Day to WEEK

My longest day turned into the LONGEST WEEK...
We are still waiting to hear about the two houses. Our AMAZING Realtor talked to both listing agents and we are still in the running. So no news is good news as of now.
Our offer on the smaller house has been submitted along with the Short Sale packet and we are the only offer. We may hear back as soon as 10 days, but most likely it will take longer. They have a short sale specialist working on it and there is only a first mortgage, not a 2nd also. So that is REALLY good.
Our offer on the bigger house is still in negotiations. We are expecting to hear back anytime. But we shall see.

Charles is FINALLY feeling better. It turns out he did not have Canker Sores but some viral mouth infection which was causing the sores. He was MUTE for 2 days and only drank chocolate milk. He now is speaking but his speech is a little slurred. He says he feels ALL better but I think things are still healing. The one good thing about him being sick is that John was able to give him a blessing. We first did our family night about blessings and the priesthood and then John asked him if he wanted one an he enthusiastically said YES. He really enjoyed having grandpa and daddy give him a blessing and he is exciting about being able to have the priesthood when he is bigger. So I guess ALL things really do happen for a reason.
Hopefully we will have some good news to share about our prospective houses.

LONGEST day of my LIFE

Today feels like one of the longest days EVER!!!! Charles has a canker sore and is in a lot of pain and the Motrin doesn't seem to be helping. I am trying to put orajel on it, but he doesn't let me touch it very long, so I'm not sure if that is even productive. And that's not even half the problem...Last week we put in 4 offers on houses in Riverside. 3 of them are short sales and 1 of them is a corporate owned home. The inventory of houses is EXTREMELY low right now, and we don't really like to put offers on short sales because we don't want to wait, but we decided to do it anyway. Well two of the offers are being submitted to the bank. YAHOO!!! We can not believe it. Normally we get out bid or trumped by CASH offers so getting our offer to the bank is a HUGE deal for us. The one is not an approved short sale so we may be waiting a while. But the 2nd one we are not sure what it's status is. Our Realtor got an email on Friday saying that our offer went in to the bank and they are expecting a response by the end of the day Friday or today at the latest. Which is why today feels like it is the longest day ever!!! We have not been inside either of these homes, but we LOVE LOVE LOVE the community and all its amenities. Not to mention the homes are 2 years old and SOOO in our PRICE RANGE. We have been in similar floor plans so we don't think that we will NOT like the houses. But this waiting GAME is EXCRUCIATING, I just want a house already! So please keep us in your prayers. I'll keep you posted!

Primary

Yesterday was our ward's primary program. Charles did such a good job. He was behind some tall kid so I couldn't see if he was singing much, but when it was his turn to say his part he did a great job at repeating what his teacher said.
Then in sharing time he gave his 1st EVER talk. We practiced it at home a few times and I was worried he may clam up when it came time to do it. But NOT AT ALL. He did great!!!! I can't believe that he is growing up so fast! Before I know it he will be giving his mission farewell.

Ranch with a SIDE of carrots

Charles is totally in the "I CAN DO IT MYSELF" phase. He likes to prepare himself snacks and meals. The other day while I was upstairs getting ready he decided to help himself to some carrots and ranch dressing. Madison decided to get in on the action and actually enjoyed it more then he did. But just because she is in the "I LOVE to dip anything" phase. I love that Charles gets his own things and is becoming so independent and I love that he shares with his sister, but come on how much ranch can you really use on a few little carrots. Silly boy! Mad had a great time and I got some cute photos.



When I pulled out my camera to take pictures Charles grabbed my other camera and wanted to take pictures as well, which is why he is not in any of my pictures, just Miss Mad.

Mustache Anyone?

Or maybe a uni-brow??

New Place!

I know what you are thinking... we got a house. But this excitement is not for us, but for my sister Julya. A few weeks ago she closed escrow on her first place! Hoorah!!! She bought a pud/ condo here in Corona and we are so excited for her. She never ever thought she would be able to buy a place here as a single gal. But the market is a changin and she is now a home owner. They have been working for weeks to get the place just the way she wants it. They have been painting, redoing the whole kitchen, updating the bathrooms and are doing a great job. We went over there one night to see the progress and Julya let Charles start some of the painting in her room. He LOVED it! And can't wait until we get a house so he can paint his room. And of course we can't wait either!!!

LAS VEGAS!!!

The last weekend of August, my Dad's uncle had his 80th birthday party. He lives in Las Vegas so we all decided to drive up for the weekend. John's Aunt Karen and Uncle Wendell we so kind to let us stay at their place for the weekend. All of us. My parents, my little family, and my two sisters. We had a great weekend, other then the horribly hot weather. I don't think I ever want to live in weather like that.
*Friday we left mid morning and drive straight to Vegas. The kids did pretty well in the car. We did have to stop a few times for potty breaks. When we got their we went swimming in a neighbors pool to cool off. It was so nice. And the kids of course LOVED it. Then we got ready and headed to Henderson for a late lunch early dinner buffet. It was yummy! And we got an AMAZING deal. John's Aunt & Uncle got some coupons so we each paid like $4.50 for our meal or something ridiculous like that. The kids enjoyed trying all kinds of foods and especially LOVED the dessert bar. John also like the different food choices. He had crab legs and a few types of fish. Then we rolled ourselves out of there and drove Charles down the strip. Grandma had told him that their were Pirates there. So we had to go check it out so we would stop asking us about it. He was very excited to see the Pirate ships. Then we headed back to the house and relaxed then went to bed.

*Saturday, Karen and Wendell were kind enough to watch Charles while Madison slept so we could go to the temple. They live about 5 minutes from it so we jumped at the chance to go.
Then we got home got Sonic for lunch. I LOVE their Strawberry slush with Lime. Yum my favorite, and the closest one to us is in Anaheim. Then we went to the 80th Birthday party, hung out for a bit. (We don't really know many of my Dad's cousins so we didn't stay and socialize) John and I took the kids to have a BBQ with my friend Emily, her husband Duane, and their adorable little boy Taylor. It was so nice to visit with them and chat. The kids had a great time playing at a new place with new toys. Then they headed off to Stake Conference and we headed back to the strip to play some games at Circus Circus.
The kids had a great time watching the adults with lots of stuffed animals. (I've always had a NO stuffed animal rule in my house, but that just went out the window with the load of stuffed animals we came home with.) Madison found a claw game that had Wow Wow Wubbzy dolls. She was so excited. She kept saying wow wow. After several, I mean Lots of attempts a Wubbzy doll was won.
Madison LOVES her Wubbzy doll along with the 2 white teddy bears that were won at Circus Circus. Those bears have been in very close proximity to her since she got them. (We are trying very hard to keep her from having a stuffed animal attachment.)
We had a great time playing all the games at Circus Circus. After playing lots of games we headed to Leatherby's for some yummy ice cream. It was sooo good. Madison especially enjoyed it.
Then we went back to Karen & Wendell's and went to bed. The next day we got up and went to church and then headed home. It was a great short trip loaded with fun!!!! But not a place I want to live.