I am thankful for ...

MEMORY ... So Sabrina is 4 years old at Redeemer Lutheran School in pre-k 4 with Mrs. Summer. Everyone has a message in the hallway for what they are thankful for. There were some pretty elaborate responses but Sabrina's simply said "I am thankful for everyone who eats pizza". Very deep.

Zero Minutes

Just more random memories from our kids that make us laugh and we don't want to forget.

Luke to Uncle Dave ... "excuse me, Uncle Dave, I will probably be hungry in about zero minutes"

Sabrina's use of the word "excepting" in place of the word "except" in her sentences.

Luke to Mom after being forced to eat a bite of mashed potatoes ... "I TOLD you I wouldn't like it".

Luke on eating some food at Chipotle ... "Oh no ... I'm worried about my mouth".

Sabrina after I told her she can always tell me anything because no matter what, "I will understand" ... so she says "what if I only say half a sentence? ... would you still understand?".

Luke's Talent Show

Another example of Luke being the anti-me. He likes to perform. So he has these talent shows each week at one of his summer camps. We didn't even know about them until this week. The first week, he just got up there and did "karate moves". He has never taken karate. Never seen a martial arts film other than maybe "Kung-fu Panda" but decides to get up there and show off.

Then, this week, he decides for talent show that he wants to do skateboarding. Which he cannot do. He has a skateboard he maybe used once but he is set on doing that at the talent show. Should be fun.

Can I be 9?

Luke makes me laugh. He has driven us crazy many times .... but he is the anti-me. He is completely different and I wouldn't change anything about him.

He has been asking me for a couple weeks if he "can be 9". Of course, he is 5, and I tell him he is 5 and he has to wait. Well, in Luke-like fashion ... he keeps asking. So after a few days, I just say "sure, Luke, you can be 9". Then he throws his arms in the air with joy like he just pitched the final strike of the World Series and runs up to Sabrina and says "Yeeeeeeeesssss! Sabrina, I am older than you! I am older than you!".

Flashback ... Oh Sh*t!!!

This story made us laugh for weeks ... embarassing at the time ... but will go down in history. Sabrina in 1st grade in Ms. Freeman's class.

So Dave and Brenda were in town with the kids before we sold our house and Dave, me, Sabrina and Emily were watching “Back to the Future” on HBO. We thought it might be fun. Well, near the beginning right before they go back in time and are being chased by terrorists, there are some choice words … namely “Oh Sh*t” … to compound the fact, Miki and I always keep subtitles on the TV to help Sabrina with reading. So there it was … right there. As soon as Sabrina heard it, she repeated it and Dave and I turned it off and told the girls it is OK to know what that word is but it is a bad word and you don’t speak it. Anyway, I guess it stuck in Sabrina’s brain and it came out in school. Man, we were embarrassed! … but we laughed pretty hard and we will keep this forever. Funny thing is that Sabrina thinks it is one word … “OHSH*T” … so now along with the “s” word (“stupid”), the “h” word (“hate”) she now knows the “o” word (“ohsh*t”) is not for saying OR writing. Plus, we had to explain the whole story to the teacher … ugh.

Need to write more on this blog ...

There are so many things ... little things about our kids that we tend to forget. In reading some of the old posts here, I realized I forgot so many funny stories.

Just thinking out loud, here is some stories

• Luke singing "Welcome to the Jungle"
• Sabrina and scrabble ... "is MINK a word?" .... "yes, it is Sabrina". "Oh man, I wish I had an 'I'". "Well here, Sabrina, you can use this 'I' that is already on the board".
• Then ... we loved that Scrabble story so much we told it to family and would get a good laugh ... so one day at after-school, I catch Sabrina trying to tell the story to the counselors and when she hits the punchline, she got nothing but crickets as far as a reaction. Hilarious.
• Numa-Numa. Recording the kids singing that song and Lukei going to the floor at the end fo the song to "sing" the rest of it with his finger liek in the "Frog Numa Numa" video. Hilarious.
• Playing the guitar at night to the kids and them requesting "Classical Gas" only to be followed by our rendition of "Pay-noy Fish" ... the weirdest sing they made up but is totally funny.

More to come hopefully more often.

