Preparing for Christmas!

 After much debate over the best time to put up the Christmas tree, grandpa gave in and grandma got her way (as per usual ;) and we got the tree decorated and ready for the holiday last weekend. Kieran decided to don his velour Santa suit (on loan from Niki- thanks!) and help make the season a little more festive. I liked his All Bundy pose above as he enjoyed watching Frosty the Snow Man.

 

 Here, Kieran is "helping" unroll the ribbon for the tree... he had a grand time running around the house with it trailing after him and making a gigantic mess!

 The above two photos show Kieran taking a break and enjoying some seasonal cartoons- he is a TV addict this one.

 Although it may look as though he is decorating the tree, in actuality he spent most of his efforts removing ornaments as we put them on... he continues this habit now- despite grandpa's admonishments ;)

 A favorite ornament- the kitty in the bird cage.

 "Holly cow mom! I can hardly believe how cute this is!"

 "Yay for Christmas, velour Santa suits and toy-trees!"

 As the night progressed, Kieran felt like slipping into something a little more comfortable- his birthday suit- this phrase has so much more meaning now that I have given birth!

This photo was taken today at Bass Pro. Kieran did great this year- he even smiled a little- although it was probably because Mrs. Clause was waving a candy cane around- but whatever it takes right?! Kieran had a great time this year at Bass Pro- unfortunately we (I) forgot to reload the memory card into our camera so we don't have any other photos to share, so I will just have to paint you a picture with words :) Imagine a little land filled with race tracks complete with zooming cars, remote control 4-wheelers, a running miniature train, and tons of dead stuffed animals- in other words a Kieran wonderland!  We stayed over an hour and had to drag KP out literally kicking and screaming, but he settled down in the car once we cranked up the Chipmunk's Christmas carols on the way home!

Our new home...in the beginning

 

We want to share our progress with the new house as it goes and we think we are finally at the stage where we have something to show. This has already been a very slow and somewhat painful process and we haven't even broken ground yet! The house will be situated on five acres to the southeast of my parent's home and face northwest, with the pond siting on the northeast corner of the property. This weekend, we signed a contract with our builder stating that we are finally satisfied with the interior layout and features as well as the exterior look and elevations. We also agreed on a budget, not that we were satisfied with this aspect, we'd love to pay a whole lot less, but turns out building a home is a rather expensive venture, even if it isn't anything too fancy!
What you see above is our basic front exterior. We are going to have Hardiplank siding (this link has pics of homes built with our color) in mountain sage (aka green) with stacked stone trim by Centurian in some sort of beige-ish color. Below is a 3d rear elevation. As you can see, it is a ranch walk out with a partially covered deck and small concrete patio below. One of our favorite parts is the large wall of windows which should give great views of the woods behind the home.

Above is a view of the garage side of the home. We are going with a basic two car garage... three might have been nice but we will be lucky to able to afford two cars after we build this house!

 Above is our main floor plan (click any pic to enlarge). The house will have three bedrooms, although one will double as a guest room and office. We chose a split floor plan (this means the master bedroom is on one side and the other bedrooms are separated by the main living space) in hopes of some privacy- of course that means Kieran will actually have to start sleeping in his own room! The master has its own bath and a walk-in closet (still don't know where Rick will keep his clothes!) and the two other bedrooms share a jack-in-jill bath (this means there is access to the bath from both bedrooms but no hall access). We did this in hopes of keeping Kieran's mess contained and hidden from the main living space. There is a half bath between the entry and garage hallway, next door to our laundry room. I am soooo excited to be able to do laundry without going up and down rickety wooden steps and ducking to avoid bumping my head!
We opted for an open floor plan in the main living area so that we can all be together while meals are being prepared and we eat. There is a small eating nook in the kitchen as well as eating space at an island. There is also a dining room for when my mom passes the holiday torch to us and I have to start serving all those great, big meals ;) The coolest feature of this part of the house is the two-way fireplace that sits between the dining room and the living room. The linving and dining room will have cathedral height ceilings but the rest of the house will have 9ft ceilings with trays in the kitchen and master bedroom.

Above is our future basement plans. We will not be able to afford to finish the basement at this time, but we have some big plans for it! We will, however, finish the first room one enters from the stairs for a rumpus space for Kieran. This will be pretty basic- drywall and maybe some of those carpet squares that are cheap and can be easily replaced when they become damaged or stained. This is also the room that will have doors to the patio below the deck.

