Culverts are in and we're on to the engineering phase!

Last week a little more progress was made. Praise the Lord, because honestly I'm beyond ready to get this show on the road! We had NO idea how much time and leg work it took in the beginning. We are getting so close but I feel like we are still so far away. I'm ready to SEE SOME DIRT MOVE!

The culverts were installed last week though so we can now drive onto the property. We drove the Jeep onto it and drove to the back to check it all out. They also marked the final trees that are going to have to come down where the house is going to be. We're trying to keep as many as we can. We also determined the depth from the road we're going to go back and decided our original plan of 50 feet (to save money on concrete because its so darn expensive right now) was way too close and 125 feet would give us a great sized front yard and a HUGE backyard. Oh how I can't wait for us all to be running around back there. Especially after almost 3 months now in the apartment with no yard.

The soil sample was also completed so the architecture plans along with the soil sample have gone to the engineer. Once the engineer is finished with his work (which will hopefully be this week or the next) it will all be submitted to the city for permitting and while that is being done they will begin site work!

Here are some pictures of the recent work:

This was the view down the street tonight at dusk. The clouds had a beautiful pink hue to them and it was so nice and peaceful out there. Can't wait to sit out here on my back porch every night!

Electrical Plan and Cabinet Samples

On Friday of last week we had another meeting with the builder. This time we got a more detailed set of plans and information from the architect. It included roof elevations, cabinet designs, the electrical plan as well as an updated floor plan and front elevation with all of the changes we made last time.

We made no more changes to the front elevation, so this is it! OUR HOUSE!! We then went over the electrical plan noting the types of  lights we were wanting to put in each room, adding electrical outlets, adding pot lights, adding tv jacks and adding flood lights to the front and back.

Then I got the samples of the cabinet styles and coloring we were interested in.

My plan is to have the bisque color in the kitchen and the dark mocha color in the bathrooms and kitchen island. These are my kitchen inspirations:

So........next it's picking out granite, flooring, lighting and plumbing! And we're also waiting on the plat to get finished, the architect to complete everything so that it can go to the engineer and then go to permitting! We should also get the soil sample results back this week too.

Our builder told us "I think this is the fastest we've ever moved through these stages. Ya'll are on top of it!" To which I quickly replied "All 4 of us are crammed into a tiny apartment. Can ya tell we're ready to get into our house?!?!" (hint, hint!)

Culverts, Soil Sample and a Sign

We have had some movement going on this week with the house. I finally feel like we’re getting closer to breaking ground! Good thing because the walls of this apartment seem to be closing in on us some days. We have been staying busy, but just one day with all 4 of us at the apartment together and we’re all climbing the walls. I keep having to remind myself that it could be worse and it is only temporary.

The first thing we got this week were the culverts delivered. Soon we’ll be able to drive onto the property without going through the ditch! A soil sample was also taken. They take 2 fifteen feet deep samples to test the soil and see what the different layers consist of. Then that determines how much and what kind of dirt work is needed to prep the area for the foundation. Who knew ALL of this stuff needed to be done, right??!?!? I sure didn’t!

Then, the builder came by and stuck their sign in the yard. I don’t know why but that kind of made it feel “official”.

We also met with them to finalize any changes to our preliminary plan so that they could have the architect start drawing up the official plan. We’re getting closer!!

Building our dream house!!

We are starting a new chapter in our lives and I'm so excited to document it here. We're building our dream house!!!

It all started when we found this beautiful piece of property. I wanted to be in a neighborhood and Matt wanted some room to spread out. So when we found this 2.2 acre lot in a small, gated neighborhood we jumped on it. Especially since we had put an offer in on another lot in that neighborhood a year earlier and decided to walk away when they wouldn't budge on the asking price. But when it sold and we kept looking and couldn't find anything comparable, we knew we had found a needle in a haystack. Months later when 3 more lots opened up we didn't hesitate and made a strong offer. And not only did we get it, but our dear friends bought the lot next to ours and another friend bought the 3rd lot!



Here is it!!

 

 Ready to grow old here.

 

Soon after we purchased the property we cleared it. We were so excited and couldn't wait to enjoy it with bon fire's, kids running wild, discovering animal tracks and playing in the dirt with the girls.

