Love his curiosity in these pics! Ethan played an important role in controlling Aunt Katie's online shopping for her new apartment last weekend - he got his hands on her wireless mouse and thought it was the best new toy ever!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Ethan Caught A Mouse!
Love his curiosity in these pics! Ethan played an important role in controlling Aunt Katie's online shopping for her new apartment last weekend - he got his hands on her wireless mouse and thought it was the best new toy ever!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Coming Out of the Closet
Brian hopes this is the only time Ethan is associated with this phrase :) Ethan slept in a bassinet in our room for the first 3 months and then we moved him to his "nursery" in the walk in closet. Not exactly what we pictured his first bedroom to be but you know what - it worked just fine and we all slept better with this arrangement!
Goodbye Closet!
The closing went smooth yesterday - the buyer seemed like a nice guy and was really excited to move in. Glad the condo will be in good hands. Nice to have it official. Time to start saving up for our next place. Excited to do some casual house hunting on weekends this spring!
Goodbye Closet!
The closing went smooth yesterday - the buyer seemed like a nice guy and was really excited to move in. Glad the condo will be in good hands. Nice to have it official. Time to start saving up for our next place. Excited to do some casual house hunting on weekends this spring!
Last Week Downtown
I'm at least a week behind on blogging - it's been a crazy busy couple weeks for the Woods Family + 1. First we need to send a huge thank you shout out to our good friends Stef, Troy & Allan and my brother Trent for helping us move last weekend. We were able to get all of the furniture out - such a big help!
It was a sentimental week for us - hard to say goodbye to our first place - we sure loved our little home in the sky. Ethan and I took one last stroll to pick up some groceries - pretty sure in whatever suburb we end up we won't be able to walk to the store.
With the couch and bed stored away an air mattress had to double as both for the last week
Our neighbors had us over for a farewell drink while the buyer came in for his final walk through. In typical fashion we were cleaning and packing until 2 minutes he came. The Anderson's dog Darby took a liking to Ethan and Brian :)
With one last look at our city off the balcony (and lots of tears from me) we walked out of the condo for the last time Thursday night. Thanks for all the memories 2109 - what a fabulous 5.5 years!
Moving sure is exhausting - even for baby bear!
It was a sentimental week for us - hard to say goodbye to our first place - we sure loved our little home in the sky. Ethan and I took one last stroll to pick up some groceries - pretty sure in whatever suburb we end up we won't be able to walk to the store.
With the couch and bed stored away an air mattress had to double as both for the last week
Our neighbors had us over for a farewell drink while the buyer came in for his final walk through. In typical fashion we were cleaning and packing until 2 minutes he came. The Anderson's dog Darby took a liking to Ethan and Brian :)
With one last look at our city off the balcony (and lots of tears from me) we walked out of the condo for the last time Thursday night. Thanks for all the memories 2109 - what a fabulous 5.5 years!
Moving sure is exhausting - even for baby bear!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Friday Night Swim
Decided to take advantage of our spa accommodations one last time before we move - E's 2nd swimming adventure seemed to go over quite well! Had to get a picture of him next to the no babies in diapers allowed signed. He was wearing Little Swimmers at least!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Happy St. Paddy's Day!!!
Ethan and I decided to pretend we're Irish instead of Czech + Scottish and hit up the Minneapolis St. Paddy's Day Parade to be festive - the temp hit 55 degrees today! We both put on the only green outfit either of us own, I drank a Heineken because the bottle is green, and we walked down to Nicollet and met up with Aunt Katie and her friends. It was strange to walk past the hopping bars on the way home and not be inside but I was perfectly happy to take my little leprechaun home for some cuddle time. He conked out immediately and I think he is dreaming about horseys and bagpipes right now as those were our favorites! Brian has been out in St. Paul since 11am so should be fun to hear about his shenanigans when he gets home.
"May the road rise up to meet you and may the wind ever be at your back."
~Irish Blessing
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Orange = E's New Favorite Color!
E has tolerated peas and green beans fairly well, but after trying carrots for lunch today I'm not sure he'll want to go back to the green veggies. I think orange will go over quite well judging by the look on his face when he tasted the carrots for the first time. So fun to watch and glad they were a hit! Even better - he didn't have a reaction to them which is a relief as I'm allergic to raw carrots.
On Deck: Sweet Potatoes!
Ready.Set.Move
After weeks of waiting and no shortage of anxiety we finally heard back that we have a green light to close on the condo March 25th! Yep - that's in 12 days - eek! Time to switch into high gear and get this place packed up!
