Trip Out To Plaza Fiesta

Ok I know it's been a while since I updated but I really didn't have too much to write so here I am trying to play catch up ... I am sure I will forget a lot now but let's see how it goes.

So Jade is on Winter Break for two weeks, oh my gosh what am I going to do to keep us busy ... I usually have a plan but I have to admit this past year has been a very disorganized one for me and I have found myself many times without any sort of plan which in my book is not something good but anyway.

Ok so let me start at the 19th ... Dave got off work early so we all went out to the house, nothing much new to see which is why you haven't heard any more updates. The house is pretty much finished, they are doing all the final touch ups and all the inspections are being done so really ... no pics, no updates, he next you hear of the house we will be moving in, can you believe that ? We have our big pre closing walk through with the builder on the 14th, that will take a couple of hours so I am glad Jade will be back in school :-) Then the 23rd we close, which means that is the day we sign all the papers and we get the keys, yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee !!! We have the apartment till mid February so we will go slow, Dave will get the Pack Rat delivered so we can start unpacking that and in the meantime I will pack up the apartment and move stuff across but we probably won't be in till almost mid February I think or maybe the weekend of the 7th which is my plan :-)

In the meantime, I am busy shopping around, we need two large rugs, one for under our kitchen table and one for the family room, now I can't really buy these until I have found the new sofa and know the color, so I am shopping for the new sofa too, neither of these we need before we move in but I am hunting around anyway, while I have the time and am off work. In time I want to replace our kitchen table too, we will move the current table into our media room. Jades room is the only one I really want sorted out before we move in, it will be a Tinkerbell and all her fairies room ... she is getting a new bedroom set, that will be delivered after closing, she already has her bedding which she got for Christmas so she is excited to see her new room :-) and well I am excited to put it together.

I know it sounds like a lot of new stuff but I have been saving for a while knowing that Mr Scrooge wouldn't really want to get anything new soon after moving into the new house and I knew he doesn't mind what I get if I pay for it ... and well I just really want to make the house comfy and pretty so I am looking forward to all the new stuff. There will be tons to buy but after these items I mentioned, I will go slow and buy as I see stuff and as my jewelry shows pay off :-) All very exciting. So hold thumbs that all goes off well and we close on the 23rd.

Then the 20th it was my best friend Tina's little boys 6th birthday, this is Louis, the little guy that went on vacation with us. It was a morning birthday with a Mad Scientist Theme which was fun for the kids, we stayed there most of the day. Then that night, Dave got horribly ill with a tummy bug, oh my gosh, that is all I needed now, for either Jade or I to get it, it has been going around a long time we had been lucky to date not to have had it in our house and oh boy, then Dave gets it. Well I have never Clorexed so much in my life or washed my hands that many times, Jade and I were both keeping our distance big time and thank God it paid off, neither of us got it.

The Sunday, that's the 21st, I knew Jade and I had to get out of the apartment and spend as little time around Dave as possible, so we got done as early as we could, Clorexed everything down, sprayed Lysol as much as I could and as cold as it was ... which wasn't too bad thank Heavens, I opened up all the windows and doors and aired out the place and then made sure Dave was ok and off Jade and I went for the day. I am sure Dave was happy to get the rest so everything worked out well, we were back around dinner time.

Jade and I went off to a new mall our in South Carolina, called Plaza Fiesta, it has a Mexican Theme and well there were so many of the local Mexicans there that I actually felt like I was in Mexico, not that I really know how that feels but you know what I mean. I had heard this was a fun place for kids so thought I would take a chance and go out there, I had worried that it would be over crowded since it was the last weekend to shop before Christmas but it wasn't bad at all, it got busier through the day but wasn't bad at all. Anyway they have this huge climbing thing for the kids, it is the biggest one that Jade has been in for sure, she loved it in there, I sat on the side lines reading email and playing on my phone as well as people watching which you know I love :-)



After she was done, she and I had lunch, no McDonalds or Burger King there, nothing I recognized actually, all authentic food, obviously lots of Mexican, then Chinese, Greek and so much more, I was so overwhelmed and Jade was hungry so I didn't have time to really look around so don't laugh but she and I just landed up with hotdogs and fries (hehehe) !!!

