Happy Anniversary!!

One year ago today at 11am we were given the greatest gift....the keys to our brand new home!!  This year has been one of adventure, change, a whole lot of laughter and wonderful memories made.  We love our house and are so thankful Ryan homes made it possible for us to live in such a beautiful wonderful home that has brought us so many happy blessings in our life!!

So many updates and not enough time to blog

To say the least this summer has been flying by.  We have been CRAZY busy all summer between kid functions, updates, planning/preparing for events, travelling, and you name it we've probably been doing it!!   I have a bunch of  updates but just haven't had a minute to post about them until now.  So I'm happy to share with you some of the  things we've been working on.

THE SHED:  

Like all projects, it takes at least twice as long as you anticipate it will take to complete.  The shed is just this project.   My husband has done a wonderful job designing and building this shed and didn't cut any corners.....its beautiful!!  We've actually received many compliments on it from our neighbors and all have been very impressed with the craftsmanship.   So below are a couple of pictures of the shed as it stands today, but believe it or not its still not completely done.  My husband still has to build some shelves and  storage inside,  complete the finishing details, build and attach the flower boxes beneath the little windows, and of course add some landscaping but for the moment its cute and functional.  I am very excited that the shed will finally free up a little extra space in our garage!!

                                      

INSIDE:

As of this week we finally got a new couch to somewhat complete our "little living room" as we call it, but its the formal living room located at the front of the  Ravenna Model.    So far I'm very happy with the look we are going for, I'm just very eager to get some paint on those walls!!!

My mother in law is also staying with us this week so  in the past couple weeks we have worked pretty hard to make the guest bedroom a little more comfortable and guest friendly.  I have to say its now one of my favorite rooms in our house.  It just makes me smile when I peak in...like a little vacation I guess.  The pictures really don't do this room justice.  Again I can't wait to finally get some paint on the walls, and I still have some finishing touches I need to take care of (i.e. custom pillows for the bed and chair, paint the dresser etc.) but for the most part I am very happy with how it is turning out.

We  finally got some stools for the gourmet island as well as behind the bar like area separating the kitchen and the morning room.  I actually ordered them from Target.com when they were on sale for a ridiculously great price several months ago and LOVE them!!  They are very sturdy and have held up great to the daily abuse of three little kids as well as adults using them all the time.  Everyone has also commented about how surprisingly comfy they are and  I love how they store under the counter so we aren't always moving them or having to scoot around them.  I highly recommend them if you are searching for some stools for your new homes. (don't mind the mess in our kitchen--we had our twin sons birthday party last night and haven't   fully recovered yet).

So while the kids rooms have lacked a lot of imagination and fun until we can finally paint, I do have one picture of our son's room as my husband just  finished painting the dressers for their new room.  I'm so glad they finally have a place to put all their clothes instead of cramming them into one little dresser (the one thats now in the guest room) and the boys seem to be very happy with them as well.

When the t  wins were babies we had purchased  a nice solid wood dining set for our kitchen in our old house.  As new parents we definitely didn't anticipate the abuse this table would eventually endure.    Last summer we lived in a frat house after we sold our last home and our new home wasn't yet completed.   Literally the day we moved into our new home we considered leaving or throwing away this table as it was the most hideous, damaged, table you have every seen and we thought we would just buy a new one for our new house.  We decided to bring it with us to use until we bought the new table.  Boy am I glad we made that decision now.  I am so lucky and thankful my husband is so handy.  He decided to take a chance and see what he could do to refinish the table.   He thought the worst he could do was ruin it more which wasn't a big deal since we planned on buying a new one anyways......while he wasn't overly happy with the results I think he did a fabulous job and it looks beautiful......a table I'm now  very proud and happy to display in our home.  It looks nearly new and I think will give us many more years of use, or at least until our kids get through the destructive phase anyways! (It looks much better in the morning room---its currently in our dining room as we move our dining room table into the morning room when we have parties as it can seat 12-14 people versus the 6-8 our kitchen table usually seats).

OTHER NEWS:

Unfortunately we still haven't had a moment to get any landscaping done :-(   That was the one project I was really wanting to complete this year and now it doesn't look like we'll be able to get it done before the end of summer!! I'm  hoping there is still a small chance we can get something in the ground before winter.

