casa numero dos

We closed on our second house this afternoon. A real single family house.
Two houses in two years.
So if my math is correct in ten years we will own ten homes. (: I'll thank my grumpy math teacher Mr. Nelson for those mad skills!
The truth is I'm a little sad to leave the duplex it was our first home and the home we brought little Brynny home to after all. The funny thing is we almost didn't even go inside the duplex when we first pulled up to the open house but our realtor was already inside so we obliged. You know when they say "you'll get a feeling"? Well we had a feeling about the duplex. Yes the outside was a sore thumb but inside the orginal wood floors were in great shape and the vintage bathrooms were in decent 60 year old shape. We always knew it was going to be an investment property and we are ready for some more space.  Besides I have a not so secret dream that someday Brynn will want to live here someday with a friend. It will be crazy to think what this area will be like in 20+ years based on all the new building/stores/restaurants that are currently in the works!

We've looked a lot of houses over the past year, multi and single family homes, only to keep looking. The duplexes we saw were either disasters (aka money pits) or really overpriced (which only made us more confident that we got a great deal on our current house!). The single family houses were a combination of houses that were already updated (and not in our style), lacked enough bedrooms or space in general, or were too expensive. Then this one came along and we made it ours. The nice thing about this house is that if we had to live here for a long time we could, but I have a feeling we'll be ready to remodel again in a few years once we have this house complete. As a bonus we've already rented the other side of the duplex..it actually took two showings instead of one this time because the first showing really wanted a dishwasher. The couple we found are two teachers with advanced degress who are getting married in a month. One actually teaches at the elementary school that Brynn will probably go to!

We have lots to look forward to in our new house (don't laugh as I know these are things most of you are used to!)
-2 car garage
-3 bedrooms on the same level
-a YARD
-new windows (I am over the "charm" of original windows that have been painted 20 times!)
-a fireplace (actually 2!)
-an open concept kitchen (after living in the condo for 3 years I really missed the ability to see the action while making dinner)
-a king sized bed!!

Magnus choice of "spots" in our homes:
1. Condo deck..preferably in the sunshine!

2. Chair by the window...again a sunny spot!

we like spring

We walked around the block this evening per Magnus' request even though I knew he had only been walked an hour earlier by our nanny. Five houses up the street our neighbor has an in-home daycare where our little neighbors, twin four year old boys, go to daycare. We walked by and they rode their bikes up to the fence to greet Magnus and Brynn. I asked them if they were having fun and the one little dude responded "we like spring". I laughed and thought how perfectly he summarized how every Minnesotan was feeling today. I sat in my office today just itching to go outside... it was terribly unproductive. There is a really nice trail system connected to our campus so I took a quick 30 minute walk and felt much better to finish the afternoon. When I got home I learned Brynn and Allie had walked to the park on the lake where she met a little girl on the swings. Of course all I could think about was how I wanted to bring her to the park instead of sitting in that silly office. Apparently being a working mother is harder in the summertime :( so please send me all the school nurse jobs you can find! We finished our walk and did a few yard chores. I have a few tulips coming through and even though our grass was really brown during last summer's drought it's coming up  nice and green albeit a little patchy. The city planted a new tree in our front yard  and even though I tried my best to water it (I did have a newborn after all!)  There are very few buds on it but I'll keep watching it.

This past weekend we spent up north with at our friends at their cabin. Brynn hung out with her bud Crosby. It's hard to believe that only 6 months ago Brynn was Crosby's age! Brynn enjoyed some quality outdoors time, probably ate dirt for the first time, and stayed up late (see the picture of her standing on my pillow after crawling away from a diaper change!)

Future best buds