Spring is here...FINALLY!

...which means we get to play outside all the time!

And fortunately we have had many friends to share it with!

Most recently it was Matthew's cousin Jacob!

They are pretty tight!

They had fun chasing kites, blowing bubbles, playing monster trucks, taking many baths together and arguing! They are super cute together! Jacob just turned four in February and Matthew will be three in April. Jacob and Katie, Patrick's sister, went back home to Arizona yesterday and Matthew has been asking non-stop where Jacob is.

He misses his cousin VERY MUCH!

A little update on my mom. She is scheduled to have her cast taken off on the 31st of March and will be put in an air cast. She will at least be able to start bearing some weight on her right foot again. She seems to be doing pretty well. She has a great group of friends that have helped out with dinners and visiting on a regular basis.

What a ham!

A bit of sad news...

We have been a little saddened lately. The purchasing of the new home hasn't gone as smoothly as we had hoped. Negotiating the inspection has proven to be a struggle and quite frankly exhausting! There really wasn't anything major the inspection turned up it just turns out the sellers don't want to be hassled with fixing ANYTHING! We haven't completely given up hope but the excitement of moving to a new place has worn off a little and the realization that our home may look like this a little longer has set in.

We know God is in control and look forward to whatever he has planned for us!

On the bright side we are all doing well. A little closer to Patrick's graduation and a little closer to summer! Here are a few pictures of the cutest 2-year-old I know. =)

No, his forehead isn't that big he just insists on wearing his Steelers hat that is way too small for his head!

Yay, for the first day we were able to enjoy the park OUTSIDE! Matthew was more than ready to go outside and play! His hair was getting so long. I will have to post more photos of his haircut later.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

P.S. Patrick would kill me if I left you thinking we were Steelers fans! The hat was a gift from Uncle Dan! We are 100% Chicago Bear fans here!

**GOOD NEWS ALERT!!!**

I posted the above post at 12:30 this afternoon and at 7 this evening I received a phone call from our realtor. He informed us that the sellers had finally agreed to fix all of the items we asked PLUS give us an extra credit towards the closing costs! Yes, I am doing a happy dance around boxes! I wish I would of given all this house stuff to God before today because even before we received the good news I was already feeling a lot better about the situation. How many times do we have to learn that lesson, giving it to God is always the best route! I wanted to be in control of it, who was I kidding?!?

Dancing in the Mine Fields by Andrew Peterson

I have been trying to figure out the name and artist of a song that I keep on hearing on the radio and I finally was able to track the sucker down! Actually, it is no sucker at all, I think it is a pretty amazing song. I love it and honestly it makes me kind of excited to dance in the mine fields with my man.

I'm sorry it is so BIG! I don't know why it does that!

Sneak Peak!

So...I haven't posted any pics of the new house for a number of reasons.

1. For some reason I have convinced myself that I will be more heartbroken if I post photos and then the house doesn't become ours. Like it will be a little less hard on me if there is no photo evidence?!

2. I didn't have any photos!

...until yesterday!

Yesterday, I took advantage of the time I was at the house (inspection, which seemed to go pretty well!) to take a few snap shots. I am not going to share all of them quite yet because I still have the #1 reason and will have that reason until April 8th. ONE MONTH! I really don't have the patience!

But I thought I would let you have a little taste of the current condition of the home! Hope you are ready for this!

I know pretty awesome, right?!

Other than that we are just busy collecting boxes, working and finishing up Patrick's last 8 weeks of school! Yay!

Guess what?!?!? We are very excited to announce we are under contract to purchase our first home! We are so excited! We can hardly sleep or eat (okay, maybe that's just me...), but we can hardly contain ourselves!

It has all happened so fast! We viewed the home for the first time in person on Sunday, February 27, 2011. I had actually viewed it about 50,000 times online. We put an offer in the next day, Monday and it was accepted on Tuesday with NO counter offer! The closing is scheduled for Friday, April 8th, Matthew's 3rd birthday!!!

The home is located in a wonderful Champaign neighborhood. It has an awesome yard for Matthew to run some of that energy off. And a basement with a ton of potential.

So, for the next month my blog entries will probably revolve around packing, brain storming about room ideas, first time home buying experiences and extreme excitement and exhaustion!