The saga continues....

We had the inspection on the house on Friday. The inspector didn't really tell us much that we didn't already know. The house does need lots of work, but most of it is stuff we can do ourselves. The thing that makes me mad is that we couldn't test the plumbing because it wasn't hooked up. The house is winterized. I paid the listing agency to get a plumber in to de-winterize it. But it wasn't done. I am so mad. I called my realtor yesterday and told him to tell the lising agency that the water needs to be on by Tuesday. Lucky for us, the inspector said he would come back and test the plumbing without charging us more. Our realtor is not happy about this and I'm sure he won't be very nice when he calls tomorrow. I hope he isn't. I'm so frustrated with this listing agency. They are not very professional. If the water isn't tested by Wednesday, we will back out of the offer and look elsewhere. I have mixed emotions about it. I can see the potential this house has and see how fun it would be to remodel, but I'm so frustrated and tired of the headaches we keep running into to try to get this deal to go through. AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! I'll keep you posted on how this saga plays out. I did take pictures of the inside and as soon as I buy another memory disc adapter I'll post them so you all can see just how ugly this house is. It's actually funny just how ugly it is. To think someone thought that they were decorating nicely is so funny!

We will be home owners again!

The bank finally accepted our offer on the house! We signed all the paperwork yesterday to get things in motion toward a closing date. We are suppose to close on or before Oct. 12th. I hope we can do it. I set the inspection up this morning for this Thursday. If that goes well, there shouldn't be anything on our part to delay the closing date. Keep your fingers crossed. If you want to check out the house just follow this link: http://public.mlswis.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?20070912174159300919000000&id=1

We are pretty excited! I'm just not looking forward to having to pack and move again. Plus, we have to get the rest of our stuff out of storage in Michigan and get it here. What a pain. I am looking forward to settling down though. It's been almost a year since we lived in a house we owned. It will be nice for everyone to have their own spaces again. It will be nice to have this stress of moving out of my life, at least for a few years.

Update time

Just thought I'd let you know that we haven't heard anything about the house yet. We talked to our realtor today and he told us that he spoke with the listing agent who said that he hasn't heard back from the bank yet. We have been told that it is normal for banks to take their time getting back to people about offers, but I don't understand why. I would think they would want to sell it.

I have a new calling. The 1st counselor in the bishopbric cornered me after church on Sunday and asked me to be the den leader over the 8 and 9 year olds. I find it very interesting because one of the things I was most concerned about in moving was whether or not the new ward would have a good scouting program. Merrit really loves scouts and I didn't want him to go from a good program in Flint to a bad one here. I think it's interesting that Heavenly Father would put me in a position that would allow me to make sure Merrit has a good program (since I'm in charge of his age group). I'm a little frazzled though because I don't know very much about scouts. I'm ready and eager to learn though. No calling for Charlie yet, but I'm sure it won't be long. Especially since the 1 st counselor in the bishopbric told me that they have many people in the ward with 2, 3, and even 4 callings and they would love to spread the work load around.

I went to my new Curves today. It was nice, but I miss my old one. I was a lot more comfortable there. I'm just going to have to get used to this new one though. I do like that it has all the machines for the circuit. The one I went to in Flint didn't have them all yet. When you have them all you only have to go around the circuit twice. Time seems to go by faster that way, even though it really isn't any faster because you are working out on more machines.

The kids are still excited about school. There is an open house on the 25th. I think it will be good for the kids to show us their classrooms, their desks and be able to introduce Charlie to their teachers. I was looking at the kids vacation days and realized that they have the whole week of Thanksgiving off. The school scheduled parent/teacher conference to be held the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Thanksgiving and they gave the elementary school kids those days off because of it. Charlie doesn't have that many days off though. I was bummed about that. It would have been nice to go back to visit a day or two earlier.

A new Me?

So I went shopping on Saturday with two of my roommates (Jamie & Kristen) and a girl from the ward (Victoria). Victoria talked me into buying some makeup and she showed me how to apply it that night. I kind of liked the end results but it will take some getting used to to actually be wearing so much makeup. I think I could handle putting the makeup on most days because it doesn't take long to do it. Just so you all know I did get my application for the El Ed program in on Monday. I have a group interview and writing sample next Thursday and I will find out some time after that if I have been accepted or not.
School is going pretty well but I am real nervous about my accounting class and worried about not doing well in it. I signed up late for the class so I have a lot of catching up to do already, which means I am going to be really busy with school work this weekend. But anyway, that's just how it is.

New Job

Well, after all these years I have rejoined the work force. I am now an employee at Lifetime Fitness. I work in the Child Center, so I am able to bring the kids with me. Which of course was a prerequisite. The center is just a big room full of fun. I know that Parker will have a blast and I think that Logan will too. My coworkers are great and I get a free membership to the club too. I think that this will be really good for us. I will only be working 2 days a weeks so I don't think the boys will get to overwhelmed.

