Christmas Eve/Christmas Morning Catchup

Christmas morning was a simple, little kid celebration. Gifts for those who are under age 50 :) Only those under the age of 10 received significant gifts.

Since our house doesn't have a fireplace and a mantle- 

we had to improvise on hanging stockings ;)

Moving Day Catchup

Here are a few pictures from moving day (December 11) - seems like "years ago" :) I'm still trying to figure out what happened last year. Especially over the Christmas holiday, it seemed like we were renting a vacation home- but then after all of the company left- we stayed. hehe

It was a very long day of wrapping, loading, and cleaning. Mom and I finally left Katy about 8 pm.- getting to Bridlegate just before midnight. We grabbed some dinner at Sonic in Katy and then headed west on our very familiar I10 route to Bandera. The movers arrived early the next day, for a very long day of unwrapping and unloading. Even though all of the furniture was wrapped and then moved, there was tons of chips, dents, broken corners, dings, and scratches. I can't imagine how so many of those things could have happened. 

Good thing that was the last move of our life ;)

Catchup :)

"Catchup" as in...my last post was on Dec. 3...not "ketchup" :) Lots has happened since Dec. 3!
Our actual pack/load/unload dates were Dec. 10,11, and 12. That was actually mostly loading and unloading- I had most of the packing done- which was a very good thing. On Wednesday, the 11th, Ron drove to Bandera to be at the house for a appointment to get Dish Net installed (long story about that...long bad story. More to come...) Mom and I watched all of the LOADING that day. Everything was finally in- we did some cleaning- then headed for Bandera about 8 pm. That meant that we arrived just before midnight. We had reserved a guest room for mom, here in Bridlegate, so that she didn't have to sleep on an air mattress.  I had thought  many times about how great that first night would be IN the house, but actually I was so exhausted, it wasn't quite the excitement that I was anticipating. The movers arrived early on Thursday morning to unload- again a very long day of "nonstop"! Finally by late evening, it was all IN somewhere ;) It took me two entire days to just unpack the kitchen essentials. Then I tackled the guest rooms up stairs, then our bedroom and other main rooms downstairs, then the Christmas decorations- by Thursday, Dec. 19, we were as ready for kids and grand kids to start arriving as we were going to get. The Christiansens arrived on Friday and the Petes arrived on Saturday. Our main goal for that weekend was getting everyone to church on Sunday. We go to a ward in Kerrville. It takes about 50 minutes to get there. A good plan is eat breakfast before church- then pack sandwiches and snacks to eat in the car on the way home for lunch. Then fix dinner late afternoon. On Monday, our goal was to go buy groceries to feed 23 people for a week. Mom, Alison, Ashley, and I headed to Boerne to do last minute Christmas shopping at Wal Mart, then buy groceries at HEB. Alison and Ashley did a great job of meal planning and assignments. We went out of HEB with 4 carts of food, which turned my laundry room counter into an extension of the kitchen for groceries. We had a great, fancy Christmas Eve dinner- mom bought shrimp and a prime rib roast. Then we had another great (turkey) dinner for Christmas day. All of us cooked various items for that. Christmas morning was a fun, simple Christmas for Jaden, Hailey, Mason, Dallin, and Emmy. On Thursday evening, the Simms arrived. On Friday evening The Andersons arrived. The Sunday after Christmas, there was 22 of us at church :) I packed an entire cooler of sandwiches, snacks, and drinks for that day :) The next few days we spent doing "stuff"and letting everyone experience our life here in Bandera.
I will post a few family pics now. Later I'll do another post with some house pics. I will also do a couple of other "catchup" posts- this was the readers-digest-condensed-version.We love the house, we love Bandera, we love the deer in the yard...our only BIG problem has been the internet connection. The Dish Net turned out bad, then switching to another provider has also had it's challenges. Now finally over a month later, we might have a workable connection. Of course we also have a few other "new house glitches" to work out...but we are here and trying to adjust to a completely new life style.

Can you tell that the grand kids all have a "Bandera" shirt? The boys shirts are navy and the girls shirts are pink. Thanks to GG for those cute shirts.

Move Schedule

Our moving schedule got moved back a few days. Ron and I were at the house yesterday- the main purpose of our trip, was to leave his car there, so that when we actually move, we will only be driving 2 cars instead of 3. The first thing we saw when we arrived was that the pool was finished and full of water....but the pump and filter were not working, so we had a pool full of "nasty" water instead of clean water. A couple of guys from the pool company came and worked on that. Then when the builder walked through the house with us- the painting that was supposed to be finished last week, was not done. He had been scrambling around yesterday morning trying to figure out what happened to the painters.Seems like they are not coming back- move on to plan B. New painters- but they seemed to think it would take them a week to finish. So...we are not loading and going now until next week. (Packing and loading on Monday and Tuesday- unloading on Wednesday.) Yesterday...I left Ron there at the house to meet with several subcontractors, while I went furniture shopping. (Much better task for me that what his task was :) Never the less, both things needed to be done. Now I actually have a few more days to finish up all of my loose ends. Okay...maybe not ALL of them, but a few more of them, than what was going to happen this week. I didn't take any pictures at the house yesterday. I wish I had taken 2- one of Ron's car, parked in the garage. (first time ever for Ron to be able to park his car INside the garage.) And the second one of a "toy closet" that we will have under the stairway. It will be perfect. I thought that space might just be an unfinished storm shelter. Instead it is all finished, trimmed, carpet floor, ceiling light etc. The perfect place to stash some of my grand kid toys, that I didn't know where to put :)

A Crazy Woman

Okay...I have to admit...I'm a crazy woman :)

I guess I can't just stop there...here is the explanation. Ron and I are too old to tackle this "moving thing" on our own. In fact, after we got a friend and his pickup truck to help us move a double filing cabinet and my sewing table from my store to our house, Ron said, "I don't care how much it costs, we are using a moving service". I"m pretty sure that Ron was planning on the moving service not only loading and hauling but also packing. But I just can't leave this thing alone! At first my motivation was saving money, by packing most items myself. (that might save a small amount- but my 'guaranteed price' from the movers, is in reality, not very adjustable for packing) Now, my motivation, is not moving anything that is not sorted, cleaned, and labeled. Most movers will come in and pack up each room, assuming that it will be placed in the same room, from which it came, in the new house. They have no idea what transpired here at our house during the past year and the fact that things 'got stashed' in odd places. Then boxes came from Ron's office, from my store, and from the storage unit. Plus our unload date is December 7. That only gives me 13 days until company comes and only 17 days until Christmas. I've got to have the essentials land in the correct room and everything else gets unpacked, some time later. I don't have time to hunt through 300 boxes of stuff to find what I need for company and for Christmas. So...I have been trying to eat this giant elephant of 'sorting, cleaning, and packing' , one bit at a time. Hopefully in the next 10 days, I will be finished :)
And if you think I'm a crazy woman...my mom is in her room, printing out labels on her computer for her boxes! hehe

Kids Raising Kids

Here is a great article, that I found on Pinterest.
This is for all of my kids...who are raising kids!

12 Steps to Gentle Parenting

Bunk Room

We have an awesome bunk room. Lots of things finishing up during the next couple weeks. And a move in date of Dec. 2. Lots to do!!!

Here is my blue ceiling- I am going to paint stars and clouds on it :)

Double set of bunks on both sides of the room. Twin mattress on top and full mattress on the bottom.

Stairs between the beds to get to the top.

One side has drawers for storage.

The other side has a trundle for another twin size mattress. 

Each bottom bed has a small shelf at one end.

We just need to add mattresses, gray carpet, and red bed spreads :)