A few posts ago I mentioned the terrible noise our siding was making on windy nights.  At our 10 month inspection we mentioned this and Ryan tightened up the siding a bit and I am happy to report the noise is gone!!!  So happy I can finally get some good nights of rest without it sounding like giant creatures coming through the wall behind our bed!!

Next week Ryan will be completing our 1 year drywall inspection.  I am overly excited about this so we can finally get some personality and colors on our walls!!  

Last week, Ryan mowed the lot behind our house which will be the back yard of the new house to be built on the corner.  Come to find out they are going to build a new model home on that lot.  I am actually very excited about this as it will have all the bells and whistles,  be a nicely landscaped lot, and provide some privacy from the road.   Just the other day they staked out the house and today they dropped off the  egress window supplies.   Shall be exciting to see  the developments in the upcoming weeks!!

Well  I continue to enjoy all your updates, pictures, and ideas.  Hopefully you all are having a great summer and enjoying your new homes.

Big Dreams

So I was recently reminded of all the big dreams we had when we moved into our house.  It's almost a year later and although we did accomplish a lot we are hardly near the end result we have "dreamed".  At one time my husband and I actually took a print of the Ravenna basement and started doodling our thoughts and ideas of how we wanted things to look in the future....I guess a map of sorts.  We had actually hung the drawing on our fridge for a while as a reminder of the little projects we could do but how they would  fair in the GRAND picture when everything is said and done.  I mean, honestly, we have forever so there really is no rush and if we just keep plugging away at the little things we'll eventually reach our goal.

So below I share with you our "map" of how we see our Ravenna in the future.  A little child like I agree (neither one of us claim to be any sort of artist), but it is just a doodle that we keep adding to and changing as we see ideas, opportunities or thoughts that come to mind. 

We would love to put in a curvy paver walkway in the front of our house with some nice landscaping beds that wrap around all sides of the house complete with a big tree at the front corner of the house and in the back left corner of the house where the morning room meets the back wall of the office.  I would love a curvy paver patio that extends from one side of our house to the other side of the morning room and some complimentary stone walls that hug the edges of the patio for people to sit on, set some pretty planters on,  house our grill and also provide some additional privacy.  Big dreams would possibly put a beautiful wood pergola extending from the morning room over the section of patio to provide some shade from the sun. Then of course our back yard with the addition of some trees, our shed, and the kids swing set or "playground" as we call it.

Once we finish the basement we see an enclosed work shop area for my husband (where the water heater is), a full bathroom complete with a whirlpool tub (we had all the rough ins installed to do a full bath in the future), a living room area (the main finished section where the egress is located, a bar or game table type area (where the morning room is), a closet, a storage area (in the unused section behind where the bathroom is), and double doors opening to a guest bedroom/media room.  Our original thought was down the road it could be made into a space that our parents could live in if their health started to fail and they needed to move in with us.  In the mean time we would use it as a place where our out of town friends and family could stay and feel comfortable having their own space and where we could  also just hang out and enjoy some extra entertaining space.  Anyways....for the moment its all a dream with the hopes that someday we'll eventually complete these projects and add some living space and benefits to our already wonderful home!!

Until next blog....keep dreaming big!!

Privacy Please!

The landscape of our neighborhood has boomed over the winter and spring months.  It hardly looks like the neighborhood we moved into last August, but we are very excited to see all the new faces and houses.  We recently gained two brand new neighbors within a weeks time as they simultaneously built two new houses  right next to us.  You can imagine our anticipation wondering what model house it was going to be and if the new house would cause any privacy issues for our already cozy quarters.   Unfortunately the new house has a second story window that looks right down into our first floor powder room.  Quite uncomfortable in the privacy sector!!  So for the  past couple months I have avoided our powder room at all costs, which is quite silly as I should feel comfortable in my own home.   Those of you with the Ravenna model know that little window in the powder room wouldn't exactly be the type of window to sport a shade, or shutters, or curtains for that matter...its really meant to be a pretty little window to let in some light.  So I was left wondering, how do I get some privacy without disturbing the design and light the window provides.  AH HA.....we installed some privacy film!!  I love that I can still enjoy the little window but it makes me feel confidently comfortable that no one can see in to our powder room.  It was roughly about $20 from a big box store, and took literally a couple minutes to install.  Plus it doesn't have the gooey sticky like surface so if we decide to do something different we won't spend hours trying to peel and de-goo the window.   It has been the perfect solution to our privacy dilemma!  Below are some pictures (sorry they are not very good) but I tried to capture the blur of the outside so you can see how it looks from the inside and the privacy it provides.  

