The Schaff's Are No Longer Homeless!

So we made an offer on a home in Orchard Park, New York yesterday and we finalized it this morning. We are so excited to have finally made a decision and to know that we will have a home to move into in June! The home is in a great location in an established nieghborhood. It was built in 1995 and will be about a 9-10 minute commute for Michael to get to work. It is very close to church as well. It could use a little paint and a few cosmetic changes to make it feel like ours, but all in all, we are very excited.

This is it, our home in New York.

The living room, hoping to change out the white carpet sooner rather than later.



Formal dining room- every single house back there has one.

Fun at Hogle Zoo

It is spring break and today was definitely going to be the best weather day this week. So I called my sister and we made plans to take our kids to the zoo. Unfortunately, so did several other hundred familes. So it was a bit crowded, but it was about 70 degrees and sunny the whole time. It felt wonderful! We had a great time. Of course, we had to ride the train and the carousel. And the giraffes and the elephants are a must, but we experienced a new animal today- an armadillo. A zookeeper brought one out and put it on display in a blue kiddie pool for us all to see. Pretty cool. Good times.

The armadillo

Maura, at the playground

Sydney on the carousel

Hayden

Old house, new house, rental house oh my

In the past few weeks we put in some really long and exhausting days. First we had to move out of our Kaysville home. It was a lot of space to clear and clean. Frankly, we purged a lot of stuff, but I was a little embarrassed when we filled a semi full of storage crates. Although, when they unload the storage crates in June and pack the truck back to front for the cross-country trip, it is supposed to condense down enough so they can come and get what we have at the rental house- we hope!






After sending most of what we own to storage, we moved to a little rental house, emphasis on little. We gave up 3,000 square feet, but it kept us in the neighborhood. We literally took our beds, one dresser each, one couch, a tv, the piano and some kitchen stuff. The house has new carpets, tile floors and paint, but I feel like I am playing house by living here. But in the end, we are grateful that we found this place and that we can stay in Kaysville until June.




After settling in for 48 hours or so, Michael and I flew to Buffalo, NY for some house hunting. We spent the weekend walking through about 20 homes, but now I have to laugh because the house that I have watched since the first week in October, the one that I said I would buy from the very beginning, is most likely the one that we will make an offer on. It is about 10 minutes to Moog and 5 minutes to church. It is a two story brick front home with four bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a formal living and dining room, an office with french doors off of the foyer, and a large kitchen, eating area and family room in the back. It is on a half acre lot with mature trees and a deck. The only downer is the $9,000 property taxes!

First attempt

I promised myself that once I had figured out Facebook, I would give blogging a try. Now that we have sold the house and I have a little more free time I figured it was now or never. So, here goes nothing!