Happy Halloween!

We hope you had a wonderful  (er, frightful?!) Halloween!  We had a great time dressing Olive up and seeing the craziness of the day through her eyes.

Actually, Olive wore her zebra costume three times in the last two weeks!

Last Sunday afternoon, the neighborhood moms' group put on a fall festival at a local park. Olive walked all around the park. She just stared, wide-eyed at all the bigger kids, especially those with more brightly colored costumes. We did get her on one of the slides, only to laugh when the slide material + her costume material resulted in significant static electricity. Her hair stood up all over!

This past Saturday, we attended a baby shower for our friends Jen and Adam. Olive donned her costume once more - this time with a tail and bows on her ears. (The black and white costume just needed a bit of pizzazz. I whipped up a tail from some black yarn.  Then, we added her hot pink sparkle shoes and a few snips of hot pink ribbons for just the right touch.)

Olive was still not convinced that the hat was a good idea

 

(Yeah, I've tried to make that one upright, like, 14 times.  My mom was at the shower too, and I think this is a super cute photo.  Just tilt your head.)

On Halloween, we dressed Olive in her zebra suit to answer the door with us - and to visit a few of our neighbors. She was a hit all around. More than anything, Olive loved watching people come to our door. Each time the bell sounded, she would run to the front door and peek out while we distributed candy. (Thankfully, the volume of trick-or-treaters was high. We gave away almost all of our candy, including the few pieces Olive collected.)
 

A wonderful time was had by all.

Fun.

We are having so much fun these days.

Fall is a flurry of activity, but we are taking a few moments to slow down and enjoy where we have been, where we are, and where we are heading.

We celebrated my birthday this past weekend with a very nice evening out for Kyle and myself. Miss Olive enjoyed some grandparent time while we were out galavanting. After a wonderful dinner, we tried a new wine bar/coffee shop near our home. On Saturday, we spent time in Conroe, and we did a few chores on Sunday before heading out to dinner with my Dad. I also squeezed in a Sunday brunch with some of my law school girlfriends. It was wonderful to catch up and laugh with them.

Olive is full of smiles and laughter. She is walking more and more confidently around our house and is starting to leave one of us in search of the other. It is amazing to look up from typing madly on the computer to find her little face heading your way. She still loves her binky, and sometimes will use the baby sign for 'food' to communicate that she wants her 'binky.'

The weather is lovely (if not overly 'fall-ish'). Our neighborhood is great for evening walks, and we have started taking Olive for a stroll a few times a week. I know one day soon she will insist upon walking with us, but for now it is a very enjoyable way to wind down after busy days apart and discuss our days' activities.

We are also starting to discuss Christmas decorations for the new homestead. Apparently, our neighborhood is a tad Griswold-inclined. We want to participate in the gaity without giving ourselves over to the gaudy. We are hopeful that such a balance is indeed achievable.

Pumpkin Picking (or Pickin').

Last weekend we took Olive to a local pumpkin patch.

Now, if you are thinking of a big field where someone planted a bunch of pumpkins and you get to literally pick your own pumpkin from the plant, you are wrong.

This patch is neatly arranged on the front lawn of a large church in town. They've been doing it for a long time. As long as I can remember, or maybe just as long as I've been paying attention, but they definitely hosted the patch before I up and left for St. Louis.

We arrived at the patch on Saturday around 1030a. There were very few pumpkins - less than 1/4 of the space allotted was full of pumpkins. I was shocked at the run on pumpkins the patch must have experienced.

But, when we got out of the car, we were assured that the pumpkin truck was on its way. It had been lost, but had been righted. Now, if you are thinking of a cute, old pick-up truck with wood slat walls to its bed and pumpkins stacked to overflowing, you are wrong.

We played with Olive among the pumpkins for about 10 minutes, when the volunteers started to shuffle and gather. The pumpkin truck was here!! Around the corner, turned an 18-wheeler loaded to the gills with pumpkins of all varieties. We watched the volunteers unload pumpkins and gourds (or is it, gourds, including pumpkins?) until Olive was bored with the pumpkin procession.

Then, we purchased our chosen pumpkins and headed on about our way.

Not So Much Fun.

So, our closet guys discovered a plumbing issue.

Great news! We finished your closet.

Not so great news! Your bathroom has an issue.

