2006 vs Today

When we purchased our current home, in October of 2006, I felt like I would live there FOREVER!

Looking back at 2006:
I worked in Dallas and Jon worked in Fort Worth making Keller a great central location offering both of us a manageable commute. Gas prices were around $1.97/gallon…which we complained about.
My mom lived 15 mins away, also in Keller, so I’d have close reliable loving help when we decided to start our family.
My sister and her fam had hopes of moving back to DFW from Chicago as soon as my brother in law, Mike, found a local job. They moved to Chicago from Saginaw (10 mins from Keller) in 2007 after his employer, DELTA airlines, made budget cuts. They loved their street and had several friends in that area so I was hopeful they’d land there again.
The community we decided on (Villages of Woodland Springs) was in the beginning stages offering light traffic and easy access to 3 different highways w/in 2 miles driving. There were several pools and playgrounds to choose from all with secured access for homeowners of VOWS only.
1825 sq feet: 3 BR and 2 Baths w/a 2 car garage and manageably small backyard on a corner lot was a dream in comparison to my 715 sq ft apt.
Stainless steel appliances were all the rage and Lennar (our builder) even included a nice fridge in their building package!
Blinds were our biggest expense after moving in.
Bentley, my schnauzer, was the “only child.”
We were one of the first houses on our street. I had dreams of knowing my neighbors, block parties…the American dream!

Current View:
Jon and I both work at Lockheed Martin, in Fort Worth which proves a 25-65 minute daily commute ea way depending on traffic/wreck(s). We’ve tried riding together but it rarely works out w/our schedules. We’d definitely prefer to live closer to work. Gas prices are currently 3.79/gallon!
My mom married Marc in 2008 and moved to Roscoe in West Texas…3 ½ hours away. Thankfully they visit as often as possible but now, we want more room for our guests to feel comfortable! :)
Mike did find a new job…in Oklahoma City! They have been there since 2009 and are feeling quite established. Since the move, they’ve had a second son and my sister has started going to school (college) full time. So…they won’t be moving to DFW anytime soon, if at all.
Our current neighborhood (VOWS) has BLOWN up!! They’ve built a HUGE new elem, middle and High school on our main street that we turn off of to go home in the past 2 years. The pools and parks are always populated and our commute time has increased due to school zones, retail, construction, new lights and traffic.
1825 sq feet is NOT enough! Haha. And, we kinda need more of a yard and an extra garage bay. Too much to ask? ;-)
Stainless has become almost a “standard” and hard wood flooring has become the new requested upgrade!
We’re a family of 4…err, 5! Poor Bentley has become a dog rather than a child as Jude and Joel have taken over our world in the best possible way!
Our street is 75% rental property. Families are in and out before we ever even meet them. Not what I expected from my first home buying experience.

I knew my life would change, ofcourse! However, I did not know how FAST and by how MUCH it would change in really, the last 3 years! I feel EXTREMELY blessed to have such a full life and don’t thank our heavenly father enough for the blessings he’s allowed in my life!!

As I’ve blogged before, our home is currently on the market! We have had an offer but it’s nothing worth even really writing about. It did cause us to take a very hard look at things and organize priorities if we really do want to move. We have researched the housing market to an exhausting level. As a result, we lowered our asking price to a competitive $ per sq footage range against our possibly biased opinions that our house is the best in our area and deserving of a higher sell! :) The price was officially lowered on Monday and we’ve seen a heavy flow of traffic since! We had 3 showings just yesterday and the pattern has continued today. Surely something will happen soon!

We have decided to move forward on the other end of things; buying! We’ve secured a lot in a neighborhood we really like closer to work and have put in an offer with Sandlin builders on our NEW dream home complete with 3 car garage and 3500 sq ft of living space! Here’s to the future….stay tuned! :)

(Model of our floorplan. Ours will look a little different.)

Ready for St Patty's Day!!

I have a bachelorette trip with some of my best girlfriends planned for this afternoon - Sunday afternoon in Austin/Fredericksburg. I'm totally excited but since I won't be around for St Patty's day with my boys...they dressed in their green early! :) Makes my heart smile...
Jude giving me a full on "CHEESE!!" which startled Joel a bit, haha I tried to encourage smiles and eyes forward by making some funny noises. I got their eyes forward...and a really confused look! haha HUGS!! and a kiss! Such sweet brothers! :)

How can my BABY be almost ONE!?

As usual, time has escaped me! My sweet baby boy turns ONE on April 29. With everything going on, Jmainly trying to sell our house/move, I have been torn on what to do as far as a birthday party. I absolutely adore the "Little Man" theme and there are so many cute ideas on Pinterest! With some hesitation, I went ahead and ordered invites Monday. They are SO cute!! I moved the party date up a week and figure worst case, the party location will have to be moved if we were to sell and have to be out pronto style, right?! We're keeping the invite list minimal so it won't be a total nightmare if it does have to be moved. Friends, Please don't avoid my calls in fear I'll be asking to borrow your home...but I may be! Hehe. ;-) J/K!!
Side note: We only had one house showing over the weekend (due to down pouring rains no doubt) which really gave me the ease to go ahead and order the invites Monday. Since, we've had showing after showing!! We had 3 just yesterday! Funny how God laughs at my OCD most days, LOL.
Here's a pic of the invite...

