October Give Away!!!!

I just can't wait any longer! I have to announce the October give away!

Remember, all of the adorable Halloween tutu ideas from yesterday? Well, you get a chance to win one for your little girl!

Here's how to enter:

1) Follow my blog. (1 entry)

2) Tweet about this give away. (1 entry per tweet).

3) Send an email blast about the give away. (1 entry per email)

4) Blog about the give away. (2 entries)

5) Purchase an item from my site (5 entries per item).

6) Refer a friend to follow the blog (1 entry per friend)

7) Go to my website and tell me your favorite hair bow (1 entry).

8) Tell me what tutu you would choose! (1 entry) (Don't worry, you can change your mind when you win!)

Please leave a comment for each entry, and please leave your email address in at least one of your comments, so I can make sure I'm able to get a hold of you.

The winner will receive 1 tutu skirt of their choice, made w/ their specific waist and length measurements. The tutu will feature 1-2 color options and 1-2 embellishments where applicable. If you have another idea for your tutu, please let me know and you will get it!

Shipping will be FREE!

Entries will be accepted from September 28, 2009 until October 12, 2009. Winner will be announced on October 13th.

Good luck!

Eat at Chilli's- Support St. Jude's

Eat at Chilli's on Monday 9/28 and support St. Jude's.

100% of Chilli's profits will go toward St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis.

Look here for more information.

Halloween Tutu's!

Halloween is just a few weeks away! I'm so excited for Halloween for two reasons: 1) we have a home football game that day and it's youth day- Gretchen will probably get to chase Charlie the Cardinal and 2) it will be Gretchen's first time dressing up for Halloween and trick-or-treating!

Last year, Gretchen was 8 months old on Halloween. She had an adorable little outfit, but since Halloween was in the middle of the week, I decided it would be more fun for us to stay home and pass out candy. She loved crawling over to the door to great the children, and cried when they left.

I still haven't decided what Gretchen will be for Halloween, but I have a few ideas! Right now, my top two contenders are a ladybug, or a pumpkin. But, I do know that she will be wearing a tutu this Halloween. Although, I still can't decide between a tutu skirt or a tutu halter dress- I guess that will all depend on what she will actually be!

I have SEVERAL other ideas for your little trick-or-treater! How about an adorable tutu skirt or halter, to girly up the regular costumes! Put your little goblin in an adorable hand made tutu, that no other child on the block will have! Your child's Halloween costume will be custom made to fit her, and can be worn for dress up or other parties throughout the year!

Check out all of the ideas:

-Ladybug (red w/ hand sewn black sequins)
- Bumblebee (alternate yellow and black tulle)
- Dalmation (white tulle w/ hand sewn black sequins)
- Ghost (white tulle)
- Pumpkin (orange tulle skirt with green tulle around the top)
- Minnie Mouse (red tulle skirt or red with white dots)
- Witch (black or green or alternate colors)
- Disney princess (Tutu inspired by your choice of Disney princess)
- Halloween/Fall inspired (alternate halloween or fall colors)
- Pirate princess (red, white, and black)
- Sesame Street inspired (Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Big Bird)
- Rocker chick (hot pink and black)
- Tinkerbell (green tutu)
- Strawberry (red with green top, you may request hand sewn black sequins)
- Zebra (black and white)
- Cowgirl (red tulle with cowgirl themed ribbons, fabric, etc.)
- Angel (all white)
- Little Devil (all red)

Unfortunately, my tutu's are not made in advanced, but I promise that your little goblin will look adorable! I will send you photos every step of the way, so you can have the option to make changes as you wish- what other designer does that? You may want to add accessories to complete the look, and leggings or a long-sleeve shirt for warmth, along with a little face painting. With all of this, your child will win all of the costume competitions they enter, and have tons of fun going door to door filling up their buckets with lots of goodies!

Place your order now, allow 2 weeks for delivery. Low flat rate shipping, paypal only please.

Happy Halloween!

Leah?

I have attempted to contact Leah, the blog winner, but she has yet to contact me back!

Leah, you have until September 29th to get in touch with me, or I will choose another winner.

You may choose $10.00 worth of products from the website.