Our New House

So after living in an apartment for a number of months, we set out to find a house. We had been looking the entire time we have been in the apartment and I would say that we focussed most of our energy on looking at houses like the one we previously put an offer. Something like 3000 square ft, 4 bedrooms, three baths, large yard, etc. Houses like that (nice houses anyway) are quite expensive. And at that price point, we had to really look at the cost savings of renting. Due to house price appreciation over the last few years, a lot of housing in the area we want has become unaffordable. Or at least, we would have very little wiggle-room after making our mortgage. Not desirable. Miki's desire for a house to own had been greater than mine. I am definitely blinded a bit by all of the economic news. Housing prices seem to have nowhere to go but down for a long time. Gas prices have become very expensive and that also translates into increased home heating and cooling expenses. Living in a big home is becoming very expensive. And during the time we have been in the apartment, I think Miki and I both wised up to a trend a bit before it becomes mainstream. We both realized we had become a bit brainwashed into the American idea that you must always "move up". Meaning you have to get a bigger house, take on more debt, get nicer stuff. Well, in our case where we both work with fairly predictable income levels going forward, this probably means we are priced out of big houses in the best neighborhoods and forced to move farther away to get "the house".

But Miki and I realized a few things ...

1. After being in the apartment that is all of 1,200 square feet, we really do not need excess rooms. It is wasteful and causes you to be less responsible for keeping track of what you have. In our old house, we had two or three areas of the house that were barely used. Even as the kids get older, I think they would be barely used.
   
2. We LOVED Caraway Elementary. And this school would be considered pretty close-in ... not really the 'burbs like Round Rock or Georgetown or Buda. Even though we were not a big fan of the houses at first, they grew on us over time.
3. Location is so important. We want to be close to our jobs if possible. It will afford us so much more time with the kids and savings in terms of gas prices and car mileage.
4. Rent vs. buy. I fall on the rent side. Miki on the buy. I think in much of the country, renting is much more affordable and even for us, it would have been a better move financially, but I think we made an exceptionally wise (and this is a bit unusual for us as we have made unwise decisions as well) decision. But the place we bought makes so much sense.

We bought a small place on Tanbark. It is not the house we thought we would have bought when we started looking, but here is a list of reasons why it makes so much sense

1. We needed a house. Apartment-living has been great but is not a long-term solution for us. We need a yard for the dogs, a 2-car garage, etc.
2. Rental houses in the neighborhood we want are very few. We found one that would have been ok and it cost about $1595/month (with some furnishings). So that was our benchmark in terms of price. But even if we had rented it, the interior is not new and we would have wanted something more.
3. The house was a bit on the cheap as far as current pricing and the location is great. 2.5 minutes drive to the kids school. Less than a mile from my office when our company moves (hopefully later this year) and only 7.5 miles for Miki. The great thing is that I have always had the longer commute and I usually take the kids, so this really frees me up. When I move offices, I will have about an additional 6 hours a week where I won't be sitting in my car on the roads.
4. Miki's new job. Miki moved from Dell to MSDF which is a much better job with more stability than Dell so for the first time we felt like Austin will be the place where our kids spend their entire school years. Up until now, we had always toyed with the idea of moving.
5. We can remodel to make the house what we want. With a rental this is not an option and we really wanted to do this.
6. The place we got is shaded, only 2,236 sq ft and has a small yard. No wasted space, energy efficient. MUCH less expensive than our last house.
7. House is very well built and a one-story plan which we loved.
8. Interest Rates for mortgages are low and low-down payment options are still available. These, I am sure, will be much harder to get. Inflation is really skyrocketing right now and rates are bound to go up. So the house becomes a good hedge against inflation with little down and a low rate. The price of the house is only about 1 times our annual income so we are in incredibly safe territory even if one of us stopped working. Our mortgage payment ended up (at 6%) being $1587/month which is what the rent of the other house was and if you consider renters insurance and homeowners insurance to basically amounting to about $40/month more for homeowners ... the main difference you are looking at each month is property taxes and maintenance. Now, those costs are significant. About $550/month in taxes currently and whatever maintenance ends up being ... but then we are also making payments against principal and there is some federal tax savings. And, when we finally move into the house, we can remove some expenses of ours such as the two storage units we currently rent ($270/month ... inexplicable). In a few years, we end up ahead significantly even with minimal appreciation in value.
   
