countdown to thanksgiving: I guess I have to catch up

countdown to thanksgiving: I guess I have to catch up
1) I'm thankful for my husband. He is my best friend and I hope I never have to live a single day without him
2) I'm thankful for my mother. She is AMAZING and I miss her terribly
3) I'm thankful for my two amazing step children who are busy teaching me how to be a kid again.
4) I'm thankful for all my family here in Ohio. With out you guys, the Holidays would seem a whole heck of allot lonelier.
5) I'm thankful for my extended family (my in-laws). I couldn't have asked for a better 2nd family.
6) I'm thankful for my job. If I have to work to earn money, I'm thankful to be able to do it in a place that is filled with people that I enjoy being around.
7) I'm thankful for my friends back in California. I have some of the best friends that a girl could ever ask for and whether or not I see them enough, they are still my rock.
8) I'm thankful for everyone new that I have met in Ohio. Thank you for making me feel welcome.
9) I'm thankful for my new house and for all of the new skills that it is teaching me.
10) I am thankful for my dogs.... No matter how irritating they may be at times.
11) I'm thankful for my brother. Because no matter what, he's still my brother.
12) I'm thankful for Larry for taking such good care of my mother
13) I'm thankful for the foster kids that will soon be in our home
14) I'm thankful that everyone I love, that is still alive, is healthy and doing well
15) I'm thankful for my life as a whole...... I have a pretty good one

To be continued

Finally got the internet set up in our new house

Here is an update of the progress we are making on the house... only 11 more work days until our foster care inspection.

Matt's dad came to visit us for 10 days and helped out tremendously. We have everything moved out of the old house and are now officially into the new house. The heater doesn't work yet but we are 98% positive we may have fixed the problem without buying a new furnace. Cross your fingers for us. We try it out tomorrow. Good thing it hasn't been too cold.

ok here's our current progress.

Master bedroom

This is an old picture but we finished the flooring

 Definitely far from complete but we started moving everything in

Living room

                                              Started the flooring today

Start of fence

(To be continued...)

Maintence

Plumber is at the house now trying to find and fix the leak in our plumbing. Also, just found out our furnace is a complete loss. He said it would cost more to fix it than it would to buy a new LP furnace. which is going to cost us anywhere from 2000 to 2400. Cant say I'm surprised. We were kind of expecting it.

Finally started the new flooring

Both Matt and I are very excited to report that we finally started putting in the new flooring. The house is finally starting to look like a house rather than a construction zone. Which is really nice. Especially with all the work we have been putting into it. Moving in a couple of days. Its crunch time.

Here's a picture of the progress that we made today. Tomorrow, at the very least, the master bedroom should have a completed floor and all the trim work back up.

Matt also started putting up the fence posts for the new privacy fence in the back yard. 6 fence posts down, 14 to go.

Lastly, tomorrow someone is coming out to take a look at our heating system and the plumbing. Yay! The house will be livable in a matter of days

House update

The master bedroom and Living room are now prepped and ready for flooring. Walls are spackled and primed and I am picking up flooring at Home Depot tomorrow on the way to work. Today we got the majority of the first coat put on the walls in the boys room and are planning on having that completed by tomorrow so that we can start on the flooring in their room as soon as the living room and master bedroom are completed.

Also, Matt has started tearing down the walls in the 3rd bedroom. (The second kids room/ foster kids room). I have the cutest pictures and videos of Jax helping him tare the drywall down. Ive never met a 5 year old in my life that was more motivated to help with construction than he proved to be. I was absolutely amazed. I thought for sure both kids would want to sit and play video games all day. But he is definitely following in his fathers footsteps.

Matt and I are hoping to move into the house in the next couple of days. I cant wait. Its amazing how quickly you fall in love with a place after putting so much work into it. Even if it is just a future rental property, Matt and I are really enjoying being home owners.We love seeing the progress we are making on the house and are really excited about the idea of being more financially independent in the not so far off future.

Pictures coming soon. We will keep you posted on future progress.

The new house

Well Kelly and I have been over at the new house daily getting it fixed up.  So far we have the master bedroom almost done with with the final coat of paint being put on tomorrow.  A first coat has been put on the downstairs and more cutting in needs to be done.  By this weekend I hope to have a fence put up in the back yard and we can officially start moving, including moving the animals over to their new homes. We are right on schedule to be out of this rental by the 1st of November.  Stay tuned for more updates and some pictures and videos once I can get them off our phones.

Day one of working on the new house

** having problems with the video of the work we did on day one- will be posted soon**

Heres a couple cute pictures of the boys

Inside the new house

 

Here is a video from inside the house.  This is before any work has been done since we don't have the keys yet.  Kelly and I have given our 30 day notice on this place we are currently renting so hopefully we can get into this place soon to start cleaning it up and get it ready.  

Videos

Here is just a couple preliminary videos of the new house.  First one is of the back yard and then one of the front yard.  Hope you enjoy.

 

 

1st attempt to update our blog more often =)

We are back in Ohio after an amazing vacation visiting friends and family back in California. We love you all very, very much and we cant wait to see you all next year again. As most of you know, Matt and I got married while we were back in California...... since July 01, 2011 we are officially Husband and wife. Here are a couple pictures from the event.

Ill add more when I get more =)

As for life in Ohio.... Its pretty much the same as it was last month. The garden is in full swing. I cant believe how well everything grows here. Here are a couple pictures of the boys and our garden.

 When we first planted the garden

Less than a month later

Silly boys.

Here are a couple more pictures that I like of them playing with their friends. Our neighborhood is just crawling with kids.

 I Promise ill update this blog more often. Love and miss you guys.

More videos

So here are a few more videos that I have taken.  Hope you like them.

Summer Update

Just testing to see if this video uploads.  Here goes nothing.......

Summer Update

So, this update has been too long since the last one.  Since our last update at Easter so much has happened.  The weather has finally gone to summertime.  It is warm with small bursts of thunderstorms but no more days on end of rain.  The trees are fruiting and the garden is in full swing.  The animals are all getting big and for the most part have been moved outside.
Jaythen is out of school. So, the boys no longer get to stay with me just on the weekends.  Now we get the boys for a week at a time so that means lots of bonfires and daytime water fights.  Jax is still in his cast from the broken arm thing and is about to get it off in another week.  Here are just a few of the many overdue pics of the fun times we are having:

                                          Working hard in the garden.

              Geocaching at one of the many historic covered bridges out here.

                                    It just isn't summer unless there's fire.

                                                Another covered bridge.

                                                  WATERFIGHT!!!!!!

                                             The turkey's just love Jax.

                                                    Hello?????

we are having an amazing time here in Ohio.  I cannot tell you how nice it is to see the boys more often.  Check back again soon as I will try to get some videos uploaded in the next couple days.

Easter!

Had a great Easter! Especially since my Mom was here visiting.The boys both got skateboards for Easter. Here is a couple pictures of them, Matt and the girl nextdoor playing with their new presents. My Mom and I definitely hid behind the camera for this one.

Park time. One of the many city parks here in Marion. These pictures I actually got to be in the pictures. With my Mom around there is someone around actually taking pictures of me for once =)

My Mom, Matt and I got to do Easter day with a good chunk of my Dads side of the family up in Cleveland. It was fun getting everyone together and letting my Mom meet all of the new additions to the family. Unfortunately the boys were with their mother Easter day and didn't get to come with us.

Hiding eggs

The kids

The kids plus Sarah

The family

My cousin Carrie's two youngest boys getting over their fear of dogs..... My dogs are so good with kids! I was pretty proud!