AANNDD we're off!

Or should I say "on?" Our house was officially put on the market two weekends ago. After we did lots of de-cluttering and cleaning (a special thanks goes out to my oh-so generous mother-in-law), our realtor and a photographer came by to take pics of our place. With the wide-frame photos that she took, Brett and I thought she did a good job of capturing the open layout of our house (even though the pictures make the house seem bigger than it is :-) Shhh...don't tell a prospective buyer!

(Brett has since removed the two cedars that swallowed the walkway)

We have put tons of work into updating our 15-year-old home (which came clad with every brass-plated item possible and enough linoleum and fake marble to make anyone want to grimace). Okay, CORRECTION: Brett has put SO much work into renovating our home. Seriously, the guy had a second job. Needless to say, we are a little attached to the thing. If only we could transplant it about 20 miles away and add a couple of rooms, we'd be set!

Here are the results of our home's photo shoot. For your sake, I'll leave out captions (and sentimental sappiness):

Yeah, we know...not the coolest study (if we don't sell, I plan on guttin' it and painting it in tranquil grays and blues). Oh, and we would totally redo the bookcase/desk and rest of the cabinets throughout the entire house!

And our not-so fancy backyard. Hey, when you have two huge dogs that like to chew everything in sight and dig holes (gotta love the Labs), it comes with the territory!

Thanks, REMAX, for making our house look good (and maybe a little better than it REALLY is :-) Now, find us a buyer (or renter, or maybe even a squatter)!

14-month-update:

Many teeth (15 to be exact, either totally in or on their way)

and lots of talkin' but still no walkin'

Jameston is a teething pro these days! His bottom molars started coming in about a month ago, and his top ones were not too far behind. He is one tough cookie, though, and usually doesn't show many signs of them bothering him, except maybe some crankiness and clinginess. I noticed when he cut his top right molar last week that his gum was bleeding :-( And now his canines are starting to show up...he's maybe hinting to us below that he wants some Orajel?

When it comes to him walking, we are taking it in stride (get it? haha :-) We know he will learn to walk in his own time. When cruising, he is definitely getting more gutsy and toddling between pieces of furniture, and he has taken 2-3 steps at a time and then crashed to the ground. He will stand up on his own for longer periods of time and even do squats :-) He climbs into and out of things (the wagon, window sills, his tricycle, etc., etc.) and he's perfected walking on his knees...

now if only he could get those feet underneath him!

Our little guy is definitely a "Chatty Charlie," and everyone comments on how vocal he is. He says over 12 words right now (bye, hi, Daddy, Momma, Papa, this, dog, shoe (sounds like "sue") ball, uh-oh, puppy, book, and some that escape me and others with his own interpretation! And he signs "more," "all-done," and of course "hi/bye." Oh, he'll show you where his nose is, too!

We are having so much fun reading these days (he would seriously let you read him 20 books and not grow tired), and he LOVES to try and make the animal noises! Horses are his absolute favorite right now, so we've decided that, when we transition him to a "big boy" bed, his new room will have to be western-themed :-)

Showing off with his walker...maybe we'll have a walking toddler by Christmas?

Helter-skelter

Yep, that pretty much describes our lives right now...so busy to know where to begin. From putting our house on the market (and tackling the repairs, fixer-upper touch-ups and the to-do's that go along with selling and marking them off the list one by one), to EVERYONE in our house fighting a cold, to both Brett's job and mine giving us busier than ever schedules, to pacifying a feisty-because-he's-got-SEVEN-teeth-coming-in 14-month-old, to gearing up to head to the east coast for a wedding weekend this Thursday night, coupled with the stress of the upcoming holidays and travel arrangements...my very congested head is spinning! Yeah, I shouldn't even be typing this because of all the things I need to do and phone calls I need to make, but it will maybe help explain to my dear friends and loved ones why we Winters might seem to be a little frazzled lately.

But just when I feel a tad bit overwhelmed and little undercharged, I take a look at my precious (and currently very clingy) littly boy (although this mommy ain't complaining about that and is making sure she enjoys it while she can since he won't be little for very long :-) and I realize just how much I love my busy but oh-so-blessed life!

Does that make us crazy?

Well, we all know the economy has not been on the uptick for some time now. And any current news-reader has heard that the real-estate market has been affected tremendously. So, why you ask do I write about such gloom and doom? Because...

We are putting our house on the market next week! Ahhhh, the excitement and stress of that statement is too much. So, does that make us crazy?!?!

No, I don't think so. We'd be crazy not to take advantage of the LOW low interest rates of late! And, we have decided, after much deliberation, that we would be crazy not to at least try to sell. We've been thinking about moving closer into Dallas for some time now and for many reasons. First, we know our current house will not be able to hold our family forever, and we would also like to be closer to Brett's office (so that we can see him/he can see us at least some during the crazy busy season he experiences from Janurary to April). Thus, we are on the hunt for a 4+ BR/2.5+ bath house (with a whole lotta other wants versus wish-list requests :-) We don't think it will be hard to find a home we like with the current state of the market, it is just the thought of selling ours that makes us nervous...

And we hope to sell/buy/close and move before January, when Brett's schedule would not permit such things! Now, does that make us crazy?! Some might say yes, but we're gonna give it a try :-)

So, if you know of anybody looking for a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom house in the Dallas 'burbs (east/northeast to be exact), let me know!