When we were done with lunch it was onto another surprise for her, this mall had an outside rink for ice skating, it was covered over which I didn't know but that was ok, it kept it slightly warmer :-) She had an absolute ball, I had been wanting Dave to take her for a while now but he really wasn't interested and well I knew I couldn't go out on the ice now so I got a good idea, I took her bicycle helmet with me, thank God she isn't old enough to feel self conscious of that but it put my mind at peace and she went out there by herself. I told her she couldn't let go of the sides until she had got round a couple of times and found her footing, I know this child too well, she is overly confident and I didn't want to break that with her falling right off the bat. Anyway for a while she went around the sides holding on, getting faster and faster, having fewer and fewer falls, then one of the teenage guys that was working there took her hand and took her across the center of the ice and that was it, all she needed, and she was off on her own, it was too cute. Yeah, yeah she fell a good deal but she did pretty well. She skated for about 90 mins before we left, it was getting late, she would have skated longer had I given her more time.

I took quite a bit of video but really just have not had the time to upload any of them so ... here are two pics in the meantime, I will load the videos when I can.





Thank Heavens by Monday Dave was a lot better and he went off to work. Jade and I still hoped we wouldn't get the bug and thank Heavens our wishes were answered !!!

Happy Birthday Baby Jade ... No Big Girl Jade ... wow 6 years old !!!!

Well Friday morning started bright and early, normally it would be a big rush to get Jade out the door and on the school bus about 6h40 but because it was her birthday we got up a little earlier and also decided Dave would take her to school that day to give us more time to open gifts and chat with one or two family members that wanted to get their birthday wishes in quickly before she started her day.

She loved everything she got, thank you so much to everyone that sent gifts, she felt totally spoilt.

Then at lunch time Dave bought himself and Jade lunch and took it to the school so he could join her and her class in the canteen during their normal lunch time, this is something that parents do on their kids birthdays to make them feel special. I could tell Dave really didn't want to do this but unfortunately I had to work and couldn't make it and I didn't want Jade to have to miss out but I think once he got there and saw other parents had joined their kids for lunch as well, he enjoyed it a little more. Also I think Jade really was tickled pink to have him there and he saw how much it meant to her so won't put up such a fight new time ... but hopefully next time I can do it, I hated to miss out this time around :-(

Later that afternoon after school I invited a few of Jades oldest friends to join us at Monkey Joes for pizza and an afternoon of jumping fun, I think she was a little sad before the party that she wasn't going to have her usual big party but I think she had so much fun, she forgot about that quickly. She also got some beautiful gifts from them as well, so she felt totally spoilt. Dave joined us later which was nice but it wasn't too long after he arrived that most people left.

We then came home and had cake and spent the evening taking all the gifts out of their boxes and playing with them, actually the entire weekend was taken up with that :-) She loved everything she got, most of all though the Nintendo DS that Dave bought her, he is turning her into a total computer geek and she loves it !!!

Again thank you to everyone that either sent gifts, cards, emailed or called to make Jades birthday even more special, you are all appreciated so very much.





Then Saturday was a really yucky day for me, I felt terrible so took it easy most of the day while the 'kids' played with all the new toys, then late afternoon we took Jade to her surprise outing ... Build a Bear !!! I guess we didn't take into account how busy the mall would be, gosh but anyway it turned out well, she had a total ball but golly Dave said, this is her first and last time there, it totally broke the bank, can you believe an outfit was $14.50, I can buy an outfit for Jade for that price, thankfully my New York friend Kathy had sent her a gift card for Build a Bear so that helped contribute towards the most expensive soft toy this child will probably ever own !!!

Here are some pictures of her at Build a Bear ...







This is the final product, yep no bear ... but a bunny, it's actually very very cute :-)



Then Saturday night after the mall we drove through to McAddenville which is Christmas Town USA for our usual trip out to see the town lit up for Christmas. Jade gets a kick out shouting 'Merry Christmas' out the window at everyone and seeing how many respond back with a greeting ... she was sad that there were many Grinch's out there this year but we had fun anyway.

Sunday we stayed home, we probably should have gone to the house to see if they redid the fireplace yet but I got so stuck into cleaning up and catching up on laundry that before I knew it most of the day had flown by and I had to work Sunday night so I quickly got done and off I went. That was pretty much our weekend.

This week is Jades last week of school before Winter break and they have a fun week planned at school, apparently they will move between 4 classrooms this week, each room will show how that specific country celebrates Christmas, the rooms will be Mexico, Israel, Italy and of course the USA. I am kind of surprised and wonder what they will teach since the public schools don't get into religion as such ... but I am sure I will hear about it.