Above is a 3d of the entry way and two-way fire place between the living and dining rooms. This is not a 100% accurate rendering as we have now changed the door to a standard rectangle with an arched and paneled inset and there will be sidelights on either side of the door. Also, the fireplace stone will be the same type as seen on the exterior of the house (stacked) and will be another food taller. The wall colors are not set yet, but the architect chose these based on images of our former home. And of course this isn't our TV (we don't have one yet!) nor our furniture. As you can see we will have a mix of hardwoods (actually bamboo) and carpet in these rooms. The bamboo will be in the entry, garage hallway, dining room, kitchen and master bedroom hallway. The living room and bedrooms will all be carpeted. The baths and laundry room will be ceramic tile.

Above shows the wall of windows and cathedrial ceiling in the living room. To the left is the kitchen with bar stools at the island and the bayed nook eating area.

Above is a view of the living room and kitchen taken from the bedroom hallway. You can see the pantry door as well as the master bedroom door in the back.

This is a view of the living/dining rooms from the kitchen. We have not yet chosen our counter colors (or material) nor any of our light fixtures.

This shows a view of the wrap around fireplace. Again, the stone will be the same stacked look as the exterior of the house. Also, there will be no trim around the arches so there won't be trim on the stone. Apparently, this is simply a CAD (computer assisted drafting) glitch. From this view you can see the bedroom hallway and the one wall in the living room. This wall hides the stairs to the basement. We decided against an open stairwell for safety and also to give us at least one wall for a TV.

This is the fireplace on the dining room side. Obviously, this is not the chandelier that will hang in our home- a little much don't you think?! We decided against a mantel or hearth in this room to save space for seating.

This is our very bare master bedroom. To the right is a second door (the other is off the eat-in-kitchen area) to the covered portion of the deck.
Below is the master bathroom. We will have two seperate vanaties, one to the right of the tub and the other across from the tub. It is hard to tell in this pic (another CAD glitch) but the wall between the tub and shower is actually glass. There is also a toilet closet in the bathroom- yay for added privacy! The walk-in closet is off the master bath as well as a small linen closet.

 

So the next step will be to take these plans, the budget and the deed for the land to the bank this week. We have been through some of the underwriting process already but still need to have the house and land appraised- this will determine our next step. Assuming there is enough equity in the land, excavation will begin this month! We are on a 7-8 month time frame but it's hard to know for sure how things will turn out. As the process moves along (so far it's been at a snail's pace) we will update the blog. We are looking forward to sharing this experience with everyone and hoping we can make it through with our marriage in tact and the shirts on our backs!

Late November

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone! It has been far too long since we last updated our blog... but as always things have been a whole lot busy and a little bit crazy!

 Here's Kieran in my parent's basement (our new home- for now) in his giant pile of toys. He has adjusted very easily to living here and really, despite the lack of space and privacy, Rick and I are really enjoying the help and company too.

 Here's Kieran with an early Christmas present- a small train set I got on sale at Toys R Us this summer- $15- great deal! He went CRAZY!!! Needless to say he LOVES it! As you can see, Gracie was pretty excited about the train as well!

                                                                                                                           "Doot! Doot!"

 "Look Ma! Beans and cheese!" Here Kieran is showing off his Taco Bell fingers in cafe court. Kieran, Rick and I braved the JCPenny's photo studios again this holiday season and I mean it for real this time when I say, "NEVER AGAIN!" It was over and hour wait and by the time we got in there we didn't have more than five minutes of photos before Presley completely lost her cool and started balling and throwing stools- poor thing was loooong over due for her nap and the giant, scary photographer wasn't helping the situation with her insane squeals and bouncing around. Kieran, for whatever reason, was in a great mood and sat on his stool, smiling at the camera and saying "cheeeeese" over and over- too cute! Too bad we didn't get video of that- now footage like that might have made the whole experience worth it!

 Kieran LOVES spaghetti and all things marinara. Here he is enjoying a sloppy dinner after having gleefully rubbed his meal all over his chest :)

 Shannon bought Presley an adorable Hello Kitty tu-tu and go figure- Presley hates wearing it. Kieran, however, loves the feeling of glittered tulle ;) We epically liked the combination of the tu-tu and his green monster sleeper.

