The craziness of selling our house finally got to us this weekend and we decided to just vacate the premises and let agents and potential buyers take over – at least that was the optimistic hope! We made Saturday a Portland day! We rode the OHSU tram (which we hadn’t done before), went to IKEA for a meatball lunch (meatballs have no milk!) and then headed to the zoo (along with everyone else in PDX) to close out the day.

At the end of it all we grabbed the dog from our friend’s house (HUGE THANKS to the Haisch’s for taking him whenever someone comes to look at the house) and headed down to Salt Creek for a couple nights at Poppy & Nonna’s house (‘cause, hey, they’re at the beach and the house is just sitting here... begging to be trashed in their absence). Although it’s been a hectic weekend of running all around, it’s been considerably less stressful than being at home and trying to clean up and get out whenever we get a call from our agent. And we have actually had four showings in first three days with #5 scheduled for tomorrow, which is great considering the economy... And considering that the faster it sells the sooner we’ll be able to return to our life.

He gets his sense of style from his mother:)

We spent all weekend making a serious effort to move stuff out of our house. Although we still don't plan on moving until summer, we know with the current economy we really need to do what it takes to sell our house, so it's declutter, declutter, declutter... taking pictures off the walls and moving out furniture we think we can live without for the next few months.

The house we're moving to (eventually) is owned by friends so we've been there a bunch and the kids know it as "the farm". We explained to Carson on Friday that we were going to live at the farm and, far from being upset like we expected, he is anxious to go! So while we were boxing things up all weekend he packed a little box of toys he said he wanted to take...very cute! I just hope he realizes those toys are going to be packed away for a few months! Nolan on the other hand, just wanted to use all the boxes as boats...

When I dropped Carson off at preschool today he introduced me to his "girlfriend" (his word) Olivia, who I must say, seemed pretty taken with him as well. She waited for him to finish washing his hands and then they headed off to the play dough table together. I thought about grilling her regarding her qualifications for dating my son, but how can a mom complain about a girl who enjoys a play dough date?

Left church today in a light, springy outfit (read: sleeveless shirt with a very airy, flowing skirt) only to decide on the way home that we should divert to the beach for some chowder. Turns out it was pouring and windy at the beach, which didn’t stop Carson from wanting to fly his kite. And this is how I found myself trying to navigate the wet rocks leading to the beach in Dansko heels and a white skirt while clutching a baby blanket around my shoulders.

Nolan is officially feeling better after what seems like one flu after another this winter. The child is eating us out of house and home. Three yogurts or a dozen slices of cheese is now considered a meal.

Oh, and we bought a house this weekend! More on that later... but for now if you’re interested in purchasing a nice little 3-bedroom, 2-bath starter-home with a relatively large backyard in McMinnville – let us know!

The only person whose Wii-Fit goal is actually to GAIN weight...

In general Nolan, like Carson, has two speeds: "on fire" and "sleeping".
You know he's really sick when he opts for this speed instead:

Daddy got a new pan drum for this birthday! You can guess how long Daddy got to play it...

We never really see Scott until about 10pm on Thursday nights, after his Spanish class wraps up, so the boys and I spent the evening making cupcakes that we'll enjoy tomorrow...

Then Scott and I dined on a steak dinner with a good Pinot when he finally made it home.
Happy Birthday darlin' - love you!

Here are some more pictures from last weekend, hanging out at Chris & Tia's house with the cousins and later with Grandpa Burke.