Wedding part 1.

So we all headed down south (well more south) this past weekend to the ATL to celebrate my sisters wedding and if there was one thing I came back with it was itchy eyes. Now if that was from all the crying or the cold I caught I'm not sure but I will say it was absolutely wonderful and I know I had a blast. Over the next few posts I'll share with you pictures. With the one below being one of the first I've seen. This was taken during Daddy's toast where I don't think there was a dry eye in the house.

I'll be waiting to get more pics as my camera seems to have gone MIA. So if anyone found it let me know!

Bachelorette Plans part 1

One of the things that I've been working on lately (besides the house) is my sister's wedding, in particular the Bachelorette Bash. So I thought as things come together and without giving any suprises away I would share some things that I have done for this. Today's post is the Invites. I dropped these in the mail this week and figure about now people (at least us east coasters) have started to receive them. They turned out even better than I anticipated.

The trellis design is one of my favorite and we had matching return labels made (which of course I ordered an extra sheet of). With only two weeks to go I'm really getting excited and I'll defintly be sharing things once the big day arrives.

The Backyard

Good news! Our backyard is almost complete. About a month ago we had the sod laid in the backyard which was wonderful. It also had the added bonus of providing entertainment for the kids for the day. Then we had a ton of rain and discovered some spots where it wasn't raining.

So, up can the sod out vame the diggers and they leveled out the spots. On top of that, we discovered that the tallest pine in our woods was in fact dead and being propped up by the other trees. This most likely this happened during on of the 3 wind/ tornado things we've had in the past few months. So out came more diggers and here are the pictures.

Once the grass has finally settled, we'll get the swing set up and start using this big ol' backyard.

Tomatoes

For those of you whom I've talked to in the past few days. I've probably already told you this because it's been my lead in story for at least 48 hours, so I apologize in advance.
Our neighbor has a tomato garden and this past weekend he brought over some tomatoes for us, and I made myself a Caprese salad the other day and it was AWESOME. So until I get house pictures together I thought I would entertain you with pictures of our tomatoes which I've been eating non-stop since.

Tornado Alley

Sunday after my parents came up we were once again running from tornados luckily other than a warning nothing much happened. However; when Trip heard the word tornado he immeadiatly took cover.

The mess that is my kids

One of our must haves for this new house was a playroom. After having toys in every room of our last house we were not going to build a new house only to have toys everywhere. I am well awaare that there are differnt schools of thought on this subject but our design style is not toddler influenced, thus the playroom.
This is how it began

Then we moved in and in a course of about an hour the kids had all of their toys out and it looked like this

So it immediately became apparent that we needed storage for all this so I hit the Walmart and started shopping. And returned with boxes and shelves and buckets.
So I lined up the boxes

And started sorting

Sometimes the mess looks worse before it looks better

Then I built these shelves. Which totally gave me flash backs to Clemson Place.

And loaded them up

Then in the brown toy box I put all the giant baby toys that they no longer play with but are to expensive to throw out but we a keeping with the plan to have one more at some point, (this is a theme carried out through out the house.)
The pink is dress up clothes and is super light so I can get it out when Caroline wants it but other wise its not taking up any playspace.

Now that the room was cleared out I had room to build the "more attractive" shelves.

And then loaded everything back in.

The glider has since met it's fate in the name of Craigslist. But in it's place we found the kids guitar and piano. The red baskets were under Trip's crib in the last house. And the yellow buckets on top of the shelves I got in the garden center for $0.50 a piece and hold the kids art supplies.

Big Boy beds

One of the big milestones that happened a midst this move was the kids moved out of their cribs into big kid beds. When Trip was born friends of ours gave us their crib for him, this crib however was not a convertible crib like Caroline's so we had to get a bigger bed for Trip.
Enter my parent's to save the day!!! We managed to liquidate the bunk beds that all three of us slept on as children (with mattresses) from my parents.

They look great. We opted to make them twin beds instead of bunks because the kids have a playroom and this way I didn't have to worry about unsupervised babies climbing in the middle of the night.

We have moved.I

I'm a little late on this but I've been in unpacking hell for the past to weeks. But we have moved. It took 3 days (day one the townhouse, day 2 the movers, day 3 the Bierie's). But we are here and almost unpacked.

I can see the light

One of the things that became apparent to Kevin and I early on was how ugly the contractor grade fixtures were. We actaully have 2 ceiling lights in our foyer that don't match. Drives me nuts. So I've been hunting for fixtures and came across what might be one of the best deals we;ve found so far.

Price Tag $30.
Originally we thought to put it in the dining room but now we think its going to go in the kitchen. We'll see.

Stick a fork in it

We closed today!!!!!

I can't express how happy I am about this but our house is complete. We've signed the papers and have the keys!

From here on out I'll be sharing with yall our organizing, unpacking and decorating projects.

Mother Nature's Conspiracy

Here we are with a week less to move in. At this point we have been in this limbo for 9 months (since Kevin took the position) 11 months (since the job process began). In this time we endured multiple snow storms and Blizzards, a Tornado, Extreme High winds, record heat and record cold, flash flooding, an earthquake and possibly this weekend a tornado. But so far we've made it, fingers crossed we make it through these next few days! I can't wait to finally be HOME!

