The BEST visits are GRANDPARENT visits!

My parents visited the first week in November. We were WAY overdue for a visit- it had been since JULY.  

After a near panic-attack at DFW (that airport is ridiculous and they need to update their signs) I successfully picked up my parents and they had a nice relaxing week of sitting around by the fire catching up on their reading and knitting. 

H to the A. HA. 

The second we picked up the kids it was : "How long are you staying? How many days from today? Can you stay longer? Will you play with me? Can we play Uno/Canydland/Connect Four? I thought you were good at Connect Four (Gabe). Are you coming to my soccer game? Can I play on your iPad? Will you come make my bed (Evie)? Will you sit next to me? Can you bring me a snack? Can you read me a story? Ducccdodgagooogaga (Wyatt) ?

Wait. Most of those questions sound like everyday. #lifewith3nulkids #theyneverstoptalking

My parents call themselves the "back-up team" and they totally are. Like when they visit the adults OUTNUMBER the children. It makes me like my kids a lot more. They should just move here. The dishes are always clean and put away. The laundry is folded WHEN THE DRYER BEEPS. The children are read a yardstick high pile of books. Operation Wyatt Containment is carried out. Shelves are built in the garage. It's amazing! Thanks Mom & Dad. Next time stay more days!!! 

P.S. Our new house here has an "in-law suite" with it's own en suite bathroom. We MAY have bought this with hopes of cajoling Grandparents to come for extended stays. 

 Whenever Mom visits, there are lots of pictures taken. We all tease her about it, then proceed to ask her for her flash drive before she leaves.

 Evie re-learning how to ride a two-wheel. She got too big for her minnie mouse bike and has been reluctant to try her big girl bike. But she was willing to try with Grandpa!

 Only the first 24 hrs are free, then we put 'em to work.

 Contemplating the irrigation hose Mom severed during her intense landscaping help. No worries Mom, this is why we have 100000 feet of duct tape :) . #alwaysprepared

 Our family did 5 shoeboxes for OCC and my mom was our shopping consultant extrordinaire.

 Evie & Gabe loved packing them!

 With the extra help, we were able to work on a few house tasks. Like my husband's personal favorite, "the hanging of the curtains". Ladies, there is nothing sexier than your Man hanging up curtain rods. I was telling Nulkie, I think instead of pre-marital counseling, engaged couples should have to hang an entire household worth of  curtains together and see how it goes.

 Pretty.But it #needsshiplap

 We got to surprise this guy for lunch at school.

 You know how this stud muffin earns his iPad time? Picking up the dogpoop in the backyard. PARENTING WIN.

 Smoochyface

 Me and my girl. She was a little emotional we weren't taking her on our date.

 We got our first date night since July! We really should go out more. Also, RIP BEARD.

 My mom takes the best pictures.

 The Nulks, Texas Edition.

 Veteran's Day.

 I think somebody looks like Grandpa. And therefore looks like me. Same eye shape.

 A rare tender moment between two siblings. It didn't last.

 What did the fox say??

Wyatt's favorite "toy drawer". Glad i chose to put the tupperware there, He empties the drawer about 50x a day.

Gabe has one more day of school until Thanksgiving break. No I can't believe it's almost Turkey day. And that I have all 3 (kids) home with me for 9 days straight. I feel outnumbered.

Hope you all have a blessed Holiday!

Uncle Wesdawg in the House

 Uncle Wesdawg came to visit! Insert cheering emojis!!  You know you're family when you roll in from a 15 hr drive and are given big hugs and then immediately handed big boxes to unload from the truck/flatbed trailer in your driveway. He showed up just in time! Actually he helped A LOT. We still had the garage to empty and rental to clean and he helped with all that. That guy knows how to vacuum and swifter wet jet LIKE A BOSS.

He also is a professional uncle. Sometimes (only occasionally) Gabe can river dance on Nulkie's last nerve (like when it's pouring and we have a house to move and he has 150000000 questions about it) and Uncle Wesdawg was a good interceder on Gabe's behalf.

 A few gems to share:

Uncle Wesdawg: Hey Gabe I brought you some of my old lego people. It's Han Solo and Luke Skywalker from back when I was your age.
Gabe: Cool! I already have a Luke Skywalker though. And I don't think that's Han Solo
Wes: Well now you have two Luke Skywalkers. And that is Han Solo.
Gabe: No it's not Han Solo. I'm serious.
Wes: Gabe it's 100% Han Solo.
Gabe: It's 0% Han Solo.

