For Sale

Last night Scott and I visited with a realtor. The idea of the meeting was to get ideas of what needs to be improved on the house to get it market ready. We were thinking about putting the house up for sale next January. We figured six months would be enough time to sell. Boy were we wrong. The realtor said the market is still very bleak, especially for our area. It may take two seasons to sell. What I mean by seasons is the peak time to sell a house is between March and July. When asked about what improvements to make, the realtor had a long list of things. Not sure if we should do them just yet. So here is the plan. I have about two weeks to get it market ready as is. Clean, clean and clean some more. Oh and we also have to purge the house of about half our belongings. After the house is ready the realtor is going to show it to get feedback on what really does need to be improved. If we have no offers as is, then we will take the house of the market for a month and do the improvements necessary to sell. If at the end of the season and no sale then we will again take it off the market and start over next spring. Wow, who knew! Now I know you are thinking that we still have a year left of residency, where are we going to live? We figured if the house sold this summer than we would get an apartment. Worst case scenario, the kids and I would move to Iowa and stay with my parents. Then Scott would fly home when he had time. Yah, that totally sucks so we won't go there. So now we wait and see. I have been thinking about all that needs to be done before showing and I am feeling a little overwhelmed. Cleaning this house from top to bottom (like it has never been cleaned before) and packing 1/2 our stuff and storing it while still trying to maintain my family and job. Yep. Overwhelmed!!! Wish me luck:)

Birthday Boy

Hard for me to believe that four years ago today Grisham Scott Alexander Hinze was born. In some ways it feels like a million years ago but then again it has gone by in a blink of an eye. There is so much I can say about my precious son. The love that I have for him is truly amazing. There is no love like a mothers love for her child. I never knew that until he was born. It has been such a God given honor to watch him grow from a baby to a little boy. Makes me cry thinking about him turning into a man. Slow down, Laura!! He is just 4:) Today is a special day for us but I still had to babysit and Scott was post call so most things were the same as always. No big party this year. I told him happy birthday as much as I could. He picked the menu for today. Scrambled eggs and blueberry muffins for breakfast, Mac and cheese for lunch and pizza for dinner. Grisham has never been a fan of cake so I baked cupcakes just to get a picture of him blowing out his candles. Scott was post call today so after his nap he and Grisham sat down to open gifts. On his way home from the hospital this morning Scott stopped and got some balloons for Grisham. Grisham was so surprised when Daddy walked in with a transformer balloon. Thanks Daddy! Scott had a dinner to go to tonight so it was just the kids and I for cake and then we went for a walk. We walked over to a pond to feed the ducks. Grisham likes to do this very much plus it got us out of the house. Mommy needed a break from the house. We also looked for signs of spring. Flowers are starting to pop up and buds are forming. It was a good birthday. Not too fancy. He won't remember it but I will.

Playtime With Some Friends

My mom and sister left early on Saturday morning. Scott was on call all day so we desperately needed something to fill our day. Erin invited us all over to play at her house. If you don't remember, Erin has this fantastic backyard with all sorts of fun things to play with. Plus some friends that moved would be there. I decided to go to the playdate instead of making the kids nap. I figured after a few hours of playing hard outside they would sleep better anyway. Lisa Fink and her kids Sam and Sadie were there. Sadie was born a week or two before Carolyn. Both Lisa and Erin discovered they were pregnant the same week that I did. Our dues dates were just days away from each other. All three girls were born in January!
Julie Vicena arrived with Seth and Lilah. Isaac stayed home with his grandma. It was so fun to see Seth and Brenna reunite, best friends forever:)
All the kids played very well together. Very few mishaps and lots of laughter. The weather was perfect and the conversation was amazing. I really do miss these two friends and what they brought to out small circle of wives. The afternoon went way to fast and we sadly had to say goodbye to our friends. Hopefully we will see them soon.

It's Zoo Time!!

Friday afternoon Mom, Sarah and I went to the zoo with the kids. I did not have the Grubes so we went after naps. It was a gorgeous day for the zoo. We saw the snakes, monkeys, gorillas, tigers and lions. A lot of the animals were still off display but we still had a great time. I am so looking forward to warmer days and spending more time outside.