Happy and Exhausted

My brain power is minimal, my body is weak and my wrinkles are deep. But, we are all smiling over here. We had Dylan home this week...the only week this month with him at home. He was swamped with things for work, and we were like ships passing in the night. Luckily we got out together for a Christmas party last night, otherwise we might have forgotten what each other looked like.

In the meantime, I've kept busy packing boxes and making trips to the new house with a car load of stuff every single day. I've almost filled an entire car bay in the garage, and there's still so much left to do! I've exchanged dozens of emails between the contractor and designer and the doors/window guy, and we all spent most of the day together on Friday making plans at the house and shopping for things like light fixtures and slabs of stone. I've hit up the floor store and the paint store on my own, and the contractor and designer have a plan together with the cabinet people. Things should start happening soon! I'm working on a blog where I'll just post about renovation details so we can keep this space about the usual family stuff. In the meantime, follow me (@hello_sunnyside) on Instagram if you care at all about the goings-on with the house.

A round of backyard golf for D and Brian for practice. Photo from the lookout deck on top of the casita. Come and play some time!

Pool fence coming soon!

A random Monday night swim class.

Winter Wonderland for the third year in a row. We love it!

Brrrrr, it's snowing.

Practicing for his birthday!

While I've been doing that, Dylan's been making arrangements for repairs on the Morning Vista house in preparation to unload it! He also had two training programs and a volunteer event for work. So, he figured that now was as good a time as any to have Brian fly in from LA for a couple of nights and play a round of golf at the TPC. The boys had a blast with Uncle Brian, and we all enjoyed his homemade pasta!

We did two swim lessons to make up for missing a lesson last week when G was sick. I've worked my usual schedule, and we went to Winter Wonderland on Monday night to see the lights. On Thursday night, I went to a "Favorite Things" Christmas party with some of the other moms from Gavin's school. Saturday morning was Elaine's cookie party, so the two Gs helped me bake a double batch of eggnog cookies so that we could have some extras to give away to teachers and friends. And Saturday night was the company Christmas party...for both of us. But we stuck with Dylan's work crowd because, well, that's what we wanted to do. We started at Morton's and ended at Pattie's, and the boys hung with my parents.

Dylan took on all three boys by himself on Thursday night after Shawn got a last minute trip so that Elaine could go to the girls' party. The boys loved having Luke at the house. Super Dad!

Megan's "Favorite Things" party

Aly, Elaine and me

On Friday morning, my mom took the boys to the park to celebrate Graham's birthday with donuts. Kristin and Pierce met up for the fun, too! D was working, and I was at the new house all day getting some plans in place, but they had so much fun and even got up close and personal with a garbage truck!

Waffles at home for the birthday boy!

Singing to the birthday boy at 6am!

The garbage truck driver let the boys take turns getting in the truck.

Cousins!

Birthday boy!

Opening gifts with Nonna and Papa.

Birthday party with cousins at night! This photo makes me laugh every time.

We love our birthday boy!

He loves Elmo and Mickey Mouse!

No shortage of people to assist in unwrapping presents.

The racetrack that Guinea got him is already getting a lot of traffic.

All decked out at the cookie party with his school friends.

Elaine had these little tables set up for the kids to decorate cookies while we did a cookie exchange and had lunch. So fun!

Thanks for a fun morning, E!

Leaving the boys with my parents to go to the McD party.

Working hard on crafts with Nonna

Throwing a fit for Nonna because he didn't want to wear his crafting apron.

The biggest thing of all this week...GRAHAM turned 2!! Our incredibly feisty, full-of-life, little lovable, smiley, tantrum-throwing yet sweet boy isn't a baby at all anymore. He's talking in 4-word sentences and singing and making his brother (and all of us) laugh every single day. He hardly ever walks because he runs to just about everywhere. He is loved at daycare, and he is such a delight to everyone he encounters. He keeps me on my toes every second. Goodness gracious, Graham brings such a special dynamic to our family. He says "I love you, Mommy" without being prompted and gives great, big kisses every day. Seeing the special relationship unfold between Gavin and Graham has been my greatest joy. My heart bursts when I think about Graham and his great, big grin. His birthday really deserves a special post on its own, but that won't happen this week. I promise to do an "All About Graham" once we get through the end of the year. To celebrate his birthday, we had family over to our house on Friday night for pizza, cake and gifts. It was the perfect celebration for our big 2-year-old.

I'm exhausted just re-capping the week. I've never gotten so little sleep, besides of course when the babies were small. I'm not ready to start the grind. Dylan will be gone all week, and I feel like Christmas has really gotten away from us. My hope is to drive around with the boys to see Christmas lights some night this week, since we haven't fit that in yet. It's my favorite Christmas-time activity. I have a room full of gifts that have yet to be wrapped, and a bunch of grocery shopping to do for the festivities ahead. I cannot wait for Christmas morning, when I can lay around in my pajamas and take a day off from packing and doing all things house-related. In the meantime, though, gratefulness abounds, and we are busy but feeling blessed beyond measure. Merry Christmas!

House Hunters, Lu Edition

I said that I had put the whole house thing on the back burner. I needed a break, and whatever happens is largely out of my control, so I needed to stop putting so much energy into it. For the most part, I still subscribe to that belief. But, my better half tracked down a couple new listings with some major potential, and it got me all involved in the house hunt again. Furthermore, we found out that, if we needed to, we could buy a new house before our current house was under contract. This changed a whole lot in terms of our timeline and our motivation to find a house. I'm not sure if owning two houses at once would be the best idea. After all, making two hefty mortgage payments seems extremely stressful. It would be outrageously expensive, and we would have no idea when our house would sell. On the other hand, renting a house is very expensive, and moving twice is a major headache, to say the least. So, it will probably be worth it to buy a house, sell ours, and just work a little harder and tighten our belts a bit to make ends meet in the meantime.