Gretchen's Room

Well, for now this is Gretchen's room. We plan on making over her room in the spring/early summer and buying her "big girl" furniture, new bedding, and re-painting the walls. I'd also love to add a chair rail or waynsecotting. Of course, Gretchen had to be in the picture. Her bed was a hand-me-down from my cousin, that both of her children have used. The picture above her bed is of a little girl with bunny rabbits. I've had people ask, but no it's not a picture of Gretchen- wouldn't that be cute though! We found the rocking chair on sale at Babies R Us for $90.00, and bought the stool from TJ Max; we spray painted the wicker and recovered the cushion with fabric from her room. My great-grandfather made the small table in the corner. I repainted it a few years ago. Her grandpa Ray made her the stepstool by her bed. Gretchen loves using the stool to climb into her bed each night.

My mother, grandmother, and sisiter-in-law made Gretchen's bedding. It's green, brown, and gold. We added the pink accents to make it "girly". I plan on using the bedding again for our next child. I love that it is "classic" and not too babyish.

The dresser, fit into her closet at the other house, but I decided to leave it out for more storage. It was DJ's dresser when he was a child, and he finally agreed to clean out some of the drawers for Gretchen's use. I need to buy one more shelf for this wall, because the top of her dresser is overcrowded. The baby doll bed was mine when I was a little girl, my great-grandfather made me the bed. My mother painted it white, and re-covered the bedding for Gretchen's 1st birthday. We added the stripes this weekend! I love her dollhouse bookcase; it was a gift from her Nana.

I bought her "dressers" from Hobby Lobby. I had planned to use the smaller one as a changing table, but that never happened; it's a little short. My plan for these pieces, is to re-use them in other parts of the house later on. There was a 3rd piece, but it's now being used as a DVD storage cabinet in the living room. My mother made the wreath, that is hanging on her closet doors. It was used as her wreath for the hospital door while we were in the mother/baby unit.

My favorite thing about the room- the size! It's at least a 1/2 size bigger, if not double the size of her room in the old house. I love that all of her toys can fit in the room. And, I cannot wait to re-decorate the room! It will be over-the-top girly!

Hallway and guest bathroom.

The hallway is on the left when you walk in the door, just a little bit of a hallway, more of an "area". I decided this would be a perfect place for my antique secretary. The secretary belonged to my grandmother; my uncle found it on the side of the road and picked it up. I love it! It's the perfect piece, for storage and decoartations. The secretary was in the entry way at our other house. I decorated the secretary with inspiration from Pottery Barn. I love Pottery Barn- not their prices, but you can often find other pieces similar to theirs for much less. The candlesticks were a wedding gift, they use to have a distressed wood look, but when we moved from Louisiana, I decided to paint them to go with my Pottery Barn inspiration of all white. The pinecone finnial was also a different color- it got a coat of spray paint as well! My grandmother brought me the piece of linen when she visited Ireland last year. This is the first time that I put it out, and I love where it is! I added Gretchen's 6 month tutu picture, to give it some personalization, and I love the mix of flowers in the pitcher. I also love that I can change out the florals with the seasons and how it gives the perfect touch of color! The gold medallion on the wall came from Kirklands; it was bought when we were in Louisiana for all of $10.00. It looks heavy, but it's actually made from thick foam.

The doorway on the left is the guest room, and straight ahead is the guest bathroom, also Gretchen's bathroom.

We had to beg the previous home owner to leave the bathroom mirrors. I love them, and I'm so glad that we won that battle! There were no towel bars in the bathroom, just a loop, which is perfect for hand towels, and the little planter matches the mirror, with rolled up hand towels and soap- from Hawaii and Greece! I hope that those little touches will touch the heart of my guests.

I bought the picture from Bed, Bath, and Beyond years ago- it's my dream bathroom- complete with a claw foot tub! The shower curtain is also "old", from Wal-Mart! I love the simplicity of the shower curtain, and that you can mix and match it with any color. I wanted to keep the guest bath, for guests. Even though the tub is filled with toys- I didn't want to "kid-it-up" with kid-themed accessories, although I had the urge to do zebra print in the bathroom a few weeks ago! I talked myself out of it, knowing that DJ would kill me!

Entry Way

Over the next few days and weeks, I'm going to be sharing a bit about our new house. We moved in on the 5th of September, and it seems that we are finally gettig settled, in part to my mother and grandmother coming this past weekend. Those that know me, know that I love to decorate, so I'm hoping to share some of our tips and tricks with you, and inspire you to decorate your house, in a way that you love.... enjoy! This is the outside of the house. We haven't had time to make any changes as we are focusing on the inside, but I can't wait to set mums out in the flowerbed!

