I wasn't able to update this coz of our move, and the fact that Verizon messed up our transfer big time. We got our connection back Thursday afternoon but we're still busy unpacking and sorting and arranging stuff. Here's what's been happening:
Aug. 26: After Finn's TKD class, we went straight to the certificate ceremony at the library for kids who read at least 10 books during the summer break. The mayor was there too and he gave out the certificates. He got his which came with a goodie bag with bug related stuff since their theme is "Catch the Reading Bug". They also gave out a juice box and munchkins for the kids. Then on the Sept. 10 issue of our local paper, they posted a picture of the group during the ceremony. Miss Spider was there too, posing with the kids (^_^)
Aug. 29: We started moving our stuff in right after we got the keys to the house. The airbeds we borrowed were our first beds here. The rest of the house was empty of furniture because our big move was on the 30th. I'm just gonna show you what we used for our dining table before and after the one we bought got delivered. I kinda felt sorry for us eating on the folding tables sitting on folding chairs ... hehehe.
Aug. 30: Our moving day. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take pictures because we were busy hauling stuff from the apartment to the house. Jojo rented a U-Haul van and it took 2 trips to bring in most of the stuff. Take note, only most of the stuff were moved. Meaning, there were still stuff left in the apartment. Can you just imagine the amount of things we have accumulated and how we were able to fit it in the apartment? It's amazing and if you've watched a Mission Organization episode or Clean House, I assure you it looked like the before shots. Our basement was full with boxes, even our garage. Finn's room was also full with his stuff. There were boxes in every room of the house.
Aug. 31: We went back to the apartment early morning to get the rest of the stuff and tried to fit it in the car ... overflowing I tell ya! I even had to put stuff on my lap when we went home. We also had to clean up the apartment and return the keys. We let Finn stay outside in the backyard as we were cleaning up coz he was just gonna get in the way. Plus it was so dusty, I was sneezing most of the time. Don't want his allergies to act up too. I think we were done before 1pm. After lunch, the boys decided to clean up the pool and swim at the same time (^_^)
Sept. 01: It's Labor Day so no work for hubby. We started unpacking things and then our friends from the neighboring town dropped by. No Labor Day barbecue for us since we don't have a grill yet. We just stayed out on the deck, the boys swimming. The water was cold even when it was hot out and it took a while for the little one to get in the water. Finn can reach the bottom of the pool on his tippy toes so the little guy was able to borrow Finn's floater. The boys were shivering later on so they didn't really stay in the water long.
Sept. 03: First day of school for Finn and he's in first grade!!! Can you believe it? It's only a 4-hour session for the first week of school so I picked him up at 12.30 instead of 3pm. Same set of classmates plus 2 new ones. At first he was worried about being in 1st grade. He said there'll be lots of homework. But after the first day, you know what he said? "I like 1st grade". I bet he feels all grown up (^_^) He said they reviewed some Kindergarten lessons and did some work. No homework yet during the first week. But even with the homework he gets right now, I don't hear him complaining. He does it in less than 5 minutes. A little more if there's coloring involved coz he takes time in choosing his colors.
Sept. 05: I started painting Finn's room on the 2nd and was able to prime it that day. Started painting it blue the next day but since I had to pick him up from school early, I couldn't really finish painting until the 5th. Finn picked out this color himself from the different shades of blue I chose. It's called 100 acre morning from Disney. I left a corner for Finn to paint himself. Also, I was able to stain 2 of the dining chairs we bought from IKEA. The smell of the stain was so strong I had to wear a mask. It turned well don't you think? And it matched the color of the wood of our dining table perfectly (^_^). We had to let this dry outside for 2 days though, just to be sure.
Sept. 08: I started working in Finn's TKD school as manager (^_^) Right now it's only 2 hours a day, 4 days a week. We're still in the beginning of revamping the place so there's no real "work" done yet. Just some research on stuff we would like to add to the school. So Finn goes with me since I work from 4-6pm. He just hangs out there, playing his DS if he doesn't have a class.
