Gettin' closer to the finish line.....

A photo pictorial of what's been going on here:


Tile is done.



Stairs and cabinets are stained. Floor stain starts this week.



Lights are in. So now we don't have to rush over and get a look at the day's progress before it gets dark.


Started the rock and painting of the exterior on Saturday. These guys are fast. I bet they are done today. WOW!


This is just a small not finished version of what Robb refer's to as his 'Man Cave' (aka the Dog House by me). We are finishing the basement on this house, so Robb has had to put on his Interior Design Hat and has designed most of this area himself. Looking good honey.

One last thing.....interior painting - DONE - and friends, let's just say....if you don't like color...you won't like it. In paint alone, there are 7 different colors and let's just say, some came out brighter than expected (if you know me, I sampled them all and then some (I think about 14 - gotta love the sample quarts), but I sampled flat paint in small areas, not eggshell in larger ares). We had to visit it a couple times and vision our things in the house - but WE LOVE IT! Jacob's loves his NEON green room so much he asked for his closet to be repainted from white to green. We kept it white. Isabella, loves her pink room so much that if you stop by the house, she will grab your finger and take you to her room and tell you, 'look, it's pink - my favorite'.

Other than that, we are just busy living life, attending school, working, thinking of moving and the logistics, making plans for Halloween, and taking a bit of time to play. Have a great Halloween and I will post photos this weekend of the kids and their costumes. We have been invited to some old neighbors of ours that moved to trick or treat, then onto a small gathering at some other friends, to sort through the goods and eat until we pass out. Halloween on a Friday this year, is a lot of fun. Not to mention, it's also a NO school day. Enjoy!

Countin' the days away.....

Notice to the right of your screen......it's a count down until we are out of here and F-I-N-A-L-L-Y moved into our new house. We can't wait. We talk about it daily, are over there constantly, and even talk about our first meal we are going to cook (changes with each conversation). So, last week, the kids and Robb made a 'count down chain' and each night they pull off a link as we get closer and closer to our move. It's fun for all of us, but I think Robb and I like seeing that chain get shorter and shorter each night more than the kids do.



House Update - going great. We have a driveway, sidewalk, and they are currently working on the posts outside. As for the inside....they start staining and painting next week. We picked out some color for this house (7 to be exact and a stain color and this is just the interior), so it might scare most of you off - but I can't wait to see it come to life. Hip, hip, hooray!







We also took some time today to enjoy the weekend and fall. We went to the Pumpkin Patch and met up with some friends we havne't seen since this summer. It was so much fun. Kind of warm for this time of year, but it wasn't raining and cold, so the kids got to play and run around until they were ready to drop.







From our house to yours.....Happy Fall!

Enjoying some Fall Weather here.....

Well - when dad is away the rest of the house will PLAY!

Robb has been away at the American Royal BBQ since Thursday, so we ditched our responsibilities for the weekend and decided to play. Made not one house decision, didn't clean, cook, or bathe (just kidding)all weekend.

Actually, we took some time out to enjoy the weekend and the fall here. It's just gorgeous. So Friday night Isabella had a sleepover. We ordered Chinese food,
Tye-died some shirts for Halloween, and watched a movie. The kids were up late and up early, so I was tired all day yesterday.

Then yesterday we went to a local apple orchard and picked apples and played. It was so much fun. We met a friend, and cousins up there and we all enjoyed ourselves. We played, picked apples from a 'real tree' with a 'bucket that had a metal handle', had a picnic lunch, and apples desserts from the bakery. Made for a good nap in the afternoon.

The reason some of the above are in quotes, is something funny Jacob asked. You see, Jacob is a lot like me, we get so excited about the anticipation of an event and plan it just so in our heads, that most often once the event happens we are disappointed and fail to enjoy ourselves or we just exhausted from building our excitement up in our heads of said event. So, we have learned to prepare Jacob for the event but not to early. Therefore, I didn't tell him about going to the apple orchard until late Friday night (I am sure it was something like, if you don't go to sleep we won't pick apples tomorrow). Once I told the kids we were going, Jacob's first words were...."do we get to actually pick them from a real tree?", followed with, 'can I take my gloves, worker guys (that is anyone he is pretending to be at the time) have gloves when they work?', and 'will we use buckets with metal handles like in the books we read?'.

So, as you can imagine we had a tall order to fill in this little guys head. Therefore, never having been to this place, I was praying and keeping my fingers crossed on the drive up that they had real trees and buckets with metal handles...we supplied the gloves. Whew - Success - they had everything Jacob had imagined. It was perfect. In fact, I didn't get many photos of him because he was so busy running around with his cousin having so much fun.







Then to make the last day of our 'taking the weekend off' fun, we are going Halloween shopping. You see, I am a planner, so I have costumes for the kids already, but Isabella's is way, way to long and Jacob's - well, it's just not what he wants and who am I to get in the way of pretend playing. So, we are off to look for the greatest, least expensive police officer, soldier, or pilot costume for Jacob and the greatest, least expensive police officer, kitty cat, or witch costume for Isabella. Wish me luck, I am going to shopping with two children 5 and under alone for costumes on a budget. Crazy mom, I know - but at least I am not home cooking, cleaning, or doing laundry.

Enjoy! I am sure I will keep you posted on the shopping adventures.

House front - coming along nicely. We have a side walk, a driveway, and a patio this week. The cabinets are coming in nicely and all the trim work, stair work, and closets are looking great. No photos, sorry didn't have camera. Still no exterior house color, but narrowed it down to two...so we are closer.

Oh yes, I forgot....on our way home from the orchard, Jacob spotted a helicopter hovering around in the air. We went and looked for it and it was so cool. There were some 'worker guys' working on some electrical towers and they were using the chopper to bring them the large material needed to work. We snapped a quick photo just in time before it moved.