Fiona's Birthday Party

Happy Birthday Fiona! (well... almost!)

We had Fiona's party today... She'll be 4 on Monday! I can't believe that much time has passed since she was born! We invited her friends, Maysa, Dakota, Tiana & Abe over. We had a Little Mermaid cake (which Mum modified from a Nemo cake)! Here are an assortment of photos!

Mortgage is a go!

All we have left to do to make our home purchase official, is sign the legal papers at the lawyer's office next week!!!! Yipee! Our mortgage instructions were sent to the lawyer yesterday, and it's practically a done deal! I can't wait to be in our own house! No one downstairs, no one upstairs. No one can tell me what I can and cannot do to my house! I can add walls, tear them down, lay carpet, rip up carpet!!! Ahhh... finally! Things are going to be ultra tight (financially), but I know it will all be worth it! Now I have to worry about which hospital I'll be delivering at, and whether to bother with a new OBGYN! Ugh... I'd really prefer to go to my usual hospital (Grey Nuns), as I'm familiar and like it there! I also really like my OB!

So, that's our latest news!! :)

Crazy Few Weeks!

My posts have dropped off considerably! We've been very busy the past few weeks! My mother came to visit from New Brunswick on October 8, in time for Thanksgiving. So, we hosted Thanksgiving supper at our house. That was the first day I started feeling terrible. I got some sort of cold or flu. Not that it matters which, because I couldn't take medicine to help me feel better! I didn't have a bacterial infection, so no prescription for me :( That cold lasted for TWO WHOLE WEEKS!! It was great having my mother here to help me out, as I was a total mess. Jason was super busy the first week she was here, with the ATESL conference, so we barely saw one another. It's a miracle no one got what I had! On the other hand, it was sucky that I was so sick during the time my mum was here. I had hoped to get more done around the house, and to get out more with her and the kids! *sigh* Oh well... Mum's off to Calgary now, to visit with my 2 brothers who live there. Mum is taking the boys to Banff today... they get to stay at the Banff Springs Hotel, since James works for Delta, he gets a super cheap rate!! Lucky buggars... Here's a pic of the hotel- no airbrushing folks, Banff really is that scenic!


I had another visitor recently as well. One of my best friends from highschool, came to visit from Toronto! Sarah had a conference in Banff. How nice is that?! Is was great getting to spend time with her. I hadn't seen her since Fiona was 18mos! Insane. We spent the WHOLE of Saturday at West Edmonton Mall, as she's never been there or to Edmonton! The mall itself spans 48 city blocks, and is the largest shopping centre in the WORLD! There's an amusement park, sea lion shows, huge water park etc... That was exhausting- but fun ;)

We're in the process of trying to clean the house for viewings (possible renters), and packing things up that we don't need for the next month or so. It's going to be a big chore! Hopefully, we can recruit my brother from Calgary to help Jason move furniture! I will be of no use in that department! I'm already 26 wks along, and boy am I feeling it these days!

Well... I should try to get some packing done while Kieran is napping! Thought I'd update everyone on what we've been up to!

Take care!

Conditions Have Been Removed!

We are one step closer to being new home-owners! The conditions were removed today, but will all be official tomorrow morning, as we will be meeting with our realtor to sign the documents. Then it will be up to the lawyer to finalize all the paperwork!! Yipee!!! Our mortgage has been approved, the condo docs panned out... Now we just wait for everyone to do all the nitty-gritties!

Possible Home Purchase

We have an accepted, but pending offer on a townhouse in the NE end of the city... It's been accepted, but the seller has stated a condition that it's subject to her lawyer's approval. The lawyer is also her boss! Weird, but whatever. I don't see how it could be a problem, unless they're stalling to make sure a higher offer doesn't come through. We offered the asking price, and only stated financing and reviewal of condo doccuments as our conditions! It's not uncommon for houses in Edmonton to sell for WELL above the asking price. For example, a condo that we looked at last week was listed for $189,900, and sold for for $221,000! The condo reserve was last reported to be at a defecit, too! Crazy.

We will know by 4pm tomorrow evening if the townhouse will be ours. If it falls through, we'll be bidding on a different townhouse, in a more ideal location (for Jason's commute). The one we've got an offer pending on is for $195,000.

This is the view from both the front, and the back. The back yard faces onto a HUGE park area with sports fields and a few schools nearby!

Fingers crossed.

Rotten Deal

To say the least! The inspection didn't go so well, on the house we were hoping to buy in Stony Plain. Most of the wood used in building the home, were quite old and rotting! They used timber (tree logs) for support beams, rather than lumber! There was lots of corners cut on repairing things such as sagging beams. The jacuzzi's electrical wasn't grounded (or something), so if the breaker went, you could get electricuted while taking a bubble bath! The list goes on and on.

We're quite disappointed, as we were really hoping to have this go through... We were even more excited that we were actually going to be able to buy a HOUSE rather than a townhouse/condo! So, we're back to looking at townhouses in Edmonton. We'll see how that goes. Hopefully, a good opportunity comes up for us... preferably a house... and even better if it were in Stony Plain!

Jason's Birthday!

Happy 32nd Birthday, Jason! It was yesterday, but I'm posting a day after the fact with pictures! It was a long, arduous day. We looked a duplex in the morning, then went to Stony Plain to check out an old house that was for sale. We put an offer in for it yeseterday, and received word last night, that it had been accepted. Now, things are hinging on the home inspection. We're really excited about this place, as it's got a huge yard and it's in a small town away from the city! Fingers crossed!

Jason had a meeting last night, and didn't get home until 7pm... so there wasn't much we did for his birthday. Fiona and I had made a cake for him in the morning, and iced it in the afternoon. (We used my new rectangular baking stone)! We made an oatmeal yogourt cake! The icing was cream cheese with orange flavour... Jason read all his cards, and opened his gifts. He was quite pleased with his new ultra small geocaching pen/stylus. I had it engraved with his geocaching handle "Pteryx"... He got a battery charger from my parents, and some money to buy head lamps (for night caching) from his parents! He was a very happy boy! Here are some pictures...