Halloween happenings

Wow, we were amazed by how many Halloween events we had this year for our one-year-old! And in the words of the famous Carpenters' song, "We've only just begun."

We had four nights of fun-filled festivities. Sorry I'm just now getting around to posting about them~we needed some time to recuperate (Jameston napped for over three hours Sunday afternoon, before his first official time trick-or-treating)!

Anyone want to guess what our little one was for Halloween this year?

Duh! We may have beat the monkey-theme into the ground, but hey...I couldn't resist this adorable costume:-) And since it cost more than I'd like to spend on a nice family dinner out to eat, Jameston wore it proudly for three Halloween festivities (and he may have to wear it for family pictures next month. HA)!

"Hey, Mom: What are these? Oh, fake feet? You really think I'm gonna keep these on?!"

Mommy and our little Monkey before the Halloween Carnival at daycare Tuesday night

And us last year...my how time flies!

A fish-face pose in a monkey outfit? You got it!

We see this face a lot when he's teething. Poor fella :-(

And on Friday night we headed to church for Trunk-or-Treat...and Jameston proudly carried the banana prop around with him most of the night! We didn't get to stay long, since someone didn't nap well that day!

Saturday night we were off to Royse City for a Halloween Bash with Aunt Jessica and Uncle Cade. Jameston was the baby-version of "Dodge"from the show, My Name is Earl. And Brett was Earl...Or maybe a sheriff? Or Tom Selleck from Magnum P.I., or the actor Sam Elliot? Hehe.

Like Jameston's monkey feet, the mustache was also short-lived! And I was supposed to be Joy (from MNIE) but that's hard to do in cold weather (and when the costume-wearer didn't want to buy a wig)! Maddox was the photographer for the night...

The next night...Halloween! We just made the trek around the 'hood to see some of our favorite neighbors...they insisted on giving us candy, and Mommy gladly obliged :-)

Here is JW enjoying a sucker, a.k.a. the only piece of candy his mean momma would let him have (because it felt good on those THREE MOLARS coming in)! He was more into the stickiness of it...By the time we got home (before 7, so we could help Aunt Maggie hand out candy) he was SO OVER Halloween and his costume... (or maybe he wanted the candy Mommy wouldn't let him have)!

But our lil' Monkey managed to pull it together one last time for a picture,and he had decided his temporary tail would suffice!

Hope you and yours had a great Halloween weekend!!

Pumpkin Patch!

Last Wednesday Jameston and I headed out to the Arboretum

For a weekday it sure was crowded! Lots of different kinds and sizes of pumpkins and gourds to see!He was enamoured... He didn't really know what to think of it all in the beginning,but he had fun watching othersand playing with the hay..."What is this cool stuff?""You want some, Mommy?"Checking out the pumpkin pile"Look!! I found one that's perfect!"Taking a break...A nice lady offered to take a picture of me and my boy (since Daddy was at work :-( JW was too busy people-watching, but at least we have proof Mommy was with him!

Pattin' the pumpkins...and enjoying the beautiful flowers, too!We had a great first trip to the Arboretum, and we plan on going back again when Daddy (and cousins) can join us!

10-year reunion, times two

Two weekends in October were filled with traveling to our respective hometowns for 10-year high school reunion festivities. The first weekend in October we headed to Wichita Falls to see the Notre Dame Class of 2000 crew! We had a great time visiting with old friends, meeting some of their little ones for the first time (and seeing some of the little ones we hadn't seen in awhile), and reminiscing. It was a quick trip, but it was great to see everyone!

Group shot

Small class :-)

We had a picnic lunch and a play day at the park that Saturday afternoon

Jameston meeting Tiffany (my bestie's niece) for the first time...they hit it off!

All the cutie-pie kiddos!

Me and Cort playing catch...

Deric and Lainey

Leslie and Hadley

Tiffany and Campbell

Jameston just a'swingin' with Daddy :-)

Checking out the game...

and watching the big kids...

is exhausting!

The photographer got a great shot of my two boys :-)

My cousin, April, was kind enough to let us stay with them for the weekend. Jameston had a BLAST with their two boys, Preston and Jackson (I think the feelings were mutual :-) It was so much fun to watch them interact!

Brett and I met up again with the ND crew later that night, sans kiddos, and had a nice date night out on the town. Jameston did so well that night because he had such a great babysitter and two awesome little helpers!

And two weekends ago we drove to Austin (Lake Travis to be exact) for Brett's 10-year shindig. I was not as good at taking pictures that time-around, but I did get a great group shot at the dinner we had at the marina!

LT Class of 2000

I actually have Brett's high-school classmates to thank for introducing us since we all went to Tech together, and they were residents on the same floor/dorm as me our freshman year. We were so glad to be able to hang out with three of the matchmakers/great friends outside of the reunion events!

Morgan, Jameston, and Ryan

Kim teaching JW a thing or two :-)

Of course seeing Papa and Granny was icing on the cake!

And we were spoiled, as usual, with great company and yummy food...we didn't want to leave!

I know, buddy...two weekends FULL of traveling and visiting tuckered us out, too!

We had such a wonderful time seeing family and friends!