The moment we drove up to this house I got a tickling feeling in the pit of my stomach. No house has done that to me since we started the search. They say you feel it the moment you walk into a house if it's meant to be yours, like the house talks to you or something. As we waited for our Realtor to open the lock box Craig and I looked at each other and had the biggest smiles on our face. We were on the same page before we even walked in. We knew this house was special and it was talking to us without us even saying a word to each other.

front door

Craig and I really were interested in getting a Tudor style house. We just LOVE all the beautiful wood work that those types of houses have to offer. The problem is there are not that many out there in our price range or in Brighton. We really thought we were moving into an apartment for the time being. Then the house gods offered this little gem to us. It is everything Craig and I were looking for and more. We have lots of great ideas on how to add on in the future and make it even more special, but for now we just can't wait to move in.

Here is a photo of the house that was taken in the summer. I took this photo with my iPhone off of a photo that was left in the dining room. The quality is not the greatest. But, look how beautiful this house is!

house

In the living room there is this beautiful work of art. I can't wait to sit and turn on the gas fireplace. We are ecstatic that it's not a wood fireplace. Been there, done it. I won't miss the mess, even thou the smell was awesome. We are looking forward to pushing a button and having an instant fire.

work of art

Here is the view of the street from the foyer.

our street

Um, yeah and it has a pool. When we first heard of the pool, we weren't super excited about it. But, now we are. If last year is an inclination of how Dagny likes the water, then she is going to have a blast growing up in this house.

pool

As we get closer I will post more photos. It's been a crazy few weeks, but it looks like we are moving on to the next phase real soon, moving!

Barbara

Not quite sure when this happened, but Dagny is sure looking all grown-up.

all grown up

Barbara

my girl

Barbara

Erika and Emerson are here for their annual February visit. It has never been so hard putting Dagny down at night as it has been this week. She just cries for her cousins. Do you blame her? She is having a blast with these two.

tickle time

snow fun

weeeee

she absolutely loves this boy

she absolutely loves this girl

We are going to have one sad little girl on our hands when her cousins go home. I am not looking forward to that at all.

Barbara

In the past few weeks I have noticed a shift in Dagny's behavior. She is really becoming a girly girl. The first time I realized this was at a shoe store, how ironic. I was looking to get her some new dress shoes. I asked her if she liked the pair I picked out, she said "No. Pink one Mommy." as she pointed to them. I just looked at her in disbelief and she just kept on pointing to them.

When we were at the dentist she got three Mardi Gras beads. Those beads have not left her side except for when she is sleeping or at school. She puts it on us, on herself and then asks me to pick her up so she can see herself in the mirror wearing them and then says "Pretty Dagny.".

She loves lipstick (or as Dagny says yipstick). I gave her a ChapStick because she was going into my bag taking out my lip gloss when I wasn't around. She loves pretending she is putting on her yipstick.

Here is my little Diva playing dress up.

my little diva

That is the scarf my Mom knitted for her, she loves to walk around with it.

dress up

The purple bead.

And, of course with her bracelets.

Barbara

This is really late, but better then never.

Dagny 2 years old - 2009

Dagny Two Years Old

Barbara

When January rolls around every year I get really excited. It's my month to recuperate from all the activities of the previous months. It's nice to sit and veg because lets face it there is not much to do. So, with that said, what do we decide to do? We decided to put our house on the market. Sometimes, I really think we are crazy. This just might be enough evidence to prove that.

We met with our awesome Realtor, Sharon Diamond. She basically told us that if we want to take advantage of the tax incentives we need to put our house up on the market in two weeks. I wish I had a photo of our faces, because I am sure they were priceless. In all seriousness, the fact that there are not many houses on the market right now with first time buyers looking and we have lived in this house for more then five years, it's a good time to sell. Craig and I were planning on selling anyway in the next year or so and move to Brighton. More on that later.

Getting back to the two weeks time frame. I wasn't too worried about the living space. I am very proud of how we fixed our "fixer upper" up. This house was a mess when we got it, Craig and I fixed it up to be a little gem. What concerned us was the basement. It had (notice the past tense) so much crap down there. Honestly, I think things multiplied on their own. When my Mom moved back from Hungary and when we got new furniture we just put stuff down there, it was the easiest thing to do. I have been planning on cleaning out the basement for a couple of years, but every time I went down, I got overwhelmed and went back upstairs. But, nothing is a greater motivation then wanting to sell your house! So, we rented a big a$$ dumpster and we threw junk away, we donated a lot, and we are in the process of selling stuff off. So, I am proud and excited to announce that our basement is once again a basement and not a maze. It is currently storing what it should be, like the furnace, water heater, washer, dryer, and the boxes we already packed for the move.

