We've Moved

I finally had time to get caught up on blogging and then discovered that my blog is too full of pictures and it won't let me I upload anymore.  So after much research and contemplation, we decided to move to a new blog site, rather than pay $2.50/mon. for extra picture storage space.  So, catch up with us at www.nwschnellfamily.blogspot.com and bookmark the new page, because that's where will be for the next 3-5 years ;)

A Few House Observations

• Our new dishwasher can't hold as many dishes as the old one at our old house.  Is that a trend or did Ken just choose a quiet, but small dishwasher?
• I love our new gas stove/oven, but it definitely takes some getting used to.
• Central vac sounds cool, but so far, I've only used it on the stairs.  It's just easier to pull out my small, lightweight vacuum than all the hoses.  The previous owners said they only used it to vacuum out their cars.
• The previous owner (who built the house) was an electrician.  There are light switches everywhere, and not necessarily where I think they should be.  But on the plus side, there is no shortage of outlets either.
• In the week we've lived here, Sophia has learned to come down stairs by herself.  It worries me that she'll fall, but I love her independence.
• I love, love, love having a garage door opener.  When we asked the previous owners for a key for the garage door that doesn't have an opener, they said they didn't have one; turns out they never parked their vehicle(s) in the garage.  Really?  It's a 3-car garage . . . and they lived here for 20 years!  Wow!
• I'm not sure if it's normal or not, but we've had a lot of contact with the previous owners. So far it's proved to be a good thing.
• Yesterday we had horizontal rain and strong wind most of the day.  We discovered that the garden window in the kitchen window leaks!  I collected 1 1/2 quarts of water in 4 hours from water coming in through the leak!  The previous owners said they had just had that window replaced, so they're sending out the glass company to fix it.  I'm not assuming they're going to pay for it, but I'm hoping the glass company doesn't charge to fix something they didn't do right in the first place.

Another Random Update

• We moved into our new house last Monday.  I kept thinking of the phrase "while you were sleeping", because we did so much of the move while Amelia and Sophia were napping.  Amelia seemed a bit upset that much of her house was missing, but she adjusted just fine when she found them all at the new house.
• I am no good at, nor do I enjoy painting . . . Sophia's bedroom may never get finished, at least not in the next few weeks.
• Amelia has hit the stage of wanting to change her clothes multiple times a day and/or wear the same thing for 2-3 days.
• The girls are adjusting nicely to our new home; bedtime and nighttime is no worse than at our old house - yeah!
• Everything is put away . . . in the kitchen, but I'm not convinced I put things in the best spots.
• And speaking of the kitchen - Ken decided it needed to be painted and somehow managed to get it painted this week, in the middle of doing everything else.
• There are 2 deer (a mother and a baby) that we have seen in our backyard a few times.   I have no idea what kind of plants we have in our backyard, so as of right now, I don't mind if they graze a bit.

• Amelia also calls every dress a "princess" dress and wants to wear one all the time when we're at home.  Thankfully, I have been able to convince her to wear other clothes when we need to go out.
• Sophia mimics a lot of what Amelia does; I think it's cute - it drives Amelia crazy ;)
• I love that we have so much extra space in our house, which means we have plenty of room for visitors, hint, hint.

Before & After

Just a few before & after pictures of the master bathroom and kitchen

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

House and other Random Updates

• Amelia loves her Halloween candy and she's really good at sharing it with Sophia and I.   But I got tired of her always asking for a treat, so we finished it all off today!
• The granite countertops got installed last week, with only minor issues - the installers couldn't get our water turned off all the way, and just left buckets under the leaking faucets, which overflowed, which Ken caught before it did any serious damage, and was properly fixed by a handyman the next day.
• Ken doesn't have time or tools to do the few handyman jobs we needed done at our house, but hiring a handyman is a racket.
• On Friday, we were told that our wood floors weren't getting installed in our house before we moved in.  When I called to complain on Saturday, they told us they might be installed on time.  And this morning, I got a phone call saying that the wood was on its way to our house and would be installed on Wed - Fri.  Phew!
• I've taken a lot of stuff over to the new house, but I haven't even begun to pack/take over kitchen stuff . . . and there's a lot of kitchen stuff.  But I didn't want to take stuff over there while they were ripping apart our kitchen, so now it's a rush to get it done.
• I find it ironic that when both of my girls sleep through the night on the same night, that I am awake in the middle of the night with insomnia.
• We're just now choosing paint colors and prepping the few rooms we want to paint.  I have a feeling we're going to be painting in the middle of the night either before and/or after we move.

So Tired

Amelia took a shorter than normal nap today, and when she came out to sit with me, she told me she was "so tired".  Within 20 min, she had fallen asleep in the chair next to me. 

Trunk or Treating

Amelia was so excited to go Trick-or-Treating . . . even though she'd never been before.  

 Sophia wasn't so sure she liked Trunk or Treating.

 I managed to get a sort of smile . . . I think that was when Daddy showed up.

 The girls don't look too excited, but Ken and I were excited because it actually stopped raining long enough for our Trunk or Treating.

 Amelia was so excited by her stash of candy.  Now if I can just stash some of it somewhere . . . and figure out some way to make her forget about it by the morning. 

All in all, a successful evening . . . and this coming from someone who doesn't really enjoy Halloween.