Sept. 10: Verizon arrived late to transfer our triple play account but was only able to connect the phone. He said he'll come back tomorrow to fix the rest. Our bedroom set was also supposed to be delivered today but they called to say they won't make it till tomorrow (*-_-)
Sept. 11: Our bedroom set was finally delivered. It was supposed to arrive on the 30th but for some reason, it came late. Now all we need is a mattress. Verizon didn't come ... geez! They're really pissing us off.
Sept. 12: Verizon came (finally!) to fix our internet and cable connection and was done after lunch. Then the plumber came to fix the pump in the basement bathroom. Then after school, Finn had his first playdate here at home! They had fun switching from DS, to Wii to PS2 to toys and back again (^_^)
Sept. 14: After lunch, our friends came by to swim since it was hot out. Unfortunately, the water was ice cold! But that didn't stop us from going in (^_^) Jojo cooked salmon for dinner and we got to use our dining table's extension for the first time! There were 7 of us and the table seats 6 so we had to pull out one of the leaves (our table extends on both ends). It will seat 10 with both leaves out. I forgot to take a picture though (>_<)
We have made great progress in unpacking stuff. The garage only has a quarter of things left in it as compared to the whole place when we first moved in ... the basement only has a few more things left to place in the bookshelves. We're still sleeping down there since we don't have a mattress yet but not on the airbeds anymore. We have our old futon there.
When the basement is done, we're moving on to our bedroom. Hopefully we'll be able to find the perfect mattress for us soon at the right price. They're so expensive! After the bedroom, I guess it's the living room next. Right now there's only the new sleeper sofa, our old coffee table plus 2 new side tables in there. It's doesn't feel like a living room yet. And once everything is presentable, I'll take photos for you to see (^_^)
... from out of state (^_^) Melissa is a long time friend of mine from ballet and elementary school. She came from VA, went to visit her dad in NY and came here before driving back. The blurry dog in the photo is Miles. Isn't he gorgeous? They arrived before 1pm and they just left a few minutes ago. And silly me, I didn't remember to take pictures the whole time they were here until they were about to leave (-_-*) But at least we got a couple of shots and here's one of them. 
It got delivered this morning (^_^) We went shopping Saturday am and found a set that's simple looking, yet energy efficient, and has just the right amount of settings that we need. After they installed it, we put it to work right away (^_^) As I'm writing this, it's on it's second load already and more to come! hahaha ... well, maybe I won't do all of it today. There's probably like 5 more loads left (can you tell we haven't gone to the laundromat in quite a while?) Yeah, I'll do the rest tomorrow. Don't want to traumatize it (~_^)
When we got home, look at what arrived ... our custom wiimote skins!!! I designed it and ordered it from SkinIt through Best Buy on Monday afternoon. Fast right? Now even if we bring our wiimotes elsewhere, or if our friends bring theirs here, there'd be no confusion as to which one's ours.As you can see, it's us (^_^)
I started painting the guestroom on October 26 but had a few interruptions due to rain and time constraints so it got done just this Tuesday. Finn requested for a spot for him to paint and since there was no school on Tuesday, I let him "finish" the room. I didn't buy new paint for this. We still had leftover paint from Finn's room so I thought of just buying a tint to add to the blue to make a new color. I like this color. It kinda looks like teal but with just a tad more green to it ... I think.
Got my haircut today! I decided to donate it to Locks of Love so I got a FREE haircut (^_^) They make hair pieces for disadvantaged children suffering from hair loss. Googled salons in our area that participate in Locks of Love and found one nearby. Good thing she was able to squeeze me in this afternoon so after I picked Finn up from school, I went there for my 3.30 appointment. Debbie of Studio G Hair Design was so accommodating and she didn't rush my cut just because it was free, she took her time. She washed it, cut it, dried it and styled it. She took off 14 inches! My hair feels so light now and I feel good too knowing my hair will be of use to someone who needs it. Definitely going to do that again (^_^)
We put up this wall art last night (^_^) It was fun getting to think of a scene and putting it on the wall with the pieces. It's a re-usable wall graphic so if Finn gets bored with this scene, we can always change it up. When I first saw this in Nintendo World, they had the New Super Mario Bros. on their wall, but I didn't buy it then coz I thought it was a bit expensive. The next time we were there, this was on the wall. And the other time it was Donkey Kong. When we thought of buying it (instead of me painting the scene myself), they didn't have the New Super Mario version, only this one and Donkey Kong. Fortunately, Finn chose this one over the New version coz he says he misses the old style Mario. So we bought it way before we were able to move into our house. Then I painted his room, and thought of putting it up after the paint dried. When I looked at the instructions for the wall graphics, it said to let fresh paint cure for 2 weeks (-_-) So we had to wait. And we chose this paint color so as to match the blue sky in the Mario game, specifically for this wall graphic. And it fits perfectly in this corner of the room too. It looks great doesn't it?
