Aunt Angela Hits Hogville

Angela brought mad love and Michigan vibes to The Natural State. We all loved having her and we can't wait to see her back here in November! Angela has captured our fab football weekend in a photo series for your enjoyment.


If you've ever seen Tiny Toons back in the 80s/90s, this is Almira. If you haven't, this is just Hayley squeezing Polski.




Sibling Rivalove.





Angela, we're going to need to work on your Sassy Knee-Raise/Toe-Point.





Big Love for the Big House.





When in Rome...




I mean, as tough as it was to get into cheering for a whole new team, Hay sure does make their colors look a lot cuter.



I should note that Hay has mastered the whole 'support your team' thing. She'd wait until the crowd got REALLY quiet, then say "GO RAZORBACKS! YOU CAN DO IT!"




Note: Troy did not sell out his team. His shirt does not say 'Razorbacks.' Wearing red was as committed as he was willing to get.





The coldest day in Arkansas since we've been here. Plans for tailgating were replaced with snacks and sodas in the car.











Hay gets her Halloween treats from Grandma, Papa and Aunt Angela. No, she's not spoiled at all.

Sidebar: Aunt Angela has taught Hayley to say "Dolla Dolla Bills Ya'll" like a little Gangster when she receives money. Needless to say, Meghan can't wait until Aunt Angela has children so Aunt Meghan can teach her kids how to represent their gangsta style, "flash their bling" and "make it rain."

The New House

So, this morning as I was talking to my sister, I realized that I never shared any updates about our new home since we've purchased it. A lot has happened since the last home-related blog post.

Here's what happened. The last house I blogged about, we didn't get. The bank wouldn't come down off the price which was ridiculous for its condition and its location.

Reinstating our search, we found a home in a neighborhood that we've had our eye on since we've been here. The neighborhood is called Highland Knolls, it's an established neighborhood (homes built in the late 90s), each home is unique and varies in price starting at 200K going up to over a million. Here's what we love about the house:

- 2240 square feet
- 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths (As Hayley moves closer to teen years, she will certainly want her own bathroom.)
- fenced-in backyard for Polski
- playscape already in the backyard (for Hayley and future kids)
- both the backyard and the front yard have beautiful trees.
- house came with an older model of Bose surround sound (we're hoping it still works)
- all bedrooms are attached to a bathroom (Two of the bedrooms share a Jack and Jill bathroom. And Hayley will get her own bathroom separate from those.)
- nice-sized kitchen with good counter space, countertop for barstools plus space for a kitchen table, and attached small gathering room with fireplace
- designated dining room with wood floor
- large family room with built-ins
- deck that exits off the family room and master bedroom
- all brick home
- repairs that showed up in the inspection were pretty minor
- excellent neighborhood with varying homes and lots of kids
- excellent elementary school right in the neighborhood
- the home comes with a membership to Shadow Valley Country Club, a private club that offers a restaurant, gym, challenging golf course, pro shop, tennis, basketball, swimming pool and kids play-scape

What we'd like to change:
The house hasn't been updated since 1997. Cosmetic changes can be made like kitchen counters, appliances, flooring, paint and light fixtures over time to make this home glow. Right now, everything in the house is in working order and we don't need to spend money right away to get the house updated which is great. We can make changes at our leisure.

We're scheduled to close on it on November 13th. We hope that everything stays on schedule so that can actually happen. Movers are supposed to come November 15th at 9am to help us move out of the apartment. I wish I had more photos of the home, but the real estate agent has taken most of them down from the website. He's reposted some on Zillow.com which I've posted here.

We're praying for a happy transfer:)

Note: Thank you to all of our parents and friends who have offered advice and an ear for us to vent our house-hunting experiences. We can't wait to have you all come visit so you can see the home in person.

Halloween 2009. Rockin' the new neighborhood.

We've decided that we're pretty much the awesomest family Halloween 2009 has ever seen. And our new neighborhood? Pretty much the rockin'est neighborhood our Big Ten hearts could've asked for. Allow me to set the scene:

I've just finished giving Hay some "firecracker" pigtails, affectionately named for their spray-like shape with her new short and sassy 'do. All dressed in our Michigan gear, we piled into the car to head to our new neighborhood! We pulled into our new driveway and the streets were already buzzing with Halloween excitement. The people across the street had their garage door up and had a Halloween party in session. We were in front of the house taking advantage of the daylight for a pre-TrickorTreat photo session for not 5 minutes before our across-the-street neighbors come over to introduce themselves. (Meghan, internally squealing with excitement.) They invited us to come enjoy their halloween spread if we needed a break between houses. SO nice.

So we headed off on our trickortreating adventure. Within the first hour of trickortreating, I started to think we've moved right back into Big Ten country. We had equal amounts of "Go Blue"s and Razzing from Michigan fans/grads, Penn State grads, Michigan State grads, Ohio State grads, Notre Dame grads, and Wisconsin grads. To me, it was unbelievable. We walked down the street behind us and there was an enormous blow-up SPARTY on their front lawn! WHAT? WHERE ARE We?! At that point, I wasn't even annoyed... I was just excited to have neighbors who understand us. Now, of course there were diehard Arkansas fans and SEC gurus, but they seemed to be matched by the number of people from other conferences. At the end of the night, one girl gave Hayley double candy for being a Michigan fan, another lady was wearing a big bright Michigan block M and gave Hay a big "Go Blue" and to top off the night, some OSU fans told Hayley that if she said "Go Buckeyes" she could take a second handful of candy. It was so bizarre, I didn't even get mad (at first). Needless to say, Hayley totally sold us out for the candy.

