Outdoor Evening (& house update)

The babies have been put to bed but one little man that starts with 'T' is protesting. The pacifier has been replaced twice. He has had more than enough milk. And he only had an hour afternoon nap so I have said my last good night and I will see them in the morning. The older kids went to National Night Out with Dad but I got a text saying, "Lol...what a waste of time...be home in 20." So I guess my little window of alone time just got seriously reduced but I will enjoy it while I have got it!

Today is my favorite day of the week. Why you may ask? Well because the house cleaner came today and with her magic got all the floors cleaned, the dust gone and all little finger prints off my windows. I use to enjoy today a little more before kids because the house would stay the way I find it upon the cleaners leaving for more than five minutes. But those five minutes I get these days are absolutely glorious! It puts a smile on my face today and every two weeks a little bit of stress is brushed off my shoulders because my house is clean.

Asked Aubrey to turn him so his privates weren't showing. Guess this works too!

When we returned home today my kids know that of all days today is the day that taking off ones shoes before entering the house is super important. Also dropping food on the floor with dinner may cause mom to turn a tad bit ugly. The babies are now on all table food and they have made an Olympic sport of dropping food on the floor. I really just wanted clean floors for one night so I decided we were moving the babies chairs outside for dinner. We use to do this all the time with the other kids and the big kids get most of their lunches outside, I just have no clue why we had yet to do this with the babies. We got them down to their diapers and outside they went. We all ate and it was so peaceful because their was no yelling at kids to sit right on their chair. No I have to go to the bathroom. No worries if something was spilled.

We have pictures tomorrow and Monday. Of course he gets a huge scratch on his face while playing frisbee.

Kenzie finished first as usual and wanted out of her chair. I decided to let her have some naked time and see what she thought of exploring the patio. Was a little concerned what her knees would think of it but she was cruising without a problem. Soon they were all done and we had four naked babies checking out everything including a taste test of leaves and rocks. I quickly decided baths where happening outside so the big girls eagerly ran and got soap and towels. Now I should tell you the water was cold in our outdoor sink. Like straight out of the hose cold. Paul never hooked up the hot water in the five years we have had the outdoor bbq. Only Rylan hated it but luckily he had yet another haircut today so his hair was already washed so he only needed a rinse off. I bathed. Paul diapered. And the nightly bath for four was done.

Before I poured the cold cool water over him.

The booster chairs have been wiped down. The trays are drying outside and we will be eating breakfast outside in the morning. It may become a new thing around here because clean up is simply easy. So if your in the neighborhood tomorrow come on over for breakfast on the patio. I guarantee pancakes will be one item on the menu. Oh and clothing is welcomed!

Waiting for the fourth piece in the puzzle to be done with her bath.

House update: So I have not mentioned much regarding our new house and this was because I did not want to jinx anything! We are getting so close to being able to call a new place home. Our new house is in California. I know there were many who were hoping that we would be returning to Minnesota but because of the jobs that Paul and I have which allow us both to raise our children we have decided we are where we need to be at this point in our life. We were not planning on moving yet but Paul has looked at listings for over a year. He will often show me a house and I half look as he flips through the pictures. Why would I want to look if I couldn't have? For some reason one evening I decided to actually pay attention to a house that he was showing me. I liked it and so we asked to be contacted regarding the house. The next morning a realtor called and we set up a time to look at the house that evening. It was a fun date night even though the house needed way to much work and was not the set-up for us. We told the realtor who we really liked that we wanted to move in the next year but weren't in a huge hurry. Fast forward four days and I worked late. When I got home Paul showed me the house that was only listed on one site so I was sure it was an old listing. The next morning we called our realtor who found out the house had just gone back on the market after a buyer had backed out. We went and looked that afternoon with all 7 kids in tow. I have included the letter I sent with our offer letter because it explains how Paul and I felt after walking through our future home.

To the owners of ******,

Today we drove up to Auburn to look at your house that we had seen on the mls. As we drove into your driveway my husband said, "It's the porch you have always wanted." I have always envisioned myself sitting in an rocking chair watching my kids race up and down the driveway on their bikes and I was thrilled to see that the house we would be looking at had a very large porch that would hold many rocking chairs! 

As we walked into your house I knew right away that this house was so much more than just a place with four walls and a roof. Your house was a home that has been full of love. By the time I got upstairs to the bedrooms I literally had tears in my eyes because your home reminded me so much of my own childhood. Growing up in Minnesota many homes had dormers and oh the adventures we would have in the little nooks and crannies of these rooms. I am so excited that my own children could possibly grow up having these same adventures. 

And then the outside. How can I even begin to describe how amazing the backyard is? If the kids are having adventures inside the house, they will be on explorations in the back. When we bought our current house it was just my husband and I and so the space in the backyard just needed to be big enough for us and a couple of friends. We have now added seven children in four years and the backyard has taken on a whole new meaning. We want a place where our children can run, can play ball, plant a garden, pick fruit from trees and number one importance is to be safe while being a kid. Your backyard will give our children the opportunity to do all of this and so much more.

Today we fell in love with your home and we are hoping and praying that we will soon be able to make your home our home. We want to be able to create memories and traditions for our children while living at *****. We are even willing to cheer once in awhile for the Packers as long as they are not playing the Vikings! 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this letter and we hope to be able to carry on the love that has made your house a home.

Paul & Krista Lesnau

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We found out that the sellers picked us because of our letter so if you ever find yourself in a bidding war a letter to the seller may get you the house you want. As our sellers realtor told ours, "Sometimes it's more about the people than the money."

The paperwork is all signed. The house will be funded on August 20th and become ours. We are renting back to the current owners for a month though so we won't be moving in right away but oh how we cannot wait to get to our little 3 acre piece of heaven. A home large enough for all of us. A master bedroom downstairs. Four bedrooms for the kids upstairs. A pool. Plenty of area for a swing set and trampoline. A chicken coop in the plans. 2,000sqft of covered patio between the front and back which means kids can be outside even in the rain. Not a single neighbor to be seen from any window in our house.  This is a home for our family to start traditions that our kids will always remember. 

So now the not so fun part of moving is taking place...packing. I tried convincing Paul to let me hire a moving company put that was shot down faster than I could blink. Oh how I dislike this aspect of moving but we will get it done. We will be moving the exact week nine years ago that we moved into our current home. I am taking that as a good sign!!

Same picture I posted before and it is from the first time we went out there. If you look real close you can see the kids and I playing on the grass. The natives were getting restless! I will post more photos once we move in.