The first few boxes took a while to get started but once we got cranking we got almost the entire kitchen packed up in about 5 hours today. Trying to label all the contents to make unpacking easier.
The condo is officially a disaster zone and will be until we have everything out and clean for the buyer's final walk through. Living in a 1 bedroom condo for 5.5 years forces you to be a minimalist. By nature I'm the opposite of a pack rat, can't stand clutter, and am anti knick-knack, BUT I was amazed at how much stuff we found hidden in the back of the cabinets that we completely forgot about!
Luckily our entire kitchen fit into the back of the MDX - felt good to get one load out. So it's probably about time I answer the question that you may be wondering and that many of you have asked. Where are we moving????????
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
Next (TEMPORARY) Stop: Burnsville, MN
So I'm still trying to get my arms around moving back in with my parents at 28 which is why I haven't responded until now. Is about the last thing I had in my life plan. Oh wait - moving back in with a husband, baby, and dog... that definitely wasn't in the plan! I can't complain because quite honestly God's plan and my plan have lined up pretty well thus far - get a great education, marry an amazing guy, land a good job, buy a place, have a healthy baby - WOW - I am so blessed to be able to check all of these boxes! So we're working hard to take this housing market detour in stride as it's minor in the grand scheme of things.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and
lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
~Proverbs 3, 5-6
Like so many others, we bought at the peak of the market in 05 and sold at the bottom. Life will go on. It took a 18 months of aggressive savings but we're proud we'll be able to cover the gap ourselves rather than shortsale/foreclosure. Let's just say the next time we have to write out a check this big it better be for a fricken luxury car, not for someone to buy OUR house! We had to wipe out our savings and downpament fund for our next house to do so. While we could have scrambled to find a rental in time, when my parents so generously offered to let us crash for a little while, we ran the numbers and can save for the house downpayment we'll need in 1/2 the time if stay in Burnsville through Spring. Being the financially minded practical guy he is, Brian was in without hesitation but it took quite the sales pitch from him and lots of wine to talk me down from my fiercely independent "let's rent" tree. Writing this is actually therapeutic - I'm feeling almost over it. On to our next adventure!
A huge thank you to my parents in advance for opening their beautiful home to us and welcoming us with open arms. ROCKSTARS! We so appreciate their support and will try to be good house guests for the next three months. As summer approaches we should have a decent idea if we're close to buying or if we'll lease a rental for 6 - 12 months until we find the perfect place. We'll be taking over the former "Kids Wing" of the house upstairs - perhaps we'll need to get a sign for the new Woods Wing of the Davis estate :) We won't know what to do with oursevles with all of this space! Ethan will get his very own nursery - the blue room - aka Aunt Katie's room. We'll be back in my childhood bedroom - the green room. I have to say I'm pretty excited to have my own closet again as Brian will be sharing Ethan's!
Hopefully we won't need to, but we can spillover to Uncle Trent's room and the basement rec room downstairs as well. We were planning on renting a self-storage unit for all our stuff but after organizing and rearranging the storage rooms in their basement we might be able to squeak by without it since the buyer is keeping 75% of our furniture. Will haul another couple car loads today and then get our remaining furniture out next weekend.
Ethan is clearly comfortable with his new roomies as he has no problem lounging by the fireplace naked with them around :)
So if by some miracle you are actually still reading my ramblings, thank you! Your support means the world to us. Despite my new found blogging hobby I am a fairly private person when it comes to personal matters and often find myself censoring my posts which kind of defeats the purpose of blogging in general. So since I can't sleep and it's 4am you got the full scoop. Will keep you posted - there are bound to be some entertaining stories that come out of the next few months. Here we go!
The first few boxes took a while to get started but once we got cranking we got almost the entire kitchen packed up in about 5 hours today. Trying to label all the contents to make unpacking easier.
The condo is officially a disaster zone and will be until we have everything out and clean for the buyer's final walk through. Living in a 1 bedroom condo for 5.5 years forces you to be a minimalist. By nature I'm the opposite of a pack rat, can't stand clutter, and am anti knick-knack, BUT I was amazed at how much stuff we found hidden in the back of the cabinets that we completely forgot about!
Luckily our entire kitchen fit into the back of the MDX - felt good to get one load out. So it's probably about time I answer the question that you may be wondering and that many of you have asked. Where are we moving????????
