Reverse Reverse…

Last year wasn’t ALL about the craziness of selling the house.  There was other craziness too!! 

Within weeks of signing the papers to build the new house, we had to go to the design center to pick out everything.  Considering we are no longer rookies at this, and I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted, I thought it would be a breeze…. WRONG - it was still overwhelming.  There are just too many choices!  How do I really know I’m going to like my granite when I’m selecting it from a piece that is only 5x8 in. or the backsplash from a 5x5 in. piece of ceramic tile….and what if the tile we picked doesn’t really ‘coordinate’ with either of them??  EVERYTHING is an upgrade and a big decision… countertops, tiles, cabinets, jetted showers/bathtubs, door knobs, 3 car garage or 5 ft additional space, keeping standard cabinets in kids bathrooms or upgrading theirs too, mirrors, edges of countertops, paint colors, brick colors, and light switches…ok, maybe not the light switches but seriously every inch of the house could be covered in some type of upgrade. They only have 4 standard (meaning there is no additional cost) ceramic tiles to choose from and the other 350 in their selection are all an upgrade.  Some are minor upgrades for just a couple hundred dollars more and others are thousands more.  We had 2 appointments that were each 3 hours long and I still left thinking we could have had another appointment (and could have if we’d of paid another $350 for it).  We were actually quite conservative this time around and kept to our budget.  We passed on a few of the upgrades that we really wanted because we knew we could do it ourselves for 1/10th of the cost (literally, I did the math).  I’m also looking forward to my brother coming down and putting in my wood floors. 

Over the summer, Taryn began to swim really well.  She’s quite the little fish I must say.  A friend of ours was a life guard at our neighborhood pool so we went there quite often.  Even with Kiarra in a boot, she was able to take it off to swim.  All 3 kids get soooo tan in the summer so this past summer was no exception.  I get a little jealous, I have to admit.  I can lay there and bake in the sun for 3 hours straight and barely get any color and they are in the pool for 30 minutes and get 12 shades darker.  I love their skin and am so glad they have gorgeous skin.  Taryn turned 7 and decided to have a sleepover b-day party.  Kiarra had a sleepover when she was 7 too so I thought it would be fun.  Kiarra agreed to help me so we shipped the boys to my Moms house to have an all-girls party. We had 8 girls come to spend the night and let me just tell you how times have changes since Kiarra was 7.  These girls are like little teenagers; they were talking about boys and going on dates.  I could barely handle it, Kiarra and I just kept looking at each other and saying “really?”.  I swear 6 of these 9 girls are more boy crazy than Kiarra.  We played lots of games, danced and ate pizza and all kids of goodies.  Taryn had a great time. 

Jayden played 3 on 3 (basketball) last fall.  He has definitely found his sport and is showing improvements each time he touches a ball.  He had a great coach who ended up selecting him to play on his drafted team for 5 on 5 as well.  Jayden plays best when he’s mad and as rough as basketball is, it doesn’t take much for him to get pushed and shoved around a little bit to make him angry.  I just love his face when he takes control of the ball and plows through the kids to shoot and make a shot.  He’s gotten so tall over the past year (is taller than me now by a few inches) that he towers over most of the kids.  As they get older, it’s not as funny to watch them play.  Over the past few years, Kiarra and I would literally sit there and laugh uncontrollably because the kids were so damn cute running up and down the court, dribbling it off another kids shoe or just running out of bounds - even when no one was guarding them.  Our laughing has turned into cheering and screaming (in a good way).  This is probably my most favorite video of him during 3 on 3...he is dribbling down, passes the ball, it somehow ends up back in his hands and he tosses it up backwards and makes it... 

