finally, a photo tour

New Home, a set on Flickr.

Here’s the new house. (Click on the fine print link above to see all the pictures!) We’ve been here now three and a half months. The place is starting to feel like home and we feel so very blessed to have this place to call our own.

Still a lot to do (notice I completely avoided showing any of the basement) and we definitely have a long list of furniture we’d like to have and projects that need to be completed, but for the most part we have settled in quite nicely.

Next on the agenda is a new roof (thanks to the fires last summer and a new law passed that allows insurance companies to drop those of us with wood shake shingles). While I’ll be happy to see the current roof go we’d hoped to save that project for a couple years or get saved by a hail storm or something of the sort.

Then the back yard, or as much of it as we can afford to do this year. Having ancient wood and re-bar hanging about doesn’t make for a super safe play area for the kids now does it? And we need to address any lingering drainage issues since we are downhill.

Despite the never ending drama of being a homeowner, and now landlord, life is good and we have a lot to be thankful for!

packing, packing

Such a busy, productive day.

I started at the dentist where I discovered there is a crack or some nonsense in my enamel on a tooth and just sucks. It hurt when she was cleaning and they ended up putting some sort of medicine on it that should help. Never trout I’d wish for a cavity, but I’d rather have something they could fix.

Next up was Kohl’s, where I found the cutest flannel sheet set for Stephan that I washed up to take up to the mountains. Think he’ll love it. Also found some of the sweat pants nana had found for him that even when washed are long enough for his crazy legs. Even found some warm pants and a fleece for myself which will be awesome in the mountains this weekend.

Then I headed home and unpacked the goods and gave the kids the new set of books, Dr. Seuss again. Violette almost instantly ripped several pages out of the Cat in the Hat. Super frustrating!

After getting some things together and making lunch I headed off to my massage while Andy took the kids to his appointment. The “spa” I went to wasn’t that fabulous and I’m kinda bummed I have two more massages there but at least the massage wasn’t bad. Doesn’t seem like the place was suited for massage in the least. Disappointing after the last spa I went to that was awesome. Think I might just have to suck it up and pay to go back to that one when these massages are used up.

Once massaged I headed off to WalMart and then Target to get some groceries for our trip. Went home and unloaded everything and packed some up so it’s ready for tomorrow. Packed most of our clothes and this and then we went to see Dr. Will, I think we need to try and get there weekly it really messed me up not going for so long. After leaving there we went through the drive thru at McD’s to get dinner and headed back home.

More packing and organizing and now I’m wiped. Think it’s bedtime. Tomorrow morning will be here soon enough and I have plenty to do in the morning!

Can’t wait to be relaxing in a mountain condo tomorrow!

the blah blahs have come to visit

This has been a challenging couple months for us. Always a TON going on at work and I never feel caught up but always several steps behind. Then we moved and the cycle of getting our house somewhat settled and the condo ready for renting. It’s been busy, busy, busy.

Never seem to find much down time.

Throw in several colds and especially the last couple weeks with the boy getting his unfinished journal pages sent home consistently and I’m fried. Feels like every day some other drama begins and I’m overwhelmed as it is so I’m not sure I can handle much else coming along.

Is it Christmas break yet? No? Argh.

Two more weeks. I guess I can deal with that.

The one bright spot is that we are officially hosting Christmas! The next two weeks will be filled with planning and getting ready to host the festivities this year. Back in May when being in a house by Christmas was just a dream, something I hoped for, I never thought we might actually get to have everyone over.

Time to plan out the menu and make sure my MIL brings the Christmas salad since I have never had much luck making Jell-O.

belated thanksgiving

I haven’t posted since we moved.
You’d think I was too busy or something.

This year has been a wild one. The biggest thing I’m thankful for is our new home. We have been so very blessed! Back in April we wouldn’t have even dreamed of being in a house this year. Sure it was on my wish list but certainly not a reality to come soon. Never,ind the fact that we wanted to live in a specific neighborhood that complicated everything from the price point to hardly anything on the market. Funny how God works a miracle when you least expect it.

After finding out we could qualify for a loan in May we looked at every house in our price range that came on the market, several that were over our budget. I doubt in total we looked at 10 homes. Frustrating that nothing was right for us and hard to explain to the five-year-old that you don’t just buy whatever at that price point! Finally in August, on the eve of the first day of school we found the one … getting to closing was no easy feat and there were certainly bumps along the way but that only confirmed the miracle of God’s blessing.

