This post will update you through the end of Brendan’s trip. I will post the rest at a later date.
Friday, April 16, 2010
I met Lily and little Emily at Chick-fil-a for breakfast and then headed over to Old Navy to score $600 worth of product for $150!!!!! I love couponing and catching the sales!
Papa Brad and Na-Na Jean flew in from Atlanta to celebrate their wedding with us Dallas folks. Aunt Jessica also flew in for the party.
Cousins Shelby and Madison watched Emmalee for us while we were at the party and they had a ball. They loved playing dress up but I think Emmalee would rather be naked!
Saturday, April 17, 2010
My Papa and Mema, Emmalee’s great-grandparents, were in town stopping on their way back to Iowa.
Although we owned the house as of March 31, we rented it back to the previous owners until mid-April. They were awesome and allowed us to take everyone over to the house to show it off.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
We got the house all to ourselves Sunday but Bren was at work so the Klein girls came over to help me get the place clean. We ate dinner on the floor in the dining room and made some great memories. The girls were all into firsts; so we had to photograph the first bite of food in the new house, the first bug I killed, how went to the bathroom first, etc.
The most memorable moment was when we were cleaning the kitchen and we realized that Shelby was cleaned the floor with a toilet bowl scrubbing brush. It was awesome!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Momma’s 26th Birthday
When exactly did I become an adult? I celebrated my 26th birthday with my wonderful husband and beautiful daughter buying a refrigerator! Crazy!
Friday, April 23, 2010
Papa Brad suggested we paint the ceiling because it would make such a great difference; we agreed so I spent the morning painting Emmalee’s ceiling.
Emmalee and I picked Mary up and had lunch at the Porch downtown.
After dropping Mary off at work we headed out to Royse City to see Bill & Nina Hartwig.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Michael, Amanda & Audrey came over for lunch and we discovered we weren’t as prepared as we thought we were to have our first guests over. We are so grateful that our friends love us enough to extend us a good deal of grace.
Emmalee and I went to Home Depot to pick up the paint for her room and while I was talking with the paint associate Emma went through Momma’s purse and proudly found the medicine tube. Kids!
This is me painting Emma’s room trying to decide which color we liked on top; we went with green.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
I put Emma down for her nap and she decided to cry and throw her pacifier down on the floor. She fell asleep in the sitting position with her head against and hand through the bars. It was ridiculous that she fell asleep that way but crazier that she sleep like that for the entire two hour nap.
Brendan was at work so the Klein women were kind enough to come over and help me with the yard work that needed to be done.
Before After
While the older girls were outside the two youngin’s, Madison and Emma, were inside playing dress up.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
I am way into couponing and getting the best deal. I went into Banana Republic and checked out the clearance section and found a dress. It was regularly $70 marked at 40% off and then I had two coupons which made the dress FREE!!!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Brendan took Emmalee to her 9 month pediatrician appointment where we found out she was 18 lbs, 28.5 inches tall which puts her in the 45% for her weight and 75% for her height.
After the appointment Brendan took Emmalee to Aunt Cory’s so he and Uncle Rich could get the mattress moved over from the apartment. I was sick of sleeping on an air mattress.
Friday, April 30, 2010
With Brendan and I working two jobs we only had a couple of days together to get work done on the house. Friday was our first all day work day together and my good friend Ali came over to watch Emmalee which was a life saver.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
After a morning of working at the church, I took Emmalee over to Cory’s so I could have an afternoon with the girls from our home group. We went and saw the movie The Last Song which turned out to be a tear jerker!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
After painting the ceilings in the Emmalee’s room, the guest room and the hallway I said enough and we brought in a Beck painter to do the rest of the ceilings in the house.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
On the first Wednesday of the month we have an elder-led prayer meeting at our church where we come together as a community and prayer as small groups of 2-4 people. We simply pray for things going on in our church like the mission trip that Brendan and 9 other firemen were taking to Guatemala. The firemen that were not working attended the meeting and Matt, our lead pastor, broke the congregation up into 4 groups and each group prayed over one of the men. The group that prayed over Brendan had about 50 people and most of them we didn’t know so that was really cool!