Long distance plumbing issues are not fun. We *think* that all of the appropriate contractors are now in place and will shortly begin their work. There was no question that we needed to get this issue resolved (and some new tile put in, I kid you not), but it sure would have been nice if that pipe hadn't sprung a leak just then.

Although, I'm sure there were and would be less convenient times for such an issue. I can't think of any right now.

Long Distance Construction.

We needed some help with a closet in one room of our house on Gibson. And by help, I mean that we needed a closet where we had removed one, because (as it turns out) closets come in darn handy.

Our realtor mentioned this morning that he might know someone who could help with our closet situation.

Can I tell you. There is now a closet where before there was none. Fewer than twelve hours. (Fewer than eight hours!!) Between asking Dean for a recommendation, getting a quote and having a closet.

I know enough to know that things don't often work out that way. We are counting our blessings today that they did!

Our Trip to the Beach.

So, Kyle and Olive came to Galveston this weekend to spend some beach time together after my conference wrapped up this weekend.

We took Olive to the beach and dipped our toes in the water.



The sun was warm, but the breeze was cool. Lovely! Olive was not pleased when it became time to head other places.

We found a late lunch of cajun seafood. Tasty and spicy!

After lunch, we popped Olive in the car and headed to another part of the island to watch boats. When we arrived at our destination, she was fast asleep! We pointed the car north and counted Olive's *brief* first trip to the shore a success.

Now, Galveston is not the prettiest beach on the planet. But, the waves came rushing to the shore, and the beach was clean. The combination of warm sun and cool breezes is a favorite of mine. It brings back fond memories of trips to the coast with my sorority sisters in late September/early October. In many ways, it is the perfect time in Texas to visit the beach.

Fun Times.

Last week, Kyle was in both St. Louis and Denver. I was in Galveston, which was productive and enjoyable, but not nearly as exciting!

We recently took some leisure time over breakfast and play-time to take a few photos of our quickly growing girl.

Now, breakfast is serious stuff, so smiles were few.



Playtime is a whole other story. Olive discovered that she can fit into the storage cabinets in her room. She had a great time hiding from us and then quickly opening the doors to reveal her hiding place. Over and over and over again. Fun times.



I did convince Kyle that it would be ok to put up a few Halloween decorations. Before too long, I'll drag out the tripod and take a few photos as evidence. I think they are tasteful but also appropriately thematic.

That's it for now!

Ah, Steak.

So. Our new grill arrived this past Friday. Kyle fired it up and cooked dinner for us this evening. It was tasty!

Snaps.

Olive's room.





Olive's bathroom.

One step at a time.

No, this is not a post about Olive's walking skilz. (Although, she is wandering all over the house these days and often prefers walking to being carried.)

And, no, there are no photos. (I snapped a few that I want to share, but I cannot find the cord to download the snaps to my computer. Arg!)

The house is not yet a clean, well-organized home.

But, we are working to create calm (or the 'calm' that can be found when you have a 14-month-old wandering around) and remove chaos. Olive's room is unpacked and situated. (Not decorated, mind you. Just situated.) And last night I put the finished touches on her bathroom.

Now. My goal is to document the house in a relatively untouched state - just, you know, with our stuff.

The future will bring new window coverings and probably a new flooring choice or two (among other things). Before all that, I want to create memories as it is now.

If only I could get the images downloaded ...

Shameless Commerce.

Well, I won't go too Car Talk on you all.

But I do want to tell you about the great guys who installed our new garbage disposal. (Actually, it was only one guy.)

The company is John Moore Services.

I will definitely use them again.

Now. Yes. We (mostly Kyle) could have procured and installed on our own the new garbage disposal the inspector told us we would need after we were reminded of that need by a big puddle of water in our kitchen. But, being able to complete a task requires not only the necessary skills (something I do not have) but also the necessary time (something Kyle, right now, does not have). So, we hired the job out.

My appointment was today between 8a and 11a. My only complaint is that Alfred showed up at 1055a. However, this is within the appointed window.

He was friendly; he was clean-cut. He shook my hand and did not talk down to me. He put on paper booties each time he walked into my house. My lightly colored carpet really appreciated this.

He opened a preprinted book and pointed me to the price for installing a customer-provided garbage disposal. It was not $2,000,000. It was not 'by-the-hour.' It was a flat fee, and that is all I paid.

