My Babies are Growing!

Well, its been a LONG time since I have last blogged! I always vowed to keep up with this and I have been failing! Well, I shouldn't call it failing..I have been living. Life has been going 100 mph for us this year. Just our normal daily routine is enough to tire one out! Getting 2 kids up, fed, dressed, and out the door for school. Then hustling off to work. Coming home, getting dinner done and put away (which trev normally does :), doing homework. Oh the homework!! I swear we didn't get so much as a kid! Then baths/showers and to bed. And poof its 9pm and now I can maybe get in some 'me' time. Which for myself is normally picking up around the house since I am so anal when it comes to messes!

And as much as I think its crazy at times, one thing is for sure..its moving fast. My first baby is now 7 1/2. And as of this week, he's lost both of his front teeth. What a milestone. I don't think I realized what a big deal it is. he looks like a big boy now. Almost like a different kid. And he's so smart and funny!!
And Lindsay is now in kindergarten. And she LOVES it. She loves being a student and learning. Today when I told them that school would start after labor day next year, she said she didn't like that because she would rather have more school than summer! Who is this kid?!

I am trying to make special moments for them when I can. We had family movie night tonight. And after Lindsay wanted me to lay with her until she fell asleep. I don't always do that. But tonight i thought 'What do I have to do that is more important than snuggling with her?' After all, eventually she will be too big to want to snuggle with me I am guessing.

This blog below sums up a lot of things. I love my kids. And I wish I could freeze time. I love their curiosity, their laughs, their snuggles, the size of their hands when they are holding mine, their voices and their overall happiness and innocence! I decided tonight that a good Christmas gift would be a video camera so we can soak all of the moments in more.  I love watching simple home movies from when I was a kid and i am sure my kids would love the same.

So now I am going to go up and give them each another kiss as they sleep and thank god for these little angels that I have been so blessed with!

http://m.blogher.com/letter-my-51-year-old-self

Catching up - September

Its been forever since I have posted...well, since we moved in early September. We are now settled into our house and keeping busy as usual! Attached are some pictures as I attempt to catch up on blogging! Enjoy!!

Me & Trev with our friends Chad & Laura at the Zac Brown Band concert!

The kids got to ride on the Brambleton float for the Briar Woods High School homecoming parade...they had a blast!! They got to ride on the float and throw out candy to the kids along the road. Definately one of the most fun things we have gotten to do!
Kids getting ready to go on the float!

Kids on the street that we were throwing candy to.

Tyler & Lindsay posing in front of the Brambleton float:

Tyler posing with the Briar Woods Falcon Mascot:

Another shot in front of the float:

Lindsay had a birthday party in September at Pump It Up. This is her eating her cake in the party room:

Lindsay with Gma and Gpa:

The birthday girl!!

Lindsay's pretty princess cake!

Group Shot of all of her friends!

House is Almost Ready!

Well we had our 1 week pre settlement walk through yesterday. Everything went well. I can' t believe we are closing in one week. This summer sure flied by! Here are some pics from the walkthrough.

Master Bath Shower / Toilet Room :)

Master Bath Tub

Master Bath Sink/Tub

Master Bedroom

Kids Loft on 2nd floor. Will put their books and art stuff up here. Probably a tv too with their bean bag chairs

Main Hall/Stairs

Family Room. I really love how the fireplace looks in here. Glad we did the stone!

Eating area in kitchen:

Kitchen

Kitchen

Another view of the kitchen

Back of house

Side

Front..i like how the colors came out

Front view from sidewalk

Few Quick Pics of Kitchen

Quick Download of a few updated kitchen pictures....first here shows all the appliances in!

Sink

Pic is fuzzy..opps...but the backsplash is in!!

I am loving the backsplash! Here's a better picture!

Start of Flooring & Counters are Installed!

I have been very excited to see how the granite in the kitchen and the hardwood floors come out. When I went into the house yesterday, the counters were installed and the flooring was started! They did the flooring in the living room, part of the dining room and hall. I didn't go upstairs, but they were working on the hardwoods upstairs while I was in the house :)

Here's the kitchen. The granite is hidden under the paper...can't wait until the appliances and backsplash are done!

Kiddos posing with a peek of the granite:

It looks green tinted to me in this picture...but it is mostly brown with specks of black in it. Has some tan with a tiny bit of orange and green. They had this counter/cabinet combo in the design center and I loved it! I like it because I want to pick up the black in it and do black accents in the kitchen with a black kitchen table, etc. And I think overall its a pretty classic look for the kitchen.

View of start of the hardwoods. This is the dining room looking into the living room and foyer.

I love the color!

Another picture of the fire place.

More Progress....7/30/11

Well today we went to see the inside of the house again. The house is now locked unless someone is working on it, so we had to grab the key from the sales office. the kids had a good time running around, although they have to be very careful as there are nails, etc all over the place on the floors. We have our pre settlement walk through on Aug 24th and then we close on Aug 31st. I am getting very excited!

Big things left are flooring needs to be finished, counters in the kitchen, backsplash, appliances, and sod outside. And all the other little things I don't know about!

Front of the house..siding is done and they finished the front porch this morning! Just need the front door painted (black). But I believe they do that as one of the last things before we move in. I am very happy with how the outside colors came out. We only got to choose the color of the siding, as the outside elevation of the home was predetermined since the foundation was already poured before we signed the contract.

Trying out colors in the mater bath. This one was a 'no' :)

Lindsay standing in her new room :)

Tyler in his new room!

Foyer

This area is a loft on the 2nd floor. It will be the kids 'hang out' area. Plan is to put some of their toys in here, bean bag chairs, a tv and eventually computers and desks. This is nice since we can keep an eye on them :)

Posing in front of the fireplace:

Dining room.

Trev measuring where furniture will go in the office:

House Pics 7/27/11

So since we are lucky enough to live around the corner (literally) from our new home, we are having tons of fun going over each night to check out the progress. And its moving fast now!! Today we went in and the siding was complete outside, the outside lights and lamps were up, driveway is paved, walkway to porch is paved, fireplace is almost done, most the recessed lights are done, the AC was on and all the tile in the bathrooms was complete! Super exciting. I can't wait for the kitchen counters to go in!

Tonight was really fun..Lindsay and I walked over together and we ended up hanging out with some new neighbors that live behind us. Lindsay had a ball running around with the kiddos :)

Front of house..Siding Done!!

Master Bath & Shower (toilet is off behind a door to the right)

Soaking tub & Cabinets. Is lighter in color in person than this pic shows:

Lindsay posing!

Front porch. Looks like tomorrow the white columns are going on. Door will be painted black to match the shutters.

Does the van come with the house?! These poor guys worked ALL day putting in tile! At least the AC is on now for them :)

One more view of the front.You can kind of see our little lamp post in this picture.