Friday, May 7, 2010
While Brendan was at the station I was at home with Emmalee getting the carpets cleaned and coordinating the arrival of the furniture from Papa Brad. When he got married he moved into Na-Na Jean’s loft so most of his ‘bachelor pad’ furniture needed a new home. We offered to take it off his hands and all we had to do was get it from Atlanta to Flower Mound.
That’s where Bruce Neidenfeuhr was able to graciously come in and help with his moving services. The truck arrived with our stuff right as the carpets were being cleaned so all the stuff had to go to the garage. This bummed me out since I have been adamant that we will use the garage as a garage and not a storage unit! But for the time being I had to let that go.
Later that night Emmalee and I headed over to the apartment to pack and do some cleaning. When I walked in I heard water running which worried me since we hadn’t been living there for almost 2.5 weeks. I walked around to all the facets and none were on so I checked the laundry room. I opened the door to find the floor flooded with 2 inches of water and the ceiling sagging and dripping. Emmalee and I immediately ran (well she was carried and I ran) to the office to get maintenance. They checked all the surrounding apartments and couldn’t find the leak so they had to cut a giant hole in the ceiling and found that a joint had burst. The solution required that the water be turned off which was fine since we weren’t living there but made cleaning the apartment challenging. It also made moving out day fun because you couldn’t flush the toilet. 
)
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Brendan was at work again because he had to work extra shifts to prepare for his upcoming absences due to his trip. So Emmalee and I went back over to the apartment to finish packing. Bren’s parents came up from College Station to help us out by watching Emma and they were a huge help!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Mother’s Day
Moving Day started with Bren coming home from the station and asking if he could have Emmalee for a minute. I thought it was going to go change her but instead they went out to his car and came back to the door with gifts. They had an orchid for Vernice and one for me. Emmalee also had a Willow Tree figurine of a mother holding a toddler which was precious!
It was a great start to a crazy busy day. Bren and I left Emmalee at the house with Grandma and Grandpa. We picked up the uhaul and headed to the apartment to start loading. I helped get most of the big items in and then had to leave to get to church to volunteer in the preschool with my 4 year olds. When I got out I met everyone at the house to start unloading while Bren headed up to the church for his mission team meeting. When he got home the movers we had hired for 2 hours finally got there (they were 2.5 hours late). After the final load was in the house Noble and Vernice headed home while the three of us headed back to the apartment to clean. Emmalee was a big help and found the empty cabinets to be a fun hiding place!
Tuesday, May 9, 2010
Our next door neighbor, Gus, has a catering business and makes some mean BBQ. He brought over some shepherd’s pie one of the first nights we were in the house and then he brought over a huge tray of ribs and chicken Saturday night. Then during move in on Sunday he brought us a tray of pulled pork that was amazing. To support him and his restaurant I put together flyers and took them door to door telling our neighbors to go try his food. www.gusqplus.com It was a great way to meet the neighbors and drum up business for Gus.
Monday, May 10, 2010
After the beating of moving all day Sunday, Brendan called in on Monday which I was grateful for because I needed the extra help with unpacking and with Emma. Later in the day we found out that Noble had gone to the doctor and found out he was really sick and needed heavy medication which made it even more special that he helped as much as he did; thank you Noble!!!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Before home group we went to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings for Brendan’s last dinner in the States before his mission trip. Then we enjoyed a night of fellowship with our home group who graciously prayed over Brendan and me.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
I know this entry is long but it’s worth the read; God is good!
Thursday was a full day for us which started bright and early. Brendan and Emmalee drove out to Sachse to enter Brendan’s time card for the 2 weeks he’d be gone. I went to the apartment to clean the stove (with no water mind you). At 9 the Best Buy guys got to the house to install the dishwasher we had bought on my birthday. It couldn’t be installed because we needed a plumber to re-pipe under the sink. While he was home dealing with that I had stopped to get Brendan his favorite breakfast and discovered I had called in the order to the wrong restaurant so that couldn’t even go right. The day was not getting off to a good start.
