What a difference a week makes

A couple of weeks ago we stopped by the house to see that the cement has been poured and we have a basement! Here's Brian and the boys standing by our future front door.

The boys were more interested in climbing the huge dirt piles. They were filthy!

Then, last Monday (October 3) we stopped by and were excited to find a floor!

...and a basement! However, a snake jumped down from the rafters in the basement (not kidding) and totally freaked me out. It was the biggest "garter snake" I've ever seen. And it was in MY house!

Then Wed. afternoon, Brian snuck over to the house after work and sent this pic to my phone. I was in the middle of a meeting and nearly gasped out loud. So exciting! So much progress in just 2 days!

Friday afternoon we signed papers at the title office to close on the lot. Then we had a chance to venture out as a whole family to inspect the progress. My mom and grandparents came along too. We arrived to a fully framed house and roof!

No snakes this time. :)

We also found out our official address... 6879 Yosemite Ct.

Home Sweet Home!

Another Thomas Fan & Dad Retires

And the tradition continues for the Beckham family...boy #2 loves Thomas too.

Boy #1 has moved on to Star Wars and lightsabers.

In other news, my dad retired from the BPW (Board of Public Works) last Friday after working there for 35 years! He was employed there the same year I was born...crazy!

On Sunday we had a retirement open house for dad in the basement of their church. It was a fun time and good to see people that we haven't seen in several years.

Congratulations Dad! Thank you for all your hard work and commitment to your family and your job. We wish you a happy retirement and hope you have lot of more time for playing with your grandbabies!

Maybe even some long walks on the beach! :)

The Big House and Other Mini-Milestones

A couple of weeks ago Brian and Sam attended the first U of M football game of the season at the Big House! Sam has been begging to go for awhile now and we figured this year he might be able to handle sitting through a whole game. As it turns out, he didn't have to sit through all 4 quarters since the game got cancelled late in the 3rd due to a thunderstorm. First time ever in the history of Michigan football. Despite the rain, my boys had a blast and made a special father/son memory. Go Blue!

Bright and early getting ready to head to Ann Arbor in their maize and blue.

Tailgating before the game.

Eyes covered walking into the Big House...

Whoa! Cool!

Sam & his daddy

Look who found them! Sam's old babysitter Jillian, a U of M student, surprised them with a quick visit! Sam was so happy to see her!

In other news....

Our Star Wars fanatic lost his top two teeth in the last two weeks...cutest little beaver smile I ever did see!

And... somebody had a birthday...

Happy 36th Daddy!

And finally...

This little cutie patootie got his own bike today!

I spied it at Dittos last week but didn't buy it. Daddy couldn't take it anymore and snuck out tonight and grabbed it. Carter was ecstatic and kept yelling "Thanks Dad!"

The boys are loving the nice fall weather and being able to ride bikes in our long driveway. We're doing our best to soak up every last minute of warm weather before the #$%^ comes. (No worries, I'm not swearing, but just don't want to say that evil winter word that rhythms with "grow").

HOLE!

Remember this?

Now it looks like this....

Woo hoo! Today was dig day! We've got a hole!

We were sort of shocked by how much work was done by the time we arrived. I guess I was literally just expecting a big ole dirt hole, but the forms? (I think that's what they're called) were already being installed and we could actually see the layout of our house. It was so surreal and exciting! I guess there's no turning back now. Sorry mom. :)

Big First Day!

Yesterday Sam started 2nd grade...how can it be?! He looks so grown up. Mama doesn't like that he won't stop growing up. He even lost another tooth the night before.

Here he is in my classroom hanging out before school started. Not the least bit nervous, just takin' it in stride like he does with everything else. I asked him at breakfast, "So Sam are you nervous?" His response, "No, why? Am I suppose to be?" :)

It was also my first day of school. I'm still teaching part-time, but I changed my hours this year from 11:00-2:45. So on a normal day I will drop Sam off at the bus stop around 8:00, then head back home for snuggle time with Carter. Head to school around 10:30 and be done by 2:45. Get my lesson plans done, etc. for the next day and then when Sam is done with school at 3:45, we can head out right away. Yesterday was first day with the new schedule and I LOVE it!!

Carter wanted his picture taken too. He looks so tiny, but next year he starts preschool. Supposedly. I think I may boycott it and keep him all to myself!