We are on the internet again!

Well I can finally get on and check the blog. Believe it or not, I'm slightly addicted to the blog. I like reading what others have posted. I hope to get Sabrina and Kim on it soon too.

We have the kids in school finally. Today was their first day. They all said they had a good time and that they like their teachers. I hope that's their opinion in a few weeks too. Chelsea starts school on Monday. She is in a preschool class that will go Monday through Thursday from 12:15 pm to 3:14 pm. They call preschool 4 yr. old kindergarten here. I'm excited for her to go and she is excited to go. That is the time of day that Jaxson takes his nap, so I could have a couple of quiet hours every once in a while. That will be so nice. I'll probably be taking Chelsea to school. I'm not very comfortable with her riding the bus yet. We are too close to the elementary for the others to ride the bus. They have to walk. They are excited about that. It's a good excuse for me to get out and do a little exercising myself (I definately will not let them walk on their own).

Charlie is doing well in his job. He says his students are better behaved, overall, than the ones he had last year. He is enjoying that. He doesn't have his own classroom. He has to cart his stuff around on a cart. He actually uses three different classrooms. He says it's not as bad as he thought it would be. He has his own desk in the math department office. That's his home base. It's definately been nice to have him come home after work every day. That's something new for us.

I've already been visited by three women from the ward. They were all really nice and one of them invited me and the kids to her home this afternoon. She invited two other families too so we could get to know them. It was fun, cold, but fun. I feel very welcome here and look forward to getting to know more people. It's been interested to fill out emergency cards for the kids this year. I don't really have anyone I can put as an emergency contact person yet. I've never experienced that. I miss being by family and my friends in Michigan. They were a nice safety net. Now we have to learn to function apart from that. It will probably be good for us in the long run.

The house we were trying to buy earlier was put back on the market earlier this week. We put an offer on it late Wednesday and still haven't heard from them yet. It was listed at the same price it went off the market at. We felt fortunate since we thought it would be re-listed for more. It would be nice to buy this house and be able to get out of the rental. Although it's not a bad place to live, it's nicer to have your own place.

I'm glad to see that Hannah posted. Now we're just waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to join in the posting. I'll try to post pictures soon.

Hello everyone! I like that we have a blog so that we can all keep in touch and know what is happening with everyone. Well, school started on Tuesday and I have a feeling that this will be a challenging semester for me. I will be applying to the the elementary education program this semester, the application is actually due on the 17th of this month. If I am accepted into the program I will be able to start in the winter. Wish me luck. I will write more later but I have to finish getting ready for church now. Love you all very, very much!!!!!!!!

Today is the DAY!

I thought I'd jump on for a couple of minutes and update you all. I'm just about finished packing. I only have the computer and TV stuff to go. I'm am just about ready to implode or pull out my hair or something. I really hate moving. It's so stressful. I have our new phone set to turn on on Monday. Our new number will be 262-632-6721 and our new address is 3228 Republic Ave. Racine, WI 53405 (at least for the time being). I'll try to get back on the blog as soon as our internet is up and running again.

First day of school

I already posted this on our own family blog, but I will post it here too. Last week was Les, Bradyn and Parkers first day of school. Bradyn and Les both started on Monday and Parker had his first day of real preschool on Thursday. Logan was pretty upset that he couldn't go with Parker. I am doing a little mom's preschool with 4 other woman from church so, I will only have to teach about every 8 weeks or so. So far, we are liking it here. The weather is hot, but not unbearable. I have been able to see some of my friends from Michigan which has been a lot of fun. I have been hanging with my one friend Rachel and her kids quite a bit which has truely been a blessing from me. I feel so blessed to have her live near by.

Great Idea!!!

What a great idea Hillary! I love reading and being apart of blogs. I am already apart of a couple. For those of you who do not know, the address for Les and I's blog is
http://hickstexasadventures.blogspot.com

Please come and look at it and leave comments. It is so much more fun when someone leaves a comment on something that you have posted.

Hello everyone

I thought that since many of us are all over the country this would be a fun and easy way to keep in touch. When you want to post you click on the link that says "new posts". This will usually be up in the right hand side of the screen. After someone posts, there is an option to leave a comment about the post they left. That link will follow the posting and it just says "comment". When you write your own post there will be options for you to use for your writing. They will be in a tool bar at the top of the posting window. One of those icons will let you add pictures to your post and one lets you add video from your computer. This is a pretty neat website. Just take a look around and you'll probably be able to figure it out. If you have any other questions, you can ask me and I'll try to answer them.
I look forward to reading your posts and seeing your pictures.