Nothing like 4 in the morning

Being woken up at 4 am to a neighbors smoke alarm is NOT on my list of fun things to do in the middle of the night. Even more so when I can hear them yelling "FIRE!" All I could think about was getting the kids out. Apartment fires can be really bad. Then it occurred to me that the building alarm was not going off (if it was all the alarms in our apartment would be going) just the alarm in the apartment above us. I grabbed all our coats and threw them in the living room, made sure I had our keys, and then watched out the door and windows to see what was going on. I really didn't want to wake the kids and take them out in the cold if it wasn't necessary. Finally I got my coat and shoes on and walked outside to see if I could figure anything out. There was quite the ruckus in the apartment above ours and their sliding door was open. Once I decided they were just idiots I went back in and relaxed a little. I decided to go back to sleep, or maybe I should say lie down since I didn't think I would actually be able to sleep since I would be worrying. Went into the bathroom and the alarm started again! I was downright irritated at that point. So of course I did the looking around thing again and went back to bed. Then they start vacuuming, at 4 AM!! That lasted about 10 minutes or so and then I finally fell back asleep (I had taken Benadryl the night before and it hadn't worn off yet).

It seems we always get these neighbors that you just have to wonder, "What do they do in there??" These people above us vacuum all the time, day and night. Being cleanly is one thing but come on! I've never known someone to vacuum THAT much. They are also always moving furniture around, day and night. I would love a look in their apartment to see what it is they are always moving, I can't even explain the noise of it this morning. So far as I know the floor is carpeted yet it sounds like the are dragging really heavy furniture across a wood floor. And did I mention they have a little girl, pry about a year old, in the apartment!! What person in their right mind is up partying, vacuuming, and moving furniture at 4 am with a kid in the house.

I really can't wait to move!! And on that note, we are looking at a place this morning that is a direct sell instead of short sale or foreclosure. YEAH!! It has been fixed up by a charity and is ready to be sold so it is supposed to be in great condition with new carpet and paint. Also it backs to fields for the Middle and High schools. Lots of room for kids to run!

Friday Photo: Adam at 1 year

Adam in the grass. (Yampa, CO 2005)

I love this picture of my precious Adam at the little house in Yampa. It's amazing to me that when I look back at pictures of him from his first 2 years I see all the faces and mannerisms that make him who he is today. He was such a gorgeous baby, and even though his features are a little more grown up now they are the same handsome eyes and smile of that beautiful baby that stole my heart what seems like so long ago. He says the most amazing things to me lately, such as, "If I leave you alone, can we stay at Michelle's house?" He says it so matter of factly with his charming smile and a twinkle in his eye that it just melts my heart.

New offer, Same house

It's kind of a weird story, but we ended up putting in a second offer on the house we already had an offer on, and the second offer is for a lower price. (If you want to know the whole story just ask!) We hope to hear back ASAP so we can get the ball rolling , especially since we originally put the offer in January 12th. If we get the house there is some work that HAS to be done before we can move in. Mainly the downstairs and stairs carpet has to come up, the sub floor treated or replaced a little, and new carpet laid. I would also love to paint Noelle's room BEFORE we were to move in, just to make it easier. She has never had a room done for her, even though we have the decorations we want for it. Oh, and furniture, she'll need that too! I would love a daybed with a trundle bed for her room.

Our hope would be to close on the house about mid March in order to have time to get this stuff done and NOT have to pay market plus $350 on our apartment for a 2nd month. Should have good news by mid week next week!

Friday Photo

Don't you wish you could just sit and let the world go round!

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*Friday photo is something new I am going to do. The pic might be a favorite from the week or just an old one that I like. Hope you enjoy!!*

Mean Mommy?

Conversation between the kids this morning:

Noelle - Watch Dora Mommy?

Me - no, not right now.

(Noelle walks over by Adam)

Adam - We can't watch anything this morning. Mommy doesn't want me to be happy.

Me - What did you say Adam? (just in case I misheard him)

Adam - Mommy doesn't want me to be happy.

Me - No, you chose not to follow the rules, so I guess you don't want yourself to be happy.

He turned around and went back to playing with his little guys.


Hmmm....