After dropping Sam off at school, Brian and I headed to H-town for our last preconstruction meeting and finalized all our decisions. At the end of the meeting, the builder took us out to our lot and we walked the property one more time and he took this pic of our little family, minus Sam.

In the last week, we ended up changing out lot. Long story short, we are now on the corner of a cul-de-sac and I am so much happier with the lot. Like I'm giddy every time I think about it! I love the idea of my boys being able to ride bikes and scooters and shoot hoops out in the street without worrying about safety issues. It's a really pretty lot with a nice tree lined backdrop. There are several kids in the neighborhood too and I just feel like it's where we're meant to be. I love how God always works things out for our good! Feeling so blessed!

Good-Bye Home Sweet Home

Yup, I'm finally posting something! Clearly, I'm WAY behind, so I'm just going to jump in and start with a review of the last week. Maybe at some point I'll catch up on all the fun things that happened since Easter, but for now...the big news is...WE FINALLY SOLD OUR HOUSE!

After 10 years of living at 824 Pine Ave., we sold our little beloved home. The last few weeks have been a crazy blur of packing, garage sailing, making big decisions about our next home, and saying "good-byes" to our favorite neighbors. It's been a bittersweet time... reiminecing about the place where we shared our first two years as a single married couple, to raising our babies here. A lot of blood, sweat and tears was poured into this place to make it not just a house, but our home. The last 10 years have brought lots of ups and downs and unexpected changes to our life, both good and bad, and it's all happened right here at 824 Pine. If these walls could talk! But, it was time to close that chapter and move onto the next. We had no idea what that might look like and just prayed that God would make the next step clear and He did...as typical, in a way that we did not anticipate or expect. Instead of buying a new home, we are planning to build a home... in Hudsonville! It is an exciting process and we've already bought the lot, met with the architect, and this week we meet with the interior designer to make all the color and materials selections...I'm so anxious for this meeting. I LOVE interior design, but it's so many decision to make all in one day! I'm sure there will be many more posts to come on the building process, but let's back up and recap the moving day experience... to our current residence... a big old wonderful rental house in downtown Holland. Enjoy all the pics!

MOVING DAY

My man and my daddy

My studly brother Jon

Need a little help, Jon? :)

Jon lent us his trailer and it came in mighty handy! We loaded this baby up several times and slowly moved into the rental. It took about a week, but that's how I roll... one thing at a time...no need to rush.

GOOD BYE 1st HOME...

On our last day of occupancy, I had one final garage sale with my girlfriend Cory. It might have been the hottest, muggiest day of the summer, but we're troopers. All in all, I made over $800 between my garage sales and Craigslist! Woohoo...all to be used on a new washer/drier.

It was almost dark by the time we had every last iota out of the house and the rain was starting to pour, but we spent some time as a family walking through our empty house for the last time...taking videos and pictures, sharing stories about memories of each room. It was a bittersweet time and I cried, of course. At one point, Sam perceptively asked, "Mom, are you crying because you're happy AND sad?" "Yup, you got it buddy."

Here's pics of our empty home...

Basement Rec. Room

Laundry Room

(oh, how I will NOT miss you Dungeon)

Toy Room

Living Room

Kitchen

Master Bedroom

Sam's Bedroom

Carter's Bedroom

(our bedroom for the 1st seven years)

My cuties sweating it out...it was so crazy hot that night!

HELLO Temporary Home

So far, we are loving our new adventure at our downtown home. Such a different environment than what we are used to, but we've enjoyed being able to bike downtown and to the library, ride big wheels up and down the long flat driveway, and mow the lawn in less than 5 minutes!

Front porch...toy area

Front porch...sitting area

Living Room

Dining Room (finally!!)

Kitchen (love this island!)

The boys love eating breakfast and nighttime snacks at the island. Here's Carter loving his chocolate covered ice cream cone. What a mess!

Back porch...finally got me a mudroom!!!

Master Bedroom

(Our "landlords" left all furniture upstairs, so we now sleep in a kingsize bed! Love it!)

Sam's Bedroom. He loves the loft and glow in the dark star wall.

Carter's cute little nature room. He finally has his own toddler bed!

Such a big boy

(picture curtesy of Samuel Beckham)

While leaving our first home was hard, in just one short week, we already feel right at home here in our temporary home. It just goes to show that "home" is not the house, it's where your family is. And I love my family! Can't wait to continue this journey with my 3 favorite people.