My first official decoration

I bought some new salt and pepper shakers.  They look so cute on the counter. Could they be considered a decorative item?   The house is so empty.  I know it's only been a few days but I can't wait until we get settled a little and start to hang stuff on the walls, etc.

Girls Day!

Hannah is on Spring Break this week.   It's working out nicely since we just moved.  Loriann and Marlee came over yesterday so I also kept Hailey home and today we had plans to take the girls to the Mall of America to the Barbie Dreamhouse Experience.

It's nice to be able to take a break from work and the house to just spend a day together.

We didn't tell the girls that we were going there.  They were pretty sure that we were going on the rides but we kept telling them there was something else.  They didn't have a clue!

We got there early because we weren't sure how busy it would be.  The exhibit doesn't open until noon and we arrived between 10 and 10:30 so we had some time to kill.

As we were thinking of something to do I mentioned to Loriann that Hailey has been asking to get her haircut for weeks now and although I don't really think she is serious, maybe we should see if she was serious about it and go get her hair cut.

She was REAL excited about that idea so we were off to Regis!

As we were approaching the salon I had asked her how short she wanted to cut it.  She put her hand on top of her head and said 'Up to here'.  Yikes....what are we doing?!

We stopped outside of the salon for a quick 'Before' picture.

She was SO proud of herself.  The stylist called her back and she went with no problem.  They talked about what she wanted to do and before they got started the stylist looked over at me for my approval.  I gave her a very nervous and shaky thumbs up.  It's only hair, it will grow back.  Right?!?!

It was so hard to watch her hair be cut off.  Although I was pretty sure she was going to be adorable it was hard to see it go.  Made me nervous that maybe she wouldn't be so happy about it and I wouldn't be able to fix it.  Once it's gone we can't get it back and it was going to be too short for ponytails.  That much I could tell.  She kept getting a glimpse of herself in the mirror and at one point she reached for my hand and when I held hers she kissed my hand and said "I love it mommy".

 OH MY MG!  OH MY SAUSAGE!

Here it is! The 'After' picture.  She looks SO adorable!

She looks so different and she is so happy and proud of herself.

Hannah couldn't stop telling me how cute Hailey looked either.

We sent a message to Brian and he too was in love!

 

We ate at Rainforest Cafe for lunch and during the 'thunderstorms' Hailey kept covering her head with her menu afraid that the rain would be real and mess up her haircut.  After lunch we walked up to the entrance of the Barbie house.  As soon as the girls saw all of the pink they went crazy.  I am not sure they really knew what was happening, they just knew that there were Barbie signs everywhere.

The Barbie Dreamhouse Experience is a temporary exhibit at the Mall of America.

Kids can walk through a life size Barbie house and sit on her furniture, etc.

When you first 'check in' you are handed a bracelet.  The first step is to register the bracelet by creating an avatar.  Throughout the house there are iPad-type games that you can play and props set up to take pictures.  Your bracelet acts as a 'storage' for your games and pictures.  

This is a picture from Barbie's desk in her living room.  There was so much pink.  So. Much.

In Barbie's bedroom you could stand in her closet and try on her virtual outfits.  Hailey loved this part.

The last part of the exhibit is the Entertainment World.  There is a stage, runway, styling salon, movie bus, craft tables, etc.  The girls loved the runway.  They had costumes they could put on and our girls had a blast modeling their outfits and singing along to the Barbie tunes.

When it was time to leave the mall Hannah mentioned again how cute Hailey looked today.

I told her she could get her hair cut if she wanted and after I assured her that you can get a hair cut without chopping all of your hair off she was ready to go 'under the scissors'.

We went to the Regis salon in Maple Grove.

On the way there she searched for hairstyles on my phone and found one of  Jennifer Aniston that she really liked.  She wanted to try layering her hair to give it more style.

It was hard to believe that this was only her 3rd hair cut.  Ever in her life.  We have only gone once for a cut when she was about 3 and then one a few years ago to even things out.