The House is finished.

The house is finished. We had our pre-closing walk through this morning. This is where we walk through with out Construction manager and point out all of the flaws, the crazy person inside of me definitely enjoyed this, I can't help it. (This probably explains while I would not make a great teacher as I would most likely gleefully point out mistakes to my students). So minus a few touch ups and another thorough cleaning we are all set to close one week from today.
Here are some photos to wet you appetite and soon we'll have pictures with furniture.

Living room. Looking out onto the back yard.

View from the front door looking and the newly stained steps.

Completed exterior. Don't those garage doors look nice.

Today's pictures are of the kitchen. At this point the house is pretty close to done. They are just painting and putting odds and ends in. I could share with you hundreds of drywall pictures but a) they boring b) it would take a lot of explaining on what each picture is.
The kitchen; however, is more exciting and a place that was EXTREMELY important to me in the house buying process. Our last house did not have a very functional kitchen, not to mention a very finiky oven and very little counter space. I have high hopes for this kitchen, so that maybe I can start baking more regularly (our old over prevented this)and just enjoying my time in the kitchen again. So without further ado... our kitchen...

THe view of our kitchen from the island.

Our island. This is taken from the corner so the breakfast nook is straight out from the island and the living room is on the left where the step ladder is. And an additional bonus is our bar stools a the correct height for this island.

Another view. The door you see is the laundery room. This wall backs up to the garage so the garage entry is just around the corner. Here you also see our beautiful stainless appliances and my big ol' kitchen sink.

And last one. This is the wall that the oven, fridge and microwave will go on. They are now in I just don't have a picture.

12 Days til Moving Day!!!

2.5 Weeks, Shopping til we drop.

So the house is almost finished. It's crazy to think how close we are at this point. My goal is to get over there this weekend and get pictures taken. At this point were getting everything together and doing lots of shopping, Our goal is to be unpacked (atleast downstairs) by September 3rd. Yes pray for us on sunday.
All of this craziness has been compounded by C-line's broken foot. It is minor but if has definitly slowed us down.
I did fortunatly get a chance to get out and about and experience the shops that Asheville and Hendersonville had to offer. I didn't find much, but my favorite discovery was this painting. The second I saw it I thought of Kev and III. If not for the price I definitly would have found a spot for it in the new house.

We can make it rain on our own

Today we got our irrigation system. For those of you who haven't heard this story we did not sign up for one but were pleasantly surprised when during our drywall meeting our builder pointed out where it would go. So in the words of my husband "We're living right". I took the kids over to watch the diggers. I'm sure the workmen thought we were checking up on them but really its 100 degrees outside today and our activities our limited, but the kids loved it.
Also rumor has it we will get our close date on Monday!!! And even better it's supposed to be an August date!

Finished on the outside

The house is finised on the outside. And really coming along on the inside. Actually this image in now a couple days behind, so I'll have to get out there and get another one soon. All that is left on the outside is Garage doors and painting the front door.
As for the inside we have walls that are primed and as of yesterday all of our cabinets have been installed. It's very exciting to really see it come together now.

We're here!

We have officially reached Belmont. After an exhausting few days of packing and then moving, Kevin and I both felt like we had been through the ringer.

We then drove down to Gastonia to retrieve the kids, (Their Grandparents took them for a few days so we could get packed and moved without them underfoot.) and headed to the Beach! We had a blast. It was great chance for us to just be together with no to do list and no Kevin always on the road. While there we did all sorts of fun things, really spent most of our time on the beach and celebrating the 4th of July.

On Wednesday it was back to the real world. So we headed back and spent a couple of days in Gastonia living on Kevin's parents couch until our rental was ready, but now it is and we are moved in!
In housing news, we had our pre-drywall meeting on Wednesday where we got a chance to walk through the house. This was exciting for me as this was the first time I saw the house in person since I saw the lot when we bought it. Once drywall goes up we are just 6 weeks away! Siding also goes up this week and I'll post pictures once we've got those!

Approaching the end

We are approaching the end of our time here in Raleigh. Only one week left til the movers come to take it all away. Last weekend was my Birthday and Father's day for Kevin. Kevin's Father's day present was 4 days of an empty house and mine was a trip to the beach with plenty of baby holders and lots of wonderful gifts, including spending money for Charlotte's (one of my favorite stores here in Raleigh) and a new purse from my husband.
On the house front we have windows, a roof and interior stairs.

It's coming along so quickly. In the meantime I have continued my hunt for items for the new house I'd like to have as much as possible done before Tuesday so I don't have to worry about moving it myself. So if anyone knows a great place for 6 x9 rugs let me know!

And so it begins...

Well, for everyone who's been living under a rock. It's official. We are moving to Belmont. Our house in Raleigh finally sold and we are building a house in Belmont.
I'm starting this so everyone can keep up with the move instead of me send emails and texts and bad phone descriptions.
We have already broken ground and the building has begun. This picture is where we are as of today. Looks like we won't be living in no man's land for long.