A sneak Peak

Our original plan was for me and the kids to stay until we sold the house and then we would move to Texas.

I am telling you if I could will God to make our house sell with the amount of prayer over the last five months we would have sold this house five times.

But I know he has a plan and I know it is better than anything I can will through sheer force of power.

I still don't know what that plan is but I know He has a plan. I know that Chris's apartment is up December 13 and has to be out by then. I know that we looked at houses. The first one that seemed right just plain did not work out.

The second one we were fully ready to walk away from when things just didn't seem right. But then the owners came back with the right offer and everything we asked for.

We had already set up a meeting with a property management company that would give us another option to rent or sell our home which ever came first. That meeting went great and after weighing the pros and cons we are very excited about the prospect of renting.

So we have 15 days left and if our house sells then that is great. If not it goes up for rent.

Either way, we have decided to put our family back together in one place where it should be and where we all desperately want it to be.

Hence leading to your sneak peak. As you will see, my excitement might come through just a tad.

I told Chris from the beginning that I am completely comfortable with him buying a house without me. So I have not yet seen it in person.

All our requirements except for one have been met.
Kitchen open to the family room and a bar for the kids to sit at with enough room in our kitchen for our square table.

Backyard that is big enough to add a pool to in the future.
Door leading to the garage from the back of the house for the dogs.
A "three car tandem" garage. In otherwards it is a two car garage but one side goes back so far that you can fit three cars in it! So that means that we have enough room to turn the back into a full time portrait studio!
An actual dining room. At this point it may be awhile before we actually have a dining room table to put in there! Plus across from the dining room is a full study with doors.
An entertainment room upstairs with theatre seating already built in with enough extra room for the kids large play things.
A very open house, this is the entrance with the high ceilings.
Looking in through the front door, you see the stairs on the right, past that is the kitchen on the right and the master bedroom on the left.
And the kitchen...oooohhhh the kitchen. Look! I have a pantry. Stockpiling here I come! And I have stainless steal appliances with a built in microwave and Chris says that it is twice the size of our current kitchen. Plus I have an island now!

Plus for our guests, upstairs there is a guest room with their own full bath. And the kids have a jack and jill bath and each have their own sink area and share a shower in between.

All in all we have four bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths and it is about 3100 sq. feet.

Yes, I am just a little excited.

Trick or Treating

The first year we moved here Ladybug was only 5 months old at Halloween. Everyone told us to prepare for the onslaught of trick or treaters. So I went to Sams and spent $80 on candy. That year alllll the candy was gone.

We did it again the next year but the next couple of years decided to save the money and go other places instead of handing out candy.

So this was our first year again to stay at home. It is the first year we have taken the kids trick or treating in the neighborhood (besides just hitting one or two houses that were close to us) and it was the first year that that the kids handed out candy!
Let me tell you, I think both kids would have had just as much fun only sitting and handing out candy all night! They were both racing to put candy in everyone's bag. Ladybug would tell everyone "have a happy Halloween" as they left. They were so cute!
Here they are getting their glow sticks ready.

Well now that we have walked the neighborhood we understand why, four wheelers and trucks come to our neighborhood pulling trailers with haybales and loads of people on them. We saw at least three elaborate "spooky" houses set up. One we understood was pretty scary so we didn't in that one. But the kids when through the other two. About every other yard had a fire pit set up and there were people everywhere!

We did the loop around the neighborhood which was about a mile and then the kids had had enough.

And plenty of candy and treats! Not sure what I am going to do with all the candy!
And finally we have two tired kids sitting by the fire.

Ghols's At Grassmere

Our almost annual event! Last year is the only year we have not been at Ghol's since Ladybug was two!
Our Princess ready to go.
Batman has to have a flying cape!

Yea! Daddy is home for the weekend and got to go with us!
We met our friends there and here is Batman with his Batgirl.
The "Scary Go Round". Although it was not any different than it usually is.
Batman and the Ninja are dueling it out while the ladies watch.
Then Princess steps in!
Hayride time!
On the hayride we saw the pirate ship.
The monster.
And the headless horseman!
The croft house. We took a tour and learned about death and superstitions.
All four of us together. We don't get many of these.

