Giddyup

We've been terrible bloggers lately....

Lou dressed up as a cow girl....yeeehaw!

Sydney's Family

"I am eight years old and am in second grade. I have a dog, a mom, a dad and a step dad. Now my mom is caring, understanding, a good hiker, and the best mom ever!!! My dad is a carpenter and he likes to snowboard and he is the best dad ever!! My step dad is a doctor along with my mom and he is very kind and the best step dad ever!! My dog is a black lab/border colle. He is mostly black. I am moving in 5 or 6 weeks. My hobby is taking photoes."

By Sydney Seymour-Straub

Surprise!

Saturday night we celebrated "Bertapalooza," which Juan and I have been planning for months. Roberta's 30th Birthday party was a couple weeks ago but this weekend worked best for the actual surprise celebration. Bert's friends and family came from all over: Maine, New York, Michigan and all around Massachusetts. We held the party right at her house in Ashland and hired a professional bartender. It was beautiful! The best part was Roberta had no idea. She had a "spa-day" with my mom and was planning on meeting me out for dinner. I got her to come back to her house under the guise of "car troubles" to pick me up.

Thanks to everyone who helped and travelled to be with us. Happy 30th to a very special lady!

As the hostess, I didn't have time for pictures, but we're waiting on Brian and Shara's..........so stay tuned!

Grrrr......

Apparently, buying a house is hard! There's the home inspection and all the paperwork for the mortgage company and the lawyer (you have to have a lawyer in Massachusetts), the assessment, and all these "offers" and "counter offers" once you have the inspection done. And, then there is trying to work while all these people need to talk to you....forget about it!

Thankfully, its spring and we're getting outside more - that is probably the only reason I haven't pulled all my own hair out. These pictures are from a hike that Sydney and I went on last week at Trout Brook Reservation area - one of the only spots where you can let your dog off the leash. We need that because Lou isn't exactly "tolerant" of his leash. Sydney and I can barely walk him because he's so strong.

The softball season is about to begin and Syd and I are psyched! I'm coaching her team this year, "the Hummingbirds." This will be her first non-Coed experience with sports......

Happy Easter from Lou

Okay, maybe that isn't Lou eating the Easter bunny but it sure does look like him (small picture for comparison)! His evil litter mate, perhaps?

New House

Apparently, it pays to stick by your original offer. After our low bid, the sellers made a counter-offer which we decided not to entertain because its such a buyers market and there are plenty of nice houses out there. However, despite this unwillingness to negotiate on our part, the sellers said they'd accept our offer (verbally - nothing has been signed yet!)

I am thrilled because this is exactly the kind of house I've always wanted: modest in size, lots of land, private and unique. Its also on a dead end street in the same school district Sydney's already in. Just Perfect!

Hopefully, everything will go smoothly but I've heard its a very involved process. We'll see.