Updates

I'll try to keep this short to accommodate attention spans that are similar to mine today.  I thought I'd update everyone about what the Brooks family is up to.

HOUSE UPDATE  I realized that we hadn't kept everyone informed of how the house hunt was going.  We were in contract with the owner of the house with the tacky pillars inside, but after getting it inspected, we discovered that there was a lot of work that needed to be done before we could even move in, and the owner wasn't willing to do any of the work.  (For example, the electric box was a "known fire hazard" according to the home inspector's report.  $800 min to fix, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.)  So, we backed out of that contract.  We've looked at a few other homes since then, but we decided yesterday that we'd just wait until this coming Spring to start looking again because life has become a bit hectic for us, and looking for a house was becoming an added stress right now.

FAMILY UPDATE  Each of us is also up to a lot of different things.  Brandon continues to work anywhere from 50-70 hours a week, but with school starting for him again on Wednesday, we're hoping that those numbers will drop a bit!  I am in the midst of trying to establish some sort of order here at home!  I'm trying to pack up the things we don't really need out in order to find some more space at home since I despise having my home feel cluttered!  Nicholas has started talking a whole lot more, so we now regularly have "conversations" about cookies, juice, shoes, ducks, and dogs.  I wouldn't consider these conversations intellectually stimulating in any way, but it's cute to see how excited Nicholas is when I can actually discern what word he's trying to say.  It's bittersweet to see my baby boy turing into my toddler boy, but I love watching him grow!  And Renae's not even three weeks old, so she pretty much sleeps, eats, and creates tons of dirty diapers!  She is getting more alert now, and we can see her sweet personality start to develop.

We've been able to get out and do some fun family activities together lately, so as soon as I transfer the photos from our camera to the computer, I'll post some of those, too.