He installed the new disposal and re-jiggered some of the pipes under our sink. Yup, re-jiggered is as specific as I can be.

Still, there were no additions to the flat-fee rate.

I was impressed. We will use them again.

H

ps - For those of you who know of this company since they were *only* plumbers, they do more, a lot Moore, than plumbing these days. We do have an electrical panel that needs upgrading ... (and electricity is NOT something for amateur tinkering).

pps - No compensation was received in exchange for this post. But sometimes service people leave, and I feel taken. Because you could tell me that my sink needed a blue-nosed-copper-plated-knuckle-joint, and I would say, "ok." And when you told me it cost $2,000,000, I would say, "Wow. Um. That sounds awfully pricey, but I guess ..." Today, I felt like he did his job, and I paid a fair price. That is worth a lot.

Who is that baby with the binky?!

Our Olive has resolutely refused to take a binky. We haven't encouraged it, but, on occasion, we would offer her a binky when she seemed to need some soothing. It was always rejected, often by an emphatic spit across the room. We stopped making the offer and put the binkies away.

As I unpacked Olive's boxes, I came across the binkies and put them in her box of outgrown clothes. Olive plucked one out and stuck it in her mouth. There it remained all afternoon. In fact, her new binky-interest persists.

I'm not pushing it too hard. (But, binkies don't go to school. There was a minor tussle this morning.) We've had lots of recent turmoil and a few sucks on the binky doesn't seem like the worst thing we could permit her.



She also found (and I put on her) the super cute apron her Aunt Jen made for her. It is a tad too big yet but should fit nicely before too long!

The Story.

Ok.

Rewind.

Olive and I came to Houston over Fathers' Day weekend. Julie, Mom and I looked at way too many houses.

One stood out above the rest.

Kyle and I discussed. He looked at pictures and checked out the neighborhood on Google street view.

We made an offer.

Kyle flew down to Houston for the inspections. He loved the house too.

Our contract was finalized and a closing date of August 10 set.

We waited (and moved to Houston and celebrated birthdays and started new jobs).

While we were on vacation, during the first week of August, our mortgage broker called to say there was a problem with our financing due to a typo on his part but that we should be able to close on schedule - or possibly 5-7 days late.

(Cough. Cough. Cough.)

What really happened (minus a few of the more 'gory' details) is:

Our mortgage guy made a typo in one date field in our loan application. The other dates were correct, but under new rules, this one date was a deal-breaker for the first lender. No corrections, no lee-way, no oops.

So, on August 5, our loan application went to the back of the line with another bank. No special rush treatment, no 'we've-been-pre-authorized-since-June' or 'come-on-it-was-a-typo'cuts in line. We were behind mountains of other people waiting to refinance and get great new interest rates.

And so we waited. While 5-7 days became 30. While 30 became 45. And while 45 became 47.

I wish I could say we were patient.

We probably should have changed brokers or banks, but we were so far in with our guy ... it was hard to walk away.

On Friday, September 17, 2010, we closed. We signed MOUNTAINS of paper. We met one of the seller's 4 daughters and heard stories about the house and her parents. We walked out of the title company on Friday evening with the keys to a wonderful home in a cute neighborhood that needs some love but no major immediate projects.

We scheduled and rescheduled our move so many times. I almost didn't think it would happen. I certainly didn't think we would actually be able to move this weekend, but the movers were there at 830 on Saturday morning.

The chaos has begun.

We will post photos soon, but did you read the part about the chaos?

(By, the by, we have NOT figured out what doors all of the keys in the photo below open, but we can get in and out of the house. Yay!)

New Keys.

Let me off!

So. We have been on a metaphorical rollercoaster. Definitely since June, but depending on how you count events, possibly before then.

Now, I love, LOVE, a good rollercoaster. The twists, the turns, the loops, the unexpected drops, the hills-that-last-forever-and-you-wonder-if-the-car-will-ever-coast-down-the-other-side ... whew. It is exciting and exhilarating, and I love it.

But. The car we are currently sitting in is broken. It repeats the track. It jumps to another ride just as the first one seems to be reaching an end. It has too many loops and the turns are coming without any warning. This sinking feeling in my gut is getting old.

We should be awarded a prize if we reach the end without vomiting. Or just if we reach the end.

Maybe we will. I won't know until the freakin' ride ends.

I think (THINK!) we can see the end now. But, I am becoming quite cynical these days.