Poster Child

Like I mentioned in my last post, we have been getting our house ready to sell. Well, yesterday was our inspection. I got a phone call from the realtor a little while later saying that the inspector found a problem with the furnace, turn off you heat (it was warm outside anyway) and he was calling a furnace guy to come over.

The furnace man arrived right as I was leaving to pick Gracie up at the bus stop, so I pointed him in the right direction. When I cam back, he was finished fixing the problem but said, "I cannot overstate how bad it was. Your house could be the poster child for carbon monoxide poisoning. This is the kind of stuff you read about in the papers."  I guess the flieu part that came detached from our furnace is very uncommon and rarely seen, but it was just letting the exhaust flow into the crawl space instead of directing it outside. We have no idea how long it has been like that. We could have been one of those tragic stories that you read about where the whole family dies in their sleep. I hate those stories.

We didn't even have a carbon monoxide detector. I would think about it at doctor appointments when they ask you if your detectors work. But, I never really got around to it. Sounds like a lame excuse.
I bought 2 yesterday. They said it helps that our house is older, not as tight as the newer houses. I think it also helped that our bedrooms are on the opposite side of the house? The truth is though,that we don't even know  how much an effect it had, or how bad it really was. We just know we will make better choices, like having detectors and getting the furnace serviced more often. Yikes.

So, in the last 24 hours we have all hugged each other a little tighter, thought about the terrible what ifs, and thanked Heavenly Father for protection from a danger we knew nothing about.

For Sale

We put our house on the market in the middle of March. We weren't sure how it would go, but felt encouraged by success stories all around us. Our house hit the market on a Wednesday and went under contract 4 days later. We are busy now with inspections, appraisals, etc. 

We are supposed to close on May 20th! Graduation is May 16th. We are pretty excited, but it is starting to sink in that we are really leaving. Fort Collins has been a great home for a really long time and we have some great friends. We will miss it here.

Hot Dog People

 My mom always used to make hot dog men for us when we were little. We loved them, and so do my kids. I decorate it like a person with arms and legs, a face and accessories, and then we cut it up. Gunner would eat hot dogs every day if I let him.

Maisy wasn't quite as diligent at finishing her hot dogs, so half-way through the week she started getting hot dog midgets :)

Delayed Start

 Last week, I got a call at 5:30am. It was a recorded message from the school district telling us that school would be delayed 2 hours because of the snow! We had so much fun. That day ended up being especially nice because the weather was great. That is one of my favorite scenarios-- being able to play happily in the snow because you aren't freezing to death. The snow was also exciting because we have hardly had any this whole winter... until March.

Dairy Calf Rotation

Justin has been working hard at school. He has had a few rotations that have been out in the field. It has been fun for him. He landed on his dairy calf rotation just as it got cold. He bundled up like crazy and even cut a hole in his sweatshirt sleeve so he could remove his arm to put the glove on for preg checking. I didn't know that Gunner picked up on much, but he must have had a conversation with his father.

Gunner: Mom, you know what's gross about Dad? He has to stick his arm in cows' bums.

Oh, the facts of life. We love you Justin!

Potty Trained!!

This little Munchkin is potty trained! She showed some signs of readiness back in the fall when school started, but was never very consistent, and neither was her mother. We finally decided it was time and about the first of February, we powered through. It has been amazing. I have been changing diapers for the last 6 years, and sometimes even doing double duty with 2 in diapers. And now, we are almost diaper free (She still wears one to bed). It is fun to see Miss Maisy growing up.

Tonight I was changing Maisy into her jammies and pointed to her scar. "See that white line? See that little bump? That's where they fixed your heart?" Then she questioned, "fix my hot?" "yep, they fixed your heart so it would work right." She was so proud, "Fix my hot!"  So happy to have a healthy and wild 2 year old.

Goggy

Maisy can talk pretty well. She will usually attempt the words we prompt her to say... with one exception. She calls Gunner "Goggy". I'm not really sure how she got that, but we all smile when we say the prayer and she prays for everyone in such a clear voice and then says "Goggy" instead of Gunner. Gunner is really patient with his baby sister, but the rest of us have been instructed to call him Gunner.

Justin Beaver

We've been watching a lot of old "Leave it to Beaver" episodes on Netflix lately. Gracie put 2 and 2 together and decided that this was what "Beaver Fever" was all about. She has started to give this request, "Dad, can we watch Justin Beaver?". It makes me laugh every time.

If you get a chance, watch the haircut episode:) I couldn't stop laughing.