Chaos, confusion and above all else pure entertainment!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T14:45:00.001-05:00

Here is to an awesome 2011... cheers! I haven't finalized my new years resolution ... but I want it to have something to do with saving money... what'd yours?

Family day today!

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Blogging from my phone...

2010-12-28T08:38:00.001-05:00

Yay! New ap might let me update more often! Some fun video of Caitlyn... enjoy!

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Halloween 2010

2010-11-05T14:25:00.000-04:00

Here are some pics from Halloween in our house... well the pumpkin patch, and school!

Renshaw Farm Pumpkin Patch, Freeport, PA

"Hay" ride

Corn Maze... aw

Two roads diverge in a yellow... Cornfield

Picked our pumpkins from the patch

Carving time!

Done and Done!

Our Army guy and Belle

Caitlyn's preschool party

Benjamin's Kindergarten Party

MOM you are a stalker

2010-11-02T00:16:00.002-04:00

I know... I am slacking on the Halloween Pics... tomorrow... I'll try!

Kindergarten!

2010-09-10T16:12:00.000-04:00

Every one this time of year talks about "Back to School", but here in the Brennan household... it was Going to School for the FIRST time! Yeah, they did preschool, but THIS is different! On August 25, 2010, I sent my peanut off to his first day of all day Kindergarten. Here are some pictures from the morning of!

Making sure I packed exactly what he asked for!

Its RIGHT!

My Peanut Monkey

They love each other...

Here we go!

All smiles... so excited!

Daddy and Benjamin

Mommy and Benjamin

Monkeys... its gonna be along day without Benjamin

Off he goes!

My Kindergartner!

Totally missed this...

2010-06-15T12:59:00.000-04:00

Ben turned 5 back in January... wow. He is growing like a weed and will be going to Kindergarten in the fall. Here are some pics of his party and some we took as his 5 year pics...

The kids pick their own themes... Sponge Bob it was!

Getting ready to sing

Jayden and her mommy Terra

Parker - who will forever be known as "Baby Parker" to my kids

Present time - he wanted TeckDeck stuff

Etch-A-Sketch - one of his favorite gifts!

Mima and Pap bought him an air hockey table

SAY CHEESE!

What a big boy he's become - quite handsome, if I must say!

At the zoo that day

Fishies!

The looks I get when I say Smile NICELY!

Been Busy...

2010-06-04T09:01:00.000-04:00

But I promise I'll try to make a come back to this blog soon. Between it being wedding season and Zumba classes, its hard to get caught up. Lots of pics to share and stories... but I'll get to it... soon!

www.zumbawithdawn.com

Come try it with me some day!!!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

2010-05-09T13:25:00.000-04:00

We just got home from Youth Sunday at church, where the kids had me in tears a few times with their kind words to their mother's. I wanted to take a moment to wish all my Mommy friends out there a Happy Mother's Day! Enjoy the day, despite the freezing temperatures!

Kiddapaluzza...

2010-04-07T08:04:00.000-04:00

Totally catching up here. We went for the first time this year to Kiddapaluzza at the Pittsburgh Convention Center. We got 2 free tickets from Giant Eagle, so why not! We had a great time, going from booth to booth for fun free samples of may snacks/drinks. The kids rode some rides, jumped on the bouncey/slide, and got to see those freaky Yo Gabba Gabba dudes. Here are some pics. We'll probably go again, but never if we had to pay full price.

The stage show with Yo Gabba Gabba

Watching the show together

Merry go Round!!

Caitlyn and Snow White... she loves princesses now

Making her own wand

Manicure time! What a little princess... these were all in the Princess Pavillion

Cinderella

Sliding...

Sitting in the Saxonburg Fire Department truck...

I see a future in this here...

Thankful today...

2010-03-16T13:44:00.001-04:00

to be alive! Obviously I like to live for many reasons, but you never know when other plans may be made for you...

On our way home - yes the kids were with me - from Zumba today, we were the front line witness to a pretty bad truck accident that 'if' things had gone differently had potential for disaster. I had stopped to let an oil tanker back into a drive way from the opposite lane (which is funny... I usually stop for no one...) and we saw a huge blue truck coming down my lane towards us from behind the tanker. He had swerved to avoid stopped traffic in the opposite lane of mine, but then realizing he was gonna hit SOMETHING, he swerved back over to the guardrail on the opposite side of the road, nailing the oil tanker. In the accident, the blue truck's full fuel tank was ruptured, dumping 100 gallons of fuel onto the road, running right towards the van. The oil tanker was thankfully struck on the front end (which I think is why he swerved back over), so the oil didn't leak.

Now, we were never in danger, because God was watching us...

The truck came to a stop before hitting us head on, the fuel didn't ignite (thankful I don't smoke today), and neither driver was seriously injured. The drive in the blue truck went to the hospital for minor shoulder injuries, soaked in diesel fuel because he was trying to stop the leak. I snapped a couple of pics while I was waiting for the police to take my statement.

You can see the fuel running down from in front of the blue truck. The stuff on the road in front of the red truck was safe...

Its also online and I decided to email WTAE my pics cause they didn't have the best coverage since they didn't get there until the red tanker had been removed from the scene.

WTAE's Coverage with my pic :)

The kids were a little shaken up, but we are all okay... minus the 'bad mommy' mistake of shutting Caitlyn's hand in the door when we were trying to leave. BUT there were plenty of EMS around to provide a Snoopy Bandaid!

SOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!

2010-03-11T10:55:00.004-05:00

So today registration for the Zumba Convention opened up to all ZIN members (all instructor-only events) and I REGISTERED! I can't wait! Lenny's gonna come with me to chill at the hotel probably... and attend THIS:

This is last year's Zumba Party...

OMG! OMG! OMG! CAN'T WAIT!

First signs of spring

2010-03-10T18:47:00.001-05:00

I'm not talkin tulips or daffodils! I'm talkin 4 hours outside at the playground with new friends... Combined with sunshine and leftover snow piles, followed by grilled hotdogs! Ah... I love the first signs of spring!

United...

2010-02-20T14:48:00.000-05:00

in marriage for 6 years tomorrow - February 21, 2004

Yellow...

2010-02-18T09:46:00.002-05:00

The next color in Benjamin's quest for the Black Belt...