Brendan was all packed and ready to be at the airport at 1:00 when we discovered something very critical was missing. At 11:15 I casually asked Brendan if he had his passport out with his stuff. He went to the safe in the bedroom and asked where it was to which I replied, “if it’s not in the safe then I don’t know where it is”. I said there’s two in there, one’s yours and the other’s mine. He said yeah but this one is expired where’s my new one.
We spent the next 45 mins turning every packed box upside down, looking through every file, searching high and low but there was no passport to be found. At 11:45 I told him to get on the phone with the passport office to find out his options. At noon he had to call the leader and tell him the bad news. David said he would call the Missions Minister for the church and ask him what to do. We got a call back that the flight had been delayed and we didn’t need to be at the airport until 2:00 and that the Dallas Federal office can print passports and get them turned around in 24 hours.
Brendan got the 2:30 time slot which was the last appointment of the day and was told to be there within 15 mins of the appointment or his spot was gone. We left the house in Flower Mound which is in NORTH Dallas at least 30 mins away from downtown at 2:20. I sped like a crazy woman and we got to the federal office building right at 2:45.
The whole time we were driving/flying downtown we were praying that the clerk helping Brendan would be a Christian or a person who loves firemen. The Lord answered our prayers and the clerk was able to get Brendan in and out by 3:30 with a new passport. UNHEARD OF!!!
I then had to get Bren across town to the airport for a 5:00 flight. I dropped him off at 4:00 and raced home to repack his bags into 2 carry-on bags. I was back at the airport in 30 mins with bags in hand.
He was through security just in time to board the plane. God is good!
Once on the plane they were told there was a hole in the engine that was being fixed but delayed the flight several hours. They took off at 7:30, the time they were supposed to be landing in Guatemala.
After tearing our house apart, rushing all around town and going through the emotional rollercoaster I was beaten and exhausted. When I left the airport, traffic was backed up so it took a while to get home but I was in no hurry to get home to a trashed house. I spent the next couple of hours getting everything in order and getting little Emma ready for bed.
After putting her down for the night I was walking by the hallway closet where the A/C unit is kept. I heard water dripping so I opened the doors to find water pouring out of our A/C! I just clasped and burst into tears. All I could think was couldn’t something go right today!
After Aunt Cory talked me off the ledge, I was able to pull myself together to get a game plan together. I called the warranty company and got the hours of business so I could call first thing in the morning.
Around 11:30 Brendan called and said they had just landed in Guatemala. I could finally get some sleep knowing he was safe and sound.
Friday, May 14, 2010
The warranty company sent out an A/C company who inspected the unit and found that the interior filters were so dirty air could not pass through so the coils were freezing. The unit had to be turned off until the filter was chemically cleaned. They said they would be in touch with an appointment on Saturday.
Later that night we needed to go to the apartment to turn the keys in and get some remaining items. On the way we stopped at Gus’ Q plus to support our neighbor and enjoy some BBQ. It was his first day open so we wanted to show our support an get some of that delicious food.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
My 4 year Anniversary with Beck – Can’t believe I’ve been there and out of college for that long
Saturday was supposed to be spent with Aunt Katy in Austin but instead Emmalee and I were stuck at the house waiting on the A/C company to call back with an appointment time, Time Warner Cable came out, the plumber came and fixed the sink so we could bring back out the dishwasher people and I finally got my wireless to work on my work computer.
Once I realized the house was in good shape as long as the A/C was turned off, I decided to still keep my plans with Kelli. So at 8:00pm Emmalee and I packed up and started off in the 5 hour drive. We arrived in Canyon Lake around 12:30 and although we were happy to see Kelli we were even happier to get to bed after such a long day.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
We had such a blast with Kelli! It was a great vacation enjoying the country, good friendship, relaxing and spending great quality time with Emmalee. Emma had fun too; she got to play with colorful balls and eat some good food.
She has learned how to show she’s a ‘strong girl’ and squeezes her hands to show off her muscles and it’s priceless. That is what she’s doing in this picture.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Emma got to see her first deer on the way to the lake.
When we got to the lake she wouldn’t put her feet in!
I had to left her walk in and decide she wanted to put her feet in; independent at 10 months. We’re in trouble!
After lunch we went to the playground and played in the sand.