 Kieran watching cartoons on our couch in the  basement- he loves TV despite my best efforts to shield him from its evils and offer educational alternatives.

We all enjoyed three Thankgiving's this year- one here at my folk's house with my sister and Presley, one at Rick's mom's house with her family and then a final meal at his dad's place. All the dinners were great- tons of yummy food, good company and lots of fun for the little man. Thank you to everyone for the delicious meals and all the hospitality. We are already looking forward to Christmas! BTW- Kieran's Amazon wish list has been updated with his new favorites- trains and things that go!

We have been pretty pre-occupied recently with the preliminary stages of building our new home. As soon as we have a contract signed and the loan comes through, we will share more about our plans and will keep the blog posted with pics and updates. Here's hoping this happens sooner rather than later!

More pics from the fall photo-shoot

Late October

This has been a CRAZY month! Rick and I both had conferences two nights till 8 and a number of other school functions, plus end of quarter and grade-cards kept us plenty busy at work. In addition to the typical nuttiness we also packed all our belongings and moved them into a storage shed in Ashland and are now living with my parents in Hartsburg. We closed on our house in Jeff this past Thursday, but only after quite a few hiccups and headaches along the way. Despite all the hub-bub, we managed to squeeze in a few fun fall activities with Kieran- but all in all, we are all glad to bid farewell to October 2010!

 Rick and Kieran at our storage shed... we have had to make a number of trips back to the shed for forgotten items or to store things that won't fit in the one bedroom we are all three sharing until the basement is finished.

 KP doing his part to help out at the shed ;)

 Kieran and mommy standing in front of the little shed will house all of our belongings for the next six months or so... here's hoping for a mild and dry winter so the construction will be done ASAP!

 Rick and I met up with Lori and her family at the west-side Shakespea's for a pizza lunch before we headed to Peach Tree Farms in Booneville. In the above photo, I am showing off my now defunct boots purchased nearly 15 years ago. The soul literally fell off as we were walking in the parking lot to Shakes. I had to make a quick trip to Walmart to get an emergency pair of shoes! The other shoe fell apart as I shopped the shoe isle- guess I finally wore them out ;)

 Kieran had fun picking sunflowers as he chased chickens in and out of the rows of flowers at Peach Tree Famrs!

 Not sure what to make of this expression... sort of like he's in the middle of a baby-ho-down dance.

 Love this naughty expression... KP loved the jail wagon!

 The Pitts had their lovely 10 month old twins with them- all the kiddos loved the hayride!

 Kieran rolling in the hay and loving every minute of it!

 Mommy and Kieran leaving the pumpkin fest... I just love the way he picks his legs waaay up :)

 Some of the last photos we took of Kieran in our old house. Here he is sporting his England rugby- a gift from Tori purchased while they visited family abroad this past summer.

 KP getting some love from his buddy Luke ;)

 Kieran's face at Tori's house after enjoying his first doughnut ;)

 Our little Da Vinci... notice the use of both hands to create his masterpiece!

 Bead-work at daycare...

Lottie helping Kieran with the shape-sorter

 The Christmas catalog is here and although Kieran may still not quite "get" what it's all about... he knows what he wants... anything and everything having to do with trains! We think he may have even tried to call in an order with his Elmo phone ;)

 "Wonder Twin powers ACTIVATE!" For Halloween this year we were inspired to be a family of  superheros in support of a Columbia Public Schools fundraiser (thanks Erin for the 4-1-1!). Rick was Zan, I was Jana and Kieran, of course, was Gleek, our trusty blue monkey side-kick! Here I am making some final adjustments to his costume. KP was a real trooper and wore most of his costume most of the time without too much protest- despite missing his nap and being a bit under the weather with another ear infection.

 Gleek running free on Hickman's football field.

 Super Girl (a.k.a. Presley) and Gleek playing the long-jump sand pit.

 More fun with sand-this did not go so well once he got his sticky little hands on a lolly pop- much crying ensued later :(

 Me and KP on the poll-vault matt... there's that sticky sucker.

A futile attempt to try and keep up with sucker-slobber...

 Daddy and KP checking out his super loot!

 Gleek on the Hickman track (you can see his monkey tail in this one)

 After the superhero Halloween events, we all enjoyed a meal at India Kitchen down-town. Here, KP is done with his naan and has moved on to playing trucks around his bowl of korma ;)