Ides of March

Havent blogged in a while. I cant say I have been busy doing much else except keeping the house at a whole new level of clean. Constant work with three kids and a hubs. I have been enjoying it thought. It is so much more peaceful to relax in a clean home rather than a home with a bunch of clutter everywhere. TV has not been especially appealing to me as of late. I have been crafting in the evening and really any spare moment I have. I like doing something with my hands. I will have to buy some cheaper supplies though, it gets spendy!
So as you may know, C and I have been operating a cash budget since October. Love it. I have been slacking in a major way with couponing so while we havent been saving much, we also havent been busting our budget. Praise God.
We are having another open house this weekend. Pray for our buyers to come and see the house please! I would love to put this behind us and to move onto getting settled in our new home. I do have peace with it all. Not anxious, just excited to get movin! I know He has our buyers out there and hopefully they will come soon. Open house Sunday 11-1 if interested.
Yesterday was St. Patricks day and as some of you may know, we have one daughter that refuses to play by the rules of conformity. Love that! Each year she refuses to dress in anything resembling green b/c she simply "doesnt want to play that game". What gumption! I love that she doesnt want to do what the rest of the crowd is doing. Be still my heart!

Heaven on Earth

Most wonderful Bed and Breakfast we have ever stayed at was the Cameo Heights Mansion. Wowza. If you ever want a taste of elegance and relaxation head out to wine country Touchet, WA for a relaxing time. Every little detail of this multi million dollar mansion was taken to care. Amazing to say the least. There was a theater room, on site restaurant, wake up service, complimentary s'mores packages, fire pit, hot tub, rain like shower, claw foot jetted tub, the list goes on.

I surprised C with a weekend getaway. The great thing was that I booked this before we started any of the house craziness. It worked out perfectly time wise b/c he just got done being on call and we needed a break from the house prep stuff. Also, I surprised him with dinner at an onsite restaurant called , " The Vine" . We had a four course fondue dinner that was amazing, we had never had fondue before. We were overwhelmed by the extravagant tastes and amounts of food. This could have easily fed four adults. We had to pace ourselves knowing there were four courses total. Amazing to say the least.

Our time there was mainly spent listening to "Decision Point" on CD (Chris) thanks for the audio C-Span Sean Parker, bleck! And as for me, I spent most of my time napping and watching cop shows. Love!

Littrell house sneak!

So here is the sneak of our house. Not officially on the market yet, but if you want it give me a jingle.

4 BR/ 2 BA Rambler $189,500

1812 Sq. Ft

New Carpet throughout

Custom Cabinets

New Water heater

Central Heat and Air plus emergency gas heat and fireplace

Concrete curbing

Detached office with heat and air conditioning

3 neighborhood parks

Active HOA with neighborhood events (Easter Egg Hunt, Booing, neighborhood yard sale, Trick- -Treaters in the 300's)

Schools: Southgate, Horse Heaven Hills and Southridge

Getting Ready

C and I are constantly scouting the paper and Craigslist for comparable houses as we are looking to sell our home. Very encouraging. First of all, ramblers are hot as are homes that are under $200000 (ours is $186.000 didnt want to scare anyone). Other homes in that price range are smaller, in a bad part of town or larger and tore up from the floor up. I pray I pray I pray it will go quickly and honestly Im sure God is looking at me right now going, "Come on small faith person, you know I have this under control. Stop trying to control this situation." ***insert deep breath of relaxation*** OK.
We are taking our families to see see the house this weekend. So, exciting. I love that this is where our daughters will be raised. So much room, huge back yard, great neighborhood, gobs of bathrooms ( I will have four daughters people, sigh), love. A Christian family has graced this home for so many years, it just oozes Gods love. Love knowing a strong Christian family has been there all that time. Really feel that this is from Him, excited!
Things that I will miss about our current house include: the neighborhood activities (Easter egg hunt, Booing in the fall, Neighborhood yard sale), having 3 parks within walking distance of my home, Southgate- this is where I went to elementary), closeness to the Hway and stores I frequent, memories, close distance from my bestie. This is the longest we have ever lived anywhere. We are coming up on 4 years the beginning of March. This is the only home Lou can remember.

