A Doodlebop Weekend!

Hello everyone! I know it has been forever since I’ve written anything, but I am finally slowing down at work. We don’t file until next week, but the rush is over…now it’s just fixing minor things here and there.

So the biggest thing that has happened since I last wrote was that we went to the Doodlebops concert! I honestly have to say that we had a blast! It was a girls’ day out (my daughter, my mom and me) and my daughter was so excited from the minute she woke up on Saturday morning. The concert was at 4:00, and for some reason, they were having a hard time parking the people…so even though we left at 2:50 and only live 10 minutes away, we didn’t end up walking through the door until 3:40. We went and found our seats and then came back out for drinks and toys! My daughter got a stuffed Deedee, and Doodlebops cell phone (which I had just told her the day before they didn’t make), a program and a coloring book. Before the show Bus Driver Bob came out and talked to the kids and there were some short cartoon clips on the big screen (Little Einsteins were doing something). I was taking some pictures of her and just happened to snap a picture of her just as they came out:



The concert really was entertaining (I know lots of you out there hate them, but I was having a blast singing and dancing with my daughter), and they were really good about letting the kids dance wherever they wanted to. The Doodlebops kept taking a lot of breaks (I would need them too after all that singing and dancing) and there were these “Doodlebop Dancers” which I didn’t really care for, but the kids seemed to like them.

At intermission we went out and got my daughter a pledge flag that lights up. And then the second half was just as good as the first half. The one thing that I thought was really awesome about them is that they really incorporated “Columbus” into the show…our #1 Buckeyes were playing during the concert, and after a couple of their breaks the Doodlebops would come in shouting “we have something to celebrate Columbus…the Buckeyes are winning 10 nothing”! I thought that was really nice of them!

Bad parts about the show: We were in the balcony because I screwed up and didn’t get tickets soon enough. However, we were in the front row of the balcony and my daughter could easily see and had a TON of room to dance. But, during “When the Lights Go Out” the dancers brought 5 kids up on stage to sit with Deedee. My daughter burst into tears because she couldn’t go on stage. It was so hard to comfort her because I know how much she wanted to be up there and sit with Deedee. The other bad thing was she burst into tears again when the concert was over…she couldn’t get enough of them!

Afterwards we went to eat at Cheeseburger in Paradise (if you’ve never been to one you have to try it, I love that restaurant!) where my daughter got a cute balloon lion from a clown doing balloon animals while we ate. Then we went home and she told her dad all about the concert and I packed up my stuff and went scrapbooking for the night.

I think she had a wonderful time and it was definitely a GREAT day for me :)

Blogger sucks and the picture above is the only one I could upload. I'll keep trying so that you can see how truly adorable she was!

A Weekend In Review

Wow, what a weekend! Friday night we went over to h.h. Gregg Fine Lines to look for appliances for our new house. This of course was after we sent in our signed acceptance on the offer on our house! Then Saturday my mom, myself and my two kids all headed to the outlets to get them some winter clothes. Thankfully the outlets are only about 45 minutes away, and we were there from 1:00 until 9:00 that night and only went to 5 stores. I hate shopping for clothes for the kids…it really stresses me out! Thankfully I was able to get out of there with almost all of their clothes and some Stride Rite shoes (that’s right, normally $47, I got them for $29.99!) for just under $500. I think it’s a bargain really, but it stinks because I didn’t really need to buy my son any pants (his from last year still fit), and I still need to get him some church outfits, so if I was doing full shopping it would have probably been around $600 or $700. But I really only shop twice per year, and I know that I got them good clothes, and since we’re planning on having two more kids, I need these clothes to last!

On Sunday we went out to a pumpkin farm. Guess how much it cost??? $8.50 per person over 2 years old! I was ready to turn around and leave, but it had taken us a good 25 minutes to get there, so we all decided we should go in (thanks Dad for paying for us!). Honestly though, it was worth it! They had a petting zoo and lots of mazes (including a hay-bail one set up for the little ones). Then they had this huge barn with huge hay piles and really good slides where you slid down into the hay. Then we took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch and picked out pumpkins. After we did that, we went into the little market and bought pumpkin doughnuts (I’m not a big fan of anything pumpkin, but these were GOOD!!). It really was a wonderful way to end the day. Here’s a link to the website: http://www.circlesfarm.com/farmpictures.html


Not it’s back to work and packing things up at home! We close October 25, but get to stay in our house until November 29. Our new house should be done within the first couple of weeks in December…come on M/I, build our new house fast!!!

