89 Babcock Tavern

Allegedly we are closing on our new house 2 weeks from today. So far so good. Everything is in line. We're waiting on one small issue with the title that hopefully won't hold anything up. We are super excited and have been working on getting our existing house on the market for the last 4 weeks. So after 6 years, its finally entirely painted (fresh paint on 3 sides this summer alone), we've been spiffing it up from every angle painting this and fixing that...the yard has never looked better and we've cleared out 1/2 the contents for showing. Luckily, there is a storage unit just 1/2 mile away at the end of our road which has made that much easier. As of today, the "For Sale" sign is in our yard. Cross your fingers for us!!!!

The new home was built in 2002, is 2500 square feet (instead of our current 1600) and sits on 1.4 acre. There is a beautiful stone walkway leading up to the front yard/farmers porch. The back deck is enormous and is right off the kitchen. It has 3 bedrooms and 3 full baths. Second floor laundry, a huge kitchen with a long breakfast bar and vaulted ceilings in the master bedroom are a few of my favorite features. Rob is excited about the whole house stereo system, large walk out basement, and 2-car garage. We've been shopping sales for the missing components and have quite a collection already (it was a foreclosure property and the owners stripped it down pretty good before they left). So far we've found great deals on our appliances, cabinet knobs, a couple of light fixtures, etc. We even had to buy a mailbox - that was gone too. The rest will come in time...including the AC units that they took off the outside of the house (yup, they even took the central air and central vac units).

We weren't planning on spending our summer packing, moving, buying and selling a house...but when we saw 89 Babcock Tavern come on the market for 1/3 less than its value, we got interested...We drove by it on the way home from work that night and as we walked around the outside, we became VERY interested. Low and behold a door was left open and we went on in and looked around! Rob and I became VERY excited...Rob's exact words "I'd buy this house tomorrow." I made a phone call and a realtor was there within 30 minutes...by the next day (Saturday) we had an offer in on it...We had to raise our price a couple of days later b/c there were multiple offers. We agonized over how high to go, what we could afford, etc...One week after we first saw the property, we got the news that our offer was accepted. 10 days after that, on Rob's birthday, we were signing the Purchase and Sale Agreement (a good omen?). Just this week, we signed the papers to list this house on our 4-year anniversary (another good omen?)...We are finding everything very synchronistic with this whole transaction and hope that the sale of 85 Highland goes as smoothly...Its a great house that will always hold a place in our hearts as our first home that we put so much sweat and toil into...It will suit someone really well.

July

Trip to the Poconos - July 11-15. Our friends from Ohio set up this family vacation in the Poconos. It was a great time. There were 8 adults and 8 kids. We stayed at a nice place with a playground and an indoor heated pool. Tanner loved the warm water and was "swimming" like a fish and jumping off the side of the pool from day one...Rob golfed with the guys one day and I went on a 2 hour horseback ride another day. We also went hiking at Bushkill Falls and visited a waterpark at Camelback one of the days. It was a great time and we miss our Ohio gang!!!

Tanner and AJ - dining with the gang at the Tannersville Inn (coincidence)

Jack, Brady, Ashton, & Skylar...and Tanner, front and center

My little Nudie:

Life is a Highway!

In case anyone is wondering why we haven't posted in a bit, let me tell...in the last month I've made 2 trips to California (one for work, one for my cousin's wedding), took a 5-day vacation to the Poconos, hosted a summer party for 50 people, had 2 groups of out of town guests, and bought a house. That's right, we bought a new house! Still in Ware, the same town we live in now. We weren't really actively looking, but when we saw it come up on the daily email alert we get, we couldn't believe the price. Its a 2500 square foot colonial built in 2002 on 1.38 acre with lake rights (less than half mile from a small lake). It was a foreclosure property so it needs a little work, including some pipes that burst over the winter while the property was vacant...However, for 2/3 of the market value, we bought it! We close on September 5th so it looks like August isn't going to be much more relaxing than July was...But that's ok! We are soooo excited. This is a house that we wouldn't be able to afford if it were full price. We feel like we've been given an amazing opportunity.
Tanner moved to a "big boy" bed 3 nights ago and is doing VERY well. He seems to have transitioned without missing a beat, sleeping all night no problem. A stroke of luck for us! He loves the freedom his new, blue "race car bed" affords (thanks Uncle Pete!) and he hops in and out of it all day long, just for fun.
His latest obsession is being outside in the nude. The minute we get out the door, he strips down and rips his diaper off, galavanting around the yard like a rooster in a barnyard. We're lucky our neighbors dont seem to mind. The hard part is getting him to understand why he has to wear a diaper when he comes back in the house. He fights it tooth and nail and has recently resorted to hiding behind the couch, pulling the velcro off slowly and silently, then streaking through the house, squealing with glee at his momentary victory. This usually ensues with mommy chasing toddler from room to room with diaper trying to talk reason, using words like "pee pee and poo poo, couch, hard to clean, etc etc" Toddler is having way too much fun running and twisting out of parent's grip to listen to reason...eventually there is a minor takedown with a few moments of crying or screeching while diaper is wrestled back onto toddler. Try this a few times a day and it gets old. No need for aerobics that day!
He has continued to gain speed with his vocabulary, using two word sentences regularly. His latest word is "awesome". He says it perfectly. Very cute. He LOVES playdough and asks for it 3-4 times a day. "tay-dough, tay-dough" - we get it out, play 15 minutes then mommy packs it up while he's already on to something else. An hour later, we do it again. He just loves it.
He's been calling me "mommy and mom-mom" for a while...and recently he's into "mom" and "benna" - are you kidding?!@% He's calling us Benna and Wobert! Its kind of funny but I prefer mommy or mom...
I'll post pictures tonight...I promise! Right after I paint the backsplash in our kitchen...oh yeah, we have to sell our house right away now...
:)
Life is a highway!

