Way to go Brewers!!

and Jets!! WOW!!! Six TD's Brett? You are awesome.

Yea, a getaway!!

Mike and I are going away for my birthday for 4 days. I told him to surprise me on the location. I knew we wouldn't be flying anywhere. So anyways, Mike told me yesterday that we are going to Mackinac Island. I had mentioned a bunch of times that I wanted to go back to Mackinac Island. I was there once 9 years ago, and once when I was really young. I am really looking forward to it!! My favorite getaways are especially fall ones to travel destinations that will have changing colors. It's going to be so nice.

Garbage cans and grass...

I love this picture I took of our grass. Mike just planted it less than 2 weeks ago, I think. It's sprouting in the front really well! The lawn is green, though it will probably take years to get a full lawn! He just planted the back last week, and we saw the first sprouts yesterday. It literally grows before your eyes! I can't believe how quickly it grows.

Hooray for garbage cans. We had ours delivered Thursday, so we can finally stop piling garbage up in the driveway.

There's not much else to say about the house...I mean, nothing has really changed since the last post. The lockers are up, but no hooks in them yet. I cleaned the laundry room because the entire countertop was misc. tools, screws, hardware, etc. I wish I could organize the rest of the house as well as the drawer in the laundry room...

I guess from here on out, this will just be Elizabeth's blog...it won't really be all about the house anymore since there isn't a whole lot going on with it.

So on my friend's blog, she made a list of possibly little known facts, so I thought that would be fun, though probably alot of them are well known!!

1. I love lima beans. I'll eat them out of the can cold.
2. I love spaghettios. I'll eat them out of the can cold, too.
3. I’ve been a vegetarian since 1988.
4. I love the smell of taco meat, polish sausage, and sloppy joes. No I won’t eat them.

5. I’m going to be 30 in less than a month, and it’s freaking me out!
6. My oldest daughter was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer 3 ½ yrs ago, and beat it.
7. My son was named after Cal Ripken, Jr.
8. My youngest daughter would’ve been named Brett if she was a boy.
9. I spend a good portion of football season in front of the television on a Sunday (watching all or parts of each game that is on!). and now Monday nights too since we have ESPN!
10. I also love baseball.
11. I don’t watch many movies.
12. I wanted to be a meteorologist when I was growing up. I still have a weather obsession.
13. I am not very adventurous. I have a fear of way too much!
14. I want my own Harley someday. first I have to get over that fear of driving a motorcycle thing...
15. I love the smell of matches, nail polish, new babies, new cars, and new houses!
16. I love music. LOVE it. Couldn’t live without it. Fave bands: Dave Matthews & Cracker, and a gazillion more. Anything 90’s, alternative, I love it.

17. I love how certain songs takes me back to a certain time/event in life (back to the love of music thing).
18.I don’t really have a favorite color.
19. I don’t think I could live without internet, and certainly I couldn’t live without a cell phone, seeing as we don’t have a landline.
20. I love scrapbooking. Duh.
21. I am the biggest procrastinator on the planet. And I am extremely inpatient.
22. In high school I was a cheerleader, on the yearbook committee and wrote for the newspaper.

23. I still have every single essay I wrote from 7th grade on. I also have numerous school papers from earlier.
24. I save way too much stuff.

25. I used to play school when I was younger with my sister, cousins, and friends. But only I could be the teacher. I guess I was kinda bossy.
26. I accidentally put my arm through a window when I was 5, and was told I would never again use my arm (Good thing though that I’m not left handed)
27.I would love to go back to school and become a pharmacist, but I don’t know if I could pull it off, nor do I think I have the energy or self motivation.
28. I worry way too much about what others think, even though I say I don’t.
29. I hold grudges forever.

30. I am definitely not the wallflower at a party.
31. I am going to see New Kids on the Block in October (was in love with Joey!).

I am sure I could come up with many more, but I'll leave it at that for now!!

One last picture for the day. First day of school...

Okay, one more. Waiting for the bus...

it's official!!

We are moved in. We are sleeping at the house!! The kids and I have been here about a week (?) I think. We just got internet here, so that's why it's been so long since I have posted. SAM is almost completely emptied, and there really aren't that many boxes (maybe 5??) in the garage awaiting a permanent place.

