The Move is Coming

Well, we did a walk-through of our new house this weekend! They keys are OURS!! We are very exicited. Excited for a new neighborhood; excited to have sidewalks to walk on; excited for the recreational lake behind our house; excited for the fantastic school the boys will be attending in the fall... just excited in general! The BIG, official move will be next weekend-- when we start living in our new place. This week will be more boxing. Lots and lots of boxing stuff up. I just realized last week, this is THE LONGEST time I have EVER lived in one place in my life! In that respect, and the fact that we started our family here, and our kids only know this house as their true "home," leaving will be bitter sweet. A lot we will miss. But, a lot we will look forward to for our future!

Chickie- in-Progress

Tustin was given his kindergarten, Open House project to start working on about a month ago. All of the kids had to create a Farm Animal. They had to use more than 5 different types of material, and it had to be at least 12' big/long. And, of course, it had to be an animal you would find on a farm. So, Nonny came up with a very creative/adorable idea (and thank you Nonny for purchasing ALL of the supplies for this wonderful project) to make a chick. Definitely a farm animal, and definitely a perfect idea! (Tustin has had many nick-names over the years, and I'm sure NO ONE knows my favorite nick-name that I've called him for YEARS.... Chickie! So it was perfect in many ways!)

Tustin & Keegan's "Posse"

Open House night was this past week-- and just about the whole family turned out, for the 3rd year in a row! (Sorry Pop couldn't make this one.) We affectionately call ourselves the boys' "posse" because year after year, we fill up the class room visitors' logs with our family members alone! Tustin's farm animal turned out GREAT-- with Nonny's help, Tustin decided to craft a chick. It is SO cute! Nonny constructed a bit of it, Mommy constructed a bit of it, and Tustin did all the painting and feather gluing! Tutty loves his teacher so much, I'm sure the end of kindergarten will bring a little sadness, along with the excitement of moving on to first grade! Thank you SO much to our wonderful family for joining us at Open House, and to the boys' wonderful teachers for giving it their best every single day in the class rooms!

Keegan's Classroom

After we visited Tustin's class, we headed over to Keegan's class. He had SO many wonderful art projects to show us. He was very proud of his "Keegan the Super Hero" picture, but a little more embarrassed to show us his self-portrait, which I think is wonderful! Definitely a keeper! We had SO much fun looking through his Massachusetts box... with all kinds of great post cards and brochures directly from the great state of Massachusetts itself! A BIG thank you to Grammie and Grampy for mailing out some wonderful things to fill Keegan's box. His teacher said that he did an EXCELLENT job on his oral presentation. He knew everything there was to know about Massachusetts! We are going to miss Keegan's teacher so much, she has been WONDERFUL with him over the last two years in a row now.

My Sweet Keegan

This is what my sweet Keegan had to say about me in one of his Open House writings... BEFORE you say anything at all about my cooking (for those of you who know I do NOT cook....), think about it from a kid's perspective.... What do you want for dinner? Chicken Nuggets... Okay-- coming right up! THAT's why he thinks I'm a great cook! I can work a microwave like no other!

Offer Time

So..... we have officially accepted an offer on our house! (As if we'd say "No!") But, that's the way it works, we had to sign all the paperwork, accepting the offer, and then an offer package is presented to the bank. So, from this point on, the minimum time we are looking at will be 3 months. They say the "negotiation process" with the bank takes about two months. Our realtor has to convince the bank to take the offer, basically. They have all the paperwork to show the bank that the buyer has been pre-approved for her loan, she put a deposit in, etc... she's READY! Then, after that approximate 2-month process, they will do a short, 30-day escrow. Which gets us to the 3-month mark. So, by the end of August, we shall see if everything has gone through. Wish us luck!

The boys' friend had his birthday party at the BMX Track! How cool is that?!! The boys had a blast-- and were the best (and most appropriately) dressed, if I do say so myself. The kids got to ride for over 2 hours... with plenty of breaks for snacks, drinks, cake and presents! It was a fun and beautiful day!

More House Stuff

So, I think we've had about 6 different showings of our house over the past week. And our realtor tells us we have an offer. We have to "approve" the offer first-- as if we'd ever say "No Thank You!" Guess all that paperwork will get to us this week sometime. However, I still hear that it could take months for the negotiation process with the bank, and for them to actually accept a short-sale, because it's never a "done deal!" Chris and I just found out today, that after we've actually moved, and it's official (that we no longer reside in the neighborhood)-- we get a discount through our auto insurance!! How funny is that!??