And the 'After' picture

 

My phone died in the middle of her cut so I didn't get any pictures of the pile of hair on the floor or anymore during the cut.  Before we left she reminded me that we had her phone in my purse so we were able to snap a picture of her hair with her phone before we left.

Both girls did so great and they both looked so cute!

Their new styles make them look so old and grown up.  I am so happy that it all worked out and we didn't have anyone in tears today.  Well, anyone besides me.....don't judge.

Let the unpacking begin!

I took this week off.  I wanted to have some time unpacking and getting a little settled.

Loriann and Marlee came over today to help go through boxes and help me to decide how to decorate this place!    We carried a bookshelf and some toy shelves up to the loft and the girls closets.

We got a ton of boxes unpacked that had been sitting in the middle of the hallway for the past few days.  It feels good to actually have a full room almost done! 

"Mom, I love this house!"

We woke to the 'pitter patter' of little feet again.  This time we didn't notice them until they were on their way in our room.  Hailey climbed into bed with me and whispered "Mom, I love this house!"

 

Today we got some unpacking done and then made plans to go to Denny and Judy's to get the last of the items that we left over there.  She invited us for dinner which was perfect since I haven't made it to the grocery store yet.    We went to Dock 86 this morning to get some stools for our island.

After that we went to Five Guys for lunch- yummy!

They have a bulletin board there that you can pin up any pictures or notes that you made while you were there.  Both girls had some art up there and after Hailey pinned hers I caught her snapping a picture :-)  She was proud that her artwork was on display!

That's all folks! No more storage!

'Pitter patter, pitter patter'

Do you hear that?  It sounds like someone is awake.

'Ding'

Was that the microwave?!

A few minutes later the pitter patter got louder and Hailey was walking into our room with the biggest smile on her face.  "Hi Mama!"

I got up with her and we came downstairs where I learned that she had been awake for a while wandering around and even made herself a pop tart in the microwave.

I am sure the novelty of being able to reach the microwave and having full access to the pantry will wear off.  Eventually......

Stacey and Shane came back today to help and once again these two saved the day!
Brian and Shane got the entire 2nd storage unit cleaned out and by the end of the day everything we owned was officially in our house or garage.
My sisters came over and helped me carry boxes from the garage to the rooms they belong in.
Not much unpacking done today- this evening we went out to do some shopping and then went out to dinner while Brian got the tunes hooked up :-)

Closing Time

It was hard to sleep last night.  Both of us tossed and turned anxious to get our day started.

While I showered and got the girls ready for school, Brian and his dad loaded up my car.

I will drop the girls off then head over to the house to drop off the first official load.

After that I will meet Brian at the closing office.

In just a few short hours the papers will be signed and we will be on our way to our new home.  Even though it's happening today, it doesn't feel real.  I am so excited that it's hard to concentrate.  I can't think about anything other than moving today and getting settled during the next week while I am off work.
All I can think about it is where I am going to put my silverware.  What boxes we should unpack first.  Making the beds.  Doing laundry in our new washer. Putting down our new rugs and hanging up our new towels.  Sitting on our couches again!

I dropped off the girls and made it to the house with plenty of time to unload my car.  Kyle was here picking up the 'yard' and cleaning out the garage.  The cleaning lady pulled up just as I was leaving.  It is chilly today but not as cold as it has been.  You can almost start to smell spring in the air.  Almost.
At least there was something in the air today.

Our first load....

I didn't want to leave.  I got in the car to drive away and couldn't wait to be back.
I had an idea of where I needed to go for the closing but as I started to drive I started to second guess myself.  I wished for a red light so that I could stop to put the address in my GPS however I sailed right through every single green light.  Figures- when you want/need to stop you can't hit the red lights to save your life but if I was late or in a hurry I would have been stopped at every one.
The closing lasted a total of 40 minutes.  All of the papers were signed and copied and by 9:45 we were in our cars on our way to the house.
I pulled up to OUR house for the first time and wanted to cry.  She is beautiful!
The light brown trim should be painted the same off-white color that frames the garage and porch, the will come back to do that when it warms up.  We will also get our driveway and sidewalk sometime this spring/summer.  For now we will enjoy deal with the mud.

