10 Things I like about my house

-Our retro intercom system
-My new pretty floor in our kitchen
-The view---it’s gorgeous
-Having a couch in my bedroom
-Double vanities in our bathroom :)
-Our sweet closet
-The gas fireplace in the yet-to-be decided room
-How close it is to family
-The pretty hardwood floors
-Falling asleep at night looking at the stars through our sky lights

Working like a dog

Here’s the rundown from the past week:

-Closed on our house here
-Have NOT closed on our house in IN (supposed to be Valentine’s Day now)
-Have unpacked one PackRat completely
-Gutted the kitchen
-Old floor up in the kitchen
-New floor going down in the kitchen
-Drove over 120 miles in one day
-Started living in our house
-Had our first birthday party in the house
-Jasmine is 12!

...so much more going on, it’s been crazy!

Gabe stayed at my folks house Friday night and last night too. Last night Uncle Mickey took Haeley home, Uncle Luke and Aunt Melissa took Jasmine and Benjamin and we have Justin. Justin would not do well as an only child! He does NOT like playing by himself or not having someone else with him. He was a great helper for Brad last night with the floor. Then the two of them got ready for bed and watched part of “UP!” in our room. He is LOVING the one on one.

Off I go....I think a little JT has his first tooth that’s about to get pulled! All my IN friends, stay warm and safe!!!

Proud Homeowners

We are now the proud owners of 2 homes! Prayerfully in less than an hour, that will change to 1 home. :)

I came to work with Brad this morning (I’m in his office typing this now) and played around until our final walk through this morning. The walk through went great!! We even pulled up some of the carpet in the dining room and bedrooms and if the bit of hardwood we saw underneath is any indication of the rest of the floors we will be happy campers! What we can see looks great and there stands the chance that it will not need to be re-finished! We’ll know more on that tonight.

While at the walk through, we got a call from our realtor’s office in Indiana letting us know that we are closing on our house out there after all! The closing was scheduled for 3 but has been pushed back to 4. We are very thankful to have it close today! After the walk through our wonderful realtor, Bob Smith, took us to lunch at Smokey Bones. We had good food, conversation, and company. I really enjoyed it. Then it was on to the closing.

My goodness....the closing. :) It was definitely more than we bargained for, but in a very good way! Brad signed all the papers and I sat there admiring my strong husband as he signed page after page. ;-) Our attorney that was present for the closing gave Brad and I a lot to think about and has started us in the process of getting our will done. That was a very sobering time. I do not like to think about the “what ifs” of life. I know that we need to have all of that in order so that if anything ever happens our kids will be taken cared of. I still don’t like it.

We did have a lot of laughs in that closing though. I was not present when we bought our house in Indiana; I was tying up the loose ends out here. It was a wee bit of a different experience---but fun and very exciting too! I’m anxious to get in the house and get things moving!!!

I am so thankful for how the Lord has blessed us today! If I don’t get back up on here this weekend, have a FANTASTIC weekend!!!!

This Boy

I love when I’m able to really see the hearts of my kids, and this week I was able to do just that. Justin had a quite the load of cash from his birthday and it has been burning a hole in his pocket. He’d spent a little here and there, but still had $40 left. I needed to pick up some things from Target and decided to have some “one-on-one” time with my boy so I took him along.

We picked up the things I needed and he asked if we could go look at the toys because he had brought his birthday money. I agreed and away to the Lego aisle we went! There was this Lego Star Wars set and a Lego City set that he wanted, but the 2 of them together totaled up to more money than he had. He decided on the Lego Star Wars because it had 8 Droids in it....Then he wanted to look down ALL the aisles to see if there was anything else that he may want.

And I agreed.

We hadn’t been looking very long when he saw a Mater car set that was $15 dollars and he wanted to get it for Benjamin! I said that was very sweet and he put it in the cart. Then he found a Star Wars action figure that he wanted too, but he wasn’t going to have enough to get both of them. He thought about it for a moment and said, “So, I won’t have enough to get both of these?” I told him ‘no.’ He says, “Okay.”

And then he put the Star Wars action figure back. He wanted to get something for his little brother. Then he was scouring the aisles to see if he could find something for Gabe too. He wound up back at the action figure because he said Gabe would really like it. But he still wouldn’t have enough for all of them. I went ahead and told him that I would cover the extra $2. He was so happy.

My heart was so touched by his selflessness. He could have very easily spent all the money on himself, but he chose not to. He chose to include his brothers too. He said that he wants to be able to get more money and get something for Haeley, Jasmine, Matthew, and Cullin too. We pulled up to the house and he says:

“Mommy, do you know why I like getting stuff for other people too? I like it because it really makes me feel good. Giving other people stuff makes me really feel good inside.”

Be still my heart.

What a day

We went to a new church today and both Brad and I really did like it. Our Sunday School class was great and service was really good too. There was only one downfall for me. All the kids, Benjamin and Justin included sit in service with us. Only preschool age and younger have a children’s church type program. I’ll have to plan a little for Sunday mornings and bring some activities for them.

After church we drove to the new house to see how long it would take us to get to church, and to our delight it was only about 20 minutes! We went to Brad’s brother’s house from there and enjoyed lunch and football! I love getting to see our family like we’ve been doing. I didn’t realize just how much I missed it while we were in Indiana. It’s good to be back with the family.

We were all happy to see the Jets win the game! Now, let’s hope they beat the Steelers next weekend and the Packers beat the Bears! :D Looks like we have a good Superbowl game brewing!

Another week of school

We’ve got another week of school down. I have the grade book completely set up and I have all tests and work graded from this past week!! This weekend I will set up some more lesson plans and figure out some crafts to do with the kids over the next week. Justin said that he really wants to do some crafts, so I’ll have to see what I can come up with.

