The Decemberists

Greetings, faithful readers!  I apologize for the length of time in between posts.  As I'm sure you all are well aware, we moved into our house!  Huzzah!

Before I post pictures of our crazy mess organized dream of a house, here is an update on our activities the past month:

Miss Sophia:  She's came and gone.  I conducted the Great Social Experiment to see if Nolan would recognize her after not seeing her in-person for five months.

Nolan at the airport eating a smurf.
Kidding!
He ate a member of the Blue Man Group.

"Where the heck is Sophie?!"

Nolan did in fact recognize her, which effectively ended my research psychologist career.

Together again!  Sophie and Nolan at the new
house on Friday, December 20.  This was her first
time there.

We did many enjoyable things with Sophie.  As Brian pointed out, it was actually a blessing in disguise that we didn't close on our house Friday, December 20, because we would have been crazy busy trying to get everything moved and we wouldn't have been able to enjoy just spending time together.

Nerding out at the Perot Museum of Nature & Science

Building your own dinosaur.

Nolan stared at this marble slide contraption
for about 20 minutes.  To say he was fascinated
is an understatement.

Probably one of my biggest pet peeves.

Since it was Christmastime, it was important to get together with family.  Brian's cousin and his wife live in Plano, so this enabled Sophie to meet her second-cousins for the first time.

Nathan (age 15 months),  Maddie, (age 5-1/2),
Sophia and Nolan

On Monday, December 23, we braved the mass crowds and did some last-minute shopping.  Rather, Brian and Sophie did last-minute shopping and Nolan and I wandered around wondering why we decided to go with them.

Dinner at the mall.

Most importantly, we were able to have some nice relaxing time together.  Sophie and Nolan got along very well (most of the time...)

Hanging out in the World''s Tiniest Apartment.

Christmas 2013:  Although we were stuck in the World's Tiniest Apartment, Christmas was fabulous.  The kids loaded up on gifts while the grown-ups got loaded.  Christmas 2013 was also my thirtieth birthday(!!!), which I memorably rolled in by puking up crab legs and champagne at 2:30 in the morning.  Glad I can still handle my alcohol.

Good morning, gorgeous.

Oooo... the lights on the tree look so pretty!

Something that was definitely unique about Christmas in Texas was the weather.  I don't think I've ever been able to play outside on December 25 in my pajamas without freezing.

Playing with Sophie's new helicopter...

... which promptly broke within hours of opening it.

Nice pajamas, dude!

An extra house-guest: Since we weren't cramped enough, we decided to help out our friends by watching their son for three days. Brad and Jenny volunteer for the amazing charity Operation Once in a Lifetime and they had the opportunity to fly to NYC to ring the NASDAQ opening bell on December 27.  When their babysitter fell through and their second choice was unable to help out, we knew we had to help them.

As previously mentioned multiple times we were living in the World's Tiniest Apartment, so we decided to get out of there as much as possible.

We checked out the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve...

Garrett making like a troll.

Nature!!

Sophie climbing a Texas mountain.

The boys.

Daddy and daughter.

We also went to the Dallas World Aquarium...

Garrett and Sophie got along pretty well (most of the time).
He's in 5th grade and she's in 7th.

"Mommy's a funny looking fish!"

Nope, not asleep. Just playing possum.

Waiting in line to check out the otters.

This is how Nolan gets around people to
check out the exhibits.

Looking for the otter.

The things were fast. I think that blob in the center of the
photo is the otter, but it could be a tree.  Or Nessie.

Otter!

The otter wanted to play with Nolan.  By "play" I mean scratch
at his body and chew on his face.

Sophie sure liked something in this cage. 

Garrett checking out the fish.

Help!  Brian's in the fish tank!

Mommy and Nolan.

"I want to see the flipping flamingos!"

Closing:  2013 ended quite well as we were able to close on our brand-new Beazer home.  Stay tuned for another update with photos.

At the closing.

Chestnuts Roasting On An Apartment Fire

Sorry for the long delay in between posts, friends!  The last few days have been interesting/busy, so here's a brief update:

The house has been delayed.  It was scheduled to close this Friday (December 20) and now it has been moved to Monday (December 23).  However, Brian and I are anticipating we won't close until after Christmas because the ground has been too wet for the concrete to go in.  The builder will be calling me later today, so I'm preparing myself for bad news.

Some have asked the reason for the delay.  There are actually several:

1. Delays in utilities. A gas/electric meter that was ordered on November 22 didn't get installed until this past Wednesday (December 11).  It usually takes 2-3 days.  For us, it took 3 weeks.
2. Inspections and the process of building a house.  The driveway can't go in until the meter was inspected, the meter can't be inspected until it's installed, it can't be installed if it's not there, etc.
3. The weather.  We had a nasty ice storm on Friday, December 6.  The ice and snow melted, leaving large puddles in the front yard and the driveway area.  It didn't help that on Friday, December 13 it rained.  The concrete crew can't get in and do the work until it's relatively dry.

I was in the house yesterday finishing up painting, and I happened to hear water dripping. It appears that the toilet upstairs wasn't installed properly (or the water line to the tank was faulty) and water was dripping through the ceiling vent in the laundry room directly below.  Not cool!  I should be getting an update from the builder on what exactly happened when I talk to him today.

With that, here are lots of pictures of the progress.  It's looking beautiful and we are very excited to finally move in.

Thanks for your love, support, and prayers!

Light fixture in the eat-in kitchen.

Main living room/great room/whatever you want to call it.

A fan!  Nolan will be so thrilled.

Formal dining room light fixture.

The hardwood/laminate flooring.  It's all covered with
cardboard right now to protect it.

View from the stairs into the kitchen/great room.

Loft area.

Sophie or Nolan's bedroom.

Sophie or Nolan's bedroom.

The faulty toilet.  The dark spot in the
center of the photo is wet cardboard.

Faulty toilet.  When I looked at it, it almost appears as if the
toilet is sitting flush against the wall.  You can also see how
the water line cover isn't flush against the wall.

Water that had seeped underneath the wall and into the upstairs
loft area.  Thankfully, no carpet has been installed yet.

White fluffy insulation in the attic storage.

Master bath.

Master shower.

Master bedroom.

The red tape (just to the right of the center) is marking a huge
hole in the ground.  There's a PVC pipe in there that has a
big hole in it.  I wonder if the bulldozer smacked it when some
of the grating was getting done.

I think our house will look gorgeous with Christmas lights on it.
Next year!