Kiarra was a busy bee over the summer and first semester of school.  With being injured and then volleyball camps and tryouts, she stayed busy.  Before we knew it, it was homecoming and friends/family in Iowa/Nebraska; homecoming is very different in the south.  Over the years I’ve seen some things on FB about homecoming but I didn’t understand the details, I’d just look at the pictures and be a little sad that the kids are all growing up…. No one prepared me for the craziness of homecoming in TX!  The mums, the garters, the overalls, the insanity… These mums are over the top. I’m still trying to understand the purpose of them and don’t really have a clear understanding so it-is-what-it-is and I’ll just go with it.  Most of the girls decorate and wear overalls too.  They wear them to school the day of the homecoming game and then some of them wear them to the game. I didn’t know anything about under-wonder and cutting fabric and all that crafty stuff but thankfully I have dear friends who know all about it.  They helped me with everything.  The overalls ended up being very cute and Kiarra loved them.  They were also the minds behind the mum and garter which turned out amazing.  Then, there is the dance which is formal.  We found a dress on our first shopping trip and it was so pretty. They didn’t have the color she wanted so I took a chance and ordered it.  It was perfect!  Kiarra and her friends chose me to be their driver so they all gathered at our house for pictures and then a friend of mine and I drove them to dinner.  She had a great time at the dance with her date and her friends.

I finally feel like I'm caught up... what a year we had in 2013!!

And we move... again!

Grandma Bennie and the kids 2006

In November, Jeff’s Grandmother passed away.  This was the only blood Grandmother he ever had the chance to know.  We made a trip to New Orleans for her funeral and Jeff shared stories with me that he’d never shared before.  Bennie was a great lady; she always made me feel welcome and had a passion for cooking.  Although she wouldn’t hesitate to tell me that I’d gained some extra pounds (LOL), she really had the sweetest heart.  Our kids adored her and loved to play cards and Bingo with her.  We all miss her very much.

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Closing on our house in Firethorne went smoothly, thank God.  The buyers put us through the wringer towards the end after their final walk through but it all worked out.  We did the final repairs that they insisted on and although it was very frustrating (considering our tools, paint, etc. was all in storage so we had to buy new stuff) it’s all done and behind us.

We moved the weekend before Thanksgiving so the holiday is a complete blur to me.  A huge thanks to my Mom and some of the guys who work for Jeff, we basically did it all in one day.  The majority of our stuff went to storage so it was quite easy… well, for me - not for them.  We have some heavy stuff and it was cold and rainy but they were great. I took several loads of stuff to the new place in my truck early in the day so when Mom arrived, she helped us pack up a few more items and then she and Taryn went to  and unpacked and put away the entire kitchen and bathrooms before we even got the truck half loaded. I don’t know what I would do without her!

Now, we are living in an apartment.  There were not any 3 bedroom apartments available for us so we had to get a 2 bedroom.  It’s not ideal but it’s not terrible either, especially since its temporary.  We had a talk with the kids about it and Jayden said he wouldn’t mind camping out in the living room of the apartment.  I don’t know why I was so worried about living in an apartment. I actually love how small it is and if I could just change out some of the creepy neighbors, it wouldn’t be that bad. Well, getting groceries sucks, just getting them from the car to the apartment sucks then I realize I’ve bought way too much for this little fridge and pantry so we end up with food all over the place, not a terrible problem to have but I hate clutter and it makes cooking quite difficult when there is no counter space.  I also don’t like the noise coming from the people who live above us but again, its temporary and we are not here that much anyway.

Christmas was uneventful and quite boring this year.  We spent Christmas Eve with our dear friends and had a great time (and great food) hanging out with them.  We were even able to be part of the Melby Christmas Eve celebration at Aunt Loretta and Uncle Russ’s house thanks to FaceTime.  Christmas morning with the kids was great, well, after they finally got out of bed at 9 am…  I just love how they are so excited for each other and want to take turns opening their gifts.  Kiarra and Jayden are very patient with Taryn and allow her to take the time she needs to dwell over every detail of the gift she’s just opened.  We typically go oldest to youngest or vice versa but not this year. Jayden insisted that ladies go first which was very kind of him.  They all loved their gifts, we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, and had some special worship time and then we made a huge breakfast together.  I love the mess of Christmas morning, the wrapping paper, boxes and twist ties… I just felt so blessed this year to be healthy and to be able to provide for my family.  They each wanted practical and simple gifts this year which made it that much more special.  I really missed being with my family in Iowa though; there is just something about being around family all day (for days and days…) that helps make the holiday so much more of a celebration.  I think it’ll be tough to keep us in Texas for another Christmas, we are all about family and extended family so this year, we will be with family for the holidays….and it better snow!!

