Christmas, Birthdays, Moving and Other Miscellaneous Updates - First post since NOVEMBER!

That's right, this is my first post since November!  Why you ask?  Let me break it down...

• We decided to sell our house in Gaithersburg which meant staging it to sell. 
• We sold our house in mid-December
• We didn't have another house yet, so...
• We moved into a small apartment on a short-term lease with two dogs and an almost 2 year old.
• Christmas, need I say more?
• I planned a 2nd birthday party for our son Jackson in January.
• Spent a lot of time looking for a new home. 
• WE FOUND A HOUSE! 
• We renovated and furnished the house while managing a 2 year old.
• We moved, AGAIN!
• Did I mention we have a 2-year old?

It's been a crazy ride! I've always said that moving takes years off your life, but MOVING TWICE IN THREE 1/2 MONTHS with a TWO YEAR OLD is NOT RECOMMENDED if you can help it.  Luckily, I had the support of some wonderful friends and family though it all. And while not everything is unpacked and settled in the new house, we're finally HOME!

There's so much to update on here I'm not even sure where to start! Guess I'll just follow the handy outline from the top. 

Staging

Staging was super hard with a toddler and 2 dogs, but kinda fun too.  I did a post on that back in October if you want to see it! (Click here).  Finally my hours dedicated to HGTV watching came in handy. 

Sold

Our Gaithersburg house sold in pretty quickly thanks to a great agent, staging and a perfect market for sellers (low inventory).  I was a bit nervous to sell just a few weeks before Christmas, but it turned out ok...though I did hate no putting up the tree!  The problem for us wasn't deciding to sell...we knew it was time to go.  The problem was that we hadn't answered the question of where we wanted to go next!  

Oh Where, Oh Where?

Our minds were racing with questions. Did we want to stay in this area of Maryland? We tend to prefer Virginia, but was there anywhere to live in VA that was close enough to David's work?  Did we just want to start over somewhere else entirely?  Did we want to move super-close to David's work?  With so many unanswered questions we decided it was best to stop looking  and rent an apartment for the short-term so we could really think things through.  The last thing we wanted was to regret buying a house - not a purchase you want to have buyers remorse about! 

Apartment Living

So, we moved into a third floor apartment in Rockville.  It was a super nice area with a playground across the street and in walking distance to shops.  Not a house, but not too bad either.  The hardest thing was parting with the dogs.  Our two dogs, Marty and Virginia, just weren't used to this kind of living situation.  No back door to scratch to be let out, always on leash, so many noises - plus all the neighbors seemed to think they were terrifying pit bulls.  They weren't happy.  We weren't happy.  So we left them back with my parents after Christmas, where they stayed for the next three months. 

Christmas

Christmas was a bit of a blur.  So I'll just share the cute pics! 

My niece and I celebrate our birthday's

Nana gets cuddles from Taylor and Jackson

Sweet cousins

Wild lady!  Never have two kids had more fun pillow fighting on the bed!

See what I mean - blur!

Opening presents

My little Christmas baby

Jackson Turns 2

I love to host and plan things, so feeling like I didn't have room to entertain may have been the most difficult aspect of apartment living for me.  So I just HAD to find a way to throw a party for Jackson's 2nd Birthday somewhere.  So many winter party places are so expensive! But I finally happened upon Adventure Park in New Market, MD. I had never been there, but the pricing was good and I figured 2-year olds are going to enjoy just about anything.  So we invited a bunch of friends and I started shopping for John Deere Tractor-themed items.  It turned out GREAT! I think the kids all had a blast and the adults too. I would definitely have a party there again for sure :)

 Cupcakes I made (also ordered some awesome Georgetown Cupcakes for the adults!)

 Gift boxes for boys and girls

 Johnny Tractor Hats

Yummy pizza!

 Singing Happy Birthday

 Loving his cupcake

 And his gift box

 Um, not how you play...but cute!

 Mommy Friends

 Nancy and I tackling some DDR

 Playing in the arcade

 The helicopter ride ROCKED!

 With daddy

 It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!