 You can actually see the blurred window of my neighbor's house in the lower left corner of the upper right quadrant of the window.  Perhaps I should have taken my little lamp out of the window too...ops!  Hopefully you get the idea though of the privacy film...I love it and it looks great!!

291 days....

So we have officially lived in our home for 291 days.  The time just seems to have gone by so fast.  Today we had our 10 month inspection and really I don't have too much to report.  There were a couple of items we questioned or that needed "tweaking" but really our house has settled quite nicely.  Honestly, having such little to fix just goes to show Ryan has done their job in building us a wonderful house.  Now thats not to say we haven't had our share of issues but Ryan has addressed all of them and to our satisfaction.....we have been very pleased with our experience!!

Not too much has changed since our last post.  Still no paint on the walls :-(  Its killing me but I really want to wait until after our final drywall meeting before we start painting.  Projects.......well...I guess I have a couple of things to report.  My husband is building a shed from scratch and I must say doing a great job!!  I think it will be very cute once its completed....which was my only requirement for the shed.  I'll try to post pictures once there is more than just a skeleton of the shed in our yard.    I also made some cornices for our guest room windows that turned out pretty nice if I  do say so myself.  I've gotten quite a few compliments on them.  My husband built some stairs off of our sliding  glass door so now we have access to the back yard from the back of our house.  I am dying to put in a patio but, as I mentioned before, I recently lost my job so some of the more pricey projects may have to be put on hold.  However, this may be a good thing so I can see what types of  patios/decks etc. others are doing and how they are designed so I can get a grasp on exactly what I will want.  If anyone is willing to share their patio/deck ideas or plans I would love to know so we can do some planning.  I'm also hoping we can do some landscaping before the summer is over.  Originally I would have hired out (we were going to do it this summer when we did the patio) but I think to keep costs to a minimum we will  probably do it ourselves.  I'm hoping that will be our next project once the shed is done (hopefully by this weekend).  Other than that I love seeing all your ideas you are sharing. We have actually implemented some of them ourselves in our own house.....so thank you all for your tips!!  By the way I have tried to comment on some of your blogs but seem to be having trouble...just know we are still reading and enjoying everyone's upgrades, ideas, projects, and tips!!

Below are some pictures of the cornices.  I found the directions on how to make them online.  They were pretty inexpensive and easy to do.  My mother recently made me the quilt in the picture for a gift (LOVE IT!!).   I used the same fabric she used in the quilt border to make the cornices so they match.  Hopefully I'll use the rest of the fabric to make some cute toss pillows, perhaps cover some lamp shades for the guest room lamps (once I  finally get lamps and some side tables) :-).  

I hope everyone is doing well and if anyone wouldn't mind sharing their deck/patio/landscaping ideas I would love to consider them!! 

Things that go bump in the night...

So I'm pretty sure we all can agree the weather has been pretty crazy this year, and last night was no exception.  We had horrible wind with wind advisories throughout last night and today.  Well it was so bad I thought our siding was blowing off the house.  We've noticed since we've moved into this house that the siding, particularly,  the area on one wall of our bedroom is quite noisy.  On nice days it creaks, squawks, and moans, and on these really windy nights it sounds like its flapping in the wind, blowing off our house, and like there is some giant creature chewing the inside of our walls.  Last night it was so loud that I hardly got any sleep.  At one point I was so frustrated I almost got up and video taped the episode, and was ready to put in a service call in the middle of the night.  I know new houses settle and we've been attributing these noises to just that...but seriously of all rooms it has to be so obnoxious in our bedroom!  So I'm curious if we just have abnormally loud siding, if there is an actual problem and if anyone else is finding they are experiencing these noises as well?

Another frequent noise disturbance we're noticing is all of our bathroom exhaust fans seem to clang and sound like a vent is opening and slamming closed...again especially when it is windy.  So all night, in addition to the freakishly loud siding, I'm hearing this opening and slamming closed vent noise coming from our master bath....UGH...I NEED SOME SLEEP!!

