Changes...

WOW...talk about changes.

Things are a changing around here for us.

Soccer is over for the season. Madison's team won 2nd place in their division. Dehlia team won 1st place in their division. Aric's team did keep score, but they all had a great time this season!!!

We have had a complete shocker come to us in the last 2 weeks though. My dad passed away on November 12th. I had travelled up to VA to see him in the hospital at the beginning of November after he collapsed at home during the week before. They diagnosed him as needing valve replacement surgery and more bypass surgery, but the doctors could never get him well enough to do the surgery. We (Derek and I) were at least able to have 2 weeks to come to terms with the possibility of something happening, but tell the kids was probably one of the hardest things that we have ever had to do. My mom seems to be dong well with it. We will see how thing go in the future. We have a lot of work ahead of us in cleaning out the house of all of the things that he felt he needed. We are all getting a good laugh at some of the things that we have found and are sure to get plenty more as we have just scratched the surface.

This weekend we will be adding to our family. We have decided to add another dog to the pack. He is about a year old. He is a husky. He is a rescue out of NC. He is red and white and has one blue and one amber colored eyes. I will add pictures after we get him on Saturday! His name will be Dakota.

We will also be bringing Derek's Land Cruiser back to SC with us this weekend. We are trying to clean out Grandma Hoover's house so that it can be sold in the near future, so that it one big piece of the puzzle that needs to be gotten out.

Until the next time...

Let the season begin.....

Well, we've settled in enough to bite the bullet and enroll the kids in soccer for the Spring.

Practices started this week.


Aric began on Monday. What a trip that was. He is too cute out there. From stopping and waving to us, to trying to learn to not touch the ball with his hands, to singing High School Musical while trying to get the ball passed to him, to crying when one of the other kids took the ball from him. It was a hoot.



Dehlia began on Tuesday. Derek isn't her coach this season. She wasn't too happy about that, but she did ok during practice. Of the 7 kids that were there, she seemed to be the star player. There We'll have to see how things go when we can get the rest of the team there. She was supposed to have practice yesterday, but rained out.

Madison began on Wednesday.....well, it was scheduled for Wednesday. It was raining and Derek wasn't feeling well, and neither was I for that matter. So, was are shooting for today (Friday) but it is supposed to be rainy today too. Maybe we can squeeze one in this weekend if we can't today. Derek is her coach this season. He volunteered to help, but turned out to be the person with the most experience. We'll see how it goes.

The kids have been enjoying the back yard. Some more than others....








butt...









They all do get to have fun out here. Appropriately clothed too!!!




















We're getting things a little bit more organized. Going to put up some shelves in the garage to store the christmas stuff, and put up a garage door opener too. Hopefully the boxes that are mounding over inbetween the living and dining roomare going to be picked up soon!! They are encroaching on my getting anything done in there.

Til next time.....

WOW.....

Has it really been almost a month since I posted last???? My how time does fly!!!!


Well, incase you hadn't guessed, WE'RE IN!!!!! We signed on the 20th and were inside painting that afternoon. We painted Aric's room blue, Dehlia's room yellow and Madison's room pink. The kids got to help. We had fun painting together. A little bit of stress of trying to get the kids to keep the paint on the walls and not on the trimwork and the carpet, but all in all, I think we had fun. The movers came on Saturday morning. Thank goodness they got a late start...it gave us time to have the fridge delivered, have the security systems people come in and for us to finish painting Madison's room since we didn't have enough energy to paint it on Firday afternoon. They came and unloaded the truck, put the beds together, and left. We went back to the apartment and got a few essentials and the dogs and came back to the house to sleep. This way, Angus didn't have to fight the steps at the apartment anymore. He had been having a time fighting his way back up after we walked him around to go potty.

We've gotten a lot of the boxes unpacked, but still have some work to do. We've been working on the fence a bunch lately too. Rented an auger that attached to a machine to make hole digging a LOT easier. Dad Lang's 1-person auger just wasn't cutting thru the dirt here. Have gotten all of the posts and stringers up and we are working on the pickets now. Having a rainy weekend, so I don't know how much will get done, but we will try to get out there if we can, or it will be done when the rain is done. Going to try to work in the garage on the gates since it is raining though.

