Baby's First Car Wash

Alexa's first time in a car wash was not the exciting event that I thought it would be. In fact, she was pretty freaked out about the whole thing. But at least now I know that she is adorable even while grimacing.

On a side note, look how good her cousin's little 4-wheeler looks on her:

I think red might be her color.

Left to Their Own Devices

Apparently the girls know me well enough to know that when I say I will open their new gum for them "in a minute," I don't really mean that it will only be a minute. And when that minute expires, they are forced to take matters into their own tentacles.

Savanna sure is handy with a pair of scissors. She didn't want to be in the picture; she was too busy chewing her gum in a dark corner.

How To Buy a House in AZ

A few weeks back, I was reading tips on a blog about how to move to New York City...you know, helpful hints on how much money to save before moving, how to find a job, where to look for an apartment, etc. I'm not sure why I was reading that particular post at that particular moment; I was probably supposed to be packing at the time. Anyway, reading that post made me think that I should use my recent experience to do the same kind of thing for people who are looking to buy a house in Phoenix right now. There are a few different ways you can do it, so just pick the one that works best for you.

Scenario 1:

Find a house that you like on realtor.com.
Decide that it could work really well for your family.
Discover that it is already under contract but that no one has updated that info on MLS.
Sigh.

Scenario 2:

Find a house that you LOVE.
Rush to see it the moment you can.
Put in an offer.
Get outbid.
Cry.

Scenario 3:

Find another house that you love.
Make an appointment to see it.
Prepare an aggressive offer even before the viewing.
Find out that another offer has been accepted
before you even get a chance to see it in person.
Cry again.

Get your Kleenex ready and prepare for discouragement, folks. Then follow these simple steps and you'll never be able to buy a house here.

Welcome to Arizona.

Moving Buddies

In the course of moving this time around, I have fallen in love with two invaluable companions.

Companion #1: Tape Gun. Seriously, how have I ever moved without one of these?

Companion #2: Vanilla Diet Coke from Sonic. Seriously, how have I ever moved without 25 of these?

On a side note, I had to laugh when I saw that the girls had their Barbie car packed up much the same way that our car will be shortly (minus the giraffe in the backseat). I love a little foreshadowing.

The Upside

Of course, living in a house that you are about to move out of does have some perks. Like caring a lot less about messes. And getting rid of stuff.

And having a wealth of boxes for the kids to put on their heads for an hour.

Oh, and doing things like this:

So, you see, it's not all bad.