no more conditions...

Well all of the conditions have been met for the sale.
Friday was the home inspection. A couple of things came out and a couple of things were bumped up in priority on the to do list...but overall, nothing that can't be done, and nothing that is so expensive I can't handle it.
I did fall down the basement stairs and my goal of my son not knowing about the trap door to the basement failed. I am stiff and sore in many places but fortunately nothing was broken or serious in the injury way.
Now, I just need to deal with packing (which is going well, I am going to need some larger boxes as I have mostly alcohol boxes which are great for books and small breakables). CO is excited to move and big into packing. I am trying to slow him down on packing his toys as if he had his way, they'd all be packed up now. I am also trying to help him see that not everything needs a box (some toys are in containers of their own and if we empty them into boxes, we then need to move an empty container, etc.
I am surfing kijiji these days looking for things like appliances and a vacuum. I did find a hutch that I LOVE and will end up probably using it in my large laundry room as a desk for bills and office supplies.

in the mean time...I need to get some sleep. Morning comes early even at work. Hopefully I get more sleep tonight as the pain all over my body is less than it was last night. I am still in pain...just a lot less :)

no nap

J had his first 'all day' family visit Friday. His visit have been extended from 3 hours every 2 weeks to 7 hours every week. Plus another 1.5 hours for his BM (even though the judge declared her not an option to raise him because she didn't file the proper paperwork but he didn't cancel her visitation order). He came home a basket case! He cried and whined for an hour no matter if I was holding him or not. He was beyond tired and exhausted. He could barely walk or stand without falling over. 

No nap. 

The note in the communication book from his family stated no nap, but he instead watched dvds. 

SERIOUSLY??? that is plural for one thing. But you finally get him for a full day and you plunk him in front of the tv for who knows how long? (but long enough that it was dvds not dvd). Also the boy does not fall in front of the tv. No matter how tired he is. He can't sleep with stimulation at all (not even a book or a small car). CO can. He usually falls asleep listening to audiobooks or music but I have to wait for J to be asleep first otherwise no sleep for J. 

I am not a big fan of tv for kids to begin with, and I know I am not the norm. J never watches more than 1 hour of tv and I try to keep it to only 30 minutes. But you'd think they would celebrate their first all day together doing something like a trip to the park.

I finally declared 'enough' and put him to bed (in which he cried for tv) sigh

11 boxes down...a kagillion left to go...

I picked up 11 boxed today at the LCBO and filled them with books...

so the packing has begun!

if I only had more boxed...I can pick more up from the LCBO on Friday

house inspection is Friday afternoon...

conditionally official

it looks like I just bought a house...

here is the MLS link

there are no photos of the inside because the people have not removed a cobweb in probably 12 years. The cobwebs are cross breeding with the dust bunnies :)
And they have 'stuff' LOTS of 'stuff'.
The inside is painted lots of random crazy colours.

So the first thing I will do upon getting possession is deep clean from top to bottom and then paint the whole thing. There is/has been smoking in the house. So it is on the smelly side. Fortunately there is wood flooring through the whole house so I don't have to worry about the cigarette smoke being in carpeting, etc.

Right now...I am working on to-do lists, buying lists, and scheduling my children's lives. I am looking for a plan of action of what to do with my children (2nd to 5th) while I deal with lawyers, closing details and a couple of days of non-stop cleaning :) I can send J to respite through the CAS so it would mostly be CO. So if someone wants to go to my cottage for the long weekend in August for free, they are more than welcome, the only catch is an extra 4 year old :) actually he can be watched anywhere, but the cottage is a great environment. (peaceful, parks and a pool!)

My children are having a whatever day. The babysitter over the weekend decided to 'clean'. Unfortunately her idea of 'cleaning' is to stack and shove things up high and out of sight. SO, I get to spend today digging and redistributing all my belongings. I can't even find most of the CO's homeschool stuff for the week because there are piles up high on all my bookshelves and cabinets. I had left it all on my diningroom table knowing that I was going to be busy after work yesterday. The two baskets of laundry I asked her to put away (of boy's clothes) ended up shoved in a corner of their room and rooted through and mixed up with dirty laundry. OH joy! She has done this to me a couple of times so I finally sent her an email and explained that I would appreciate her to stop shoving and hiding as it really isn't as helpful as she thinks it is.

first of June

I can't belive that it is June already!
We spent the day at Marineland. The weather was TERRIBLE but we had fun anyway. The part was close to being deserted, the kids had a BLAST.
my legs are tired, the boys are long asleep. I am having trouble finding the energy to get ready for work.
photos to follow...

officially DONE

tonight made it official.
we are DONE
no more swimming lessons
no more Awana
no more STREAMS (study group)
no more financial class

we are FREE
free to spend time away
camping and at the trailer
free to spend our weekdays no having to worry about lessons and groups

Welcome Summer!

I am so excited...and so are the boys (well CO more than J)

nest week...cottage here we come!

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tonight was the awards ceremony for Awana

it was sweet
CO got his award for completing his book
I took some photos
not as much as I would have liked as I was there by myself containing a 2 year old while trying to capture things with my cameras, no easy task

 silly face, being the line leader and leading in all the Cubbies

 saying the A & C verses

 getting his award

proud of himself

sand sand everywhere

I spent this morning with the boys at the beach. June during the week is a great time to go to the beach.  You get the beach to yourself practically. Today was a nice overcast day so there wasn't too much worry about sunburns and would have been great for photos if I had my camera :(
The boys had a great time for about 1.5 hours and then the wind picked up and it started to rain a bit so we walked up the road for some hot chocolate & a hotdog. CO convinced me that he still had room in his belly for an icecream cone :) 
J fell asleep on the way home and CO shortly after arriving home.
I am looking forward to more beach days in our future this month!

the well is dry...

one of the problems with working weekends and having other people in charge for the 42 hours that I am away, is that they don't know all the rules. This weekend was prime example.
Sunday I asked the babysitter for an evaluation of how the weekend went as I do most weekends. The reply was that it was a good weekend and that CO had lots of fun playing with the hose and it kept him busy most of Saturday RED FLAG and there were just a couple of problems with some disobedience.

So, it seems my son drained the well in all his fun on the weekend. Which means no water for laundry, baths, etc for about 36 hours. SIGH and it means all the filters in the water system have to be changed as they are full of sediment from the bottom of the well, SIGH.

there is now a note in the babysitting manual about NO using the hose for anyreason what so ever.

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on another note I have started the process to find me a house. I have an agent and have started looking through houses. So far I have not found THE perfect house for my family. But I don't expect to right away anyway.

I asked my mother if she was going to call me regularly to keep reminding me of things like she does now once I am in my own house. Like today when she told me to remember to close up my house as it will get hot during the day. (something I do every day through the WHOLE summer for the last who knows how many years), and last night she reminded me to open up my house to let the cold in (they were already open). :)

I think my own house will do great for not only my children's relationship with thier grandparents but also my relationship with them.  That is one of the things I am looking forward to the most.

I am going to see a couple of potential gems this week. One of them is in a local town but it is in a far corner close to nature and low on other housing. Near what used to be the town's pickle factory but is now the town museum. PERFECT kind of area. And it is very close to the local rail trail! and walking distance to the river and swimming ponds. The backyard isn't fenced, but fences can be built.

please add this whole process to your prayer list, as well as childcare. I still have no childcare past the third weekend of July