MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

I hope all the shopping is done, the cookies are baked & you can start to relax & have a wonderful Christmas! I'm proud of myself this year. I got it all done pretty early & some gifts are even wrapped :)

I'm still holding out for a white Christmas but it doesn't look so good....think it's gonna be rainy instead. Oh well. Unfortunately we can't control the weather. Thanks to the the icey mix last Friday, schools were closed which meant Dominic didn't get to have his Christmas program. I was sooo upset. I was really looking forward to watching him & his class. He was okay with it though. He's glad to have a couple weeks off. I was hoping they would re-schedule it but I guess that's not going to happen.

We've been having ALL kinds of holiday fun! We started out the day with Brandon & Morgan, some friends of ours, making ....well my kids just ate......Christmas cookies than we took the boys to ride the Santa Train at the outlet mall. It was lots of fun. Santa read them a story, sang some songs & Gino even sat on his lap (w/Dominic right beside him). He gave them wooden train whistles & candy canes too. Last year Gino didn't want to have anything to do w/Santa....so I was pretty excited for the Kodak moment!

When we got home Jamie & his kids (Thomas, Alivia & Tyler) came over w/a gingerbread house to assemble.....what fun they had! It looked NOTHING like the picture. But do they ever? All the kids got in on the action & had a great time.

Than last week we made Cut-out cookies w/Sunshine & Addison. That was fun too! Everyone did very well rolling out the dough (Dominic & I were also eating it) and cutting out the cookies. We were all covered in flour. It was nice having a big enough kitchen & counter space to make cookies this year!

We are sad that my brother, Brandon, will not be able to make it home for Christmas this year. He will be staying in Florida....finances are a little tight for everyone this year I think & travel is certainly not cheap. We want to wish h

im a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS & let him know that he will be missed & we will be thinking of him!!!

I had every intention of getting out Christmas cards this year...but yeah, that didn't happen. Next year I will for sure!

So please consider this our Christmas card to you!

From Our House To Yours! May you have a VERY blessed Christmas & a Happy New Year!!!

With Love,

Andy, Julie, Dominic & Gino

Love That Christmasy Time of Year :)

Well, it's almost here....Christmas that is :) & it's getting closer by the second & I'm not ready yet!!!! I still have more shopping to do. Obviously nobody has received a card from me because, well, I haven't gotten any done. Ooops! I promise I will get back into the swing of things by next year. If anyone needs my address though (because I love getting Christmas cards) it's:

1463 Perry Twp Rd 35

Wooster, OH 44691

Dominic has been busy practicing for a small Christmas program he will be doing at pre-school next Friday. He loves singing all the songs! He has a great class & wonderful teachers. He even learned about keeping secrets around Christmas & made me a present in a little reindeer bag that is sitting under our tree & I'm not allowed to open it till Christmas.....ahhhh! I wanna know what it is! I love all the things he gets to make in school.

Gino has been busy, well, just talking. He's talking in complete sentences now. Still sometimes hard to understand, but for the most part I can usually figure out what he's trying to say. He's such a goofball....always making us smile (unless he's making us very angry....which does happen too....he has quite a rotten streak). Potty training still not going so well, but I will keep trying. He's most definitely a different child than Dominic! But we still love him.

We had SO much fun going to pick out our tree as we do every year (except last year when we just put up a Charlie Brown tree). We went on a Sat. & it was a perfect snowy day, not to cold. It didn't take us long to find one, but we had fun looking around anyways. It was pretty big (11ft), but we did manage to get it into Andy's truck :) & into our house. Good thing we have high ceilings.
The next day we got to decorate it. We had to use a step stool....& even than I still couldn't reach the top haha. The boys had fun putting all the ornaments on though & they did a pretty good job too!And THAN came the train....what fun! Dominic loves this part of Christmas. Getting to put Daddy's train around the tree. And this year was extra special because not only did we get to put Daddy's train up BUT we got the Polar Express Train too. So now we have not one, but two train tracks running around the bottom of our tree. How festive! Now I get to see smoke & hear loud train whistles ALL day! Oh the joys of Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!

Holidays Quickly Approaching

Hello Everyone! We had a great time at our Open-House :) It was great seeing those who stopped in! Anyone is welcome anytime! Just give me a little advance notice so I can make sure it's somewhat clean! haha

I can't tell you how GREAT it feels to be settled. We had a very Happy Thanksgiving & hope everyone else did as well. We have SO much to be thankful for this year.


Of course the day after I was READY TO DECORATE!!!!! It was so much fun getting out all my Christmas decorations out & figuring out where to put them. Gino also joined in the fun when we found a Santa hat. He was walking around saying "Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!"



We are looking forward to Christmas :) Haven't gotten our tree yet, but hopefully soon! I'm sure I will have more pictures to share when we do!!!

Settled At Last!

Well, the boxes are all un-packed & folded down (if you know anyone who needs good packing boxes they're free for the taking).

