House drama

It's been a crazy, what, 36 hours over here.

We put in an offer on a house yesterday -- a really lovely house, probably nicer we deserve, right here in our neighborhood. The seller countered our offer, we countered that and got word this morning that she accepted.

Hooray! We quickly got a lawyer, set up an inspection for Saturday, everybody signed the paperwork. It was all very exciting.

Then our agent called a few hours later to say, "you're not going to believe this." Apparently the seller accepted somebody else's offer. WHAT? We have no idea what actually happened, only that when our agent expressed disbelief, the seller's agent's only explanation was something like, "hey, it's not illegal." And apparently it's not. Neither lawyer had approved the papers so the contract wasn't binding yet.

So that happened.

It's sad to lose the house, but mostly we're just glad we got out before getting further tangled with such a shady seller (the agent is one of Holly Creek's associates at Nothnagle, if anybody's house hunting -- watch out!) I drove by today, back when I thought we were buying the house, and saw that they had just put up an "Open Sunday" sign out front -- a little troubling on a house that just went under agreement, no? It was still up this evening. I hope the new buyers have a good time with that.

Our agent says there will be a lot of new listings after the New Year. We are definitely looking forward to better things in 2013. Happy New Year!!!!

First Christmas at home

Ahhhhhh.... the joy of not traveling!

Here is the snow that fell a few days before Christmas.

Not only was it lovely, we were free to enjoy it because we didn't have to worry about weather conditions on the Thruway. Hooray!!!!!

Here is Christmas morning under our own Christmas tree.

Molly came into our bedroom the first time around 4:30 a.m. and I'm not sure she ever got back to sleep. Kate woke up at 5:15 and that's when I was up for the day. I snuggled in bed with Molly while Kate snoozed in her crib a bit. I was grumpy but that turned out to be the best part of the day for me, lying in the dark listening to Molly's non-stop monologue about how quiet the reindeer must have been because she didn't hear anything on the roof, and what are those gray birds at grandma's bird feeder are called? and on and on.

When we finally let the kids downstairs around 6, Molly wanted to hit the stockings first. I'm pretty sure she was expecting loads of candy, which Santa didn't bring (maybe he knew there was still pinata candy in the cupboards). But there was enough in there to keep the kids occupied while Jim made French toast and sausage.

They opened presents slowly all morning.

Then we finally got dressed and headed over to Grandma's house for a big family Christmas.

We thought we were coming home early enough that the girls could play with their toys a little before bed, but both zonked out in the car and didn't wake up when we carried them to bed. The house was quiet by 5:30!!! All the better for Mom and Dad to catch up on some rest, too. What a lovely Christmas day!

Merry Christmas to All...

and to all a good night.

Little elves

Working on a secret Christmas project.

We were having such a good day yesterday that dinner was ready to go in the oven early so we went outside in the drizzle for a walk. It was getting dark already at 4:30 and the street lights were on. A lot of people's Christmas lights were on, too. Kate had her hands in her coat pockets, which I've never seen her do before. It was really cute ... until she tripped and fell on her face with no hands to catch the fall.

So now she has this ...

Poor girl.

5-year-old girl!!

 What a wild birthday! Opening presents before dawn, waffles and hot cocoa for breakfast, hot dogs for lunch, pinata and cupcakes and ice cream at the birthday party -- it's fair to say that Molly's own plan for her big day nearly overwhelmed her. She made it through, though, with just a dash of rudeness and a sprinkling of candy tantrums. Hooray for her first Rochester birthday!!

Waiting for Daddy to get out of the shower so she can go outside to try her scooter ... after several minor crashes riding it around our teeny kitchen. Apologies to the landlord.

Pull-the-ribbon pinata. What a perfect invention for a December birthday!

CANDY!!!!

Notice the (not quite finished) birthday sweater? She said "yay, my birthday sweater" when she opened it this morning, then tossed it across the table and said she didn't want it. As predicted. Fortunately she had a change of heart and wore it for a good part of the day. :)

Strange as it is to think that five whole years have passed since the day this baby girl was born, what's really getting me is that kindergarten registration information just showed up at our door last week. Deep breath. It's going to be OK....

Christmas fun

We finally busted out the Christmas tree ornaments Saturday.

Molly carefully matched her outfit to Kate's.

Kate has grown attached to a few of them. This one she calls pup. She also carries around one she calls "paca sheep" (it's sort of an alpaca or sheep type creature, very soft).

We went to the fire engine parade in Honeoye Falls Saturday night.

Cousins in matchy mittens.

Kate watches the parade from the warm car.

Uncle David and Henry in the fire truck with Santa on top. So cool!!!!

Pizza and cookies after. What a great night!

Yesterday we had a new friend over to play -- our first play date with a new friend since the move. It went very well. The little girl is 3 and a real sweetheart. Molly read her Christmas stories and they played in the toy kitchen for a while. They let Kate play, too, which was nice. These are friends we met at the Waldorf parent-child class. Tomorrow is our last class of this session. They start another one in January and I think we'll all still go.

Today we had nothing planned and Molly talked me into going to the mall Santa. She's been saying she wanted to go for a while but I thought she might forget. As soon as I said yes she disappeared into her room and came out dressed in red velvet. She was on her best behavior all morning.

We had an hour to kill at Marketplace before Santa showed up so Molly picked out a Christmas present for Kate (while Kate wasn't looking, of course). Then we went to the food court for a wholesome morning snack -- Tom Wahl's cheeseburger and fries.

I didn't get any photos of the girls with Santa because they didn't leave my side. Molly went through with it, though. We had to get out of line once because she lost her nerve but she went back and it was great.

The mall Santa was awesome!! Totally not creepy, real whiskers, an eerily natural "ho ho ho" laugh. He took a long time talking to each group of kids and did a nice job of talking to Molly without overwhelming her.
He asked her if she ate her vegetables. Yes. Did she pick up her toys? Yes. Did she go to bed right when she's supposed to? No. (We had a little laugh, and Santa said he's sure she goes to bed most of the time -- which she does. It's funny that she thinks she doesn't).

Until this weekend the only thing Molly wanted from Santa was gold, silver and rubies. Then she found the necklace that Santa brought her last year and decide that covered it. So she changed her mind to coloring books. That's her only specific request. The rest is up to Santa. :)

Sinterklaas

Chocolate coins, animal crackers, clementines ... Kate approves.

Waiting for Sinterklaas

Do you think he'll come tonight? Two little girls really hope so!