He tested on Friday, February 12th from his Orange Tiger Belt to Yellow Belt. Unfortunately, Caitlyn and I ended up with the flu and after she puked on me in the waiting room before Benjamin even got on the floor, we had to leave. So I missed it but Lenny got some pics. We are so proud of our little Tae Kwon Do Peanut!!!

Ben's the blond (imagine that)... His One Step

Next was his form...

And there you go folks, the newest Yellow Belt in the Sarver ATA Tiny Tigers!!!

And to show off at home a little to mommy since I missed it... look at that KICK!!!!

Don't mess with this kid, folks!!

So proud... don't my disastrous appearance, I had the flu!

Ben and Daddy playin' around!

This kid amazes me every day. He is capable of so much and with his little time in TKD, he is far exceeding our expectations. Next up, Cougar Yellow... I think... its some kind of wild animal. ;-)

Going Dark...

2010-02-16T22:04:00.000-05:00

So I'm like a space shuttle rounding the moon on the opposite side of the Earth... I am going dark... on FaceBook. I have made a decision, inspired by a close friend, to give up FaceBook completely for Lent. No, I am not Catholic, but a New Year's Resolution had brought me back to the church and I decided to give something up this year... not because I have to, but because I want to...

So I contemplated coffee. Well that pretty much flew out the window into the 3 foot snow piles... cause I couldn't last more than a day or two. Then I thought about chocolate or sweets in general. But for me, that isn't a true sacrifice... I could do without them on any given day. So I moved on to fast food... well with toddlers and being on the run constantly, that's just darned near impossible and I have tried that and failed miserably before.

And so it is... FaceBook is my sacrifice this year for Lent. Anyone who knows me knows, that I spend probably 75% of my day on FB, whether on my computer or phone. It hit me today after my friend gave me the idea that that percentage is absolutely ridiculous! Imagine how much sh!t I could get done in that time! I suck as a wife lately, am totally slacking as a mom... and what do I have to show for it... FaceBook posts and status updates!

So, keep track of me here... I will try to post more frequently... and keep me posted on your lives! I will be on email, my normal forums that I frequent, but my true addiction, Facebook, will not see me for 40 days! It really is all about sacrifice, and whats the point if its something easy!? And really in the long run, I see MUCH more benefit coming out of this than bringing me closer to the Lord... really.

Kiddo (and hubbster) pics... SNOWpocalypse 2010

2010-02-06T19:06:00.000-05:00

SNOWpocalypse was MAJORLY underestimated

2010-02-06T09:25:00.000-05:00

So the weather men predicted 8 inches total in my area (north of Pittsburgh)...

Last night before bed (12:30am)

1/2 of the tires are covered on the guy across the street

Porch Steps are dissappearing...

MORNING - Tires are gone

railing measurement

Its Up to my mid thigh at the garage door

Yeah... not goin anywhere for a while!

Here's the kicker - its still comin down hard!

The SNOW-pocaylipse!

2010-02-05T15:59:00.004-05:00

MG - Its PITTSBURGH and its SNOWING! Shocking right?!? (pretty heavy on the sarcasm, please sense it) Schools are closing early, businesses shutting down for the "worst snow since 2003. Maybe its my bad memory, but have we even had a lot of snow since 2003? I remember last year my new neighborhood had 15 inches... and after the road crews got out, everyone just went about their normal routines. Now the Blizzard of '93... different story... but from what they are saying, we aren't even getting close to those amounts of snow!

I know we all like to have something to complain about (guilty as charged), but either pack up and move or join us tomorrow for snowman building, sledding, snow angel making and HOT CHOCOLATE!

And 1 1/2 hours later:

Yes those are my Christmas Lights still up... WHAT!?

Not that I'm eating my words, but the roads are bad, so just be careful, wait till the crews get out... and in the mean time, drink a beer, have a glass of wine and SNUGGLE!!!

5 years ago today...

2010-01-15T14:14:00.000-05:00

Our lives were changed forever. We had just closed on our new house just days prior and were getting ready to move in... thinking we had a month to do so before our new baby joined us. BUT Benjamin had other plans. We were painting and rewiring some things in the new house when I went into labor... a month early! I missed my baby shower which was the following day... and let me tell you, this wild ride Benjamin started us on... has only gotten wilder!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENJAMIN! We love you!

~Ben then~

~Ben now~

Getting ready

2009-12-14T15:12:00.003-05:00

Selling some things to make room for the holidays and the new toys that will make an appearance here...

Below are the items we are selling and all are $ OBO... so if you see something, just ask!

Amazing Animals Musical Barnyard $10 - Lightly used in good shape
Amazing Animals Choo Choo - $15 - Used but sturdy and in good shape

BIRDS!

2009-12-07T17:36:00.004-05:00

So, apparently, my house was chosen as a "Birds" the movie remake location. THAT is the ONLY explanation I have come up with for what we saw here today! I was chillin with the kiddos when these suckers flew in by the 100's. EW EW EW!!!!!!!!!!!

Acting like they owned the place... guess what... YOU DON'T

Something spooked them

They got the retreat notice and took off... look how many there are!

This shot should make me famous... it COULD have been from the BIRDS movie... CREEPY!!

I HATE BIRDS! Thank GOD I wasn't outside, because I WOULD have died of heart failure!!

Benjamin's first Tae Kwon Do Tournament

2009-11-14T20:54:00.002-05:00

Here is the video of his form. He also had to do a one step. Forgive my mistakes... took pictures while recording, and it froze the video...

He did amazing! His first tournament and you'd think he's a pro! He wasn't at all intimidated by all the people. I will post pictures soon!

Ringling Bros Circus - November 2009

2009-11-09T11:23:00.002-05:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

Itchy.... and you will be too!

2009-11-03T21:20:00.003-05:00

So tonight at dance class, Caitlyn came running over for me to change her shoes... she bent down to take her ballet shoes off and I noticed she had a small "boo boo" on the back of her head. I thought it was a scratch so I asked her and she said she fell... end of story.

Tonight she was in the bathroom and asked for help, and I saw the mark again and asked her to get a better look at it. It took me all of a second to realize... EW! It was a tick, feeding from the back of her head!

