It's Coming Along

A  lot of people have been asking about our house and how it is coming along, so...

We have been able to accomplish quite a bit in our first week here.  We are mostly unpacked and organized and the boxes that we have not made it to yet are neatly stacked in the room they belong in.  Will has started getting his Man room organized.  He got his new drum set all ready for him to practice in the corner and Colin's train table is set up in the other!  We have started to organize the lowest level (which will be our fun and relaxed area, so there will be toys set up for Colin). We still need a couch though.  Will's new TV is also ready to go (cable guy came this morning) and Colin has his little toy chest and basketball hoop displayed.

The kitchen is getting there.  We are planning on sprucing up the cabinets and getting new counter-tops, but for now I have it organized the way I like and even have room to spare!  Now I have an excuse to go shopping for the kitchen appliances I have been waiting on!  The Living room is waiting on our couches.  We have the other furniture already.  It will be nice to have a couch! 

Colin's room is all organized and we have hung up a few things.  He has a mix themes. We did not want to tie him down to just one, since he is getting to the age of having his own likes.  He has some pooh decor (lamp, snow globe), some transportation  (mostly firetrucks - a cute lamp and his measuring thing), and also some Super hero items (like his iron man night-lite and his spider-man poster)...so exciting!  I'll post pictures of that once we figure out if we want to paint it or not. 

The guest room - not even started yet, but I am going to use that room for traveling pictures and decor (pictures that I take on my future trips and some of Will's from Ireland, Paris, etc).  Will is in the process of ordering a world map so I can mark the places we have been. I want to do a different color pin for Will, myself, and Colin!

I also have not started on any of the bathrooms, but will hopefully soon.

The first room that we have really focused is the Master Suite!  We ordered our bedroom set (hopefully that will be here soon) and started painting.  We did our first coat and need to do the second one this week.  We have new curtains and put in new doorknobs.  These changes have totally transformed the place!  This will be the darkest color in the house.  One of the main things we love about this house is that it is so open and airy.  Will wants the feel of a beach type house without the beach (of course).  So, we are doing mostly light breezy colors that will keep the house open.  I wanted to do a darker color in the bedroom though.  I have always like darker bedrooms and just loved this color.

I will post pictures soon....

Same Old Debate

A Cat or a Dog!  That is the question...

Will and I talk about this quite a bit.  We both make our arguments for the one we think would be better for Colin or the one we prefer ourselves.  It will probably be a while before he has any pets, but I sometimes miss having animals around. 

The CAT story:

I have always been a dog lover, but in recent years I have become a...cat-appreciater.  In my opinion a cat does not compare to a dog, but cats can be a lot of fun and can be loving too.  I got my first cat when I was 21, so I do not have fond childhood memories of any particular cats.  For some weird reason, I decided I needed to experience a cat at that age.   I have no idea where that notion came from since I never really knew a cat that I was overly fond of...but for whatever reason that is how Citrine came into my life.  Since she was an orange cat I named her after my birthstone.  I have never met a cat like her.  She was very loving and cuddly, nothing like the very independent cats I knew growing up.  After I had Citrine a bit, I actually took in her mother (cleverly called Mama Cat by me).  I made this sweet gesture not knowing that she was a bit of a....well she got around.  So, she was pregnant and all of the sudden I had 7 cats!  One disappeared and one sadly died because he/she was the runt and Mama Cat refused to feed her (one part of animals psyche that I do not understand from a mother's perspective).  My favorite animal-lover friend, Lori, tried to save the poor thing but it was too late.  So, 5 cats...going from none to 5 in a few short months...crazy. So, I was still very much a dog-lover, but coming around on the idea of cats. All the ones I had each had their own unique personality and all were very lovable. 

