We Three Kings

Summertime

What a crazy summer it has been so far (and technically, summer hasn't even begun)! We've had a couple of near-misses with the house sale -- offers that have gone nowhere fast. Hopefully the third time will be the charm. It's a pain having to leave the house whenever someone wants to come see it, but at least things are sparkling clean all of the time.

Besides our house being on the market, things are plodding along for the Kings without any surprises. My photography business is growing, if slowly, and Ben is busy at work as usual. Preschool has turned into "camp" for Baxter, so he has small swimming lessons daily. Other than that we're just keeping our fingers crossed that someone falls in love with our house soon.

Baxter tells a story

Baxter tells a story from Karo on Vimeo.

Easter

Baxter got to participate in our church's Easter egg hunt today. We took the opportunity to put on some springtime finery and take a few photos!

He's very proud of all the chocolate he's amassed, but he's not letting anyone eat any of it (including himself) -- he says it's "for decoration." We are, however, allowed to look at it and smell it.

No news on the house -- it's been on the market for a week and it's been previewed once by a realtor and showed once to a prospective buyer. Hopefully things will pick up a bit now that the holidays are over.

House for sale

Here is Baxter playing Scrabble on the new carpet. We've worked really hard over the past couple of weeks getting the house ready to be put on the market, and it's the cleanest and tidiest it's ever been. Ben hauled a ton of stuff out to our storage unit (which I think is close to bursting), and every surface in our house is sparkling clean and clutter-free. It makes us wonder why we don't keep it like this all the time!

Our real estate agent came by yesterday to take photos for the listing and to pick up all the official paperwork, so our house should officially be on the market some time today. Keep your fingers crossed for us -- in these uncertain economic times we need all the luck we can get!

As you can see from the background, the pool has been repaired and refilled. We can't scrub it properly until the plaster "cures" in a couple of weeks, but once that happens we'll have it in showcase condition.

We spent all weekend packing up the back half of the house in preparation for the carpets getting replaced tomorrow. We're trying to get the house ready for sale as quickly as possible since we've found a property we'd like to buy. So much happening at once -- yikes!

Spring is here!

Dziadek reminded me on the phone yesterday that we've been neglecting this blog terribly. It's true -- it hasn't been updated since 2008! Sorry about that.

In the meantime, spring has sprung in Dallas. Baxter and I went to the Dallas Arboretum this week -- it's simply awash with color:

We're also hoping to move this year to a part of Dallas that has a good elementary school, so that has meant lots of home improvement projects, such as repainting the patio:

And emptying and cleaning the pool so that the leaks could be fixed and so it could be re-plastered:

We've also had the front yard re-landscaped and a new walkway and front stoop put in.

Baxter is rarely quiet these days -- he's full of curiosity and is constantly asking questions: "What's this song about?" and "Who's in that car?" He's started calling me by my first name a few months ago and I didn't think much of it, figuring it was a stage like the few weeks he referred to his dad as "Ben King." But apparently this is a very long stage.

Baxter loves the Backyardigans but isn't a big fan of having his picture taken. He still doesn't have much patience for eating but loves grilled cheese sandwiches. He loves going to school and his teachers Ms. Kathey and Ms. Paula. He's super-active and is getting pretty darn good at dribbling basketballs, kicking soccer balls, and using his t-ball set.

Happy Holidays!

Another couple of months have managed to zip by! I've updated the Fall 2008 album, the Thanksgiving album, and have started a new Winter 2008 album which includes some photos from our Christmas in Canada where Baxter encountered his first real snow:

Baxter has really come into his own as a three-year-old and it's a true pleasure to have conversations with him. He's very curious and loves to explore new things. His favorite Christmas toy seems to be a magnet set we bought him. He loves letters and numbers, and his imagination has really gone into overdrive of late. Today we heard all about his new imaginary friend Mr. Tatagauphin and their adventures swimming in the Cayman Islands alongside submarines. What a great age!

A long-overdue update

Lots has been happening since we came home from Montana. Besides Baxter's birthday, my godfather Wojtek came to visit from Poland. He and Baxter had a lot of fun together playing soccer, kite-flying, and general horsing around.

While Wojtek was still here Ben had heart surgery to have a malfunctioning valve fixed. It was a stressful time but Ben is home now and recovering very well -- he even went back to work today, less than two weeks after his surgery. Baxter liked visiting Dada in the hospital and checking out the progress as his various "tubes" were removed one by one. Plus, he got popsicles!

After Wojtek left, Grandaddy came to help out, and he and Baxter made a birthday cake for Grannie together. It was delicious even after Baxter dropped the whole thing upside-down on the floor (thank goodness it was covered!).

Grannie swapped out with Grandaddy on her birthday, and when she was here we visited the pumpkin patch at the Dallas Arboretum:

It's been a crazy few weeks and we're all glad things are finally returning to normal. Lots more new pictures in the Fall 2008 album!

Happy 3rd birthday, Baxter!

More Montana!

Just a quick note that I've added lots of new Montana photos, so check them out!