(please note... this is not "her tick" but it is what it looked like)

So I grab the phone and call her doctor's office... and hear that its "tick season"!? GREAT! She was outside yesterday and today at preschool playing in the leaves and also here at home. So I removed the tick and now have to monitor her for 6 weeks for signs of Lyme disease. Never a dull moment with this child! She was a trouper when I took it out, I know it hurt a little, but she did great. SO... PARENTS: Check your kids EVERY TIME you come in for the next few weeks. Hopefully we have a cold winter to kill them off...

I love Halloween!!!

2009-10-15T14:43:00.003-04:00

Sometimes I need a little break in editing weddings...

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Awesome trip to the Deer Park and Spillway...

2009-10-08T21:56:00.009-04:00

Towards the end of August, Mom and I took the kiddos to camp for a few days. We picked a day to go up to Pymatuning to go to the Deer Park and the Spillway. Because I am WAY behind of schedule of blogging, I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves. We had a great time and I can't wait to go back next year when the Deer Park opens!

Ben was ready to feed the animals right away

Hehe... then he got all shy when it took the food.
The Monkey hung out in its food bowl

Ben putting his wishes into Santa's Reindeer

One of the only animals Caitlyn would feed. She was scared.

Mommy photo op...

Kisses from a Zebra!

Mommy and Caitlyn

Tortise

Family Picture (minus Daddy)

Jail bait - look how happy they look in there! LOL!

This little kitty was ready to eat Ben!

Trying again... then she ran and left the food on the floor outside the fence

I want one... here kitty kitty

The lion ate my monkey!

The bear, sitting up and begging for food

Ben feeding the buffalo... what a gentle giant!

Mima made a friend...

And then that friend called his friends.... and so on! LOL!

Ben petting the duckies... and picking them up.

Caitlyn looking at the piggies... from a distance. They were crazy when they saw food.

Back to the buffalo. This was one of my favorites, Ben's too

An ANT EATER! Weird lookin thing!

I didn't get pictures from the SpillWay on my camera because the battery died. But they are on my cell... for another day... (to be continued)...

Firsts...

2009-09-09T10:48:00.008-04:00

OK, sorry, I thought this posted 2 days ago, but my computer rebooted itself and it never went. ANYWHO....

We had a few "FIRSTS" this week. Tuesday, Caitlyn started dance class. Her first class went okay... she kind of got caught off guard by a crying little girl and stood there for the first 10 minutes (not crying, but not really participating), but then joined in at the end of ballet and did great in tap. I can't wait to see how this goes... I think she'll do great!

All dressed up and ready to go

Love that face... my Baby Angel!
She was so excited!

Caitlyn with her first friend at class

Notice she has not moved from the last pic! She wouldn't sit down to stretch. LOL!

Circle time and Caitlyn joined in!

My baby ballerina

WOW! THESE shoes make NOISE!

Typical little girl here... loved the mirrors!

Sticker time! WE DID IT!

OK and then on Wednesday, my two little monkeys started preschool. They both couldn't wait to start. Its going to be so good for them (and Mommy). We got up early in the morning and ate, got dressed and headed out the door... and they actually cooperated!

Ready to roll! They're getting so big!

And still love each other!

Proud mommy sending them off for their first day!

Caitlyn sitting in front of her locker... don't be fooled by the look on her face, she loved it!

Ben made himself comfortable playing next to his new friends!

I couldn't have asked for a busier, more exciting week! I'm so proud of my little monsters!

Summer Time fun

2009-08-14T09:15:00.004-04:00

Well... its been FOREVER since I have had time to blog... but here it is.

Its hard to believe, but the kids are both going to preschool in the fall. I can't wait. Ben will continue Tae Kwan Do and I am trying to get Caitlyn in dance. Both of them have these newly developed attitudes... while for the most part, they are halarious, it gets to be quite disturbing sometimes. I argue with the kids like they are 18 years old! And they have the ability to argue accordingly!

We have had a great summer though... zoo trips, Idlewild, visiting Mel in Erie, swimming when the sun decides to grace us with its presence. I am going to work backward on this... one blog at a time. Here are the most recent pictures of the kids swimming yesterday.

Love it when they cuddle

Couldn't get a pic of them BOTH with their eyes open, so one of each!

Ben showing off his swimming skills

Caitlyn, professional Water Wings swimmer!

She loves the freedom they allow!!

More tomorrow!

DONE!!! Officially!

2009-06-10T19:09:00.004-04:00

Holy crap I'm exhausted. Curtis and his guys just left after finishing our yard. 2 days to do it and YAY I am excited. I really wish I had the energy to plant my flowers in the front... LOL! But I helped seed the lawn and spread straw all day. So here are the results... for those of you in CA (my hubby) and not close by to see it!

Side Yard - from the middle of yard

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Side yard again from front corner of lot

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Back of house from other side:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The front and driveway:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Time for a strong drink and some time to relax... then back to life as usual... weddings to edit! :)

Changes

2009-06-03T10:39:00.002-04:00

Well, the time has come to retitle the blog... the house is built, the old house sold, so this blog no longer has anything to do with the "house". BUT with in the walls of this new house, resides a family full of craziness to a level that most just can't relate. So, with that, I changed the name of the blog. Over and over again, I find myself explaining the chaos that is my life as "its a Brennan thing". I have never seen some of these idiosyncrasies anywhere else but within the Brennan Family. That is not to say that I don't love all of this... but the adjustment is proving to be entertaining! My 2 children may look like me... but I assure you that their behavior comes directly from their father's bloodline!

I am blessed to have the family that I have and even to have the stories that we share... but I guarantee you that most people don't have half of the stories we have! I always say I'm going to write a book... but this will have to do! And it all started 4 1/2 years ago when we had kids. I'll touch a bit on the past in the next few posts just to give you an idea of where all of this is going!

Sorry! Its been a while!

2009-05-04T20:42:00.005-04:00

Well, this blog was started as a "home building blog" so I'll start there. Here is the one update I can show you... wahoo... we're official!!!!:

And the other is the laundry sink we added in the laundry room. Lenny did that a couple months ago... and wow, I never knew how much I'd appreciate one of these! I'll try to take a picture, but I promise you its not nearly as exciting in a picture as it is in real life!

