Last Happy Hour

Brian's parents hang out at Wild Bill's most Friday nights.  We have a joined them a few times already however tonight will be the last night that we join them as 'roommates'.  This is our last Friday night at their house.  Hard to believe.

When we pulled into the parking lot Hailey started in "I hope that Bob isn't here. Tell that guy that he can't kiss me."  Bob is an old neighbor and friend of Denny and Judy's and a few weeks ago he gave Judy a kiss and Hailey was mortified!  He was flirting with her and paying all kinds of attention to her and even though she loved it, she acted like she didn't.  

During one of our trips to the bathroom I had both girls with me.  We were in the large stall and I turned to help Hannah with something and when I turned around again I found Hailey like this.....  What a goof ball!

I caught Hannah and Brian deep into a game that they had made up- something they were doing with counting and using the loser-pull tabs.  Whatever it was they sure were having fun.

We also like to quiz Hannah while we are out.  Asking her addition and subtraction problems- rarely can we stump her.  Pretty impressive!

Victory

Our house 'came with' porcelain and plastic towel and paper holders.  Dale mentioned that he would be willing to hang stuff for us if we decided to buy our own instead of using the ones that they would 'give us'.   I definitely didn't want the plastic ones so we ended up purchasing our own.  The girls were with us the other day when we had to mark the walls so the guys would know where to hang everything.  Hannah was real interested in making decisions about 'her bathroom' and suggested that the toilet paper holder be installed on the vanity cabinet right next to the toilet.  Brian and I thought it should go on the wall in front of the toilet.  This is how it was at our old house and we didn't think that it made sense to put holes into the cabinet.

Hannah disagreed with us and left the house last night a little upset that she didn't get to make this decision.

We got an email this morning from Dale telling us that he suggests that we move the toilet paper holder in the kids bathroom.  He typically sees this installed next to the toilet on the cabinet and wondered if we mind if he overrode our decision.  Oh man!

This was Hannah's reaction when we came to the house tonight.  She was so happy and could NOT hold it in.  "Yes! Yes! Yes!  I knew it!  I told you that this was the best place.  I TOLD YOU!"

Nice to see she's a good sport....

The installed the shutters today too!  I absolutely LOVE how they look.  Since we did one color for most of the house, it breaks it up a bit.  The black and brown look great together.

pillars after

We are getting so close!  Even though the house is pretty much ready, it's crazy to see just how much different stuff happens each day. Each day it looks more and more inviting and ready for us.  

pillars before/during

Today I emailed Dale about something and this was his response....(Dale's below and Brian's on top)

Silly boys......nice try!

Inner Picasso

Earlier this summer there was a Living Social deal for Wine and Canvas.

It was such a good deal so I purchased two of them.

 My sisters and I went together when Kari was home this summer and Loriann and I have been wanting to go ever since.  We had our eyes on a particular picture but every month it would fill up before we could get registered.  This time we made it!  We were talking about it at work and Wendy mentioned that she has had an urge lately to paint.  We sent her the information and she signed up as well.  Molly was there too and within a few minutes we had another joining us!  Yeah!  This will be fun!

Molly and Wendy

Loriann and I

 After some dinner and drinks we were ready to go!

This picture looks MUCH harder than the flower I did last summer.  Here goes nothin'

Can you see it?  LOL- looks like some crazy volcano

I made the mistake of sitting next to Loriann, the master blender. This girl knows her way around a canvas and paint brush.  Wow- impressive!

Ta da! It was a fun night!

When I got home I saw that the girls had had a painting party of their own.

That sure was nice of grandma :-)

It's ALL in

 Today the carpet was done.  All of it.

The stone guys have started on the outside of the house and it was clear that the stone outside is different than the stone around the fireplace.  Brian went outside to ask them about it and they showed us their copy of the plans.  Sure enough, they had the first copy of the plans with them.  This is the original stone that we had picked out for our fireplace but after a few weeks we had gone back and changed our minds.  We decided to use the same stone on the inside and outside.  These guys never got the update.

We decided not to make them fix it.  It looks great and actually I am kind of happy that they screwed it up.  This was my first choice after all and I remember picking this out right away the first time we had seen it.  

This is one of those mistakes that paid off.

