A Crazy Christmas

Well, it is 12:45 in the morning. I guess it is the day after Christmas now. We moved on Saturday into our house. Woo hoo. Carl's family of 25 is coming here for a little Christmas vacation. Carl's parents came into town yesterday to help us prepare for their arrival. We have been going non-stop since about 8 this morning cleaning and working on projects. 12 more people come tomorrow, and 5 more come on Saturday. I think we are prepared now...as much as one can be for 25 people. This has been the quickest move-in in the history of man. I can promise you that.

SANTA CLAUSE!

Santa Clause showed up at my work today.... CJ was thrilled, especially with the beard. Emma Jane was not. She did manage to give him several high fives though. Moving day is tomorrow!!!

Australia

Well, my mom and I went and saw this movie last weekend, and we really liked it. It reminded me a lot of the movie "The Man from Snowy River"--which I also really liked. Does anyone remember that movie? That was one of the classics in our family. That and 7 Brides for 7 Brothers. Anyway, it has beautiful horses in this movie and is just a great love story. You should check it out.

Also, we are one week away from moving into our house! Isn't that awesome and crazy at the same time? I have been sick and haven't started packing. Fun Fun. It is going to be one of those crazy weeks.

Pics from Nana and Papa's

CJ in Bath

Emma Jane going down slide.

Emma Jane, CJ, and Nana

CJ sitting up. Doesn't he look like a big boy! He has two teeth now!

Well, just when you thought the worse was over...

Well, to say the least, I have been on my wits' end with all of this house stuff. Carl has been working on the house so much, that we haven't seen each other very much. And, with taking care of the kids 24/7 making a pointless, disappointing trip to Tennessee, 3 8-hour trips to Ikea with kids and them not having what they said they had, the never-ending big bills from remodeling the house, on Wednesday, I finally broke. What did it take? One 1 hour and forty-five minute phone call with Ikea customer service about a missing cabinet that we ordered on October 24th that they promised they would ship for free as soon as it got back in stock and had not. During this conversation, it would take me 25-minutes to get to someone who could actually connect me, and I would get "disconnected" every time I reached someone who knew what they were talking to. After the last time, I kicked the wall. Not very hard...or so I thought...

Oops! That is when I decided to go down to Dothan to see my mom. Luckily I have a Mr. Fix-It for a husband, right? :)

So, I hung out with my mom and dad this weekend to get away from the house and actually see somebody during the day. It was so nice. Here are a few pics from the trip.

Miss Messy #1

Miss Messy #2. Do you ever feel like your kids need a bath after every meal?

These are before we left to go get Christmas pictures taken. They didn't want to smile then, but they smiled a ton when we got to the place. So, that's all that matters right?

Oh, and the last night I was there I backed into someone's car pulling out of the driveway. Here I had come to get away from all of the problems! Good times. Good times. Isn't life funny?

And, check the house blog b/c I just posted pictures of our somewhat finished bathrooms.

The Worse So Far

Okay, so I have had many bad experiences in working on this house. That is to say the least. It has been pretty much a constant state of bad experiences. Well, today was the icing on the cake. I went to buy doors at a local discount home improvement store, and they were out. They were not going to get more for a very long time. Since they were the cheapest by far, I wanted to try another store. Their other store is in Chattanooga, TN--2 and a half hours away. Well, I was feeling ambitious after the kids woke up from their naps, so I went to go get 11 doors by myself with a 20 month old and an 8 month old. Before I left I made sure I had enough time to get there. I asked the person on the phone what time they closed--7 pm. What time zone-- Central? Not Eastern? No, Central. Well, I got there at 6:15, and they were closed. Apparently, It was Eastern time zone. I am going to have some words with their manager tomorrow. It is now 9:45 pm. I just got home, and I still have to give the kids baths and put them to bed. After screaming when I got there, I had a good chuckle on the way home. Good times. :)