Our entry way, as soon as you walk in the front door, we have large ceramic tile, and this bench, which is great b/c I like for guests to take their shoes off- especially in the winter when there is snow. I wanted something cozy here, that says "come on in and sit down". I also wanted simple and comfortable. The bench belonged to my grandmother, although I have had it for 4 years. This was a big project over the weekend. It was a horrible green floral silk-type material (shimmery and matte). It's a great bench, it was just ugly! So, we decided to re-cover it. My grandmother bought it with the intentions of sending it to be re-covered, but never got around to it. I also had the same intentions. But, we decided that we would try it ourselves, and I love how it turned out! We bought the fabric from Hobby Lobby (our favorite store) and hot glued it! Yup, the fabric is hot glued on! It's amazing what my mother and grandmother can do with a hot glue gun!

Here's the view from the living room. Yes, Gretchen is being a picture hog- she even smiled and said "cheese" for this photo! Thank you grandma, for purchasing this beautiful rug! It was purchased for the kitchen, but I decided that the print would be too busy with my other rug, so we moved it. I love the length of this runner, as well as the colors.

So, come on over for a visit, and you'll be instantly greeted with a place to sit and visit! I'll eventually get around to making pillows for the bench with the remainder of the fabric!

I can't live without my mom and grandma!

The title is so appropriate for this post. Seriously, I cannot live without my mom and grandma, which is very ironic considering we live 12 hours away. But, they're my rock, my best friends, and my creative forces. They came this weekend, for a very short visit, but we got so much accomplished. Without them, my house would not be what it is, my daughter wouldn't have clothes, and I wouldn't have anything to write about! Unfortunately, we did not get to take many pictures this weekend, as we were so busy decorating and shopping! But, I did get a few. The picture above was taken Thursday night, Gretchen was trying on as many of her new clothes as she could! She is holding up her new pillowcase dress and jacket, and sporting her matching hat! Thanks Gran for all of her clothes!

This picture was taken today before Gran and great-grandma left, before the tears. Gretchen hasn't seen them since July, but she warmed up immediately. She was able to stay at home from daycare on Friday and spend the whole day with her gran and great-grandma. I don't think Gretchen was spoiled too much this weekend, and they finally got to experience what we've been going through lately (i.e.: Gretchen screaming). I know my mom is so proud of Gretchen, and sad since she doesn't get to spend a lot of time with her. But, they love to talk on the phone! I love this picture; my mom looks so happy!

Gretchen and her great-grandma.... I love pictures like these, knowing that my grandmother won't be here forever, I try to cherish the moments that she is around. I wish that I could describe my grandma, and it make sense; she's a wonderful woman.

Thanks ladies for driving such a long distance to help me and spend time with us. I couldn't have done it without you! You are both truely remarkable.

I can't live without my mom and grandma!

The title is so appropriate for this post. Seriously, I cannot live without my mom and grandma, which is very ironic considering we live 12 hours away. But, they're my rock, my best friends, and my creative forces. They came this weekend, for a very short visit, but we got so much accomplished. Without them, my house would not be what it is, my daughter wouldn't have clothes, and I wouldn't have anything to write about! Unfortunately, we did not get to take many pictures this weekend, as we were so busy decorating and shopping! But, I did get a few. The picture above was taken Thursday night, Gretchen was trying on as many of her new clothes as she could! She is holding up her new pillowcase dress and jacket, and sporting her matching hat! Thanks Gran for all of her clothes!

This picture was taken today before Gran and great-grandma left, before the tears. Gretchen hasn't seen them since July, but she warmed up immediately. She was able to stay at home from daycare on Friday and spend the whole day with her gran and great-grandma. I don't think Gretchen was spoiled too much this weekend, and they finally got to experience what we've been going through lately (i.e.: Gretchen screaming). I know my mom is so proud of Gretchen, and sad since she doesn't get to spend a lot of time with her. But, they love to talk on the phone! I love this picture; my mom looks so happy!

Gretchen and her great-grandma.... I love pictures like these, knowing that my grandmother won't be here forever, I try to cherish the moments that she is around. I wish that I could describe my grandma, and it make sense; she's a wonderful woman.

Thanks ladies for driving such a long distance to help me and spend time with us. I couldn't have done it without you! You are both truely remarkable.

Halloween Pillowcase Dresses

I cannot believe how fast September has gone by! It's almost October, and almost Halloween! I still haven't decided on a costume for Gretchen. This year will be her first year trick-or-treating, and I want her first costume to be perfect. After all, I will remember it forever, and we have to get all the pictures, so she can "remember" it.

Thankfully, GG has been planning ahead and working on dress for Gretchen to wear throughout the month of October- maybe that will get my mind set on finalizing a costume!

