It All Happened So Fast

About 9 months ago when the stock market began to take a dive, we started contributing much less to Kris' 401k at work. Over that period, the funds in our savings started to creep up. We didn't really think about it too much until about a month ago. We thought that we should probably do something with the money since it wasn't doing anything in our checking account and short term CD rates are horrible right now (as I'm sure you've all noticed). Our original intention when moving to Maricopa was to make this our home for about 4 or 5 years, then move to Chandler. It was never really an option up to this point because of the cost of housing up there. Also, we never would have predicted that the housing market would fall so hard in Maricopa.

However, it is something that we really wanted to do for a number of reasons: 1) proximity to Kris' job, 2) more mature infrastructure in Chandler, 3) more and higher quality resources available for Trent since he is getting closer to the elementary school age (the special ed. at the Chandler school district is wonderful). Maricopa has been a great place to live, and we've made a lot of good friends, but when you have to drive 25 miles to get to the nearest Home Depot, Target, sit-down restaurant, movie theater, etc., etc., it starts to wear on you. The school system is pretty dismal out here as well.

So we crunched the numbers and made the decision to make the move. We put our house on the market last Wednesday and by Friday we had six offers. We accepted an offer from an investor who will rent the house back to us on a month-to-month basis until we are ready to move out. Saturday, we signed a contract to have a Shea home built in Chandler (SW corner of Ocotillo and Lindsay). It will be a bit smaller than the one we're in now, and is a 1-story home.



It will be finished around May of next year. We sold for about 60% of our original purchase price and the new house is about 140% the price of what we paid for our current house (for those interested on just how bad the market is out here). We figure that the housing market in Chandler will recover much faster than it will in Maricopa for many reasons, so the investment will have a faster return up there than it will here - at least that's what we're telling ourselves to stay positive when we think about the money lost.

So, it will be back to square one for us. Kris is feeling pretty secure at his job, and he's liking what he's doing. We're not depleating our entire savings for this whole endeavor, so we're still in a decent position financially. We feel that it's the right move to make, given our position in life right now. Anyway, that may be more than you all wanted to know, but we're pretty excited about the new prospect, and it did all happen a lot faster than we had expected.

Avery's 3 Month Portraits

Avery turns 4 months old this week, I can't believe it! Her babyhood is going by so fast and I'm really enjoying this sweet moment in time. I waited as long as I could to do her 3 month old portraits so she could get really good at propping herself up and grabbing her feet!

Trent's Preschool Graduation

Even though Trent didn't really graduate (he will still be in preschool next year), his class had a cute little year-end ceremony. It was nice to see the staff working with him during the ceremony. They're so great with him, and he seemed to enjoy it.

Avery's Blessing Day

What a wonderful day! Kris gave a beautiful blessing to our baby girl this Sunday. We were so happy to have loved ones there with us to share in the event. Afterwards we all visited with each other at our house over dinner. Of course, everyone wanted to hold the girl of the hour, and she was happy to smile and coo for them. Trent hopped from person to person giving hugs, sitting on laps, and (of course) sharing food. It really was a beautiful, happy, peaceful, special day.

Avery's First Smile

Ok, this isn't really her first smile. I didn't catch that one on camera. But she did start smiling for the first time today!

Male Bonding

I'm very fortunate to work at a company that gives paid time off to fathers when they have a new baby. I was able to take Trent down to Tucson to spend a little time with my mom on a Friday. We went to the Tucson zoo for a few hours. The weather was great and we had a lot of fun.




Here's one of Trent recently at the dinner table. When he doesn't get an early nap, you can never tell when sleep will strike...


This is probably one of those photos that can be pulled out when he's a teenager and his female friends come over. I'm sure we'll archive this one for just the right moment.

Over the past year, I've been working with Jake Johnson, another local photographer, to take action photos of kids playing various sports. We've got a deal with the city for all city-sponsored sports. We've done flag football, soccer and basketball. Right now is spring soccer and tackle football season. I've spent about half a day over each of the past four Saturdays taking pictures.



I think baseball is next, then another basketball season, then we start over again. It's been fun, and a little extra money on the side makes it worthwhile.

First Day of School

This is Trent at his new school, Maricopa Elementary. He began on his his birthday at the end of March. He goes to a developmental preschool where half the students are typical kids and half have developmental delays like him. So far he seems to really like it. When I drop him off he just gives me a hug and then holds his teacher's hand as she takes him into the classroom.

Trent was diagnosed with mild Autism a couple of months ago, and has since started in the Jumpstart program at SARRC (Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center). It's a four week program that teaches the parents how to use Applied Behavior Analysis principals to help the children progress in communication and in learning other skills. They also work with the kids in a preschool-type setting, demonstrating these techniques while the parents observe. It's a great program and well worth the drive all the way to downtown Phoenix.

So we've been very busy with preschool on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and Jumpstart on Tuesdays and Thursdays (all while trying to get the hang of caring for a newborn). But Trent seems to be doing well and we are so happy that he has all these resources available to help him.