As the wonderful days blur...

There is simply not enough time in my days! I want so badly to record every moment to review detailed memories in the future (with J&J) but I find myself looking at the calendar to realize that it is already march 8, 2012…my last entry was February 1!! When I let a couple days lapse without an entry I have so much that has gone on, I don’t know where to start! Such is life I suppose. Feeling blessed to have a full one! :)

J&J Stats

The boys both went in Monday for wellness check ups. Jude for his 2 year & Joel for his 9 months. Unfortunately, the appointment ended in a "sick visit" due to both J's having DOUBLE ear infections. For real?! Poor guys can't catch a break! We have an appointment to go see the ENT specialist, Dr. Steven White, tomorrow. Prayers appreciated!

Now for the stats...

Jude: Weight - 30 lbs, 8 ounces (75%), Height: 35" (65%), Head Circ: 50cm (75%)

Joel: Weight - 21 lbs 14 ounces (75%, Height: 28.5" (65%), Head Circ: 47.25cm (93%)
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Momma's Lil' Cowboys

I took MAJOR advantage of the 78 degree weather last week! We started our Friday off with a morning trip to the zoo and after a solid 2 hour nap-time, I did a mini photo shoot in the backyard with the boys! Pinterest has such amazing photo ideas and I've been "pinning" away for months! I couldn't wait to try some of them out with my new camera. Both the boys were in greeat moods and we all had a blast! I started snapping pictures of Joel first and let Jude come and ask to "play" too...he does much better when it's HIS idea, haha. Here's some of the pics...I'm thrilled with them! :)

Happy New Year!!

OK...a little late (again)! Whatcha gonna do?! ;-) Obviously more blogging was not on my resolution list, and maybe should have been. Hehe.

Our 2012 has been full from Jan 1!
As a Family:
We went to Shawnee, Oklahoma to visit my grandparents(mom's side) which was so relaxing and fun! We were able to celebrate my Nana's 76th birthday with her while there and just enjoy a couple of days of visiting! We were also fortunate to get to meet up with my sister, Staci, and 2 yr old nephew, Austin, who live 45 minutes away in Oklahoma City. Staci's oldest son, Allen, was in school and my brother in law was working so we missed seeing them.

Jon:

Jon got a promotion and started his new position (still at Lockheed) this past Monday! I'm thrilled for him & thankful for that blessing!
He is still very committed to his "Ultimate Frisbee" league and plays that weekly on Saturdays along with a newly added Raquetball league that he participates in on Tuesday nights.


He's volunteered to work as a pro bono financial advisor for a wonderful non-profit company out of fort worth. A volunteer project that has proved challenging to keep the story short! ;-) I think it's amazing that Jon can help them and the strides that the company has made since having Jon come on board! I KNOW Jon would love nothing more than to see the company thrive financially and be able to continue giving as they want to with a solid future!

And as if that's not enough, he's still my personal carpenter! :) His current projects...toddler bed for Jude and a toy box! YAY!

Jude:

What a doll! I know I'm bias but the kid is SO smart and thankfully, he's sweet too b/c Joel adores him and watches his every move! He's a mad conversationalist! The boy talks in his sleep! Haha. He's funny, caring, loves his daddy so so much and he's into all the "cool stuff" a 2 year old boy would be...trains, planes, big trucks, balls, bicycles AND then there's Karaoke and guitar...piano, TV (Thank goodness for PBS!), playgrounds, bubble baths with big splashes...zoo trips and animals!


We've been encouraging the potty training but so far, only about 35% success rate. He sure loves his CARS underwear...he just doesn't seem to mind if they're wet or dry, LOL. He's great in the morning and at night but the in between day hours aren't as great. He doesn't want to stop what he's doing to take time to potty! We're not pushing him super hard on the issue...yet!

Joel:

Joel has started crawling like a maniac man and pulls up on EVERYTHING! I can record his first black eye due to this... boo! :( Nothing is safe and everything is his new adventure! He's loving having an older brother to laugh and play with that will "show him the ropes" of how to do things. I want the clock to stop...he's growing SO fast!! He's in 12 mos clothing (he's almost 9 mos), size 4 shoe and size 3 diaper. I have a feeling he may just meet up with Jude in height before too long!

Brooke(me):
I've been recovering from foot surgery, not an easy task with 2 babies! Yes, Jude is still my baby too! :) Other than that, still sewing and taking picturess like a crazy person! I FINALLY got the camera I've wanted for years, Canon Rebel T3i...combine that with Pinterest ideas and my time is taken up by "Backyard photo shoots" and such! ;-) It's all for fun though and my favorite subjects are ofcourse, my three J's! I've pulled the reins back on sewing for 'Brooke's' and have been focused more on my family and enjoying the time I have with all my boys! :) My parents have been down a couple times in January so we always enjoyed that company!!

Life is good!