It's our stuff!  Well, at least the first trailer full.

Within a few hours there will be boxes, tape, furniture, TVs, toys, books, shoes, clothes, people and things everywhere.....better get a few pictures while I can.

We had help coming today starting around 11 so it was nice to see that we had gotten here with plenty of time to look around and feel a little settled before everyone started arriving.

It was such a great feeling to walk in the house and set my purse down.
Ahhhhh new house smell :-)

Brian, Shane, Troy, Denny and Tom did most of the heavy lifting.  They would hand boxes to my dad, Stacey and I and we would walk them to the rooms they belonged.  Judy ironed and hung all of the new curtains for the bedrooms and then we worked hard to get the girls rooms somewhat put together so they would have a surprise waiting for them when they got home.

Hannah's bed

Hailey's bed- not sure about that white dust ruffle

 We had a ton of great help today and we really appreciate everyone who came out! 
By early evening the guys had cleaned out our warm storage unit.  Most of our furniture was in the house and set up.  There were boxes everywhere but I expect that will be the norm around here for a while.

We got this couch from Stacey and Shane- something they had at their old house. 
It fits perfectly in the loft!

I have spent the last few weeks OBSESSED with rugs.
I mean crazy obsessed.  I have looked at 1000's of rugs.  Bathroom rugs, kitchen rugs, outdoor rugs, entryway/larger rugs. All shapes, sizes, colors and prices.

I settled on a few- the laundry room, master bathroom and first floor bathroom.
Many more to come......

Main Level Bath

 We had company until after 10:00 pm.
Stacey and Shane are planning on coming over again tomorrow to help so we called it a night pretty early not to mention we are all a little exhausted.

The girls went down very easy.  They were both SUPER excited to have their own rooms again and couldn't WAIT to sleep in their own beds.
Brian and I went into our room and after using the bathroom and climbing into bed we both commented about how it felt like being in a hotel.  Our room is HUGE compared to our old bedroom.  It feels twice the size and our furniture looks mini in there.
There was an unexplainable type of calm that was over me tonight as we went to bed.

Tomorrow will be another fun filled day of unpacking and carrying boxes- I'd better get some sleep!

Homeless

This is it.  Our last night as a 'homeless family'.  (I know, far from homeless)

Tomorrow we close on our new house.
After months of planning, preparing, decision making, selling a house, moving,  and feeling displaced we are ready to take ownership of our new house.
While the girls and I were at dance Brian and his dad were busy filling the trailer and packing up our things.
I was feeling anxious all night.  I am nervous about being able to get everything moved this weekend.
Everything has been so easy that it just feels like sooner or later a bomb is gonna drop.  We have no reason to think that something is going to go wrong but you can't help but wonder if we missed something.

It's still all a little unreal to me.  I know I have said it before but I can not believe that this is really happening.
I asked the girls tonight if they were going to miss grandma and grandpa.
Hannah:  "No, but I will miss Angel."
Me:  "You aren't going to miss grandma and grandpa?"
Hannah:  "No. I can see them anytime I want."
Hailey:  "I won't miss them because I will have dreams about them all the time."

Hannah insisted on taking a picture with Angel tonight.  She has paid a ton of attention to Angel while she's been here.  She helped grandma take care of her and even though Angel doesn't look too excited about their relationship, I can assure you that she will miss Hannah too.

I can't explain the feelings that I have tonight as we go to bed.
Tomorrow we start another chapter of our lives together.   Good Night!

First Project Complete

Brian and his dad went to the house tonight to hang curtains and the new shade that we bought for our bathroom window.  I was very anxious to get curtain rods and this shade hung.  I knew that on Friday we would be busy moving and unpacking and by the time it would be time to settle in nobody would be in the mood to hang curtains or put holes in the walls.  

