Christmas Celebrations

It was a fun but subdued Christmas time for our family.  Sam was sick for most of the celebrating, but he was perky enough to enjoy opening up presents with our families. 

Sam wanted four things for Christmas: a fire truck, a police car, a boat, and an ambulance. Good thing Santa didn't forget Sam's requests!  

Sam had fun opening presents this year. 

Then he slept. 

Home from Jamaica

We had a terrific time in Jamaica. Snuba (a combination of snorkeling and scuba diving) was awesome!! We were underwater for 30 minutes exploring a reef out in the bay. We went down 20 feet and explored. I'll post pics of the dive when we get them from the company. 

After our snuba trip we hired a taxi to take us around Montego Bay. We got to see the real thing, not just the tourist spots. It was overwhelming and beautiful all at the same time. He took us to the highest point in the city to take this pic. 

 

We had a wonderful vacation. So glad we took the time to get away for a few days. Sam stayed with Bob and Betty and had a blast!

Time away

Jason and I have snuck away for a few days...to Jamaica. We needed some time to reconnect and relax. We are enjoying our first full day here staying around the resort. Tomorrow we go to snuba - a combination of snorkeling and scuba diving. It should be an adventure for sure!

The kitchen is almost finished!

We are one step closer to finishing the kitchen remodel. The backsplash was installed today. It really changes the look of the kitchen! I like the different texture of the stone. The last step to finish the kitchen is to add the under cabinet lighting. 

Oops

Sam came home from school yesterday with an interesting note from the teacher. During story time yesterday, they were reading a book about a gingerbread man and a fox. During the part where the fox was eating the gingerbread man, Sam said,"Shoot fox!"  Well, that didn't go over so well with the teacher. 

I'm not sure where he learned about shooting, but he is talking about shooting bad guys recently. I guess if a fox was eating me I'd want someone to shoot him too...

Fall Colors

This is our neighbor's tree this fall. It's such a pretty color red. It lasted about a week and now it's losing all it's foliage.  The trees in our yard are mostly elm trees. They don't look to be in very good condition. I don't know if they've been trimmed to death or what. Hopefully spring will bring growth and healthy looking leaves. We planted so many beautiful trees on the farm in Temple. I miss looking at their growth. We will probably plant a tree or two here once we get settled and figure out where to plant them. 

Puddle Play

What's better than playing in a puddle? Nothing!

It's so sunny!

Our drive to Sam's school is much shorter now that we've moved. Yay!  It's sunny for some of our trip, so Sam put on his sunglasses to keep the sun out of his eyes. So cute!

Moving Day is Almost Here!

Will the new house be ready to move into on Wednesday?  Who knows! There are so many contractors to juggle this week. If it all goes as planned, we should be ready to move on Wednesday. That's if the last kitchen cabinets comes in on Monday so the countertops can get installed so the plumber can come and hook up the kitchen sink and set the toilets and hook up the shower... That's a  lot of ifs!  I guess we'll see if all goes as planned very soon.

We have this strange looking tree on the side of our house. I posted a picture on Facebook to see if anyone knew what it was. Turns out it's a loquat tree. It produces fruit that is supposed to be quite tasty. It's fun to think we may have a fruit tree again!

We are looking forward to our new home. I hope we will love it as much as we loved the farm. That doesn't seem possible, but we know this is God's plan. So we will be happier in His plan in Round Rock than outside of His plan on the farm. We just need to give it a little time to get adjusted and settled in. Hopefully we can start the settle in process in Wednesday!  Come on kitchen cabinet!!

Last day of warm weather

It's supposed to get cold starting tonight, so we are taking advantage of the warm sunshine one more time!

Playing Hookie

Today I decided to keep Sam home from school. We've been so busy that he's getting overtired. So, we played outside in the beautiful 70 degree sunshiny day. 

We found out yesterday that Sam has an abcess in his top front tooth. It will have to be pulled out. He had dental work almost a year ago to cap his two front teeth. He has a malformation of his front teeth so there were two extra teeth. The extra teeth made the front teeth fuse together and caused s cavity. We capped the front teeth and hoped for the best, but now there's an abcess. Bummer!!  He'll have to be sedated again to remove the tooth. Poor guy. 

But today he's a happy camper playing and relaxing at home. 

I love the shower!

Jason sent this picture of the progress made today on the master bedroom shower. I love the way it's turning out! 

Here come the floors!

The contractor started working on the flooring today. I think it's just a prep day, but it is still steps in the right direction.

The tile guy is also finishing the shower today. Here is the floor of the shower. I think is going to look so cool. 

 

The painter was there today also to get started on the finishing touches. This will be a busy week at the house! We are excited for these final steps. We move Wednesday the 23rd!

Celebrating Two Years

November 22 is the second anniversary of Sammy's adoption! Since we'll be in the middle of moving next week, we celebrated "Gotcha Day" this weekend with a trip to SeaWorld and an overnight stay in San Antonio. Sam was really excited to go to SeaWorld, but he was more excited to stay in a hotel. Our last hotel stay was in Denver, almost a year ago, so he thought it was a new and exciting adventure. 

Sam wasn't too excited about pictures this weekend, so here's the best I could do. We were about to watch the beluga whale and dolphin show. 

Sam won a couple stuffed animals while playing carnival type games. We had to drag him away from the fun games. 

