We will walk to the library!

On Saturday the four of us plus Amanda, Bri and Hunter took a day trip to Charlotte to visit the wonderful Armenta family. It was so much fun to all get together! Ruthie, Bri and Claire are all within about six months of each other, and Wright, Hunter and Evan are within about four months.

The boys are too young to play together but the girls had a blast. Claire's only issue was figuring out which of Ruthie's toys to play with next (usually she settled for whichever one Ruthie was currently playing with). The weather was perfect and it was so good to spend a relaxed day with some of our favorites -- it had been way too long.

While we were in Charlotte an agent called wanting to show our house. My phone was in the car so I missed her call but Matt had a message from her. By the time he called her back she had called every Kirby in the phone book. She said she had clients who were basically desperate to get into our house. They had already walked all around the yard but hadn't gone inside because they couldn't get in touch with us.

The house was NOT in showing condition so Matt asked if they could come back the next day. But they really wanted to see it that day. We agreed, but explained we had rushed out the door that morning, had two kids under 2, etc., and asked them not to judge. (When we got home we were relieved to find it wasn't a total wreck -- the bed was made, all toilets were flushed, only one pair of underwear was in plain view -- it could have been a lot worse.)

On our way home from Charlotte the agent called and she and the buyers were still at the house and had some questions. A few minutes later she called back and said they were writing an offer. YES! It was a good offer that became very good with negotiations and by 11:30 that night we were under contract!

The buyers extended their trip by a couple of days so they could be here for the home inspection, which was done Monday morning. As always, anything could happen, but I'm feeling good about it. The due diligence period ends June 10 and at that point it will be pretty much a sure thing. We're supposed to close on June 24.

Considering how many times I have second-guessed whether we should even keep our house on the market (Matt is a very patient man), now that it's under contract, I am awfully excited. I do love to live in different houses and neighborhoods and I am SO excited to build in downtown Aberdeen! We'll probably rent while we build and with a little luck we should be in the new house by Christmas. Claire is not going to know what to do with herself when she realizes that our new house and Riley's new house are side by side.

Since our Aberdeen houses are in the historic district they are basically required to be super cute and cottage-y. I cannot tell you how many times I've dragged Matt through downtown Southern Pines houses and begged him to buy them. I have succeeded only once:

But these awesome old houses are exactly the look we're going for in Aberdeen, so today he told me to drive around Southern Pines and take pictures of some of my favorites to work off of in the design of our new house. Holler!

I got a little awesome-old-house giddy and took quite a few pictures. I won't post them all, but here are two homes that are near to my heart.

The very first "one that got away":

And the most recent one:

I'm also making a wish list for the inside -- stained glass, old doors, beadboard, hardwoods, built-ins and more built-ins ... ahh. It's fun to dream!