I am by no means a light sleeper - I  actually can 't go to sleep unless I have some sort of noise in the room  to begin with, like a radio or TV or something, so for this siding noise to disturb me as much as it is, it must be loud!

I hope you all are ok and your homes still safe through all this awful weather this year, and especially the last day or two.  If anyone has any odd siding or vent noises they are hearing I'd be interested to know so I can decide if this is just normal settling or if perhaps I should be making a service call to have it looked at.

6 Months Already?

My how the time goes by!  Today is our 6 month "house closing" anniversary and I can hardly believe we've been living here that long.  I look around and remember what it looked like the day we closed--prior to all our stuff being piled in it was beautiful, sparkling new, and we couldn't have been happier or more excited.   Then after the nightmare of moving all our stuff into the house, I remember being so overwhelmed that I never thought we would ever finish unpacking.  In hindsight though, it is incredible the progress we have made in such a short period of time.  I have to admit, I still couldn't be happier and I love my house!  Amazing how in 6 little months so much can change.  I had all these visions of what I wanted the house to be decorated like and all the "old" things I was going to replace with new things.....yet so little of that has been accomplished.  The vision, however, still exists and we are slowly working towards making them a reality.

 Unfortunately, I can't get my camera to post pictures but hopefully I'll get some up soon (my awesome hubby gave me a new camera for Christmas but I have yet to figure out how to get the pictures off the card).  Some recent house updates include, new bookshelves, coffee table, end table, 2 chairs, and window treatments in the "little living room" (thats what we call the living room in the front of the house).  Also a new console table and rug for the front entry.  We finally got some counter stools and bar stools for the kitchen.  My husband installed a dimmer switch in the dining room.  He also installed a second light switch at the top of our basement stairs that turn off the lights in our basement.  For all you in the process of building a house now I would highly recommend adding that switch, otherwise you'll end up running down the stairs 50 million times to turn off the basement lights....its great exercise but a frustrating oversight on our part. We had planned on getting a new kitchen table, but with our kids in the "destructive" phase of life (I have 5 year old twin boys and a 3 year old little girl) we decided perhaps it would be better if we just tried to refinish the table we have....so my husband is in the process of doing that.  We'll see how it turns out.....worst case scenario we have to go buy a new table anyways.  And lastly, I'm in the process of getting new window treatments for the dining room...AGAIN!  I had bought a bunch already and finally settled on one style, but after a month or so of looking at them, I just don't love them so I think we are going to try something different.

To celebrate today, I decided to take a tour of some boxes we have still not unpacked, and to my surprise I found some more kitchen dishes, my hand mixer, and a ton of our wall pictures...so I've decided I need to make hanging pictures a  project that I hope to accomplish soon.  In our old house decorating came so natural to me.  There was just the perfect place for everything.  Now I'm finding it a bit difficult to find that perfect spot or the perfect thing to decorate the house.  I'm sure it will come with time but I've never been so frustrated with making a decision on where something should go or what would look good in a particular spot or how to arrange something.  We bought the book shelves in the little living room a couple months ago and I still don't have anything on them cause I can't make up my mind what to put on them or how to display the stuff.  I'm sure I'll be changing my mind 50 more times before I ultimately feel good in the decisions I've made....but I guess thats part of the fun decorating a new house.  I love looking at all your posts.  You've all given me some sort of inspiration at some point on  how to decorate or where I should put things or what looks nice....so thank you all for your help!!

Lastly, not only has our house had many changes but so has our neighborhood and our lives.  We  currently have at least 4 new house going up at the moment in direct view of my house.  Two of those houses are right next to us.  We've already met one of the neighbors as their daughter is sometimes in the same dance class as my daughter.  We have yet to see the other neighbor though and are eager to meet them.  My kids and I love watching the house building process and all the different styles and combinations that have been changing the landscape of our neighborhood.  My sons are just finishing up their first season of Hockey, which has been a lot of fun, and we just signed them up for their first season of little league which we all are really looking forward to.  The boys just celebrated their 100th day of kindergarden which was fun.  My daughter, on the other hand,  is working hard in "ballerina school" towards her dance recital in June.  Not too  much has changed for my husband and I other than I will be loosing my job at the end of March and plan to stay home with the kids at least until my daughter goes to Kindergarten.  Honestly, I view this as an opportunity I may otherwise not have taken advantage of and your kids are only young once so I'm excited to be a bigger part of their young lives for a little while.    Unfortunately, this also means some of those visions I mentioned previously, may need to wait a little longer, but then again it also gives me more time to really think about what it is I will actually want rather than being as indecisive as I have.

