Church

We are looking for a new church home since we moved. Last week we went to a HUGE church. I don't know how many people go to it but to give you an idea they have a Saturday 6:00PM service and 3 Sunday morning services. We have never been members of a big church before, we went to Brownsville where the revival was going on for about a month but no more than that. So we had to park in the dirt which we don't have a problem with. We walked in and they had 4 nurseries, one for the infants, one up to 16 months, one from 16-24 months and then one for 2-3 years old. It was amazing. Then we kept walking and they had a coffee shop and like a small cafeteria. They then had where you register your kids for children's church and nursery. It was a huge registration area. Once you register your kids and get a picture of your kids you get a number and a sticker that has their name and information on it which you have to have when you pick them up. There is also a separate whole youth building and grades 3-6 meet in the HUGE gym. Then, when we got to the service, we went at like 10:00, the service was packed so we had to sit in the balcony. Natalie didn't have a good time so they called me and she had been screaming. We started back for the balcony when somebody told me about the "wiggle giggle room". It's a room that just has a window in front for a wall and a speaker inside so you could still hear and see the preacher. It was quite cool but a little overwhelming. We might go back for a Saturday service to see how that goes but we just felt lost.

Since we are in the process of buying a house we decided to go to a church that was closer to it. It was an okay sized church and they announced today that they broke 400 people for their 2 services. We went to the 11:00 service but decided that if we picked this church as our home we would probably go to the 9:00 service. They are building a new building that is supposed to be done Spring of 2009. We really liked it but again we want to go at 9:00 and see what it's like for that service. There is one more church that I want to go to before we decide on a church anyway so we might be checking out these churches back and forth until we feel God pulling us in one direction or another. Pray for us to find a church quickly so we can start making friends quickly. Oh, and we met somebody today who has all blonde little girls that are 6, 4, and 1. I thought that was a sign. ;-)

Wake up Daddy

This morning the girls attacked Daddy in bed. How can you get mad at those faces waking you up in the morning?

Ozzie was making fun of me for taking dark pictures and I couldn't get pictures of the backyard because it was too dark last time we were up at the house so I decided to take a picture of the front of the house while it was light out and then a couple pictures of the yard and the back of the house. Now Ozzie you can find something new to complain about.

Notice the sold sign in the yard. We are not taking a picture in front of it until the day we close so that we don't jinx ourselves. ;-)

New House?

The search is over!!! After looking at 75 houses with our poor realtor and our kids going in and out of houses for almost a week straight we finally found the one we've been waiting for. We wanted to look at as many houses as we could before deciding on one and Micah has to go back to work soon so we were trying to find what was going to work best for us. WE FINALLY FOUND IT!!! We were trying to stay away from new homes since most of the homes that are new are going to be hard to resale in the future since they will be building in that area for 8-10 years so we decided we'd go with a preowned home which was fine with us. On the final house that we had to look at we decided that we wanted to just look at a new house so our realtor said there was a neighborhood that was new that would be building for only about another year and a half so resale would be good but it was farther away from Micah's work than we originally wanted. We took the drive and it's going to be a long drive to and from work but for the location and the schools that our girls will be going to, I think it will be worth it. Something about this home just feels right. Now you know that anything can happen before closing so it's not definite yet but we've started the paperwork and we're on our way to our first home! Those that know me well know that I've been longing for this day for a VERY long time. Check out the pictures. There will be more backyard pictures and even some front pictures coming soon, hopefully.

The outside. It has a front porch.

Tilt your head to the right and this is our front door.

When you walk into the house and turn to look at the front that's where this picture is. It's probably going to be where our computer goes.


This is on the other end of the computer room and it will be our formal dining room at some point. I'm not sure what it will be until that point yet but I'll figure something out I'm sure.

The family room and the windows looking out to the back. I know some of these pictures aren't the best. I took them at night. I will be getting more pictures later in the daytime though.


The downstairs bathroom. There is also a bedroom downstairs that we are going to use as the guest bedroom and when I get my treadmill that will go in there too.

The garage door has what's called the I-Drive. It doens't run off of a chain so it's not as loud and it gives a little chirp when it has opened all the way. It's actually quite cool.

Another one of my very favorite things about this house are the appliances. They are black and stainless steel which I'm in love with.

The dishwasher is one that has the disposal at the bottom of it so you don't have to worry about rinsing your dishes until they are clean before cleaning them in the dishwasher.

