The Christmas Tree skirt that wouldn't die...

Caleb and I got married 5 years ago this May. That same year I fell in love with a Pottery Barn tree skirt. As we all know, Pottery Barn is a little expensive so the $65 or $75 price tag seemed a little high for something that I would only see about a month of the year. Being the new little wifey that I was, I said to myself, "I can make that for waaay less." So in September of 2004, I started working on a tree skirt for my Christmas tree.

Well, today, April 21st, 2009, I finished it. That's right it took almost 5 years for me to finish it. Turns out, I had to hand sew the ribbon on which took forever! I would get bored or frustrated and stop working on it for a year at a time. Caleb has been randomly bringing it up since I started it too. Just every once in awhile he'd throw out a, "How's the tree skirt coming?" Sometimes in the middle of June he'd ask about it. It would make me so mad and about 2 years after I started it he told me to just go buy the thing, but I refused. In retrospect, I would've paid $100 for the stupid thing, but I had to finish it on principle alone!

So without further ado.... TADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!

Don't look too closely, cause the lines aren't all straight, and as you can see it doesn't actually even form a circle. Maybe one day I'll add some more panels, but most likely my Christmas tree will just always be in a corner. How ya like dem apples, Johnson!

We've been at my parents for almost a month now and it definitely has its perks. Caleb and I are getting lots of free babysitting which means we've gotten to go on many dates! Blythe is also enjoying having Lainie and Grampa around and will definitely miss them when we move out!

Using Grampa's new rolling cooler as a wagon. I think Grampa is enjoying this just as much, if not more, than B!

A flower planting assembly line. She got a little impatient when Gramps wasn't ready to take the flowers from her.Talking to the gnome. She was a little wary at first, but they're friends now.
Bath time in the sink.

Pretty sure this is against every safety regulation out there...

Dancing in the kitchen with Lainie.

We almost officially have a house. We close on the 27th, but that weekend is Brandon and Valera's wedding so we won't actually move until the 9th. We love the house! It's actually the house of the people who out bid us for the Woodland St house. They are friends of Em and Clay, so when they came down to tell Emily they were moving she immediately told them we would probably be interested in the house. Yes, when I say "came down to tell Emily" I mean they walked down the street. It's, I think, 5 houses down from Em and Clay and around the corner from Hayley which are HUGE perks to an already really cute house! So now I owe Em for meeting my husband and finding me a house!

Where did we go???

We are at my parents in Wylie. Today marks a week since we packed up and moved. We have, yet another, offer on a house in Denton, and should hopefully have an answer in the next couple of days. If this one doesn't work out I think we will be renting a house until we can buy something we really love.

We're trying to relax and enjoy the built in babysitting while we're here, but are looking forward to having a place of our own!

B's New Shoes

Today we went to get B's first pair of real shoes. Gramma Lainie gave us a gift certificate for Christmas, but since Blythe wasn't walking yet we waited to get fitted. She took her first steps about a month ago, but just started really walking around about a week ago. Here are some pictures of her first walk in her new shoes...

Thanks Gramma Lainie!!

Dirty Baby

Blythe spent most of the afternoon in the backyard digging in the dirt. Mama J will be so proud!
Dirt on the hands....
Dirt in the mouth...

Dirt in the air...

Dirt on the head...

Milestones

Tonight, Caleb put Blythe to bed and we sat down to watch Biggest Loser. We were talking about all the stuff going on and brought up some of the milestones we're about to hit. So I said, "I think the baby is weaned, we're going to Vegas this weekend for our first night away from her," then Caleb adds this... "and I dominated some math today."

We all have our pride points, apparently Caleb's involves his math skills. He was taking someone else's interview assessment test for a management position too. Cheater.

He would like me to add that I was watching Biggest Loser and thus he had to watch Biggest Loser, because he loves me and wants to be in the same room with me no matter what is on the TV.

After saying the sweet thing about wanting to be in the room with me, he then told me he was at least 17 times faster at the internet than I am, and also that I don't say things correctly. Jerk.

Then he made me change the above to say "at least" because he thinks he is probably more than 17 times faster. Uber-jerk.

You must admit... together, we are funny. He claims he's the only one who is funny. Super-uber-jerk.

Welcome to the Madness

We are now about 18 days from being homeless and I think it's finally starting to set in. This is effecting us differently as I'm starting to pack with a little more fervor and Caleb is trying to buy any and every house that is for sale. We still have not decided if we're moving to Denton or to Wylie so Caleb is trying to buy a house in both cities.
When we got the contract on the house, we were pretty settled on building a new home in Wylie. This was going to take 7-9 months so we needed to rent something in the mean time. Last weekend, we went looking for something to rent in Denton. We figured we could have the best of both worlds... rent in Denton for a bit before moving to Wylie. While driving around Denton we saw houses for sale on Locust, across the street from Hayley and around the corner from Em and Clay. For sale, mind you, not for rent. Next thing I know we're looking at a 1948 siding house that needs a lot of work. Probably needs to be leveled, most likely needs a new roof, and definitely needs a paint job. The lady living in it now has so much stuff shoved into the 1800 sqft that it was overwhelming. I was shocked when Caleb wanted to make an offer as he has said he didn't want to have to redo another house, but none the less, he was ready to buy it then and there. I think it was Wednesday we signed paperwork, but held off sending it because we had a couple questions about the seller's disclosure.
Thursday night we went to Wylie for Valera's birthday dinner. While there, Grammie told us that Choice Homes had declared bankruptcy. We had looked at a couple of Choice Homes in Brandon's neighborhood before settling on a different builder. So last night, Caleb is ready to buy one of those thinking we can get a really good deal. When we got home, he emailed the lady we had talked to before and talked to her on the phone today. Tomorrow we are going to see the house across the street from Brandon and Valera (after we drop off some stuff at our storage space, which is in Wylie).
Meanwhile, at around 2:30 or 3 this afternoon, he tells me to go ahead and send in the offer on the Locust street house. I have stopped asking questions. I am simply packing boxes and waiting for Caleb to decide in which location to unpack them.
He has explained it like this. Before this house had sold he was reluctant to do anything. Now he knows this house is gone it's like having a loaded weapon, and he is choosing to shoot at anything that moves.