The kids are loving the new house. Had Aric tell me for a few days that he wanted to stay at the apartment and not the new house, but he has since changed his tune. The girls are liking having their own room. Madison especially. She asys it is great to have her own room, but kind of creepy when it is dark. I think she is doing fine. It is working out well, since Dehlia is a morning person and Madison isn't really. Dehlia is up like a shot when the alarm goes off (like her Daddy) and Madison is slow to get going (1ike her Mommy). Aric likes his blue room too.

Angus is doing much better. I think that once we got him to the house with the furniture that he was accustomed to and everything, that he has relaxed some. Also, the medicine is in his system better, so we aren't seeing drunk Angus, just has to go out much more frequently Angus. I will surely be happy when we can just open the sliding door into the backyard to let them out instead of having to walk them. Angus goes back to the vet today to have them check his levels again. We'll see what they have to say about everything. Nilla is doing fine, just bopping along like normal.

We had some snow last week. The kids got to miss a day of school and play in it. They were so excited. Especially since the last time they missed school for snow, we really didn't get any. They had fun throwing snowballs and helping make a snowgirl.

Well, until the next time.....Have a good one!!

And the countdown begins.....

Friday is still the day!!! We go at 9 am to sign the paperwork. Had a home inspector come in last week to look over the new house and had a "home demonstration" today. There are a few little things to fix in the house, but nothing that they can't handle. We are very much looking forward to moving in.

Had a busy week last week...the movers came to the house in Fuquay to get all of our stuff. Since we have the house under contract (!!!) we wanted to go ahead and get everything out and repair anything that needed fixing. I didn't thin kthat we would have to fix anything ,but the new owner's inspector found any little thing that he could. I guess it is a good thing for the buyers, but as the sellers, it was a pain. We had the movers at the house Tuesday morning at 10 am and they were done packing by 2:30 pm. WOW!! They came back on Wednesday morning and were there at 9 and finished loading everything into the truck by 4:30. The truck was FULL!!! Front to side doors - all the way to the ceiling and from Back to side doors - 3/4 of the way full. They even put the playhouse for the swingset inside there!! Derek was with the inspector in SC Thursday afternoon and had planned on heading to NC afterwardds with the girls (who had school last week) but Angus had other plans for us.

When Derek got back to the apartment from meeting with the inspector and ordering the wood for the new fence...Angus was in the living room not being himself. Derek took him to the Vet nearby and they diagnosed him as having a seizure. SCARY!!! Derek was really worried that Angus wasn't going to make it. They kept him over night to give him some high dose medicine to get the seizures to stop and to do some bloodwork. They didn't know the cause of the seizures, but were going to try to atleast stop them. Therefore since we didn't know what the outcome of Angus' prognosis was going to be, Aric and I headed back to SC from NC to be there on Friday morning when we could see him. Well, we got there at 8:45 Friday morning and could hear a dog barking in the back. The girls commmented that it sounded like Angus. Derek immediately told them that we needed to see and we would have to wait for the Doctor to come in and tell us how he was doing. As we were waiting in the room, I listened more closely to the barking and thought myself that it was Angus and relayee this to Derek, but he wouldn't hear of it. Well, the Doctor came in and told us that indeed it was Angus barking and howling. That the medicine seemed to be working and he was better. Angus' blood work came back normal for waht had happened to him. They don't know what caused the seizure, but have now put him on phenobarbital 2 times a day to hopefully keep them under control. Angus is doing ok on the medicine. He is not totally himself, but you can see him peek thru every so often. He walks around a little drunk and his legs are a little wobbly. We will be glad to get into the new house so that he can stay on the ground floor if he wants too.

