Big Day

Today we got our keys, a tad earlier than expected, but it was still exciting to get in just several hours sooner! I was out with Ariel today, so I missed the first walk through but when we got home we met Ken and Xander at our place... wow, OUR place, eek! We discovered the previous owner had forgot several things, including a Christmas tree and photos in the crawl space, a pink bathrobe, a tv attached to the wall in Xander's room and a few things in the kitchen... oh and they left that hideous claw thing by the door. Ariel found it use for it by hanging her bag of cookies from it, lol.

I plan on taking better 'before' shots before things get started, my battery was dying and so the shots aren't that great, but they shot the space at least. Once the furniture was out it was easier to see how dirty the walls were. Will start cleaning them to prep for painting this week, yay!

Dad, Rita and Katie came by to see things and it was good to go through a few things on a long list of things we will do as we go. One thing... these people apparently loved brass. Seems to be in every fixture. Not really my favorite... and we shall phase those out as we go. They also didn't seem to possess a level, as no shelving in ANY closet is actually installed level!!! Not that it matters, they are all broken and will be coming out.

I am very glad we made the call to replace all the appliances in the end. Now on closer inspection an all of them, they are pretty beat up. We found wads of baked on gum in the dryer all over - GROSS! I am excited to see all the pretty ones (not to mention, clean, unbroken ones) arrive this week! Going to make such a difference!

The first thing I couldn't get over was the AMAZING natural light! It was beautiful and filled the rooms. For us being in a very dark place for so many years its so awesome.

The kids were running all over, enjoying the empty rooms and closets while they could. Ken and I went around taking pictures of closets and the rooms to use for reference when making decisions where things will go for the move.

When we were leaving we got to meet our new next door neighbour!!! She was sooooooooo lovely, and was excited to meet us too. We got to meet their dog, a hound who was adorable. Ariel and Xander really liked him. Ken had met another neighbour earlier who was also extremely welcoming and so we are thrilled. Nothing beats nice and friendly neighbours!

I see the amount of work ahead of us in the coming weeks, totally worth it but its a lot. I only took off so much time from my work, Easter is next week and my calendar is filling up fast with bookings! My head spins a bit but so many things we can do once we are in and settled.

Our first photo together in our home!

Very blessed, very thankful and very ready to move!!!

Time....

Its only a few hours till we get the keys... ACK!!!!!!!!!!

That is all!

Genius

Um, I am so not talking about me! Lol. No, we had to go visit the Geniuses today at the Apple store, oooh! This morning Ken's phone started doing this thing that it has done before, the button not working and thus making the phone pretty much useless. So I went down to the Telus store where we got it first thing and they confirmed what I thought, take it to Apple and get a new one. Since Ken needed new jeans anyways, we piled the kids in the car and went off to the mall, which felt terrible on such a sunny day, oh well.

We got in quickly and sure enough his phone was having 'mechanical' issues and they gave him a new one. Pretty amazing service really. Woot! We got Ken some jeans and decided on the way home to have Pizza Hut as a treat.

It was pretty busy and apparently they were having issues with the computers for order taking so we were asked a few times to clarify our order. They brought the kids food and then eventually brought our pizza... only it didn't look right. I questioned the crust, as it wasn't the original stuff, something thinner. Upon asking I learned classic crust isn't really the classic crust, I meant to order 'Pan' crust. Doh! I felt pretty stupid but the manager who was waiting on us said no worries and brought us a new pizza, with my much desired crust, yay. He then sent the wrong pizza home no charge! Whoa, that was really nice, especially considering I made the mistake. I love Pizza Hut!

Video break! Xander and his puppy sing a long time!

We then spent some time over at Dad's playing with the kids outside. Ariel wanted to ride her bike for Daddy and we had to shoot some footage of us playing with our kids. Why you ask? Well, we have been picked for a chance to win an amazing opportunity and yet I don't want to say what it is until we learn if we get picked or not. We should hear in a week probably, and so regardless of the outcome I will share what it was about then. I really do hope we win though... its an AMAZING opportunity!!! Ok, that is it for us, I have a sketch to do for a new client. Good night!

Wiped out from a busy day... ahhh.

Lists

Seems like in the final few weeks my life has been one big list... or many little lists. I do see some progress, which of course is exciting because it means we are drawing near to D-day (YAY) but of course that brings uncertainty, which I never deal well with. I am eager to get in, get settled and get on with life.

In the past few days I have updated our insurance from tenants to townhouse/condo, which actually was cheaper, always nice. Got the hydro shut off date booked for here and new account set up for new home. Mail forwarding done, movers booked, signing day booked with the lawyer and much packing complete. We also managed to donate another car full, literally full, of stuff to the thrift store, which is always exciting.

Spring break started with us attending a memorial for my Uncle as you recall I mention passed away. It was nice to see some family and friends, but of course its never nice under the circumstances. It also seemed to mess up my head as I have still not figured out what day it is until usually after lunch. Good thing I don't have much on my schedule.