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
Next (TEMPORARY) Stop: Burnsville, MN
So I'm still trying to get my arms around moving back in with my parents at 28 which is why I haven't responded until now. Is about the last thing I had in my life plan. Oh wait - moving back in with a husband, baby, and dog... that definitely wasn't in the plan! I can't complain because quite honestly God's plan and my plan have lined up pretty well thus far - get a great education, marry an amazing guy, land a good job, buy a place, have a healthy baby - WOW - I am so blessed to be able to check all of these boxes! So we're working hard to take this housing market detour in stride as it's minor in the grand scheme of things.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and
lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
~Proverbs 3, 5-6
Like so many others, we bought at the peak of the market in 05 and sold at the bottom. Life will go on. It took a 18 months of aggressive savings but we're proud we'll be able to cover the gap ourselves rather than shortsale/foreclosure. Let's just say the next time we have to write out a check this big it better be for a fricken luxury car, not for someone to buy OUR house! We had to wipe out our savings and downpament fund for our next house to do so. While we could have scrambled to find a rental in time, when my parents so generously offered to let us crash for a little while, we ran the numbers and can save for the house downpayment we'll need in 1/2 the time if stay in Burnsville through Spring. Being the financially minded practical guy he is, Brian was in without hesitation but it took quite the sales pitch from him and lots of wine to talk me down from my fiercely independent "let's rent" tree. Writing this is actually therapeutic - I'm feeling almost over it. On to our next adventure!
A huge thank you to my parents in advance for opening their beautiful home to us and welcoming us with open arms. ROCKSTARS! We so appreciate their support and will try to be good house guests for the next three months. As summer approaches we should have a decent idea if we're close to buying or if we'll lease a rental for 6 - 12 months until we find the perfect place. We'll be taking over the former "Kids Wing" of the house upstairs - perhaps we'll need to get a sign for the new Woods Wing of the Davis estate :) We won't know what to do with oursevles with all of this space! Ethan will get his very own nursery - the blue room - aka Aunt Katie's room. We'll be back in my childhood bedroom - the green room. I have to say I'm pretty excited to have my own closet again as Brian will be sharing Ethan's!
Hopefully we won't need to, but we can spillover to Uncle Trent's room and the basement rec room downstairs as well. We were planning on renting a self-storage unit for all our stuff but after organizing and rearranging the storage rooms in their basement we might be able to squeak by without it since the buyer is keeping 75% of our furniture. Will haul another couple car loads today and then get our remaining furniture out next weekend.
Ethan is clearly comfortable with his new roomies as he has no problem lounging by the fireplace naked with them around :)
So if by some miracle you are actually still reading my ramblings, thank you! Your support means the world to us. Despite my new found blogging hobby I am a fairly private person when it comes to personal matters and often find myself censoring my posts which kind of defeats the purpose of blogging in general. So since I can't sleep and it's 4am you got the full scoop. Will keep you posted - there are bound to be some entertaining stories that come out of the next few months. Here we go!
Ethan & Bella's First Fight
Bella has always loved chewing on empty water bottles and always stands up on her hind legs and knocks them off the coffee table - sneaky girl. Not that she is suppose to have them anyway, but now she has to learn to share with her brother who took an interest in the bottle that fell off the table this afternoon:
Oh siblings... Bella looks so dejected when baby reached for it and we told her no. Sadly she needs to get used to it - baby has the permanent trump card now! We gave her leftovers from our steak tonight which seemed to get us back on her good side ;)
Quite the reach eh? While it will be amazing when it does happen, really hope E doesn't crawl in the next 12 days as we don't want to have to baby proof the condo right before we move out!
Oh siblings... Bella looks so dejected when baby reached for it and we told her no. Sadly she needs to get used to it - baby has the permanent trump card now! We gave her leftovers from our steak tonight which seemed to get us back on her good side ;)
Quite the reach eh? While it will be amazing when it does happen, really hope E doesn't crawl in the next 12 days as we don't want to have to baby proof the condo right before we move out!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Chicago Wrap Up
Ethan enjoyed hanging with the ladies at his first baby shower - can't wait to meet my cousin's baby girl this summer. Had to get a pic with the parents-to-be!
Uncle Dave is a baby magnet - E just loved him!
Who wants to take a nap when you can cuddle with your great-grandma?
So glad E got to meet my Aunt Pam & Uncle Ken at breakfast Sunday. After this trip he has met most of the Chicago crew!
Lots of stretching and kicking aorund after 14 hours in the car in 3 days
1st (Professional) Haircut!
E did so great - he was more interested in his toy than the makeover that was taking place but every once in a while would look up like "what are you doing to me?" A huge thank you to my Aunt Darlene - the best stylist in the world! She turned his wispy comb-over into a layered masterpiece. Loving the new do - such a handsome little man!
We'll see how fast it grows back...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)