Back to the story.... We left the vet's with Angus and headed back to the apartment to pack up and everyone head back to NC to finish cleaning up in Fuquay. We got to the house and Derek dropped off the kids (who had ridden in the truck with him to NC) and he headed to work. Thank Goodness Matt was there to help me. I don't know what I would have done without him!!! He helped me cleanup the house from bottom to top. From the garage to the baseboards to vacuuming to taking down hooks. WOW!!! Mom Lang and Grandma Hoover showed up at the house and took the kids for a little while so that Matt and I could work in peace. They brought them back just in time for the girls' friends' Morgan and Emma's mom to get there. The girls were going to Morgan and Emma's for a sleepover. They were looking forward to seeing them very much. Derek got off of work and he and Matt took some trash to the dump and we finished up for the day by going out to eat. We stayed at Matt and Melissa's for the weekend.
Got up the next morning and made our way to Cracker Barrel for breakfast with everyone but the girls (since they were at the sleepover still). Had a nice breakfast then headed back to Fuquay to finish cleaning. finally got everything done around the house at about 5 pm (which included making the few repairs that the inspector had found). Went and picked up the girls from Morgan and Emma's and went to Matt and Melissa's for dinner. We had dinner then took the girls back to Morgan and Emma's for them to sleepover there again. Got up on Sunday and mad eour way to the house eventually and said our goodbyes and the girls, Aric, the dogs and I all headed back here to SC for the week. Derek has to stay in Fuquay to work. He will be home on Thursday afternoon.

Well, we have one last walk thru on Thursday afternoon. Then 9 am Friday can't get here soon enough. We will sign paperwork, then probably head to DMV to get our SC licenses with the new address. Then head to the house to start taping up the walls so that the kids can paint their rooms. Each one was told that they could paint their new room at the new house. They each got to pick their own color (with mommy and daddy's approval). Madison has chosen Pink, Dehlia has chosen Yellow and Aric is getting Blue (He wasn't awake when we went to look at paint colors and that is what Derek and I picked out for him). We will then be expecting the movers to show up on Saturday with all of our stuff. They weren't supposed to show up until Monday, but they wanted to come on Saturday so that they wouldn't have to split up the crew since they have another job that begins on Monday. We are also expecting the new fridge and range hood to be ther on Saturday. Also the person to demonstrate the security system to us.

Busy times, but we knew they were coming. Hopefully soon after all of this (and getting the fence put in right away {we are expecting that delivery early next week}) everything will get back to normal.

At least I can hope right!!??

We have a date.....

We have a closing date!!! It is February 20th. Our Anniversary!! Derek is just adding up all of his brownie points with me. Signed to build the house on my birthday, actually buy the house on my birthday. WOW!! Now comes the frantic scheudling of getting the furniture out of the house in NC, doing all the inspections of the new house, walk throughs of new house and finally signing and getting our furniture to the new house!!! Looks like the month of Feb is going to be a busy one for us around here!!

They still have a lot to do at the house though. There is no stones on the exterior of the house. The flooring still has to be done along with the exterior grading and putting in the sidewalk and driveway. Looking forward to seeing all this happen in the next few weeks!!

Well, to ease my troubles a little bit around here is that I got Aric into a preschool!! He will be going 3 days a week from 9-12:15. He starts on Monday! I hope that he likes it!

We're here.....

Well, we're in the apartment, in case you couldn't guess. We left on the Monday after Christmas. Got here to Lake Wylie about 9 pm. Wow, 3 flights of stairs. Thank goodness one of the guys from Derek's work came and helped us out. I think that there still would have been stuff to unload 2 days later if it wasn't for him.

The house is coming along very nicely. Have the drywall up, installed cabinets, siding and shake are on the house, and they painted today, too. They are telling us that we will be closing the last week in February.


The girls are doing well in school. Got a compliment from the middle school principal last week too. He said that the girls were doing such a great job of melding right into the new school. We were happy to hear that. They seem to be happy, but you never know what goes on inside those walls when we aren't around. They have made new friends and have gotten used to the teachers. Looking forward to having a great rest of the school year.

Aric is doing well hanging out with me. He is starting to ask when he is going to school. So, I have started to look around for Preschool for him. Hopefully I will be able to find a spot for him in one for the fall, if not sooner.

Derek is liking work a whole lot more. He is coming home less stressed and in a much better mood.

I miss all of my friends from NC, but look forward to meeting some new people here soon. Aric and I have been going to storytime a the local library on Wednesdays. We also met some of the people who live in our neighborhood today while we were at the house. They were really nice.

Moving Date....

Well, we don't have an exact date yet, but we do know around when we will be moving. Well, not really moving everything, but really just moving the essentials. You know, the clothes, food, dogs, fish, Futon for a couch, washer and dryer, you know the essentials. We are leaving the rest of our things here at the house. In case you thought we were nuts, we aren't. We are actually moving into an apartment right near our new house.

When we went down for the preconstruction meeting last weekend, we went by the girls' schools. While there we asked when would be the best time to integrate them into the new school since we have the option of doing it sooner or later. Well, the verdict was sooner rather than later. Madison being in 4th grade was the clencher. She will have to take end of grade tests this year again. Well, in SC they begin them in MARCH!!! We were kind of surprised at how early it is in the school year. If we move in February when the new house is ready, then she would only be in the new school for a little while and still have to take the tests. We don't think that is fair, so we are going to move in between the Christmas and New Year's holidays so that the girls can start the New Year off at a new school. This way Madison can get used to the curriculum and be prepared for the testing in March. Not to mention that she is going to have to get ready to go from Elementary School where we are now to being in Middle School in SC. What an adjustment Madison and us are going to have. From 1 teacher to 3 teachers. Kind of nervous for her, but I know that she will do fine.

So the move after the first of the year (maybe even wait til track out in February)time line just got shortened into 2 weeks left of school here. Going to make up cards for the girls to give out to their friends here with contact information. Trying to figure out what is essential that we need for 2 months and what we can live without. Not looking forward to Derek moving the washer and dryer out on Sunday evening so that he can take them on Monday to the apartment. 2 weeks without a washer and dryer will be interesting. It will be nice to not have to do that, but not nice to not have the convenience of doing it on my time!!

Happy Turkey Day!!!

Hope that you have had a relaxing Turkey Day. We made ours busy by traveling this morning. We left before 8 am heading to the lake to be with Derek's Parents. Enjoyed raking/blowing leaves (Derek and the youngest 2 kids along with Peque(Melissa's brother) and Dad), cooking (Mom, Grandma, Melissa, me and sometimes the girls), and visiting with everyone including Mom's brother Ben and his girlfriend Beth. It was 12 of us in a single wide trailer with 3 Jack Russell Terriers and a Rottweiler-Doberman mix. Fun times keeping our plates from being snacked on. Luckily the dogs weren't there during the cooking process. They arrived just as we were getting ready to eat. Enjoyed a full menu of Turkey, Ham, Stuffing (with and without onions and celery) Potato stuffing, Sweet Potatoes (with and with out cranberries and oatmeal), White Corn, Green Bean Casserole, Lima Beans, Mashed Potatoes, and (the kids favorite) Cranberry Sauce (with and without berries in it). Finished off the meal with a Cinnabon Apple Pie and of course a PUMPKIN PIE!! YUMMY!!!! We ate till stuffed and enjoyed each other's company. The kids did really well entertaining them selves. I was happy to see that Aric and Dehlia were helping to blow the leaves down to be burned and spent at least 20 minutes playing with Dad's Tape Measure. They were measuring everything. We left around 4 or so (I think). The sun was setting making a beautiful picture in the sky. Had to snap a picture it was so pretty.


Had a smooth ride home. Came home and let the kids watch the end of the movie that they had gotten half way through at the lake, then put them to bed since they were tired. We will leave tomorrow morning after cleaning up the house a bit to go to VA to visit my parents and grandmother for the weekend. Will head back here on Sunday morning to get ready for a busy week.

Had a good amount of showing , but no takers yet. It is getting tiring keeping this house cleaned up all the time, but will be worth it when it sells. Heading to Lake Wylie on Friday to have our preconstruction meeting and Derek's Christmas party for his new group that he's in. Will be nice to let the kids see where the house will be (other than in pictures and us telling them about it) and to meet the other people that Derek will be working with when he transfers down completely. His new boss is really nice. He has told Derek to take his time getting down there. Derek can stay until we all are moving down. Now just need to decide if we are going to try to move down before hand and rent something or if we want to hang out here in FV til the house sells or gets bought out. Decisions, decisions....

We found one!!

Well, we've gotten back from SC and WE FOUND A HOUSE!!!

Let me begin on Friday. Thank you MOM!!! She watched the kids so that we could go this past weekend to look for a house. She came in Friday afternoon and kept an eye on Aric while I dropped off the dogs at the kennel. Came back then went to get the girls from school. When we got back from school, Dad was here at the house. After Derek got home, we went to have pictures taken. If you get to utilize Portrait Innovations ever in your life, DO IT!! They are the best. They work with you and the prices are VERY reasonable!! We met, Matt and Melissa (Derek's brother and sister-in-law) and Grandma Hoover there to have family pictures done. They turned out great. We had gotten some shirts for Christmas 2 years ago and I told mom and dad that if we didn't get them take soon, Dehlia and Aric were going to outgrown them. Well, we got them taken. Took some other pictures of various arrangements of the group too. Check out the Flickr page if you want to see the rest of them. They turned out GREAT!!! After pictures were taken and picked out and paid for, Derek and I headed down to Charlotte to go house hunting Saturday morning.

Got down to Charlotte about 10:30 pm and went straight to bed. We were exhausted. Got up bright and early Saturday morning and met with our realtor at 9 am. We had done some homework before going down that helped us to narrow down how many houses we were going to look at. Had found about 9 to look at and also had found some neighborhoods that were building in and had houses ready to move into. Well, long story short there are people in SC not willing to sell their house right now. Out of the 9 listings that we wanted to see, 4 of them declined a showing. Keep in mind that they were called on Friday to let them know that realtor was going to be showing their house on Saturday to out of town clients. Their loss!! We went to one of the neighborhoods that we had found and fell in love with one of the houses that they had in there. They told us that they could build it in 4 months. That's fine, it give us til February to sell this one that we live in. Well, with all of the discounts and everythings, we are getting a house built!! We picked out a lot that is FLAT. 0.46 acres. We just couldn't pass up the offer that they were making to us.

Here's what the house will look like It will have a dark red door and dark red shutters. The stone will have red accents in it too. We are really excited. Going back down to SC at the beginning of December to show the kids where the house will be built at, where their school is, etc. They seem excited, but I think that once they see the lot and hopefully be able to see a house just like it that is already built, they will be thrilled!!!

The girls are tracked out right now. We got to start track out buying a house with out the kids and then came back to Dehlia having Pink Eye. took her to the doctor on Monday morning to get medicine and she is now better. Still have to finish the drops, but she is going to be fine. I have lost my voice. Woke us Yesterday with no voice. I feel fine (well maybe a little bit tired) but otherwise ok. Madison is feeling fine and Aric is feeling ok too. Aric got sent home from PReschool today because he got sick, but I think that he must have gotten choked on something because since he's been home, he's been his usual self. Derek is still a little stressed with work, but doing ok. Tired and busy and trying to figure out all of the $$ things that go into buying a house. Hopefully we will get to get everything tied up in the next day or two to let him breathe some.

Will keep you posted on how things are going with the house.

Changes.....

Wow have thing changed around here in the last few weeks.