Now Will is very much a cat person - not so much a dog person.  I think he has always had cats around.  His mom and brother still had two of the cats that have been around for quite a while when we first moved here; Sophie and Missy.  Missy sadly past away last year (she was getting up there in age).  Will also had two cats that he got while in Germany that made the long trip to Oregon with him.  I actually did not mind those two cats as well.  Sparky was just a crazy little thing that just made sense that it would be Will's cat.  The other cat, Tigger was sweet, but I am not sure Will liked her as much.  I thought she was cute and she always jumped in my lap whenever I was around her. So, Will always holds up the cat part of the debate.  At Colin's age I could just see him getting scratched a lot, which would quickly not make me like a cat and I hate the idea of declawing the poor things...seems a little cruel. 


The Dog Side:

I have always (until recently) had dogs around, ever since I was in the 3rd grade.  That was when we got our first dog, Sandy, (she passed away a few years ago).  She was like 17 or 18, which is a long time for her breed.  I have definitely never known a dog like her.  She was her own form birth control, she never did get fixed but would never let another dog near her so it was never an issue.  She finally became somewhat "friends" with my older brother's dog, Mick, the last few years of her life.  Mick just adored her.  Mick is a little Jack Russell Terrier, very energetic and jumpy.  The poor thing was abused and abandoned; you can really tell by his timid behavior. Will was nice around Sandy and Mick, but he kind of kept his distance.  Even though Sandy loved him!   I have seen a few dogs that Will has liked.  His mom and Michael's dog Rusty and Charlie, a dog we had for a little bit in Oregon.  He was one of the cutest dogs and just fit Will!  He had reddish, curly hair that I used to tease Will was the reason he picked him (and that he secretly wanted to put gel in it and spike it up the way Will wore his hair at the time). We could not take Charlie with us to VA, which was very sad, but we met the family he went with and could tell it would be a great fit for him.

You just never really hear stories about boys and their cats, you know???  It is always a boy and his dog.  I think there is a reason for that.  I would love probably any cat we had, as long as it was not a devil cat, but I just think that every child should experience a dog.  At least we both agree that Colin is too young right now and it would be safer for him and the poor future B family pet to wait a few years.  Who knows...maybe there will be a cat and a dog in the family and they will just be best buddies who happen to share the love of a boy!

Moving Day

We still have a few more trips in our future but we got most of our boxes/furniture moved today!  At least the things we need to have to make our first night there tonight!!!!  I am so excited...I think this occasion calls for a bottle of wine to celebrate - I am thinking the bottle of Chianti that I have been saving for a special occasion.  Right now we are at the apartment waiting for our sheets to dry.  Luckily, our TV is still here (Comcast doesn't set our new place up until next week), so we are watching the West Virginia game!  Go Mountaineers!!! I have to come back tomorrow morning to take my final (need the internet). It will be weird since the place is getting pretty empty.

So, I have to do a big shout out to my father-in-law, Bill.  He really hooked us up today with moving assistance.  He was a TREMENDOUS help. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I felt bad for him and Will moving the heavier stuff down three flights of stairs. 

Oh, and Colin loves the train table!  We're so excited to set that up! Thank you Bill and Michael for that!

Colin was also a big help!  Or maybe not.  He first started unpacking his toys all over the living room; once he was distracted I was able to get all of his stuff upstairs so he could unpack there.  Then he helped me in the kitchen.  He either put everything he got out of his box (with no breakables) and put it all in the sink (lined up very nicely on the edges).  Or he put the really important things in the blender.  This picture has Spider-Man, a froggy lid and a few other things in it. 

A good thing about moving is that it helps motivate a person to purge!  We have made quite a few donations to the Good Will lately.  It is so nice to get rid of stuff that we do not need anymore.  Some things are hard to part with (like some of Colin's things).  I am getting better as he gets older though.  I will not attempt looking through his infant clothes for a while though; I have parted with all I can for now!

Will and I may not always do things in the traditional manner, but our life has been crazy, spontaneous and just wonderful - what more could we ask for!  I think that the order we have done things has worked out great for us and I would not change anything! This has been a wonderful experience and I am so excited for all of the projects Will and I have planned...starting with the master suite!  Will actually picked out curtains today; it is so cute seeing him get so excited and into it!

Ooh, sheets are done...time to go to our new home!!

Officially Ours!!!!

                                                  

We are HOMEOWNERS!!!  Can you believe it???  It is so crazy sounding!