So... this is what the kids do in their spare time:

And this is what Mommy does in hers:

My goofball peanut... love this face!
And the newest chapter in the Brennan lives... Benjamin starts Taekwando!

He got his uniform, so I'll repost pictures on Wednesday after his first "official" class! YAY BEN! He did great!

K... Mrs. Friend.... QUIT STALKING ME! I updated, are you smiling now!?!?! :)

Vacation - Massanutten Resort, McGeyesville, VA

2009-03-03T12:47:00.008-05:00

We had a busy fun week... and celebrated our 5 year anniversary at Massanutten Resort in Virginia. Here are pictures. We would definitely recommend this place to anyone, with or without kids!

Caitlyn and Lenny mapping out the week for us.

Our little man, just chillinThe indoor waterpark... look closely, you'll see Lenny and Ben!
Me and my precious pea... bathin beauties! Pic from the outside of the waterparkSlip Slidin Away...Tubin'... the boys.
Splish Splash
Cheese... they love each other!
What a ham... she just loves the water now!
Shenandoah Caverns Lenny and Ben in the cave
Me an Caitlyn, cavin'
Rainbow Lake... or something like that... really pretty though!
My kiddos... love em!
Bacon anyone?The kiddos went home with Mima... and then there were 2!

Snow tubin' SOOO much fun!
Wheeeeeee!!
Mwah... back at the water park...
Hats we made the kids after they went home... crazy like them! YAY for vacation and YAY for 5 years!

Forgot to post... 2nd ring update!

2009-03-03T12:46:00.002-05:00

Well, after the one wedding band... um... surfaced in a diaper full of poo, we were hopeful to find the e-ring the same. Well, not hoping to have it covered in poo, but we were sure it was in there. Sunday was the 2 week mark and when Lenny changed her stinky diaper and there was nothing in it, he asked "what did you do with mommy's bigger ring with the diamond?". She told him that it "went downstairs. So to humor him he said "show me".

She took him straight into our bedroom and pointed to the floor vent and said, its downstairs. It was in the vent! So she did, in fact, eat one, but not the other. Makes sense... her original story was "I ate it, the it went downstairs (which we took to be in her belly), and then they were all gone".
KIDS!

If Caitlyn does nothing else right...

2009-02-12T18:36:00.002-05:00

She sure does tell the truth! We recovered 1 of the 2 rings that she swallowed today! Thank goodness for me she waited to poop till Lenny got home. Now, she still has to pass the bigger one. Thank God we at least know that she really did eat them and they are lost somewhere.

Lets hope the engagement ring comes out as easy as my wedding band!

(Ugh, who in the world actually has to deal with this stuff... just US!)

Today we lost a member of our family...

2009-02-11T21:47:00.009-05:00

Rest in Peace Simba, you'll be missed!!!
1995-February 11, 2009

Today I had to make one of the hardest decisions of my adult life. We have had pets all the time growing up... and that meant that yes, eventually they all pass away. But that was always my parent's jobs to deal with it. Today we had to make the decision to take Simba to the vets.

In his prime, he weighted 21lbs! Today at the vets, he was 2.8lbs. He was too weak to walk more than a step or 2 before and was on a downward spiral health wise. The vet said he had a great heart (I knew that) and his lungs were okay too, but then gave me the news that Simba is just old and that there is a definite chance that even if they tested him, he would have something that in the end would be terminal.

So there I was in the cold room, with my best pet ever, Simba. We decided together that the suffering had gone on long enough. I could see it in his eyes that he was okay with it. It was his time and as I held him in my arms, Simba was lifted by Angels to be in Heaven. I have so many memories of Simba and they are all great ones! Even the past few weeks, as hard as it was on him, he would never burden us with any of it... he kept to himself. He will be missed by all of us. From sharing the name of the star in my favorite movie ever, to playing with my hair while I laid on the floor until it was so tangled I had to cut the knots out... he was special to me and he will forever remain in my heart. I love you big guy!!!

Yes, he was as big as Caitlyn... actually bigger! Buddies!
Not sure he enjoyed being a pillow, but her tolerated it!

We love you big guy!!!

Best friends forever! This was one of the more recent pictures of him... I took some today, but I can't bear to see them or post them

For the love of all things... shiny?

2009-02-09T20:45:00.002-05:00

Yes, its true that Caitlyn swallowed my wedding rings yesterday while I was out shopping and Lenny was... ummmmm... watching them, consisting of one of the 2 bands and my almost 2k total engagement ring...

Stay tuned for "Poop Watch '09" updates! As of today... nothing!

Okay, enough is enough...

2009-01-30T09:08:00.004-05:00

I love snow just as much as the next person... BUT COME ON! I haven't seen true ground since the new year! Every day it snows here. Who in the heck decided it was a good idea to move right into the Snow Belt!? Now, I have absolutely no psychic powers, but if I did... I'd predict a 4 wheel drive vehicle in our future...

This was yesterday's view from our house

Snow and Ice... what a fun combo!

Looking out my office window... not such a nice view!

And today's fun... not much different from yesterday!

Bad mom move #65421987... I thought leaving the sleds out was a good idea so we didn't have to drag them in and out. Now the only one we can see is the old infant sled. Benjamin's gonna be pissed!

Its been a while...

2009-01-28T16:43:00.005-05:00

Well we are still getting settled. Most rooms are ready to go, thanks to Lenny. My office is a disaster still (cause Lenny won't touch it) and the basement is still a work in progress, but its getting there. Here are some pictures of the kids. I decided that the fireplace will be "the picture place" from this point forward!

All together now... AWWWWWWWW!

My ET kids... look at those long skinny necks!

Posin' pretty (and handsome)!

Silly faces

Benjamin wanted to show his back side... ugh , boys!

Christmas in the Brennan House!

2009-01-06T10:47:00.005-05:00

Two posts in one day!!! That's cause its been forever since I posted! Here are some pictures of our Christmas in the new house. We had the tree in the sun room... perfect spot! And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care.... you know the rest!

The fireplace with decorations

All lit up

And our first fire in the fireplace!

The Christmas Tree

Cookies for Santa... the kids love that part!

Holy Cow SANTA! The kids weren't THAT good!