9. Being close-in, I think the trend will be to move closer in and that should protect us against price depreciation at least somewhat.
10. Our last house could have been considered the nicest house in a so-so neighborhood. Our new house is probably middle of the road in a neighborhood that is fantastic with lots of future potential.
    

So when all factors were considered, even in the face of potentially continuing falling house prices country-wide, this house made a lot of sense. The remodel starts this week. Should be interesting.

Our Lovely Sabrina

Some days it is hard to express how great it is to be a parent. Some days, it is easy to express the great frustration that comes along with being a parent.

Since we moved, it has been a bit hard on Sabrina. She left the house she loves and the only house she has known. She has been a trooper and she is always positive.

For some reason, Luke was overly mean to Sabrina today. He was heckling her in a mean way and he got in trouble. I saw him toss a volleyball on purpose to hit Sabrina in the back and it got him into big trouble.

When it was time for bed, Sabrina went straight in and when I got there to kiss her goodnight, I noticed she was crying. Sabrina is such a sensitive child and I figured the jabs from Luke really got to her. She admitted they did. She told me "Luke made me feel so much anger inside and I wanted to be mean back but I didn't". It was such a heart-felt description of her pain. Tears were streaming down her face. I teared up just listening to her and feeling her pain but I was also so proud at the same time. So proud that she chose to not be mean towards Luke even though she wanted to. I told her we are so proud of her ... and we told her that it is not OK for Luke to be mean towards her.

7-21-2007

July 21st, 2007 changed our lives greatly. it was innocent enough but set our family off into two incredibly stressful and busy months. Fortunately, we all feel it was for the best and I figured it was an important time in our family history so I want to recap.

July 21st was registration day at Redeemer Lutheran School. Luke and Sabrina had been attending there for three years and it was time to register Luke for Pre-K4 and Sabrina for first grade. Luke is old enough for Kindergarten, but we decided two years ago that since he is a July birthday and has developed slower emotionally that we would hold him back a year. That decision came after a lot of deliberation and talking with parents who have held their boys back a year.

I showed up at the school knowing exactly what to expect due to registration from previous years. I filled out forms, handed in copies of vaccinations and the like. Then I went and drew Luke's folder. I opened it up and to my shock, they put Luke in the ONE class I specifically asked them not to put him. The teacher was Mrs. Githa. Now, we love Mrs. Githa to death and she loves Luke like a son. But that was exactly the reason we pulled him from school. She was the assistant teacher when Luke was in PreK-3 the first time around and she coddled him and Luke would know how to manipulate the situation. I asked that he be in another class before the school year even started. Then when I approached the director, Amber, about it I was told both his prek-3 teachers recommended her because she was most familiar with Luke's "tendencies". I requested a change of class and she said we would have to wait until the school year starts and people drop out. So it is over a month until school starts and they put him in the one class we didn't want him to be in and act like the class lineup is set in stone.

Miki and I both felt Luke was unfairly branded a problem kid. And as tough as Luke can be sometimes, he is an incredibly sweet, social and bright kid. He is a joy to be around and I feel he was very unfairly pegged as a difficult kid by teachers who I began questioning their competency after a few months. He is far from perfect, but nowhere near a major problem.

Well, by this time if we want to put Luke into another Pre-K, we would have a really tough time. We threw out the idea of sending him to public school Kindergarten. The school near our house, Wells Branch Elementary, has really deteriorated in the years we have been there. Probably due in large part to the massive apartment complexes built next to our home over the years. We did, though, think the kids could go there for a year while we looked for a house with better schools. This was a hard idea to swallow this late in the game. The idea of Luke jumping to Kindergarten was scary. We had not prepared for that.

So when I took Luke to his next speech therapy appointment, I asked his doctor, Mrs. Mary Lovey Wood, rather hesitantly about Luke going to public Kindergarten. After she heard about my experience at Redeemer, I was sort of shocked to hear that she was not surprised in the least bit about Redeemer treated Luke's case. She said he has seen it before. They basically shrug the kids off and just "deal with them" instead of really working with them. For Miki and me, this was the final confirmation we needed that we needed to move sooner than later.