GG has designed 2 pillowcase dresses that are classically festive for this time of year! The first is a plaid print (plaid is huge this year!) featuring jack-o-lanterns and candy corn. This dress isn't monogrammed, since the fabric is so detailed. She placed "Trick or Treat" ribbon in the dress, and I've yet to change it out, but I think a classic orange will be perfect. If you order one, yours will come in orange as well- or another color upon request!

The second dress is just so much fun! I absolutely love all the bright polk-a-dots! The dress is black, and features orange, green, and purple dots. She has monogrammed "Trick or Treat" onto the front of the dress. You can always customize your dress with a monogram of your choice. I love the ribbon that she added. Again, it says "Trick or Treat" and she layered it with an orange. Since, it will be cool, Gretchen will wear purple leggings underneath.

These dresses are great, even if you don't celebrate Halloween, these are great fall dresses. So, what do you think? Leave me a comment telling me which dress is your favorite, and contact me if you would like to purchase one for your own little honey!

Halloween Pillowcase Dresses

I cannot believe how fast September has gone by! It's almost October, and almost Halloween! I still haven't decided on a costume for Gretchen. This year will be her first year trick-or-treating, and I want her first costume to be perfect. After all, I will remember it forever, and we have to get all the pictures, so she can "remember" it.

Thankfully, GG has been planning ahead and working on dress for Gretchen to wear throughout the month of October- maybe that will get my mind set on finalizing a costume!

GG has designed 2 pillowcase dresses that are classically festive for this time of year! The first is a plaid print (plaid is huge this year!) featuring jack-o-lanterns and candy corn. This dress isn't monogrammed, since the fabric is so detailed. She placed "Trick or Treat" ribbon in the dress, and I've yet to change it out, but I think a classic orange will be perfect. If you order one, yours will come in orange as well- or another color upon request!
The second dress is just so much fun! I absolutely love all the bright polk-a-dots! The dress is black, and features orange, green, and purple dots. She has monogrammed "Trick or Treat" onto the front of the dress. You can always customize your dress with a monogram of your choice. I love the ribbon that she added. Again, it says "Trick or Treat" and she layered it with an orange. Since, it will be cool, Gretchen will wear purple leggings underneath.

These dresses are great, even if you don't celebrate Halloween, these are great fall dresses. So, what do you think? Leave me a comment telling me which dress is your favorite, and contact me if you would like to purchase one for your own little honey!

And the winner is.......

Drum roll please!

Leah!

Leah will receive $10.00 in FREE products from Honey Pie Accessories! Leah, I've sent you an e-mail (I hope it worked). Please get back with me and let me know the products you have chosen!

Thank you all for making this a success! The next give away will begin September 29th!

Don't forget if you place an order today you will receive 10% off!

Congratulations Leah!

And the winner is.......

Drum roll please!

Leah!

Leah will receive $10.00 in FREE products from Honey Pie Accessories! Leah, I've sent you an e-mail (I hope it worked). Please get back with me and let me know the products you have chosen!

Thank you all for making this a success! The next give away will begin September 29th!

Don't forget if you place an order today you will receive 10% off!

Congratulations Leah!

New bows

I had some time this evening to work on a few bows and I wanted to share them!

I love this little bubble gum boutique bow. This is the last of the dot ribbon that I have. I found the gum ball machine resin on ebay; it's hand painted and oh so cute! This bow would be precious with a bright red, green, and yellow tutu!

I have this leopard print ribbon for a while, and I love it! It's probably some of my favorite ribbon. It holds it's shape so well. I decided that I would make a leopard pinwheel bow. Pinwheel bows are probably my new favorite. They're so easy and simple; which is just how they look, great for a girl who doesn't love huge over-the-top bows.

I haven't made a spray bow in a while, but when I saw this ribbon, I new that it would make a great spray bow. The orange ribbon has black dots, and the black ribbon has orange dots. This bow is great for any girl that loves Halloween! It would look adorable with an orange and black tutu, or any Halloween shirt.

After, I made the spray bow, I had to double it to make a boutique bow. It's a great size for an infant or child without a lot of hair. The inside of the bow is the black ribbon with orange dots, and the outside is the orange with black dots. I love that it has a two-toned look. It would also be cute as a pigtail set with the matching bow on the reverse.

A simply adorable Halloween bow! The black dot ribbon was sent to me by mistake, and the company let me keep it! It looks great paired with the orange and black dot, and the cute jack-o-lantern ribbon.