Will and I closed on our house this morning.  It was such an easy and quick process.  The whole thing was actually.  We started looking at the beginning of February and almost two months later we own a house! After we got the keys we went to Lowe's and bought paint for the master suite! We decided on a Thundering Clouds (a blue) for that room. I think we are going to do a pale yellow or tan for the master bathroom, but we're not decided yet. We want to get one room totally done before moving on to the next one. Our furniture will be delived for our bedroom in a few weeks, so we have plenty of time to paint.  We have until the 9th at our apartment, so we can take our time moving things over as well. I cannot wait for our living room and bedroom furniture to get here! We got some of our living room furniture today! So exciting!!!

We are both ecstatic about the purchase of our first home together! It was such a wonderful experience to share together!  Nerve-racking, but wonderful!

We are so excited!! We are homeowners! This is our first place together where it is totally ours! We are done with apartments!! Today is such a great day!  Oh, and Colin LOVES the house!  He is going to have so much space to run around!

An Oyster Roast You Say???

Will, Colin and I went to our first Oyster Roast yesterday!!  We had so much fun and it was such a beautiful day to be outside.  Our drive up to Maryland was a little longer than usual, everyone seemed to be taking advantage of the nice weather.  I love the parts of Maryland I have seen so far, beautiful!  We were heading a little past the Bay Bridge, a very pretty area. 

Our hosts were Will's Aunt Mary Ann, Uncle Jerre and his cousin Kevin and his wife Sarah.  Colin loved Mary Ann's house.  He spent the WHOLE time walking the paved path around the house.  Will and I took turns walking with him.  We were both so exhausted by the end of the night.  That was probably at least 3 hours of walking back and forth. Colin slept very well last night and even slept in a little this morning. 

Will and I did not try any uncooked oyster, but we did have ones that was roasted or baked, whatever you would say...cooked.  No chance of being alive.  Uncle Michael tried an uncooked one, I was very impressed!  I actually liked the oyster.  I had one that Jerre cooked with tabasco and some other seasonings.  It was delicious!

This summer, Kevin and Sarah may take us three out on a boat!  That would be a lot of fun.  We may have also found some fellow Marc Broussard fans...we are hoping to go to his concert in this area this June!  Yay!  Cannot wait!

Now time to finish my final project and pack...moving starts next week!!

Sunny Days

The weather has been so nice this past week.  I am always ready for spring when it comes, but more so this year with the winter we had in Virginia this year.  How do I describe it...umm...snow, snow and more snow.  Colin and I took advantage of the sunshine yesterday while Will was running some errands.  Here are a few pictures from our morning. 

Colin on his first bike!  He does not use the peddles yet, but he lets us push him.  The bike has a handle that comes up for us to push him without killing our backs.  It will be even easier when Colin learns how to steer with the handles!

Colin racing me up the hill and then realizing that I took a break to snap a photo.

Taking a water break.  Playing is very hard work!  I know that I was exhausted and was so ready to do homework when we got home.

Green Beer & Ham!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of my friends, family and anyone else who may happen on to my blog today!  As I probably say every year, I just LOVE this holiday!  Why?  You may ask, well, I will tell you...I love that many (many) years ago my Irish great-grandpa married my Cherokee great-grandma, I love being married to my Irish husband, I love my Irish son's very Irish (and Scottish) name, I love my Irish mother-in-law, I LOVE green, I love parades, I love Guinness, I love the opportunity to dye my beer and any other foods (like cupcakes) green!  I think that justifies saying that I love this holiday every year! So...happy, happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

For dinner I decided to treat Will to some "green" food.  We had green mashed potatoes and green beans to go with our ham dinner.  We also enjoyed some green beer...Heineken - for a light colored beer, not so bad.   I would have preferred Guinness, but I was obsessed with the idea of everything green.

