We Have Moved!!

This past weekend was exciting, exhausting, fun, stressful, etc. The list goes on. But the bottom line is now we officially own our dream home and we have moved it. Everything we own is under one roof for the first time ever. That probably doesn't make much sense to most but when Matt and I got married there was no way to fit everything I owned (a full 1500 square foot house worth of stuff) into his 1800 square foot house that was already full of stuff. So we signed a lease on a storage building and filled it up. Fast forward to spring 2013 and we decided to put our house on the market. In order to do so, we had to de-clutter. Enter storage building #2. August 2013, we sell the house and move into a 1400 square foot rental with no garage or small storage building in the yard, so enter storage area #3 - the basement of my office which we filled.

So now we have officially moved everything out of the rental house, 2 storage buildings and my office into our new home. Needless to say we have a lot of work ahead of us getting everything unpacked, sorted, organized and hopefully cleaned out. I hope to have the biggest yard sale ever this spring because I know there is some stuff that we do not need.

But no matter how much work all the moving was, and how much work we have ahead of us, it was all totally worth it. We absolutely love our new house. Both the kids loved their rooms. Neither had seen their room painted and of course Matt and I had some surprises up our sleeves.

The best reaction has to go to Reagan. When we first started talking about room decor and color she wanted to go all UK. I had this fear that when she hit middle school next year she might regret that so I carefully steered her to something more girly. The walls are a bright, fun blue. Then we had a girls day to go shopping for bedding. It took a while but she finally starting leaning toward doing a zebra theme. We didn't buy anything that day and I never brought it up again. Little did she know I bought her a bedspread in zebra, curtains that are pink and white zebra and we had a good friend give us a really cute vanity table, mirror and chair. To say she was surprised when she saw it all together was an understatement. She even had tears in her eyes. That's what makes the hard parts of parenting all worth it.

Alex didn't have the same reaction but his face when he saw his "big" bed was just as fun. It was total shock and a big "whoa big bed!". We converted his toddler bed into the next phase which is a full size bed. It is very big when you see him curled up in it. But he loves it. He also loves being able to go up the stairs to his room and wants someone to go with him to play. My first area to tackle will be the playroom just to keep him downstairs when I need to!

Once the house is no longer decorated with boxes I will be sure to post some pictures of it all put together. That might be a while though....

Checking Off the To Do List...

We had a bit of a hiccup last week when we got a call from Ball Homes trying to schedule our closing for the 21st. I think Matt was afraid I would kill someone if it got moved so he asked them why it was changing from the 14th. We found out it was because the city of Versailles wouldn't give them the Certificate of Occupancy until the yard was graded. Of course with the full blown winter we have been having, that hasn't been possible. They told us if they could get a temporary CO or get the yard graded we could close on the 14th. I knew what the forecast looked like so I prepared myself for a week longer in the rental.

Much to my surprise, Ball Homes doesn't get stopped by snow, ice and below freezing temperatures. Even though the ground is covered in a few inches of snow, with a coating of ice on top, they still got out there yesterday and graded the yard. 

Matt was also able to get in the house and found their "to do" list. They are almost finished with the small things that needed to be fixed. So it appears we are still on track to close next Friday. I can now say, we have one week!

I have movers, painters, furniture delivery and a UHaul all scheduled. I am ready! We are packing daily and have turned in time to be off work. I can really start to get excited now. (As if I wasn't already).

The Ball Homes "to do" list. Can't be read but still cool to see this final step.

The only yard in Versailles not covered in snow probably!

Our front yard, graded and ready to go! Sod will be added in the spring.

The yard all graded!

Winter Wonderland...

I am not a big fan of winter, AT ALL, and we have been having quite a bit of winter so far this year. It has been way too cold for me, especially since we have had a lot of trouble with our heat in the rental house. We even had to have a couple of sleep overs at mom and dads when we had no heat and it was single digits and below. Thankfully it got fixed (sort of) and at least heats the house now.

However, even though I hate the cold, I have to admit the snow has been beautiful. Especially when you live on a horse farm.

Best Valentine's Day Ever - 2014!

If you know me at all, you know that typically I don't like Valentine's Day. it has gotten better since I met Matt, but overall it is just not my favorite holiday. This year is shaping up to change that. On Friday we got the word that we should be closing on the 14th. Best Valentine's Day ever!

Once the email came through, Matt sent me a text asking if we were doing gifts. My response - just a house! That is more than enough for me!