Today was a busy day starting with Ariel's swimming lessons at the local pool. I was surprised how empty it was compared to last year. Maybe people signed up for later sessions but just seemed odd. Oh well, I don't mind not having to park at the back of the lot to get a spot, haha. Its amazing how with Ariel's latest growth spurt how much stronger she is. She is doing pretty well so far, she is struggling with the side glide. I am pleased with her teacher, so regardless if she passes this time or not she is learning a lot. Xander loves watching her. 'Look Mommy! Aria swims!'

After class today we went and picked up my Dad and went out to look at fridges. I had seen one I had liked but I can always use feedback. I had done my price comparisons before heading in, so I knew which place had it for the lowest price. One surprise was finding our washer and drier combo today. There was a sale ending and when it was the place that had the best price on my fridge choice it was a no brainer... especially when I heard I'd only pay one delivery charge if I ordered them both today, haha. Sold! The sales gal was fab, and got my forms filled out as I would get a $75 rebate as my washer was energy efficient, woot! Then gave me the info about getting hydro to pick up the old fridge and get $30, woot woot.

Ours will be a left hinge due to its place in the kitchen. I love the curve on the top, it matches my stove that has the same curve. I didn't realize that until today.

The inside is what sold me on this one though. We are giving up our extra freezer, so I love the pull out drawer (and that we can get an ice maker installed in it, yay for that since I am an ice freak!) The shelves are all movable and half sides, which is key in making room for cakes that might be odd shapes... thus allowing us room for our food too. The door space is bigger too, so that is a plus, everything pops out for easy cleaning, see through shelves, drawers all good good good. I am a happy girl!

Laundry time! Oooh pretty! We are stacking them, and not getting the pedestal piece, as people who are short like me don't need it, lol. Ken thinks they look like aliens which one eye... like Mike from Monster's Inc... perhaps we have names for them then? Yes I name everything... hee.

We had some lunch, hit Costco before heading home. Ariel then stayed for some bike riding time while I came home with a sleeping boy. Ken came home early from work sick as a dog. The poor guy keeps going but is seriously out of it. He finally caught what we all had, sigh. Came home and went straight to bed until dinner time. Sounds like he might need to finally take a sick day tomorrow... we shall see.

Kids have hair appointments tomorrow afternoon and I have a cake to decorate so it will be a productive day to say the least.... bed time.... yawn.

Riding High!

A while back my Dad picked up Ariel's bike to take to his place to remove the training wheels. After a play date where she pretty much figured it out on her own, she was insisting the wheels be removed. Then when the weather was good she would stay after school at Grandpa's and practice her riding. She got good pretty fast and then FINALLY today I got to see her!

I think she looks pretty proud don't you?

She was pretty proud of herself, and I got some video of her showing off her skills.... but for us the look Xander gives the camera when he is on the strider bike is HILARIOUS!

She rode up and down the street only falling twice due to turning too sharply when trying to see if Xander was coming. He was trying his hardest to keep up but its hard when your feet don't reach the ground!

When I loaded the kids into the car I was busy chatting with Dad and I guess Xander was hungry and took matters into his own hands and helped himself to the bread. Oh silly Xander!

Spring break has officially started, and so has some serious packing. Ariel wanted to pack up stuff in her room last night and so we did... and when we finished she looked back and tilted her head saying, 'hmmm not much to play with eh?' Lots of other toys around the house to play with, but her room is done except for her clothes. Nice feeling.

2 weeks till its ours! Yay!

Movin' Right Along...

Well last night Ken and I decided that it might be in our best interest to hire movers. We did have some friends offer to help, but thinking logically about our building, the stairs and such, we just want to make it as hassle free as possible and so I made the call! After asking for some recommendations from friends on Facebook, we have a guy coming next week for an estimate on our things. I also spent most of the morning starting the process of changing our address on stuff for our banking to order new cheques, and any important accounts that would need to be handled first. Still need to get our insurance in order, and numerous other things done... the list just seems to grown not shrink at this point. We also got our details from the lawyer so its almost done! Woot!

On a sad note, I got a call yesterday that my Uncle passed away, the husband of my Papa's sister. It was somewhat of a shock, even though we knew he hadn't been well but when you aren't expecting it, then its hard. Just felt sad all day, just hard losing special people who were such a part of your growing up. Uncle 'Dud' as we called him, was trouble with a capital T. I think of his antics and smile. He was kind, funny and had one of those faces you remember. I feel like my Mom's side of the family is shrinking so much... kinda sucks. So I am assuming we will be gathering for a funeral soon, sigh.

Last week nearly killed me. I had 4 large orders and my body quit on me. Xander had been sick and the sleepless nights finally did me in and I was feeling my body start to fall to the illness too, but I had to finish. I did, but the next day I was just a mess. The weekend was pretty much a write off, my voice was gone, my throat was sore and my body ached. We had a long meeting on Sunday as part of the refocusing, so it was a long day for us all that I didn't want to miss. Just hard to recover when you have things to do. Thankfully its a lighter week, only 2 small orders, and I am enjoying getting moments just to sit and play with Xander.