New House So Far...

This is our new house as of right now. It has 4 bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths. It's a multi-level, so it's the cheapest square feet out there. Bascially you walk in to the main level (dining room, den, great room and kitchen). You walk down about 7 stairs and there's what's called the lower level (this will be the kids' play room). Then if you walk down a couple more stairs you're in the basement. If you were to walk up about 7 stairs from the great room you have the master bedroom and owners' retreat (read: seperate room that kids are not allowed in!). Then if you go up about 7 more stairs you have all of the kids' bedrooms and the guest room.

Here's a link to the floorplan: http://www.mihomes.com/details.asp?listingid=293350&type=P#

It's at the center of a cul-de-sac, and my parents' house will be to the right of it, and our neighbors that are moving with us will be to the right of my parents' house. The elementary school, middle school and the YMCA are right across the residential street from our cul-de-sac. I plan to die in this house!

Hopefully it should be done in the next 6 - 8 weeks!!!

1:44 PM...........

And our realtor finally calls!!! What does she say? That they have counter-offered again!!! So now the price is at $175,900, but we get to stay in the house until 11/29 and not have a house payment in November! That is awesome! We actually had a showing scheduled for tomorrow, so we're trying to move the showing to sometime today so that someone else can see it and possibly make another offer on it :) We'll see!

12:06 PM.......

Still haven't heard anything, including from my realtor! I'm a little ticked right now. I e-mailed her about 1/2 hour ago just making sure she got some faxes I sent this morning and just asking her if she had heard anything....why hasn't she gotten back to me???

11:28 AM......

Still nothing :( I really wish that people would just call in and say "no" instead of just letting the time run out!

10:50 AM................

And still no word. I'm pretty sure they're rejecting our offer :( Why else would they wait this long? They've had it since yesterday around 5:00. Oh well, hopefully other people will come through the house and love it and want to buy it.

Don't worry, there is still a slight bit of hope in me knowing that they do technically still have an hour to respond.

Counter offered.....

Well we sent in our counter offer late yesterday and they have until 12:00 today to accept or counter. I'm kind of nervous, but not as nervous as I thought I would be. Only 3 1/2 hours to go until I know something. I HATE SELLING A HOUSE!!!

I'll keep you posted!

We Got An Offer!

It's a crappy offer, but at least it's an offer! We have it listed at $179,900 and they offered $169,900, plus our refrigerator (we were planning on taking that with us). We'll definitely counter...I'll talk to my realtor in about an hour and see what she has to say. She's known for getting pretty close to asking price, she's a great negotiator!

Other than that, busy, busy, busy!

Wish us luck!!!

Oh, and here's our house:

http://www.herrealtors.com/nicole.yoder/MyListingsDetails.asp?mls=2640568&prop=4013943&ID=400

OK, is there a secret to posting links? Sometimes I can post them and sometimes I can't! If you know the secret please tell me!!!!!

Quick Update

Not much really going on here...we had a showing last night and one today, so we've spent a lot of time getting the house ready. I don't know how people that aren't neat get ready for showings...we are very neat people, and our house is cleaned by someone once every two weeks, and it still takes us a good hour to get it ready...how do messy people get everything cleaned up in time?

We've been having trouble with our daughter and sleeping. She wakes up so many times in the middle of the night, and we don't know why. She walks into our room and wants to get into bed with us. So we walk her back to her bed and she goes back to sleep, but an hour later she's back in again...we're dying here! If any of you have advice, I would really appreciate it!

Work is definitely getting busier! The books aren't closed yet, so I can't start any of my actual reporting, but we have to reclassify our segments, and that has been my major project for the last couple of months. So right now I'm working on finishing up a "prototype" for the controller to show the CFO, and then I need to research all of the new accounting pronouncements that have been released this quarter. For any of you "nerds" like me out there, here's a link to what I put together each quarter!

http://www.mihomes.com/investor.asp#

(you have to scroll down to "recent SEC filings, and the most recent one is the first one listed).