New School

I HAVE to blog about the new school the boys will be attending in the fall. About 8 of us took a tour, and attended a little presentation, at the school last Thursday. It is a "California Distinguished School," and a 10 of 10 rated school by the State of CA. I thought it would be difficult to find a principal (and teachers) as wonderful and dedicated as the ones the boys have now... but the new principal is putting up a good fight! She seems wonderful. And the school-- WOW! They have their own little building that is their school library! The boys' current school has a little 10x15 room, lined with books, they call a library. They have a computer lab; a science lab; and their three-pronged "magnet" program just seems incredible. The technology in the classroom-- huge computer/white boards I've never seen before-- it's wonderful! Needless to say, we are SO excited! The boys.... well, they aren't fighting it yet, although they have expressed their sadness in leaving their school, their teachers, and their friends. Mommy and Daddy understand... but secretly, we are super excited about the NEW friends they will have. Friends with parents who care about their kids' education! Maybe they will even develop true friendships, kids they can play with on weekends, and get invited to birthday parties, and other Mom-friends I can make too!

Things are Movin'

So, might as well blog about our house-selling experience. We've never gone through it before, may help to unload! Our house officially went on the market late this afternoon. I already got a call from a realtor, who wants to show our house to a family tomorrow. Wow-- moving right along. We weren't really thinking it was going to happen this quickly, before we even move out, but I guess that's a good thing, right?! The sooner we get this process going, the better!

Meanwhile, we are starting to get boxed up. At least with regards to all of the things we aren't going to be using/wearing on a daily basis for the next few weeks.

The boys started school back up again this week, after a fun, two-week vacation, spent with Nana/Papa & Nonny/Pop! (THANK YOU) They are getting fun projects ready for their upcoming Open House at school. Keegan chose the State of Massachusetts for his state project. We are anxiously awaiting a package from Grammie & Grampy-- goodies straight from the great State itself! Keegan has to fill his box with objects, pictures, maps, etc. of things all about Mass. He has to give an oral presentation of all the goodies in his box: info re the state bird, flag, motto, flower, etc. I even placed a mini/stuffed Cat in the Hat in his box, to remind him to mention that Dr. Seuss was born in Mass! Tustin's Open House project is to create a barn animal for their farm theme in the kinder classes. He (we) are making a baby chick. I'll upload pictures soon-- it's cute!

Listing

So, you know from my Change of Address "Smilebox" card: We are moving! We found a wonderful realtor (at least we belive so) and we've signed the paperwork to allow them to list our house. Today we had someone out here from our realtor's office to look around and take pictures. He's the "creative writer," when it comes to how they are going to market our home. Apparenty it is going to be officially listed tomorrow!!! It will be on the MLS and Craigs List, and wherever else they list. So, if I find a link, I'll let you know!

The guy who came out today doesn't think it will take long at all to get offers on our home. As we've always said: We love our home, just wish it was in a different area. But, the problem is not going to be getting offers. The problems is going to be 1) What kind of offers are we getting? and 2) Will the bank accept the offer/s? Those are the key questions, and we'll know how it all pans out as the weeks/months go on.

Once Upon A Time... There Were Three Sisters....

And they loved each other forever, and lived happily ever after! :-) No, this isn't the end of the story, it's just the beginning silly! Scroll through the journey of our wonderful Hart Sisters' Weekend. We started out walking around Ocean Beach, and ended at a dusty, but fun, BMX track, watching the boys race their bikes! (For those of you who know my wonderful sister and her history of picture posing, you'll know what I mean when you see the picture where Sylvia is "Pulling a Kristi!")

More OB Fun!

We walked out to the end of the OB Pier, and the waves were crashin'!! A couple of times, they hit the underneath of the pier, and it felt like a mini earthquake!

One of Mom's Delicious Meals

Nonny made a fantastic dinner for us to enjoy the night the Aunties arrived. Croissants straight from France even! (And let me tell you, they are THE best croissants I've EVER tasted!) Cheers!

"Cool Kids"

The boys may ACT cool, and not too excited about things at times.... but after dinner, when Daddy took them home (mommy stayed for more girl-time), they cried almost all the way home! They LOVE their Great/Crazy Aunties!

Special Cake

Nonny made a delicious cake for our Sister Celebration!

Hornblower Brunch Cruise

I still have ties to some friends at Hornblower-- and they offered us a bit of a discount to have a wonderful Sunday Brunch on board the "Inspiration" last Sunday. We celebrated Holly's upcoming 60th (and Sylvia's upcoming 63rd, and Heather's upcoming 65th)! Chris and I met on a Hornblower Cruise; we got married at the Abbey- Hornblower's SD Headquarters; and what do you know, this year will be our 10th anniversary, and Captain Rich (who married us ten years ago) was the Captain on the boat last weekend. Pretty awesome! We had a wonderful day out on San Diego's beautiful bay.

A wonderful, endless buffet