It's been ages since I posted and the long and short of it is that we SOLD our house! On the first viewing...before it even hit the papers...hehe. Truth be told, we know the people, they are from the neighbourhood, but I didn't realize they were house hunting! That's the good news! The bad news is that we are stuck in what the English call a "chain"...sigh. In England just because you accepted an offer and the house is "sold" doesn't necessarily mean it will stay that way. There are no guarantees here. No money changes hands, no contracts are signed, so until you actually have the money in your bank you grow ulcers and grey hair. The people buying ours are solid and we trust them but we are at the mercy of 3 other people below them in the "chain" so now we sit and wait...and wait...and wait. Good news today from our listing agent is that the "survey" the buyers did came back with no major problems, just a few niggly things that the buyers aren't fussed about so things look good there. Now we just hope that within the next few weeks the others below us will have things sorted and start talking about a closing date. Fingers crossed please.
In other news...Christmas came and went in a blur it seems as I spent so much time getting the house ready to list! My folks were here with us so that made it very special as we knew it was our last U.K. Christmas! My folks and Tim left in the new year and my Mom returned a week later to help me out with the kids while Tim started his new job in TO. Mom just left yesterday, Dad arrives on Sunday, Tim leaves again on Monday (after spending a week home with us), Mom arrives back AGAIN next Friday afternoon and I fly out the same evening to TO for a week long "house/school hunting" trip! Are you tired just reading that? I know I am! Shame that I have to suffer along with Tim in a crappy room at the Royal York Hotel, life is really rough sometimes. :P Mom and Dad are taking on the 4 kids for one week while they are off school for the "half term" holiday. I've said it before and I'll say it again, my parents ROCK! What would I do without them? They are making sure that I am not alone with the kids until we can all be reunited somewhere in the GTA! I'm thinking it will be the end of April if things work out, at least the weather will be better by then as I'm officially a Euopean wimp and am in for the shock of my life next winter! We did actually get a little blast of winter last week but you wouldn't know it now and it wasn't exactly the -29 that my Dad woke up to a few days ago...EEEEKKKKK!
Speaking of the kids, they are all doing fantastic! Everyone is accepting of our move to Canada, even Mae, and I think they are just anxious to get on with it now. I'm more anxious about it I think as I'm not looking forward to uprooting to new schools, peers, etc. I know they will be fine but Moms worry, it's in our DNA! Connor is my biggest worry but I guess there is no point in getting too worked up as I haven't even checked out the schools yet. Worse case? We homeschool. Best case? I find an amazing, tolerant, understanding high school in one of our towns of choice. More crossing of fingers, please.
Here they are after their haircuts yesterday...Connor is the disembodied head on the bottom...hehe
Delsin is in his school uniform, he started "nursery" in January...oh my aching heart! He just seems way too little to be going to school. He is actually doing the same amount of time that he did at preschool, but it's more like a "jr. kindergarten" now. Not sure if he'll go to school in Ontario yet but he is loving his nursery so far. He looks so grown up in his uniform...waaaaahhhhhh. I will MISS uniforms, I think they are fantastic!
Heading off to "nursery" with his very proud sister and brother!
So that's our update for now, more later as it happens! Love to all.
Laura XO