 

By the time we were done making a decision about what to do with the stone we walked upstairs to find Hailey rolling around on the carpet giggling.

I can not WAIT until these pillars are done!  

Awww man!

When we were leaving the house yesterday the stone guys were just arriving.  I figured they would just be tenting off the front of the house and preparing for the week but turns out they got some work done!

Our fireplace is finished! It looks MUCH darker than we remember but it looks beautiful!

Field Trip!

Loriann has been wanting to take a trip over to the house for a while now and today looked like an ok day to get out so we took a little field trip at lunch.

When we got there we saw a delivery truck in the driveway and a Sears emblem on one of sweatshirts.

Sears?!  That can only mean one thing!  My washer, dryer and fridge are in there!!!

Birthday Week - Out!

Grandma's Birthday week officially ends with a family dinner tonight.

Jennifer, Tom and the kids came over for pizza.

I made this cake for Judy.

You have to believe me that it was delicious.  It looked ridiculous but it sure was tasty!

Chocolate cake with a Raspberry Mousse filling.

White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting topped with Chocolate Gnache.

Yummy!

So....it was either so silly looking that people wanted it to go away or they liked it too :-)

Less than two weeks

We have officially confirmed our closing date.  We will be closing Friday, March 7th!

We have been planning on closing this date for months so it wasn't a surprise to us but more of a relief.  

This next week will be the 'final touches' and the following week will be the inspection, cleaning, walk through and closing.

More and more it's starting to look like a house around here.  There was a huge shipment of stone delivered and all of the shelves have been installed.

My walk in pantry!

Again

The rain started last night during the commute home and that turned into snow.  

It snowed most of the night and when we woke this morning things were not looking good.

Brian was about to get into the shower when he checked his phone only to find that school was cancelled.  Again.

This time Brian was able to stay home,  As much as I wasn't looking forward to the commute today, I was looking forward to being at work to get some stuff done.  Plus, I was already home two days this week.

Today at school Hannah was suppose to have a 100th day of school party so she was pretty upset when she woke up to hear that school was closed.  We kept Hailey home with her so they could play.

The roads were pretty nasty this morning but when I got to work to hang my jacket I saw just how pretty things actually looked.  It's hard to appreciate the beauty of winter when it's been so cold and long.

I spent a few minutes taking it all in.  Can it go away now? ;-)

Ice Cream Free Jammies

Another day with no school.  This time it's for conferences.

Again, I was able to work until lunchtime before little Miss Anxious needed to get out (she is so much like me it's scary sometimes).

We did some shopping and made another trip to the house.

We found some Teen Beach Movie jammies for Hailey.  She is going to freak when she sees those!

We also picked up a couple of new rugs for the house.  

The trip to the house was a little uneventful but we could see that they finished the siding on the garage.

Now, we just need the pillars finished and the stone work done then once the light brown trim is painted the same color as the trim she will be all done!

Hailey LOVED her jammies!  

Hailey:  "MOM.  I can not eat ice cream in these jammies.  They need to stay berry clean."

Stand by your boyfriend

Hannah is off school today for President's Day.  I am going to attempt to work from home but also prepared to take PTO in the event that this doesn't work.  The morning started out good, she woke up and wanted to lay in bed to watch TV.   I came in to check on her and informed me that she was cold. 

She wanted to take a picture to send to daddy to show him she was keeping warm in his jammie pants.

She let me work until lunch time and then she was real anxious to 'do something'.  We ran over to the house (of course we did).

Happy to see the grout had been done in the bathrooms and we have doorknobs!   

Our bathtub has moved from the bedroom floor to it's spot.

Today is Grandma B's real birthday and also Grandma Judy's Birthday.  We decided to take Grandma out to eat for her birthday.  Jennifer, Tom and the kids are coming over this weekend to celebrate but it only seemed right to do something on her real day.  We went to Chili's for drinks and dinner.  It was yummy!

As we were getting ready to go Hailey grabbed her phone and told grandma to stand next to her boyfriend for a picture.  I was able to sneak one too :-)

Garage Doors Need Love Too

We added some bling to our garage doors.  It adds a little something :-)

The siding has made it all the way around the around the front now. It's really starting to look like a house!