 

 

 

We even had a crowd watching the tress come down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So we've played in the dirt, had races, climb trees, made bon fires with our friends, the kids have told scary stories in the dark by the fire with their friends, we've made smores, envisioned our future here and truly enjoyed this piece of land.

And now we have selected our builder, had several meetings with them and turned this:



into our dream home!!!

 

I can't believe this is happening! It really seems real now that we have OUR floor plan and OUR house design. Last week we got our preliminary sketch and floor plan, made the changes we needed to make and it is now with the architect for our official plans to be drawn up.

 

Tomorrow I get to meet with the builders to pick out cabinets, then comes flooring and countertops! I'm loving all of this so far but we still have lots of work to do before we even break ground. Permits and soil samples, platting and engineering, etc. etc. But we are hoping to break ground by the beginning of October. 

A Drug Free Door......Duck Dynasty Style

It's red ribbon week this week, celebrating being drug free. My daughter is in 1st grade and doesn't know what drugs are, but that's beside the point. Knowledge is power......right?!?!

Anyways, my daughter's teacher asked me to decorate their classroom door for the Red Ribbon Week door decorating contest. I agreed, but had no idea what to do. I love a good contest though so after much thought and consideration I decided to go with none other than a Duck Dynasty theme. Everyone loves the Robertson boys right?

I used quilt batting, spray paint, yellow poster board, camouflage fabric and orange card stock. First, I laid out the roll of batting (cost about $6) and cut it to size and the shape of a beard. Then I used brown and gray spray paint ($2 each) and coated the batting. First I sprayed the brown spray paint on the batting and then went over it with the gray spray paint. It dried fairly quickly.

I bought a piece of yellow poster board ($1) and cut it into the shape of a duck beak. Then I cut a slit in the “beard” that was a little smaller than the beak. I folded the poster board a little to resemble a beak and then poked it through the slit.

Thankfully my Mom came up to the school with me to help me assemble it all. She had some camouflage fabric so we used that as the “bandana” and I used my scrapbook machine and cardstock to cut out the letters. It ended up being a fun project and I think it turned out pretty good. I haven’t checked out the competition but we’re hoping for a win!

Officially FOUR!

It’s hard for me to wrap my brain around it, but our baby girl is now officially four! She has been saying for weeks that she is “almost four” but now it’s usually something like “I don’t have to, because I’m four.”

This little girl is sassy, but sweet and cuddly. She is very opinionated about certain things (clothes in particular) but is so willing to share with others. {She got 2 birthday cards in the mail one day last week for her birthday. They each had a $5 bill in them. When she opened the second one she immediately gave it to her sister and insisted that she have one of them since she got two. She will steal your heart in a second. She gets VERY upset when her Daddy gets on to her or tells her no, but as much as she is a Daddy’s girl she loves her Momma too. She is not afraid of too many things except Chuck E Cheese and the Chick Fil A cow. She is not afraid to get dirty and loves to rock short and a T shirt, but is very girly too. I love this girl to pieces and I’m so proud to be her Momma.

This year I decided to keep her birthday party low key. I tend to go overboard on birthday parties for my kids, but every few years I throw in an easy, simple birthday party. Since we now have so many of our family living here I thought we’d celebrate with them and 2 of her best girlfriends. We had gone bowling this summer and we had such a great time that I thought it would be a fun way to celebrate Kate’s 4th birthday.

We had lots of fun! We played boys vs. girls vs. kids and then ate cake! (The best part of any birthday party, right?) I let Kate pick out her own birthday cake this year. We flipped through pages and pages of the cake catalog at the grocery store for about 30 minutes and then finally settled on this one:

After the lady wrote out the order, got all of the details Kate looks at me and says “No, I want the Ariel one.” You see who won that battle right?!?!? In the end, she was happy though!

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the day:

A girl and her girlfriends……..priceless!

Me and my girl

Then on her actual birthday we started the day with Mickey Mouse pancakes! Notice she is already dressed up and it’s only breakfast time?!?! She changes clothes about 3 times a day on average!

Then we headed to our traditional birthday celebration spot…….CHUCK E CHEESE! Remember when I said before that she isn’t afraid of much………….except Chuck E? Well……………

This girl not only gave Chuck E a high five, but she stood beside him and took her picture with him! She said that because she was four now she wasn’t afraid of him anymore. You could tell she was still terrified but she was determined to not be afraid anymore. I was so incredibly proud of her. True story: One time my parents took her for dinner at Chick Fil A and when they walked up to the door she saw the cow inside. She ran into my Dad’s arms and they ate dinner at McDonalds.