They will also hear more about the Polar Express this week, Jade loves that movie, Friday their last day will be Polar Express Day, so they will go to school in their PJ's which Jade will love, apparently they will have cocoa and doughnuts during the day too, that will be a cool treat for them :-)

Wednesday is my second trimester genetic testing and all I can ask for is lots of prayers that all the tests will go well, I am not sure if I will get the results before Christmas, it's going to be a long wait which I am not looking forward to, if I can get through December I think I will be really happy and perhaps even start to get a little excited that this might be a sure thing, I will be almost half way then.

Wednesday night is my last night of work for the year too, I think I am going to enjoy the break :-)

Anyway that's me for now, take care and have a good week.

Tracy-lee

House Update - 8th December ... Almost Done !!!

We didn't go look at the house last weekend because it was so cold and wet so yesterday we went out to see what was new and my golly the house is almost done, I can hardly believe it !!! Our closing was due to be the 23rd of December, crazy right ? So we pushed it out till the 23rd of January but I guess the builders still wanted to be totally done before Christmas !!!

As you can see below our landscaping is done, gosh I cannot believe that, Dave is a little concerned that that should have waited till when we were about to move in because he isn't sure someone will maintain it in the meantime, I would think they have to but we have to ask the builder about that. Anyway it looks well done thank Heavens, we are happy with the way it looks, one of our outside taps is in an odd place but there is little we can do about that now. The back gets seeded and that has been done, gosh we will have to see how that goes !!!



I took lots of pics but didn't want to bore you all more than I already do with all these updates but, here at least you can see my kitchen is done but more importantly the hardwoods are down and I totally love them !!! You have to remember that we make a choice on the hardwoods looking at a tiny sample and never really saw it in a house before choosing it so I am thrilled to bits at how great it looks, now I just have to figure out how to maintain it. They are still dusty, I am sure you can see that, they painted this past week, not sure if you can see the color well, just very plain but for now that's ok :-)

All the carpets are in too and I am very happy with those as well, hopefully they wear well. All tiles are in too, but I think I told you that last time.



The two most important rooms in my house, above the kitchen and below my bathroom, it's oddly shaped so I couldn't get in there to take a picture of the entire room but it's pretty cool. The shower is now done, you can't see that much in this picture, all the hardware is in and as you can see they were testing our electric which was cool coz the heat was on in the house too, the house is usually freezing when we go into it.



Anyway so yeah, the house is almost done, apparently just a bunch of touch ups now and a whole bunch of inspections and then it will be done, I can't believe it. The only thing we have questioned is our fireplace which Dave has had an issue about for a while, I spoke to the new builder on Friday ... the old one which I loved dealing with was layed off :-( this economy really sucks !!! Anyway he has agreed to do a part of it over which should make Dave a lot happier. I didn't notice the fireplace too much, guess I was too excited about my kitchen but now that he has pointed out his concerns, I am glad we are getting it sorted out because really, the fireplace is a focal part when you enter the house.

So I told you we bought our new fridge right, on Black Friday, now I just need to go get two big rugs, one for the family room and the other for the breakfast nook, that I really need to do before we move in. Then I am getting Jade a new bedroom set, I am excited about that, I bought her her Tinkerbell bedding for Christmas she is going to love that !!! And then it's just a sofa and love seat for the lounge but I am not rushing into that, we can watch Tv upstairs in the media room till I find one I totally love, I am going to go slow and be happy :-)

I am getting so excited now, not too long till we move out of this tiny apartment.

It's Jades birthday on Friday and this year we aren't doing a big party like we normally do, this year we have just invited a few of her closest friends and we will go hang out at Monkey Joes after school for a few hours, I will buy pizza and ice cream for all the kids which will make Jade happy too. Then Saturday we are taking her to Build a Bear for the first time, we thought we would do something special with her since we weren't doing a party, or a big party anyway, that evening we will go to McAddenville to see the Christmas lights, we will make a day out of it for her and hope she has fun, I am sure she will, she does not know about the Saturday plan yet, we will let her in on that little secret on Saturday !!!

