Homeowners

Friday, November 5th, I went and closed on our home. I was more than ready. Until i saw the stack of papers i had to sign, for myself and Eric.

Eric couldn't be here so i had Power of Attorney.That meant for every place he had to sign, i had to write "Eric A. Brackin by Whitney F. Brackin his Attorney-in-fact". My hand hurt on page one. I made it through.

However, the attorney had not recieved the last signed document from the seller she needed to make it final. So i left with the keys but it wasn't quite a done deal.

I said thank you a hundred times and goodbye to the greatest realtor. She was wonderful through the entire process. Thanks again Mrs. Peggy.

I went and put the water in my name and then went to pick up the boys from their "guy day" with Uncle Wes. I made a quick dash into Old Navy for some warm clothes since they would be outside for the Peanut Festival. New clothes in the suitcases and the kids were off for a fun filled weekend at Nana and Papa's. After i dropped them off i headed back to Alabaster to start cleaning. Kim came and helped me clean too. We took a break and took in the Christmas Village with Mom and then we pretty much sat around and talked about where to put everything. Kim did way more cleaning than i did. All in all it was a blissful weekend. We were officially homeowners, i had a break from the kids, some shopping with the bestie and my Mom and dinner with the whole fam (that includes the bestie). This weekend, moving with the hubby and kids. Should be even better than last weekend. :)

House Update

Our house is still sitting there, unoccupied. It has been a roller coaster. Being a first time home buyer may give me more gray hair than the kids. Ha. Once our offer was accepted we went through the inspection, then the appraisal, and then the loan process. Everything has gone well. Just slow. This is a lesson in patience for me. Mom and Dad are getting a lesson in patience as well. God bless wonderful parents that will allow me to come home with my 4 kids and two dogs. We have taken over their home. Mom has been a great help and at this point the home buying process is moving too slow for both of us. HA. Anyway, back to my blog. It seemed like every other day the bank needed something signed or another statement or financial document and then we were set. Well, we were set until the taxes came back and the house had not been homesteaded and were double what we all anticipated. So after sending more financial paperwork and shuffling we were set. Well, until they couldn't audit my taxes. Why do they want my taxes?? I haven't worked in years. If they had Eric's they had mine. I like to ride on his coat tail. :)We were going to close last Thursday....okay, Friday....wait, Monday. When i had not heard anything by Monday at lunch i start to panic and call my realtor and the bank. Turns out the 2008 taxes had my maiden name on them so i had to resign papers using my maiden name and by Tuesday morning all of our paperwork was being sent to the closing attorney. Friday at 11:00a.m. i will be going to get our keys, and sign a million papers. I am so excited but now all i can think about is how to get the house cleaned, painted and moved before Eric gets home next weekend. He has already called to tell me he did not want to spend four days moving furniture. Me either Honey. He can be so thoughtful sometimes. HA! Did you see i said paint? Yes, again how great are my parents. Housewarming gift, having some things i dislike painted by real painters. LOVE it! Now to pick the colors. I am more than thrilled. This lesson has been a true testament to how faithful God has been to us. Houses fell through, i have been frustrated and stressed all to find that if i just let go God will provide what we need and bless us with more than we could have imagined. Our house is a dream. Thanks be to God for all the blessings.

Happy Halloween...for real

Halloween started out like any other Sunday would. A wonderful church service and then home for lunch and a few minutes to share with Eric before we leave to take him back to the airport. Of course the traffic was heavy so i was late getting back to mom and dad's so we could go to the churches Fall Family Night. Wes had come down to see the kids so he, mom, dad and the boys left for the church while i finished getting Ella ready. It took me just a minute to get her face painted and her "antennae" fixed.

They had a hayride, bounce houses, trunk-or-treat, cotton candy,

hot dogs, popcorn,

and games. The kids loved it all.

We all took our turn with Uncle Wes' i mean Super Mario's stache.

Then when we got home the kids dove into their candy and took their pictures with their pumpkins.

Finally the REAL Halloween was over. I always like it better looking back on it. Another busy weekend and fun Halloween.

Happy Halloween...Saturday

I finished up my pumpkins and Eric and I took the kids to the Humane Society's Adopt or Treat event. The kids love the animals and it was a good time to show Eric where we go spend our time ( and introduce him to a few soon-to-be new members of our family). We painted the kids faces for the outing. Seemed fitting.

We got home in time to get dressed and trick or treat the neighbors before it go to late. Apparently, our neighbors aren't used to kids living on the street. One house was handing out candy. THat is okay, she loaded them down. I guess she didn't expect any more kids to come by. She was correct. We only had one trick or treater. We made the best of it and Eric got to see them dressed. Off to bed they still had another day of Halloween to celebrate.

Happy Halloween...Friday

I finally picked up our pumpkins.

Next step, cleaning them all out. I made the kids help with this step.

Every year i carve a pumpkin for each kid to match their costume. I keep telling myself i am not going to do it but yet another year comes and i carve pumpkins. I am OCD and the kids are not allowed to touch until i am done but they do love them. This year, a butterfly, Buzz Lightyear, Woody, and a tractor for the farmer. Yes, i do use templates or clip art to make a pattern. I make it as easy as possible. This is how they turned out.

After cleaning out the pumpkins we gave our face painting a test run. It is part of Ella's costume so i thought i better get the hang of it before Halloween got here. After the kids were in bed i picked Eric up from the airport. Yea!

The great armadillo hunt

Notice the pool in the background. Putting the pool in meant taking out all the grass in the backyard. Of course, when the pool was in Dad starting buying sod. I think we all feel like pro sod layers since we have laid a hundred palettes over the years. Anyway, it looked beautiful until the armadillo started digging holes in the brand new sod. Armadillo are nothing new. They have been harassing Mom and Dad for awhile. However, while we were away and Wes was home they ran across one and once it was...... extinguished, they found a second one. Somehow it ended up in the pool and after a few minutes they fished it out but it was too late. Two in one night. I think my Dad thought he had conquered the armadillo. Well, until the holes in the sod showed up. Side note: Wes's version of the armadillo massacre is hilarious. Sad but still funny.

Now that Dad realizes the armadillo are seeking revenge and the kids are here he makes it a teaching moment. How to catch an armadillo. My Mom had taken the kids out to the woods to look for the hole they live in. Mom and the kids googled information about armadillo and even looked up you tube videos. The only thing left for Dad to teach them was how to catch one in a trap. They set the trap.

We wait. Every morning Jack checks. No armadillo. We wait. More than a month goes by. Still nothing. Jack starts to lose interest and at the point only checks the trap occasionally. I guess he didn't like the disappointment.

Yesterday as we went through our daily routine i noticed Jack playing on PBSKids.com. I am not anti-computer at all especially when they are playing educational game. I do like to limit the time they spend so i kick him off. He hops out of the chair and says can o go check the trap. I say sure why not. All I hear is screaming "WE CAUGHT THE ARMADILLO (followed by John's "it's a armadiwa") WE DID! WE CAUGHT IT!" I go out and in the trap is a big armadillo. I can Dad and tell him to come get it. They are creepy looking things. While we waited we did what anyone does when they catch a wild animal took pictures

and of course we had to feed it. I would hate to send it to a new home hungry.

Dad arrived and told the boys they had caught the "Grandaddy" , meaning it was a big armadillo. The boys took it literally. We looked at him for a few more minutes and then Dad told the kids to tell Arnold the armadillo goodbye. Dad showed them the "big hunter" pose.

Jack didn't like the name Arnold though. So, he was named Clark the Grandaddy armadillo and bid farewell. He was released and we felt good about that.