Well I hope all of you are doing well.  I keep saying I will blog soon a  again and then months go by.  Hopefully I'll be a little bit better about that going forward!

Almost MIA--but I'm back--With Pictures!!

I can't believe its been 77 days since we moved in!!  Time has just flown by so fast.  Looking back now, so much has happened yet so little has happened since we've moved in.  I'd say we are pretty well unpacked. Still  finding things here and there  and deciding  where I want to put things but for the most part I'd say we are are nearly settled.  On the other hand, by now I figured we would have had so much more done in terms of decorating our new home.  Paint colors are picked but to date we haven't painted a single room!!  I also envisioned getting  new furniture for our living rooms and  bedrooms, and the kids play room, new kitchen table etc.....but it hasn't been until recently that I've started to finally pick out some new things.    After we initially moved in literally we were working machines....my husband got all the ceiling fans installed, all the lights put in, the garage door opener installed, all our electronics up and running,  all our window treatments (2" wood blinds on every window in the house),  curtains in the living room, morning room, my daughters room and master bedroom, bathrooms settled with new towels and shower curtains, we got our driveway paved,  epoxied the garage floor, swing set built......just a lot of stuff....but then life came back into play and we've just settled I guess into the busyness of our lives that we've kind of stalled on house projects.  There is still so much we want to do yet!!

One thing I can say for the last 77 days is WE LOVE OUR HOUSE!!  It hasn't come without a few bumps here and there but Ryan has been on top of all of them and without any hesitation or argument.  They have really been fantastic  and  remained true to their word in terms of service and follow up. We have been so happy here.  Our twins started kindergarten last month which has been a been a big change for us.  They love school and we love being so close to everything.  No more having to take a half day vacation just to go to a parent teacher conference, or school open house or sports event.    They have also begun playing Hockey which has been a blast.  My daughter, on the other hand, has  been going to what we call "ballerina School", which is just in normal terms dance class and she loves it.  My parents frequently visit us along with many of our friends.  Sometimes my parents will come over just to read the kids a bed time story or  to see them on the bus.  All of these things were never an  option before due to our distance issue........moving  has really been such a blessing for us and given us such a better, happier, more fun life and we are loving it!!

We hosted our first party on Halloween and it was so much nicer in this house and we all had a blast trick or treating in the neighborhood.  I LOVE our neighbors and neighborhood.......we so lucked out.  They are such an active community.  They've been hosting parties, and doing wine walks, and our kids play together......its just a fantastic group of people!!   Last week two lots over from us sold and  my husband met them while they were putting up their sold sign.  They have a daughter about the same age as mine so we are really looking forward to welcoming them to the neighbor hood this winter.

What else......can I just say I've loved continuing to read your blogs.  I've gotten so many great ideas of where to get things, and  tips.  Its really been great and very helpful.  I'm hoping we'll all continue to share as we discover new things about our homes and continue to decorate them.  I FINALLY HAVE PICTURES!!   I keep taking them and then never post them and then something changes so I take more.  Well today I decided I'm just going to take a new batch and finally  post them like I've been promising......so here they are!!

  Here is our color selections..... 

 Living room

 Living room again.....

  I LOVE my kitchen!!

 still need some stools  for our island and bar area.....

 OK...I really obsess over my kitchen!!

 My daughter's room...will have to post the twins and guest bedrooms later when they are a bit more decorated.

 Kids bathroom

 Master bathroom

 Master bedroom

 Master bedroom again....

 Living room....AGAIN!!

 Guess what...another kitchen picture..... still love it!!

 dining  room....this was a bit tricky to photograph......

 powder room

 mud area and powder room

AND another picture of our paint colors on  a pillow that has been a  bit instrumental in our color selections.

well I guess that's it for now.  My daughter and I need to do some shopping so we can add a little more excitement  to our house.       Hopefully I'll have some new news soon!!

Making our House a Home is busy stuff!!