Last weekend we went to a festival in Amherst called "The Taste of Amherst". We go every year. And almost every year it rains. This year, a thunderstorm rolled in within 20 minutes of our arrival and we ended up huddled under a tent waiting it out. It wasn't what you'd call a fast moving storm...and by the time it let up the festivities were closing up for the day. Pretty much a bust...but Tanner did have fun in the huge puddles on the way to the car! The pics you see of him looking at the goats happened right before the sky opened up...The last 2 on his little 4-wheeler were just random pics from last week...

Visit from Banga

Tanner has taken to calling Gramma Va "Banga." It makes us laugh almost every time, especially in public when he calls out to her "Banga Banga!" I wonder if it will stick...

Mom was here all day yesterday and we had such a good time. The swing at the local playground was the highlight of our day...Tanner just LOVES the swing. He calls it the "Wheeee!"

Tid Bits

Those of you with multiple kids might think "yeah yeah, get over it..." but I can't help but be sooooo amazed by Tanner's daily learning - it brings me a kind of joy I never experienced before to watch him learn life. Yesterday he walked up to us with a rock in each hand and said "Two." I was so impressed. :)
He's 22 mos and picking up words by the handful. He's an endless flow of yackety yack pointing out everything he can identify all day long. I never get tired of it though. Some of his favorites are "bye", "money", "monkey", "no no no no no!" (exactly 5 no's), "move", "one", and "green". He counts to three but sometimes misses two (one...three...). Tonight we were all visiting in the yard with the neighbors. I started trying to get Tanner to come in so I could start bedtime. Everything I tried he said "no" to. Finally I offered for him to come in to watch Dora and he lit up. He whips around says to everyone very rapidly "I go home, BYE!" I couldn't believe it! That's his longest sentence yet. I was so proud.

Pee Pee and Hudini

Yesterday Tanner went Pee Pee on the Potty! It was early morning and he didn't want to get his diaper changed (nothing new). I told him that if he went on the potty he wouldn't have to wear a diaper. So he walked over to his potty, sat down and peed! Simple as that. Wow! We did a dance, high fived, double high fived, celebrated, etc...I left his diaper off for a bit and followed him room to room with his potty chair...we talked about it periodically and about a half hour later, he peed on the floor. Then again on the tile. So on went the diaper. Oh well...at least its a start!


A couple of mornings ago Tanner woke up at his usual 6 o'clock not a minute later...and I heard him calling "mooooommmmy", "moooommmy"....I took a couple of minutes getting out of bed, used the bathroom, etc...He called me every so often but not in any distress - rather calmly actually. By the time I opened his door up it had been probably about 4 minutes since I first heard him. When I opened the door to his room, much to my surprise there he was sitting on his floor playing his fishing game! What the?!@#

I never heard a crash or a thump so apparently it was a pretty smooth escape. Later that day I wondered if he'd do it again after nap. Sure enough, even though I headed upstairs right away when I heard him, there he was, walking around his room like he owned the place...

The next morning Rob rushed in right away and caught him in the act - he throws one leg over the top, shifts his weight, holds on to the rail, lowers himself, hangs for a second then drops. Just like David Copperfield...

Oh boy. Time for the toddler bed?


Here's a priceless pic from our day in the backyard Monday...