I wish I had a copy of The Quiet Man, I would make Will watch it!  Will is secretly thanking his lucky stars (as he reads this)..I am pretty sure he does not want to watch a John Wayne movie, even if it does take place in Ireland, but come on...Maureen O'hara and the Duke?!?!  I guess, we may have to settle for P.S. I Love You (which I actually do really like, even if it makes me cry)! I need to be doing homework though...last two weeks of class and I have a paper, a final project and a final (the first two are due by this Sunday).   Aaagh! Got to get working...while I drink some more geen beer!!

Cheers to you!!

Almost Ours

We are in love with a house!!  We are now in the process of purchasing it.  Everything has gone through, all we are waiting for is the closing date (March 25th)!  We are so excited!!! We are buying our first place together!  This has all  happened pretty fast.  We found the place in early February (right before my first trip), we were sadly outbid by someone else...So, I was a little sad when I left for my trip, but Will called me on my second to last day there telling me that the offer fell through and they were wondering if we were still interested!  Fingers-crossed that nothing happens from now until the 25th...but we should be good to go!

A little about the house....

It has 3 bedrooms (all on the 3rd level) with a 4th room on the lower level (it is not technically a bedroom because it has no window).  We are going to make that the man room/boy room!  I told Will that he can have his drums set up in there and whatever else he wants as long as Colin gets a corner!  There are 3 1/2 bathrooms!  I am so excited about that! There is 2 on the 3rd level (our master and what will be Colin's), then there is a half on the main level with a 3rd full bath on the lower level. 

I love the kitchen!  It is very spacious and has a nice set up.  Eventually, we plan to spruce up the cabinets a bit and put in granite countertops.

We are trying to decide if we want to paint before we move in or not.  Our last day at our apartment will give us plenty of time to move in and do whatever needs to be done before living there.  I am glad we will not be rushed.  I have a light tan color picked out for the main areas (living, family and hallways).  Then Will and I decided on a medium blue color for the master.  I will post pictures when it is done.  I am very excited about that room!  We also have a blue for Colin's room picked out.  It is a darker baby blue, so it doesn't look too infant like.  We're also thinking of stenciling his name on the wall.  We saw it in a magazine and it looked so cute!  I think we are going to go away from the Pooh theme and move towards transportation.  That way we can do firetrucks, airplanes, cars, etc.  We have some ideas for the bathrooms but we need to look a little more.

Can you tell I am so excited!!!!  I will keep you all updated! Oh, and another big deal item...it is in the area that we wanted!  Colin will be able to go the schools we were hoping for and I just love this city!

Hopefully, more to come!!!

A Boy's Best "Buddy"

It seems like every boy and girl (if not all, at least most) create a bond with some object when they are young; it can be a blanket, a bottle, a pacifier, or in this little boy's case a stuffed animal.  Once this bond is made, they want to go EVERYWHERE with their "friend".  Colin never really used pacifiers (at times we really wished he would) and he only likes his "baba" (bottle) at sleepy time, but he loves...(You may have guessed what Colin's is...maybe you have seen him in a few pictures, if not all of them)...his stuffed animal, a bunny that he calls "buddy" He was trying to say bunny and "buddy" came out and it just stuck.  At first we tried to correct him but now anytime he sees a bunny he calls it "buddy".  I thought that Buddy deserved a blog entry, it is getting close to the day he came into our lives (he was a Easter gift from Grandma Liz).  This Easter will be two years that he has been with us.  I am honestly surprised that he has lasted this long.  I am so thankful that the stuffed animal Colin clung to came from such good stock!  We have had a few scares of misplacing Buddy and I would just hate the day that Buddy was no longer around.  So, here is a glimpse at Buddy in his first two years of being a boy's best "buddy"!

The beginning of Buddy!

He goes everywhere with us!

He was even in our Christmas picture! He is just part of the family!

Colin and Buddy reading one of daddy's books.

Happy Birthday, Grammie!!

I am blessed with many things: a wonderful husband, an adorable son, a great job, etc, etc...I am also blessed with the BEST mom in the world!!!  A mom that is celebrating her birthday today! 

Mom - Happy birthday!  I love you, miss you and hope to see you soon!  You need to come out and visit!  Especially if we are able to close on this house, we will need your expertise in painting and fixing up the house!!!

Happy birthday!!