The Inside of the House Decorated for Christmas!

Well, we decorated the house for Christmas! The girls had a lot of fun decorating the tree and all the kids enjoyed seeing their stockings hung! It definitely looks Christmasy in here!

Deidra helping to decorate the tree....



The mantel...Little J made the little Advent chain so we could countdown to Christmas!


Andy putting the ribbon along the stairway...

The House Schedule

I've been asked by a couple of friends how I have been keeping up with the kids and the new house. So, I thought I'd share my schedule. Laundry for 6 people is nuts...but I think I came up with a do-able solution and I stay on top of my housework too.

Monday
------
Deidra's Laundry
Deidra's Bedding
Wash Towels
Pick-up and Vacuum Downstairs
Deidra Cleans Bedroom and Vacuums Room
Cat Boxes

Tuesday
-------
Baby J's Laundry
Baby J's Bedding
Pick-up Downstairs
Boys Clean Playroom
Sweep and Mop Floors
Vacuum Boys Room
Budget
Cat Boxes
Bath Night

Wednesday
---------
Baby D's Laundry
Baby D's Bedding
Pick-up Downstairs and Vacuum
Clean Bathrooms
Boys Pick Up Playroom
Cat Boxes

Thursday
--------
Little J's Laundry
Little J's Bedding
Pick-up Downstairs
Little J Cleans Bedroom
Budget
Cat Boxes
Bath Night

Friday
------
Wash our laundry
Wash our bedding
Pick-up and Vacuum Downstairs
Movie Night
Clean and Vacuum Bedroom
Cat Boxes

Saturday
--------
Budget
Cat Boxes
Bath Night


Sunday
------
Grocery Shopping
Cat Boxes

Surprisingly, it goes pretty well. The girls get notes from the House Fairy and prizes once in awhile when she's been watching for awhile and they've stayed on top of their messes and have practiced their manners. So, they're always eager to help. Baby D helps me unload the dishwasher too. The House Fairy has definitely made a difference in our house! They know that they have to keep things clean and picked up if they want her to visit, but yet they also know that she doesn't leave surprises every time..but yet she could be watching at any time. So that keeps them on their toes. I didn't put dishes or anything else down either as I have to do them sometimes once a day and somedays we run the dishwasher a couple of times per day. I just do it as we need to. I try to sweep the kitchen floor once or twice a day and it's mopped once a week. Anyway, that's how we're keeping up with the house and the chores. The girls take turns doing the cat boxes now too...they think it's fun...hey, if they're willing to help...we'll let them. We just make sure that they scrub their hands really well once their done. Usually one girl does the ones downstairs and the other girl does the ones upstairs. Otherwise they fight over who's night it is to get to do it. We help too of course!

Christmas Shopping for the House -- Our Wish List

So many people have asked us what our wish lists for Christmas were going to be. We both agreed that we just wanted stuff for the house this year. So, we went and made our list at Target entitled "Our New House List" and it's searchable by mine, Andy's, or Deidra's first and last name. The event date is Christmas. We also have an ID number for our list if anyone wants it: 012399301061426. This is what we have picked out for each room and we've been picking up things little by little. It's exciting to see the house come together slowly!

We have our security system now!

Our security system was installed tody! So much to remember, but very cool. It tells me on chime mode when the doors are opening so that I can keep track of the kids at all times. And when we leave the house or go to bed, I can arm the alarm so that if anyone breaks in the police are automatically notified. There's also a way to call the police and fire dept right from our alarm and if anyone ever followed us home and told us to turn our security alarms off, there's a hostage alarm that they'd never even know about...they'd just think we were disarming the alarm. The police would instantly be notified. Very cool! Not bad for $30 a month for the extra security.

Some house shopping...

Well, we had Deidra's birthday party this weekend in our brand new house. I wanted our small little guest bathroom to look nice since so many people were going to be using it. So, I went out and got the accessories for it along with the little hand towels that match. So, it looks spiffy! I also got the kids their matching toothbrush holder and hand towels that match their froggy pattern in their bathroom. Everyone thought their bathroom was so cute! I've been buying things little by little for it and it's almost complete.