Hey Everyone!!  Sorry we haven't updated our blog in almost 3 weeks.  Its amazing how fast time goes by once you move into your new home.   So far we've been really loving our new house and just been keeping busy unpacking and getting all our services established.

Closing was relatively smooth.   There were a couple of minor things which were quickly resolved.  The funniest however, is the amount we were given to bring to closing was $0.11 short of the actual closing amount.  So instead of making us go back to the bank to get a new check our attorney literally gave them 2 nickles and a penny from his pocket and through the whole meeting the change sat on the "official" pink paper with all the other paperwork.   Was kind of silly to see it there on the table....At least it took the edge off the scary content of the meeting though which was good.  At one point  it literally felt like I was signing my life away, and if I was ever 2 seconds late on a payment our life would be instantly over....it certainly made you second guess if what you were doing was the right thing or if we should just run away while we still could!   Then as quick as the meeting started it was over and the house was ours!!

Moving on the other hand was a nightmare!  We decided to hire a mover since we needed to be out of the rental house by the next day, it was hot, and we already asked for help from all our friends and family when we sold our house and moved to the rental.  We thought hiring a mover would make every one's lives less stressful  but we were so WRONG!!.  We got quotes from 6-8 moving companies, and ended up hiring a company that was recommended through the realty company used to sell our house.  This moving company was the only company, who after actually looking at our stuff, recommended  having 6 guys and 2 moving trucks (one to move the rental, and the other to move the storage units simultaneously).  Andrew called the day before  to confirm plans and arrival time (1pm).  

WEEEEELLLLL.....1pm came and went, 2pm came and went.....Andrew calls to ask where the movers are and they are finishing a prior move and said they'll call back in 20 minutes for an estimated arrival time......3pm comes and goes and we still don't hear anything and now we can't even get a hold of them.  SO we load our minivan to the max and I drive an hour to meet my dad at the new house to help unload.  4pm comes and goes and still nothing from the moving company.... My husband and father in law were getting nervous that the movers were going to be a "no show" so they rent a U-Haul and load everything from the rental house and drive 1 hour to our new house and have the u-haul unloaded before we finally hear from the moving company.  They were finally on their way to load the storage units.  So 8pm comes and goes and the movers still weren't at our new house (I'm thinking now all 6 guys are there to do the storage units so it shouldn't take long).  Finally around 8:30 or so they get to our new house and unload.....however because it was so late they didn't put furniture in the right rooms, boxes just went wherever regardless of the room labeled, stuff got broken, we ended up helping unload.....it was just a mess.

Around 10:30pm the movers were finally done unloading.  By then my kids were asleep at my moms (my mom already had 4 out of town guests staying with her  so we felt bad having her watch our 3 kids as well). The movers told us they only accept cash payment, so earlier in the day we had withdrawn enough cash to  pay more than the high estimated moving quote plus tips......So you can imagine our surprise when we get the bill at 10:30pm and it is 40% more than the high estimate of our original quote.  My husband who is usually pretty reserved flipped out.  Not only where they over 4 hours late, they only moved the storage units (both  the rental and storage units were included in the original estimate), we had to rent a u-haul and move the rental ourselves and they didn't even put the stuff in the rooms it was supposed to go, and how can they charge 40% more than the high estimate when they actually came and looked at our stuff prior to the original quote so it wasn't like   they didn't know the amount of stuff we had when they gave us the original quote......We were livid!!  Long story short I think we still paid too much but the bill was compromised and we were just happy it was over!!. All that we had hoped to avoid by hiring a moving company still ended up happening anyways so it was an expensive disappointment!!

Since moving day things have been good.  We love our house!!  Most of our stuff has been unpacked and  installed.   The lights/ceiling fans we were responsible for have been installed, the mail box is up, even our garage door opener is installed....thank goodness my husband is so handy and technologically gifted.....he's really done a great job getting us set up and settled.  As of last week we have Internet, cable, and phone, and as of today our trash service has begun (guess there was a mix up in our start date....nothing like having 3 weeks of  trash and boxes piling up in your garage....yuck!).  Already I've been dreaming of how I want to decorate.  I have some new curtains up in the morning room, and we will be putting up new curtains in the family room tonight,  and I have some paint colors picked out.

