Eggs, Monsters, and Settlements... Oh my!!!

April has been a doozy!  And we're just now starting the biggest week yet!!!  

It has been a good month so far and it's about to get even happier with our upcoming (surprise!) trip to Disney World at the end of the week.  As the previous post set up, Steve has now begun his work as a Medical Director with The Healthcare Consultancy Group, a company based in CT but still allows him to work remotely, and we are now home owners!!!  Still can't believe it...  

We went to settlement last Thursday and are still in shock at how smooth the process has been.  We'll have several weeks to make changes and will move in at the end of May.  Pictures of our new home to come as progress is made! :)  Thankfully, it is by no means a fixer-upper but there are still quite a few projects that need to be done.  And all is "so far so good" with Steve's new position!

Our Easter was a sweet one as we were able to celebrate both with our church community AND family!!!  A wonderful church service, yummy and fun brunch with our community group complete with egg dyeing and an egg hunt, and a delicious dinner at my folks with another egg hunt! That week we had a fun little Easter egg hunt with Maelee's pre-k class mates, and we did some egg dyeing with Nana, too.  It was great that Maelee's class talked about the significance of the Cross and she is understanding more and more about its meaning.  She wasn't as into our exclamations of "He is Risen!" on Sunday morning... but we are grateful to see planted seeds beginning to sprout!

 

 

 

 

It was an awesome day, but Lilee was exhausted and had enough!

 Enjoying chocolate bunnies from Too-daddy :)

More Easter Pics:

Last weekend, we finally ventured into DC as a family.  Parking was a bit of a nightmare given that it was a Sunday and just about every garage was closed AND it was peak cherry blossom season with the parade that weekend, too, but we eventually lucked out big time with a nearby open garage which was also cheap!  What were we doing in DC you ask? Well, attending Monster Fish and Spinosaurus exhibits at the National Geographic Museum, of course!  Maelee was giddy the whole time and even Lilee enjoyed herself!  It was well worth the trip.

And then there was settlement!!!  There were lots of signatures, but thankfully lots of smiles, too :)

First shot of many!!! 

Taken after the last walk-through before closing, while Maelee was at school and before dropping Lilee off with my mom.  Excited for many more pics!

And in case this post didn't have enough pictures, the next ones will be even crazier with Maelee's big FIVE birthday this week and the Disney trip...  whew!  What a month!!!

March Madness II

There was lots going on six years ago when I first wrote a post entitled "March Madness," but how different life was then!  Still lots going on now, but with much bigger changes.  The month has again been filled with the everyday nitty gritty coupled with some major, exciting happenings!

In the midst of the ordinary, both girls continue to amaze us with how quickly they are growing and changing.  Maelee is doing better with reading, writing, and self-control (hallelujah!), and Lilee is practically running and is trying her darndest to communicate beyond her adorable handful of words.  She understands so much and constantly cracks us up with her mischievous grins, dramatic tantrums, and LOUDness, but is still so sweet and cuddly!  She waves every time she sees a cat or dog and has the cutest "mows" and "oofs."  A bit of sibling rivalry has been rearing its ugly head as Lilee is old enough now to grab and fight back, but thankfully there are still plenty of sweet sister love moments. 

We enjoyed some St. Patty's fun and had two special back-to-back weekend trips to DE and up to NYC in March.  And with all the fun times and ho hum times, came two life-altering offers!!!

1.  We are buying a home!!!  In a barely 24 hr period, we saw a place, loved the place, put an offer on the place, and had our offer accepted!  After several weeks of online searches and a few showings, we'd been feeling pretty discouraged about our prospects. Between budget, location, schools, and space, it was becoming quickly obvious that one of  those factors would have to give.  And in the end, we were more than happy to give on space- who needs excess square footage anyway???  Thankfully, we have been prepared for small spaces and as it is a good 150 sq ft MORE than we currently have, including an extra bedroom and bathroom (not to mention attic!), we actually feel it is quite roomy. :)

Since it's located less than a mile from our cute little Shirlington Village, we are thrilled (!) to be able to stay in the church community we've found and have even shaved off a minute or two from Nana & Pop-Pop's!  There are shops, restaurants, and playgrounds around the corner so I am especially excited to still be able to walk places (including a Baskin Robbins- yikes!) and even more important, it is zoned for a wonderful elementary school!

