We have a contract on a house in Ocala

I just realized I haven't posted about the house we are buying. We found a nice home in Ocala. It was built in 1989, but remodeled in the past two years. We're very excited about it! It of course has a pool- it's one of the salt water pools, so very low maintenance. I'm looking forward to being able to swim after the boys go to bed. I will post pictures when we move in. We don't have a closing date, yet, but we are hoping for the end of the month. We had the inspection on the house today and it checked out well with only a couple minor repairs. Our house in Orange Park is well on it's way to the closing in three weeks- I need more boxes!

Alexander's First Soccer Practice

We signed Alexander up for soccer (Acorn league). His first practice was on Monday and it was hilarious. It only lasted a half hour, but that's more than they had an attention span for. Kids ran in different directions, couldn't keep their hands off the ball, and Alexander constantly came to us to get water. He loved it! And he fell asleep instantly that night and actually took a nap the next day. Enjoy the pictures!

With the coaches, couldn't wait to get started:


Instead of kicking the ball and keeping his hands on his head, he put the ball on his head:










He does occasionally kick the ball and does it well:


"It's too hot!"

Alexander's First Day of School

Alexander started pre K today! He was so excited!


He's got the Cars2 backpack and Toy Story lunch box (for his snack) and shoes. He's all set!


Daddy walking him in to school:


There was play-doh ready to play with on the table while his classmates came in:


No tears! He was very involved in his play-doh. I'm excited to pick him up to hear how his first day went.

Here are some other pictures from last week:

Watching Toy Story with his Toy Story friends:


Doing his homework, practicing his vocabulary words:

Glenn's 1st Day of School

Glenn has his first day of 1st grade today. He's been telling everyone all summer, "I'm a first grader!" He's so proud of himself (and we are of him, too).

Contract on our House

Some of you may have been expecting this, and others will be shocked. We decided to sell our house and move to Ocala, where Bob recently moved his office. It's still an hour and 40 minute drive from home, which is too much time on the road. If he tries to get home for dinner, then he can't get in enough time in the office and ends up having to work a day during the weekend. We were only still living here because I didn't want to leave my friends and I love our house and location. However, we went to visit his new office a couple months ago, and I realized just how long a drive he has every day. And it is a really beautiful area. I used to wonder why people would live in FL and not near the ocean. But Ocala is horse country. There are tons of horse ranches (as well as other farms). The town is actually quite big, has a mall, and all the shops I usually shop at, but has a small town feel. I came to the realization that if we didn't move now, we would have to some day because Bob can't keep up that commute forever, and we'd get to see so much more of him if we lived closer to the office.

So, after a couple of weeks of my de-cluttering the house and getting ready to show, we put it on the market last Friday. We had two showings on Sunday and a showing Monday. Our agent called and said we had an offer, so Monday night we met with her and actually had two offers. At first, they both offered our asking price (because they knew someone else was putting in an offer). But then one called back and raised it $5000, so that made the decision easy. I was so shocked that we got offers so quickly, and for our asking price. We got the confirmation this morning that they agreed to a few minor adjustments we made to the contract. So, we are supposed to close Sept 23rd.

We have not yet started looking at houses in Ocala. We have a couple on the list we want to see, and our agent is looking for some more that meet our criteria. I have strict criteria after living where we have been. And we aren't in a rush (Bob might think differently since he's the one with the commute) since my parents have agreed to let us stay in the house they bought around the corner from us until we find something we'll be happy in.

I had said after we moved here that I wasn't ever doing that it again. It is so much work to not only move, but to find new doctors and so on. But I feel that God has sent us a message that this is the right decision by having our house on contract so quickly.

I'm so thankful that I'm not currently teaching two sections of the course I teach for Kaplan. I was actually assigned two, with one being on reserve in case they needed the extra section. But I just started the term last week and have only the one section, and with the fewest number of students so far (only 21, whereas last term, I had 32). So, that will make it easier for me to pack and get my work done. It will also help that the boys will be in school. Glenn starts next Tuesday and Alexander starts the Monday of the following week. Both are so excited!