Looking for a New Home

With much prayer and God's leading, it finally became clear that we wanted to stay in the same area of Maryland.  I looked a lot in Montgomery County for homes but just hadn't found anything - at least not without expanding our budget to uncomfortable heights. Nothing spoke to us.  So, we decided to expand our search area to Frederick.  It was just a little further north and we figured that  if we found the right house, the extra commute for David would be worth it.

I spent countless hours online looking.  I knew we'd have to act fast if we found something we loved.  We had already lost a house in Germantown to a cash buyer back a few months prior.  With such low inventory for buyers, it was (and still is) a crazy market out there right now.  You can't hesitate for long - you have to be ready to pull the trigger!  And even with a great offer, you may still lose. 

I had seen several homes in Frederick that I had marked as possibilities.  But neither David nor I knew enough about Frederick to determine whether we'd like it or not. So, one Saturday we decided to take the day to drive around and get a feel for neighborhoods, distances, etc.  What a Godsend that we did that!  I easily eliminated most of my list, except one.

This one house kept bugging me.  All day while driving around I just kept thinking about this house.  It was on the lower end of our budget, sat on the top of a hill with wonderful views, had an acre of land, was in a small neighborhood with gorgeous homes, was a little off the beaten path but still close to 270/70, etc.  I just had that feeling.  Of course, we hadn't been able to go into it and the pictures online weren't very flattering.  But I still felt it was worth a peek.

That afternoon I called the sellers' realtor to find out if there was an open house.  Nope, no open house...but he agreed to show us the home first thing on Monday since our realtor wouldn't be available.

We spent the next two days praying for clarity.  Praying we'd know right away whether we were supposed to make an offer. I was terrified about feeling on the fence - because in this market, you don't have time to be wishy-washy.

WE FOUND A HOUSE!
Our prayers were DEFINITELY answered!  We knew right away.  Sure, there was work to be done but it was all cosmetic.  It had been a rental home for some years now and no major improvements had been made (still laminate counters/floors, dated appliances, unfinished walk out basement,etc.). But it was only built in 2003 so it was newer than most.  Besides, I wanted to be able to make our own improvements.  To make the house OURS!  I had never liked the completely done homes because there was no way for us to add value.  But with this home, in this neighborhood, we could add value.  I wanted this house BAD!

We called our realtor on the drive home and told him we wanted to make an offer.  We knew there would be at least one, if not two additional offers.  This scared me (having lost another house), but I knew we were competitive. I even wrote a letter to the owners expressing how much we liked the home.

A couple days later I was napping when they (my husband and our realtor) tried to call. When I woke up and saw several missed calls I cautiously dialed him back, telling myself to take the bad news with a smile.  But no such bad news.  They had accepted our offer, no counter!  I was thrilled! Praise God!

Inspections of the home, well and septic systems were done in short order and before we knew it, we were at closing (which, by the way, was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life...the agent had us laughing so hard...good times!).

The house! More pics to come in a separate post. 

Renovations
We waited two weeks to move since we had the apartment until the middle of April and we could take the additional time to move steadily and have some improvements made to the new place.  I went appliance shopping and purchased ALL NEW stainless steel updated appliances, had a island range hood installed above the oven, had the great room and master bedroom painted professionally (the idea of doing this myself with a two year old was WAY too daunting for me), and had some lighting installed.  I'll be doing a separate post sharing about all these things some other time (i.e. when I clean up and unpack enough to take nice pictures).

Moving....AGAIN
We moved two weeks ago.  We had a lot of help from friends to whom we are truly grateful.  This was probably the easiest move of my life due to their help and assistance. Sleeping in the house that night was wonderful.  No sirens, no banging from the upstairs neighbors, no car lights whizzing past your window - it was quiet, dark and peaceful.

And did I mention we got our dogs back!  I missed them!

We are loving this house!  Jackson is so happy to have space to romp around freely.  I love the kitchen, the yard, the bedroom - EVERYTHING! I also LOVE FREDERICK! It feels more like home in 2 weeks than any other place we have ever lived for years.  I just feel like I can breathe here, ya know?  God is so good!

And I can't wait to throw a party, so be ready friends! IT'S COMING SOON!!