++What a Difference a Year Makes #2++

Wyatt saw Santa today with his buddies. It was bittersweet as this will be one of the last outings we take with them. Wyatt was the only one not afraid of the strange man dressed in a costume with a huge beard. Not sure if this is a good thing or not...

Santa...you better bring me trucks for Christmas!! Oh, and maybe a new house in a warmer climate. I'd like that too.

We're off to Florida tomorrow. Wish us luck with the busy one on the plane. I should have some fun photos and stories to share about the Adventures of Larson and Wyatt when we return!

++Snip Snip++

Life goes on amidst the chaos and our little one continues to grow up a little more every day. Yesterday he greeted the morning with a series of "hiiiiiiiii, hiiii-yeeeeee, hiiiiii"s for us. Both Mark and I had to smile despite the early hour. On Wednesday I took him to get his first hair cut. He doesn't have much hair, but what he did have was getting a little rough looking. We decided it was time to clean up. Especially since we are heading down to Florida next week for all sorts of special events.
Wyatt didn't seem to mind the haircut. I couldn't get him to look at me (or the camera) since he was too enthralled with Thomas on the little TVs they have at each station. The resulting haircut is ok. I give the lady credit. It can't be easy to work on a moving target.

First snip

The finished product!

++S-O-L-D++

Yippee! It's done! We got to hang the sign today. Our neighbor was out across the street as we were documenting the event. I think he thought we were weird. That's ok. We're moving. We thought the event was worth capturing for all time. Wonder how many more houses we will sell in our life.?

We spent the morning at Home Depot and the afternoon doing all the nit-picky fix-ups the buyer requested. We said "no" to about half of them and she didn't push back. Phew. Oh, and the little furnace that could passed all of it's tests. We've never been so proud of an appliance.

Tomorrow we put the house back to the way we like it.

++My Sentiments Exactly++

Here was the scene outside our back door last Friday. Funny, but recently I have felt like I would like to do the same thing. Selling a house is no fun. Our buyer has turned into a pain in the butt. The inspection report came back with a laundry list a mile long of nit-picky things all of which existed when we bought the house almost 3 years ago. To add insult to injury she has also asked for us to coordinate a list of additional items that she will pay for while we have the electrician, plumber, etc. out here. Last time I checked, making sure she gets the pedestals added to the washer and dryer really isn't my problem. Just cross your fingers and toes for us that the furnace passes its check-up tomorrow. It's a senior citizen. We really don't want to buy a new one.

Back to the story on the little one pictured above. Our usually smiley and agreeable child has begun to express his opinions. He takes after his parents (surprise, surprise). He is very persistent and determined. This scene took place after he insisted on climbing into his car seat in the car. He clearly wanted to go somewhere. My guess was that he wanted me to take him back to the toy store (which had lots of fun trucks and trains to play with) that we had been at earlier in the day. I was treated to one of these tantrums when we left the store as well. (am I a bad parent that I found this tantrum so humorous that I took a picture rather that try to console him??)

It has been fascinating for me to raise a boy and see how certain interests must be hard-wired in them. We never really talked about trucks much until I brought home a book from a used book sale with pictures of all sorts of trucks. He immediately insisted we read it over and over and over again. When we go places in the car he grunts and points when we pass trucks on the road. Today in music class Wyatt's buddy Samuel came wearing a shirt with a truck on the front. Wyatt spent the entire class basically in Samuel's lap touching the wheels on the truck. In all honesty, as much as I never thought I'd get excited about trucks, I've been finding myself disappointed if Wyatt isn't with me and I see a neat truck. Isn't it amazing how parenthood changes us?

++From the outside++

Mark was able to stay in Memphis for the inspection of the new house yesterday. Of course, he had a long list from me to take pictures and video of all the things that I can't remember (what does the laundry room look like? What are the fixtures like in the bathrooms?, etc.) Poor guy. If we could have changed places yesterday, we would have. He also met a carpet and granite person at the house. Our realtor arranged to have them come. Again---wish it could have been me. I may have to pick carpet before we move in. I just have to hope the colors on film are an accurate representation of what the colors really are...

Here are a few photos of the house from the outside. Fortunately, it does not come with the Grand Prix parked out front (that's Mark's rental car). In fact, I think it's one of those neighborhoods with so many rules that you probably aren't allowed to have any cars parked out front. I quickly glanced through the by-laws and my favorite so far is that you are only allowed to have your garage door open long enough to pull your car in or out of it, or if you are actively doing yard work. If you stop for a break...you better put that door down!! Hopefully we are generally reasonable and respectful by nature that rules won't bother us.

Here is Casa Pacyna numero dos:

Just waiting to get all the papers finalized for our current house. Because the relocation company is covering the commission, we technically have to sell the house to them and then they sell our house to the buyer. Sounds fine but we are really not appreciating the fact that they sit on the paperwork for a few days. We want to put our house back the way it was before...sad that taking my TV out of the main floor has affected me so much.

A little aside. As expected, Wyatt did fabulous with his caretakers. His Grandma and Grandpa are so good to him. I knew he would be well cared for, but I had no clue that he would pick up new skills as well. Yesterday I turned on the CD player while changing his diaper and in it was a CD that we hadn't listened to in a while. The first song was "Itsy Bitsy Spider". I look down at him and he is trying to do the "spider" action with his fingers!!! Sure enough, we asked and Grandma taught him that. I was informed by my husband that I need to step it up. Clearly our little sponge is ready. (He said he was kidding but I know he wasn't). So on tap for today...the alphabet. Ok---maybe we should work on getting him to say more words than "hi" first.

++Done and Done++

Mark has this admirable ability to trust that things will all just work out. I, on the other hand, lose sleep and worry about every last detail. The great thing is that when it comes to Mark, things often do just seem to work out. I like being married to him as I get to ride along on his coattails (ok, we all know I don't really follow so well---so could I ride on his lapels?). Things never worked out like this for me before I linked up with him. I hesitate to even write any of this with the fear that something may fall through...


So, in the age of "home sales down 20%" and "expect it to take six months to sell a house", we sold our house in a week and had multiple offers. The best part, we ended up getting more than our asking price. Are you kidding me??? We got the news in the parking lot of the Collierville Starbucks. Our realtor was waiting inside for us to write an offer on a new house in Memphis.

We were blessed with a great realtor in Memphis. She knew that we were enamored with this one particular neighborhood but pretty bummed that there were no houses in our price range that would work for us. She happened to meet with a family who was thinking about listing their house and saw their floor plan, etc. and thought it just might be exactly what we were looking for. She was right. Once again, within a minute of walking into this house Mark was hearing "I really like this house". He knew he was in trouble. Almost three years ago he heard the same thing and we ended up buying a house that day too. So, I let my negotiator work his magic. I think we are all happy with where we ended up. I don't have photos of the outside yet (we were a little to embarrassed to take them). Mark is going to try to get some during the inspection this week.


Here are a few interior previews. Remember, it was never on the market so they clearly didn't do the de-clutter thing (did I mention the Halloween decorations including the fake owl that totally creeped us out?)

"Keeping Room" or family room off the kitchen (where I can finally see Wyatt when I cook)

Dining Room (notice the plantation shutters---so excited about those)

Wyatt's room--on first floor with our room

Kitchen--we plan to add granite countertops, a permanent island and stainless appliances

Living Room

Master Bedroom