There's still so much work to be done, but it's nice to be home! Cal's room is almost completely in order (he is the only one with a finished closet at the moment!). He just needs curtains/shades. All of his boxes are unpacked.

The girls' room is a bit of a challenge; I've moved it around many times, and nothing seems to be right where it should be. I also have to keep in mind that another bed will be put in there (soon, hopefully!--for Maddie). Haven't really unpacked too much of their stuff.

The kitchen is pretty well in order, other than the cabinet doors that are missing (they are being worked on--on a couple he made the wrong size, on two others we are waiting for the glass to be put in them). We still need mirrors in every bathroom. I guess the biggest issue right now is the lack of window coverings!! It is REALLY bright in the morning--the kids are up when the sun rises. Our bedroom is the only room with curtains at the moment.

School starts tomorrow, I am certainly more nervous than the kids. At registration the other night a lot of kids questioned Kaycey's new hair. One girl in her class knows about the wig and said she was going to tell everyone. While that doesn't seem like too big a deal, it kind of is since Kaycey doesn't want people to know it's a wig. Not quite sure how to approach all of this...if it becomes a problem, we will send her to a different school. Cal and Kaycey start their sports for the season on Wednesday...why the rec dept. decides it's a good idea to have the sports on the same night is beyond me...it means lots of running around (their practices are at two different fields). I am hoping to find that one of the other teams happens to practice on a different night (coaches choose when to practice) and that they'll let me switch. I'd rather drive them 2 nights than try to to do it all in one night!! Maddie starts dance class on Friday, too. For now we didn't sign her up for any school. We figure she could always start at the semester...she's little, and I like having her at home!

I'll post recent pictures soon!!

MOVING DAY

well, moving week. Most of SAM is emptied out!! I was worried about everything smelling just awful, (we had moth balls in there to protect our goods!) but really, the only thing we had to air out for a few days on the porch was our mattress and boxspring (the kids beds are at my Dad & Maria's house so we don't have to worry about that).

It was like Christmas for the kids...so many of their toys were packed in SAM. Their rooms look like toy stores at the moment! We'll have to clean it up though, their beds are coming tonight!! I put all the toys in their rooms, because the 3rd bedroom carpeting wasn't completed (will be today though). So tonight we'll actually be able to do more arranging of the rooms with dressers and beds there. I have spent hours at the house this week getting kitchen boxes unpacked, and there isn't a whole lot left to unpack for the kitchen. As of right now, I have so many empty cabinets and drawers!! I haven't put anything in the island drawers, and there is nothing in the cabinets above the fridge, ovens, or microwave. I don't think I'll ever fill all the cabinets!

The only *bad* news to report is that the "wonderful" painter we hired to paint the woodwork is now attempting to sue us for not paying him the rest of what we owe him. He won't get far with it; I took about 50 pictures of his awful work, so there's plenty of proof, and actually if you walk around the house you can still see the evidence everywhere. Here are some "highlights" of the job he did. As you can see, he did not cover the walls or windows the way he was supposed to.

The faucet in our shower covered in paint splatter

cabinet in our bathroom sprayed with paint

Cal's bedroom walls (almost every wall in the house looked similar to this)

One of the windows with splashes of paint (any room with a window that he painted, has paint on the windows)

By the way, while the mantle has been stained, most agree it should've been white. Add that to the list of things to do : ) I knew it should've been white all along!! Mike is working on the closets so we have a place to hang our clothes!

Today the runner will be put on the stairs, and last bedroom and closet is getting carpeted (somehow they miscalculated the carpeting and had to get more)

We have the Make a Wish walk on Saturday. It's our 4th year as a team (we've been participating as a team ever since the year Kaycey was diagnosed with cancer). If you'd like to join our team please email me!!! We'd love to see you there!!!

Or go to our team site to sign up or donate!! Thank you!! https://www.kintera.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=278005&lis=1&kntae278005=A516B60E2A3D4AB8A88ED666605C3686&supId=0&team=2837278&cj=Y