We spent ALL day yesterday organizing the basement......not an easy task. But at last it's done & pretty cozy with the guestbed & TV if I do say so myself :)

Ok.....for anyone interested in seeing the house or just coming to visit us! We're planning an OPEN-HOUSE NEXT SATURDAY NOVEMBER 22 from 1 - 4 pm. We'd love to see you!!!

Thought we'd try to squeeze it in before the holiday season got too hectic!

ALL MOVED IN!!!!

First I'd like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to my parent's. Without them none of this would have been possible. We TRULY appreciate their willingness to share their home with us over the last 6 months. For the most part I think it went pretty well! I'm sure they'll enjoy their quiet home once again though :)

Well, it's been a long time coming. But we're finally in our new house & settling in quickly! We LOVE it!!!! I keep waiting for someone to pinch me! It's definitely "home". Copper is just as happy as the rest of us too.....probably due to the fact he's got a nice warm insulated garage to sleep in.

We had our walk-through on Thursday (same day appliances were delivered) & got the "go-ahead" to move in. We didn't waste any time. We were able to get most of the stuff from my parent's that night & than Friday morning with the help of Janet & my dad (thank you thank you) we got the trailer un-loaded (trying to beat the rain). We got the rest of the heavy stuff out that night & Saturday morning thanks to Mark & our friend Brandon.

We slept here Friday night. The boys had no problem sleeping in their new rooms. They're both very happy. I hardly even saw them all day Friday as they kept opening box after box after box after box of their old toys. My basement looked like Toys'R'Us exploded! I think I've finally got that under control a little now. But it wasn't easy! (this picture is AFTER I cleaned up some).

On Saturday we had our gas delivered for our fireplace (sooo cozy) & Dish Network came out & hooked up our TV. We're gonna be so spoiled with this let me tell ya! Almost don't feel like we're in the country anymore with so many channels! haha. Andy's having fun with the DVR.....pausing live tv is pretty cool!

Rob also came & took our storage trailer away! YAY!!!!!On Sunday Andy was able to get the garage organized so both our trucks could fit snugly.

We only had a couple things damaged by mice, but not too bad. It was the stow-away who tried calling this home that annoyed me even worse. But after last night his dream has ended. Thank goodness!

Well, time for me to get back to work. I can't rest completely until EVERYTHING is put away. For someone who doesn't cook much I sure do have a ton of things to put away in my kitchen! So many cupboards so many drawers!!!! I'm slowly starting to see my counter again though.

Poor Gino when I was moving everything around he asked me where something was & I told him in his room, than he goes "where my room go?" It was pretty funny. He must've thought I moved that too :)

I am still planning on doing an open-house hopefully by the 22nd. But I will keep you updated on that for sure!!! Thank you for following along on our journey. I don't know what I will find to write about now!

Is it the weekend yet??!!

Wow! Hard to believe that in only a couple days we'll be moved in & settling into our brand new life in our brand new home. We've waited a looong time for this. Not only for our house, but to once again be "settled" where we belong. It's a great feeling to know that I will never have to pack up my belongings & move ever again. Over the weekend we moved our storage semi trailer up to the house. That was almost as much an adventure as getting it to my parent's in heavy downpours! It was sooo wet that day.
At least this time it was a nice sunny & dry day. But still long driveway + huge truck = anxiety. It's all good though. I'm glad all my stuff is "almost" where it belongs!

We are so blessed with great friend's & family & so thankful for each and everyone of them. It's gonna be great to be "home".

Last week little things were done on the house. The heat pump was installed (yay! heat), garden tub tile finished, closet shelving installed, bathroom mirrors hung, and carpet!!! This week the painters will be back to touch things up, the cleaning crew will come in & appliances will be delivered.

If anyone is available to help next Sat, the 8th, please let me know (or just show up!). Any help is greatly appreciated to get things unloaded & moved in as quickly as possible. Hoping for nice weather :)

We will also be planning an open-house in a couple weeks....depending on how quickly I can un-pack! Will keep you posted :)

So Close!!!

YAY!!! Only one more week of "work", than the carpet will be installed on the 31st!! After that they will be in touching up & cleaning......appliances delivered on the 6th, walk-through & MOVE-IN TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell I'm just a teesnys bit excited??!! I love watching all the little things being done. The fireplace stone is more beautiful than I imagined! Most of the light fixtures have been hung & look great. Love the choices (almost forgot what some were they were so long ago).

Short update! Will be more next week!!!!

Almost Done!!!

Wow! They are busy busy busy working at the house. All the kitchen cabinets & counters are up (& are GEORGEOUS!), the bathroom cabinets & counters are done....sinks & faucets have been installed, the mantel has been put up.....the trim is being put on throughout the house. It is amazing how precise & careful they are measuring & cutting, such a beautiful job they are doing! The tile was also started around our garden tub. It's going to look awesome when it's done too! I can't wait!!!! Dominic & Gino were demonstrating how cold they would be in the fridge. First they were dishwashers & than they were in the stove. Also went in each of the bathroom cabinets....too silly they are!