I'll try to remember my memory card tomorrow so that I can post some new pictures :)

Gorgeous Weekend!

We headed down to our parents’ again this weekend…there was a home football game. The weather was gorgeous! Saturday morning we headed over to tailgate. OU’s College of Business (My degree is Accounting and my parents are both professors in that college) had a tailgating tent with lots of food and drinks. Also set up in the tailgate area where a couple “jumping things” (the big blow-up things that kids can jump in). I spent probably a good hour taking my daughter through them. She had so much fun and she just kept telling me she wanted to do it again. Finally we had to leave because the game was starting. So we went in, and she of course cheered for a little bit...she had an adorable cheerleading outfit on (this is a picture of her with my father-in-law and my nephew, and the other picture is hubby with my son). We were all on ESPN something (I’m not sure which one, not the real one) because of the adorable little kids, and then she promptly sat on my lap and fell asleep! I couldn’t believe it…it was so loud and people were screaming all around us. My son on the other hand wanted nothing to do with sleep, and he needed it badly! So we left a little before halftime. The kids took a nap, and right after they woke up hubby, my dad and my son set off to a little house that my uncle has in the woods…lacking most modern conveniences. So what did us girls do? My mom, 2 sisters, my daughter and I headed to the mall for manicures! This is my daughter’s second official manicure, and she loved it! They actually even did it for free, which was very nice of the guy. After that we went and had Chinese food. It was a great day!

Sunday hubby and I had a long talk about how we really aren’t spending very much time together. It’s really hard, as I’m sure all of you other working moms know, to find time to make sure the kids are eating a good dinner, make sure the dinner stuff gets cleaned up, do some laundry, play with the kids, and have time with your spouses each night. We vowed to try harder, and my parents were around for part of the discussion, and they are freaking awesome! My dad told me “I don’t care if it’s 2:00 on a Tuesday afternoon, you call us if you and hubby need to go out. We’re at a point in our lives where our students can miss a class or two…you guys are much more important”. He also told me this, which made me smile “besides, we have a vested interest in this…if you guys aren’t getting along, there will only be two grandchildren, and we want more!” He had a point! So we went on a couple walks yesterday and just tried to make sure we weren’t taking each other for granted as much.

OK, time to start some actual work. Just so you know, we are working on our 10-Q filing (for the non-accountants out there it’s the report we have to file every quarter so that investors can see how our company is doing). For the accountants out there, you know that I’m going to be very busy for the next 3 – 4 weeks! So I might not post as much. But every second that I get I will be reading your blogs and trying to post as much as I can!

Little Mermaid Instead of Grey's

Hubby plays basketball on Thursday nights, so when I picked the kids up last night, I knew I was going to surprise them with dinner from McDonald’s. But I also wanted to do something else that was special, so we headed to Wal-Mart. I blame it on the fact that the radio station I listen to at work on my new iPod plays the commercial for the Little Mermaid coming back out about every hour or so, and so it was like I was in a mental trance…“Must get Little Mermaid. Must get Little Mermaid”. OK, maybe not. Maybe it was the look of joy on my daughter’s face when I said we were getting a surprise inside the store, and she asked me “does it have to do with Princesses?” and I said “yes” and she asked “is it the Little Mermaid?”. How smart is my little cutie?

So we got it and dinner and headed home. While they ate dinner I rushed around trying to get laundry done and their suitcases packed because my mom was coming that night to take them to her house (we’re heading down tonight). After dinner it was baths, and then it was play time. I put the movie in and my daughter watched intermittently while playing. She coincidentally got a Little Mermaid purse in her Happy Meal. My son played basketball in the basement (it’s a finished basement) and in the two seconds that I ran upstairs to get something, I turn around and he’s around the 3rd from the top stair. Now he’s the type that you can’t run up to in a panic because he stands straight up and would fall backwards. So I got on my hands and knees and just encouraged him to climb the rest of the way up, which he did without any problem. That boy is going to give me a heart attack!