And then...

Jason won this huge candy cane. It's just what we needed...

Here's Sam lounging in the lobby of the hotel. We went on a nature walk, colored at the kid's corner, watched a movie with popcorn and blankets, and ate some yummy food. The weekend was a great success!

Burr!

Jason and I went to the Aggie game last night it was a chilly and wet game. Thankfully we were prepared with warm clothes and rain gear. Others around us looked very cold!  The Aggies didn't play very well, but it was fun to be at the game anyhow.

Sam spent the night with Koppa and Grandma. I think he had a great time. He sure is tired out this evening!

Kitchen is taking shape

The kitchen cabinets started going in this week.

They also started to lay the tile. 

We scheduled the movers for November 23, so it's coming up fast!  We are ready to move!

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun evening passing out candy to a bunch of trick-or-treaters. Sam had no interest in going from house to house, but he enjoyed watching all the kids coming up to get candy.  This is Sam's bunny pumpkin. He wanted him to have hands and a tale too!

Big Scare

We had a big scare this week. On Wednesday evening, Sam started limping and complaining his back was hurting. When he got up Thursday morning, he was still limping but seemed happy overall. I got a call from his teacher midday on Thursday saying Sam was really favoring his leg, so Jason left work early to take him to his pediatrician. 

The doctor said it was probably a virus that was causing his leg to be sore. She said to take him for x-Rays on Friday if it wasn't better. Friday rolled around and Sam was still limping, so I took him first thing in the morning for x-Rays. About an hour later we get a call from the doctor saying he has TWO leg fractures!!!  One in his ankle and one on his femur. We very quickly made an appointment for later in the day with a pediatric orthopedist. 

I was in complete shock. How did this happen and how were we going to deal with a huge cast?

Thankfully, the orthopedist did not see any fractures. He agreed that Sam has a strong virus that has impacted his leg joints. He is on lots of Motrin to reduce the inflammation. We have a follow up schedule next week to make sure all is still okay. 

We are so thankful is wasn't fractures!!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Sam's class took a walking field trip to a pumpkin patch last week. Parents were invited to come too, so I got to tag along. All the boys in class claimed they had never been to a pumpkin patch, so they were excited to see where pumpkins "come from".

This is Sam's class. There are five boys and two teachers. So cute!

All the boys wanted to pull the wagon with the pumpkins on the walk home. Sam thought he'd be the best leader. 

It was a fun trip!

It's wet around here

It looks like we may need to do a little work at our new house to reduce standing water on the side of the house. It's rained a lot in the last day, so it may not be too bad normally. 

It's a different story at the house we are renting. The air conditioner drain line leaked in the wall. It flooded the bedroom and dining room. So the flooring is ripped up, multiple holes in the wall, and huge fans set up the dry up the water. It is a mess. Sam is spending the night with my parents tonight. Jason and I had planned to have a night away anyway, so we don't have to deal with the mess until tomorrow. It's going to be a mess when we get home.

Fall Festival Fun

Sam's school hosted a fall festival this week. I was able to volunteer to run one of the booths at the festival. Each class had 30 minutes to play at the booths, eat cookies, take pictures, and decorate pumpkins. 

It was so sweet to see all the kids at the school. They had a lot of fun. Sam's class was so cute. Sam waved to me when they first walked in. Then he played at my booth and told his classmates that I was his momma. 

Progress

We are making progress on the remodel of our house. Finally we feel like we are moving forward.

Here is a before picture of the living room and kitchen.

Now here is the updated picture. The wall between the living room and kitchen was removed yesterday. 

It's hard to tell that it's the same room, but it is! As the picture show, there is still a lot of work to be done! 

Here are some other pictures of the progress. We added the second door in our room for Jason's closet. 

We are also framing up the master bathroom for a door. 

Sam's room has a blue accent wall. Here it is primed. The final color will be a dark navy blue. 

Lastly, here is the entry way. Right now we are debating whether or not the concrete slab in the entry is a separate slab from the foundation. We'd like to remove the slab, but we are not sure what we'll find when we start chipping it away. 

Apraxia Walk

We had a wonderful morning at the Apraxia Walk on Saturday. There was a great turnout, probably close to 100 people there!  Sam was presented with a medal and we took a team picture with the walk's banner. After the walk, we had lunch at the park. Both of Sam's teachers and his school's director walked with us. 

It was an awesome day for our family!

Sam's House

My parents watch Sam on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons after Jason's dad brings him home from school. Last week Sam got to build his own house from washer boxes my parents got at Sears.

 I spend a lot of time sitting in the house. That's where Sam likes to keep his people. 

Come here little acorn!

Sam wanted to collect acorns this morning. He saw there were lots of acorns in the tree, so he got a broom to knock them out. I think he had more fun swinging the broom than collecting acorns. 

Going on a walk

We went on our first family walk through our new neighborhood. We won't officially move in until mid to late November, but we are spending a lot of time there right now meeting contractors. 

Sam took his doggie on our walk. Lucy came too. The evenings are starting to be really nice. I hope there are more family walks to come. 

Things are a mess!

We have started the renovations of our new to us house. Right now is the demo phase, so it's very messy!  We have the framer, painters, and electrician lined up for the next several weeks. Here is the messy demo pictures. I'll post again when things are taking shape!