We survived another birthday &I’m a little sad my girls are getting so big, but I sure do love them. Thankful for all of my blessing!

Friday Fashion Diary

I can’t believe it, but my little fashionista is going to be FOUR YEARS OLD tomorrow! Today her Grandma and I took her shopping for her birthday. She was in heaven! She loved trying on hats and getting to pick out her own clothes at Gymboree. This afternoon we have been having a fashion show so that she can show off all of her new clothes.

I missed a couple of outfits this week because she changed into either dress up clothes or another outfit before I could snap a picture, but these are the outfits she came up with:

Not too shabby this week. And check out those boots in the second picture. Those are her all-time FAVORITE shoes! She will wear them with anything and everything!

Have a blessed weekend!

Half of my life

15 years ago this week this good ol’ country boy, who I had been crushing on for quite a while, and myself decided to give dating a try. We met in Algebra class my freshman year of high school. We sat next to each other and I think were both immediately attracted to one another. He was actually the older brother of a friend of mine. We flirted and hung out together my freshman year and by the beginning of my sophomore year we knew we wanted to be more than friends. Long story short, but my high school sweetheart is now my husband of 10 years! I can’t believe we have now been together half of my life!

We were such babies!

Homecoming 1999

We have been through so much the past 15 years. Matt graduated a year before I did and went into the US Marine Corps, I graduated High School and got my Associates Degree and then we got married (young) and moved to Virginia while he was still with the Marines. We lived there for a year, took a “late honeymoon trip” and in the airport on the way back Matt got the call that they were headed to Iraq. I moved back home with my parents while he served in Iraq, he came home and was complete with his 4 years so we moved back home. I went back to college, we struggled, Matt worked offshore, we lived with our parents, we bought our first house, we struggled, I graduated college, got pregnant, we struggled, we got new jobs, had our beautiful first born daughter, struggled, got new jobs, moved to Texas, I got to stay home with our daughter, struggled, had our second beautiful daughter, new job for hubby, new opportunities for me, new friends, family moved to Texas, more amazing opportunities for us and we are now where we are today with 2 amazing, beautiful children, wonderful jobs, a great house on an awesome street with wonderful neighbors, a fantastic church and church family and we’re surrounded by most all of our immediate family. I feel so blessed to be where we are today and so thankful for every hill, valley, bump and bruise along the way. My husband still gives me butterflies. I pray for God’s continued blessings, guidance and direction in our lives. Here’s to another 15 years plus more babe!

Fashion Friday

Last week I started posting my soon-to-be 4 year old’s wardrobe choices for the week. She is a self proclaimed fashionista and I thought it would be fun to keep up with what she chooses to wear each day. (Because honestly, I’ve given up the fight on choosing her clothes). She goes through phases, but usually puts together an acceptable wardrobe. Here are her choices for this week:

The first outfit was her “Roll Tide” clothes for the big game Saturday. Then the following day the outfit was cute, but she wanted to show it off with my boots. (The girl loves shoes too!) The bottom left corner she was all decked out ready to play “Mommy”. As you can see she is in a shorts and tank top phase most days. Here in Texas it’s still in the 90’s so that is why she’s in summer clothes next to a pumpkin. :) Happy Friday ya’ll !!

Fashion Friday

Ok, no more excuses! School is back in session, so I've got to get back to blogging regularly again. So I want to start posting about Fashion Fridays. But mine is going to be a little different. You see, I have a (soon to be) four year old who is a self proclaimed fashionista. She LOVES clothes, shoes and dressing up. I gave up trying to dress her because 1. You just learn to pick your battles and 2. Frankly, she's pretty good in what she chooses to put together. It drives me crazy because usually her bedroom floor and dresser drawers look like a bomb went off, but I've learned to just roll with it and give her the freedom to dress herself.
 (Well, most of the time. Sometimes they are not appropriate for things such as school or church).  But I thought it would be fun to document her clothing selections for the future when I'm sure she'll be some kind of stylist, clothing designer or just a really expensive wife! I started Wednesday this week so there are only 3 pictures, but check back next Friday for the Fashion Diary of a Four Year Old Fashionista!