We listed our house this past Friday and by Sunday afternoon we had three offers on the house! We weren't ready for that. We didn't think it would happen so fast, we honestly thought we would have at least a couple of weeks before any offers would be made. It was a bittersweet moment. We were excited and flattered that people liked our house that much, but with that said we were also bummed. We love our house and reality set in that we were leaving the house that we made into our home.

Umm... so, one small detail is we still don't have a new house. There is nothing on the market in Brighton. Our Realtor is assuring us that the market is going to be picking up in the next couple of weeks. If we close before we find a house, we will have to get an apartment with a short-term lease. Craig and I decided this is the best route. We will be a stronger candidate when we put an offer down on a house and most importantly we won't have to settle for a house.

Here is the link to our listing.
And, here it the audio tour of our house.

We all did our share to get our house ready.

helping out

Besides putting our house on the market and selling it (pending inspection) here are some other things going on.

• Dagny went to the dentist for the for first time. I was so impressed and proud of her behavior. All is great with her pearly whites.
• Dagny only speaks in Hungarian to my Mom, English to Craig, and she goes between the two with me.
• Dagny loves to wear Craig's shoes. I am actually very proud of Little D, she can put her own shoes/boots on without help.

kind of big

• Dagny loves it when we quiz (lack of a better word) her. I finally was able to capture some video. The quality is not the greatest, it was recorded on my iPhone, but you get the idea.

• I went to my friend Jessica's baby shower. Baby Mason is scheduled to arrive on February 25th. We can't wait to meet him.

Jessica and Mason

• And finally we got Dagny's NYS Birth Certificate! We are so excited that we were able to do this for Dagny.

It's been a very long month with lots of things going on and I don't see it calming down anytime soon. I will end this post with a shot of the most important people in my life.

my favorite people

Barbara

As I watched Craig and Dagny dance tonight I couldn't help but think about Dagny's wedding day, hopefully without the Elmo T-shirt.

So sweet.

Craig and Dagny

Dagny and Craig

Craig and Dagny

Barbara

It seems like Dagny is getting bigger and I am not talking about size. Sleeping has never been an issue with her, she was/is a great sleeper. What we have noticed since we got back from Ohio is that when we put her down at night she stays lying down. In the past when we would put her down for the night, she would jump right up and start crying after me or Craig and after five minutes (longest five minutes) she would fall asleep. Now, we put her down and we are able to tuck her in without her jumping up. The first time she did this Craig and I looked at each other in amazement. We initially thought this might be because she was home in her own bed after being away for close to a week. But, it keeps on happening. She is growing up. We feel so much more comfortable about transitioning her to a "big girl" bed when the time comes, which we are not rushing to do.

funny girl

In other Dagny news. Her speech is at the next level. You can totally have a mini conversation with her. She is able to put three to four words in a sentence in with her baby language and you can make out what she is trying to convey to you. What is so amazing is that when you answer her back, she then moves forward with the conversation. It's pretty amazing watching this unfold. She is also starting to talk in Hungarian more and more. She has understood Hungarian for a while now, but now she is using it interchangeably with English.

"It's Daddy!"

Dagny knows her colors. Some of the colors are green (I think is her favorite), yellow, red, blue, pink, brown, black, white, and purple. When she sees Jeff (the purple Wiggle from The Wiggles), she says "Jeff...purple shirt."

our little photographer

She loves music and anything to do with it. She will dance and asks us all to join her. I have a dust wand thingy that she plays with all the time. Depending on time of day, that wand turns into a guitar, violin, flute, drumstick, or tickle tool. Her imagination has really taken off. She loves playing with her kitchen. She will say things like. "Dagny making soup." or "Dagny making coffee." and then brings it to us for us to eat or drink. The kitchen is a big hit.

I know this sounds like an old record, but she can recognize all her letters, without fail. She can count to 12. She knows more animals by name then I do. To name a few, she knows what a Walrus, Flamingo, Vulture, Nightingale, Quail, Yak, and Jaguar are.

This turned into a longer Dagny post than it started off.

kiss

Barbara

So, it's winter here, in case you didn't know.

Everything takes so much more effort and time to do. Before the heavy coats, boots, hats, mittens, etc. Dagny and I would walk the driveway get the mail and play outside.

Today I asked Dagny if she would like to get the mail with me. She promptly said "Yes!". I put on her snow paints, boots, mittens, coat, and hat. 15 - 20 minutes later we were outside. Ugh! Even with all the hassle I must admit it was all worth it seeing her having fun with the snow, plus the rosy cheeks were pretty neat.

Here is My Lil' Eskimo.

hi

hi

hi

hi

Barbara

P.S. Happy Birthday to my brother, Emeric and our good friend, Troy!