Woooo Hoooo!!!!!

Sorry to digress to language that my three-year-old uses, but there just isn't a more appropriate title for today's entry. Yesterday, we got a wonderful offer on our house, so we rushed to our realtor's office to sign counter offer papers. Today we got the news that they accepted our counter offer. We are now officially in contract with them, and if all goes smoothly, we will be handing the keys over to them the first week in June.

So, we are (hopefully, tentatively, cautiously) Portland-bound the first week of June. Unfortunately, we won't be there in time for those babies who are arriving in the days (maybe hours!) ahead, but we promise to come loaded with recipes for lasagnas, chicken pot pie, and more to make up for our lack of helpfulness right now.

Icing on the cake: it's a gorgeous, sunny weekend here with temperatures in the mid-80s, so we've been jumping in the pool, relaxing in the shade, and enjoying time with Curtis while he is in town visiting. Life is grand. (Potty training efforts nonwithstanding, but we'll save that for another post...)

Happy Days

Lucy idolizes her big sister, Mary. This morning, she woke up and said, "Undies, no diapers," and walked to Mary's clothing drawer and pulled out a pair of undies.

I decided to give it a try...and here we are, 12 hours later, without any (dare I say it, or I will jinx us!!) accidents! She has been a champ in her big girl undies all day long!

Mary, in the meantime, has been like a proud mother hen, leaning down every little while to ask her, "Lucy, is it time to try to go potty?" And, when Lucy does go, Mary makes a huge commotion and brings her m&ms....only sneaking one or two for herself.

To top it off, Curtis arrives tonight (in less than a hour!) after six weeks away. The girls get to stay up late until he arrives. Oh, happy day!

Olympic hopeful?

This one's for Curtis, who is missing his girls.... enjoy!


We will try to post a snippet of Mary tomorrow, who we think is an aspiring politician. Her newest question, "What do you think of George Bush, and who are you voting for in November?"

In the meantime, enjoy skateboarding Lucy....

The Salad Days

If we have to be held hostage in California in real estate pergatory, at least we are given days like today. Aunt Suzanne is in town for a visit, and we took advantage of a splendid, gorgeous 75 degree day in Carmel, my favorite beach spot. (Many ocean towns here rarely enjoy the warm fog-free weather that we get 30 miles inland, so today was a rare treat.)

Lucy and Mary both danced in the waves, much more bravely than the cool water ought to have allowed. The ocean was gorgeous, with the waves crashing far enough offshore to make the sand bar a kiddie pool of small currents. We truly had a spectacular time. The girls even skipped naptime, which is almost as rare a treat as the clear, warm weather in Carmel.

The entire drive home, every few minutes we'd hear sweet Lucy's little voice pipe up, "Ocean, hon." (Yes, she calls everyone "hon," which is every bit as hilarious as it sounds coming from a one-year old.)

God Bless the Ocean! Good thing we're moving to Portland and not Ohio (no offense, Fr. Rob!).

April Fools

Today was Grandpa Fisher's birthday. Every year on April's Fools Day, I am reminded of how much I miss him. I was working in our home office today, looking at the framed patent I have that was his. I don't have much of his incredible memory for dates, unfortunately. And I know I didn't inherit any of his engineering prowess.



However, while I was at the house today, a couple came through to tour it. The woman said, "Boy, I can tell you are a perfectionist. This house looks great. No detail was overlooked!" And a small part of me thought, wouldn't my perfection-loving, detail-oriented Grandpa be proud?



In other news on this April Fools, I called Elizabeth (our daycare provider) to check on the girls around lunchtime. She said, "What do you mean how are the girlS? Lucy is fine, but I don't have Mary. Didn't you tell me that you would pick Mary up at preschool today?" In a flash, I was out the door with keys in hand and then she let me in on the prank. Very funny one, Elizabeth.



Oh, and all joking aside, Miss Mary wants to know how big of a truck we will need to move our house with us to Portland (that would solve all of our problems, come to think of it!).