It's been so cold lately.  As a matter of fact, this is the coldest winter we have seen in 35 years!

It's been unbearable.  I can't believe that a house was actually built in this weather and there were guys that had to do their work out there.  It's hard not to feel bad when you stop over there and the guys are all bundled up.  They will assure you that they are used to it.

Peeked out the window the other day and noticed this hairdryer sitting out with the siders.  Rumor has it they use it to heat up the siding before they cut it but I can't help but wonder if it warms up their hands.  Poor guys

We got to get a closer look at our floors today!

Just waiting for the rest of the hood to be installed and the fridge and then this kitchen will be done. 

Tonight we had dinner at mom's to celebrate grandma and mom's Birthdays.

It was a pretty packed house with all of us and the three dogs.

Tom hasn't been doing well lately.  The help that they have been getting recommended that they get him a hospital bed.  This should help him be able to move around better so that was delivered earlier this week.

To fit it in the living room they had to move a couch into the kitchen so we were very cozy.

Mom and Tom are finally starting to get some answers regarding Tom's increasing weakness.

He has been tested for CIPD, which is a nerve disease.  The doctor is hopeful that this is the cause because it is something they can treat and work with.  Hopefully they will get some answers soon.

This is no way to live.  For either of them.

We got to finally meet Reggie today!  Oh my MG!  He is adorbs!

If I were to see this little guy walking in a yard I would think it was a baby bear.  For real.

He is SO fluffy (and heavy).

Happy 88th Birthday to Grandma B!

Pretty amazing accomplishment!

"I can't believe you did this"

The girls both had Valentine's Day parties to attend today.  They spent the last few nights writing out their Disney Frozen Valentine's for their friends.  Hannah was very careful to select 'boyish' ones for all of her boy friends.  I tried to tell her it didn't matter but she would tilt her head sideways and say "Mom, they don't want girlie Valentine's, that would be rude." It was pretty cute.

Brian sent me some beautiful roses today.  It was a very nice surprise.

I got home before the family today and set up a candlelight dinner.  I made some chocolate dipped strawberries and picked up Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner.

Brian texted me when they were about 5 minutes out.  I turned out the lights and waited by the door.

When the girls walked in I had them stop by the door to take off their shoes and coats.
Once they came in and turned the corner they were truly surprised by what they saw.

Hannah:  "What did you do?!"

Hailey:  "It's beautiful!"

I sat them down and took their drink orders.

When I pulled the wings out of the oven they both went crazy.

"Mom, how did you do this?!"

"You did all this? I can't believe it."

Throughout the whole dinner they made comments and expressed their amazement that I could actually pull something like this off.  

Brian's parents have been gone for the past two weeks in Arizona, checking out winter homes. We pick them up tonight at the airport.  It's been quiet around here.  It will be nice having them back.

He did it again!

WOW-

That's all I can say.

The floors look amazing and although I wasn't sure about doing the natural finish, Brian knew all along how beautiful it would be.  I gotta owe it to that guy- he's pretty good ;-)

We can't walk on them for a few days but thankfully we can sneak in from the basement and take pictures from the stairway.

I really like how the cabinets seem to 'pop'.  Even though a darker floor would have also looked good, I am really happy with our choice!

  

The siders are making such great progress!

Floors Take 2

Greg stained a few floor boards for us. 

 Brian stopped over there today at lunch to get a glimpse of the colors.  He sent me a few pictures and for the rest of the afternoon we attempted to make a decision via text about our floors.  We had come to an 'almost' decision to stain the floor one of the dark walnut colors that had been lightened a bit.  But just to be sure, we decided to head there after work so that I could see the colors in person.

When we got there Greg and his crew were there sanding the floor.  We looked at the board and held it up to various areas in the kitchen.  We talked for a bit and within 15 minutes had made our decision.

We were going with a natural finish.

The dark stain would have been beautiful  but I wanted my cabinets to pop.  I was a little afraid that my beautiful wood would get lost if there was too much 'dark' going on.

Plus, Brian has wanted a natural finish floor since we started this process and he hasn' t been wrong about a decision we have made yet.  We will be able to see the finished product tomorrow.  Here goes nothin'!

The siding crew is kicking butts (as Hailey would say).

Master bathroom light.  We have two of these, one above each sink