Tonight, from across the map, it's good to feel close to home.



Troy and Hay in front of the new house.

Excited for Halloween 2009!

Hay in front of a house that turned their entire front yard into a crazy graveyard!

Not Pictured: There was also a Rolls Royce in the driveway.

Hayley choosing her candy next to some old bones.

Crazy Halloween party at one of the mansions 2 streets over.

Same mansion. These people were awesome. And Wisconsin fans!

8pm and still sassy.

The spoils. Count 159 pieces of candy. And after this pic, that Crunch bar didn't stand a chance.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!

All Hallows Eve, Deliciously Spooky

Eyeball Cupcakes!

Hay's ghoulish frosting.

Daddy threatens to take a bite!

Spooking Servings!

Mummy dogs and Witches Hands

Shirley Temples of Doom!

Let's rewind to Hay's party.

Hay reciting her totally memorized poem like a literary genius.

Hay's teacher dressed up like a red crayon.

Waiting in line before the parade:)

Cuter than cute.

She's so cute, we hardly noticed she was wearing the wrong team's outfit.

Cutie cute!

Are you my home?

So, we've spent the last three months shopping for our first home. That's inaccurate. 'Shopping' suggests a fun, exciting, positive experience, which is exactly the opposite of how I'd describe our home shopping experience. Our weekends center around open houses, drive-bys, the real estate section of the newspaper, zillow.com and our navigation system. (Hayley is less than inspired by this weekend practice.) The mission? Find an exceptionally affordable home that suits our family, and close on it before November 30th to take advantage of the first time home buyer tax credit incentive. Here's how that's panning out:

Thus far, we've looked at about 40 homes. That doesn't include the other properties we've driven by, creepily peered in windows of, and trespassed into backyards of before determining they weren't a good fit for our family.

Sure, we had a lot of mandatories on our must-haves list, but we thought they were reasonable. One of our must-haves is a big back yard, or... just a moderately sized one. In Michigan, this typically isn't a problem. But here... let's just say if I were spitting watermelon seeds off these backyard patios, they'd likely be hitting a neighbor kid in the face.

We've made offers on three homes.

The first house was a ranch with a small pool in a great neighborhood that had been on the market for a few months. After bargaining for three weeks with the homeowner, we offered him asking price. He verbally accepted, then hours later realized that he didn't want to move anymore, refused to sign our contract and withdrew his home from the market. Awesome.

The second house was a two-level home with a moderately sized back yard in a neighborhood in Hayley's school district. It was a newer home and had everything we were looking for. Unfortunately, the property was a short sale (Realtor code for 'hold onto your pants -- this is going to be the longest home-buying process of your life'). Our offer was the leading offer and the only one being considered by the bank. Unfortunately, while we were waiting for a response the homeowners moved out of the home and took the 3K refrigerator with them (which was included in our contract). Additionally, we noticed a spot of bio-organic growth on the ceiling of the downstairs bathroom. Oh, most importantly, we weren't going to get a response for 90 days which would put us out of the running for our 8K First time home buyers tax credit. Also awesome.

Our most recent moment of house-hunting greatness came last week when we decided to pull our offer on house #2, and make an offer on a third home -- a foreclosure, bank-owned -- that has everything we're looking for except... well, floors. Apparently a rash of trendy homeowners decided that stained concrete floors are an attractive feature. Um, they're not. We'd have to use some of our tax credit to carpet the home. Our offer was low, so we're not exactly expecting to get this Arkansas gem either. But hey... we're on a roll. Why break our awesome house-hunting stride now?

So that's it. Poking around in people's back yards has kept the blog posts lean over the past two months. Say a prayer for us. We'll need them. And as always, we'll keep ya'll posted.

Tie-dye Pajama Pants, Meet Rockin' Pink Thong-Toe Slippers

It's been a few weeks since I've posted, and I'm going to make up for it right here. From the heart of Walmart-y-ville, I bring you "The People of Walmart Blog." It's a blog created by some people who took a trip to Walmart and decided to start saying what all of us were thinking: "Wow, now this is an especially eclectic bunch of shoppers (I wonder where they shop for their outifts...? Oh... Right.)" My team stumbled across this website at work -- and while we found ourselves jaw-dropped and gasping, none of us were really surprised. If these striking consumers are unavailable in a Walmart near you, I can show you where to find some. I've included a disclaimer from the website below as well as a disclaimer of my own. Family, that disclaimer is for you.

Disclaimer from The People of Walmart Blog: This site is not in anyway affiliated with Walmart. If you are looking for Walmart’s official website you can find it by clicking here. This site is simply a satirical social commentary of the extraordinary sights found at America’s favorite store.

People of Walmart was founded in August of 2009 by three friends and roommates after an inspirational trip to Walmart. Let’s face it; we all have seen the people who obviously don’t have mirrors and/or family and friends to lock them in a basement, and they all seem to congregate at Walmart...

Meghan's disclaimer: (you can read more about the idea behind the blog on the "About" page on the website, but I'll forwarn you that it's a little crass -- family, that disclaimer is directed at you).

Instead, I recommend you just visit the "People of Walmart" blog homepage here while you enjoy your mid-morning coffee.