Museum Outing and Annual Tree Pictures

The Minnesota Children's Museum was closed for 6 months and finally reopened at the beginning of the month.  We finally got out there on Saturday to check things out.  The new Sprouts area replaced the old toddler exhibit, Habitot.  There was a great area for climbing, a soft padded area, doors and knobs, and a water play area.  It is technically for ages 3 and under, but Parker loves it too.

We got a sneak peak of Our World before the museum closed.  They repurposed machinery from a building block exhibit to become a post office and had a grocery/kitchen area.  Parker's favorite was the hardware store.  There was a panel of 40 light switches that each controlled a different fixture.  He played with that for a very long time.

They moved the fan favorite BALLS! in the special exhibition room.  Most of it was the same, but they added a roller coaster and bounce room.  You can see the roller coaster on the back wall.  Parker did a great job waiting for his turn to roll the ball down.

It's also the time of year when we take our annual tree pictures.  The original Esme tree died last year, but the replacement tree is doing great!  

The Parker tree appears to have had some incredible growth last year and is now towering over Parker and Grandpa.

On The Market

The house officially went on the market about 1:30 pm last Thursday and we had a whirlwind weekend.  The listing pictures are below and I think they turned out great!

 We decided in advance to stay at my parents house for the weekend so we didn't have to leave for showings and try to keep it clean.  We had 2 showings on Thursday evening and 8 on Friday.  Both of the showings from Thursday put in offers and we got two additional ones from the Friday showings.  With so much interest we called for best and final offers by Saturday afternoon.  

We also went out on Friday night to look at new houses.  I was really excited about the first one we were going to, but the backyard was questionable based on the listing.  Turned out to be even smaller than we thought and at a pretty decent angle, so that was a bust.  The second house we looked at was beautiful and had more to offer than we wanted or needed.  It was also a little more than we wanted to spend, but we kept it on the list.  The third house had a huge backyard, but the inside was in rough shape and it had a really bad floor plan.  We decided to review the offers on our house and then decide if we wanted to go for the second one.

All four offers were over asking price, which was very exciting.  The house we loved had been on the market 15 days, which is a pretty long time in the current market.  We decided to go in with our best offer on Saturday morning.  We accepted an offer on our house Saturday night and found out ours had been accepted on the new house about an hour later.  It was a very exciting day.  It was also nice because we got to go back home that night.

The sign finally went up in the yard on Tuesday and then it felt real!  Inspections on both houses were yesterday.  The new house had some minor electrical and plumbing things, but also tested very high for radon.  Long term exposure causes lung cancer, so we will be getting that mitigated very soon after closing.  It is a pretty simple task in most cases and the company we are using does not collect payment until it tests at a safe level.  The current house came back with no issues.  The buyer requested we ground all the main floor outlets, but that isn't happening unless we rewire everything.  Thankfully they accepted that it won't happen.  Now it's time to get all the financing finalized and start packing!  I will share the new house once we are in at the end of July.

Final House Projects

We had a small list of projects to finish prior to listing our house.  We've had our recessed entertainment cabinets installed for a while and my dad made some doors last year.  I finally got those installed with plexiglass and speaker fabric for the sub.  It has a really nice finished look now.

We also decided to install an egress window to increase value and be able to list as a legal three bedroom house.  It would have limited our visibility to only have two.  The crew came out on Monday, just 3 days before we listed.  They started about 9:00 and were done by early afternoon.

My dad come over with the twister to remove the dirt which saved us a couple hundred dollars.  He took two loads home and moved the rest to my neighbors yard because she had a use for it.

Parker was so excited to have the twister at his house.  I wasn't there for most of it, but Jimmy said he kept asking for a ride.  I bet he was so confused to see it at our house!

My dad and I finished the interior on Monday night so it was mostly ready for the photographer to come on Tuesday.  Just some final cleaning and touch ups before the listing went live on Thursday.

Esme June - Fourteen Months Old

Esme is 14 months old today.  She isn't walking yet, but is getting close.  She cruises along furniture, pushes chairs and toys, and can walk holding just one hand.  She has also started letting go of supports more often and standing on her own.  She is clapping a lot (as you can see in the picture below!)  We sing a lot of songs and she claps appropriately at the end and says "yay" with us.  She also liked to sway back and forth during some of our songs.  She babbles a lot and makes it well known when she isn't happy!  She especially loves looking at herself in the mirror.  We have a mirror in the car so we can see her and she loves to laugh and smile at herself in it.  Speaking of her smile, she has 12 teeth!  All 8 in the front and her four "first" molars.  She continues to be on the early side for all of her teeth.  Canines typically start appearing around 16 months, so we will likely have a break in teething, but she hasn't had too much trouble so far.

She is wearing mostly 18 months clothing, a few 18-24 month items, and size 3 or 4 shoes.  She is in size 4 diapers during the day and size 5 at night.  I've been too busy to remember to weight her, but we will get updated measurements at her 15 month appointment next month.  She continues to eat like a champ and has only refused a few things.  She currently loves bananas, peaches, mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, pancakes, cheese, sweet potatoes, and yogurt.  She is completely weaned off bottles and in drinking whole milk and occasional juice.  Her hair is getting longer and she gets the cutest curls in the back, especially after a bath.

She is such a joyful little girl and we are loving watching her grow.

Outside Time

We've been trying to make the most of the nice weather we've had the last several weeks.  It got really hot, but we couldn't put the pool up since we were getting ready to list.  Parker started climbing the fence a little last year, but has really upped his game this year.  

Esme fell asleep in the swing and almost nothing could wake her up!

 No pool, but we were able to get out the water table.  Esme loved splashing in it until Parker tipped it over.

 Outside snack time makes clean-up easy!  Esme just kept dumping the Cheerios out and Parker was saying "uh-oh" and trying to clean up.  I giggled at how much that mirrors myself and Jimmy!

 We also had another play date with our ECFE friends and are making the grand tour of area parks.  It's been nice to relax with friends during all the craziness.

Parker's Last Day of Pre-School

It's been a while since I posted, but I warned you that would happen.  I will probably backdate a bit just to keep a good timeline of posts.  Parker's LAST last day of pre-school was June 7th.  They had a short program at the end of the day.  We got to be a part of circle time, sing songs, and see a slideshow of pictures from the year.  Parker had some trouble facing forward once he saw us.

 One of the cutest songs was "Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun."  Each student got to pick out a sun and wave it up high as they sang. 

 He learned so much over the last 2.5 years going to school here and we are so grateful for the wonderful teachers and staff.  It is off to Kindergarten for this guy! Cue the tears!

Memorial Day Weekend

My blogging is going to be a bit more sporadic in the coming months.  We are preparing to put our house on the market to move closer to Parker's school and get a little more space.  We've been busy with lots of projects as we complete our preparations.  We did take some time to relax over Memorial Day weekend.

We spent Friday evening strolling around Lake Harriet.  We even got to see a huge family of geese!

 We headed outside again on Saturday to spend some time at the park.  Esme is getting a bit more adventurous is doing lots of exploring.

 We spend Sunday in the country.  We ate dinner outside and played on all the toys.

 Esme was very intrigued by Jimmy on the 4-wheeler, so she got to sit with Jimmy for a bit.

*Insert obligatory twister ride picture*

We spent the night on Sunday and were all exhausted driving home on Monday.