BUT, One dollar won't buy you a home.

With every new experience, comes the unknown. 

Not knowing is harder than anything else right now.

For one month, we have been trying to sell our home.  I know I know, you read this and think, "It's only been a month lady!"  I realize that it has "only been a month", but it has been the most miserable experience I have ever gone through! 

When someone wants to see the house, you are sent a text message with the date and time and all you have to is text back YES or NO...AND clean furiously (because they usually give you one hour notice), wake up your baby from his scheduled nap time (because it almost always happens during nap time), AND get your hopes up, only to be crushed when all they had to say was, "It's a beautiful home, but...". 

But let me tell you, this disappointment doesn't even hold a candle to the disappointment you feel when someone FINALLY makes an offer on your home and you counter that offer (that is 30k less than your asking price) and you actually meet them in the middle (even though you know this will cost you 25k out of pocket) and those people that held your future in their hands, walk away. :'(

I am heartbroken.  I am more than heartbroken. 

For a moment, I felt free to decorate our "Brodie" home. For a moment, a weight was lifted and all was well in the world. For a moment, a prayer had been answered and a wish had come true.  That moment so quickly fled, that I can't even yet grasp it. 

Now we start over... or do we? 

I want into our new home more than anything I have EVER wanted.  I want a house that my husband and I bought TOGETHER and decorated TOGETHER, but at what cost? 

The stress that selling our home is causing me is really making me feel like it just isn't worth it any more. I am honestly done.  Am I a quitter for taking the house off of the market after one month?  Maybe.  But I am tired of feeling sad and let down by every showing that ends without a sell. I am tired of obsessing over the sale of our home, when I could be making crafts with my kids. I am tired of this experience keeping me from so many other experiences. 

Right now, I just want to list our home for $1 and be done with it...

This blog is more for me getting this off my chest, but feel free to comment. Maybe you have gone through this experience and you can give me pointers on how you dealt with the disappointment or even encouragement because right now, I am not feeling very encouraged. :'(

Drewby is 5!!

I can't believe my little man is 5!  As he stumbled out of bed and headed to the potty, I scooped him up and excitedly cheered,  "I can't believe you're 5, Drew!"  He said, "I'm practically all growned up." awwwwwww...so precious, this little man. 
Drew is all boy! He loves cars, dinosaurs, Big Foot (a toy which scares most of his friends away), video games and sports. 
He is truly the sweetest, most soft hearted kid I have ever met.  He tells me, "I love you like a princess" and my heart melts.
We had a pretty exciting day!  We started out with opening a present from Mammy #2 (they insist on calling two different grandmas, Mammy). David's mom got him a police officer costume and he LOVED it! He has literally worn it for three days straight! He comes home from school and puts it on and tells me he is going to go lock up some bad guys. Love it!  My dad is the chief of police, so he says he is going to help Bumpa get the bad guys. :)
Drew went to school, but we got permission to be a part of snack time and brought some cupcakes for the whole class to enjoy together.  Drew loved it!  The class sang Happy Birthday TWICE and he was eating it up!!! :)  He wore a crown that his precious teacher, Mrs. Brown, made for him and he even insisted on wearing it to dinner that night. 

I let Drew choose where we would go for dinner. It was his special day after all.  We, of course, ended up at Larry's pizza. :) 

They really do grow up fast. 

He loves his car that Mrs. Brown gave him. He has been carrying it around in his pocket. ;)

In a couple of weeks, we will be having a birthday party. I will post more pictures then. :)
Happy Birthday Drewby!

Monday was a super FUN DAY!

Yesterday was MLK day, so the kids were out of school and we wanted to take advantage and do something super fun!

For Ali's birthday, our friends (Michelle and Lily...and Ryan and Miles) got Ali this fabulous present!  It was a complete set for making/decorating cupcakes!  There was cupcake mix, frosting, cups, and 14 different sprinkles/candies to decorate with!  SO FUN!  Thanks guys! :)

We invited our friends, Kathy, Sam, and Amelia, over to play and decorate cupcakes with us and the kids had a blast! Here is some proof that Monday's aren't so bad after all...;)

My baby girl is 8!!

