Happy New Year!!

The first night out with adults and no kids in a very long time! I spent it with these pretty cool peeps.

The kids spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma had a banana split party so the kids were super happy.

It was a great start to a new year! No resolutions. Just trusting the Lord to lead us.

Merry Christmas!

We were fairly busy between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Eric was finishing up his job in Kansas and i was busy trying to get in a routine and finish all my Christmas shopping. Eric made it home, we had a beautiful tree, the kids got a trampoline that fits nicely in our fenced yard,

and it snowed. My parents

and Wes were able to come and spend the day which was nice. A Nook

and a GREAT new lens for my camera so i can get back to taking pictures for you guys were just a few of my awesome gifts.

You can tell by the looks of my livingroom the we all had a great Christmas.

The next morning we packed up and headed to Dothan. More Christmas and more family time. I think the kids thought Eric got the best gift of all, a can of Flart. You can imagine what it did.

A little playtime with Papa,

and a visit with Mawmaw and Robbie Dear (Mawmaw wouldn't let me take a picture) then we headed back home.

We were excited to get back and find Melissa waiting for us. They all went straight to the trampoline!

No wonder they think she is so cool. Ha. It was a great first Christmas season in our new home.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was spent at my Grandparents. It usually is but that is a whole other story. I was very glad to be close by this year so we could go and spend the holiday with the rest of the family. I enjoyed spending Thanksgiving at home with Eric and the kids but it was not the same. Like every year at Thanksgiving i am thankful for my family. We have all made it to another year and all are in good health. Our house, the fact that Eric has a good job, nice cars, good clothes, most everything we want, well, that is just blessings gravy.

What is Thanksgiving with out a little family football?

When the day is done, everyone needs a back massage.

Long time....

I, like most of my blogger buddies, took the holidays off. Okay, so "buddies" might be a stretch but i know one or two that didn't blog. "Holidays" at my house means from November until February. The actually holidays and time before to prepare and time after to recuperate. Ha. I have been so busy here. Life is already wild and with Eric gone i have almost no time to do the things i love the most. When he is home i take in a good book, sleep, soak in my fabulous jacuzzi (my first and i am in love.....), work on getting the house organized or just enjoy my time with him and the kids. Blogging just has to wait.

I do want to get caught up and back on our regular schedule. So here goes. My last post was when we bought our house. A very exciting time for us. As a housewarming gift to Eric i rallied my fam and we moved all our furniture from storage and into the house so when Eric arrived from Kansas we could enjoy. Yes, i am awesome (and so is my family). I think Eric's parents helped the most, they took all four kids for the weekend. My parents painted a few of the ugly walls as a housewarming gift and so when Eric arrived to painting and an unpacked house he was seriously relieved.

Ella started her new school. It was her third first grade class. She was a trooper. She has a great teacher and is doing fabulous. She reads on a second grade level, i wish she was doing as well in math. :)

Uncle Wes came and broke in the back yard with his dirt bike. Now i know why my kids think he is so cool.

We had our first visitors from Canada and Ella make quick friends with her cousin Savannah.

We made friends with our neighbors. The kids have playmates and are nearly inseparable. It is amazing the ideas that they come up with. Yes, that is John in my bathrobe. :)

And lastly, we added two more to our family. Yes, i am crazy but how could i say no to these two faces. Aubie (big orange) had to find a new home because his owner was moving. He had pretty much had a house to himself with no other indoor animals so coming to our house with two dogs, a kitten, and four small kids was a pretty big shock. The first few days were hard but he adjusted and now is the sweetest thing. He still gets a little skiddish but we can live with that. I hate that his purrer is broken. You have to put your ear to his chest to hear him purr. On the other hand, Alley, the little one my Mom brought me from an alley in Clanton, she purrs and sounds like a chainsaw. She likes to sleep under the covers at night and starts purring before she even gets on the bed. We do love them and they are a great addition to our family.

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.