Our grass.......well its supposedly growing.  A couple days before closing they hydro seeded our lawn and a big storm came the same day and washed it all away.  Ryan told us they felt the grass seed was still there but if it doesn't grow they'll come back later and re-treat it.  Well the front yard does look good but the back yard is nothing but mud.  I'm hoping at our 30 day inspection it will be handled. I can't wait until we can walk outside and relax in a yard again ......feels like forever watching the grass grow...ha!!

Other than the grass there has just been some small stuff to report.  The biggest issue, however,  happened  a couple days after we moved.  I heard banging in the basement and found a pipe that was completely off the gas hot water heater.  Andrew had temporarily fixed it but the plumber came the next day and officially "fixed" it.  But within a day or so my husband had to continue putting  the pipe back on the hot water heater multiple times a day.   I guess there have been a few issues with the workmanship of the plumber who originally did the work so our PM came to look at the pipe for himself and felt it was installed a little too short.  So he called the owner of the plumbing company to come take a look and resolve it himself.   As far as I know whatever he did to resolve the situation has now held.  One big gripe we have had though..... the paint used on the walls of this house is horrible! I swear you don't even have to touch it and it picks up dirt or marks.  Then if you try to wipe the smudge off, the wall comes off with it.  Wish they would have used at least an egg shell paint.

One of the best parts of our new house, besides having the best neighbors ever, is we love our proximity to everything.  Before, we lived at least an hour away from everything, work, family, friends, stores, etc.....my new commute to work...15 minutes!  AND I'm 10 minutes from all our friends and family....its sooooooo awesome and what a difference it has already made in our lifestyle!!  Love it!!!

Well I wish I had some pictures for you on this post but unfortunately I don't.  Perhaps after we hang the curtains tonight I can get some posted for you.  I continue to check out all your blogs.  Looks like you're houses are all coming along nicely.  Congrats go out to Ravenna Ranter on your close......what a nice gift with all those plants.......everything looks so beautiful!!

Until next post......

Counting the minutes!

Jingle, jingle I hear keys!!  Literally we are down to hours until we are new home owners again!!!  Our pre-settlement meeting went very well and just made us even more excited to move into our new house.  Every time they pulled out the envelope containing our house keys my husband and I just instantly got huge grins on our faces.... It was like the magic golden envelope......It's just so amazing!!!  Our realtor and my father in law both attended the walk through at the house and both were extremely impressed with the workmanship, quality,  and service that comes with a ryan home.  We did have some minor things that still need to be attended to but overall everything went very well.  Lucky for you we've got a lot going on today so I don't have time to write much.  Looking forward to having some post closing pictures for you soon.......just can't wait to finally get moved in and  somewhat unpacked and settled!!

We'll write more soon!! 

TWO DAYS!!!

I am almost beyond words to describe my excitement this week!  THURSDAY WE MOVE INTO OUR NEW HOUSE!!!!!!! I feel like a little kid again anticipating something great like going to Disney, or getting a  new bike, I just can't wait for the day to finally get here......all that planning and anticipating and dreaming will finally become a reality in a matter of 2 days!!  Its just so awesome and I am so ready to begin our new life in our new home!!

Looking back from where we started it seems like its been such a long adventure, but then I look at the blog pictures and am amazed at truly how fast this house was built.  If you think about it, we started this adventure back in February but the house itself wasn't started until the end of May and now its done.....I'm just so ready to finally move and  live the excitement we've been  building all these months!!

Updates.....uh.....well....hmmm..... it doesn't seem like there are any.  Actually, our shutters were put up at the end of last week, and some minor concerns regarding various things with the house have been adjusted (the garage door was not level when opened....guess a spring needed adjustment, we had an issue with a broken cabinet that they fixed, and there was a doorway that was extremely slanted (so it wasn't square)..it too has been adjusted).   On Friday our two trees were planted and the lawn hydro seeded. The unfortunate thing now is our lawn is no longer hydro seeded.  We had some pretty nasty storms blow through on Saturday.  Our new neighbors gave us a call and mentioned the lawn was gone so we went to check it out and sure enough the heavy rains and wind washed it all away......it was a mess!  We haven't talked to our PM yet but I'm sure he'll have it fixed before we move in so I'm not overly worried.  Now my only worries seem to be getting packed and coordinating the move in time.  We have to be out of our rental by Friday, we close on Thursday at 11am and  the moving company wasn't available to move our stuff until 1pm on Thursday....so its a pretty tight time frame.  Did I mention we're not fully packed yet at the rental, we have three little ones to watch and my husband and I are working until Thursday, and our jobs and our new house is an  hour commute one way from where we currently live......YIKES!!  It will all be fine though....I have faith and there are only so many hours in the day and so much one can do.......we all will survive.....I just may not have any hair by the time I'm done...ha!

