Juggling two mortgages

Today marks 11 months that we have lived in our new house. It also means that we are one month shy of a whole year of learning how to be landlords, deal with a rental agency, and collect rent that only pays half of the mortgage. But through it all God has been faithful, even when we doubted and wanted to give up. Like when our renters paid late every month. Or when they flat out decided to stop paying and we had to evict them. Or when we found out that one of them was a registered sex offender and the cops were after him. Or when Shaun spent an entire day cleaning because the place was a disaster.

However (cause God KNEW we needed a however), we are now with a new agency and they have found us a wonderful renter (that moves in today), who has a record of always paying on time, AND she signed a two year contract! We also got a letter in the mail yesterday that said our interest rate was lowered, which means our mortgage on the rental was almost cut in half. Yes, we will still be losing money each month on the rental but God totally took our worries (aka: freak outs) and showed us that we are doing exactly what He wants for us!!!  

The boys and I stopped by the old house to drop off the keys for the new renter. Isaac loved seeing his old room and Parker loved all the open floor space to run!

To read about our amazing house story, click here.

Seven (6/26)

A true love story of a girl and a boy...

She asked him on their first day... He said yes!

Two years later he got down on one knee and proposed... She said yes!

Another year later they got married... They both said I do!

Since they have been married they have had seven big events take place...

He took her to Hawaii... Four three times! 
2004, 2006, 2008, 2010

She became an elementary school teacher (he needed a sugar mama while he finished the fire academy and medic school)!

2004

Couldn't find a picture of the two of them in her classroom so this will have to do! 

They bought their first home!
2006

He became a sexy man in uniform fireman!

2007

They became a family of three!

2007

They became a family of four!

2009

They bought their second home!

2010

During this seventh year of marriage they are looking forward to becoming a family of five and planning their next Hawaiian vacation!

They continue to live happily ever after...

Trains, trains, and more trains!

 

A few days ago Shaun and I took the boys to a train museum. It's close to our house and free to the public... Two of our favorite things! The boys had a great time exploring and can't wait to go back in November when Thomas will be there!

They had sheds and trains from all over California!

Yes, I even climbed a few trains myself!

Exploring...

Isaac told me this is his "happy, mad" face!

Parker has reached the "I KNOW I am sooo cute" stage!

Shaun needs to hurry and grow a third arm for Blake!

I love all my blond hair-blue eye-white boys!

Happy Father's Day

Shaun got off work this morning so Isaac and I had breakfast waiting for him when he got home. Isaac couldn't wait to tell him happy birthday (the whole father's day thing didn't seem to make a lot of sense to him so he decided it would be better to celebrate daddy's birthday). Parker was still fast asleep finishing up his 13 hours of sleeping. He had a fever all day yesterday and for some reason he sleeps better when he's sick (makes up for how hard the days are). Unfortunately he woke up with a temperature of 101 so only Isaac and daddy got to go to church while Parker and I chilled at home. After naps we headed to some friend's house to BBQ and swim. The cool water and fresh air seemed to be just what Parker needed.

Father's Day is definitely an earned holiday. Today should have been all about Shaun and we should have been serving him. Instead, he was serving us... Comforting Parker, correcting Isaac, and helping me do things around the house due to my ever growing belly! Oh how blessed we are to have him in our lives!

Giving daddy his card. Shocked we got a smile out of Parker!

The sign we made and hung for daddy. That's more like it Parker... Bring on the tears! Yes, he wasn't feeling good, but he's learned how to work the system!

Brotherly love?

Is it bad that I reached for the camera before I rescued Isaac!?! 

I think Isaac is half (or maybe just a fourth) laughing... Although, I'm sure all of Parker's chunk on his skinny little body didn't feel too good. These boys have been at each other like crazy. Two seconds of holding still means the other one will pounce on top! I feel like I say, "be careful! Get off of him! No wrestling on the hard floors! Gentle! It's not nice to whack your brother in the face! Don't sit on his face!" ALL day long!  And to top it all off, we're adding another one to the testosterone kingdom in just eight weeks! Aye yi yi!

59-11

Last month my dad called me and said that he was going to throw a surprise birthday party for my mom on June 9th... A whole month earlier than her real birthday! He knows that I typically won't come in the summer and that it is hard traveling with the boys so he was willing to fly me out just for the party. I laughed at him... Yeah, like mom wants to see me. Everyone knows it's all about the grand babies. Shaun happened to be working most of the days that week so I just told my dad that the boys and I would come for the week. It was in the 90s, which isn't horrible. BUT it didn't help knowing that it was low 70s back home.

Two days before the party my dad just felt that things weren't right. Aaron was flying in to surprise my mom, Lisa was going to be there with her family, and the boys and I were there. But someone was missing... Shaun was the only person that wasn't going to be there. He was scheduled to work the day of and the two days after the party so we never even tried to fit him into the plan (he's saving days for when the baby comes). As you can see from the picture above, he came. When your father-in-law is willing to book you a two day's notice flight, you take it. He was able to trade the days and fly in Thursday morning and then fly back Friday night. Shaun and my dad didn't tell me so it was quite the surprise for me when he showed up with my brother! My mom was thrilled, not to mentioned overwhelmed! We are NEVER all together... Someone is ALWAYS missing!

  

Happy 59 years and 11 months!

This was my dads doing... He got my mom a Spiderman cake 'cause he knew Isaac and Parker would like it!

The boys!

My parents with their grandkids... Had to have Ailee in the picture 'cause it could be their only granddaughter. ;)

The boys did a lot of this!

Parker just wants to cuddle all the time!

See... He crawled up to cuddle with Maddox! I caught him before he started body slamming.

I had Maddox to myself for a while so we had a little photo session... His mommy doesn't take many pictures so it may be up to me! ;)

Again... Iso and his dogs!

A glimps into Isaac's head!

Isaac and I were in the car today and this was one, of our many, conversations:

Isaac: Mommy, can I hold all the Blakes when they all come out of your tummy?

Me: (confused) How many babies do you think are in my tummy?

Isaac: Three

Me: (still confused) Why do you think there are three babies in my tummy?

Isaac: There are three babies in your tummy because it's so big!!!

Me: (laughing) No Isaac, there is only ONE Blake in my tummy, not three!

Isaac: No, I want to hold all three and then line them up on the ground!

Laughing more and moving on to see what else he can come up with...

Me: Isaac, what do babies do?

Isaac: Breathe under water!
(we've talked about how Blake is "swimming" in my belly)

Me: No, they eat, sleep, and cry.

Isaac: And poop!!!

I then took a picture of him so I could be sure to remember this moment forever!!!

(Don't worry... I was at a full and complete stop. Totally safe)