But Santa was hungry!

And he always leaves a note for the kiddos!

They aren't sure where to start!

Santa brought a Wii for the family this year!

Caitlyn opening her scooter that Benjamin asked for her to get!

Benjamin digging in

Caitlyn's big girl underwear from Santa.... now to only use the potty!

And the look that makes it all worth it!

MERRY CHRSTMAS!

2 1/2 weeks ago... on December 19th, 2008...

2009-01-06T10:22:00.009-05:00

WE GOT THE HOUSE! We met with Ivan and went through the house for our final walk through. Things were perfect, so we signed our names 8000 times and voila! The house was ours! We got the keys and garage openers and made it official. The next step was to head to the municipal building for our certificate of occupancy. We got there and it had been mailed already! YAY! It was really ours!

Here are some pictures I took before we moved in. We moved Friday and Saturday, put the Christmas stuff up on Sunday and had Christmas dinner here on THURSDAY! I can't even express to you how exciting this was for us. As crazy as it was, it was worth it all!!! Here you go... the finished product!

The finished kitchen with all appliances

The Sunroom (left)
The Sunroom (right)

Dining room

My office... home of DMB Videography!

Master bedroom

Master Bathroom

Walk in closet - only 1 foot smaller then Ben's old bedroom!!!

Upstairs Main Bathroom

Spare room - this room has been "claimed" by several friends and family... we are now taking reservations :)

Ben's new room

Caitlyn's new room - just a tad bigger than Ben's

The family room with the "gathering spot" in the foreground, the sun room on the left and basement door on the right

HERE WE ARE!!! WELCOME HOME BRENNAN FAMILY!!
(if only they could have done the "Move that Bus" ceremony...gotta work on that KHOV!)

Tomorrow is the DAY!

2008-12-18T09:19:00.004-05:00

Can I get an AMEN! Okay, before the Amen, lets say a really quick prayer that nothing else goes wrong! We had our well pump go bad already, the painters showed up a day late, a breaker in our electrical panel was done wrong, a short in the wiring in the dining room.... well I think that's it for this week. Can you tell how stressful building a house can be!? Here are the latest pictures that I have. This is some of the fixtures, flooring and lighting. I can't believe I am posting this instead of packing, but I can't help but to think something is going to go wrong and I don't want to get my hopes up.

The final paint was done last night and we'll take all new pictures of each room tomorrow after the cleaning, but YAY we are almost there! Now for the moving crew!!!

The Kitchen sink... has a soap pump and the spigot has a sprayer that comes out

Kitchen with flooring

Master Bath with flooring and fixtures

Sunroom with carpet (and snow out the windows)

Family room with recessed lighting and eyeball lights over fireplace

View of dinette and sunroom from entryway

Kitchen lighting

Pantry comes completely stocked with..... KIDS!? (Yes that is the top shelf!)

Dining room with carpet and light fixture... sorry there was a short in the electric and the light wasn't working :)

New "Stuff"

2008-12-07T20:16:00.003-05:00

Okay, so after our trip to Disney, some things have been changed around the house. The counters went in while we were gone and the Tuesday after we got back, the trim was done. Here are a few pictures.

Kids Bathroom counter

Oak Spindle Railing goin upstairs (dining room in background)

Fireplace with mantle
Our Bathroom... double vanity upgrade with a single sink
Kitchen cabinets and counter
Another kitchen shot
The kitchen window, with trim

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

2008-11-26T15:10:00.000-05:00

Last post before VACAY!

2008-11-19T09:12:00.007-05:00

Well, initially we believed we'd be in our new house by now, but as we should have expected, we aren't. I talked to our new foreman last week and he is "guess-timating" Mid to Late December. But, oh well... nothing we can do about it, but make the best of it!

So... we are headed to Orlando Florida for Thanksgiving Week and I can't WAIT! We stopped up at the house yesterday to check in one last time before we leave. I was very pleasantly surprised to actually see some work had been done. It seemed like we were sitting for WEEKS with nothing. Here are some pictures. You'll see the ceiling texture, the wood work in the garage, the doors and some more junk in the garage AND the fireplace brick (and some other random enjoyable things)! YAY!!!!!

Flock of wild turkeys in the neighbor's yard (there were more than 20!)

The ceiling texture... same through out house Ummm.... initiation?
Fire place brick close up
Fireplace!
Anyone out there know what this green board is for? If so, please inform me (email me).
Got Wood? We do!
Inside doors and our steel door for the bilco
Windows were stained since last time I had been there

An awesome shot of the front of the house... the last one had Curtis's big ole truck in the way!!

Mickey Mouse... HERE WE COME!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Updates inspired by Dawn

2008-11-10T21:36:00.004-05:00

No not me... my name twin that referred us to the builder this project! Its been sometime and a lot of drama later, but here is you update!

We are working on the inside... we have our furnace running because the drywall stage is completed. Painting is next, and then the cabinets and such. We were held up for quite some time because they wanted us to put in temporary heat and we refused. The permanent electric was in and so was the gas line, but they hadn't ordered the furnace... so we said we'd wait! They weren't happy about it at all cause it threw off their "goals", but I can't say I care too much... it saved us money.

We were also informed on Friday that we have a new construction manager. The company did tons of layoffs and rearranging, and our guy was forced into customer service. So our new guy Ivan, who takes over this week is now off until WEDNESDAY! Glad we have concerns with no one to address them! Enjoy the pics of this stage of our fun!

This is a picture of our woodwork... it showed up early cause no one told them we were delayed... nice communication in this company, huh? But I got a pic anyway... the top piece is the fireplace mantle.

Drywall pics - from the kitchen to the family room and downstairs steps

The family room with fireplace and screen room (on left)
Dining room and steps to upstairs
The furnace and water tank (for our well)... you should see how they have the furnace ghetto rigged to run for the time being

The fixtures... all piled in the garage. Hot water tank is there too

The garage
Upstairs from right at top of steps, looking to your right

Another shot of the upstairs hall way from outside the kids rooms

A day at the Zoo!

2008-10-15T14:32:00.004-04:00

This has nothing to do with the house... but here is a little video I put together from our trip to the zoo yesterday. What a beautiful day for the zoo! The kids had a blast and so did the moms! Enjoy!