God has been so gracious in how this has all worked out.  From family connections with a wonderful realtor to an inspection that yielded no major flaws and an on-the-money appraisal, it has been a surprisingly smooth process so far.  We are set to close on 4/16, then the sellers will rent back from us for a month (which also worked out so perfectly w/ our current lease!) and we will have a couple weeks to do some work to the place before moving in at the end of May.  Needless to say, we are very excited and we are praising the Lord!

2. Steve accepted a new job offer!!!  Last fall/winter were pretty trying for him- and therefore, on all of us!- on the job front so he decided it was time to start looking around.  He found a position with another medical education company and will be a medical director over two fields he is passionate about.  AND, he can still work remotely!  Needless to say once again, we are VERY excited and praising the Lord for this offer as well!!!  He starts on Monday!

Now on to some pics from the month!!!

The month began with a super special dinner out for Steve and I with a good pal of ours, Kristian, who used to live in NYC and now lives in TX working for Love146.  One of our favorite people!

What happens when I foolishly give Lilee a box of tissues to distract her 

after forgetting a paci for the car... Tissues. All. Over. The. Place.

Our big girl getting artsy with some *clean* paint!

And with some crayons!

Three little cuties in all shades of green

A cold but fun St. Patrick's Day Parade in Old Town

       

Lilee sure loves tritty-trot with Nana!

And reading with Maelee!

Silly Parker... You may be pretty stinky sometimes, 

but washing machines are not for kitties!

Grateful for some warmer weather!

Sweet sisters

More playground fun!

That basketball was about as big as she is but it didn't stop her!

The third weekend of the month, we made a quick trip up to DE for a sweet baby shower of my Aunt Viv's (other) niece, Mandy!  It was a special afternoon and we are excited to be so close to her now as she lives in Alexandria, too.  The girls enjoyed their afternoon with the guys- daddy, Pop-Pop, and Too-daddy!

Giggles and Buxtehude spotting (the big orange stray that makes its home on the porch) with Too-dad

One's on the iPhone & one's on the iPad!


Loving the outside time, too...

Congrats to Mandy!

We all love some Grotto's pizza when we visit DE- 

this little one went to town with one slice in each hand!

  

 Smile!

I also enjoyed a sweet birthday celebration this month with my sweet family!  My mom and I got to redeem gift certificates my dad had given us at Christmas for massages in the afternoon so that was a super special treat!  And we all enjoyed some dessert before dinner of yummy salted caramel cake.  To top it off, Steve and I got to have a date night!  It was a good birthday.

 

 

 

 The next morning, Steve and I took Maelee up to NYC for a little overnight trip while Lilee got to enjoy some super special time with Nana & Pop-Pop.  

 She just LOVES pushing the stroller around!

And didn't mind getting a few forkfuls of birthday cake either :)

Handfuls of spaghetti - her favorite!

Happy girl

Big stuff holding the bread on a grocery trip!

And while Lilee was loving being the center of attention with Nana & Pop-Pop, Maelee loved being the center of attention with mommy & daddy in New York! She did great during the car ride there and back and LOVED seeing her old pals- the kids and the grown ups!  Loved it a little tooo much, though, as she was a basket case at having to leave!  We spent the night with our dear friends, Desiree & Jay, and Maelee's "brothers," James & Ethan.  She was SO excited for her "sleepover" and her and Ethan were practically inseparable.  It was pretty adorable.  We got to see several of our dear friends and couldn't miss a chance to visit Apostles, (not to mention enjoy some of our favorite foods) so even though it was a short visit, it was well worth it!

Frozen yogurt at 16 Handles with Holly & Chloe!

Friends for life

Friends for life!!!

At least the paci-buckteeth-lollipop cheered her up! Especially when daddy finished it up:)

Boy, do we miss that city, and especially those people! It is crazy how much life as we knew it there has already changed so much though and we know it was our time to move on.  And God has sure been gracious in this new chapter of ours and we're so excited to see what's in store as it plays out.  This month is shaping up to be even madder (but in a good way!) than the last!

Slideshow from March: