Monday, October 15, 2007

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...

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Sunday, October 07, 2007

What a weekend!

Friday was a crazy day! We had our walk-thru on the house in the morning. We had to take the kids to the sitter's house who just happens to be another foster parent since you can't just have anyone watch foster children (thank you so much, Misty, for helping us out! This was the first time we had used respite care and I plan on returning the favor very soon. She's going to watch them on the 11th when we close on the house too! Anyway, we got there around 9 and made sure the kids settled in ok and then I had to run our monthly paperwork over to the agency really fast. Chatted with our caseworker for about 15 minutes about a couple things concerning Baby D and the upcoming court hearing on the 16th. Then, we ran over to the house for our appt at 10 am with the builder. We pointed out anything that we saw that needed to be fixed or touched up and he explained everything about the house to us. 3 hours later we finally finished up and had to run back to get the kids so that we could get Deidra downtown for the homecoming parade. We ran back to the house, got her into her cheerleading uniform, got the boys something to drink, and drove down the street before we realized that we had no chance at parking any closer to where the parade was going to start. So, we parked the car and walked. The parade was really good and the boys enjoyed themselves. We got annoyed at the people who were standing next to us as they kept getting in our way of trying to take pics and were practically right out in the road. Anyway, they caused us to miss our picture of Deidra in the parade so Andy ran down the road to get her picture. So, we got one for her scrapbook! Her very first parade that she was in! After that, we had to go find their float so we could get her and get back home so that we could head off for the State Fair. It took awhile for them to cycle back in and the boys were getting hot (Baby D doesn't deal with the heat well at all). They drank their milk in like a minute and we were finally able to find Deidra and get her. We walked back to the car and drove home. We got everyone inside and Baby D wound up throwing up all over. He's getting over a bad tummy virus, but I really thought that he just got sick due to the milk being too heavy for his stomach in the heat. I got him cooled down and rehydrated and gave him a bath and he seemed to be doing a lot better. So, we decided to head to Dallas for the State Fair. We got down there and ate some dinner...I shared some chicken tenders, fries, fried cookie dough, and fried latte with Deidra and the boys. Deidra rode a little kiddie coaster and played a game so that she could win a prize (she got a little frog). We walked around and went through the petting zoo (they got to pet a kangaroo, giraffe, cows, sheep, bison, pigs, and others). Baby D was just in awe and loved it. Baby J liked it too but he would start the whole arching his back thing when the animals left. It was neat to see their reactions to the animals though. We headed for home shortly after that.

Saturday was Deidra's homecoming game. We got up and did a few things around the house, I had to set up all the new utility accounts and schedule shut-off on utilities here at the current house, Andy packed a bit while I did all that...then we had some things to make up for the girls to throw at the game, and then it was time to get her ready to go. We got everyone ready and I decided that due to the rain I better drive separately in case there were any game delays as I had to work and I wasn't sure if her game would be done before the time I had to leave for work. Well, the boys and I followed Andy and Deidra to the game and once we pulled into the parking lot we were waiting behind this SUV that had stopped. Well, apparently she decided that she was a little too far up from the parking spot she wanted, threw her car into reverse and totally smacked into Andy and Deidra. She got out and took pics with her digital camera and I just had a funny vibe about things. I had a feeling she was going to try and say that Andy rear-ended her and so I told Andy that he needed to call our insurance company and report it right then and there and so he did. Later that day, the agent called back. The lady tried to put a spin on things. She tried to say that Andy didn't pay attention to her reverse lights and ran into her. I asked Andy if he happened to tell the agent that there was a witness to the whole thing (I was parked right behind Andy) and so he said that he never mentioned that. The agent won't be back in the office until Tuesday though, so I'm going to call him first thing Tuesday morning and let them know what happened. We're looking to sell that car soon anyway, but it really makes me mad when people lie about things so that they can try and get out of paying for things. She even told Andy when she got out of the car that the whole thing was her fault as she didn't even look before she backed up. Anyway, their game went well (they won!) but Baby D was fussy and I spent most of my time under the bleachers with him as it was cooler under there. All he wanted to do was sleep, but he wouldn't let me sit down with him or he'd throw a fit. I figured other people didn't want to listen to that, so I tried to keep him occupied underneath the bleachers. We came home and then I had to go into work. Work was slow and boring and dragged. Finally it was time to come home. Andy had packed up Deida's room while I was at work and then we ate quickly and sat for a little bit talking before heading to bed. Well, I wasn't even asleep for an hour before Deidra woke up throwing up all over her floor. She must have thrown up every hour there for awhile and after awhile it was coming out both ends if you know what I mean. Needless to say, we didn't go to church in the morning. She slept by me since the bathroom is right there by our bed and would get up running for the bathroom.

Sunday morning finally came and she got up and wanted me to get her some Sprite from the store. She looked absolutely terrible and so I ran up to get her some sprite, jello, tylenol flu, and some other things to try and make her feel better. She is absolutely miserable and so tired. My brother came over for a bit and I told him he was entering at his own risk as Deidra's very sick, Baby D still isn't feeling all that well, and Baby J has been a tad fussy too. He stayed for a bit and then when I had to leave for work, he walked back up to the church to wait for my Mom (she was teaching her catechism class). When I came home from lunch, she was retching again and just looked like ghost. I went back to work worrying about her and my supervisor let me come home an hour and a half early so that I could be here for her and baby her. She's got homework to do for tomorrow, but at this point I have no idea of whether I'm going to send her or not. Then again, I don't want her getting a strike for not turning in her work again. So, I guess I'll try and wake her up in a bit to read her books and write her sentences.

