Prayer Answered: We have a house!

This year has been an absolute blur... we've been working on moving closer to our new church, Brett's school and work (and of course, Nana and Papa), and put our house on the market the first part of february.  Prayer Answered #1: we had a contract on it after only 4 days (it's really because the market is so good- but I'm going to tell myself that it was because it's so cute :)) (but really because the Lord took care of us not having to keep the house clean very long for showings!)  After haggling back and forth, we made the closing date March 12th.  One month to pack things up.  We can find a house in that amount of time...right?
This was my first experience buying a house, and I had no idea that this house buying thing could be so hard.  So after many tears of frustration, we loaded (with the wonderful help of our OVBC SS class) our pod and packed things into storage, and moved to my parents house.
When you're picky like I am, and don't have a ton of money to spend (note: Brett is still in seminary....), it was getting downright frustrating.  We probably looked at 50+ houses.  So many houses that the boys would groan if I drove through a neighborhood or told them we were going to look at homes...again.

Fast forward to the middle of april....mom and I saw a house in february (the first one I looked at, ironically), that was about to come back on the market again.  I called (and annoyed) the agent until she told me we could look at the house before it went on the market.  I liked it just fine, and thought we could do some stuff to it to make it a home.  I was headed out of town to spend the weekend with some wonderful friends from college, and asked Brett if he liked it to have our agent put an offer on it. 

So, we're on our way to san antonio, and I'm anxious to hear how Brett liked the house.  I called him, and he said he liked it okay, but that he and my dad saw a different one in the same area that was a good price, and had the layout that we'd been wanting.  So, I asked Brett if we could go ahead and put an offer on the house, and he asked me if I'd lost my mind.  I called the agent and she asked me if I was really sure, (I'm sure she thought I lost my mind as well!) 

So sight unseen (at least by me), we put an offer on this house, only to hear that the seller had received two other bids and was deciding the next day which offer to accept.  I was a basketcase to say the least. Sherri, Amanda, Kristin, and Lacy prayed over the situation with me, and anxiously awaited the news.  (love you girls!) 

Fast forward to saturday...we got the word that they accepted our offer (answered prayer #2!)!!!!  So excited!!!!  We had a great rest of the weekend, and got home on sunday.  Our agent told me the seller had said he would fax over the changes on sunday and the deal would be finalized.

Fast forward to monday....went with the boys to see the house for the first time, and our agent got out of her car, fuming.  The seller had just called to say he wasn't going to accept the offer after all (basically, he wanted it to go into a bidding war.)  Sad day in our house.  I went and looked at the house anyway (hoping that I'd hate it), but I loved it- loved the potential it had, and the layout was great.  So, our agent just said she'd let me know any updates.

I've never prayed harder in my life.  I don't know why, but I really felt that this was the house the Lord had for us.  So I prayed, Brett and I prayed, and we prayed with the boys.  And then....on tuesday morning, our agent called back and told us the seller changed his mind and was going to sell it to us (Answered prayer #3)!  I don't know why, but I firmly believe the Lord changed the seller's heart. After I got the call, I called the boys in there and we prayed together- thanking the Lord for our miracle.  It was really fun telling Papa and Nana our good news when they walked in the door!

Fast forward 2 weeks, and we have now signed on our house, and are making plans to refurbish and update our house-- a little overwhelmed, but so thankful how the Lord has provided!!!  Praise the Lord!

No really, I don't mind having 3 boys....

Today, M, J, C, and I headed to the doctor.  J and C have had colds for the past two weeks, and just aren't getting better.  (J's cough just sounds awful).  That's not the point of my story though..while we were in the elevator and leaving the drs., and two women stopped me and said "three boys!  oh, you need a girl!" and the second lady was almost offensive in the way she kept saying that I "need" a girl.

I'm not going to say that we wouldn't like a girl (we would), but if the Lord only blesses us with boys, I'm totally okay with that.  I'm just tired of people making comments to the effect that boys aren't enough (because they are if that's what God wants... and I couldn't imagine my life without them). 

So, I've decided that anytime someone says this to me in the future (which I'm sure they will), I'm just going to say our boys are a blessing, and God knows what our family needs.  (I will have a pink guestroom someday though!)

Welcome Baby Caleb!

I knew I hadn't been on our blog in a while....but I didn't realize it was 9 months ago I posted!  Well, since that time, our world has turned upside down (in a good way!) as we welcomed Mr. Caleb Russell Tooley to the world and our crazy family.  We're pretty smitten- he is a wonderful baby, and smiles all the time.  Oh-- and he was 20 and 3/4" and 10 pounds, 5 ounces when he was born.  

Here are a few pictures from his first few weeks home-- I will try and be better and post more frequently :)

the three brothers (see their shirts (big brother, little brother!)

Our first picture as a family of 5 (hopefully we'll get an AMAZING one this summer!)

it's a.....boy!

That's right! Team Tooley will be adding boy #3 this february. We're still working on names-- will probably announce in january =). To make finding out a little more fun, we had a baby gender party a few weeks ago. When we went in for the sonogram, the sonographer had us turn our heads, typed "boy", printed it out, and gave us the sonogram all folded up. Two days later, we had friends and family over to find out! Here are some pics from the night.....


invite =)



food (totally bummed I didn't take a picture sooner-- oh well!) the middle held the cupcakes, and we had lemonade, lemon bars, peanut butter cookies, and fruit-- yum!

one of the cupcakes-- the bee on top is made from a lemon drop and almonds as wings!

about to open the envelope!