On December 23rd, my baby girl turned 8! I can't even believe it! 

We asked Ali if she wanted a big birthday bash OR an iPad and our wise 8 year old chose the iPad. :D 
Then...I felt really bad that she wasn't having a party and we wouldn't have pictures to remember her birthday and we wouldn't be able to watch her blow out some candles, so......we had a party! LOL

It started out as family and Ali's best friend only.  Then, I invited one friend. Then, I invited 30 friends + their children! LOL 
Our "low key" birthday party ended up being 47 people in and out of our home for two hours and we couldn't have enjoyed it more! :)  Friends are amazing!

Thank you so much to everyone who came and showed their love for Ali Bug. We love you all! :)

There were LOTS more kids than the ones pictured, but I decided to only post pics with Ali in them, otherwise I would have 80 pics to post! LOL 

Twas the Night before Christmas...Eve?

Yes, I know...I am WAY behind on blogging, but in my defense, we have been extremely busy!  As I catch up on blogging, you will hear more about that, but for now...let's talk Christmas. :D

Our little family started a new tradition this year. 
Since our families live 3 1/2 hours away and we want to spend Christmas with them AND my family celebrates on Christmas Eve, we have decided to celebrate our Christmas at home on Christmas Eve morning.  This is a little tricky since Christmas Eve happens to be the day after Ali's birthday, but also because we had to make sure to write Santa a letter asking him to come a day early. ;)

We started our morning off very early!  Ali couldn't sleep because of all the excitement, so she came upstairs at 3am asking us how much longer she had to wait to open presents! LOL  She was sent back to bed and probably didn't sleep a wink before we came down at 7 to wake the kiddos. 

Ali was ready to go!  The boys...not so much.  Drew wanted to go back to sleep, but quickly changed his mind, when he was reminded that Santa had come!  Eli didn't understand this concept at all and was very moody! He is still precious, even when he is mad that we woke him up early. ;) Don't you think?

He quickly changed his mind:

Ali and Drew were giddy and it was so much fun!  I love that they are old enough to really enjoy Christmas...it's so cute! :D

We waited a few hours and let the kids enjoy their new presents before heading to NWA.  The drive there was pretty peaceful with all of the new electronics to play with in the car. ;) 

We got to NWA at around 5pm, just in time to celebrate with my family at my Gma's house. 
We had a great time with my extended family and then headed over to my parent's house, where we were greeted by the most special presents EVER!!!

When I was young, my grandfather made me a desk. It was so special to me. I used it for so many years...until I was simply to big for it.  My grandfather passed away several years ago, but something I knew I had from him was that desk and I had dreams of passing it on to my daughter.

It had been stored at my parents house in their shed and I was devastated to hear that it had been destroyed in the shed by a roof leak. :(
I begged my father to restore what he could of the desk, but he said he doubted he could do anything to save it.  I was so sad. :(

Christmas Eve night, when my family walked into my parents house, I was bawling like a big ole baby!  In front of us were 7 desks!  The one my father had restored for Ali and 6 more for the other grandchildren.

This gift was so special to me and the kids LOVE them! :)  Thanks Bumpa for the wonderful token of love.  We love you to the moon and back. :D

We had a wonderful Christmas with my family and we were all ready for some sleep.  We headed to David's parents home to get in bed and the kids were thrilled to know we would have yet another Christmas in the morning. :D

Merry Christmas!!!
We woke up on Christmas morning and ate a wonderful breakfast that my MIL made for us all.  She is a fabulous cook! :D

Here are a few shots from the Lynch family Christmas:

We had a great Christmas!  We are blessed with wonderful families and an even greater Lord.   It was hard to remind the children of "The Reason for the Season", but I think they get it. ;) 

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Sorry again about my post being so late, but I plan to post several over the next few days to get caught up. :D
Night night.