Random Summer Ramblings . . .

My postings usually revolve around an event or outing of some kind, so you never really get the real news of what’s happening with us. Hopefully this post will bring you up to speed. . .

House
The house is still for sale. We’ve had five viewings in the last nine weeks and I’m tired of worrying about keeping the house clean for a possible phone call that never happens. It’s almost like you are expecting company to come visit, but you never know when they’ll show up. Stressful! We just dropped the price $5,000 this week and we are hoping this change puts the listing on the “what’s new” listings and that maybe we can get some more viewings and more importantly – a sale! Our realtor is also having an open house in July.

When we sell we aren’t sure where we’ll move. We are looking for a house with a backyard and at least three bedrooms. We haven’t been looking at houses on the market because we don’t want to fall in love with something we can’t buy until our house sells. So once we close on our house we will most likely move to an apartment or rent a house until we find something we like. This way we avoid the stress and uncertainty of contingent offers.

Jeremy
Only three more working days for Jeremy and he’ll be home with Liam and I for the summer! He just wrapped up spring football practice and we went and watched a scrimmage this past Saturday – so that was fun.

He is coaching at Northwest Christian, a small local Christian private school. Although this coaching gig is not paid, he is excited about the Northwest Christian program, it’s values, and it’s up and coming potential!

Heather
Freelance work has slowed down considerably this year and I’m having trouble bringing in the income that I was last year. I wish I could not work, but that’s not an option, so I’ve been trying different things to bring in income. I started teaching coupon classes this spring and those have been a huge success. After the News Tribune article that appeared in April, I’ve had lots of requests for the classes, but most of those will be in the fall. I’m offering a free class tonight at my church for members. I’m also updating a local coupon blog, which has been fun – I’m meeting people in the local grocery stores who read it and it makes me happy to be helping people save money.

We are still working on the bookstore and I’ve opened up an Etsy store to sell my handmade treasures. I’m also still doing Pampered Chef, which I really enjoy but I’m finding I’m not a very good direct sales person.

I’m still volunteering at church doing the monthly newsletter and on the preschool board. I’m running the biggest preschool fundraiser of the year – a garage sale this August. If you have items you’d like to donate, please let me know!

Summer plans
I’m excited to report that we’ll be going back to Alaska for 11 days in July (I know, we were just there in May). Even though we always say that we are going to take vacations somewhere “new”, it always comes down to me missing my family, loving Alaska and the fact that it’s a very affordable vacation with us (thanks to mom’s hospitality!) We will start our vacation off with King Salmon fishing – which we are all really thrilled about. We will get back before Liam turns 2 (July 27) and before the airline starts charging us to bring him on the plane (another reason to take the trip now).

We hope to get a trip to the Oregon coast in this summer and we are excited to go to a hot springs/resort in British Columbia with Great Grandma Fusa and Great Grandpa Clay in July. Jeremy also has football camp in Oregon this summer.

Liam
I know this is really the only update you care to read. Liam is an awesome kid, but quite the handful. We are definitely entering the trying two-year-old stage. The world revolves around him and he can have quite the attitude. We don’t know where this came from and we’re assuming it’s age appropriate. He’s been spending a fair amount of time in “time out” and we are all learning together.

Currently Liam loves counting to seven, eating peanut butter (no signs of allergies, yet), playing ball (which he calls “pitching”) and playing outside. Mostly he just loves his balls. He wants to kick, hit, throw, pitch any ball that he can. As soon as he starts playing ball he needs his “hat”‘ (which can be any kind – baseball, sun hat, etc.) and he is good. He’s a lefty and we hope this means we’ll have a major league lefty pitcher on our hands. This morning he told me that dad was at work, I asked him where he was going to go to work when he got big. I said, “are you going to be a doctor?”, he says, “nope.” I said, “are you going to be a teacher?”, he says, “nope.” I said, “well what are you going to do?” He said, “ball.”

Liam has been staying the night at Grandma Melinda and Grandpa Rick’s house about once a week – which he loves and it gives us a break – mostly to clean the house and work, but it’s still nice. If plans don’t change, Liam will start preschool in September at our church. They have a two-year-old program that is twice a week for a couple hours. It will good for him to get the structure and be in a social setting with other kids his age.

I think that is all the updates for now. I’ll be posting more pictures and stories throughout the summer.  . .