Aug. 26: After Finn's TKD class, we went straight to the certificate ceremony at the library for kids who read at least 10 books during the summer break. The mayor was there too and he gave out the certificates. He got his which came with a goodie bag with bug related stuff since their theme is "Catch the Reading Bug". They also gave out a juice box and munchkins for the kids. Then on the Sept. 10 issue of our local paper, they posted a picture of the group during the ceremony. Miss Spider was there too, posing with the kids (^_^)
Aug. 29: We started moving our stuff in right after we got the keys to the house. The airbeds we borrowed were our first beds here. The rest of the house was empty of furniture because our big move was on the 30th. I'm just gonna show you what we used for our dining table before and after the one we bought got delivered. I kinda felt sorry for us eating on the folding tables sitting on folding chairs ... hehehe.
Aug. 31: We went back to the apartment early morning to get the rest of the stuff and tried to fit it in the car ... overflowing I tell ya! I even had to put stuff on my lap when we went home. We also had to clean up the apartment and return the keys. We let Finn stay outside in the backyard as we were cleaning up coz he was just gonna get in the way. Plus it was so dusty, I was sneezing most of the time. Don't want his allergies to act up too. I think we were done before 1pm. After lunch, the boys decided to clean up the pool and swim at the same time (^_^)
Sept. 01: It's Labor Day so no work for hubby. We started unpacking things and then our friends from the neighboring town dropped by. No Labor Day barbecue for us since we don't have a grill yet. We just stayed out on the deck, the boys swimming. The water was cold even when it was hot out and it took a while for the little one to get in the water. Finn can reach the bottom of the pool on his tippy toes so the little guy was able to borrow Finn's floater. The boys were shivering later on so they didn't really stay in the water long. 
Sept. 03: First day of school for Finn and he's in first grade!!! Can you believe it? It's only a 4-hour session for the first week of school so I picked him up at 12.30 instead of 3pm. Same set of classmates plus 2 new ones. At first he was worried about being in 1st grade. He said there'll be lots of homework. But after the first day, you know what he said? "I like 1st grade". I bet he feels all grown up (^_^) He said they reviewed some Kindergarten lessons and did some work. No homework yet during the first week. But even with the homework he gets right now, I don't hear him complaining. He does it in less than 5 minutes. A little more if there's coloring involved coz he takes time in choosing his colors.
Sept. 05: I started painting Finn's room on the 2nd and was able to prime it that day. Started painting it blue the next day but since I had to pick him up from school early, I couldn't really finish painting until the 5th. Finn picked out this color himself from the different shades of blue I chose. It's called 100 acre morning from Disney. I left a corner for Finn to paint himself. Also, I was able to stain 2 of the dining chairs we bought from IKEA. The smell of the stain was so strong I had to wear a mask. It turned well don't you think? And it matched the color of the wood of our dining table perfectly (^_^). We had to let this dry outside for 2 days though, just to be sure.
Sept. 14: After lunch, our friends came by to swim since it was hot out. Unfortunately, the water was ice cold! But that didn't stop us from going in (^_^) Jojo cooked salmon for dinner and we got to use our dining table's extension for the first time! There were 7 of us and the table seats 6 so we had to pull out one of the leaves (our table extends on both ends). It will seat 10 with both leaves out. I forgot to take a picture though (>_<)
