrapbooking room!!!!

I have a call into the realtor to see the inside of the house. We were hoping to go sometime this weekend to check it out and I think we are going to start by listing our house on craigslist and see how that goes. Wish us luck!!

Recap

There has been so much to do with the holidays and just stuff in general for the kids that blogging has taken a backseat.

Cooper is getting way too big. And I know that he is growing up but when I saw this picture I just couldn't believe that he is so big!
Cooper has been talking about himself in the 3rd person lately and it cracks me up every time! The other day I was driving to Tar-jay and he says "Where is Cooper going?" and I told him then he says "Where is Cooper going after that?" He does it a lot lately and it makes me laugh =) Last month Cooper and I went and looked at a preschool for him and he was so excited! As I checked out the school he jumped right in and started playing. It was nice but I really like the preschool Madison is in so I have to decide if I just pick him up early every day or look at more schools. The one we looked at was fantastic until I asked about parent participation and she told me that they don't really do that. I left a message about another school and the lady called back and said "I understand you are looking for DAY CARE" and I said I'm not looking for day care I am looking for a preschool and she says "Oh that is what I meant". Ummm yeah no thanks. I don't know what I am going to do with him for preschool yet. I wish I didn't love St Johns so much!!

Madison had a Thanksgiving feast at school and I was pleasantly surprised. She is very shy. She wants to join in and play but is just so shy. Her teachers have been pushing her to interact with the other kids which is great. So at the feast some of the girls were building with the blocks and she jumped right in and started playing!!! This is huge for her. She was also talking to a little girl at the pool the other day and when someone asks her a question most of the time she will answer them now. I picked her up from the school the other day and she says to me "Abby and Jenna are my best friends!" Oh how that made my heart smile!


My little kiddos are growing up so fast!

It fell on the floor.

The other day Madison and I made apple doodle cookies. And I told her that she could have one if she ate all her dinner. In our house if you want a treat you have to eat good meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner and then you can have a treat after dinner.

So we were upstairs getting Cooper up from his nap and she said that she needed to go downstairs and get the dinosaur she had made Cooper. I asked her to grab my phone while she was downstairs. After a few minutes I called down to her to see what was taking so long and she said that she was looking for my phone.

She gets back upstairs and I look at her and she has crumbs all over her face! I asked her what she had been doing downstairs and she told me nothing like 5 times. (Now I was laughing so hard that I could hardly talk to her!) So she finally says that a cookie fell on the floor and she had to clean it up!!! And by clean it up she meant she had to eat it. I was absolutely dying with laughter. However, she didn't get any more cookies after dinner!

Now that is a BAD week.

Apparently my family is falling apart. I got a string of bad news all in the span of a week. It was actually more like a few days.

Shana's autopsy results came back. They said she died of cardiac arrest due to massive lung failure. Which is kind of obvious. According to the doctor there was a genetic anomaly that contributed to that but I still have not heard what that is.

Dawn, my SIL and Shana's mom, was told that she may have cervical cancer. She had an abnormal pap smear after my nephew was born (4 1/2 years ago). She buried her head in the sand and ignored it and now has to have biopsies and all that jazz. I still haven't figured out why they told her she MAY have cancer. I know that her pap smears are coming back abnormal but it is hard to get accurate medical information out of someone that isn't familiar with it!

Sarah, my SIL, has a lump on her thyroid. She had a biopsy done on it and has to go back for more tests in 6 months to see if it has changed at all.

And to top it all of my Mom was having some vision problems and went in for an MRI and was told she has a small brain tumor. She has to go back in 6 months to see if it has grown or changed then they will decide what to do.

Is that enough drama??

So busy here

Madison is back at school and really enjoying it this year! Last year for the first month she would cry when I dropped her off and then the rest of the year was spent with her little face pressed against the window waving until we were out of the parking lot. This year there is no crying and we get a quick wave out of the window and then she is off to play! Madison has also figured out how to pump her legs on the swing so now she can swing all by herself!! Madison is also taking swim classes at the YMCA. She doesn't like to go under water but her swim teacher already had her go under water and Madison was so proud of herself! She is really growing up!

Cooper is enjoying some classes as well while Madison is in school. He is taking an Early Explorers class that has art projects and gym time. He is also taking a soccer and lacrosse class and seems to be enjoying it. Cooper and I are also doing open swim at the rec center. He is already jumping into the water, going down the slide and going underwater! I can't keep him above the water anymore! He just keeps going under =) Cooper has also gone poop on the potty and peed on the potty. So hopefully soon he will be out of diapers! Although that is probably wishful thinking right now!

Wow, it's been 6 months already.

Today has been 6 months already since we lost Shana. For those that are new you can read it here. There still isn't any closure to what happened. We are STILL awaiting autopsy results. Tim and Dawn have been told that it is not a priority because it is not a criminal case. So we are still waiting.....