We went down to The Market in McMinnville today and visited the La Casa Verde event, complete with a kids tent where they had supplies to help the little ones make a bird houses. Carson was excited, and then a bit intimidated by the drill and then warmed back up to the idea after we watched for a while (and drew a picture of a Star Wars ship for the bird, which seemed to be an important piece). So if you know any birds who have a thing for Star Wars, there’s a new (pre-decorated) house arriving on the market as soon as we get to the farm!

Before I even walked in the door for lunch today I heard, “It’s mommy! Mommy’s home!” and thought, “It’s nice to be loved…”

Nolan greeted me at the door with, “Surprise!!!” (complete with excited, flailing hands).
Carson ran around the corner, “Mommy, it’s your birthday!”
Daddy tried to save it, but I think knew it was hopeless: “We have to wait until Monday, so it’s a surprise.”
Nolan, hands still flailing, "Surprise!!"
“You want to be surprised Mommy? We bought a card – it’s Star Wars! Come on, it’s in the van.”
Nolan: "Surprise!!"

The entire Burke family traveled en masse to the van, with Carson humming the Star Wars theme. Daddy sealed up the card for Carson to give me… but instead Carson carried it inside and opened it. Nolan of course wanted the card and the two instantly started pushing each other until they were a heap of arms and legs rolling around on the floor, with the Star Wars theme playing somewhere in the middle of the pile.

This is why I go home for lunch on Friday’s.

Nolan is our little bookworm right now. Although he typically goes 90mph, every now and then we'll find him with a book intently looking through the pages. When he spots us he'll point to the pictures and start telling a story of what he sees, or in this case, the sounds things make. It's cute, if for no other reason than he's not getting into trouble at that exact moment in time.

Hurray for a good family day at the beach! We headed out this morning for the Oregon Coast Aquarium, which we promised Carson we would visit after watching the Life show on Discovery this past week. Then we meandered our way home via the historic lighthouse at Yaquina Bay, the outlet mall, a chippy and, of course, Starbucks. Everyone did great (no meltdowns!) and the kids were exhausted by the time we got home. Mission accomplished!!
Click here for pictures.

 

Our new-found water dog cannot get enough of the snorkel and diving mask...

As it turns out the inspection did turn up a few things we weren’t aware of (apparently our siding has been recalled!?) and the buyer decided they didn’t want to deal with siding, roofs, etc. so it looks like we’re going to have a rental.

Happily, all is not lost! We looked pretty seriously at renting before we decided to see if we could sell it, and our loan is written up with the assumption that we would keep this house as a rental, so it doesn’t change anything on our move to the farm. It does mean that we will be hosting some work parties in the next few weeks and years though... in case anyone is interested:)

We saw a breakthrough with Carson’s swimming tonight at the pool! A few weeks ago he resisted even being splashed in the face, and tonight he put on his goggles and dove for the bottom! Freaked his mother out completely.... We spent the night going down the slide, scooping things off the bottom and looking at our toes under the water. Guess that new water park they’re building is looking a little more fun all the time!

Monday afternoon we received word that we had an offer on our house! We spent the rest of the week in counter-offer land (actually more like counter-counter-counter offer land by the time it was all over), and arrived at an agreed price by the end of the day Friday! Hurray!!!! The inspection is set for Monday, so unless there are any surprises (don’t know why there would be, but I guess that’s how surprises go…) we’re SOLD! And moving fast… close date is set for May 12, which means we’re looking at 4-6 weeks of homelessness before we can get out to the farm. "Oh, Poppy... Nonna... think your well could handle a few weeks with a family of four....?"

On the way to Amity this morning to drop-off the kids:

Carson: “Mom, I want what Nolan has.”
Nolan: “No.”
Carson: “Mom, he’s not sharing.”
Me: “Nolan do you want to look at Carson’s book.”
Nolan: “Yeah.” (Because it’s Carson’s.)
Me: “Here’s the book, give Carson the drawing board.”
...Crash....
Carson: “MOM! He threw it on the floor!!!”
Nolan: “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA”

So yes, that was me this morning pulled over on the side of Hwy 99 trying to retrieve a drawing board that had been pitched by a two-year-old, just to keep his brother from playing with it.