We brought in the New Year with some amazing friends.  It’s really great to bring in the New Year with people who would absolutely do anything for one other.  We had a great time catching up with each of their families, grubbing on Chris’s delicious gumbo amongst all the other snacks and of course popping fireworks.

All too soon, it was time for the kids to go back to school.  This was the first year in very long time, maybe 14 years that I have not taken off the last few weeks of the year to be with them.  I’m working on a very complex, high profile course at work and knew this would be the only time to catch up and get ahead of the game since the majority of the company would not be working.  Most days I worked from home or worked 1/2 day in the office and the remainder from home. I’m blessed and very grateful to have a flexible boss who allows us to do this.

We are in full swing of club volleyball for Kiarra and basketball for Jayden.  It’s a busy but fun time of year, and I’m looking forward to all the great things God has in store for us in 2014!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

We've been on a crazy ride...

Summer flew by!!  Seriously, before I knew it - it was school registrations, volleyball tryouts, back to school shopping and dreaded thought of homework!!!  I thought about writing every week but was so consumed with the amount of activities we had going on. The kids enjoyed their summer, it was just busy.

Jayden attended a couple of basketball camps, Great Adventure Camp (Christian camp), time at the lake with friends and he got the responsibility of babysitting Taryn while Kiarra was away at her activities.  Jayden turned 12 in June and we threw him a surprise b-day party.  We got him - AGAIN!  He really enjoyed that time with friends and family and want’s another “surprise” next year…. Not really a surprise if he’s already planning or thinking he’ll be surprised but we’ll see… I just may come up with something good (suggestions welcome J).

Kiarra attempted SACC (Strength and Conditioning Camp) but tore the ligaments around her ankle on day 1, so that didn't work out so well for her.  She still continued to attend most days and just did upper body workouts (boring!!)  The trainers thought it was a sprain at first so had her take it easy for 2 weeks, when they realized it wasn't getting better they had me take her to the doctor. She was in a boot for 3 weeks and got it off just tin time to attend volleyball camp. Just a week or so after camp was tryouts and this was quite stressful because of our house situation (you can read about that below), not to mention Jeff had been out of town as well (you can read about that below as well).

Taryn, oh poor Taryn… she was SOOOO bored all summer.  Kiarra and Jayden were awesome babysitters and she enjoyed them taking care of her but with Kiarra in a boot, she couldn't take Taryn to the pool and Jayden isn't old enough to take Taryn by himself.  She’s the only one that didn't have a bunch of activities so we filled up the time with sleepovers, and activities at the house.

Jeff was out of town working in Austin the entire month of August. With all the activities going on, working full time and now living out of zone for one of our kids schools, this made things quite difficult.  We drove up to Austin twice to see him. He was working 6 days a week which left no time for him to come home on the weekends so it was nice little get-a-way for us to drive up and spend time with him at the hotel.  We didn't do much while we were there; a little shopping, went and saw the State Capitol but the best part was sightseeing.  Austin is beautiful… gorgeous actually!!  We also took Jayden to see the UT campus and football field but he could care less about them since he wants to go to A&M. He was not impressed and made that very clear.  He cracks me up!  I don’t think he’ll go to A&M anyway, but that’s what he thinks at this stage in his life so we’ll just encourage it.  Before Jeff even got home from Austin, they were already talking about sending him to another city.  His boss wouldn't let him go but their Director wanted him to go to Dallas.  He wasn't even home a week and he was told he needed to go to Dallas…. Here we go again, I’m getting quite good at this single mom thing, but it’s NOT something I want to do on a full time basis (or even more than a week at a time for that matter).

