We bought a house!

Bryan and I had an eventful month. We celebrated our 7th anniversary and bought a house. We’ve been casually looking for a house for several months but since our contract goes month to month in June we weren’t in a huge rush to buy. We had a few extremely limiting factors to work around: Bryan’s commute (he ruled out driving to work so we only considered homes that were walking distance to a good bus route or train), our price range (obviously) and I had my heart set on Norah attending a dual immersion elementary school. As it turned out there was exactly one neighborhood that met all three criteria. One. You’d think Texas would have dual immersion in every school but it is actually quite rare to find a school with a solid program. The school we zeroed in on was Sanger Elementary – but within these boundaries we were limited to just three streets because the rest of the houses were either way way way too expensive or way way way too small (like 800 square feet).

Our realtor found us a house that he thought was a good value and opportunity but I just couldn’t commit. It was too big of a decision and there was too much pressure to decide quickly. Houses have been flying off the market here in Dallas so there was a good chance it would be gone if we didn’t make an offer within a day or two. We had the paperwork almost done but I was so nervous I felt physically sick about it and changed my mind. Just as our realtor predicted the house was under contract within a week. Our realtor gently tried to tell us to broaden our search and I spent the next month trying to consider a neighborhood near a train station without a dual immersion Elementary but the houses were more money, the commute was actually longer and I hated giving up on Norah attending Sanger Elementary. Bryan and I talked about it extensively and over Conference weekend we really made up our minds that we would just wait for a house to open up in Sanger Elementary’s boundaries and as long as it was livable we’d take it. The next day our realtor told us that the same house that we had looked at before was available again (the buyer backed out) and the sellers reduced the price by 10k. We made an offer and spent a few crazy days dealing with paperwork and finding a lender and it was ours. I’m so glad I had the luxury of making this huge decision slowly. I haven’t had any second thoughts and feel more and more excited every day. We will conveniently be in the same ward and even closer to White Rock Lake and the Arboretum. We close May 14th but the sellers are back leasing till May 24th so we will move and celebrate Norah’s birthday over Memorial Day weekend just like we did last year. This will be the 6th place Bryan and I have lived in – we haven’t lived anywhere longer than 2 years so it is strange to think about planning to live somewhere long term. If you want to see pictures of the house email me.

Alice in April

Alice is adding words to her repertoire! When we were camping she was playing in the cabin with my mom and looking at the rest of us around the campfire through the window. She started trying to play peek a boo with us but no one was paying attention till she started yelling “gahpa” over and over again. My mom actually still had to get us to stop talking and pay attention to her but it was pretty loud and clear once we did. Alice also started saying “ohwa” for Norah. If I’m calling Norah because she’s too far away Alice will start calling her too. She has also started saying ball when she throws a ball or a round piece of fruit. Her L sound isn’t quite there but we count it. Ba-bye and hi are old words but she’s using them more.

This is kind of a cute photo of Alice and my dad (I’m glad I have my phone to capture these moments but I hate the quality). He was just about to leave for the airport and hugged Alice goodbye and as soon as he set her back down she put her arms up to be picked up again. She did this over and over again and gave him some good snuggles.Look at that sad little face. She knows what bye-bye means. In case you’re wondering what the deal is with her outfit – she was play princesses with Norah.

Alice is a big time climber. She has no problem with pushing a chair across the room to get what she wants. She is so quiet too so if I’m not paying attention she can get to high places. I actually think all kids get pretty quiet when they know they are doing something naughty but Alice is always quiet so it doesn’t raise red flags. The other day I caught her on the kitchen counter eating cherry tomatoes. What’s more – she had dug out these tiny baking cups from a kitchen drawer and brought them with her so she could put the tomatoes in the cups before eating them. Such a complicated plot!

