House Hunting

So, several months ago, Chris' company Network Solutions was bought out by Web.com  Unfortunately the company decided to shut down the offices here in the St Louis area.  Fortunately, they offered Chris a promotion.  However, this also meant we would need to relocate our family to Jacksonville.  So, when the kids finish the school year, we're off to sunny Florida.

We looked at six gazillion homes on the internet.  We even put in an offer on a great house in a great location that we hadn't even seen.  There was multiple offers and ours wasn't accepted.  It seemed like no sooner did I let the agent know we were interested in a house, that house would be under contract.   We weren't gelling with our agent.  I was started to thing we were going to have to live in a tent.

With a new agent, and a list of homes to go see, off we all went to Florida in search of a new home. 

Wow!  I never knew house hunting could be so completely exhausting! 

We looked at so many houses I could barely keep them straight.  One house was great but it was a short sale and we need a firm move in date.  Another great house, this one a bank foreclosure, had horrible stains all over the carpet, another home didn't have enough natural light, the next house smelled like dog.  We considered new builds but the first one we looked at had tiny bedrooms.  The second one was out of our price range.

We finally checked out a different community that was still in the school district we want the kids to attend.  Immediately all of us loved the house but at this point we still had some other houses to look at.  The next day we spend most of the day looking at houses that were beautiful but we weren't getting the same vibe as we did before.  We went back to the house again to get a second look and we immediately felt like this was the right choice.  So we went in and signed the papers.  Our fabulous agent got the builder to throw in a whole bunch of extras too.  We didn't have enough time to have our home built from scratch so we opted for a home that was already in the process of being built.  It should be ready at the end of April.
 
So even though it was exhausting, we did it!  We have a home to move to now.

Thank goodness.  I am not a camper!

Our little model

Not a kitten anymore!

When Sarafina was just a little baby kitty, she discovered she could jump onto the stool, then onto the counter, then up onto the fridge and then on the top of the upper cabinets.  One of the vents for the heater is up there, and whenever she would get cold, she would make her way up there and settle into the wicker basket by the vent.

Despite how much bigger she has gotten, she still likes to squeeze into that little basket.

 She's a kitten at heart.  Especially when there is heat involved!

Baby Alive

Aunt Cheryl gave Ella this Baby Alive doll for Christmas.  You feed her baby food, and she drinks water from a little bottle.  Than she pees and poos in her diaper.

We have been going through a lot of diapers around here.  (A stage I thought we were done with!)  I guess this one was a little stinky!

ALLLLVIINNNN!!

Ella and her friend Irene after watching the new Chipmunk movie.

Let it snow?!

Since this was our last Christmas in St Louis before our move to Florida, the kids were really looking forward to a White Christmas.  We got sunshine and 48 degrees instead.

This morning we woke up to a light dusting of snow on the ground.  Ella was determined that this snow was not going to go to waste!

Cookies for Santa

Every year on Christmas Eve we decorate cookies and leave some for Santa.  We usually make gingerbread cookies, but the kids don't like the way they taste, so this year we just made sugar cookies.  We always have fun and I love how the finished products reflect everyone's personalities.

 

Chris made a grinch cookie but I think it got eaten before I managed to get a picture!