turning firty.

caleb used to say the "th" sound as the "f" sound.  

 

all last year he would tell ben that he was so happy that his dad was "firty" and i was a little sad that this year he was all grown up enough to say an exaggerated "mom, you're THirty!"  as soon as he saw me on the morning of the big day.

which speaking of...turned out to be a fabulous day.

it started with ben surprising me by not scheduling work in the morning and i was able to SLEEP IN.  {my favorite thing ever!}  when i came out of the room there were decorations everywhere and ben made me a lovely breakfast.  

i sat down for a few minutes to eat, and then we were immediately thrown into a whirlwind of a real estate race.  

ben had looked at several houses the day before, and had found one that he loved.  as i was filling out an application for it late that same night, i found another one that had just been listed that was in a fantastic area, with a school that had a rating of a 9 out of 10 for elementary schools, and was twice the size of what we're living in now...with 4 bedrooms....for the same price as the others we'd been looking at, which were only 3 bedrooms.  

i immediately emailed our real estate agent, even though it was midnight, asking if there was any way that she could meet me the next day at 2pm to walk through it.  she emailed right back {thank heavens she's a night owl too!} and we set it up.

but the next morning, on my birthday, we contacted the agency the house was listed through to ask if there were any applications already turned in for the house.  unfortunately there was one already....which didn't make sense because it had just been listed.  so apparently the other couple had put in an application without even seeing the house first!  {INSANE} we also found out that they had put in another application on the same home that ben had seen that we were also applying for.  

what are the odds, i ask you?  

so i'll admit it, we panicked a little.  okay, a lot.

we've both been stressed out about finding a home before we get the boot out of our apartment and couldn't believe that people are applying for homes before even seeing them!  

so.

we decided to play their same game, and put in an application for both homes also and see what happened.  i kept the appointment to go and see the second, bigger house but getting all of our paperwork in and making about 20 phone calls to the management company, then to our real estate agent and back again took a while.  and ben & i were both a little on edge.  {him more than me, which doesn't happen often.  just sayin'.}

 ben and i calmed ourselves down, talking to each other about how we knew that we would do our best and then have faith knowing that if it was supposed to be, it would happen for us.  ben went and picked up some birthday lunch while i hung out with the kids and got ready for the appointment.

when i arrived at the house, there was immediately a bad omen.  a stray cat was lounging on the front porch, giving me the stink eye.  i'm sorry to all you cat lovers, but i struggle with them.  it's not like i don't have any experience with them, either.  remember this post?  well those feelings haven't changed.

but.

aside from the stray feline who would not be getting any freebies from me if we moved in there, i loved the house.  

loved.  it.

it wasn't perfect, and as far as its accessories go they are pretty basic, but we don't need fancy-pants.  and we're renting here, so it's not like it was going to be our dream home.  but it was HUGE compared to what we're used to.  {that isn't saying much, i know. but it's even bigger than i had hoped for.}

there was another couple there with a different agent looking at the house when we pulled up, so i was nervous.  but our application was already in, and luckily our credit score was better than the others who had applied, so....

WE GOT THE HOUSE!!

the best birthday present i could ask for!

we are so excited and also stressed out.  we have to move in just a couple of weeks, so i'm going a little nuts here.  i have nothing ready for caleb's school, and he's probably going to have to start a week late, but still.

we're extremely grateful and can't wait for:

a backyard.

a neighborhood.

walls that don't connect to anyone else's walls.

a garage.

a bedroom for caleb.  {no more sleeping in our closet, buddy!}

3 bathrooms.

a laundry room.

an office for ben.

the ability to find a place that we can stay in for several years, with room to grow.

hooray!

okay, back to the big day.  after looking at the house i went to my group therapy, then home again to spend time with my kids.  ben came home after his practicum and we packed for the next day's trip to utah.  there were texts, phone calls and messages from friends and family.  and i appreciated it so much.  some people love the big parties, but i am not that girl.  i like just having a fun time and hearing from the people i love, and looking at my life to realize i have a lot to be thankful for.

 so all in all, it was a fantastic day.

and i'm now THirty!