That's me for now, I go for my next obgyn check today, please hope and pray all goes well, my God all I hope for at this point is a heartbeat, it's been so long since my last scan, I am a little freaked out. I keep saying that as long as I feel as yucky as I do, everything must be ok but after my history, I can't help but worry some, so please keep this little peanut in your prayers, thanks :-)

Jades Gymnastics Medal Test

This past Thursday was our parents observation day at gymnastics, this is where the parents get to watch their kids do gymnastics for an hour, not that we can't watch other times but this is from up close, we get seated in the gym itself so that's nice. That being said, I often watch Jades class from afar and I have to admit the kids, not just mine but all the kids do so much better when the parents are not sitting there watching. I guess it's a show off moment for the kids but still, Jade usually does terribly on these observation days which somewhat upsets me because it is the only day that Dave gets to see what she has learnt over the months and really what he sees is not a true reflection of it all but anyway ... half yearly the kids do this and earn a medal so it's exciting for them.

What you will see video of is Jade playing in the cheese pit on the high bars, I took pictures of her on the low bars but they didn't come out well :-( Then there is video of her doing round offs and back flips ... the latter still being assisted of course but she is close to doing it on her own :-) And then last but not least, there was a fun part at the end, the parents got to participate with the kids on the trampolines, this was so cool to watch, thank God Jade had two parents there and Dave did all the hard work even though I had a excuse not to participate (hehehe) it was fun to see him doing his thing ... I was impressed, not as much as Jade though :-)

Anyway here are two pics in the meantime, one of Jade with her medal and then one of her with her class and coach ... more to follow :-)








Here she is playing on the high bar.

This is practising round offs.

This is her practising her back flips ...

Here more back flips, she is very close to doing it unassisted ... give me strength.

Last but not least ... this is the best of all ... what a pro, Jade must take after her dad (hehehe). Well the no fear thing is definitely a Dave thing !!!

That's all folks :-) Thanks for being so patient while it took forever to load these.

House Update - November 22nd ... and some :-)

Well after two weeks of not being out to the house, we went out to see the progress this past weekend, it's difficult in the pictures to see much that is different from the last update but I will let you in on some things that have been done.



On the outside, not too much other than the lights have been done and the doors have been finished off. Everything has just been cleaned up some so it's starting to look better :-)



Well we finally have our mailbox, it will be the end of January before we will start getting mail there, that being said, I am sure the junk mail will get started soon since the box is there and all ... We actually got our closing date this past week and it was for the 23rd of December, can you believe that, anyway we weren't going to rush and attempt to be in the house before Christmas so we have pushed it out till the 23rd of January, we will have the apartment a further two weeks so will have lots of time to do things at our own pace which these days is slow ... more on that later :-)



Here you can see the deck is done, my gosh has Dave got a job and a half to stain all that, it's a huge deck but I think they did a great job and we are very happy with it :-)



My kitchen is coming together too, they did the tile backsplash which I think came out well, we plan on changing out the switch plates for stainless steel ones to pretty it up more once we move into the house. My appliances are all in too, so far so good, now we just need a fridge which Dave and I are now shopping for, I think we have found a good Black Friday deal, let's hold thumbs we can get it :-) For those that don't know, all houses come with all appliances except the fridge which is why we are shopping for that and it wasn't in the pictures. All taps throughout the house are in too.



All floor tiling in the laundry, mud room and all bathrooms are done, also the shower and bath tiling was done too, so far so good on that note too. Thank Heavens all our choices seem to flow well, when you make these choices at the design center you never know for sure but again thank Heavens so far, I am happy with everything we chose.

That's pretty much it on the house side of things ...

Then a few week back I told you about Jades school report, her very first 'big' school report well, I didn't think back then that I could just scan it and put it on here so here you go :-) Let's hope all through her schooling that I will be proud enough to want to publish her reports here :-)

Just an update, she is coming along well with her reading skills and totally loves it, she is excited to read us the different books she brings home every day, it's so cute to see. My gran would have been so proud of her with how excited and motivated she is when it comes to reading.

As for the writing she is equally excited to write and thoroughly enjoys writing little notes to me every afternoon, I want to say most of it I can read but we are getting there, the way they teach them to write her isn't the way I would teach her if I had the patience but then I don't want to mess with their techniques either, as long as at the end of the day she can read and write, I am happy. I am just happy right now that she loves school as much as she does :-)





Then the big news for most of you that don't know, is that finally in my old age, I am once again pregnant ... many of you have been my support structure the past 3 years that Dave and I have been trying to give Jade a baby brother or sister so many of you know all the losses we have experienced during our battle. It has truly been an emotional roller coaster ride but we are hoping and praying that this is the one.