So the plan as of today (which can always change as we have learned with Ball Homes) is for the supervisors to do their walk through today, Matt and I will do our first walk through next Monday and point out anything we have concerns with, and then will do our final walk through the morning of the 14th and head to closing from there. That same day, the painters will come in and tackle my long list of rooms and colors. Hopefully our couch will also get delivered that day.

On the 15th at 9 am the movers will be at the rental house and within about 5 hours we will have everything out of the rental and storage buildings and into the new house. The only thing left will be the stuff in Frankfort and we are considering renting a UHaul for the 15th and Matt and Andy tackling that while I direct the movers.

It was like the email just made it all real. We started packing this weekend even. Less than 2 weeks to go and we are more than ready! 

We stopped by the house on Saturday and the plumbers were there so we got to take a look around. All the final pieces were in place and by the time we left, the water and sewer was working as well. As far as we could tell there was nothing left to do except plug in a stove.

Cabinet inspector.

All the shelves are in the closets!

Sink and dishwasher all ready to go!

It's official when there is a mailbox at the curb!

Headed upstairs to check things out.

Testing out the newly installed handrail.

Loved seeing all the finishing touches like the towel holders!

Go Broncos!

I have always been a sports fan but never really latched onto a NFL team. I guessed I mostly watched the Bengals since they were as close to being the "home team" as we could get in our non-pro state that we live in. So when I married Matt, a long time Denver Broncos fan, it was easy to just fall in line with him and become a Denver fan. I joke that they made it very difficult for me when they drafted Tebow one year and then brought in Peyton another. But I continued to cheer for them, especially when Peyton brought Jacob Tamme with him from Indy and we already had Woodyard and Trevathan on the team. How could you not love a team with 3 UK boys on it?

This year was a really fun year as Denver played a heck of a season. It got even more excited as they made their way through the playoffs and made it to the Super Bowl. Matt bought new Denver shirts for the kids and Alex walked around the house for weeks saying "Go Broncos!". 

From the first "botched" snap of the game, it was ugly. I felt terrible for Matt the whole time. I know it had to be so disappointing to see his team get beat and not really even show up for the game at all. He never really got down, saying there were more important things in life than a football game but I know it really sucked. That just makes me love him that much more. He shrugged it off and didn't bat an eye when Alex asked him to watch Paw Patrol with him instead of the last couple of minutes of the game and the post game show. That man never ceases to amaze me in the love he shows for me and our kids.

But despite the terrible outcome of the game we had a good time hanging out great friends over at the Padgett's house. Plus there were 2 other little boys Alex's age so he had a blast too. Here are a few pictures from the fun:

Chips, dinner of champions everywhere! That bag was almost as big as him!

Alex and Charlie guarding the steps, acting tough.

Silly boys!

More silliness!

Jackson had to join the fun on the steps.

Not sure how we pulled this off, even though it isn't in the right order, it is still cute - See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil. If only they would follow that themselves.

My Boys.

Daddy and his kids.

Love my family!

Dressing Up to Watch TV...

Another quick post about our little man. We had a soccer meeting at the library for Reagan's soccer team so Alex got to check something out. Sadly he picked a movie instead of a book but secretly I was glad because I figured he could do less damage to a movie than a book.

He picked out a Bob the Builder movie. So as soon as we got home he wanted to put it in the "movie player" and watch it. Of course as soon as Bob came on the screen dressed in all his gear, Alex had to follow suit and get his hard hat and tools. It was too cute. Then he would get all excited when "the workers" would help Bob with something. He is such a mess.

The Joys of Girl Scout Cookies...

Just thought it might be time for a random post that isn't about the house for once. So I wanted to share a fun picture of Alex. At 2 1/2 the "first" don't happen as often as they did when he was little but they do still happen occasionally and they are still lots of fun.

When I was little I was knee deep in girls scouts. I started as a brownie and stuck with it all the way through middle school as a junior. Of course it made it 10 times better that my mom became my troop leader and although I will be the first to admit that I hated her and Teresa's caper charts, I will also be the first to admit they were the best leaders a troop could have. They were always planning fun adventures and trips for us, I don't know how they did it now that I am a working parent. Makes me appreciate them that much more.

One of my favorite times of the year, and I am sure my parent's most dreaded, was cookie time. I have always been super competitive so I made sure I sold enough cookies each year to get all the prizes on the chart. Which meant our living room would be full of cookies until we could get them all delivered.

As I came out of Kroger the other day and saw a troop selling cookies, I figured I owed it to someone to buy some since so many people used to buy from me. 

So Alex got to experience his first Girl Scout cookie, a Peanut Butter Pattie. To say it was a hit would be an understatement. He loved it! Here's to many more years of sharing yummy cookies together!