backyard visitor

While we were eating dinner tonight, we had a visitor on our dirt mound in our backyard. Our mound gave him easy access to some trees for dinner.

Move in Day!

The first truck was here bright and early this morning. Before 8 am!

We had 2 1/2 trucks worth of stuff. When they moved us out, they loaded everything freely onto the truck. But then when they stored it all for us for the last 2 months, they loaded it all into 'crates', for a lack of a better word. Wooden crates. There were maybe 5 crates in one of these semi's, so we had 10+ crates full of stuff.

Overall the day went well. We were unpacking and directing them where to put stuff. There were definitely some scratches on the walls and areas that will require touching up, but that can be expected I suppose. Only superficial wounds that can be touched up with paint.

1256 Goldfinch Way

Talk about the most stressful week of our lives!

 

Sort of a long story, but here it goes...

Let's start with last Thursday evening, Ed and the kids drove by the house and these forms above were in to have the concrete poured. Then fast forward to Friday afternoon, I get a call from our lender's assistant (Kaelie) saying "I have been in contact with Bielinski for the past several days making sure progress is coming on the house and that we are still on for closing on the 27th" And they proceeded to tell her that they planned to pour the concrete on Wednesday the 26th...red flag! And Kaelie proceeded to tell me that there is no way they can pour concrete Wednesday day and we can get the appraiser over there and close on Thursday. That being said, we spent the rest of our trip to Moline on the phone with our construction manager, Sue, and every other person at Bielinski we knew trying to figure all of this out.

 

There were many factors in this situation, the biggest one being weather. Another one being the incompetent construction manager I had to deal with. He hadn't even known that the forms were in on Thursday, which is why we were so confused as to why it wouldn't be poured for many more days. Not to mention, he knew we were scheduled to close the following Thursday and that the cost of the concrete was included in the house price, therefore we couldn't have a final appraisal done without it. Blah blah blah.

 

So the long and short of the story, we spent many many hours the entire week on the phone and emailing back and forth while both Ed and I were working trying to figure out a way to close on Thursday because we had our stuff scheduled to be delivered on Friday the 28th and of course that weather factor was rain most of the days this week. So what ended up happening was our lender went to the top of his company to get approval to have money put into escrow to cover the driveway in order to remove it from our house price so we could have the final appraisal done in order to close. It was days of going back and forth between attorneys at Bielinski and Providence Home Lending in order to get this done. Needless to say, we got the final number of how much money we had to bring to closing at 3pm and we closed at 4pm. That is how last minute all of this was.

 

But...we closed! And we are so thankful for our lender, his assistant and our realtor (our very own Susan Smith) Because without them this never would have happened.

 

That being said, we will spend all night moving stuff out of Nana and Papa's house and be awaiting the Barrett Moving truck in the morning with all of the rest of our stuff.

Ben's Wedding Weekend...

We had quite the fun weekend in the Quad Cities for Ben and Kristen's wedding. We arrived just in time to check in and change for the rehearsal dinner. Then it was off to bed as it was a long day of heat and driving.

 

Saturday we were up for breakfast and some swimming. Then a quick lunch before sweating our tails off for the wedding outdoors. Luckily the kids were troopers (using our shadows for shade) and the ceremony was short and sweet. Then we attempted to get Eddie a nap while we hung out in our rooms before the cocktail hour and dinner started. The kids were thrilled to play with their cousins and friends at the reception.

Before dinner we were able to snag a picture of the Ed's together again. Never fails, the one picture I got of all of them smiling, Eddie had his eyes closed. So Great Papa isn't really smiling in this one, but it's the best we could do.

A few more family photos to last a lifetime.

Can't believe we got this one of all of us and we got everyone smiling and looking at the same time. Not an easy task!

Eddie was crabby and ready for bed but got a second wind just after Ed and Rowan headed to bed. He was a dancing machine (with his pacifier only of course). Rowan actually asked to go to bed, that is how tired she was from the day.

The day was great overall, glad the weather was nice for them, but man it was toasty. Sunday morning we had a quick breakfast with Uncle Dusty and Aunt Julie and then we were all headed home. These weekends are always fun but so exhausting.

The new house...

...is almost done and almost ours!

lawn boys and popples

You get the picture!

 

Oconomowoc City Beach

Today was quite the warm one, so we headed to the beach to play in the sand and swim! Kids loved it. When we were done we even had a SpongeBob ice cream bar. This is definitely a place we would like to revisit!

slippers and leotards

Rowan was a whole new dancer in class this week. Complete with a pink leotard with sparkly tulle and black ballet slippers. She picked them all out herself! She was so excited to see that Dad made it before the end of class. Another day of fun for our princess dancer.

FAther's Day 2013

Nana found us a cute little project to make for our dad's/papa/grandpa's this year. Just a little modge podge, fabric, magazines and rocks and you are all set. It might have even been a little fun for Nana and I too. Perhaps it was my type A personality that took over the perfectionism of the rock in the end. But Rowan enjoyed it too. Eddie enjoyed his nap while we worked on the project.

firepit fun

Tonight we got to burn some brush and make whoopee pies! I didn't manage to get a picture of the one that turned out good, but it took some time for us to get the process down. You can see the one we burnt first! Nana and Papa have the perfect tools for marshmallows and whoopee pies! Kids loved it. You can see fire marshall Ed got into it a bit too.

the story of our lives

nothing like coats and scuba masks in june! our days consist of parks and chaos. love it to pieces.

 

goldfinch updates

We were able to snoop around at the house today and see what is left to be done while we were meeting with the wood floor people to choose the stain color. I hate to say this out loud, but Ed for a change was right on the stain. We decided to just clear coat the wood floors in order to bring out the color variation the most. I think it will look awesome. So excited to see such progress. We are supposed to be closing in a couple of weeks, keeping our fingers crossed.

at the pool

Okay, well not really the pool most would think of, but today it worked just fine. Eddie had more fun watering the plants and the ceramic frog in Nana's landscape than anything. Just the beginning of summer, our pool experiences will get better!

Pee Wee Princess Dance Class

Not sure Dance class is the correct label for this chaos, but they sure try. Lots of girls between the ages of 3 and 5 for the most part running around sort of following directions (Rowan aka teachers pet did everything she was told). If anything it was exercise of some nature for 30 minutes. Parents aren't allowed in the dance studio and the girls can't wear street shoes in the studio, so I guess we will be shopping for a leotard and ballet slippers in the next week (Dad says!). I love it when I don't have to talk him into letting me buy things, doesn't happen often, but this isn't something I thought would be his idea. Love it! Anything for his little princess!

 

In the end, Rowan had lots of fun and was an awesome listener and met some new friends.

LyNdOn StAtIoN

The kids and I went to visit Grandma and Grandpa in the dells this weekend since Dad is gone on his annual birthday/gold trip to Michigan. We had some of our own fun without him! We got to have lobster (well really just the adults since the kids weren't interested), go shopping, play at the park, play outside, etc, etc!

 

We also got to go and visit Great Grandma Elaine at the rehabilitation home she is at currently. She looked pretty good. But definitely not herself quite yet. Sleeping situation was the best we have had there yet! Grandma bought a new tall queen air mattress, so Rowan had a bed all to herself. I tried to get Eddie to sleep with her too, but that didn't last. But either way, more room than I am used to having!

 

Best buds

Rowan and Maison haven't played much in the last couple of years, but you would never guess it. They play pretty well together and act like they haven't missed a beat. One reason Rowan loves living with Nana and Papa!