Good-bye Cinci! Hello Erie!

It was mean of me to say I was back and then suddenly leave again but the last 2 weeks have been CRAZY! We spent part of the boys spring break in Erie to introduce them to their school and the area, we went to Pittsburgh for the day to go to museums, etc. It was a great trip, more on it later. Then when we got home I went to a homeschool conference in Cinci--more on that later too.

Then on that Saturday April 2nd my prayers were answered and we accepted an offer on our house. YAY!!!!

My mom came on Tuesday to take care of the boys so we could go back to Erie to find a new house. We only had 3 on our list so we thought it would be fairly easy. But home buying never is, is it? We made an offer on one property on Wednesday but after their counter we withdrew the bid. The house was a bit small for us and although the lot was plenty big to expand there weren't a lot of families, or kids close to our kids ages in the neighborhood.

On Thursday we went back out after looking at a few properties that weren't going to work--one Chris wouldn't even go in to because it reeked of smoke so bad. I basically ran through that house because the smoke smell was so overpowering. It actually made me sad because it was a house we might have considered but we were never going to be able to get that smell out of the house.

We went back to one property that was VERY overpriced but in a fabulous neighborhood. We made an offer and then a counter and then another counter and finally reached an agreement today (Monday). We still have the home inspection to go through and we may withdrawal our offer if there are too many hidden fixes that we haven't already seen.

So here's the house.......

The front....garage is on the side of the house. Lots of very mature trees.
Formal dining room. Owner is leaving the dining room set. Not sure if we will sell or keep.
Kitchen. It's in bad need of updates. Will start by painting the cabinets....then we'll start replacing appliances as our finances allow.
Backyard. It's smaller than we have now. Only about a 1/4 of an acre, we have almost 1/2 an acre now. But the yard has lots of mature trees and the boys don't play much in the yard anymore. I am excited to finally have a hammock!!
Formal Living room. It's quite large! It will become the boys game room as there isn't a finished basement and we don't plan on finishing the basement because it's not that big.
Family room. Complete with fireplace. YAY! (The other house didn't have a fireplace.)
Didn't really get good pictures of the bedrooms (there are 4). here is the master.
Here is what will be my craft room/guest room.

We are so very excited. Hoping that the home inspection goes well.

⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:5-7