It has been a very difficult week for Stuart and I.  It started out with joy last Monday when we could walk through our future home, but as soon as we arrived, our agent learned the bad news.  There was a dispute on the seller side, therefore, our contract could not be closed properly.  We were very disappointed and sad for the next couple of days.  Stuart even paid a visit to an attorney on Wednesday to learn our options.  We continued to make our appointment for sign-off on Wednesday afternoon, but it was the most depressing sign-off as we felt that we most likely not getting the house.

   That same evening we learned a slight chance of turning a corner.  One party of the dispute agreed to move their matter into a separate escrow to allow us to close.  We felt more relieved and enjoyed the slight hope for a day or two.  But toward the end of the week, the hope was diminishing.  What compounded matters was that our apartment lease was just days away from our 30 day notice period.  We either had to give notice and move out in 30 days, or extend for another 3 months or more.  Also the rental rate had increased $500 a month.

  Our realtor had sent a letter to the Seller regarding a breech of contract, and later Stuart did a more personal one to other party with a picture of the boys too plead the case of moving the issue to a separate venue and letting the sale proceed.  However their lawyer did not seem interested.  By Sunday, we had decided to pursue the legal route.  Stuart had prepared the paperwork and dropped them off on Monday morning.  By the time he returned home, Stuart received great news.  The third party suddenly agreed too to move their dispute out of our escrow and that afternoon the seller was scheduled to do his sign-off.  Stuart and I are thrilled and relieved to learn that we can finally own our dream house soon.  But because of the crazy up and down this past week, Stuart and I are not totally believing it until we have the keys in our hands which is hopefully tomorrow.

    We went for a bike ride at the lake this weekend.  The boys did well.  We circled around the lake, stopped at the playground to play and have lunch, then biked around the lake to get home.  Logan is still afraid of speed, and would get nervous with any slight decline.  He would tell me “Mommy…going too fast!!” with a shaky voice.  On the other hand, Connor, in his more stable tricycle, would try to peddle fast so that he could go downhill super fast.  He would even lean forward and lift his feet off the peddles to enjoy the glide.  The two of them are very different.

    My work had the annual Family Fall Festival this past weekend.  We aimed to be there at the start.  We checked in, then lined up to take a family photo first.  We then grabbed a little treat.  Connor wanted to try the coconut ice cream bar while Logan wanted the big pretzel.  We enjoyed our snacks while walked around to check out the booths.  There were not much fun booths, so we just picked up more snacks (corns and tacos) and sat down with the Changs and enjoyed a rest while we ate.  Connor wanted some pretzel and accidentally took the one from Julie.  I was being a bit too tough on Connor and told him he shouldn’t pickup other peoples food and that made him cry…however, his pouty face was so adorable.  I agreed to go get one with him and he quickly stopped crying.  Afterward, we just decided to take off to go home for our nap.

      There was an Art and Wine Festival at our local lake park today, so we took a walk to the event this morning.  Connor was so excited to see the festival that he was walking faster and taking less breaks than usual.  We walked through the booths quickly, then back up to the kiddie area.  To our surprise, the boys were not interested in playing any of the games or jumping in the bouncy houses, but they just chose to play at the normal park structure that they always like.  We shopped around a bit more, then we headed over for lunch.  We brought some food and sat down at a shaded spot on the lawn to enjoy the music.  The boys enjoyed our little relaxation time there.

    This evening we all gathered at a Korean restaurant to celebrate Robyn’s birthday.  Logan fell asleep in the car ride, so Connor and I went into the restaurant first.  Connor was being silly, kept saying auntie Robert instead of auntie Robyn, and wasn’t until the end that he said it correctly.  We chatted with each other, then we were finally seated.  The food arrived quickly and we all dove in.  Both Connor and Logan were mostly interested in the noodles only.  After dinner, we talked a bit more outside the restaurant and the kids all seemed a bit hyper running in circles.  We then decided to head home for an early night.

    All four of us attended Jenny and Rico’s wedding reception on Saturday night at a Chinese seafood restaurant.  We all dressed up and arrived at the reception as we had planned.  We congratulated the bride and groom, and said hello to the people we know, then we moved on to the photo booth to take some photos.  The boys finally got the idea and enjoyed wearing some of the props.  They had fun playing at the prop table with Mckayla and Marcus, and took some pictures with them too. 