Derek has accepted a new position at the South Eastern Engineering Facility of Deere which is in Charlotte. Therefore, we are MOVING!!! AAAGH!!! Our world here at home has been turned upside down with cleaning out the non essential things around the house and keeping everything straight and ready for showings. We have transported a bunch of stuff to Derek's grandmother's garage so that there is the feeling of space around here. The house is ready, just have to find the right buyer! Derek is officially on SEEC's payroll as of Today, but luckily his first job is to finish helping out the group that he is working with here. Sooo, he doesn't have to be in Charlotte til the beginning of the year. Yeah!! Derek and I are going down to Charlotte/South Carolina this weekend to look for a house. Grandma Birds is thankfully going to come down on Friday and watch the kids so that we don't have to truck them all over creation while we look at houses. We've had 2 showings since the house got listed. One on Halloween and one on Saturday. Hopefully someone will come along and feel that this is the right house for them.

Halloween was crazy around here since we had a showing. I spent most of the morning straightening up ( I hadn't done so the day before and paid for it) then had to go over the grandma's house to look for something in the boxes that are over at her house that I needed for Dehlia's Fall Party that was that afternoon. I touched every box twice, but still wasn't able to find what I was looking for. I figure I will find it AFTER we move and probably in a box that is still at the house here. Oh well. So I went from grandma's to Dehlia's party and thankfully Derek was able to come home on his lunch break and vacuum for me. I hadn't gotten a chance to get to that before I left. Since the showing was a 3:30, I was still going to be at the party. Derek was able to come home and get the dogs. We met up with his after school and went to the park. The kids are now begging to go back daily. Pretty sure that will be a frequent location to go to when we have showings. Especially since the girls track out on Friday. We got back to the house after the showing and had some dinner, then hung out til trick or treating time. Got the kids ready about 6:20 or so and headed out into the neighborhood. Derek's mom made their costumes again this year. THANKS MOM!!!!! Madison and Dehlia were High School Musical Cheerleaders and Aric was Donald Duck! The kids had a great time. They got a ton of candy. We were all tired by the end of the night.

Going backwards in the time line, Tuesday of this past week,
we also did something dramatic around here. Aric got a big 'ol haircut!!! Here's the back story.....Week before last, we got a note home from his preschool stating that there had been a case of Lice found in his class on Thursday. I didn't really think too much of it. We've got enough going on around here that I really didn't have time to think about it. Well, Tuesday came and I walked Aric in and they were checking heads before letting the kids stay in the classroom. Well, before the day was out, SIX of the kids in his class had it. I picked Aric up early from school that day and call Derek telling him that we needed to cut Aric's hair. Derek was thrilled. Derek had been wanting to shave Aric's hair all summer, but I couldn't let go of the curls. Well, this was a big enough straw to break the camel's back. Tuesday evening after dinner, we told Aric that he was getting a hair cut and asked him if he would like to cut Daddy's and them Daddy could cut his. He said, OK. Well, they would take turns back and forth (check out the Flickr page for more pics and a video) and this is what we ended up with. We only had one episode where Aric rebelled and didn't want to finish, but the half shaven head wasn't getting out of the bathroom. I had to put down the camera and have Derek put him in his lap, and I finished the job. There were tears shed by mommy, but I think missing out on the treat of having head lice in the house makes losing the curls all worth it. It is amazing how fast he grew up on us. He looks more like Derek now too. I am still getting used to seeing him without all of his curls. His hair will grow back. I just couldn't take the chance of him bringing it home and the girls getting it. Not right now with all that is going on around here.

Soccer has ended for Dehlia, only practices left for Madison's team, and Softball is over for me. My how our weeks have opened up. This will be our first week of the newer schedule. We are down to Madison practice on Monday nights, Faith Formation on Tuesday evening and then open the rest of the week. WOW!!! Madison will start Saturday practices back up in a week or so. There is a tournament in the area, so the fields are being used for that. Derek will still have Sunday games into December too. I guess we will have to figure out what to do with all of this free time that we have now. Especially since the girls will be tracked out come Friday.

Hopefully the house hunting trip will go good this weekend and we will come away knowing what we want to do and where we are going to move. Then we can take some time during track out to bring the girls down there and show them our new house.

Will keep you posted..........Til next time....