Our new vacuum!

We have been in need of a new vacuum cleaner. Andy found this one when I was sick with the flu after we moved in. We got it from Home Depot on sale! It works really well and it's nice to see what's being sucked up in the container!

Features:
The Dirt Devil i is an innovative new bagless upright vacuum cleaner with Advanced Cyclonic Technology that provides powerful suction at the nozzle. Designed to have the best performance and ease of use, the i vacuum is loaded with features that take the hassle out of cleaning. Right at your fingertips is an on/off Brushroll switch that allows you to effectively clean on all surfaces in your home. Turn the Brushroll on to clean deep within your carpets, or turn it off to safely clean hardwood floors. An Automatic Cord Rewind eliminates messy tangling and with the push of a button, automatically retracts--eliminating time spent wrapping up the power cord. A live, easy grab hose with attachment tools gives you extended cleaning ability to get into those hard-to-reach areas for thorough cleaning. The Rotating Power Brush Tool is perfect for vacuuming stairs, pet hair and upholstery. With a Clean Release Bottom Empty Dirt Cup, you can easily empty vacuumed dirt into a trash container with the push of a button--no messy bags to replace and no more dirty hands! Lifetime HEPA filtration traps 100% of common dust and allergens in your home--perfect for those who suffer from seasonal or pet allergies!



Notable Features:

Advanced Cyclonic Filtration means powerful suction at the nozzle!
Auto cord rewind
Fingertip controls with on/off brushroll
4 Seasonal Scented HEPA Filters
Rubberized, no-scratch wheels safe on all surfaces
Live, easy grab hose
Bagless technology - Never buy another bag!
Lifetime belt
5 year warranty

All moved in!

the front of the house...it looks so much more like a house with the sod put in and the shrubs and the tree. And a cool thing about the shrubs and the tree...we didn't purchase the landscaping package to add those...we were just going to do our own and I had finally gotten an idea of what I wanted to plant up there. And the day that we closed...we were in our final walk-thru with the builder and were asking questions about the grass seed and whatnot and he told us that they were giving us some shrubs and a tree. Apparently, they had been goofing up the final paperwork and giving everyone a landscape package recently and they've just been letting it go through...so we got some shrubs and a tree too!




the back of the house...you can even see some of our grass patches coming through after we planted the grass seed!

We're officially moved in!

We got all moved in!! We closed on the house on Thursday morning and started moving stuff over on Thursday night. Got to bed around 1 am, but it was nice to stay in the new house. We just slept on our mattresses on the floor. Well, the boys slept in their cribs...but they were the only ones who had their beds put together. Got up early Friday morning, had a mishap with the U-Haul (it needed to be jumped) that set us back a couple of hours. Ran up to Home Depot to get our new refrigerator and then loaded up all the remaining stuff that was left over that needed to be moved. Got to the new house to unload and went to bring the new refrigerator in and it wouldn't fit through the door. We wound up taking the door off and it still wouldn't fit. Had to run back up to Home Depot to rent an appliance dolly so that we could bring it around to the back to bring it in through the slider. That finally worked! So, we're all moved in now...

Walk-thru and Closing

They're fine-tuning the house and we have our final walk-thru on October 5th. We close on the house on October 11. Woo hoo! Unfortunately, we have been so busy that we haven't started packing yet...but hopefully we'll be able to get some done tonight.

We have carpet!! 9-21-07

entry way...


master bedroom...


stairway...

We have our closing date!!

We close on October 11! Holy moly do we need to get our butts in gear!! We have our quarterly monitoring for foster care (inspections to make sure our house is clean and following the codes and rules) on Wednesday night and then we plan to kick it into high gear and start packing for our move. Wow!

Carpet, Door Knobs, and a Problem 9-21-07

The carpet and doorknobs have been installed. We noticed a couple of problems though, so the builder is going to have the flooring people come out and fix the landing on the stairs as well as plane the upstairs so it's all even where the boards come together and then re-install the carpet. That was all supposed to have been fixed before the carpet even went down in the first place. I'll show pictures later tonight or tomorrow though.