I am feeling sad about not having Easter decorations up this year. The place is filled with boxes and with wanting to keep things safe and not getting lost it just didn't make sense to have them up. So I just put up the kids easter egg bags just so its something so I won't be so sad. Haha. Next year, count on some new goodies, as Pinterest is my new friend, haha.

Next week is the start of Ariel's spring break from school. Its 2 weeks long and the only thing I have booked is swimming lessons in the mornings. Hoping to do some fun things but with all the craziness of the coming move its hard to say. Good thing Ariel enjoys packing, haha. She is too cute!

Not much else to say, I am feeling somewhat lazy. I need to finish a Barney cake... yes as in Dinosaur... yeah kids still like him! Weird eh?! Right now his little rice krispie treat form is chilling in my fridge... so maybe I'll make pancakes. Yum. Random thoughts with Jay.... yeppers.

Say Hello to my Little Friend

This morning I realized the sale was ending at Home Depot today, so I packed the kids up and headed off to order my new OVEN! *Insert squealing here* I got helped by a lovely lady who actually lives in our area, so she was very excited for our home purchase and choice in oven. So here it is!

It is so pretty! I LOVE it!!! Its a flat top with 4 burners and one warming burner, its convection, self cleaning (with the bottom element inside the unit hidden, swoon) and a warming drawer. After all my research I got it for the lowest price I could. So its booked for delivery shortly after we move! Ariel has named the oven 'Cookie' while Xander suggested 'McQueen', big surprise eh? I don't know what we will call it but for now its simply called BEAUTIFUL. I can't wait to bake my first cake with it, the many Thanksgivings and Christmas dinners and so much more... my heart is happy.

I have my fridge picked out too, still narrowing down the best price around. Its equally pretty and I can't wait to share that treasure too. Man, you know you are a grown up when you get excited about appliances. Haha.

The Countdown....

Its MARCH! Do you know what that means?! St Patricks Day is nearly here, lol. Well that and the fact its a month still we have the keys to our home in our hot little hands, eek! We have been all so busy around here with life that its been easy to wait but now in the actual countdown month I do feel a somewhat sense of ack!

I am sure I may post a to do list on here to remind me of stuff, but I am trying not to be overwhelmed at this point. I have lots of little things, that just pile up, but once I sit down and do them they aren't too bad. Its just finding time to sit down and do them because we have kids and jobs, hehe. March is a PACKED month for me cake wise. It will be good since I am shutting things down for the move, and only taking on a few orders.

One fun thing we have been finalizing is our paint colors! Ariel picked a bright raspberry pink color which I think will be really pretty. Xander we went back and forth about and finally decided on a bight blue. I am thinking the bathroom will be in a blue/grey tone (still narrowing it down), our room will most likely be an aqua color, kitchen and dinning room some sort of robin's egg I think (going in with the chip to see if it works with the counter color). Living room has been hard, one minute I think sage, then tan... then another blue. Oh my mom would be laughing at all this blue, since I gave her such grief about her overuse of the color in our old house.

Then today while visiting my friend Erin's place I really loved her grey living room, as her sofa's are similar color to ours in the brown family. I didn't think I would like that combo, but it really looked nice with the right accents of black and white ,they are all neutrals so why wouldn't it work, but since I am visual I had to see it. So maybe its the winner!? Stay tuned...

I am booking a trip to see the place again next week to get final measurements and stuff. I plan on taking some pictures but probably won't post them since its someone else's home for now. I will do some when we get the empty place (gosh I hope its empty, I am dreaming about them leaving so much crap behind ugh!)

The past few days Ariel has been home. If you live around here you know we are experiencing a teacher's strike. I am a supporter of the teachers on this one, and that is all I will say about that. Its been nice having the kids play so nicely together. Xander loves to hang out with his sister 'Aira' as he calls her. He is so happy to tag along and do what she is doing. Its so much fun watching them play. I love my babies.

Xander's sentences are getting more and more clear, although most of the words sometimes slur together when he is excited, but when its important you get what he is saying. The other day he counted to 13 on his own when playing hide and seek with Ariel! Totally took me off guard. My smart little man. Potty training? Bah, I could care less at this point, and until he wakes up with a dry diaper I am not going to push it. I don't mind and with the move I think it be better to wait and get settled before attempting it.

We started packing boxes up, and can I say, it sucks! I am already tripping over them we really do have a small living space. Not to mention I have a HUGE purge pile I need to bag up for the thrift. Ariel is liking the packing process as we go through her toys and do a keep and purge pile. I am surprised that she is wanting to pack up her dolls and stuff so quickly but she said she was concerned about things getting lost in the crazy mess so actually she is being rather smart.

Well its late, and I need to go to bed, many cakes to bake tomorrow!!! Whee!