I am currently 13 weeks pregnant, I recently went through a bunch of genetic testing and thank God the results were all good. I have to endure further genetic testing now in December so please, we would appreciate all your prayers in the hope that they all go well. Hopefully by the end of December we can all relax just a little knowing that this little peanut is growing the way he / she should be. At this point, my due date is May 29th 2009.

That seems so far off when you are feeling as sick as I am right now, I realize that being sick is a very good sign but ok ... I read the sign, now can I feel better ? Like with Jade I am experiencing all day sickness, thankfully recently the doctor gave me some nausea tablets which hopefully or eventually will help, they have taken the edge off I think ... but that's about it.

We told Jade a week ago, we didn't really want to break the news to her only to disappoint her again later but from all the doctors reports, they seem confident that things are going well so we wanted to let Jade in on our little secret, in doing so at least now she knows why mommy is not feeling so well all the time. I can tell you that if anyone gives me the TLC that I need it's her, she is too cute in taking her of me and if she is half as good a big sister as she is in playing nurse to me, we are in for a treat.



Anyway for 13 weeks, this scan is pretty clear right ? The scans I get at the genetic testing are way clearer than the ones I get at my obgyn's office ... so I am excited for the next scan with them which will be the 29th of December. I have a scan at my obgyns office on the 8th of December but it won't be as clear as the one on the 29th, I will try and publish that scan too ... in the meantime, please just keep us in your prayers that this pregnancy continues on as it should.

Jade is only in school two days this week, she has off on Wednesday for Thanksgiving break. We are excited that we will be going to our friends Ria and Andries for a good old Thanksgiving this year, if it is like it was, I think two years ago, there were a few other SA'n families there too and it was just a wonderful afternoon. Friday is Black Friday here, the biggest sale day of the year, Daves favorite day of the year too, it's like Christmas for him. Anyway there are a few things we need for the house so hopefully we can get some good deals that day, we are holding thumbs !!!

That's pretty much it ... I know I went to the Christmas Show yesterday but because I didn't take pictures I really didn't say much about it, but as usual I had a wonderful afternoon, it blows my mind every year !!!

So last but not least, to all my American friends, Happy Thanksgiving !!!

Our Road Trip To Savannah

Ok before you read on ... I cannot get the spell check to work and I don't have to time to reread all this so I appoligize up front for all the errors !!!

This past weekend, thanks to my best girlfriend Tina, Dave and I were able to sneak away for a weekend alone to celebrate our latest wedding anniversary which was last week. Jade always has a ball at Tina's house so I never have to worry about her there which is such peace of mind when you are travelling 4 hours away for a vacation.

Anyway we got a late start Friday even though I got Jade out of school a little early, it was a slow drive down to Savannah, Georgia because almost the entire trip it poured cats and dogs but thankfully eventually we arrived there safely.

We stayed at the Country Inn in the heart of historical Savannah, what a great hotel, I knew it would be nice but I didn't realize how nice it would be considing the hotel was only opened 6 months ago, to say the least Dave and I were totally impressed with our stay there :-) I don't think I have ever stayed that comfortably at a hotel before, they had the best bed ever !!! Dave was impressed with the massaging shower heads and the nice big flat screen Tv and well we both enjoyed the hot buffet breakfast every morning.

Anyway after arriving there eary evening Friday, we got settled and then took a walk down to River Street which is the Savannah waterfront. What was really nice is it was amazing how warm it was, we could have worn t-shirts had I packed them but who would have thought it would have been warm there ? But really it was only for the Friday night. Dave and I had such a nice evening down there, walking through all the shops, watching all the big container ships come into port and listening to all the trumpet playing musicians that lined the streets :-) Eventually we started back up to the hotel but stopped half way when we found a live band playing outside a group of restuarants, we sat there a while and then called it a night :-)

Here is a view of the port and the beautiful bridge we come over to enter Savannah. You can see the river boats on the left there too, we wanted to take a trip on them on Sunday but it was so cold we passed on that for next time.



Here are the boats up close, one is just a tour ship and the other you can go out for lunch or dinner on it, I love these boats.



This was just a sailship that was parked at the waterfront, you could tour it if you liked, not sure why we didn't ... but it was pretty neat.



Just another view of the waterfront, there was one of the more modern hotels, not very historical like at all, you can see all the fancy boats out front too.