So, with that, I solicit advice from you, my readers. All three of you! Before I go any further, I want to just put it out there that the odds are good that we'll end up in neither of the houses I'm going to present to you here today. However, I know a lot of us out there can appreciate an episode or two of anything on HGTV, and I'm very wrapped up in and excited about this process.

House #1.

The house is on 82nd and Cholla. This is primetime location. It's WHERE I WANT TO BE. We're moving for location, right? The house is zoned for the perfect trifecta of schools...Cochise, Cocopah, Chaparral. Minutes from every freaking thing I do, and like two seconds from the Scottsdale Airport. Remember that other house that was perfect with the ugly backsplash? That was also on Cholla. That street is the ticket, I tell you. (Some lucky devil snatched that up for a price under our max budget. If I was a person who cried, I would have probably cried about that at least a few times.)

This is a flip house, so obviously someone is out to make a profit. However, the finishes are nice, and I LOVE the retro look. It's quirky because old houses are quirky. (We will probably live in an old house no matter what happens because of our other priorities...location, lot size and budget. I'm good with that...old houses have tons more character, anyway.) It's a great size at 2,800 sq. feet. I told you that I'm looking to minimize and downsize, right? It's on an acre lot in a bomb neighborhood. Some neighbors' houses are valued at upwards of $2 million. That would be a very good thing for our home value (which is wayyyyy less than that).

The problems with this house add up to be a deal breaker for Dylan. But, I'm still pushing for this one because I love it. First, it doesn't have an enclosed garage. The trailer could fit in the carport, and the lot is huge enough that one day we could build a garage. In the meantime, we'd have to get a storage container for our bikes and other garage stuff. Also, getting groceries into the house would be a pain because you'd have to walk around to the front door from your car. Next, there's no good spot for a dining table. My remedy to that would be to build a table off the island. It's a thing people do, and it looks good. (I've done a lot of research. Thanks for the idea on that, Kristin!) The master closet is bare of rods and shelves, so we'd have to get a contractor in there to do some work. The office off the entrance is dark and kind of non-functional, and we'd want to explore tearing down a wall or two to open it up to the living area. (Maybe a great spot for a dining table?) But, with four other bedrooms and three full bathrooms, we'd be in good shape. The master bath is nice but very small. It doesn't even have it's own water closet. Dylan is worried that I'd complain too much if I'm in there showering and he needs to use the restroom or something. To that, I say the house has two other toilets. (First world problems, am I right?) It has the perfect bedroom for the boys, and so much more that I love. This is my vote, but nobody else is on board, so we'd have to look at a significant price reduction to make it worth our Dylan's while. I'll hold out for that because we would have to put some money into modifying it. But...I have a feeling someone else will realize the value of location and snatch it up very soon. Sigh.

I love the exposed beams and the brick!

The yard needs some dressing up, both back and front, but it's super low maintenance. The kitchen windows overlook the golf course. I'm in love.

House #2.

This house is in a location that I keep telling myself would be great. It's 64th and Thunderbird and steps from the elementary school. It is zoned for Horizon High School. I'm trying to open up my mind to the idea of a change of scenery. It could be a good thing. It's just that I've lived in Scottsdale my entire life, and though this is a Scottsdale address, it's in the Phoenix city limits. I'd be shopping and working out and sending my kids to school in unfamiliar places. But still, everything important to us is in close proximity. We would be two seconds from Kierland and the Scottsdale Quarter...not exactly a foreign country. I could adjust, and I'd probably get to know people who are a little more my speed than the Big Dawgs of Scottsdale. I really do think I would end up loving it.

The house itself would be perfect for us. Again, it's a flip home, but the layout is great and free of quirks, and they did a fantastic job with it. The finishes are all super high-quality. The exterior is nice and new, though the style is not my favorite. It has a new roof, new A/C units, new wiring, new plumbing, new floors and everything. It's basically a brand new house. They built out a 3-car garage, and we could also have room for our trailer in the side yard. The master bath and closets are perfection, and the kitchen is fantastic. It has two pantries, a big laundry room and two huge master closets. We could also put the boys in a room on the other side of the house from us, which is obviously optimal. Again, it is 2,800 sq. feet with four bedrooms (which includes the office) and 3 full bathrooms, which is just right. When the boys are teenagers and want their own rooms, it will probably prove to be a logistical puzzle. We'd have to look at combining a guest room with the office or something. That's like 10 years from now, though, so whatever.

The lot is a 1/3 acre, but we don't actually need any more than that. The only major drawback (besides getting on board with the neighborhood) is that it is the nicest house for miles around. The price per square foot is outrageous. For resale value, it's a very scary thing. We don't plan to move again any time soon, or ever. But as we all know, life happens. So, again, we need to see if a price reduction comes into play after the house has been on the market for a little while because we're not comfortable with the current price. The house is fantastic, and I know we'd be happy in it. For the record, Dylan is completely on board with this one. Gavin is upset that the pool has neither a slide nor a diving board, but I think he's just excited at the promise of water, no matter the house we buy.

The kitchen and living areas are super awesome. The breakfast bar is that wooden thing off the island. It's unique, and I love it. The ktichen also features a giant wine fridge and wet bar. So cool!

Okay, I want to hear your opinions! We won't be around for a couple weeks and will probably put the house hunting to rest for a bit. In the meantime, these houses will both go under contract, I'm sure, so that will be that. Anyhow, thanks for tuning into today's episode of House Hunters, Lu Edition. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming soon, which promises to include lots of photos of the boys in their underwear, as usual.