The doors have been put up & next week the trimmers will be done, electricians will be back to install all our fixtures, the painters will be back to finish with the second coat.....& in 2 weeks the carpet will be installed, clean-up, appliances will be delivered & a walk-through THAN, MOVE IN TIME!!!

It's amazing how wonderful everything is looking. It's awesome seeing it all come together after planning & picking from so many different samples and patterns not knowing exactly how it all would look in the end. I'm already decorating in my head too! It's turning out even more beautiful than I imagined it would....I can't wait to start living there!

We've been enjoying the beautiful fall weather too. I love fall! There are puppies down at the farm & Dominic & Gino have to visit them all the time. They've also had fun playing in the leaves! We couldn't find many of those where we were in CO last year (from the one little tree in our front yard!), so we are enjoying them to the fullest this year! We had a bonfire & hayride with the kids & some of their friends too. That was LOTS of fun. We'll have to do it again.

Coming together

Hello...sorry it's taken me so long to update. We've all been a little under the weather lately. But we're on the mend now. And I was having trouble getting my pictures to upload for some reason. But all is good now so here's the latest!
Let's see....so much has been done at the house I don't know where to start. The septic system was installed (that's always good news...haha), the sidewalk, front step & landing at the basement walk-out has been poured, final landscaping (brought up to grade) has been completed & limestone driveway up near house & turnaround was spread out last week. The drywallers have also finished & pulled out all their mess (& "mess" is an understatment!). Those people make the most mess it's a wonder to me how they will ever clean my beautiful house in time....haha, but I'm not too worried, I have faith.
They left the walls ready to be primed & painted & stamped the ceilings (they look so nice!). Now the painters are busy working. The stain has been put on all the windows a trim (& looks SO beautiful!!!). The vinyl flooring is being installed this week & looks GREAT! The tile for around the tub was also delivered & should be going on soon. We've also got a garage door now! Our electric is up & running & our hot water tank was installed. The plumbers have been in running more pipes throughout too.Our well was drilled....but had to drill again, and again...very frustrating. It is interesting watching that huge contraption drilling away though. I'm hoping that they've finally found a good one. I will know more later today. I was more interested in the process than the boys though, they had more fun playing with the woolybear they found on the ground. Oh yea, let's not forget our "rock picking party" ...well it was only Andy, Dominic Gino & I, so not so much a party. But we did pick up TONS of rocks! And Gino had to have the "big rocks"...and I'm talking the ones the size of his head, not my fist. He's so funny.
In two day we picked up two wagon loads around our huge yard so that we could plant grass seed. It was a lot of work, but it was kinda fun too. My dad got home just in time to help us throw straw all over the newly planted seeds too. I think I'm still tired! What a job that was, but the kids helped some.
Besides that & being sick. All is good. Dominic is still loving pre-school & Gino is talking and talking and talking. He loves watching Little Einsteins & singing along & doing all the motions they do on those movies...it's fun to watch him. Our countdown chain is getting shorter......more updates soon!

Moving into fall....

Well.....we're still in countdown mode. Things continue happening almost everyday. So far, some plumbing is done, the electricians finished up with all the interior wiring (thanks Jeff), the front porch, garage & basement concrete has been poured (& looks very nice), the landing at the bottom of the steps is framed in, insulation is almost done, the siding is going up now & we've completed our final orders on the lighting, cabinets & flooring....whew! I think that's all :)

It's still so very exciting watching all of our planning coming together. Our move-in date is still set for November 8......just in case someone thought of making other plans for that day .....hahaha! Let's hope it's not snowing!

Besides everything happening with the house, Dominic & Gino have had a fun summer. Dominic got to be the first kid in Ohio to be an "Engineer for a day" & ride the new train at the outlet mall in the front of the train with the engineer...he even got to ring the bell. He really enjoyed that (as did daddy who got to ride along too).

We also enjoyed the Wayne County Fair this past week. Gino loved seeing all the "moos" & they always have to visit Rob (the big Belgian horse who lives down at the farm), even though they see him almost everyday when he's home.

Dominic is enjoying being Papa K while he's away on his annual trip to Wyoming. As you can see, he's got the hat, vest & boots...he's all set (all he's missing is the blue shirt). Him & Gino both enjoy doing the chores (most days).

Dominic also hit another huge milestone by starting Panda Preschool on Monday, Sept 15. I am SO proud of him! He had such a wonderful time & I'm the only one who cried!! (secretly). I just can't believe he's 5 & beginning his school years. It doesn't seem possible...
He said there were lots of rules & he got to sing songs & play with domino's. He talked to the other little boys & his friend Ariel. He will be going Monday, Wednesday & Friday mornings. He did very well & looked so grown up in his new school clothes (he picked out).