Here are all the shops along the waterfront, you can see that they all look very historical like, actually at a glance it looks like a run down dump but it actually is very pretty when you are walking in and out all the stores, all very well done if you ask me, I totally loved it there. There were also lots of restuarants and pubs along the waters edge too, expensive places but nice if you just want to either sit in one of the sports bars and watch a game or so or if you wanted to just sit back and enjoy some jazz in one of the other pubs, all really cute.





Ok this one I had to paste for my mom, this candy store would have blown her mind, it was awesome, we were in it late one evening but you could see if you were there during the day you could see all the candy being made, everything from ice cream to truffles and rock candy, we didn't buy a thing, can you believe that ? There are two of these kind of candy stores along the rivers edge.





Saturday we took the hop on hop off trolley tour which was a great idea, we first took the 90 minute tour in full which gave us an idea of what there was to see, then on the second loop we hopped off where there was stuff to see and then we would wait for the trolley to come by again and we would hop on until there was something else we wanted to see where we would hop off again, this was pretty cool, especially when late afternoon it started to storm so instead of getting sopping wet without an umbrella we just hopped back onto the trolley and did another loop in the dry comfort of the tolley.



One of our first stops was at the Cathedral of John The Baptist, wow what an amazing church, I can only imagine what it must be like to get married in a church like that, it was beautiful. Dave and I saw many churches when we travelled Spain and Portugal years back but this was was truly beautiful :-)







Throughout the historical Savannah you will see 21 squares, you know like we have circles or round abouts, they have squares, only the square isn't just this little square you go around, each one is a park with beautiful trees and plants and benches to sit on, they are amazing. They are so pretty that we even saw a wedding happening in one of them. Here are two pictures of just two of the squares, they are a lot bigger than my picture shows, but very well done.





What was also pretty is many of the trees are covered in this stuff called Spanish Moss, I have no idea what it is other than some air plant but it's everywhere, it's so very pretty but apparently that moss is full of crazy bugs so whenever people talk about it, they convince you not to mess with it or the bugs will itch you like mad ... so I wasn't going near it that was for sure but from a distance, it was beautiful.



I took many pictures of houses, but like Charleston it would probably just bore you to death but I wanted to quickly show you two pics, one of a pretty average house in the historical district and then the other which is the smallest house in Savannah, if I remember correctly it was only 500 square feet in size can you believe that and it is lived in ... also it just sold for a whopping $200 and something thousand dollars, come on it must be some rich guys play house for his kids or something, who would want to live there !!!





Last but not least, on the way out of Savannah we popped by the beach, it would have been nice to take a walk but it was so very cold we passed on that for next time too, here is a picture of the pier and the beach in the opposite direction. Savannah isn't really a place to take kids but we might one day, we could spend the day at the beach and do stuff walking around at night ... I don't know it was perfect for Dave and I though, it was one of the nicest weekends away we have had over here :-)





Thanks Dave for a great weekend and Tina to you and Lewis especially we obviously could not have enjoyed it as much as we did without your help, you are the best !!!

Happy Anniversary

Just wanted to drop a note to say thank you to everyone that called, sms'd us, emailed and even sent cards to wish Dave and I for our 13th wedding anniversary. 13 years might seem a good while but him and I have been together well over 20 years now, can you believe that, we are definitely like an old married couple :-) I cannot remember life before him, especially since we have been friends since I was 13ish, golly that's a long time, he must love me right, I mean he has stuck around this long (hehehe).

Since Jade was off school because of Veterans Day we all went out for a nice lunch which was a good treat, now we have the weekend to look forward to, I am not sure who is more excited, us to have a romantic childless weekend away or Jade to go spend the weekend with Ms Tina and her best friend Louis ... and his brother Tyler of course and sister Layla :-)

Anyway just wanted to say thanks, it meant a lot !!! Oh I wanted to especially mention my maid of honor Jackie Fitzgerald and Daves best man Louis Pretorius, we could not have chosen better people to stand up for us on our wedding day, in 13 years the two of them have never forgotten to make contact with us to wish us, we love you guys !!!

House Update - 8th November ...

Ok this is a very quick update ...

Saturday we quickly went to see what had been done on the house this week and it was quite a lot actually ... from this picture you can see our garage doors are now on but more so than that, our driveway had been done as well as the pathway in front of our house. Sadly the tree that we love in front of our house has been damaged by people laying cables and the builder is not sure whether it will survive, we are hoping it will survive and asked for them to leave the tree and not remove it in the hope it will be ok. They are going to try and doctor it some to save it, if it looks like it won't make it, they will come and remove it. We will have other small trees in our front garden but we were one of the lucky ones to have a big tree out front that they did not have to remove so we really hope it is a fighter and survives.



