Moving Day Confirmed!

We are all set to close and move on April 16th!  Our work year resets on June 1st and with the year coming to a close Clint and I both have some lingering vacation days.  Clint is going to take every Friday off from April 21st through the end of May.  I will take most of those Fridays but there are a few where he will fly solo.  We believe with those long weekends that we will have Foxtail feeling like home in no time!  I also built a wonderful spreadsheet of all the tasks we want to execute and the priority level over the first ~6 months.  

Other than house stuff we are a bit boring.  Seems all our free time centers right now around home ideas, packing and random finalizations with our realtor.  We are so excited to get settled and get back in a new rhythm all while meeting new neighbors, enjoying summer fun and preparing for the big Kindergarten transition!

Goofy Time with Mom Last Sunday Night!

 Pre-School Science Projects!

Friday - Good productive day for all of us followed by pizza and basketball!

Saturday - The usual dance in the morning but a special day of dance since it was wear your PJs day!  The girls are quickly learning their 2 recital numbers (tap and jazz).  After dance we were off to brunch at Pub 819 with the Fike's/Zehr's/Cassem's.  They had gone to an egg hunt but Maci didn't want to miss PJ dance and we are heading to one next Saturday morning!  Always a great time having late morning drinks and yummy food with my people.  The kiddos were nuts but what else is new?  They love playing together and it just gets a titch crazy!  Afterward we drove by the new house and took car naps.  All of us were still a little worn out once we got home and the naps continued :)  By evening we were watching more basketball and getting some major packing/current house projects complete.

A Prince and His Princess Joined Our Packing Fun!

Sunday - Fairly lazy and sunny Sunday!  Lots of early morning movies followed by moving prep, home to dos, trip to the park, walk with Karoline next door and now more basketball.  I was going to do some work prep but nah I will figure that out tomorrow - too nice of a day relaxin with my crew!  

The move will be here before we know it!  The kids really have rocked with their whole world being packed up around them and we are making good progress!  Next weekend will fly given Easter and Clint's 40th!  Then we have 1 1/2 weekends left before we are loaded on the moving truck.  We are getting so very excited and ready!  Thanks everyone for the well wishes and prayers throughout the process thus far. 💙💜💛

Lots of Love,

C, K, M & C

SOLD!

We are SOLD!  I can not get enough of saying those words :)  Let's see how the week went.

Tuesday - We had the annual daycare party where you save on signing the kids up for the summer events.  While I hate spending even more money on daycare I do get excited thinking about summer being around the bend and no more coats/boots/snow pants etc!!

Wednesday - We had the last step with the current house - home appraisal.  I was a titch nervous as the comparable around us weren't great apple to apple nor right at our price point.  The appraiser was in and out of the house in 7 mins - no clue what kind of sign that was but we said prayers and focused on what we could control.

Thursday - The news came in around lunch - appraiser agreed with the price and we were SOLD!  WAHOOO!!!!!  That means we are also SOLD on Foxtail as they were only awaiting our current house.  We are now playing through close dates which will as early as the 1st week of April or the latest is mid April.  That means lots of packing on the Mondell front but we are a OK with that!

Friday - I worked from home as the buyers VA loan includes a pest inspection.  While home awaiting the inspector, we also had the movers bring 50 bins to begin the packing process.  In addition, our realtor brought our SOLD sign.  Simply waiting on closing date confirmation - what a lovely day!  We wrapped up the day with some pizza and NCAA basketball!

Saturday - Dance in the morning followed by a trip out to Hudson, WI.  Our former neighbors Eric and Amanda built a house out there and they were having a St Patty's day housewarming party.  The kiddos had a blast - Connor talking to the dogs and Maci babysitting a little baby at the party.  We then headed home for some mid afternoon naps and more college basketball - we love March madness!

Sunday - Sunday school followed by the kids' first trip into Foxtail :)  Maci LOVES her new room including the remote control ceiling fan and Connor loved all the closets with lights HAHA.  We really cant wait to get in and start making it our own with a variety of projects already on the list.

Good Amount of Space for Kids to Roam

Plans in place to paint the exterior this summer from Beiges to Grays

So much backyard fun with a huge deck, hot tub and fire pit/patio

 The Mini Leaders Walk Through

Loving our Walk in Closet with Automatic Lights

 Clint explaining to Maci why she should love her room and not the one we gave Connor

Note the size of the closet & then she got the message!

 Connor didn't mind the size of his closet either :)

Fairly typical week ahead with all of us in town.  Lots of packing in the evenings and hopefully learning the confirmed closed date early part of this week.  We hope the temperatures continue to creep up with no more white stuff this year!

We hope you all have a great week ahead!

Lots of Love,

C, K, M & C

Clear Inspection & International Women's Day!

Another week of house progress and spring fever!

Monday - Radon test was picked up and later in the day we heard the buyer will be asking for no repairs/concessions etc as a result of the inspection and Radon was clear!  Yay!  Now we simply wait for the appraisal on Cedar Lake this coming Wednesday and after all is set there both homes are considered SOLD. . . please continue the good thoughts/prayers through this remaining step in the process!

Back to School

Playing with "Food" & Making Airplanes

Tues/Wed - Fairly typical work / school days.