C-ment

2008-10-14T17:36:00.004-04:00

Well, the cement was poured last week... not much to say about that, so here are some pics!

The Front Porch

One of the 2 crawl spaces in basement
Basement
Garage floor

Show me da Money

2008-10-03T15:46:00.003-04:00

Well that's what our pal Curtis called to say on Tuesday (Sept 30th). So after a trip to the bank, we headed up. He was hard at work on our utilities... septic, gas and well. The trenches were done to run the gas and water lines and the sand mound was completed, as much as the inspector would allow him.

The inspector is new since our approval and changed our septic plans, so that held things up quite a bit. But here are some pictures from that day.

The front of the house, with siding and shudders (and Curtis's truck ;) )

Close up off the gable on the front of the house... was supposed to show the colors, but they look off in this picture
The trench for the gas line and the water
Our sandmound on top of the hill behind the house

Oink Oink

2008-09-29T10:00:00.008-04:00

This has nothing to do with building at all... but this past weekend, we went to Yahner's Pig Roast in the Poconos. It was a great weekend away and its always a great chance to see Kelly, Brian and Kaleb and the rest of the family. Here are some of our favorite pictures:

The boyz enjoying the "jumpy"

Ben and Courtney jumpin' (can you tell Ben spent his whole day here) Can't have a pig roast without the PIG! (yes, I know, YUCK)
The bag piper (I think this was the first year for this - we missed 2 years)
Kaleb blowing out the candles on his birthday cake! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
The pinata
The kiddos waiting for the candy to fall

Jumping again... Um, Caitlyn, you're supposed to jump in it, not EAT it!
Caitlyn and her Daddy!
AWWWWW...

Me and Caitlyn (still eating the net)BEAR! in the Yahner trophy room
Tracey jamming on her guitar

Cake balls - look closely, I made them look like pigs (chocolate ones look like pigs, and vanilla are plain w/o faces)! THE END!!!

There are tons more pictures, but I can't possible download them all!

The Innerds

2008-09-24T21:51:00.003-04:00

Went up today to pay Curtis to start the septic, and for the first time in a long time, things were going on while I was there. The electrician was just finishing up all of the wiring in the house, and the plumber had finished yesterday. But the surprise came as we were driving down the road and half of the siding is up!!! The back and the side with the fire place is done!!!

I am so happy with our choice of colors. I was a little nervous since they give you a 1 in square to compare colors... and then imagine your whole house in that color... but we did good! Its called Kakhi, and its a darker beige. The shudders are a darker brown.

The dump trucks were bringing in loads of sand for our septic and taking out loads of our dirt from digging the foundation. Busy bees!!!!

The fireplace in the Family Room

One of the bathtubs... they are the same in both bathrooms

The well...

The back of the house fully sided

The Sunroom

The electric panel in the basement

Most of the tubing for the Pex system

Side of the house... they were just finishing up the siding

Lots going on this week!

2008-09-21T21:26:00.003-04:00

Well, I got a call from Chuck, our CM, on Friday. The plumber was there and we are scheduled with the electrician this week. Our septic contractor, Curtis, is headed down Monday as well. And our well guy, Roger, has been there working for the past week... 253 feet and counting... geez, why can't anything be easy!? Hehe, I guess everyone warned us!

I'll be headed up either Tuesday or Thursday this week for more pics!

Crayon

2008-09-08T09:25:00.007-04:00

"Picture Pages, Picture Pages,

Time to get your Picture Pages,

Time to get your crayons and your pencils..."

Sorry couldn't resist. Every time Chuck told us we had to meet to do our "crayon", this song from Bill Crosby's Picture Pages popped into my head. But anyway, on Friday, we met Chuck to go through the house and mark all of our "stuff". He outlined all the counters and appliances, lighting and cable/telephone. Took some more pictures after it was all done...

Part of the kitchen layout (with the peninsula in the middle)

Kitchen again with the stove, corner cabinets and sink in bottom right corner

Wall of kitchen that borders dining room, with refirgerator and pantry (not pictured) way to the right

Basement, rough ins for the 3/4 bath

Um, Lenny, the kitchen sink isn't there yet... pretty sure your hands aren't getting clean

Dinner is served... well in a few months. Whatcha cookin in that "oven" Lenny?

Nothin in the fridge...

TADA!!!!

2008-09-04T17:35:00.005-04:00

Well, we got to go up to the house today. We had our hot tub delivered to the property so we can close on our other house next week. It was quite overwhelming to drive down the road today. The whole house is up! All the framing is done and the roof is done and windows are in! We walked around and showed the kids all the rooms. They had a blast. After a minor fall... okay a nasty fall... I got the camera for some pictures! Check it out!

The Sunroom - 12x14

Family Room with wood burning fireplace

Basement Crawlspace

Office - Future home of DMB Video

Front Porch - comes standard with 2 monkeys (oh, kids)

The front door

Master Bathroom (left) and Walk in Closet (right)

The kids walk in closets with a bedroom in background

Monkeys on the steps to 1st level

Garage storage space and laundry room (right)

TADA... Here it is!

Back of house with sunroom

Back again
Garage side view

Front of house from the other side

Lots of updates...

2008-09-03T08:25:00.000-04:00

Sorry its been a little while since I've updated, but things are nuts here. We have relocated to my parent's house to get our house ready to sell. BUT as we have been moving things up to Sarver to storage, we have been making stops at the new house. Last week when we got there, all of the lumber had been delibered as well as the shingles. They also had on Friday, inserted the steel beam that supports the house.

Last night when Lenny and dad stopped by to check, THE WHOLE HOUSE WAS UP! The walls, the steps, the flooring... everything! I am so incredibly jealous that they got to see it, but Mom and I are headed up tomorrow and I'll post pictures. Stay tuned!

Back to the other house... we close next Friday! Wahoo!!!

Holy Crap!

2008-08-22T09:15:00.000-04:00

We had our Plum Boro Certificate of Occupancy inspection this week. He was here and gone, leaving behind a full page long list of stuff we had to fix/correct about our house to make it up to their codes! Thank God for my electrician dad! Most of the stuff is done already cause they were minor things, but it was one heck of a list. We can't wait (sarcasm) to get the report from the buyer's FHA inspection yesterday! Almost there... now to start packing. Anyone want to help!?

