April 17, 2009: Spring Has Sprung!!

This must be a record - just over two weeks since my last update! Amazing! I just had to post another update - we had a whirlwind day yesterday and I didn't want to forget all the emotions!

First of all, our kitchen renovation officially started yesterday! Scott and his helper Edward started by taking out the wall between the kitchen and family room. It looks AMAZING! Even without being finished (no drywall, no trim, no paint) it looks fantastic. I can't believe we lived in this house for 7 years with a wall there. Scott also said it was sagging by 3 inches so it's a good thing they fixed it! They finished quickly with the wall opening so then they tackled the cabinets. They are all out of the house and the entire contents of our kitchen are now piled into the guest room. We have set up the dining room for eating and we have some things in the basement too. AAHH! My head is reeling from all the displacement but I can clearly see that it will all be WELL worth it in the end. I picked out our granite slab on Monday so now we just need to pick out some paint colors and the tile backsplash. The cabinets are scheduled to be installed the week of April 27th and things should hopefully come together quickly after the cabinets go in. We are still hoping to be finished by Mother's Day weekend and I CAN'T WAIT to see the finished product!

The other outstanding news is that Elizabeth was accepted to IHM!!! It was a real roller coaster over the past 12 days. On April 4th, we got a letter in the mail informing us that she met the requirements for Kindergarten but she had been placed on the waiting list due to the number of applicants. I was honestly crushed and so disappointed because I just wanted to KNOW one way or the other and I really thought she would get in. We talked to Bryan and Linda and Linda told us that her Kindergarten teacher friend told her that Elizabeth tested really well but they had a number of Catholic applicants. Bryan told us that Catholic families typically apply to 3-4 schools so we were just hoping that a handful of them would decide to go elsewhere and that Elizabeth was near the top of the list. Well, April 16th (yesterday) was the deadline for accepted students to let them know and lo and behold, we got a phone call in the afternoon! I was outside with the kids due to all the chaos going on in the house and I just happened to look at the caller ID to see that IHM had called. My heart was pounding outside of my chest as I listened to the message from Maria Demos (the admissions director) and I ran upstairs to call her back. She was very excited to tell us that Elizabeth had been accepted and I could hardly hear her I was so happy! I called Ed immediately and he couldn't believe it. I told Elizabeth and she was so excited. I cried on the phone with Ed because I am so happy for HER. I just felt in my heart all along that IHM would be the right place for her and I'm so thankful that God opened that door for us. What a blessing!

On top of all this, my Mom told me that they got an offer on their house yesterday! It's a bit low but that is to be expected in this economic climate. The good news is that it's not a contingency and the buyers are not asking for anything special. At least it's a starting point and a number that they can work with. AND the buyers want to close on May 8th which would be wonderful since Mom and Dad are already out of the house and paying a mortgage on the new one. What a blessing for them if this can work out. I am praying for them!

It was such a wonderful day yesterday and I'm thankful for all these blessings! We also had a wonderful Easter. The kids attended an Easter egg hunt and pancake breakfast at church on Saturday morning. On Easter Sunday, we went to church at 8:00 and the kids and I came home while Ed stayed to count the offering. Ed came home and we left for a country buffet restaurant in Cumming to meet Mom and Dad, Granny and Pa, Brian and Paige, Jimmy and Lori, Ron and Linda, and David and Melodi. It was a departure from our traditional Easter and I missed going to Donna Dutton's house but she recently had back surgery and I can understand why she can't host anymore. Hopefully either Ed and I or Mom and Dad can offer to host in the future. I don't mind hosting something as long as we can be outside. The kitchen renovation will give me new confidence to host gatherings! But we had a nice time and it was good to see everyone.

Spring Break ended up being a fun week too. I was so worried about Ed being gone and finding things to do with the kids but we had a great week. The three of us went to Discover Mills on Monday and I found new shoes for the kids at the Stride Rite outlet. We ended up having lunch at Chili's and the kids rode the train and the merry-go-round. On Tuesday, we went to Tracey's house for a playdate and we all had lunch at McAlister's. Seeing as how it SNOWED on Tuesday and was really cold, it was good that we had indoor plans! On Wednesday, we helped Mom move some stuff from the Snellville house to the Flowery Branch house. Then we went to Mall of GA and shopped for a bit and had lunch at Ruby Tuesday. On Thursday, we went to the zoo with Whitney, Spencer, and Mitchell Payne. The entire population of metro Atlanta was at the zoo since it was the warmest day of the week!! We had fun anyway despite not seeing but a handful of animals. We ate lunch, rode the train and the carousel, and played on the playground instead. It was nice just to be outside to enjoy the weather. We played at their house for a bit on the way home and then Andrea and Anthony came over Thursday evening. We enjoyed some beer and wine and ordered pizza. We put the kids down and socialized for a while. On Friday, Ed came home around 11:00 and we went to Pappasito's for lunch. Elizabeth and I got pedicures in the afternoon and then I met Lorie and Co. to head down to Turner Field for the Braves' home opener. There was a two-hour rain delay and we left at the end of the delay, but the Braves ended up winning and we had a great time. Ed had a great time on his trip to Boston too but he was glad to be home!

The only damper to this week came on Monday when there were some high winds and a tree fell on Midvale Road, knocking out power (of course) to our house. It ended up being out for a total of 32 hours - from 10:30am on Monday until 6:15pm on Tuesday. The kids and I headed up to Flowery Branch on Monday afternoon and spent the night. Ed stayed at the house as long as he could on Monday night and then spent the night with the Pinabells since he needed electricity for his CPAP machine. He returned to the house early Tuesday morning to get dressed and check on Casey. The kids and I went to the Mall of GA on Tuesday and had lunch with Lorie and Colin. Elizabeth missed school on Tuesday which was kind of a bummer but if there was a day to miss, Tuesday would be the best one. We got home around 2:30 on Tuesday and it was a nice day outside so the kids played for while and the power came back on right before Ed got home. We know some friends (McMillens and our minister) who had to wait even longer but it's clear that we are near the bottom of the priority list when it comes to restoring power. But I need to keep things in perspective - we didn't lose any trees at our house and no one was hurt so that's what matters. I even SAW the tree on Midvale fall! I was turning left onto Midvale to head to the grocery store and in my rear view mirror, I saw a spark as the tree fell toward the road. So weird! So thankful that no one was hurt. There were lots of trees down in our area and lots of damage - all thanks to the wind!

Daniel continues to do great with potty training. He's had a few accidents here and there and it took him a few days to get comfortable with going poop on the big potty but I think he's really getting the hang of it now. Yesterday I was so distracted with everything happening and he still managed to get to the potty upstairs all by himself and go poop! He's worn underwear to school all week this week and he's done well. I hope today goes just as well and I might consider sending him to lunch bunch soon. I can't even imagine having a day until 2:00 all to myself and getting to have lunch with Tracey with NO KIDS!! It's been only a dream for so long!! Speaking of, the other good news is that I got a phone call from Shallowford Presbyterian before spring break and they added another 3-year-old class for their August camp! So Daniel will be going! All of us (the Tuesday gymnastics crew) are SOOO excited because it's the first week of "big" school. So all the older kids will be in school and now the younger ones will be in camp. It will be HEAVENLY to have that whole week of mornings free.

I'd better end this now since all the news is good!! I will update soon with progress on our kitchen. I took lots of "before" pictures and I'm keeping them on shutterfly so it will be fun to document the process. Can't wait for it all to be finished...it's going to be BEAUTIFUL!! Glory to God for all the blessings in my life!!