Morning Fun at School

Thurs - Happy International Women's Day!  Even in 2018 women continue to be paid less than their male counterparts and I have a situation at work where we recently named a new leadership team in North America with predominately female leaders.  They are highly talented women and we are a 60% global female population but it drops dramatically at the leadership levels.  While many celebrate this team we have heard a few comments like "haven't we swung the diversity effort too far to one side" or "what will our rising male talent see for opportunity when they look up and don't see others like them"  Seriously?!  How about you ask that last question to these amazing female leaders who looked up in the organization at that early point in their career and saw no one who looked like them.  I support parity for all no matter gender, race, sexual orientation etc and this week helped to highlight that belief that much more!  I was also beaming with pride today (more than ever) watching our strong willed, leadership inclined Maci girl operate within her pre-school room!

In addition to that excitement - Maci had a 6 month dental check up and NO CAVITIES!!!  What wonderful news after the million dollar mouth about 6 months ago HA

Friday - Busy calendar day but broken up in the middle of the day with a fun lunch to finally send off our former Finance HR leader to another part of the organization.  She loved back in December to the new team but with so much going on we finally got around to all getting together.  Always good laughs with that crew!  We had a lazy evening at home which is just what was needed after a full week.

Saturday - We skipped dance this one Saturday for Evelyn and Lilian's 5th birthday party instead.  We love catching up with the Verplank family - former neighbors in St Louis Park who will now only live about 5 mins from the soon to be new house!  Sara outdid herself with the cutie underwater theme party and the kids loved making their pretend aquariums.  So not in my wheel house!  We did the usual drive by the Foxtail house before packing up our living room decor.  This then turned into college basketball evening and early bed with the loss of an hour at night.

Cutie with Curled Hair Ready for Birthday Party Fun!!

And the Outtake which Looks Like She had Too Much Fun in College ;) HA

Sunday - Connor was off with the time change this morning.  Clint and Maci headed to church and Sunday school while I helped little man to get adjusted.  We have been having a productive day around the house with Maci currently playing a game, Connor taking his nap and Clint out getting a hair cut.  We intend to have a chill day at home followed by NCAA bracket completion this evening.

Seriously Guys - We Have a Big Girl on Our Hands!

This Girl is Going to RUN into Kindergarten Come the Fall 💙💛

Thankfully everyone is around again this week and we hope to have another major milestone complete in the house process.  Ideally we will know final closing date/move plans later this week.  We are excited to share specifics on the new address once all is finalized.

Lots of Love,
C, K, M & C

The Whirlwind House Week!

What a crazy emotional week on the home front!

Monday - 2nd Showing for a recently divorced woman with 2 little kids.  She brings a contractor to understand options to expand the garage and driveway.  She continues to LOVE the house but no offer that evening.

Audra and Maci Enjoying the SNOW & Warmer Winter Weather 

Tuesday - Still no news on her offer but 2 more showings.

Wednesday - The Low Day!  We received a call that the lady is attempting to figure out the best mortgage amount given some recent new information on her alimony compared to what she had been told by the judge previously.  Therefore, she may offer but likely not as quickly as we need.  In the same breath, our realtor shares that the new house took someone through it and they are making an offer.  If the sellers accept, that puts us on the clock to sell our house/complete inspection etc within 10 business days.  Lots of tears later, we put a plan in place.  I wrote a letter to the seller's realtor and sellers explaining who we are and hoping to buy time (thankfully that seemed to work), we also understood how best to do a bridge loan so we don't lose the house and while doing all this our realtor gets a text from the showing on Tuesday night.  A single guy (recent veteran) LOVES the house and is ready to write an offer.  They want to come back for a showing Thursday evening and will be ready to progress - prayers are answered!

Maci Teaching her Brother to Dance HA

Thursday - I have a hair apt after work and check my text messages maybe every 10 mins.  On the drive home our realtor calls and Clint/I call him back 5 mins later.  We learn they are putting in offer in at only 5k under ask!!! DEAL SIGN AND BE DONE!  We finish the purchase agreement that night, our realtor explains our timetable so they get their inspection scheduled for Saturday.  In the meantime, our realtor gets a hold of the new house and we have yet to hear we have been put on a clock since they are likely excited to hear we have a signed purchase agreement.  We went to bed with smiles on our faces.

Friday - Talked about it all day at work as many knew how sad Wednesday was, the turnaround we had on Thursday and then the excitement of Friday!  After work I headed to the west end for girls night - what fun news to share!  We did a little shopping and then dinner/margaritas - always a good time!!  We also had another showing as we should keep doing those in case of back up offers.

Costume Kim Potato Head Fun!

Saturday - The usual dance followed by a trip by the new house, some errands and lunch all in an effort to stay away from the house for the 3 hour home inspection.  We haven't heard back yet on any specifics from the inspection and given MN has higher likelihood of Radon, they are running that test and will pick up for results on Monday.  After getting home, I dozed watching some TV and woke to texts from Clint and the realtor as the Friday night people also loved the house and may still write an offer (even though they would be a back up.)  We ended our Saturday by heading to Maple Grove and having dinner at a Mexican restaurant - yummy!

Sunday - Started the day with Church/Sunday school and then drove around a bit before settling on Benhinna for lunch.  We got home for some lazy time around the house - finishing laundry, ordering groceries, watching TV, coloring, naps etc.  After dinner, I am looking forward to catching up on some work in front of the TV with the Oscars on in the background.

Please send good thoughts that things continue to move in a favorable direction with both houses throughout this week.  We feel like we are so close to having this crazy time behind us and enjoying our new family home.  We also appreciate all the well wishes and sanity saving conversations.

Lots of Love,
C, K, M & C