A great drink! and A Fire Waiting To Happen

Shhh....I actually went to Starbucks twice today and technically had three drinks! Noelle and I went this morning since I had about an hour to kill between dropping Adam at school and going into work for an hour. Noelle had a screaming fit at breakfast so hadn't yet eaten anything and it was about 8:15 already. I brought her some breakfast along and we sat for a while. Me with my Grande Mocha and Old Fashioned Glazed Donut (I am in LOVE with their Donuts at Starbucks!) and Noelle with her crispy rice bar, fruit leather, and milk. I kinda felt mean eating a donut in front of her but I kept it in the bag and she never even noticed I was eating it. She could not have a donut because she is off both wheat and dairy for the next few weeks still, I was not just being mean. Then, after nap time we needed to run to Target for juice for Adam's v-day party Thursday. I thought it would be nice to take snack with us and sit and relax at Starbucks. You know, I really think it's great business practice to have Starbucks in all the Targets now, but I hate that it is so darn accessible!! I was feeling very dehydrated so I wanted to try a cold tea drink. I got this iced passion tea lemonade thing. It was SOOO GOOD!! Both of the kids liked it too, see I'm a nice mommy who shares! LOL Then the lady told me how they do refills on the same visit for half the price. How could I possibly pass that up? I didn't! It really was good, I almost think I like it better than the coffee. Okay maybe not THAT much, but very close. For you Starbucks junkies like me, you have got to try it.

When I started this post tonight it was about 7 pm and all I really wanted to write about was Starbucks Iced Tea. Then I went to switch the laundry over. I have been needing to run the dryer twice the last couple of days to get our clothes dry so I decided to check the lint trap. Keep in mind that I knew there couldn't be much in there, J and I both clean it after every load. Sure enough barely anything there. But as I went to put the trap back in I noticed that it wasn't going down in it all the way. So I pulled the trap back out and looked down in the hole. It looked a little built up so I grabbed a chopstick, it was the only thing I could think of that would fit down in there, and began trying to pull the lint out. Well let me tell ya, it just kept coming and coming. It was nasty!! Sure explained why the dryer was so inefficient! It was like a rat's nest, I can't believe it never caught fire. I finally unscrewed the cover because I just wasn't satisfied that I couldn't get all of it out. I ended up vacuuming out about half as much again as I had already pulled out (so the picture only shows about 2/3 of what came out of it). It will be very interesting to see if the dryer runs any better now. If we ever get a used dryer in any way you can bet I will be cleaning it well or just hiring one of those vent companies. Charlotte's handy tip of the day is: Clean you dryer vents regularly!

YUCK!!

Kitties

I LOVE this fleece blanket and so does she!

Crazy, crazy life!

These first two photos are a couple of outfits Noelle got for her Birthday. She loves them both, and so do I. She actually wore the black and white dress last Thursday, outside with no jacket or anything. Gotta love Colorado and our weird weather patterns! I have been trying to take advantage of the nice weather and have been taking the girls for 30 - 60 minute walks before we pick up Adam from school in the morning. Both the exercise and outdoor air feel great. It is the perfect weather for me, I HATE extreme cold and heat.

Even though Wed and Thurs were beautiful last week we were not able to enjoy it much because Adam had a dermatologist appointment Wednesday afternoon and his ENT appt Thursday afternoon. We found out from the ENT that he DOES need his tonsils and adenoids removed. It will be a partial removal and we should know on Tuesday when it will be done. The ENT said his tonsils were nearly touching each other the other day!! We hope to accomplish a lot by having both removed. Both his sleep apnea and speech problems should be cured by the surgery, not to count the snoring!! I took the kids to the zoo Friday since we didn't get to do anything the other 2 days. We had a great time and actually spent 4 1/2 hours there! I got some beautiful pics of the kids too, perfect weather for it. Adam wanted to take pics with all the statues! LOL!

I looked over at Noelle to see what she was doing earlier tonight and this is what I found:

I guess she is all ready for school. (BTW, she is wearing Adam's shoes and backpack.) Don't you just love the Valentine's Day outfit though!

The latest on our house search is that we did not get the HUD house, I guess someone went in with a full price bid so of course they took that one. We are still waiting to hear more on the other house we have an offer on, hopefully we will know something by the end of the week. I am starting to think we will have to expand our search though, there is just not much in this area in our price range that is newer. Keep wishing us luck, and lots of it!!