Rewind a few months

I’d made it quite clear to everyone that I was not happy with the house we purchased last year.  In April I started snooping on HAR to look for another house. The market was great and we had friends selling their homes within days (sometimes hours) of putting it on the market.  We looked in a few neighborhoods to build, in our neighborhood for another house (because after all I LOVE the neighborhood, just not the house) and even looked in other cities… YES, other cities.  I do love Katy but would also welcome any opportunity to relocate.  In May we found a neighborhood just a couple of miles from our home in Firethorne, I loved it….the kids loved it but Jeff was still very adamant about staying put for a few more years.  I asked him to pray about it and he still insisted that we needed to stay in this house.  Finally, one day I begged him (ok-ok, I didn't’t beg - I only asked once) to go with me to look at a house.   He saw how happy this house made me and suddenly he heard from the Lord that maybe we should consider moving.  YES, thank you LORD for speaking to my hubby!!  The only downside was that Kiarra would have to go to the new High School and not Katy High School where we always thought she would go. I mentioned to Kiarra that the house we like in the new neighborhood is zoned to the new school and she was so excited. She expressed how she would love to go to the new school because so many of her new friends will be going there… AMEN!  This is huge.  I reached out to an old colleague of mine who is a Realtor now and we put the house on the market.  We had showings immediately, quite a lot of them actually. As you know, selling a house is stressful - always keeping it 110% picked up and clean is no easy task when there are 3 kids home all day long and the oldest-most responsible one in a boot!  We went to the new neighborhood and signed paperwork to being the process of building a new house… Let’s hope 3rd times a charm. This is the 3rd house Jeff and I have built together so as long as we can keep our sanity through this process, I think we will be in this house a very long time.

Sale/No Sale

We received an offer on the house and although it wasn't a full price offer, it was decent.  We went into contract but before the 10 day option period was up the buyers backed out.   It was devastating.  It’s now August and decision time, do we keep the house on the market or take it off and just remodel.  With school starting and volleyball tryouts weeks prior to school starting, we needed to make a decision, however Jeff is out of town, I’m working 60+ hours a week and time is just flying by. The biggest hurdle is keeping our house on the market and still allowing Kiarra to go to the new school.  This means she is out of zone and will need transportation to/from school each day.  Getting her to school in the morning isn't a problem because we are headed to work but neither of us can leave work at 2:30 every day to pick her up.  It was weighing very heavy on my heart. I simply didn't know what to do.  I’d pray about it but wasn't getting the answer because honestly, the answer I wanted was to just sell the house and move into temporary housing until the new house is ready, oh yea - about the new house, they've barely started building it at this point… I think we only had the slab!!  Of course I wasn't in a rush for it to be built because we hadn't sold the house anyway but it was still another burden in my mind.  Jeff and I finally made a decision to take the house off the market and stay put, we’d remodel, put in a pool and just be content with this decision…a decision we thought was coming from our good Lord. 

Answered Prayers…

I text a dear friend of mine, who also has a daughter going to this new school, and explained to her that the buyers had backed out and that we wouldn't be able to get Kiarra into the new school because although they would allow it, I just couldn't get her home from school every day.  Her response to me blew me away, it made me cry and I fell to my knees.  She told me she would be happy to take Kiarra home from school each day until we move.  Friends, this is HUGE.  We don’t live far from each other but this is a big deal to me and to Kiarra.  I just didn't feel right accepting this offer but she insisted.  What a blessing she is to our family.

Enrollment

So now that we had transportation sorted out, there was no time to wait.  We literally had to get Kiarra enrolled within a couple of days so she could attend volleyball tryouts. I thought school sports didn't start until school started, boy was I wrong (OMG, I think I just sounded like my Mother).  I’d been talking with the school for months so I knew everything I needed to do, the registrar went over it with me many times.  Kiarra and I walked into that HUGE, seriously GINORMOUS school to register her and I hadn't followed the right steps. I thought we were “pre-registering” her but what I actually needed to do weeks ago was go to the Administration building, and pay a fee and apply for her pre-registration…or something like that, I don’t even remember. Seriously, it was all so stressful. Just when you think you have everything you need, birth certificates, contracts for new build, physicals, etc…. not to mention Jeff had just left to go out of town.  Then, once the board or whoever approved it I could officially register her.  I remember this very clearly, it was a Wednesday and tryouts started the following week.  Eeeek!  They said it can take up to 10 days to receive the approval… TEN DAYS!!!  As much as I’m trying to stay calm and collective, this panic came over me and I got very frustrated.  It had already been so emotional from the moment we put our house on the market I just thought maybe this was Gods way of telling me that we just need to stay put. Then out of nowhere, a very nice lady at the administration building approached me promised to help us and see this through. She was another blessing.  Before noon on Friday, we had the approval.  AMEN!!  I was working that Friday but as soon as I got the email, I was off to the school to get her registered. We arrive to the school and there is not a person in site. It’s practically empty, only a few construction workers finishing up some last minute touches.  What am I going to do now? She can’t attend tryouts on Monday if she’s not registered…  We waited around a few minutes thinking maybe everyone was out to lunch. Just as we started to walk back to the car, I see someone in the office.  I knocked on the door and it just happened to be one of the principles.  He opened the door and explained that no one in the office works on Fridays during the summer… WHAT!!??  I felt my heart drop again and Kiarra instantly had tears in her eyes.  I explained to him that with tryouts being on Monday, I really need to get her enrolled and I asked what time they will be there on Monday so I can come back to enroll her.  He was so nice and said “I think the registrar is here, let me see if I can find her”… Seriously friends, one blessing after another!  The registrar was there and although she wasn't super happy to help us, she took the paperwork, reviewed it to ensure we had every I dotted and every T crossed and then said that she’d finalize everything on Monday but that Kiarra could go to volleyball tryouts on Monday. We both shed tears of joy on the way to the car. AMEN!