If you're interested in purchasing any of these ribbons, please go to my website: http://www.honeypieaccessories.webs.com/

New bows

I had some time this evening to work on a few bows and I wanted to share them!

I love this little bubble gum boutique bow. This is the last of the dot ribbon that I have. I found the gum ball machine resin on ebay; it's hand painted and oh so cute! This bow would be precious with a bright red, green, and yellow tutu!

I have this leopard print ribbon for a while, and I love it! It's probably some of my favorite ribbon. It holds it's shape so well. I decided that I would make a leopard pinwheel bow. Pinwheel bows are probably my new favorite. They're so easy and simple; which is just how they look, great for a girl who doesn't love huge over-the-top bows.

I haven't made a spray bow in a while, but when I saw this ribbon, I new that it would make a great spray bow. The orange ribbon has black dots, and the black ribbon has orange dots. This bow is great for any girl that loves Halloween! It would look adorable with an orange and black tutu, or any Halloween shirt.

After, I made the spray bow, I had to double it to make a boutique bow. It's a great size for an infant or child without a lot of hair. The inside of the bow is the black ribbon with orange dots, and the outside is the orange with black dots. I love that it has a two-toned look. It would also be cute as a pigtail set with the matching bow on the reverse.

A simply adorable Halloween bow! The black dot ribbon was sent to me by mistake, and the company let me keep it! It looks great paired with the orange and black dot, and the cute jack-o-lantern ribbon.

If you're interested in purchasing any of these ribbons, please go to my website: http://www.honeypieaccessories.webs.com/

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!

Hurry up! Don't forget to sign up as a follower, the 1st give away ends tomorrow!

Go tell your friends! And, don't forget the next give away will be even BIGGER! WOW!

You can also earn multiple entries:
*Tweet about this give away.
*Send a message through email, myspace, facebook.
*Refer your friends- let me know who referred you, or who you referred

What are you waiting for????

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!

Hurry up! Don't forget to sign up as a follower, the 1st give away ends tomorrow!

Go tell your friends! And, don't forget the next give away will be even BIGGER! WOW!

You can also earn multiple entries:
*Tweet about this give away.
*Send a message through email, myspace, facebook.
*Refer your friends- let me know who referred you, or who you referred

What are you waiting for????

Socks!

I bought Gretchen the most adorable pair of socks from etsy, last week. I was suprised to see that they had already arrived in the mail when I came home today! Talk about fast! I love them! I cannot wait for her to wear them to the next football game, sadly that's not until October, but I probably won't be able to wait until then! Even though this weekends game is away (at Army), I think she'll be sporting these socks!

Kelly at Giggle Baby Designs made them, check out her shop at http://www.gigglebabydesigns.etsy.com/. She also has the cutest halloween socks in her store!

WOW- thanks!

I logged onto my dashboard to find a link for someone, and boy was I suprised! 21 followers! I'm so excited!

Thank you all for following!

Don't forget the contest ends September 15th! Winner will be announced on the 16th and be contacted via email. You can earn multiple entries by referring friends, tweeting about this give away, by sending an email, or by posting about it on myspace and facebook! Don't forget to leave me a comment, if someone sent you my way!

And, don't stop following! Next months give away will be even bigger!!!!

Gretchen's 1st 2009 Football Game

Gretchen before we left the house. She wore her "Cardinals" pillowcase dress, made by Gran, with a white turtleneck (it usually gets cool once the sun goes down). I made her hair bow, though I still have to make her 2nd one for a pigtail set, and she had a Cardinal tatoo on her cheek.

Tailgating before the game.... The coaches wives set up a great little tailgating area for us with yummy food! Though, I felt bad for not bringing anything (I didn't have time to cook with us still unpacking and moving in), so I bought chicken nuggets and mandarin orange for Gretchen. I love football food, and aways look forward to getting it at the game, so I waited to get nachos in the game. Although, we did share a chocolate chip cookie. Meijer has the best cookies- I might be addicted to them! The picture above is Gretchen playing a volleyball. She tossed the ball around with one of the coaches daughter.

Gretchen cheering at the game. She did very well when we first got in the stands. Although, a friend and I thought it would be a great idea to bring a portable DVD player for the girls to watch a movie. It sounds like a great idea- right? Wrong, we didn't realize that the girls would fight over it. Gretchen wanted to push all the buttoms, and poor Macy couldn't see the movie. So, Gretchen and I went on a walk. Once we got back from our walk, we moved a bit away from Macy, so Gretchen would behave. Hopefully, Gretchen will do better in the future and the girls can play so the mommies can socialize!