They also built our fireplace, hard to see the stonework from a distance but it looks good, Dave would have liked more variation in color but I think once it has all been cleaned up it will be fine :-)

They also installed all my granite counter tops, I didn't add a picture here as they are still covered and you cannot get the complete effect. The bathroom counter tops were also done.



Then they started our deck this week too and apparently it will be done on our next visit. It is a nice large deck, Dave and I are thrilled at our decision to extend it a little longer than we originally planned on. It's hard to see from this angle and I did take a picture from the top but it's hard to see from there too but you get the idea at least.



This picture is taken from the other side but here you can now get a better idea of how little our back yard is, ok our property line runs into the forest so it's not like we don't have land back there but here you can see the only area that will be grassed. Dave plans in time to clean out the forest area to make it look neater but we are in no rush to do that as there is tons of work to be done before then. We might even lay a slab under the deck in time ... but that's all in the far distant future :-) inside first right ?



Ok so that's the update on the house, this week Jade is excited about two things, Thursday she is getting to go see the stage production of Annie at school, I wish I could go with but it is only for the kids, she will love it and am sure she will come home wanting to now be an actress ...

Then Friday she is going to my girlfriend Tina's house for the weekend, tomorrow is Dave and my wedding anniversary so we are going to Savannah Georgia for a short get away, we will leave around lunch time on Friday and come back late Sunday afternoon, I hope we have good weather so we can enjoy our time away, lots to see there so ... hold thumbs.

I am sure I will have lots of pics after the weekend so hang in there and enjoy the week.

House Update - 2nd November 2008

Yesterday we went out to the house like usual on the weekend to see the progress over the last week and were we pleasantly surprised by how much was done ... golly they are working fast !!!

I am not sure if the photo's show it well enough but the hardy plank has now been painted and the color you see in this picture is now the color of the house, the color we chose, we were nervous about it since it had a tinge of green in it but it has turned out really well :-) Also we thought the house next door looked too similar color wise as well but on closer inspection theirs has more of a pink tinge so it does look different :-)

They had last week started putting up the shutters but I see this week they aren't much further with that but at least they finished the siding all round the house, also they have neatened up the entrance way so we could actually walk up the stairs into the house this week. We figure since they are moving so fast now, next week the house will probably start being locked up when the builders are not there and we will have to get the key from the agent on duty to go in ...



The railings have also been installed, now things are finally staring to come together and the house is starting to look like a house inside :-) The color of the oak on the stairs and the railings will be stained to match or hardwood floors eventually so it will look a bit different then but you can get an idea now :-) It's so good to finally see the stuff we chose in the design center come together and thank God everything looks ok so far :-) hold thumbs on the rest !!!



My kitchen is coming together too as you can see, the granite counter tops will probably come in the next week or so I would imagine. It's hard to see the entire kitchen from this angle but you can get an idea of what it will look like ... I hope :-)

They have also installed the cabinets in all 3 bathrooms as well as the laundry so things are coming together nicely. All the baths are installed as well.



This is the view at the back of the house, on Tuesday Dave and I have a meeting with the builder, they will be starting our deck shortly, then you will get a better idea of how the house will look at the back when it is done :-)



We didn't expect to see much change on our trip out there but as I said, we were pleasantly surprised :-) I think they are still aiming at being done before Christmas but we won't move in till mid January I am thinking, or we will start moving in around that time anyway !!!

On another note, today and tomorrow Jade has off school, they have two days of parent teacher conferences, today is ours and hold thumbs all is going well with Jade at school, I will give you an update later.

Have a good week.

Halloween 2008

Just three quick pictures, Jade was a pink fairy this year for Halloween, it was all inspired by the skirt when would light up when a button was pressed. I knew it was going to be hard to show you guys exactly what it looked like but here are the daytime pics and one night one that might give you an idea of how it looked !!!







Oh and I am still blowing pink stuff out my nose ... yuk, thankfully it was easier to was out than to spray on. It was a fun look though :-)

We went to our old neighborhood so Jade could Trick or Treat with her old friends, she really had a good time with them :-) I am so happy we decided to do that. Next year she will have a whole new neighborhood to check out, that too should be fun !!!

Tomorrow we will go through to the house again and see if there are any visual changes that we can take pics of for you guys. Until then enjoy the remainder of the weekend.