Well, we have a lot of packing to do still. Really the only things packed that we have so far is Deidra's room, our closet in our bedroom (all the ebay stuff), and our dishes. We close Thursday morning and then are going to go up and get the moving truck and buy our new refrigerator, blinds, and grass seed. Then, we have to go get Deidra from school, the boys from the sitter's, and then Andy's friend from work is going to come down with his girls and I'm going to watch the kids while they move the bigger stuff. Whatever they don't get moved that night, my brother Jimmie is going to help us with on Friday as we'll have to have the moving truck back on Friday afternoon. So, if you don't hear from me much this week...this is why as it's going to be a very busy week.

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Friday, September 28, 2007

We have carpet in the house!


On September 21, they installed our carpet!

Now, we have our final walk-thru on October 5 and we close on October 11. We haven't started packing yet either...but I'm hoping to change that tonight. We're going to have to do 1 room every couple of days to make it on time.

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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Holy moly!

Taking some time out of the craziness to blog for a minute...

What a crazy busy day this is turning out to be! I've been cleaning like a mad woman! Our quarterly monitoring for foster care is tomorrow night. We all seem to have developed a cold...nice coughs and runny noses.

Ever since I found out that we were closing on October 11, I have had to get my butt into high gear on getting our homeowners insurance. There's people that are affiliated with our builder and the mortgage company that we got a quote from. I was leaning towards going with that one until my Mom said that she pays almost double that for hers and she wanted us to gather a couple other quotes to see what they looked like as she didn't want us to wind up being underinsured. So, I put in a couple other calls. Trying to gather all that information.

Then, I get a call from J's CPS worker wanting to know if she can stop by this afternoon to visit with him. I don't mind really, but it's just one thing to add on to the other things going on. She's nice though and she's busy and she doesn't stay too long. So, I'm not really all that worried about things. I know I can get right back to the things that I need to do.

I also need to run to the grocery store at some point today and once Andy gets home we're going to try to start packing up the garage and getting that all organized so that we can start packing up in here and we have places to put things out there.

So, things feel like total chaos. I'm mad at myself in some ways that I wasn't more organized...maybe things totally didn't feel real or it felt like we still were in the waiting phase of all this. But, although it's total chaos...I'm trying to stay calm and just take it one step at a time. Lists are a good thing...right?

Abba, help us along with staying on task and keeping things running organized and smoothly.

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Monday, September 24, 2007

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!

Abba, please let everything flow smoothly for us!

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Thursday, September 20, 2007

New House Pictures

Starting with September 13 on our blog, there are new pics of the house! There are 3 different days worth of updates...the 13th, 14th, and 19th. :-)

http://hoffmanshouse.blogspot.com/
is our house website if you want to see!

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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

New House Pictures

They have done quite a bit more to our house now. My blog was behind since the beginning of September. To avoid clogging everyone's inboxes with pictures...I'm just going to send you to my blog if you want to see the progress. We have all the cabinets installed now, our fireplace mantle and tilework has been done, we have our front door (it's got to be painted yet though), and they have texturized the walls. The link to my blog is http://hoffmanshouse.blogspot.com if you want to see!

Abba, please bless our house that it will be a safe haven for all who enter it and that we always have the financial means to provide for our house and all who enter it. That we will all be happy, safe and healthy there.

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Wednesday, August 29, 2007

The entry way on 8-28-07



here's a picture of the entry way that we took last night 8-28-07. Yes, we're guilty...we go out there close to every day and if Jess must admit her guilt...sometimes I go out there a couple of times per day. Yeah, we're not excited or anything...

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Drywall 8-25-07

They put all the drywall up on the 25th. :-)

Drywall in the master bathroom...

Drywall in part of the master bedroom...

Drywall in the living room...

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Getting Bricked... 8-23-07



The house getting the bricks put on on the 23rd.

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Thursday, August 23, 2007

I can't wait to see my house!!

We went by last night and saw that the insulation was in and the inspection was passed. I have pictures...just need to post them. Then, I got the call from the builder today saying that half of our brick was up and should be done later today. I can't wait to see it!!

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Sunday, August 05, 2007

We walked through our house for the very first time!

We got to walk through our very own house for the first time on the 3rd of August. If anyone wants to see some of the pics we took, you can view them on my house blog at http://hoffmanshouse.blogspot.com/

We are so excited to get in there now. It's going to be so nice!

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Siding and Thermo-Ply



Here's our house on August 2, 2007. They put the siding up on the back of the house and the top of each side. The front and the bottom of the sides will be brick.

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Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Framed with Windows Hung



Here's the house after the guys went home for the night tonight...the windows are hung and the bathtubs are even installed. :-)

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Completely Framed



Here's the house all framed in. :-)

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2nd floor framing...



This is the picture that we took last night. I can't believe how far they've gotten already and they were still working on it when we got there around 7:30 pm. They were there really early that morning too. Wow...I can't wait to see what it looks like tonight.

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Monday, July 30, 2007

They started framing our house today!



They started framing our house this afternoon after the rain went away. We drove by this evening to see how far they've gotten. Here is our house...they were still working on it as we took the pictures around 7 pm. It'll be interesting to see what it looks like in the morning and later on tomorrow night. Definitely exciting!

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Saturday, July 21, 2007

House Stuff...

We've made it to our first major milestone of getting our foundation poured. If anyone wants to see house pics thus far...you can visit our house blog.

http://hoffmanshouse.blogspot.com/

The framing will happen on the 30th and then it's only 45 working days after that point and our house will be done. Wow!

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Tuesday, May 29, 2007





Here's the pictures of our house lot where our new house is being built! Thank you, Abba, for our many blessings! We are so excited!

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Our Sold Sign on Our Lot




Here is our "Sold" sign on our lot that we got to place after signing the contract!

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