     Then it was time to be seated and we listened to the introduction of the bridal family.  Finally the dinner was served; it was a bit of struggle to keep the hungry kids staying seated.  The boys were either quite adventurous or just hungry; they both had a good share of the beginning dishes.  Logan liked the cold appetizers, seafood soup, crab claw, and the Peking duck wrap while Connor enjoyed the jelly fish, seafood soup, crab claw, Chinese buns and snap peas.  They both were full basically half way through the banquet meals. 

     After dinner and after Tyson and Tyler’s great performance, the dancing began.  We took the boys out to the dance floor to see if they were interested.  They both looked intrigued but did not want to participate.  By then, it was almost 10pm, Logan seemed quite tired and agreed to return to the seat to sit down.  Connor contemplated for awhile and finally wanted to dance.  He enjoyed swinging our arms together, making turns and jumping too.  After a song or two, we returned to the table and Connor was so happy to see the cake that he had been waiting for the entire night.  He took so many big bites that he finished 2/3 of the slice in no time.  Afterward, we decided to take the boys home to end the late night.

     We finally managed to sign Logan up for swimming classes, and the first class was on Thursday.  I left work early to take Logan to the class, but I was behind schedule, so Stuart ended up picking Logan up from school and I met up with them there.  Logan mentioned once during their drive and once to me while we waited at the lobby that he did not want to swim.  But Stuart and I both tried not to make a big deal with the class and just asked him to try to have fun. 

     As soon as his name was called, I walked in the pool area with him.  The instructor asked Logan to take off his shoes and join the group, and Logan surprisingly just walked away from me as instructed.  I returned to the lobby area and watched through the glass with Stuart.  Logan went into the water and stayed with the teacher and the other three students.  The three students were similar or slightly older than Logan, but they all were in much higher level of swimming than Logan.  However the teacher did pay Logan the equal share of attention and gave him simple instructions for a beginner.  She looked stern with instruction; she had Logan begin with walking to pick up toys, then she added one little step periodically for him to do while he walked.  He was told to put his chin on the boogie board, next put one ear in water, then the next ear, later hold his breath and put half of his face down in water while walking.  We were so excited to see how well Logan was following her instructions and how careful he was trying to do what she asked him to do.  He was doing everything even when she was busy with the other better swimmers.  He did notice us watching him in the lobby but he never really showed much expression on his face.  Logan was doing so well that it was almost painful to watch as I was not sure if Logan was having fun or if he was feeling forced.  However, we did see him occasionally talking to the pool toys in a fun way.  At the end, the teacher had Logan pour water over her head, then she did the same thing over Logan which he did not enjoy too much.  Then the class time was up, and they walked single file to the shower area.  When we met up with Logan, fortunately he said he enjoyed the class and would not mind coming back next week.

    Beginning of this past week, I went back to New Mexico for a couple of days to take care of some items regarding my dad.  Stuart held down the fort on his own again.  I helped arrange for lunches and dinners prior to leaving, but otherwise Stuart did a great job taking care of themselves.  But unfortunately adding to the stress, the first day I left, Stuart was informed of a silly yet huge problem with our loan to the new house.  It had consumed a lot of Stuart’s energy.  After multiple calls and documentation that Stuart had to make the issue finally resolved on Friday and we are on schedule for closing next week. 

    I came back home on Wednesday and picked up the boys at school earlier than usual.  They both were excited to see me.  Connor kept asking where and why I was away.  I took the boys to meet up with Kira and family at Chuck E Cheese for part of her birthday celebration.  The boys were so excited that right after saying happy birthday to Kira, they both were off to check out games.  Logan tried to stay with “Big Ian” and his friend for a bit, watching them play some games, then he was on his own for some shooting games.  Ian joined him some time later to assist in the battle.  Connor spent some time with Kira and Kaia, then he had fun on some kiddie games on his own.  He discovered how much he enjoyed the ice hockey game; he played a couple games with Kathy, then a few more games with me before he got tired of it.  We all played for over an hour, then we said goodbyes to Kira and family, and went home to have dinner with daddy.