Perkins Family: January 2012

Friday, January 27, 2012

It's really happening....

Tomorrow is MOVING DAY so we're packing everything up and we'll be back as soon as we find our way out of all these boxes!!!

Wish us luck!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Since we will be moving in a couple of weeks, we had the Brown's over for one last steak dinner and brownie dessert on Charlisas Way. I whipped up my famous salad while Michael cooked up the steaks, provided by the Browns.

Easton couldn't wait any longer and had to get started before the rest of us!

We all "tore up" our corn on the cob!!

This little island has provided lots of entertainment for the kids...we had to get one last picture of all of them since it will be staying with the house. :(

And after another fantastic dinner, we all lined up for the brownie and ice cream bar!

Monday, January 23, 2012

for sale....sold!

We never expected to find a house so quick, so we hadn't even discussed getting our current house on the market. By the time everything happened, it was right before the holidays and the last thing I wanted was the stress of showing our house throughout the holidays. So we hesitantly decided to wait. We were set to close on the new house Jan. 6 and would list our current house as soon as possible after the holidays.

We got home from the holidays, took down the decorations, cleaned up, had pictures taken, and had it officially listed on MLS by 10pm Tuesday night, Jan. 3. We were optimistic about the timing but were prepared to wait. Our best comp had sat on the market for about 6 months. I was feeling emotional yet very excited. At this point I was really ready to see what happened. The house was spotless Wednesday when I left for work and I watched my phone all morning Wednesday just waiting for our first showing. Around 1:00 I finally got the first call...someone was going to be looking at our house! I have NEVER been through the process of selling a house of any kind, not even growing up, so this was all brand new to me.

At 10pm that night, Wed. Jan. 4 we got a call from Brigitte. The person liked it and planned to submit an offer!! WHAT?? Michael and I were so excited and I think in disbelief.

Someone else was scheduled to see the house on Thursday so once again, the house was spotless when I left for work. We were told that they liked the house but not ready to submit an offer.

We received the first person's offer, and then soon after, heard that the second family would also be submitting an offer after all!! We received them both that day, signed one of them, and it was a done deal.

Friday morning the 6th we got to close on our new house knowing that our current house was already under contract. What a RELIEF!

I have to give all the credit to GOD for His amazing timing. He has taken care of us from the beginning of this process and I have complete confidence in Him that this was all meant to be. We had to make some really difficult decisions and I have needed and asked for His signs from the beginning of the process and I have been amazed every step of the way.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

We are MOVING!

For 8.5 years we have lived in this wonderful house. This was our first home and we have made amazing memories here that we will NEVER ever forget. We moved in 6 weeks after getting married, started our first jobs 1 week later, and have since brought home 2 kids from the hospital to this house, our home. When we bought this house, there was plenty of room for us to grow, and over the years, we certainly grew into it! This house will always be so very near and dear to our hearts.

6 months ago I probably would have told you we would be staying in this house forever! That was the plan when we first purchased it. Actually 4 months ago I probably would have told you that we had no intentions of moving. But a mere 3 months ago, Michael and I talked and agreed that we would just look to see what's out there. I wasn't sure if we would move, but if we did want to move one day, I wanted to make that decision NOW well before Ella starts Kindergarten. I know a year and a half will go by extremely fast and we expected it to take quite a while before finding just what we wanted in a forever home! We have been in our home for 8.5 years and although it's a GREAT house and we have been VERY happy here, there are a few things that we wouldn't mind changing.

So, mid-October we talked to our fanatical realtor (a.k.a. Michael's mom) and started the process. We only looked at a few houses in person, but scoured the MLS site, spent tons of hours in the car driving through neighborhoods and having long conversations about what we really wanted. Having never planned on moving, Michael and I had never really discussed what was most important to us in a new house or what we would even want. We were just content with what we had.

This process really got us thinking and our wish list shifted a bit from the beginning. Living in a great house already, we knew we would be picky and there were certain things we just weren't willing to give up!

The more and more we talked, our conversations often ended with the desire to build a custom house just perfect for us. It sounds great, but living in the city, there aren't an abundance of lots available unless we wanted to move further North, and out of the comfort zone of where we've grown to love the past 8.5 years.

After some chance happenings and deciding to be really open-minded, we ended up in an area of town that we had not previously considered...North of where we are. We went there specifically to look at some larger lots that we had just heard about and figured it was at least worth checking out. Since we were there, Brigitte pulled up some houses for sale in the area for us to see.

The lots we saw were amazing, but the idea of building was stressful and we didn't take any of it too seriously at this point. We were both still pretty closed-minded to leaving our familiar area of town.

However, being on these large lots, a bit outside of the city, automatically felt like home to me. Memories of living in the country, playing outside all the time, trying to get lost in the trees, and running free...all of those memories started rushing back to me and I was immediately excited about the thought of raising my own kids on a larger piece of land, yet still being so close to the city. All along, the first thing on my wish list was "a big backyard with lots of room for the kids to explore". Well, this was most definitely a big backyard and I was becoming more and more open to living a bit further North than we had originally anticipated.

The following weekend we agreed to look at a couple of the pre-built houses near by, also on larger lots. The first one we saw...we fell in love immediately and it just felt right from the moment we walked up the driveway for the first time. The kids were with us too and I loved seeing them run around the yard. It felt like ours and we could see ourselves there, which was weird. I wasn't prepared for that and so I also immediately felt nervous.

Fast forward a couple of weeks later after lots and lots of thinking and talking and second guessing and more talking and excitement and nerves, we decided to move forward and we submitted an offer on that house on December 9. The following Monday, Dec. 12, we had a signed contract. Everything happened very smoothly and it was official.

...more to come...

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

baby Easton

He doesn't feel like much of a baby anymore, but I still find myself calling him baby Easton quite regularly. I was going through some old birthday cards the other day and came across one from my mom from a 20-something birthday where she wrote that they called me "baby Megan" for the longest time. Maybe its something with your second born...I don't know, but it just rolls right off my tongue!

I was blessed with some one on one time with him the other day...my sweet, laid back, loving, curious and precious baby boy. I LOVE him more than I could ever ever ever describe. My heart explodes for him and his sister.