I was very thankful to have this taken care of.  

Brian sent me this picture tonight, I am excited to see our new shade.  I loved the idea of the top down/bottom up shade and I think that this will work very nicely in the bathroom.

WalkThrough

This evening when Brian and I entered our new house we were greeted by Mike and Dale.

It's time for our walk through.  A chance to talk to builder about any outstanding issues, learn about the mechanics of the house, what we should expect with 'house settling' and a basic run down of 'everything you want to know'.  

It was the first time we were here after the house has been cleaned.  Over the past week things have been getting 'cleaned up' but tonight it actually looked livable.

It was pretty exciting but surreal at the same time.  Hard to believe that this is actually happening.  I'm not sure it's actually sunk in yet.  Sure, we have spent months preparing and planning.  We have had multiple meetings, made 100's of decisions and walked through these doors more times than I can count but this time it's different.  This time it's for real.  Dale is walking us through OUR house.  

When we were done for the night Dale let us know that we could come over and hang window treatments or start moving a few things if we needed to.  Then let us know we would see him next on Friday morning at the closing.  

4, 3, 2, 1

We just spent the last weekend at Denny and Judy's.

Although I am super excited to get into our house and I am excited to get back to 'normal',  I am feeling sad because we are all  going to miss them.  It's been great here.  Both of them have made a few comments about how quiet it will be once we are gone (I think it's a tiny hint that they are going to miss us too).

We have our final walk through scheduled for tomorrow night but we couldn't stay away.  Turns out it's a good thing we went over tonight, the outside lights work!

Tea for 8

It's time to start cleaning up around here.  Everywhere you look there are papers.  Papers from school, drawings the girls have done, papers they have generated from their 'school', receipts they consider 'treasures'. etc.  I happen to come across this one today.  Thankfully I looked through this stack and didn't just toss them all.  These things make me smile :-)

We had plans to take my grandma out for her Birthday Tea today at Cafe Latte.

Since we haven't been able to spend much time with Reggie since Jennie got him we decided to stop by her house for a bit to play with the bear before our lunch date.

This pup is sooooooo adorable!  It's still hard to believe that Jennie and Tom are pet owners.  The cabin is going to be fun this summer with both of the dogs running around.  And even more fun that I will actually just get to enjoy their company without having to worry about where they are, what they are eating, where they are rolling or how wet they have gotten.

Our afternoon tea was nice.  It was really busy there and started out a little chaotic trying to get ordered and settled but eventually the space around us cleared out a bit and we could enjoy each other's company.

The food was really good and although granny wasn't feeling good today she seemed to enjoy her day out.

It's pretty amazing to think that we are celebrating 88 years!

We are so lucky to have her in our lives.

6 days and counting

Judy and I took the girls to The Lego Movie today.  We had heard that the Coon Rapids Showplace theater had remodeled and now features recliners so we bought tickets last night on Fandango and were able to choose our seats when we bought our tickets.  We weren't really sure what to expect when we showed up today but I could have never imagined that it would be this cool!

The aisles are HUGE.  The seats are spacious and the truly do recline.  Power recline even.  It was so comfortable to watch a movie.  I can't imagine going to a traditional theater to see a movie ever again.

After the movie we ran home to get Denny and Brian and then made our way over to see the house.  When we got there we saw that the stone on the outside was done!  We are now less than a week from moving in!   We have an address!  I love our stone address plate.  LOVE it!

We weren't able to go in today because Greg recently put the final coat on the floors so they can not be walked on yet.  After we walked around the outside and peeked in the windows we ran over to Dale's models.  The Parade of Homes started this weekend and the first houses 1-6 start in our neighborhood.   

After our parade window shopping we went to Broadway Pizza for dinner and then Judy and I made our last trip of the week to Target to stock up on more Coke.  (This week it was on sale for $2 a 12 pack!)

Think we got enough??