House Pictures (Take 3)

Garage -- We love having a place to put our cars and store our outdoor toys (both Caleb's and Tim's lol). Although, I think Caleb is more obsessed with pushing the garage button.

Garage

Interior of the 2.5 car garage -- before we filled it with junk.. hehe

Yard -- Other than having to maintain the yard, we love having a place to play when it's nice outside. I can just let the kids go in the backyard as long as the gate is closed otherwise Sonya will escape and take herself for a walk. We even have a play platform area in the backyard and horseshoe stakes set up too! There's all sorts of plants growing -- I'm learning what they are and trying to keep the areas weeded.

Tulips blooming :-)

Flowers by the patio



Backyard - Patio area

Backyard - Different angle of the Patio

Backyard - fenced in! and play area

Backyard - Yes, we have a firepole!

House Pictures (Take 2)

Bedrooms -- There are three bedrooms in the house. We were so blessed that they had the perfect colors already on the walls so we didn't need to paint. Caleb's room is a pale, sky blue while Sonya's is a light lavender. The master bedroom walls are hard to describe -- I think they used a textured roller to paint a beige over a light gold sort of color.

Caleb's Room -- bunk bed

Caleb's artwork

Sonya's Room!

Sonya's Room -- new dresser!

Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom -- Tim's new dresser!

Basement -- Half of the basement is finished. We have our computer downstairs as well as a play area and an area to watch movies. It's so nice to have this extra space to entertain and just to hang out as a family.

Stairs (before) - Leading down to to the basement

Stairs (after) -- well not really an after picture, but couldn't help posting

Half-finished Basement (before)

Half-finished Basement (after) -- looks better with furniture

Half-finished Basement (after) -- TV area

Basement - New washer and dryer

House Pictures (Take 1)

I know some of you have already seen the house or maybe pictures on facebook. But... for those of you that are reading from afar or don't have access to facebook, here they are:

Family photo outside our NEW house

Kitchen -- It came with a stove, microwave, refrigerator, and a mobile island. We haven't done any painting yet. Maybe some day we'll add a few more of our own touches on the walls.

Kitchen (before)

Kitchen (after)

 Dining Room -- We did a little painting because the yellow/gold color was a bit overwhelming. The green probably looks better in person (or maybe if I had opened the blinds before taking the picture, it'd be better too!)

Dining Room (before)

Dining Room (after)

Living Room -- We painted over the yellow using a light brown color called "mesa" and the wall from the dining room into the living room is the "grape leaves" green. I don't have a photo with our newly acquired loveseat, but it gives the room a more homey feel.

Living Room wall (before)

Living Room wall (after)

Living Room window/corner (before)

Living Room window/corner (after)

Living Room built-in bookshelf (before)

Living Room built-in bookshelf (after)

Hallway (before)

Hallway (after)

Home Sweet Home

We're finally home owners!!! I can't believe it. I feel like we've been living here for a while. It's such an amazing feeling to know that I'm home!

Here's a glimpse of what the past week or so looked like:

Last Tuesday (May 17th), my sister was still visiting to help with the kids and moving. While Caleb was at school, Jenny watched Sonya. Tim and I had one quick walk through to do yet on the house because the owners were still in the middle of cleaning and moving when we did a more thorough walk through on Saturday (May 14th). So after that, we went over to Port Abstract where we closed on the house. Signing the papers went faster than I thought it would. Before we knew it, they handed over the keys and the house was ours. Talk about surreal! Our agent was wonderful throughout the whole process. :-) After we signed everything, we decided to take go to the house, just the two of us -- no kids. I took a few pictures and jumped up and down in excitement a few times. :-)

I think we brought a few items over that we had packed the night before and unloaded those before heading back to the apartment. Then we packed up Jenny's van and all of our cars to go back to the house already. Tim picked up Caleb from school -- He was pretty stoked about the house! We all got McDonald's to go and had a picnic in OUR backyard. So fun! 