We researched schools in the area like crazy. We knew a lot of the good ones, but we had never been this intense in finding the right spot because we planned to be in our house for a number of more years.

We looked very aggressively for a home in the arboretum area. Particularly, we targeted three elementary schools. Spicewood Elementary, Laurel Mountain Elementary and Kathy Caraway Elementary. Three outstanding elementary schools and a great middle and high school as well. On top of that, the location is idea for both of our jobs. Houses are quite a bit more expensive even though we would say that the quality of home in general was not as good as the Mallard Green house. We did, though, find one surprisingly enough that looked perfect. It was expensive at $530K but it was a large, beautiful home with fantastic landscaping and an incredible finish-out. We thought this was our new home. Our offer was accepted contingent on the sale of our house and we had an inspection on the new home. The inspection raised some serious flags. My dad reviewed the inspection as well and we decided it was too risky at that price point. We pulled out during the option period. In retrospect, this was a wise move. We did, however, go forward with plans to sell our house and keep looking in the area.

The idea of selling our house was a sad one. We got it ready and put it on the market quickly. We had done so many upgrades and had taken such good care of our house that it was basically ready for showing to prospective buyers once we simply removed some clutter. We have so many wonderful memories in that house. We have spent a lot of money making into our own little paradise. The pool was fantastic with great complimentary landscaping. We spent a lot refinishing the inside as well. Even all of our family would agree the house had a great feel to it. It was very emotional when we sold it.

It sold after about 17 days on the market for $290K. The most a home has ever sold in the neighborhood and since it house only had three beds and two and a half baths, that was good for us. A single man bought it. We included some TV equipment in the deal. Right now is not an easy time to sell. Over the past 5 or 6 years, house prices have skyrocketed out of control largely because banks made it super easy for people to get sub prime loans without much background checking. It really got out of control. A lot of people made money flipping houses during that time. But now I think, even in a strong market like Austin, prices will be going down significantly. All of the people who got caught in sub prime loans are now feeling a lot of pain as they readjust the rates. We actually feel lucky right now to be renting and see how things shake out.

We are renting in the Riata apartments and the kids are going to Caraway Elementary school. They love it and we love it. It is a great school. We feel lucky to be renting right now while the whole sub prime problem works itself out.

But most importantly, we have each other. Luke, Sabrina, Miki and I just enjoy doing things together as a family and that is what counts. We are actually enjoying the apartment quite a bit right now but that will fade. We will want that house. After the school year ends we will look again.

Disney Trip

I never write anything here anymore. We just got back this past weekend from Disney and had a great time. We all had a blast ... rode a bunch of great rides, saw all kinds of cool characters and ate some great food.

Sabrina is the funnest person EVER to go to an amusement park with. Except for her freakishness about "love bugs" she hit every ride with great enthusiasm ... even the scary ones and just had a blast. She giggled and laughed through all the rollercoasters and kept her hands in the air. It was a blast.

Luke was a trooper. He has some sensory issues that we have known about so going to half the rides in Disney is like putting him thought the fires of hell but he grew up so much on this trip. He did every ride even if he was scared and by the end he was really enjoying everything.

Luke's frequent use of the word "sbunskis" in reference to his butt had us cracking up ... and his love of the water slides was fun to watch. Sabrina braved the "Summit Plummet" and is basically fearless when it comes to that stuff. Everyone in line was so impressed with her because she was barely tall enough and could not wait to go down.

Good times, good times.

If I were an animal ...

So my wife made a comment at dinner that she thought killer whales were cool and she would be a killer whale if she could be an animal. So we asked my daughter what animal she would like to be. Her response ...

" I would like to be a peacock because peacocks are beautiful and I like being beautiful".

... that was a nice answer and well thought out. We smiled. Then she chimed in ...

"but I don't want to be an animal because I like who I am and I like living here"

... that made us smile even more and really proud. Seemed like a reeally mature answer for a five-year-old. then she chimed in one last time ...

"maybe we could all be peacocks and run around the house and poop everywhere".

funny.