I am anxious for the close of our houses! The picture above will be the new school room. The older kiddos will sit at the counter and then I will have my little table for Justin and Benjamin. I have so many plans for that room---and the whole house for that matter. I am so thankful for being here at Mom and Dad’s but I’m looking forward to getting our stuff out of storage and settling back into our routine.

It’s now officially 13 days till closing on our house in VA. The official day for us to close in IN is the 31st, but we may close early if everything can be pulled together. I would LOVE to close early. Brad and I are already planning the new kitchen. We have a rough floor plan mocked up and have been cabinet and countertop shopping. We still have to figure all of that out, but it’s neat getting to design my kitchen. :D :D

We are going to try out some a new church this Sunday and we are hopeful that we will find our new church soon! I pray you have a great weekend!!!!

Spinning my wheels

Ever felt like your stuck in mud and just spinning your wheels trying to get out?? Here lately, that is how I’ve been feeling with homeschool. I’m having such a hard time staying on track and getting everything done on a daily basis as needed. We get our stuff done, but I have no daily schedule and it’s so easy to get off track!!

I know that is solely my own fault. I am the one who has to set the schedule but more than set it, I have to keep to it!!! The days I’m tired and not wanting to do school at the “set” time I need to push through and keep going. I want to make that schedule and keep with it. So, it will be my goal over the next several days to wake up, spend some time with the Lord, get ready, and get my kids up and ready so we can start the same time each day. I know the kids do so much better on a schedule, and truth be told, so do I....so why is it so hard to stick to it when I know it’s the best thing??? Ugh... me and my rhetorical questions. :-)

My Granny

For those of you who have never had the privilege of meeting Granny, I will now introduce you to her. This here is Annie Capps and she is my great grandmother. She is one of the most incredible women on the planet. To say that my life has been blessed by Granny would be an understatement. Granny will be 90 this March.

I claim that she will still be with us, because right now I can’t bear the thought of her not being with us. But right now, Granny is in the hospital and we are awaiting tests to see what’s wrong with her. I got to visit with her today and I’m very thankful for that. She slept most of the time, but I was optimistic because she recognized me and knew who I was. I don’t know what the future holds, but what I do know is that Granny is sick. My heart is so troubled because we just got back from Indiana and we have to make up for lost time.

But I don’t want to be sad right now. I want to think of all the good times with Granny. Growing up we spent so much time at Grandma’s house. Just about every Sunday we were at Grandma’s for Sunday lunch with the whole family. During the summers, we would go over and swim and make massive peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And egg sandwiches. Granny would make a mean egg sandwich.

She came to Japan to visit us when I was a child. I remember going to the airport and picking up Grandma, Granddaddy Leo, and Granny. We had so much fun while they were visiting. We showed them all the sights and I loved the time with just them. We went to Kamakura to see the Big Buddha and fed the squirrels from our hands. We went to visit a temple too. I was so happy having them visiting us. It meant so much.

Then we moved back from Japan and actually lived with my grandma and Granny for a short time. Granny would do anything for anyone. If you had a need, she did everything in her power to meet it. She would give you the shirt off of her back if need be---that IS the woman that she has modeled for me and all of us. You never heard her speak an unkind word about anyone. She is amazing. I love her with all my heart and I am praying that the Lord would perform a miracle and let us have her a little longer.

Take some time and let those close to you know how much you care about them. If you are holding a grudge, let it go. Life is too short to hold on to things that won’t last into eternity.

Granny, I love you.

Too much to do and not enough time

It is December 21st. Christmas is in 4 days, Christmas Eve is in 3, Homeschool Christmas party in 2, and Haeley’s birthday is in 1 day. One day and I will have a teenager. I’m not done Christmas shopping or even birthday shopping for that matter. I don’t know how I’m going to get it all done. I am so stressed....

Last night I went shopping with my sister, Jenn. We had a god time just the two of us hanging out and talking. I love the time I get to spend with my family. Jenn and I went to Charming Charlie’s and I got several things for Haeley and Jasmine. I was going to give them to Haeley for Christmas, but I think it will wind up being more for her birthday unless I can find something today that screams “Haeley”.

We’ve not heard anything on our new house yet. I’m anxious to hear something and frustrated that we haven’t. I know in time we will hear something, but “in time” is taking a lot longer that I would like. We’ve not heard anything on the inspections for our house in Indiana yet either. Once we get a time for the inspection, I will be able to get a friend over there to get the water turned on and run for a while to get the “yuck” smell out. In today’s market though, I’m sooo thankful for a contract on our house.

How I've missed this

This past week Justin turned 7. I have no earthly idea how that is possible---just yesterday he was 1, right? He rang in his 7th birthday with breakfast in bed cooked by his Papa. He had bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes, a banana, and chocolate milk. He was so excited! Later he and I ran some errands and got some yakisboa for supper and then we went and ordered Justin’s cake. He had a football cake---it was supposed to be Colts, but it wasn’t. boo. It was still yummy and he really liked it.

This weekend we had Smith family Christmas at Brad’s brother, Mickey’s house. We have been having a blast! I have missed these get-togethers so much! We had a massive spread of food and family from all over here. There has been so much laughter and fun all around! Last night we stayed up until 1 something playing Apples to Apples. It was my first time playing the game and to say it was fun would be a bit of an understatement. If you’ve not played before you must play!!

In better news....we are a couple days away from a ratified contract on the house that we have an offer on. AND, in BETTER news, we have a contract on our house in Indiana!!!!! The inspection on that house should be sometime this week, maybe next. Here’s to a good inspection!

---and now I’m going to leave and watch the last quarter of the Colts and Jags. GO COLTS!!