Its a Girl

We will be a family of four daughters. Soooo excited. The ultrasound was lightning fast as this technician was a pro. Seriously the dvd is 5 minutes long. Craziness. One of the most amazing things to me was the fact that I had an ultrasound 10 weeks before and she was just a yolk sack (I think that is what they called her). Fast forward 10 weeks and she is developed. She had all essential organs, brain looked great (smart even), spine beautiful, measuring all the right numbers for our gestational age. Praise God. C and I went into that focused on her sex. We walked out of there knowing she did not have spinal bifida, cleft palet, ect..... Things we didnt even know we could be worrying about. God blessed us with the ignorance not to be concerned with all the possible "worries" of this pregnancy instead having us just praise Him for the healthy daughter that grows in me. Love.
We will be moving. I had planned to die in this house, before we got pregnant. We found an amazing home. Our prayer request is that God would send someone to buy our home. We will be selling by owner (insert nervousness). We have never done this. I truly think He is teaching us to have more faith as he will bring a buyer if this is his will. Really trying to relinquish this to Him and let it happen or not. We will be pricing it to sell, so if you know anyone who wants a 4br. 1.75ba, 1836 sq. ft. home in Shadow Run, leave me a comment. It is not on the market yet but we hope to have it up by the beginning of March. So here is to a couple weeks of getting the house ready. Let the decluttering begin. Soo excited!

Excited! for several things

In six days I will know what is cooking, so to speak. We have an ultrasound next Friday and boy or girl, we will know which type of baby we are having. C often tells me he is pretty sure it is a human, with his genes in the mix no guarantees you know. I am anxious for this day but also a bit hesitant. A small part of me does not want to know what it is. I know we are not a couple that waits paiently. If the technician can see it on the screen we like to know what it is. One of my good friends is pregnant too and she and her husband will not find out what she is having until it is born....two weeks after ours. Fun fun.
Also in six days I will get to mingle with people from C's work. Serious we do this once a year. I will most likely not know half of the people there (as prego brain has set in) but will greet people with, "Hi, it's you! How have you been?)
Today at womens brunch we also chatted about womens retreat in October. Soooo fun. I went last year and had a bunk style cabin with a bunch of ladies. This year I will be getting a cabin for myself as I will have a little mouth to feed and cry all night long. I look forward to being by myself but also having my sisters in Christ for all the fun. My baby will not quite be three months old. Wowza, I am brave. Scratch that I am a woman who wants to get away and take care of one child. And c is amazing, I know he will be supportive of me going. Last year, half of the women from Crossview went. That is amazing. Big churches sometimes have a hard time throwing together 45 people and Crossview did that. Boom to an awesome bunch of ladies at church! And it is at the beautiful and spectacular Ross POint again. Oh my, the food was delish and all made from scratch. Yum-o
Adding to the Bucket list:
-See a line brawl at a hockey game
-Get a pedi with all my girls at the same time
-Travel with the fam to Canada

The OG

There was a show several years back called the O.C, hence the name, the OG. Not Orange County though, Olive Garden. My dad works night shift and has always kept strange hours. He loves it though and it seems to work for him. I remember several times getting up to feed a baby in the night or insomnia and giving him a call.

Well, in the wonderful world of technology I was facebooking from my phone in the middle of the night and struck up a conversation with him. Yes, I had to teach him how to use facebook but I was highly impressed he remembered and was able to do the chat thing with me. He said that we should go to lunch sometime, my choice. So today I took him up on it.

Dad and I went to the Olive Garden, just the two of us. In my whole adult life I dont think I have gone out to eat with my dad by myself.....ever. Craziness. I usually have a child hanging from me (literally), we are doing a family meal, or it is my brother mother dad and I. So he said my choice where we go and honestly I was hankering for fettuccini alfredo. I have not had that in at least two years (as I was on a weight loss program before heartbeat) and wowza, the wait was worth it. I had forgotten how delish those breadsticks were in the alfredo sauce. I ate three, cow I know. IDC.

During lunch I saw my dad engaging me and truly wanting to be there. I was the center of his attention and he was all ears to anything I was interested in talking about. I really saw an effort on his part, not a forced effort but genuine. For those of you who have read "Captivating", this was the first time he had "answered my question" for me. Not by telling me that I was beautiful or showering me with praises but in his interest in all things Jaimie.

For some women, Im sure you are reading this thinking, "I go to lunch with my dad every Wednesday, no biggie." This was big. I was poured into. Dad has been a different man since I became a married woman and more spesifically since I had children. He is an amazing grandfather whom my kids adore. Since this is Jaimie therapy 101 let me tell you a couple tales from the past:

As a child dad was not very affectionate. It was obvious my brother was his prize. Gifts, time and attention spoke loudly as a child. I remember longing for affection and he would put out one finger and touch my arm and say, "feel all that love." Funny right? It was for a while but that became the norm for our exchanges in the department of physical touch. (question unanswered)

On my wedding day I asked my dad (right before he walked me down the aisle), " Do I look beautiful?" His response was cavalier and short in , "of course you do." I didnt believe him. Not just because I am a woman and I dont believe what my dad or husband might say in regards to me and beauty, but because his response did not say, "You are the most beautiful bride I have ever seen." (question unanswered)

His love for me today answered this question more fully than his "of course you do" response did 12 years ago. Dad has grown, I have grown and I love that our relationship has grown. Thank you God for this man who I am proud to not just call dad, but father.