Established 2008

2008-08-15T21:32:00.000-04:00

We no longer have just a hole in the ground with a side of huge rock to compliment it... We have a foundation! I think they poured it this week, but with so much going on here with our current home, I didn't make it up until today to peak. Here are some photos. The walls of the foundation are all done, but hmmmm.... where are all of the workers at 1:30 in the afternoon!?! Oh yeah, and we have our first official complaint from the neighbors... our dirt is washing onto the road... pic below!

From the front corner of the garage

From the back - look closely and you'll see the kids climbing the wall on the right!

From the back corner near the bilco

The crawl space under the sunroom

A view of the other crawl space going into the basement

After being contacted about a not-so-nice complaint from one of our neighbors because the dirt that we excavated was washing "ALL OVER THE ROAD AND COVERING IT", I drove up today to find this! Barely a dusting of dirt that had washed onto the road in a torrential downpour yesterday. Geesh! But we have to put up a fence because of it. This could get interesting!

Video of the progress so far... just a little clip I took today on my camera... gotta love how the kids pop into this one too!

Officially Under Contract!

2008-08-12T22:05:00.000-04:00

We accepted an offer on our house tonight. We are very skeptical... but all it takes is a higher than normal appraisal and we have a sale! Looks like you better clear out that basement Mom (really Dad)... we're movin in! Closing tenatively set for Sept 12... exactly 1 month from today. Glad I don't have to do all the work to get this done on time... good luck buyers!

Emotional Rollercoaster!

2008-08-11T08:35:00.000-04:00

Okay, so after the yucky news about our $6k rock problem, we just found out last night that we are getting an offer on our house that is for sale! WAHOO! And according to our realtor, it could be 2 offers cause there was a second couple at our open house yesterday who wants us to notify them if we get a written offer. This is just crazy. Exciting, but crazy!

And of course...

2008-08-09T22:30:00.000-04:00

Things NEVER go as planned. After I left on Thursday, I guess the excavator hit a huge rock. I got a call yesterday from our CM and this massive boulder is going to cost us another 2-6k! Shocking, right? Things never go perfectly, but I totally wasn't expecting this. Especially since most of the digging was done when I left on Thursday. The rock is under where our bilco basement door will go and the sun room. Lenny and I stopped today to take a peak at this fine piece of rock and we got to see that they started our footer! They outlined parts of it, but they still have some work to do on the ginormous rock first. I'll post pics on Monday... too much to do with a bridal show tomorrow. G'night!

Footers on the front side of the house (the highter part is the front porch)

Ever wonder what a $6k rock looks like... well here you go...

The hubby checking out the progress for the first time.

Looks like Lenny is thinking about busting up that rock himeslf...

The footer in our basement crawl space with the "rock" in the background

It's official!!! We have a...

2008-08-07T15:21:00.000-04:00

HOLE! We broke ground today around 9 am, but because my kids wouldn't get their butts out of bed, we missed the first dig. We did get a chance to go up shortly after though and watch for a bit. Benjamin kind of took over the excavator and worked for a while. Its so exciting to actually see things being done. The guy told me that they will start the footer tomorrow! Our CM is saying now that we'll have our house in 3-4 months! Can't wait! Here are some pictures of "the dig"!

Ben at work!

The construction site

Me and Caitlyn... and Ben in the background

Look closely... you can see the ouline of our new house... this is from the back and the square on the left is the sunroom

I took some video too... give me some time, I'll edit a clip to show you!

BREAKING GROUND!!!

2008-08-05T22:45:00.000-04:00

I have been busy so didn't post this, but we just found out on Saturday that we are breaking ground on Thursday, August 7!!! It has been such a long road to this point, but we are so incredibly excited to start our new "nest". I plan on taking the kiddos to watch for a little bit, and be being the psycho videographer person that I am, plan on doing a little video and pics to document the progress of our home. Hopefully I can post something soon!!!

WE HAVE A PERMIT!

2008-07-22T23:48:00.001-04:00

As of Saturday, July 19th, we were made aware that we were approved for our building permit! We just have to get onto the building schedule and we are ready to break ground! The waiting continues, but at least we have made another step toward our new home!

Pre Stake DONE!

2008-06-25T22:24:00.000-04:00

Well, after months of waiting - we were originally scheduled for the 3rd week of April, we have FINALLY completed the pre stake! Yesterday, June 24th, we headed up to our land and met our Construction Manage, Chuck. We go to work, marked the corners of the house and that was about it!

WAIT... you know its not that easy!! Well the actually staking part was, but then we were enlightened in on a little information that just basically pissed us off! WE DIDN'T HAVE TO BENCH THE LAND! The CM said we wasted the time and money and ruined our land, as we tried to discuss with the !@#$ Wayne at KHOV several times before! We we are out a couple thousand for nothing, and now on top of that, they are charging us for a few extra hours labor because they have to push dirt a little further, due to the benching! AND they are charging us for an extra truck of gravel! Boy, we just got screwed from all angles, didn't we!? Maybe those guys should have sent Chuck to do our pre-lot meeting where we were told that we had to bench the land, and we'd avoid any extra costs! Can you tell we aren't happy!?

Well on we went to meet our buddy Wayne. We did what we had to do, made some changes to the prints and signed and home we went. We met at the land at 7:30am and didn't get out of the office until after 4pm! What a long... and aggravating day! But its done and we are happy for that... on to the next step... BUILDING PERMITS! Thank God that isn't my responsibility! No pics for this day cause we were too tired to get the camera out... we'll take them next time we go up!

June 14th, 2008

2008-06-25T22:03:00.000-04:00

Well, things look a little different now at our beautiful land. Its, well, not so beautiful! HAHA! Curtis benched the lot over the past 3 days, as well as laid the gravel for the driveway. The kids had a blast playing in the dirt. Moving right along now! Our pre-stake is scheduled for June 24th and from there we can work on our building permit!

