Moving In, and Such.

You guys. If you're still checking in for updates, THANK YOU. I'm sorry to leave you hanging (what's more annoying then checking in on a blog, and the same stupid post shows up, week after week?).

Unfortunately, if Jackson, Tyler, or the house was going to get my attention, the blog simply was not.

Thank you for bearing with me during these busy weeks - and now I owe you an update.

We finally got the shiny keys to our new home weeks ago. It has been such a time warp, I couldn't even tell you how many weeks without looking at a calendar. We quite literally got right to work.

Our first project was replacing the ugly gold hardware in the kitchen. Random, and not our plan, but it was a super-easy project and just kind-of happened.

Next was re-painting the laundry room. It had a wallpaper border with puppies, kitties, and hanging laundry on it. Cross my heart. It took hours to get that down, and a tiny piece of me felt guilty for destroying the puppies. That lasted a micro-second.

Unfortunately, the pictures of those two projects are on our laptop, which Tyler currently has in 80 degree San Diego (bugger). I'll post those later, as I know you are dying to see the puppy border.

Next up, we tackled painting our bedroom, which also was no small task. I am still trying to wrap my head around the previous owner's style, but there's no point. Again with the stupid wallpaper border, grrr.

 

(Post wallpaper border, and frankly, the border was the least of my discontent. LOOK at those colors.)

 

This is so... fun?

 

Something of an after. We are replacing carpets next week, so no need to unpack and actually get settled in.

Next project: the dining room. You'll never guess... we had a wallpaper border to take down! Enough already.

 

This is a REAL after photo. Pretty much donezo.

 

Then came painting the kitchen. Oh the yellow kitchen.

 

 

Sorry for the less-than-stellar pictures. The kitchen also is not complete, so this is what you get: messy half done kitchen.

 

We also managed to squeeze an Easter BBQ in:

 

 

 

 

You can thank Tyler for the pictures. Every time we are working on something, he makes the same exact comments: "Where is the camera? We need to document this".

 

So, there you have it. This is how we've been spending nap times and evening times. We have several more 'projects' to go, and I'm fairly confident it may very well never really end, but we are making progress and it feels great. We are falling more in love with our new home every day.

 

We are finally falling into weekly routines, and are also squeezing work, new friends, and gym time into our days. It feels good to be busy creating our life here in NY. I think we're really going to like it here. More updates to come, more often, I hope!

 

 

XO

 

 

 

Hotel Living

We decided to buy a house. In New York.

Turns out, New York is one of the most difficult states for buying a home. Who knew? Almost everyone has a ‘story’ of some kind regarding their home purchase here, and I haven’t heard of one that had an on-time closing. Now we know.

We had a ridiculously ambitious plan for this move. Tyler graduates from AFIT on Thursday. Movers come Friday. Final walk through on the house we were renting Saturday. Drive to New York Sunday. Close on our new home Monday. HA.

Shockingly, everything we could control did go according to plan. The closing was out of our hands, and as we mark our 10th day in New York, we are still in limbo. In reality, we haven’t closed yet for one main reason: the house we are buying has a septic tank, and just days before our scheduled closing, it was discovered the tank needed to be replaced.

Hot damn and hallelujah this was discovered BEFORE we closed. The seller is taking full responsibility and having it replaced, but due to liability issues, we can’t move in until the work is all finished, so here we sit, waiting.

Happily, I accept this over the alternative, so we are making the best of the situation, and trying to enjoy a kind of ‘forced’ vacation (which you can’t really call a vacation at all, because we are both back to work).

The good:

-Jackson has made friends with the entire staff, smiling, waving, and flirting with anyone that will give him attention (which happens to be everyone).

-This hotel is wonderful. It’s brand new, we have a large room, and the staff has been so gracious. This could be way worse.

-This family is getting some serious bonding time.

-There’s a pool.

-Breakfast is included. We are getting fatter by the day.

The ugly:

-The walls might be closing in, a bit and Tyler has some kind of stomach bug, gross poor guy.

-Kahla has nowhere to run. I can’t believe how incredibly patient she’s being. We take her on walks, but it’s nothing like what she’s used to. We owe her BIG time.

-We are eating out all.the.time. AND I forgot workout clothes/shoes. (See breakfast bullet above).  Gross.

So there you have it, the Stubbs family update. I feel like we’ve pretty much been off the grid, and my to-do list is ever growing. (I promise, Jackson’s birthday thank you notes are coming….someday.) Juggling work, Jackson, Kahla, and this darn house has become all-consuming. I promise when we come up for air, you’ll be hearing more from us 😀

In the meantime, thanks for all your well-wishes and prayers. We sure appreciate you all!

 You know you've spent too much time in a hotel when your 12-month-old knows how to use the key card.

Air Force Institute of Technology

This guy graduated from AFIT. Y’all this is such a huge accomplishment. Tyler finished this program with such grace; he made it look easy – rarely complaining, spending several days a week with Jackson, and making his family a priority the entire way through. I promise you though, this program is anything but easy, and is known for the incredible challenges it places on its graduates – pushing the best of the best to their limits.

I cannot express just how proud I am to call Tyler my husband and Jackson’s dad, because this is exactly the kind of commitment he puts into every aspect of his life.

Not every moment was easy – in taking on this challenge, we challenged our marriage and our family in new way, and (luckily) we came out stronger than we were before. 

What an adventure this chapter has been, and I’m glad we took it on together (although, happily, I let him do all the academic stuff).

Congratulations, we are so, so proud of you!

Ok, brag moment over, but check out the pictures from his way-cool ceremony.