We brought Sonya's crib over already to reassemble since her pack'n'play was still in the apartment (in our walk-in closet where she's been sleeping for the past who knows how many months). My sister left around 3-ish after bringing over another load of stuff. Then it was time to vacuum, wipe down walls, and start taping everything off so I could paint. I even filled in a few holes here and there. I was hoping to get more accomplished, but wanted to enjoy every moment too. 

On Wednesday (May 18th), I sanded down the walls a little bit and started to edge the corners, the ceiling, around the windows, etc. with the colored primer. Then Tim brought home a really cool painting edger which made the process go by so much quicker. My friend, Terry, from church helped me get all the walls primed. A friend from college, Kyle, started working on the green (grape leaves) paint in the dining area. I was so nervous about that color because it was pretty bold compared to the neutral beige, off-white sorts of colors that are hard to screw up. Tim, Kyle, and the kids ate pizza while I relaxed at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner with some of my fellow moms at church. The boys finished the first coat of green while I was gone. 

Thursday (May 19th) was another painting day. I finished a second coat of green in the morning while Caleb was at school. Sonya sat in her pack 'n' play and watched me. After we picked up Caleb, we ate lunch and enjoyed the nice weather for a little bit. Later on in the afternoon, my friend, Jen, came over to get Caleb while I started painting the brown (mesa) color in the living room and hallway. Sonya was napping so a got quite a bit accomplished. I got about a quarter of the way done with the brown and found a good stopping point so Sonya and I could walk over and get Caleb. It was such a beautiful day! Then we met Tim back at the apartment where he had supper waiting for us. We took another load of boxes over to the house and I went back to painting again. I finally finished around 11pm. Whew! Talk about a long day! But... it was worth it! The rooms looked better than I had hoped. 

Friday (May 20th) was more packing and cleaning. Debbie watched Sonya while Caleb helped me with the doors while I brought more boxes to the house. I was able to clean up the plastic and cardboard that I had laid out during painting and removed all the blue painter's tape. We returned to the apartment, filled up my car again, and went to the house to have lunch. The kids enjoyed playing in the back yard. Sonya and Jonathan picked some dandelions. They are so cute together!! Around supper time, Sears dropped off and installed our brand new washer and dryer. Another friend from college, Nick, was doing a motorcycle trip around Wisconsin to visit friends and then his sister so he stopped by for a little bit. Caleb liked the motorcycle. :-) It had been about 4 years since I've seen Nick so it was nice to reminisce. Then we had some time to disassemble the bunk bed and our queen bed at the apartment so it was ready for moving day.

On Saturday (May 21st), we were all ready to move. Everything was taped shut and disassembled as much as possible. Tim got the U-haul around 8-ish. My dad and two of my brothers started moving some furniture out. Another brother and a friend from church, Andy, came to help too while I watched the kids, packed and unpacked a few things and also directed traffic. The furniture was all in place and beds were assembled again by 11:15 right around the time that the pizza was ready. I think we had all worked up a pretty good appetite and ate all but 5 pieces of pizza out of the 5 pies that we bought. After everyone had left, poor Sonya fell down the stairs to our basement. Caleb learned pretty quickly that he needs to lock the gate right away or ask for help if Sonya is in the way. Considering she fell down the whole set of stairs, I think we were all mostly just scared. She was back and laughing a few minutes late. Thank God our stairs are carpeted! 

We unpacked a few things, got another quick load of stuff rom apartment, got groceries and slept at the house for the first time. I woke up feeling like I was finally home after a long trip. It was such a nice feeling. :-)

Sunday (May 22nd), there was a speaker on creationism vs. evolution at church. It was really intriguing so we went back later that night to hear more. The rest of the day was relatively relaxing. We didn’t do much cleaning or unpacking so that was nice.

Monday (May 23rd) consisted of cleaning the apartment all day and packing up a few odds and ends that didn't make it over to the house on moving day. 