May 28th, 2008

2008-06-25T22:02:00.001-04:00

WE DID IT!!! Last Thursday we closed! What a relief that was! So now we own 1.82 acres of land... all of which is nearly flat... none of which is treed... and all of which needs to be MOWED! So on Monday (Memorial Day) Lenny, the kids and I headed to Sears for our first "home" purchase... a TRACTOR! Lenny headed up to cut the lawn with our current neighbor (thanks Paul!) and I stayed home with the cranky kids.
Today I went to Buffalo Twp to get our grading permit for the excavation that has to be done before our prestake. Of course, they didn't tell me that I needed all kinds of stuff to go with it, so we have to drive 40 minutes (with gas averaging at $3.93 per gallon) back up there after Caitlyn wakes up from her nap to drop off the application. AHHHHH, and to think I specifically asked her if I needed anything with the application before I left the house this morning! Get it together people!
And now for the tractor..... TADA!

Craftsman 21 hp 46 in. Deck, YS 4500 Lawn Tractor

May 19th, 2008

2008-06-25T22:01:00.000-04:00

WE HAVE A CLOSING DATE!!! Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 2:30pm! Hopefully now we can move up our pre-stake!

May 16th, 2008

2008-06-25T21:57:00.004-04:00

FINALLY... after 3 times to the underwrite, we are CLEAR TO CLOSE!!! Wahoooooo!!!! It kept coming back for dumb things like our electric bill and one of Lenny's dad's credit cards. So incredibly frustrating. BUT we should be closing at the end of next week! Now to buy a tractor to cut our new 1.82 acres! We also got our land survey in this week from Ron. The bill was a little higher than we'd desire, but he was great to work with and got things done in a timely manor. Here's his info:

Ronald Bole 724-287-7825

We rescheduled our pre-stake until June 24th, with hope to move up in line. But with the way things were going with underwriting, we were afraid to keep the date we had set (May 22). We would have never had the land excavated in time. Lots to do, but at least we can breath a sigh of relief with our clearance to close!

April 30th, 2008

2008-06-25T21:57:00.003-04:00

Just got the "clear to close" from our realtor. We were waiting for Curtis to interpret our results of the perk test and after speaking with him today we were comfortable to lift the last contingency. Our loan went to underwriting last night, so we should be on a roll within 2 weeks! Ahhh, the waiting game continues!

April 28th, 2008

2008-06-25T21:57:00.001-04:00

WOW are things here nuts with showings at our current house! We have had 3 (or more) showings last week, 5 people at the Open House yesterday, a showing tomorrow morning and a 2nd showing TODAY! WAHOO! We are ready to sell... the showing are taking a toll on me and the kids... Lenny too, I'm sure!
We are also waiting to hear of our close date on the land we purchased. Might be as early as 2 weeks! I'll keep you posted, but we are so excited to get the ball rolling! We rescheduled our Pre Stake for May 22nd, so we have a lot to do before then!

April 19th, 2008

2008-06-25T21:56:00.002-04:00

Today we got the perk test results in the mail. This is all we have been waiting for to get things ready to close on our land. I have no clue what the results mean, so hopefully Curtis can help us with that. Looks like we'll be moving forward shortly!

April 17th, 2008

2008-06-25T21:56:00.001-04:00

Well the time has come on our current home to reduce the price. We haven't had as much traffic through here as we had hoped at this point and haven't generated any offers since it was listed in February. Today we decided to lower the price $10,000 to hopefully bring in some new traffic.

April 4th, 2008

2008-06-25T21:55:00.002-04:00

This has absolutely nothing to do with the house, but I am just as excited! Today, I got an email from Wyndham (our time share) that the resort we own at (Bonnet Creek) opened its new section and is now available for booking. I jumped online to see if the week we wanted was now available (it was booked before, so we just assumed we wouldn't go on vacation this year), and IT WAS! So we are going to ORLANDO, FL the week of Thanksgiving this year! No, it won't be the big "Disney Vacation" cause the kids are too young for that, but its going to be soooooo much fun!

April 2nd, 2008

2008-06-25T21:55:00.001-04:00

After a conversation with the Zoning officer of Buffalo Township, we found out that we no longer need to do a lot line revision. We were going to combine the 6 individual lots within our 2 acres, as our house overlaps lot lines. BUT because the land was established so many years ago (in the 60's), we are grandfathered from having to do so. YAY! That's $1000 we can save! So once the perk test is done, we can close and as soon as a survey is done, we can start the excavating (benching) so the building process can begin!!! WAHOOO!

March 24th, 2008

2008-06-25T21:53:00.001-04:00

Today we had the Pit Test completed by the SEO of Butler County. We were approved for a sand mound and now we are waiting for the Perk Test to be done. After this, we can close on the land! We hired Curtis Jones of C&D Jones Excavating in Slippery Rock, PA for all of our excavating and he has been wonderful to work with. It was freezing cold (can't tell by the beautiful blue sky), and the poor kids were freezing, but after about 2 hours, we were done.

Benjamin in the "pit"

February 16th, 2008

2008-06-25T21:52:00.003-04:00

FOR SALE! Well, we now are on the market (again). We had a POD delivered today for storage of all of our "junk" and had Sherry come and list our home today. We listed at $149,900, knowing that there is a great chance we'll have to reduce in price. The market just isn't what it used to be and selling could be tough. WISH US LUCK!!!

February 6th, 2008

2008-06-25T21:52:00.001-04:00

WE FOUND LAND! We met our realtor today to put an offer in on a piece of land in Butler County (Sarver, PA) - yes the one mentioned below. Its just shy of 2 acres and completely usable. They were asking $35k for each lot (there are 2) and we offered $10k less. She countered only $2k higher and we accepted. We're under contract! Now for all the contingencies!

February 1, 2008

2008-06-25T21:48:00.002-04:00

Today I decided to take a ride with the kids to check out a piece of land in Butler County. We had an ice storm this morning, but surprisingly, I had no problems getting there. AND I LIKE IT! I called Lenny to tell him about it and he was excited too. Here are some pictures from my cell phone.

January 26th, 2008

2008-06-25T21:48:00.001-04:00

Today we returned to K. Hovnanian to sign our agreement to build with them. Darlene has been great to work with. We went through and selected all of our "add-ons" and will probably have to take some out later, but it is nice to dream, even if only for a little while. It took almost 3 hours to go through everything, but we are really looking forward to it! Now, if only we could find a place to put our house!