I put him to bed and finish watching the Little Mermaid with my daughter. When it’s over we start the very consistent bedtime fight. She hates going to bed. There’s no way around it, and no matter what we do, it’s a power struggle. My goal was to get her into bed by 8:45 (as I stated yesterday), but I was loving spending time with her too much to just put her to bed so that I could watch TV (that's what DVR is for!!). So, since I knew she was going to be going with my mom later, I told her that she could lay on the couch, snuggled next to me, and I would put in the free CD of Little Mermaid songs that came with the DVD. So we got ready for bed, and snuggled on the couch with all of the lights off and just listened to the music. It was the most relaxing time that I have had in a long time!

My mom came a little while later and I loaded the kids up in the car and sent them off. I miss them, but I normally wouldn’t have seen them anyway since hubby takes them to the sitter usually. We’ll get home today and pack as fast as we can and get the house ready for a showing tonight and an open house on Sunday (please, please pray, cross fingers, whatever that one of these people buys our house!) and then we’ll take off for another relaxing weekend in the hills.

What are your weekend plans? Anything fun and exciting??

It Takes Being Sick To Stop

So my daughter and I have a cold. It's not bad, but I definitely don't feel well, and neither does she. Her little nose is so red from wiping it so much, and she says her throat hurts. So last night, my son went to bed pretty early, and I moved the coffee table and made a big comfortable bed on the floor with lots of blankets and pillows. My daughter then got to choose a movie (very appropriately picked Elmo Goes To The Doctor) and we layed down with some popcorn and chocolate milk and watched it. I couldn't believe that I was actually relaxing at 8:30! That never happens! She watched the movied twice and then it was time for bed. I actually did do some laundry, so I took what was left of it upstairs and folded it while I watched Laguna Beach (It's so dumb, but I LOVE that show!) and then I fell asleep listening to the "Soundscapes" channel (very soothing, spa-like music). Nothing too exciting, but it was good to chill out for a change!

Tonight: Kids in bed by 8:45 so I can watch Grey's Anatomy in peace! Reality: My daughter might go to bed at 9:30 while I'm DVRing Grey's to watch at 10:00. BUT...since hubby is playing basketball tonight, I'm letting myself take it easy and we're getting McDonald's for dinner! I have made homemade meals every night for the past 3 weeks, and I need a break! My daughter will be so happy!

:)

Here Comes Dee Dee!

I finally bought our Doodlebops tickets! My daughter is so excited!! It's going to be a girls' day...she, myself and my mom are going to go to the concert and then probably to dinner. She keeps asking me when the concert is (not until October 28), and it's so hard because she. wants. to. go. now!!!

This is a picture of her in her Halloween costume...I won't let her play in it until Halloween because I'm afraid that the wig will get all tangled. But she knows that after trick-or-treating the costume is hers and she can dress up in it every day!

Jumped On The Bandwagon

So I never thought that I would get one, but last night, I did...an iPod. And I hadn't even thought about getting it, it just happened. On Sunday we went to Burger King for lunch, and the toy in the kids' meal was a little radio that really picked up stations. My daughter didn't put it down the rest of the day...she even fell asleep with it by her ear. So my husband thought we should get her a little MP3 player so that we could put her Doodlebops CD on it. So we went to MicroCenter, and my husband had known all along that we were going to get an iPod because 1.) I had lost my $10 walkman and I hate working out if I can't listen to/watch the TVs, and 2.) he wanted something that the kids could watch movies on. So there we were, looking at these cute little things and I was getting more and more excited. My husband picked out everything we needed...iPod (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wo/0.RSLID?mco=6CB1CADD&nclm=iPod) the 80 GB one in black, FM tuner so that I can listen to the TVs, case (one for me and one for the kids to use when they are watching movies), and warranty. We got home last night and my husband put the Doodlebops on my old MP3 player for my daughter and she fell asleep listening to them (it was adorable, I had to take a picture, which, if I ever get time I will post). We then stayed up looking at all the movies, tv shows and music that I can put on this thing! I'm so excited!!! Needless to say we were up too late for me to go to the gym this morning at 5:30, but I'm going to go tomorrow, armed with my new toy! Working out might actually be fun now!