Norah in April

Its incredible to me that I still notice definite changes in Norah each month. I think this month Norah has been more cooperative – more willing to put on her shoes and and brush her teeth – things like that. She takes initiative in ways she never has before like “I’ll get the water bottle” or “I’ll help carry the bag.” Her little offers of help surprise me and replenish my patience tremendously. With all this growth of maturity has come a minor set back: She’s gotten into the habit of telling me she doesn’t want to go to preschool on preschool days and having a little fit. By the time we arrive she’s bounding happily into her classroom without a backwards glance and she’s always happy when I pick her up so I’m not sure what the deal is – I’m just waiting for it to pass. It is strange though when she seems to be having fewer tantrums in general. It’s like she feels the need to start the day off right by checking off her tantrum box and then moving on to be being cooperative.

Speaking of preschool – I had a parent teacher conference last week and her teacher gushed about how much she’s improved. She was marked as “mastered” in nearly every category on her report card and her teacher said she never gets timeouts. At her fall PTC she was a noted behavior problem and her teacher seemed exacerbated with Norah. Norah wasn’t saying anything in Spanish or following any directions. I assured her teacher that Norah didn’t follow directions in English either and that Bryan and I were so pleased she was coloring that we didn’t care if she learned any Spanish. I think her teacher was partly worried we would blame her for Norah’s lack of progress and that was contributing to her frustration. I actually considered pulling her out because I thought maybe her strained relationship with her teacher couldn’t be salvaged but I’m glad I didn’t because Norah really blossomed the second semester. She could hardly hold a crayon when she started school and now is writing words and drawing. She knows her letters and can count to 20 in Spanish, she understands her teachers and is speaking to them using 3-4 words at a time. Her teacher seemed to be as thrilled with Norah’s progress at this meeting as she was frustrated in the fall. We are so happy she’s thriving at school.

This is Norah in a new dress our next door neighbor Paula made her. Norah calls it her “ice cream” dress – she loves it. Notice that her shoes are on the wrong feet – you’d think this might happen up to 50% of the time but some how it is more like 90%. I took this at the zoo today. We were looking at the lemurs and Norah was trying to imitate them.Norah has a great sense of humor. A few weeks ago we were walking on a narrow path at the zoo with tall trees on either side so you couldn’t really see up ahead. We turned a corner and there was a crocodile sculpture that looked real to me and startled me. I think I might have even screamed a little. Norah was cracking up that this scared me and to tease me she climbed into the crocodile’s mouth and said “look mom the crocodile’s eating me ha ha ha” Norah has also started telling jokes – variations of one joke in particular:“How did the Chicken pass the playground? To get to the other slide!” Ba ha ha. This makes her laugh so hard she smacks her her knee.

Tyler State Park

My parents came in town for a quick visit this weekend and took us to Tyler State Park for a camping trip. Emily and I both moved down south last summer and even though we’re just 3 hours apart we haven’t seen as much of each other as we’d like. Tyler is halfway between Dallas and Shreveport so my mom thought it would be a nice rendezvous point. We had a great time and managed to pack a lot in.

First we had a picnic lunch and played at a playground. Norah saw lots of people fishing and begged to fish so we borrowed some poles from the park (so cool that they had poles to lend) and used our leftover deli ham and cheese as bait. It didn’t work that well and no fish were caught – better luck next time. Then we went on a riveting nature walk led by Ranger Boyd (okay, a few of us lost interest but I learned about many fascinating uses for the yucca plant and how to identify poison ivy (I’ve been unjustly suspecting nearly every weed in our backyard)) After our walk we went to our “cottage” (better described as a shelter – Norah insisted on calling it a cottage like the ranger office did) and made dinnerEmily brought stuff to make smores so we had fun roasting marshmallows – I think it was Norah’s first time and she thought it was pretty cool although her marshmallow was a little ashen. My mom was really excited to have a real campfire since they aren’t permitted in CO. We had an unseasonably cold night and could have used a few more blankets for the adults but the kids were plenty warm which is all that mattered. I know all of us have had much colder nights before but unfortunately I think the bad night compromised Bryan’s immune system and he came down with a stomach bug. The next morning I went canoeing with my dad and the girls while Bryan slept in the car.I think we should plan a day trip with the Watts to go back and swim when it’s warmer.