We bought a new house!  We are elated and in love with our new home.  The sellers accepted our full price offer this morning with no quibbles.  It was a little higher than we wanted to pay, but the market is so competitive, and we fell in the love with the house, so it was a necessary indulgence.  As our realtor, Kathy, pointed out, the interest rates are so low right now that since we want to spend at least the next ten years in this purchase, it's better to stretch if we can so we have room to grow later.

Boy, do we have room!  This place is 2310 square feet, more than double our current home.  It has 3 upstairs bedrooms with a master bath and a shared hall bath.  There's a third bathroom on the main floor, between the kitchen/dining room and living room.  The basement is fully finished with a large home theater room (projector/speakers/screen and stadium seating included), a second room with a cabinetry and sink, and a third room that could be an office, craft room, toy room, 4th bedroom, or whatever.  So much space!  There's a two car garage and a large fenced yard.  The house is shaded by three large trees.  You can see the tops of the mountains from the backyard, even better views from upstairs.  The main floor and upper floor are all hardwood.  The house was built in 1963 but has been thoroughly updated.

The location is ideal.  It's everything we wanted in our new neighborhood.  Well, I wish the nearest park was a few blocks closer, but it's still walking distance.  We are close to our old neighborhood, but farther north where the better schools are.  Ben's commute will be about the same, since the highway is close by.



Kathy scheduled everything so we close on May 23rd and take possession on Sunday morning, May 26th.  With any luck we can have things moved in time to throw a backyard birthday party for Jack!

I feel like I'm reaching that place where I wanted to be, back in February.  Overworked, stagnant, constantly tired.  I dreamed of a week like this:

Time for play dates for Jack.







Time to shoot movies with Brian and company.






And time to look for a new house. 






(I've seen nine houses this week.  The market is crazy right now, everything selling super fast and there aren't many for sale.  Many are under contract before I can get out to see them.  We love this one and we're going to put an offer on it today)

Once again, I'm happy I had no where to be today.



It's still coming down just as heavy.  Double happy that I got out of Jury Duty tomorrow--my juror number was just 8 higher than the range they summoned!  Ben gets to work from home again tomorrow.  What will I do to keep Jack busy inside all day?

Friday morning I wanted to hit the gym, but Jack firmly said no.  Ben suggested I use our dance game on the Kinect and let him play along.  Here are the results of my efforts, for your enjoyment.  (I have good faith that none of you will judge harshly my expanding body dorky dancing). 

I feel like there should be bonus points for playing with a moving obstacle under your feet, stuffed animal missile attacks, and body recognition interference. Do you hear me, Xbox developers?

Another wonderful weekend of leisure!  We took Jack to the zoo today and renewed our membership, so I can come back whenever I want.

We happened upon his friend by the Lorakeet Adventure.






And here's proof that I was there too :-)



We had lunch at Uber Sausage.  Yum!

Jack's speech is improving so quickly.  I'm going to miss many of his simple phrases, so I thought I'd jot them down for memory.

ups ups down = upside down

I do it boy self = I do it by myself

horsey boy = cowboy

Sounds like good idea? = please, can I?

Both! = his answer to any choice I offer

tee tops / Sarah dino / tie tops = triceratops

stegosoarsoar = stegosaurus (you should hear him pluralize it)

semen = musem

quailllll ree lee umm = aquarium (mostly he stumbles in different, funny way each time he tries.  L's and R's are still mixed for him)

Pa-Chow = Lightening McQueen's "Kachow" catchphrase

begwee = spaghetti

cop cop / cop copter / hie copter = helicopter (UPDATE Ben says the correct current version is "hopper copper")

Grumpies = grandparents

Grumpies, did I forget any?

Long ago I meant to post his Easter bunny quote.  Ben sent me this after dying eggs with Jack, reporting Jack's response to the Easter bunny hiding the dyed eggs in the morning:
 "I be mad afterwards.  I be saying no no rabbit. Rabbit not be hiding those eggs!"

We also started to teach him jokes this week.  I'm trying to get video of a good exchange to share.  But next time you talk to him you could share a joke or ask him to tell one.  Knock Knock jokes are a favorite, though clearly he has a loose grasp on the structure and source of humor in them.

I'm digging all the "sensory play" ideas on Pinterest, and Jack loves them too.

This is a pan of old lentils, rice, and beans.  He drives his trucks in them, practicing digging and loading his dump trucks.  I hid some pretend coins in there, so he can dig for buried treasure over and over.  We also shake the pan flat and practice writing letters and shapes with our fingers.  Easy clean up with a vacuum or broom. 



This pan of baking soda idea came from Trish.  She said sometimes she even packs a dinosaur in a water and baking soda lump, and lets Wolfie hatch the egg by dripping the vinegar on it.  I didn't go that far, but still Jack LOVED this. First making the colored foam.  Then digging around with trucks and dinosaurs. Then adding more and more vinegar until it was more swamp than sand. 



Today I had Wolfie over for babysitting.  These two were being pretty turdy, so I had to whip out home-made slime.  Also called, home-made Gak, it's a simple recipe.  Just water, elmer's glue, and borax.  Luckily I had just enough glue to make a batch.  There are many recipes online.  At first they were timid to get messy.  But after a few minutes they embraced the slime and were coming up with several ways to play it.  It was even Wolfie's idea to add dinosaurs.  This kept them busy for 45 minutes after lunch, which is, like, eternity in toddlerhood. 




If anyone has more, cheap, indoor play ideas, I'm all ears.

How nice to have a blizzard and experience no stress.  No where to go, no traffic to fight, no problems.

My trusty porch shovel man.




Pretty snowflakes.
 

Forming a snowball attack.


Tuckered out and cold after his adventure, he drifted to the floor while playing trucks, then retreated to my lap. 


After lunch we stayed indoors. That's a pan of baking soda with colored vinegar. 


Over an hour of play time with this one.