Rashel, opening the envelope.....drum roll!

yea! a boy! (the hands in the air weren't planned, but funny!)


our first picture as a family of 5 (wow!)


friends =)

more friends-- thanks for celebrating with us!

Coming this february!

That's right--we are pregnant with baby #3-- and are so excited! The official due date is February 5, which I'm thinking will fly by with Christmas right before. Right now, we are looking at minivans (ahhh!) and enjoying Brett's month off of school. Here's a little card I designed to tell some family and friends =).

Team Tooley Vacation 2011

Well, I'm writing this a month late, but I definitely wanted to chronicle this year's vacation. We had a great time, but some mishaps along the way. I hope you enjoy reading this!

It's always good to be flexible-- I just didn't realize how flexible we would need to be! The past three months, we have been planning our vacation. We were going to head to springfield, mo, and spend a few days in branson as well. We had everything planned, hotels booked and were just waiting to go. About a week before, my parents mentioned that they saw Missouri was going to get a bunch of thunderstorms that next week. We checked the forecast, and saw that it was supposed to rain the ENTIRE time we were there. And with two small rambunctious little boys, that didn't sound like too much fun. Little did we know we were supposed to be going to missouri the same time the tornados hit joplin. So needless to say, we are very thankful for God's protection.

So, we chose San Antonio instead (mostly because their forecast was 95% sunny). Some of our good friends had gone down there the week before and stayed at an amazing resort with great pools (definitely a must for us!), for a great price, so I was inspired to dig around for some deals. We were able to get a room at this resort for 1/2 the price. The staff were so nice and welcoming, and we absolutely loved the pool, lazy river and playground.

Matthew had been around one of his little friends who got a stomach the weekend before we left, so I knew there was a VERY good chance Matthew would get sick at some point on our trip. So, on the ride to san antonio, I put covered the car seats with towels, hung a sheet on the back of the front seats, and put a trashcan in the middle (just in case). I also brought clorox spray and wipes, and laundry detergent-- can't hurt to be too prepared! We made our way to San Antonio, and stopped for lunch in Temple. Matthew had a slight fever and wasn't eating (and when he doesn't each chicken nuggets or fries, you know something is up). So we got back on the road, and got into SA about 3:30. We stopped at mcdonalds for ice cream (at the most scary mcdonalds in SA), and got to the hotel about 4:30. I ran in to check us in, and when I got back, Brett and I got the boys out of the car and had the bellhop start unloading the car. We're getting stuff out, when all of a sudden the man unloading the trunk says, "ma'am, you're son...." and I look over and Matthew had thrown up all over the pavement and my very full bag of coupons. Totally scarred from past throw up experiences, I told the bellhop to just throw away the whole bag-- I didn't really want to cut coupons anyway =). At this point Matthew is crying and upset and has to have mommy pick him up- so he and I go to our hotel room-- and I'm covered in Matthew's barf now too. I give Matthew a bath and start rinsing out his clothes and using my very handy clorox spray. In the meantime, Brett was so frazzled, he had the guys go ahead and valet the car and he and Joseph headed upstairs. Crazy enough, Matthew ate 2 pieces of pizza for dinner, so after he threw up, his appetite came back immediately. He did have a small fever still, so Tuesday morning (the next day), he and I had some snuggle time in the hotel room (which, if you know Matthew, he only snuggles when he's sick). During this same time, Joseph got a hold of Brett's credit cards, and put them in the return vent in the room-- so we had to call maintenance to come and rescue our cards. Also, I had one project I had to work on for CutieTooley, and had brought our laptop. What I didn't realize was that I had put the laptop cord in the coupon bag, which was in the dumpster at this point- so Brett and Joseph went and bought another new cord. We also stayed in Austin a few days, and accidentally left the boys sandals in one of the drawers. When we called to ask if someone had found them, they said the sandals weren't there (who would want 2 pairs of stinky boys' sandals? arghhhhh)

But aside all that, we had some great memories....
-Watching the boys in the kiddie pool have the best time splashing and playing
-Building a sandcastle with Matthew
-Going down the lazy river together
-Dinner out at a Mexican Food restaurant, ice cream afterwards, and seeing the fiesta texas fireworks show from the ice cream shop (the boys LOVE fireworks!)
-shopping in San Marcos (this may not be on the boys top 10 list =))
-getting to visit some of Brett's family- Uncle Roger, Aunt Martha, Ryan, Aunt Gracie and Uncle Jack
-riding the miniature choo-choo train in Austin
-going to the Oasis restaurant in Austin and seeing the sunset over the lake- just beautiful
-watching part of a movie together every day before nap time
-getting away from the metroplex- no cooking, and no dishes!
-saying, we'll laugh about all these mishaps someday!
-spending time together as a family

We really had a great time-- I'm just sad it's already over! Can't wait to make more crazy memories next year =). I will post pictures someday.....

Time Out

Yesterday, Matthew was playing our electric piano (who would have thought this would be a toy?) Joseph came up, and turned the piano off (a normal occurrence). Matthew decided enough was enough, and pulled a dining room chair out for Joseph to sit in and told him he was in time out! The crazy part? Joseph actually sat there on the chair in time out. I think Matthew would have had him sit there indefinitely (if Mommy hadn't intervened). =)