Tuesday (May 24th) - I cleaned the apartment in the morning, watched Veggie Tales with the kids after lunch. Sonya fell asleep in my arms so I put her to bed. Then I read Caleb a book and he fell asleep on my shoulder while reading. He was so cute. It's been a while since he crashed like that for me. So while the kids napped, I unpacked and organized the house a bit. Then we grabbed some Subway when Tim got home and headed over to the apartment to finish cleaning. I can't believe we're done with that place! All we have to do is replace a lightbulb and turn in our keys. I don't think I want to clean another stove or refrigerator for a while though. lol...

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I'm hoping to clean up the house a bit more so I can post some before and after pictures. This was such a fun and exciting process. I can't believe we're in the house already. I might go through home buying withdrawal without all the excitement of exchanging emails and phone calls and viewing houses, etc. But, I'm sure we'll have find enough projects around the house to do to keep us busy for a while.

Slowing Down...

I think that sometimes God is trying to tell us to slow down a little and just trust Him a little more. All last week, I was hoping to do a lot of organizing, cleaning, and packing to get ready for moving day. Alas, I got hit with a horrible sinus infection -- one of the worst that I've had in a long time. On top of feeling miserable and fatigued, my left ear had a lot of pressure so I couldn't really hear out of it. (I'm still waiting for that pressure to subside). Anyway, being sick slowed me down enough that I just didn't get anything done around the house. Things didn't go as I had planned in my head. Then, my sister called me up out of the blue and asked if I'd like a visitor. She didn't have to work for a few days, so she came down on Sunday night and is staying until later today ... or maybe tomorrow depending on if we need her. She's been a blessing with helping watch the kids and just distracting me from worrying too much about closing on our house.

Our loan officer sent us an email yesterday with the final amount that we need to bring to closing. We wanted to see a break-down so asked for a copy of the papers that gave details on every expense item. It turns out that they didn't include a credit that we are expecting from the sellers to go towards some electrical work. Luckily, Tim saw that and had to make a lot of calls to get the paperwork changed by working with our realtor and loan officer. I'm not sure if it was the title company that did it wrong or what, but we were a little stressed out last night after our closing costs and down payment fluctuated throughout the day.

After the long day, I was looking forward to watch a nice, relaxing softball game since Tim had a double header last night through our church. It'd be the first game of the season that had decent enough weather for me to come along with the kids. Plus, my sister was here to help with the kids. Well, the weather was still pretty windy and a little chilly so we bundled up into the car. I had popped some popcorn to bring as a snack. It was going to be nice. As we're pulling into the park's parking lot, I see Tim going in the opposite direction. My first thought was that they decided at the last minute that they were going to a different diamond or that the other team forfeited already. I was wondering why he hadn't called me or anything though. I thought I saw something on his chin as we drove past so I told my sister that he was probably going to the emergency room. Although, if he was hurt that bad, I didn't know why he was driving himself.

I pulled into a parking spot to wait and then Tim called. "I'm going to Urgent Care." What???? "I got hit with a ball during practice and the guys thought I needed stitches." So, in my mind, I was freaking out a little, but tried to stay relatively calm. We turned around and met him at the urgent care that was a few blocks from the baseball diamond. I helped him fill out all his paperwork. He didn't want me to stay with him at all and said to just go back to the park to let the kids play and he'd meet us there to watch the game. I had him show me his battle wound really quick just to have an idea of what we were up against and confirmed that he would definitely need some stitches.

With the kids still in the car with my sister, we went back to the park. I watched a little of the game and played with the kids for 45 minutes. It got chilly and I wanted to check on Tim. So we went to urgent care and he was STILL in the waiting room!!! I couldn't believe it. I was SO mad!! I almost chewed out the receptionist, but Tim told me not to bother because it wasn't going to help anything. He'd just complain later in a survey or something. Well, I wasn't sure how much longer he would need to wait, but he insisted he was next in line and that I should just go home to get the kids to bed and maybe pack a few things into my sister's van already. So, I got Tim some more paper towels because his chin was still bleeding a little and then went home.