I love the microwave above the stove as well and there is the splash tile on the wall above the counter. The counters are made of laminate which I've never heard of but it has the look of granite but is easier to take care of. I hope I like it because I've never heard of it.

The kitchen. Look at all the outlets on the countertops! Look at all the counter space! Also there's an outlet on the island which I'm also thrilled about.

The breakfast nook. In the window, you can't really tell, there is a little bench where I could put some pillows to sit on and look out. Also there are no blinds in the house but part of the deal with buying the house was that they will put in white faux wood blinds. I'm really excited about that because they normally cost between 60 and 130 dollars.

The pantry.

This is upstairs. The balcony and railing instead of a wall.

This is taken out of the gameroom facing the Master Bedroom.


Looking into the Master Bathroom.

The master tub.

Double sinks! Yeah!

Separate shower. It also has a separate toilet but I didn't post just the toilet.

The utility room, washer and dryer hookups, are upstairs which I really love that too.

The upstairs bathroom.

The closets have these kind of doors not sliding doors.

This is Micah and I pulling the Available sign out of the ground. They put a sold sign in the ground but I'm not taking a picture in front of that until the day we close.

So that's it. Wish us luck with the paperwork and our move. I can't wait for everyone to come see us and see our house when we get it.

Cowboy Boots

The girls each wanted a pair of cowboy boots like their Old Grandpa. But before we went to look for them they said that they wanted pink ones. At first I wasn't too keen on the idea since pink doesn't go with everything and something like black or brown goes with everything. Well, Old Grandpa wanted them to have ones they really liked so we found these pink ones. When we got home I realized that pink cowboy boots go with pretty much anything if they are for girls. They are just so awesome and the girls absolutely love them. Even Nattie loves them. And now I want a pair too. Probably not pink for me but I want some cute ones. Thanks Old Grandpa!

Nattie got what are called Johnny Poppers. They are a lot softer since she just learned how to walk 2 months ago. They're really cute though.

Believe it or not Samara and Alyssa don't usually want the same thing. They both wanted pink boots but Syssa didn't want the bling around hers and Samara did. Keeps them from not fighting over the same thing, at least sometimes.

Halloween

We had a lion, a pirate, and Piglett for Halloween this year. They loved going to the Halleluia Fest at a local Baptist church and jumping in the bouncy castles and hitting a pinata, eating hot dogs and hamburgers and playing cute little games. After doing all that we went to about 10 houses close to the apartment to go trick or treating. They didn't get a ton of candy like the do every other year but they didn't seem to mind it. I don't mind it either. They have just enough to where they aren't going to get sick and neither am I by going through and eating some of the stuff I like. Anyways they had fun even though it's a completely new place.

Samara the lion.

Arrrhhh Matey's. Alyssa was the pirate and she'd say that all night long.


My Nattie (Piglett).


The three cuties getting ready to go on an adventure.


Hitting the pinata. They had a ton of suckers in there.

Alyssa wasn't quite sure when to stop.

They had a small hay ride there. It was just around a little circle twice but it wasn't too bad.

Halloween is so much fun but again I can never get them all to look and smile at the same time.

The Apartment

Here are some pictures of our apartment. It's not bad but I'm glad it's just temporary. We are on the 2nd floor too which makes it hard. We are in a 3 bed 2 bath apartment. Wish us luck on finding a house.

Car Show

While we were walking around with Erin we saw a car show in the parking lot of TGI Friday's so we decided to stop and take some pictures.

Visiting Erin

Micah's sister, Erin, is in Master's Commission so we decided to stop in and see how she was doing for a couple days. She goes to a church called the Relevant church so we decided to go to it. It was way cool although there were a whole lot of teenagers and early 20s people there. The girls had a blast in the children's church and came home with masks of a bat, I think, and a monkey. They were so cute.

After church we decided to walk down and get something to eat. We stopped at Steak and Shake since it's pretty cheap. We had to stop at Wal Mart and buy some anti-freeze because we got our oil changed at Wal Mart before we left and they were suposed to have checked our fluids but they didn't let us know that our anti-freeze was way low. Lucky for us our engine light came on before our car broke down.

Alyssa's monkey mask.

Samara's bat.

Nattie wanted the monkey mask really bad. She would get really mad if you took it away from her. She's always been independent but she's getting even more independent. SCARY!!!