So for the most part its been pretty uneventful at the new house.....its just sitting there waiting for us to move in!  I thought I would have some of the pictures I took over the weekend to post but unfortunately my husband downloaded them already to my computer which my son dropped today and broke, and now I don't have any on the memory card to download to my husbands computer.   I'm sure I'll have some soon though but it may be after we move in!!  Just pray for us that our closing and move all goes smoothly.

well I'm tired, and I apparently can't type very well tonight and I still have some packing to do and things that need my attention.  I just had to express some of my excitement and let you a ll know we're still around.  Can you believe it?....WE MOVE IN 2 DAYS.....ahhhh I just can't wait!!

Talk to you all post-move :-)!!

Ta Da!

So here's the happy couple now that our siding has been changed!  Actually this week my husband and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary.  Most people plan some romantic evening out and about......us, well we've been so stressed between balancing our complicated work schedules, building a house, living in a short term rental (aka the Frat House....its student housing!), and raising 3 toddlers that we've been lucky to even see each other let alone plan a romantic anything.  So our perfect plan to celebrate the precious event......go check out our new house!!  Ha!

Actually, we did make some plans....we went to Home Depot and bought 2 hunter ceiling fans and the pendant lights for above the gourmet island......I know we are so pathetic!!  But that was our idea of fun....dreaming of plans for the new house without having 3 little ones screaming and making a scene in the store.  Those of you with little ones I know can appreciate this!!  We did however, also have a VERY nice dinner at a restaurant we've never been to before so we did make our evening a little more special than I've made it sound to be......its just funny to me that everything in our life right now seems to revolve around our new house....which we are, as you can tell, very excited about!!

Lets see....news for the week......well......

OUR NEW SIDING IS DONE!! So looking at this picture compared to the picture with the "pink" siding you probably can't see any difference.....but let me just say there is a big difference.  There is NO pink!!  Many of our neighbors have commented how much nicer it looks and how they like it.  The most important though is us and, WE LOVE IT!!  So glad we made the change.......I don't feel angry or sick when I see our house now......I feel calm and happy!! Its made a world of difference and this truly is a more accurate representation of the color we originally selected prior to the supplier change.  Our PM said the bottom shutters will be added next week as the brackets broke when they removed them for the new siding job....otherwise everything looks fantastic and we are sooooo happy!!

What else.....on our Anniversary visit we met the cleaning lady who cleans our house prior to us moving in.  She was very nice and gave us some insight on what she does and if she notices anything in her work she automatically reports it to our PM so it is taken care of prior to move in.  This was also the first time we were able to see our floors without the protective paper covering on it and we are really happy with the result.  Everything compliments each other very well.  The only room we don't really love the floor in is our master bath...it has kind of a yellow and pink cast to it but I think its partially a combination of the lighting and lack of color and decoration.  I think once we add our own touches, shower curtain, towels etc. it will take away that yellow cast we see.  For the most part everything looks pretty much ready for move in....needs a little cleaning and the outside needs some finishing work but otherwise it looks GREAT!!  SO excited.....

Our PM said he will have the C of O probably on Wednesday, but he has some finishing work to do that was pushed back due to the new siding so our closing has been pushed back to August 18th......which is seriously just in the nick of time as we need to be out of our rental by the 19th!!  AHhhhhh Streessss!!  It will all work out though.  We also went and bought our mailbox this week.....ohhhh I know so exciting but actually its been a lot of fun to go out and pick things to make the house all our own. Next on the list is some window treatments, and new furniture......I'm sure that is going to take a little time though.  I need some time to really decide what I want and what colors I want and what will work well with 3 little kids abusing it...ha!  So, below I've posted some pictures taken this week.  Can't wait until I can post the pictures taken when its finally ours......its so close....I can't wait!!

....more to come soon!!