Real progress

Tuesday and Thursday of this week Scott and I went to the design center to pick out everything that will go in our home. The experience was amazing!  We picked everything from brick color to light fixtures and everything in between.  Somehow it really seems like ours now.  The next step is our builder's meeting, which will happen in the next 30 days or less. After that, construction begins!  Our sales rep, Keith, says that with how quickly we're taking care of everything we may close in March or early April.  We are so excited!  (Below is a picture of most of the things we've picked out - some stuff looks a little different in the picture than in person.  Guess you'll just have to see it in person!)  My mom still can't believe that we'll be in a house before our 2nd anniversary - I was feeling the same way, but now it is starting to feel incredibly real.

Work has really been picking up for Scott.  Actually, that's an understatement.  He probably worked 70 hours this week, even with the 2 mornings we were at the design center.  As for me, the kids have been crazy this week.  The bad weather has kept them from going outside and made them stir-crazy.  Then, since today was Friday AND the day before Halloween, they were flat out insane!  Good thing a lot of them got picked up early!

Tonight, a friend of ours invited us to go to a Stars game with him at the American Airlines Center.  Scott hadn't been in quite some time and I had never been.  It was awesome!  The Stars lost 6-5 against the Florida Panthers in a shootout, but it was still a great game. This week has been crazy and we look forward to a (hopefully) quiet evening at home tomorrow.  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Letting it sink in...

I had been waiting to post an update until I had all the pictures from our Reed family reunion downloaded, but I'm still waiting on Scott to do that for me (he'd rather do the ones from his camera - probably so I won't mess it up).  It rained most of the time we were there (thank goodness for the pavilion) so we weren't able to play volleyball or anything.  The guys still managed to throw the football around while the little ones decided to get drenched in the rain.  My cousin that I hadn't seen in at least 6 years was there - we had been best friends when we were little and it was so good to see her again!  And we finally got to meet her kids!  We had the entire side of our family there - aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, and all.  It was so great to have everyone together again.
Now for the big news.  As I had posted before, Scott and I have been house hunting since September 27th with the idea that we would figure out exactly what we wanted and then buy a house after the first of the year.  Well, October 10th, after looking at quite a few houses with our Realtor, we found a new neighborhood that is still building and happens to have exactly what we want and need in our price range.  After looking at the different homes they have we went home and thought about what we wanted to do.  One week later we signed a contract to start construction on our house!!  We made an offer on the house with upgrades and it was approved Sunday!  We bought a house!!  Scott and I will be in our home by March!  It all happened so fast, it's still hard to believe.  Our home will be in McKinney at Virginia and Custer.  It is a perfect little one story with 3 bedrooms, study, dining, family room, breakfast area, and, of course, a big kitchen! They will break ground next month and pictures will be posted as we have progress.  We are so unbelievably excited! 

Staying busy

The last week has been crazy!  I'm doing my best to make sure I keep this updated.  Saturday (the 26th) we took Harley to her first private training session - wow, what a difference!  This time it went so smoothly; we were really relieved.  The instructor told us that Harley is really smart and catches on quickly, she just had a major problem with barking in the group setting.  After class we went to dinner at Olive Garden (my fave) with Scott's parents and grandma in Dallas.  We were celebrating Grandma's 91st birthday!  It was so good to see her and spend time with them.

Sunday was so many things - exhausting, exciting, overwhelming, amazing.  We met with our realtor for the first time and began the house-hunting adventure.  We have found 2 houses we like so far and will be looking again in a week.  I still can't believe it's happening!  It's hard enough to believe we've been married over a year and now we're looking for a house!  Of course, now that we've started looking every little thing about apartment life is starting to bug us... we can't wait for Harley to have a yard and to not have people stomping on our ceiling at all hours.

After the greatness that was this past weekend, Monday brought a little stress and chaos at work.  As everyone knows flu season is upon us.  Well, we've had a small flu outbreak at the elementary school where I work, including some H1N1 (aka swine flu).  A tad nerve-wracking for me for 2 reasons: 1- I have 91 kiddos in my program, 2 - I have a practically non-existent immune system.  Thankfully I have not gotten the flu.  Scott and I seem to be getting colds, but we'll take that over the flu!

We are really excited the weekend is almost upon us, grateful to have made it through this week.  Friday night we get to see Scott's college/Corps buddies.  Saturday we are driving to Waco for a Reed family reunion, driving home Saturday evening and watching the Texas A&M game on TV.  Sunday we hope to see some of Scott's family who will be here for the A&M v. Arkansas game at the Cowboys Stadium.  We both took Monday off of work so we can recover.  We have a very blessed life!  Hope everyone has had a great week and enjoys the coming weekend!

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." - Abraham Lincoln -