I’m thankful for a wonderful neighborhood with great neighbors and an HOA that finds value in contributing to a dedicated sheriff to be in the area 24/7. Trick or treating was so much fun this year with the kids. The best part was seeing the boy get so excited at seeing his friends from school come by.

Every time I come home it feels surreal.

And that’s not all.
My hubby continues to be blessed with work and an amazing radio connection for advertising and to get his “I want to be a radio guy” fix in.
The boy is doing great at school despite a crabby old school teacher. Other kids like him and even the bully from last year is his friend now.
The girl is in love with princesses and dresses and shoes. While being two is a challenge she often makes me smile and he hugs and kisses and prayers are the sweetest.
The job is going better this year. Still stressful and too much to do in not enough time, but I have some awesome coworkers that make work fun and not too dreadful.
We have been able to go on several fun trips and do so many fun things over the past year.

The house may be the biggest thing (especially having a garage RIGHT there, next to the house) but it certainly isn’t the only thing I celebrate this Thanskgiving.

moving in

I love our new neighborhood.
Driving to our new home just feels right, perfect actually.

A friend helped me get a few things packed and moved over this morning and after nap time the kids and I went back over with another load and unpacked several boxes so we could use them again.

So much fun to start putting dishes and small appliances away in the cabinets. Makes it seem all the more real that it’s our house and we really are moving in soon. Ten days soon!

We also unpacked a large chunk of our DVDs. The boy thought I was looney alphabetizing them but whatever. When you have several hundred it just makes sense. Wonder of wonders we even still have plenty of room for the others we didn’t pack that are still at the condo. Yay for built in bookshelves around the fireplace … and the best thing ever, more SPACE.

After all that I took the kids to Tokyo Joe’s for dinner. We were all hungry and my sushi and their mac were just what we needed to refuel.

Now that the laundry is folded I’m pretty much toast.

Hoping I have the energy to paint tomorrow!

weekend’s here!

I made it through another week. Things at work are calming down, but I’m still struggling some to stay organized and on top of my caseload and IEP prep.

Even tower when my mind is elsewhere.

I would rather be at our house or packing things to move over there.
Seems there’s plenty to do and when I can’t be productive I’m making mental lists and thinking about what I’m not getting done.
Ack.

But now I have three days ahead that should be very productive.
Tomorrow after the gym I hope to start prepping for painting Sunday afternoon.
To take some more of the kids stuff over so we don’t have to worry about boxing up stuffed animals.
And we will see if anything else gets done between the girl’s nap time and picking the boy up and heading to my chiropractor.

Saturday I’ll have some help packing and shuttling a few things over to the house and will have to finish whatever painting prep I didn’t get done Friday.

Sunday church and painting.

By the end of the weekend our moving date will be just over a week away.
Keeping busy sure does help the time fly by!

we did it!

We. Bought. A. House.

For all the roller coaster ride of the last five weeks, I’m so thankful it worked out. Really, God worked it out. Too many little details fell into place at just the right time for it to not have been orchestrated by Him! We may still have a lot to try and get done in the next two weeks, but I’m looking forward to settling in to our new digs.

Signing the papers was no big deal. We got the house for a steal given the neighborhood and the home’s location in said ‘hood. We don’t have a ton of work to do before we move in because we just can’t tackle redoing the kitchen for a couple years … the sink and dishwasher yes, but not all the cabinets and counter tops. Those will just have to wait.

There’s some paint we want to get on the walls. I’m going to do the master with a friend and we might pay someone to do the kids rooms since there’s just not a ton of time and I can’t take two weeks off work right now as much as I’d like to. Hoping the drain in the tub can be fixed before we move in … and that we can find someone to do it for us, the former owner is going to pay for all of that it’s just a matter of getting it done.

I need to figure out how to pack and possibly live for a couple weeks around a bunch of boxes, but we were able to hire movers for the big day. Good thing too, because we need to take my washer/dryer with us. No way I was going to leave that behind! Since the moving company insures everything I don’t have to worry about the washer getting off balance, they cover that. They will even take the W/D that’s at the house and move it back to the condo.

My birthday I’ll come home to our new place and I’m thinking that’ll be an awesome birthday present.

I know the next two weeks will FLY by and I’m just hoping we get everything done.

Phew.