Security System -- 9-19-07

We went over and met with the security system people at the house last night (9-19) to go over what plan we wanted so they could get that installed and set up for us as the wiring for it has already been done.

It's really cool that it will tell you all throughout the house which doors to the outside are opening. So, if the little ones are downstairs playing and I have to run upstairs for any reason and one of them opens the front door or the back door, it will tell me that the door is opening so that I can get down there really fast.

Mirrors, Electrical Covers, and our Doorbell -- 9-19-07

They put in our mirrors today. They also have our electrical covers installed as well as the doorbell now. We just didn't take pictures of those.

master bath mirrors...


living room...


kids bathroom mirror...


our breakfast nook in the evening...

Toilets, Sinks, and Light Fixtures -- 9-14-07

They put in our toilets, sinks, and light fixtures today.

master bathroom lights...


our kitchen sink...


kids potty....


the pedestal sink in the entry way bath...


bedroom light fixtures...courtesy of the boys room

Linoleum and Vanities -- 9-13-07

They put our linoleum down today as well as added our master bath vanities. They also grouted in the fireplace.

master bathroom vanity...


master bath linoleum...


close up of the kitchen linoleum...


kitchen linoleum...


kids' bath linoleum


fireplace with grout...


entry way linoleum...

Locked in on our interest rate...

We locked in on our interest rate yesterday. We have a fixed 30 year mortgage and we were able to lock in at 6.75%.

Fireplace, Front Door, Kitchen Countertops -- 9-10-07

they did our tile work around the fireplace...they didn't grout it yet...butit's all in place


our front door (this will be painted a forest green color later)


the outside of our house with our new front door (this will be painted a forest green later)


the countertops on the right side of the kitchen


the countertops on the left side of the kitchen

Kitchen Cabinets -- 9-8-07

They installed our kitchen cabinets today!

the right side of the kitchen...


the left side of the kitchen....

Bathroom Cabinets -- 9-7-07

They installed the cabinets in the bathrooms today!

the master bathroom (one of the vanities...we have his and hers)


kid's bathroom

The porch has been shingled! -- 9-6-07

They finally finished the outside of the house! The shingles have been put on the porch overhang!

Walls, Stairway, Mantle, Doors, and Bookshelf -- 9-5-07

Well, they put up our stairway banister, our fireplace mantle, our doors, and our bookshelf today. We even got a close up of the texture of our walls and ceilings. It's starting to look more and more like a house!

the texture of our walls (the color looks a bit weird as we had to take the picture up close to see the actual texture)


the stairway


the fireplace mantle


the doors


the bookshelf


the stairway banister

Texturizing the walls -- 9-1-07

The came in and put the texture on our walls and ceiling! No popcorn ceiling for us!

the living room


the kitchen

Dream Teddy Nursery

I found this set at Babies R Us. I wanted to find something that would be gender neutral and a friend showed me this set when I was trying to figure out whether I wanted to do stars and moons or something with a teddy bear theme. I keep coming back to it and so I think this will be the set we'll get unless I find something that I like better when we get around to doing that room.

Deidra's Tinkerbell Room

I found this at
http://www.wardskids.com/wdkids/prod_display1.asp?product=89119

and Deidra and I both have fallen in love with it. She can't wait to decorate her room.

Hit the road...

This is what I'm going to do the boy's room in. This one received the most votes and I think it will be a big hit. :-)

Living Room Furniture

I found this set at Rooms to Go also, Andy's not 100% sold on the dark brown, but I think it would look nice. We may wind up picking it out in another color...but for now I really like this one.

This is what I want for my new dining room table...

Well, I went hunting for furniture ideas for the new house at Rooms to Go and I have fallent in love with this dining room set. We're going to decorate one room at a time, but the kitchen is the first room on my list.

Frogs for the Kids' Bath

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_8/601-4788571-8626551?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B00076HH8U



I think this is what I'm going to do for the kids' bathroom. I found it at Target. I figure it works for boys or girls and it's cute. It's also what I keep being drawn back to, so frogs it's going to be.

I'll probably paint their bathroom a really light green to match the theme. Then again, I may just leave it the polar ice color (silvery gray) that the painters are going to paint it.