The haunted house. Here the kids saw them operating on an alien.
And here is one of 20 trick or treat booths set up.

I have to say that we have the planning down on this event. In the past we have not been able to ride the hayride and the carousel because it gets so busy. But we headed there first this year. We got there at 5pm when they opened and were done by 8pm. That was enough time to be out late with the kids and we were all ready to eat. We joined our friends at I-hop before everyone fell asleep in the car on the way home!

School Halloween Party

Friday Ladybug had her Halloween party at school. It was a short one because they only had 30 minutes to fit it into the day. But the kids made monster hands with candy corn, popcorn and chocolate chips.
As you can see Ladybug is eating her monster hand.

And parents brought plenty of treats for the kids to snack on.
And daddy was in town so he got to join in the fun as well. Ladybug was as excited as daddy to get to be there. And Batman got to join in the fun as well.
Ladybug and her table.

Then we snuck Ladybug out of school and went and ate Mexican all together!

Halloween Pictures 2010

When we found out that there would be a Batgirl for our Batman this year, we immediately set up a photo shoot.

Then of course what is more perfect than our Princess with her favorite Ninja.
Although, our Princess is not always a happy princess. But that is the life of a Princess, right.


Our favorite Ninja!

What is a Batman without his Batgirl.
And let me tell you, this Batgirl worked the camera! She stepped in front of that camera and a little model was born.

Precious Precious memories with our friends.

The little things in life...

Like riding a horse make my Ladybug very happy.

The life of a six year old can be very busy. This weekend alone she had two birthday parties, a hayride/bonfire and a Halloween party that she was invited to. We had to pick and choose. Well actually I picked and chose. From the post before you can see we did choose the hayride bonfire with friends.

And we chose one birthday party. It was at A Cowboy Town. Now I have never said that I know everything that you can do with kids in Nashville but I thought I was pretty close. Obviously not, because I had never heard of this place. But in my defense it doesn't seem to be the cheapest place around and I like to stay pretty cheap.

Back to the party.... it was pretty cool. After traveling down a long gravel road with people's houses on it you ended at the Cowboy Town.
They started off with all the kids on the porch and this cowboy entertained them with a guitar and harmonica at the same time.

Then this unruley guy came out to cause problems which lead to a comedy gunfight.
After the gunfight, they promptly told all of these six and seven year old's that the "whiskey" they referred to in the gunfight (and that you can see in two pictures above) was just diet coke and not really whiskey and that they should not drink whiskey. I think Ladybug and most of the kids had no idea what he was talking about. But it was kind of funny.
Then they pulled the hayride around and we went around the Kickapoo Lake.
After the hayride we headed indoors for pizza and juice and cake followed by opening presents and a few pictures in the saddle. This is Ladybug's friend. I think they spend a lot of time together.
Ladybug looking good in a saddle.

Then we headed back out to pan for some gold.
Or rather dig for gold in the little stream here. They had gold colored rocks in there. I actually had to explain to Ladybug tonight after she had them in a spot of reverence by her bed that they were not truly real gold!
Then came the best part. They lined them up for the pony rides. You can see just from the look on her face!
They walked them around the loop two times.

I always feel awkward about siblings coming. Should you bring them, should you not. This is one of those places where they need an exact count. But Ladybug wanted to go and I had no where to take Batman except with me. And I told him he couldn't ride the horses but right before we left, they were super nice and searched him out and asked him if we wanted to sit on one.
You can see by the smile that he did.

All in all....it was a neat place. They offer a bunch of stuff to the public and horseback riding and they even have dinner shows and catered food on Saturday nights (in season). But the roads and parking was horrible. Like ruts and hills to get into a parking space. I think they were going for the rustic look in the buildings but I think they achieved that because they were a little run down. The eye appeal could have been a little better but the kids didn't notice and they all had a good time.