I kept pacing around the house and looking out the window to see if Tim was home yet. He had been at urgent care since a little after 6pm and finally got home closer to 8:30pm. Yeah, he waited about an hour and fifteen minutes before he was seen by a doctor. But, they stitched him up pretty quick and sent him home. Five stitches in his chin.

Needless to say, instead of worrying about closing on our house this morning -- in two hours to be exact, I was more worried about my husband. God sure knows how to slow us down and appreciate the more important things -- like Tim and my sister and my family.

So BIG!

Sonya will be 15 months old in a few days already. Time has gone by so fast. I keep seeing these teeny, tiny newborns and think to myself that Sonya was that small about a year ago. It's hard to imagine her that little anymore though.

I'm enjoying my time at home being able to watch my kids grow up and seeing them learn new things. Sonya has mastered walking. She's trying to figure out the best way to go down the stairs at our apartment. The railing is up a little too high and she insists on walking down the stairs instead of sliding down on her butt. It's so cute to watch her figure it all out.

Recently, Sonya's communication skills have been developing more. She's saying a few more words and being more consistent with hand signing. It's so nice to know what she wants. If she's hungry, she has us follow her to the pantry and then points at it. If she wants a drink, she'll sign "milk" and even say "maa, maa" while guiding us over to the refrigerator. Some of her words are just babbling, but she loves to talk! Her favorite thing to say lately has been "hi." She'll wave to strangers and shout out "hi." It's so funny how friendly my little girl is. I swear, she'll go by almost any woman. Who could resist a sweet face and outstretched arms?

Sonya has also been understanding a lot of what Tim, Caleb, and I say. If we ask her where her baby is, she'll go and look for it. She also started bringing her shoes to us when we ask and can take off her jacket with a little help from mom and dad. A few days ago, we began teaching Sonya the names of body parts. Since eye sounds close to "hi", she mastered saying the new word and is able point to mommy and daddy's eyes when we ask. She's so proud of herself! My little girl is growing up. I love you Sonya Rose.

Phone Calls and Paint Colors

So we started making phone calls to change our water, electric, and mail services over to the new address already. I think we just have to deal with AT&T for our internet now. Maybe I'll make Tim do it. haha... He doesn't like having to call them at all. Their rates are good, but their customer service experience is NOT! Anyway, it feels good to get those little things out of the way so I don't have to worry about our water being shut off while we're trying to move in or not having electricity to turn on lights. :-)

As for paint colors... haha.. poor Tim. I keep changing my mind on the exact shades of green and brown that I want to use. We went to Home Depot on Saturday so I could get the color cards vs. trying to use the Behr online colors. I think I have it narrowed down to grape leaves and mesa now. I'll compare the colors against the living and dining room walls when we do our walk through on Saturday. Hopefully I won't need to change my mind again. It's just so tough because the shade changes depending on the amount of light the wall gets throughout the day. If there's only a 5 minute period during the day where the walls look "ugly," I think I can deal with that. BUT... if it's for half the day, I'm thinking I'd need to paint over it.

Things are slowly coming together though. Tim just bought our washer and dryer from Sears so they'll deliver next week Friday. We'd been looking at prices and comparisons for a few weeks now and decided it was time to go ahead and order them. It sounds like we'll have a lawn mower to last us through the summer. Then maybe next year, we'll buy one unless the one we're getting really won't last all summer. lol... I'm just thankful we won't have to spend money on one for right now. One less thing to research and worry about, I guess.

I started putting the felt circles on the bottom of furniture. Although, I think I'll wait until the weekend to finish because otherwise I noticed that they come off easily if dragged on our carpet. Caleb likes to pull his chair over to the counter to help set the table and I can just see the felt coming off of our chairs.