#burn

Discussing his upcoming field trip:
Gabe: I think we get a pumpkin. I'm not sure though.
Uncle Wesdawg: Gabe are you speculating about that?
Gabe: Yes. I don't know maybe.
Uncle Wesdawg: Do you know what speculating means?
Gabes: No
Uncle Wesdawg: It means to like guess about something or think something is going to happen...
Gabe: Oh you mean like a prediction?
Uncle Wesdawg: *laughing* Yes that's exactly what I mean. In fact that's a better way to explain it.


At dinner:
Gabe: Uncle Wesdawg, can I tell you something weird? Well I mean some people think it's weird. I don't.
Uncle Wesdawg: Sure Gabe. Let's hear it.
Gabe: Sometimes when I shake people's hands or touch people when I first meet them,  I bring my hand to my nose and smell it to see if they smell bad! I just want to see if they smell.

 #tombrady #deflategate #imadethatpatriotlogo #withfelt

 Cowgirl Cinderella

 Paul Bunyan. We may have googled "Last Minute Costume Ideas for Man with Beard".

Gabe is Davy Crockett. He *might* be wearing my shoes. Apparently my moccasins are very similar to what good ole' Davy Crockett used to traverse the wilds of Tennessee in. #frontierhipster

Thanks again Uncle Wesdawg!! We wish you could have stayed longer! Gabe & Evie put the HARD SELL on Uncle Wesdawg staying longer. He did stay one extra day before his 16 hr drive out to Tucson. Maybe it's an army-kid thing, but our kids are obsessed with how many days people are visiting for. How many days can you stay? What is today? How many days left? Do you HAVE to leave today? If you stayed this long you could come to Cub scouts! They do this the WHOLE visit. It really can guilt a person. Fortunately Grandparents are visiting in a few days since they're a little mopey since Uncle Wesdawg left. sometimes it's really hard to live somewhere with NO family nearby. I feel you G & E. Especially when everyone we know in Texas has their Entire family living down the road #TexasForever.

Okay I'll stop whining. We've seriously met the best people here! I had friends who watched our kids for the move and friends who loaned us a flatbed trailer and friends who gave me boxes! Such blessings to us! Thank you AMAZING FRIENDS!!!

To Build a House

 Our lot!

 Day we bought the lot. This was back in March!

 Being staked out for slab to be poured

 Selections at the design center. This company changes up what they offer frequently. When we were picking our floor plan our sales rep had a sample of a white cabinet option for kitchens. When we arrived at the design center a few days later the company no longer offered white cabinets! I had literally planned my entire kitchen around white cabinets, so I had to quickly regroup.

 I rallied and Nulkie & I selected a nice knotty alder with a light stain. Our only other difficult choice was the flooring. I was set on wood floors but this company would not warranty wood floors in the kitchen (lame) so we finally agreed on a tile which in the end were totally in love with!

 Slab poured in May amidst the entire of month of rain.

 Sticks go up!

 This was a very exciting day, finally able to visualize our house!

 Sheet rock, windows and roof

 Future kitchen

 Bricking the exterior

 Garage doors

 Cabinet/counter install. This took awhile: incorrect cabinets were ordered for the farmhouse sink which delayed things about 3 weeks.

 Staked out for the flatwork to be poured. This sat staked out for 10 days before the inspections were passed/what we agreed upon was fixed.

 Incorrect backsplash trim piece.

 Corrected trim piece

 Sink/counter install

 Tile! It's really fabulous.

 Still waiting on the flatwork to fixed

 *Angels singing*

 Driveway! You can see they compromised and extended it a bit farther adding additional driveway footage/ basketball court space.

 Carpet install!

 The kids approved

 Correct lighting in place

 Almost done, waiting on landscaping.

Done. Waiting on final clean. I need to snap some current pics of the driveway all power-washed!
We closed last thursday and what a whirlwind it's been. We are THRILLED with the house. It's really a deep desire come to fruition. We feel so blessed by the opportunity to build this house together. Alright i'll write more about it later- more unpacking to do!