Catching Up!

It has been awhile since I've last blogged... seems like time just gets ahead of me. We have been very busy this past month.. lots of things happening!! We have enjoyed Brandon being on leave since the 5th of December... it has been so nice for him to be with us :) We are getting spoiled though and its going to be hard to see him go back to work and even worse deploy!! Peighton is on break from school.. I think its funny preschoolers get Christmas vacation :) No school for her until the 5th of January... I'm not sure how that will work... hehe... I'm sure we will all be ready to go back to our routine :) Cannot believe we are only 3 days from Christmas and less than 2 weeks from a new year... seems like this year has really gone by... hopefully next year will fly just as easily!! We are very excited about Christmas... I think this is the first year Peighton has really gotten into the whole spirit.. and realizes what Santa Claus is all about... I am looking forward to seeing her face on Christmas morning with all the presents under the tree :) We are leaving the day after Christmas to head down to South Carolina for a few days... can't wait to see everyone and spend some family time!

We've been busy these past few weeks because we bought our FIRST PLACE :) I know crazy us!! We had been talking about for awhile... it would be a good idea for us since we will remain at Fort Campbell until Brandon gets a Captain's Career Course date (which is a school assignment)... which would be no earlier than late 2012 or even sometime in 2013. As much as living in an apartment is convenient... we are basically wasting our money on rent plus its going to get small in an apartment with two kiddos running around. We look it as an investment property... something we can rent to other military families when we do PCS from here... and we are building equity every month instead of paying someone else. We looked for a couple of days... saw about a half of dozen places... and found one we really liked... put an offer on it that day and that night were under contract... its been a hectic process but completely worth it. We closed on the house on December 9th and got to work on it the next day. While the house had some pluses like hardwood floors downstairs, new carpet in the bedrooms, fenced in backyard, a swing set in the back, and decent paint in the living room; we had a lot to do elsewhere. It worked out well that Brandon was off because we were able to get a lot done in just a week. We managed to paint all three bedrooms, redo our bathroom, paint most of the trim, and completely redo the kitchen. Brandon worked very hard and I think even surprised himself at how much he could do all on his own!! In the kitchen, the cabinets were painted white, replaced the counter tops, installed a new back splash, and had new appliances ordered/installed... and the whole area got painted as well as trim. In the bathroom downstairs which is also the master bath, he painted the walls and installed a new vanity, mirror, and light fixture. Also, outside got new black shutters and the front door was painted white. We also got completely moved in and unpacked... we've even managed to decorate the house for Christmas!!

Whew!! I'm exhausted just reflecting on it all... but its also been fun to have all these projects... and to finally be able to have a house exactly how we want it :) At least I can say, we have not been bored or lazy... haha!! We are happy to say we are done...except for some minor details... and we've done it all in less than 2 weeks from closing on our house! Now we can focus on the Holidays... before we know it Brandon will be leaving... Peighton will be 3 and Henry will be here!!