I still have some boxes to pack. At this point, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. It seems like there's not a lot to pack, but then I look around at our "mess" and feel like I have a long way to go. I'm just glad we have two weeks to move and clean everything. The cleaning part is not something I'm looking forward to, but I want to get our deposit back on the apartment! Anyway, as long as we can move all of our big furniture that won't fit in either of our cars, I'll still have another week to pack up those last few things and not feel so stressed out. Only one more week left until we close!!!!!

Counting down until closing!

I can't believe how quickly time is flying by. We close on the house in a week and a half! Am I done packing yet? Not quite.... There are still toys, books, games, and movies that are still out. A few posters are still up on the walls in addition to a few wall hangings. All of our pictures are down though and packed and most of our little knick knacks. I went through a lot of papers and notebooks that I saved from high school and college. Since it's been 5 years since I graduated from college, it was time to let go of some of those things. Was I really going to need my calculus and biology notes anymore? They might come in handy some day, but by then, I don't think I'll be able to decipher any of it. haha

There are still lots of little putzy things to pack, but I've been trying to wait until I'm absolutely sure I won't need it anymore -- like clothes, kitchen items, bedding, our computer, and toiletries. We have quite a few boxes packed up already though so I'm slowly getting there. I can't believe how many boxes of kids' clothes that I have though! There's over 12 boxes of boys' clothes ranging from newborn all the way up to 7 years old. (I just got two big garbage bags of clothes from my aunt during Easter so that adds to it). At least Sonya only has 3 or 4 boxes of clothes. Most of them are too small on her, but I have to save them in case we ever decide on baby #3.

Anyway, this post is just a rambling of all my thoughts and trying to not go crazy. I want to have everything all planned out ahead of time so the transition of painting and moving goes smoothly. Then I can enjoy my house right away instead of spending all my free time trying to finish cleaning the apartment during the last week of the month.

We do our final walk-through on May 14th. I don't know what time yet, but probably in the morning since that was our preference. Then I can make sure of the color choices I have for painting the dining room/living room and hallway. It's narrowed down to a combination of tate olive and desert camel for right now, but the shades of green and brown might change yet. :-) So after we walk through the house, we'll probably go and get paint samples and most of the painting supplies.

Tuesday, May 17th is the magical day that we close on the house! I'm looking forward to it, but am a little nervous too. I had a break down the other night as I realized that I'm not in control and that God is. I'm always trying to be in control and have everything happen just perfectly. So I needed that reminder that everything will work out in the end even if it doesn't go exactly to plan. It's just so hard for me if I don't have some sort of schedule. Now, I have a loose schedule of what is going to happen so that we can try and figure out how to coordinate painting and moving with some of our volunteer helpers. We're so thankful for all the offers to help. It's almost overwhelming. I just hope we have enough muscles to do the big move on May 21st. (I'm a weakling so I don't help with the big lifting).

I'm hoping to do some cleaning of the new house on the day we close. Then I can get the walls prepped for painting. Worse case scenario, I get them ready the next morning. I'm thinking it'll be a two-day painting project since we'll need two coats. (That's my guess anyway). So painting day #1 will be May 18th. I'm looking forward to our Mom's Group dinner that night at the Cheesecake Factory. It'll be a nice break. Then the following day, May 19th, I'm hoping to finish painting during the day and then start moving some smaller boxes over already after dinner. We'll see how that works out. Friday, May 20th will be a day to tie up any loose ends before the BIG move on Saturday. We're getting a U-haul to make things easier. Then we'll only need one or maybe two trips. I think Tim's plan was to start loading up around 10am that day, then do pizza for lunch, and finish unloading after that.

This post is getting long, but I needed to write it all out. I could probably write more, but I need to go finish some laundry and maybe pack a few more boxes while I'm at it. Or I should see if we have the felt circles and such to start sticking to the bottom of the furniture that'll go in the living room and dining room. We're going to have hardwood floors! There's a few scratches in the floors already, but I'd kind of like to hold off on refinishing for now since they aren't in too bad of condition.

I'm so excited!!!