Volleyball/Back to School

After all that craziness with getting Kiarra enrolled in school, she was able to try out for volleyball and she made the Freshman A team.  All in all they had a pretty good season.  There were too many girls on the team and the coach liked the “fun/fair/positive” crap but other than that they did well and Kiarra was able to play a lot.  I always thought football was the rough sport so when she suffered a concussion during an intense game against Katy I was quickly brought to reality and that every sport is kind of dangerous.  I always thought it would be a rolled ankle or jammed finger but a concussion…only my child J

The kids were excited to go back to school this year.  Kiarra in high school, Jayden in Jr High and Taryn in 1st grade. 3 kids in 3 different schools, working lots of hours, husband out of town, house on the market and volleyball games twice a week was all quite overwhelming but you know what, I wouldn't change it for the world.  This is my life and I love it.

Sale of House

We received other offers on our house and had many people interested in it but unfortunately our Realtor didn't do her part to see those through.  We lost one deal over a simple $250 neighborhood deed restriction rule book that she refused to let us pay for.  Seriously, $250?  Ugh!  After many prayers, discussions and considerations we decided to let her go.  So now what??  We have to sell this house by December 20th or Kiarra will have to transfer schools back to the school in our zone.  Again, after many discussions, prayer and tears, Jeff and I decided that at semester break, she’d just have to transfer to Katy High School.  End of discussion…. Or so we thought.  I was content with the decision and although I wasn't happy about it, I knew it was the right thing. I went to the sales associate at the new builder and explained to them that we needed to go ahead and cancel our contract. I hated to do it but there was just no other choice at this point.  I didn't even care if we lost our earnest money, we just needed out of the contract.  Here we go, another blessing… She was amazing. She explained to me that we just had a bad experience (a very bad one I might add) and not to give up yet.  She asked if we’d trust one of their preferred Realtors to re-list our house and was so positive and refreshing about the entire situation, something I was not used to because our other Realtor was not that way.  I couldn't even contain myself, I was so emotional. I was happy/nervous/stressed/anxious/overjoyed all at the same time. Mario called me later that day and we talked for a very long time about what we (Jeff and I) wanted and how we were going to tackle this.  See, we missed out on the prime time to sell our house over the summer and now school has started so I didn't have high expectations.  Our new Realtor came by and gave me a ton of tips to make the house look bigger/better.  Again, during this time, Jeff is STILL out of town (have I mentioned that enough in this post)… so the kids and I moved furniture around and sure enough, the house looked great.  I almost fell in love with it all over again, but shhh - don’t tell Jeff, he’d kill me.  LOL.  The house went back on the market in October and within a few weeks, we had an offer.  It wasn't the best and it wasn't our asking price but it was an offer and we were elated.  After a little negotiating, we signed the contract, inspections were schedule and we started packing.  I’d had my eyes on a few lease houses over the months but of course those were long gone.

Now where are we going to live??

Closing was scheduled to be within a month so now we needed to find a place to live. There were only 2 lease houses in the zone we needed and those were not going to work for us so I went to the only apartment complex that is zoned to the High School and Jr High (so the kids can ride the bus).  I've not lived in an apartment for 15 years.  My oh my, these apartments seem so small!  Closing is scheduled for the day before Thanksgiving and we are just praying all goes well and we can finally be done with this house…