Riding Bikes

My blog has been notably lacking pictures lately.  I made a point of grabbing the camera today when we took the boys out to ride their bikes in the parking lot.  I found Sam a bike at a consignment store last week and he is loving it.  He is SO proud of it and is doing really well at learning how to pedal and steer.  Elijah is quickly learning how to ride his bike too.  (We've been slacker parents and haven't given him many opprotunites to ride).  The boys had a great time riding around and around the parking lot.  Eventually they got tired.  Sam stopped his bike and I offered to help him get going again, because he often gets stuck and can't turn the pedals and start again, but he said "Mo my bike is resting." 

Officially Kid FREE!

Today is Sam's first day of preschool!  That means that for 2.5 hours twice a week I will officially be kid free! I am just in awe. 

Sam has been SO ready to go to school and this week we got word that there was grant funding to pay for him to go.  He just went trotting into class today so excited to be there.  He was tripping over himself being shy for a minute or so but as soon as he got over to the sensory table he was all in.  My baby is all grown up! [BIG SIGH]

Research Mode

Well my brain is in overload.  With the job offer from Maryland Josh and I have been doing a lot of research about the area and the offer.  I came out of the library the other day with a big arm load of books on job offers, credit scores, morgages, house hunting, etc.  We've also been doing a lot of research online.  I have learned A TON but I know there is so much more we need to figure out before we dive into anything. I've got a lot of reading still ahead of me.

Some of the websites that I have found very helpful include:

http://www.zillow.com/ is a real estate website that gives you the values of surrounding houses and lets you search a map for homes for sale in your price range.  It also gives a simple overveiw of the area.  It is a very user friendly site.

http://www.homefair.com/ I have yet to explore all that this website has but today I used their salary calculator which showed me what the median salary was for a job nationwide compared with a specific area. (I was able to compare salaries between here and baltimore).  They also have a cost of living calculator and school reports.

http://www.city-data.com/ has a webpage for most every city in the country.  Includes statistics about the residents, cost of living, income, schools, etc.  There are a lot of graphs and charts.  They also have a helpful forum.

Are there any resources you have used and would suggest to hlelp with buying your first home, relocation, etc?

He got the JOB!

Josh got a job offer from Northrup Grumman this week!  They called last week out of the blue and said they were interested in Josh and would be sending us a job offer.  We are very excited.  It is really nice to be wanted.  We are waiting to see what happens with IBM but more likely than not we will be moving to Maryland come January.  (SCARY!)