Again, Gretchen cheering. Though this is in the 4th quarter of the game! Yes, we stayed through the whole game! Sadly, the Cardinals lost, but in my book, I won. I made it through a whole game with a toddler! I could probably write a book about how to survive a football game with kids (well, maybe at the end of the season- let's see how many I survive). Though, you have to give credit where credit is due- if it wasn't for all of the wonderful coaches wives and families sitting around us, I don't think we could have made it- so THANK YOU!

Okay guys,

Alright, we're up to 16 followers, but I would LOVE to have at least 20 before the contest ends. So, go tell your friends!

-Tweet about the contest, send me your tweet link and you'll get another entry!
-Send an email to your friends- don't forget to send a copy to me (elaineguenther@yahoo.com)
-Post about it on your facebook, and send me the link.
-Send a message on your myspace, and let me know about it!

Help, me get at least 20 followers and you'll earn multiple entries!!!!

What are you waiting for?! Go, go!

Moving Day!

Gretchen loved walking up and down the ramp. Of course, this made me a bit nervous, but thankfully Daddy is always there to help.

Gretchen loved dancing in the truck.

She did get a bit close to the edge- this scared me everytime!

Tired of moving- let's sit and rest mommy!

It's time for a give away!!!!!

We all love FREE items, and I'm willing to give away some of my items to followers of my blog! New and old- if you follow me, you'll be entered into a drawing to win FREE products! Here are the rules:

* You have to sign up to follow my blog. Don't worry, if you're already a follower, you are automatically entered!
* If you get other people to sign up and follow, you will be entered again! All the person has to do, is leave a comment saying who told them about the blog/contest. When they leave a comment with your name, your entered again! If you get 10 people to follow, then you have 10 more entries!
* Deadline to follow is September 15th.
* Winner will be notified via email, and will be announced on the blog on September 16th.
* Winner will receive $10.00 in FREE products!
*Winner does not have to pay shipping.
*Winner can choose from clippies, hair bows, clearance bows, paci clips, bib clips, a bling shirt, or 2 burpies.
*The following items cannot be customized for the contest: hair bows, clippies, clearance bows

So, what are you waiting for! Go follow!

Our New House!

Yes, we did it! We bought a house!

When DJ and I lived in Louisiana, we bought our first home. Subsequently, we owned it for all of 6 months. We bought more out of "want" than "necessity", and we probably shouldn't have bought the house, especially with DJ's job field. Anyway, so that was our first house.

We moved to Indiana 2 1/2 years ago. While in the process of moving, we researched the area, and discovered that the market here was slow. I told DJ that I would never buy a house here; we'd never be able to sell it. Well, 2 1/2 years later, I'm eating my words.

The market appears to have improved here. Don't get me wrong- some houses still sit on the market for a year. But, it was time for us to dive in and buy our 2nd home. Gretchen is getting older and needing more space. I'm actually shocked to think that we'll live here long enough to have to consider preschools, let alone school districts. DJ's loving his job; the team has done so well the past two years, and we are excited about our new coaching staff and highly anticipate the upcoming season(s). So, we made the decision, that it was time.

We used a wonderful real estate agent, Laura. Her husband works for the athletic team and she is from the area, so we trusted her completly. She led us around from house to house, and convinced us to drive by and look at neighborhoods before we even looked at a house. She helped us as we agonized over DJ's first house choice. I had to remind him to wait patiently, as I was sure the right house would come along- and even though DJ thought the 1st house we saw was "the one", I knew that it wasn't.

Then, one day- we found it! I was looking online (again), and a new house popped up in the search engine. It was perfect (or so it appeared). It was in the school district we wanted, it was in our price range, it had 3 bedrooms, plenty of square feet- perfect. So, we promptly made an appointment and looked at it 3 days later. We knew that this house would go fast, so we made an offer. After a few counter-offers it was final. The house would be ours, pending all of the paperwork.

We signed the contract in the beginning of July, but our closing date wasn't scheduled until September 20th. Finally, after a few more times of going back and forth about moving up the closing date, we decided that we would close September 1, and as of the 5th, we would be able to take possession.

So, after 2 days, I'm so glad to announce, that we are in! We aren't fully settled, we aren't even finished moving, but it's beginning to feel like home. My mother and grandmother are coming up in 2 weeks. DJ said last night that he can't wait for them to come and make the house really feel like home. I owe all of my decorating to them; they do it all and I am so glad! It is nearly impossible with a 19 month old running around.

I'll update about the house as we get settled. But, we're in! Finally! It seems to have taken forever!