Since it was so hot we decided to put Emma in the kiddie pool and see how she would like it. She loved it! She loved when Kelli would put the water hose sprayer on the mist setting and spray her in the face. Crazy girl!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
That afternoon when Kelli left for work Emmalee and I drove to Austin to see Katy and John’s ‘new’ house (they’ve been in it for a while we just haven’t been able to see it yet). The house looked great and it was even better to see Aunt Katy.
After Emma had her dinner we headed to Chuy’s to meet John for some great Mexican food. Then it was off to Dallas and a home with no A/C (
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Since we had no air conditioning Emma and I spent most of the day outside; it being cooler outside then inside. Brendan and I cut tree limbs before he left but hadn’t cut them down to bag and bundle them so that’s what Emmalee and I did all day. Well that’s what mommy did and Emmalee watched from her exersaucer.
Later that night we got to video chat with Gama Karla in Iowa and then daddy in Guatemala. Emmalee was already in bed when daddy was about to chat but it was great to see him after being separated for 6 days.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Although most of Wednesday was dedicated to gathering the tree limbs I still had more to do on Thursday morning before the trash crew came in the morning so I woke up early and hurried to get it all done. Emma woke up in the middle so I stuck her in the highchair, gave her a bottle and said good luck. She enjoyed it and thought it was funny to watch mommy sweat and work that a crazy woman. But man did it feel great to have it all bundled up and then watch it get hauled away.
For my belated birthday present Kelli got me my very first plant! So I asked Amanda to help me plant it and if she could bring the equipment since we don’t have shovels and all that stuff yet. She agreed and also brought along her daughter, Audrey, who is 2.5 months younger than Emmalee. Shortly after starting I had to apologize to her! I had no idea I was asking her to come over and do something that require so much hard labor. Who know digging a hole was so much work! With a great deal of Amanda’s help now I do.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Long story but so worth reading!
Since the plumber had fixed the piping I had to get someone back out to install the dishwasher. I also told Brendan I had HAD IT with not having air conditioning and dealing with the warranty company. They weren’t going to cover the cost of what was wrong anyway so I was going to take matters into my own hands!
When Emmalee woke up that morning she and I took Bren’s car to get the oil changed and a car wash. While at the car wash I called A/C places until one said they could be there that day. They would be there by 2:00!
We hurried home from the car wash because the technician arrived early to install the dishwasher. Go figure, the one time I am not there and don’t want them to be early they are!
Emma went down for her nap and he came in and took the old dishwasher out no problem. Then came the problems; he asked if this was a Fox and Jacobs house because of the useless 2×4 at the back of the dishwasher space. I was curious why he cared until he started listing all the things he had to do in order to install the new unit. I stopped him and asked ‘Can you do it?’, he said ‘Yes ma’am it will just cost more’, I replied, ‘Fine just do it I need a dishwasher!’.
I love that Emmalee will sleep through anything and I mean ANYTHING. She slept through the technician cutting wood and cabinets, banging tools around and drilling to put in electricity. While all this is going on the A/C guy shows up and tells me that we have a heat pump system and another technician will have to come out. He assured me the other guy would be there within two hours, so 2:00.
When he leaves and I go back to the kitchen the technician just casually mentions that he has a good friend that owns an A/C business in town. I filed the info away and we went on with our day.
Shortly after the technician left the other A/C technician arrived. He looked at our unit went up into the attic and then told me that there was nothing they would be able to do for us and that we need a new unit. He quoted me $4500 and said it could be installed tomorrow. I told him thank you and I needed to discuss this with my husband. I kindly showed him out, sat down, prayed and panicked a little, then remembered dishwasher man’s comment. I called him and left him a message saying something to the effect of hey you just left my house and had mentioned you know an A/C person here in town, how well do you know him and can he be at my house today. Keep in mind at this point it’s already 3:00 on a Saturday!
Ken, dishwasher man’s real name, came through with flying colors and his friend, Billy, was there within the hour. When Billy arrived he was the only technician, of the six, that first shock my hand and then put on shoe protectors. I immediately liked were this was going because that showed me that he respected me and my house.
He proceed to inspect the unit and said that we did not need a new one today, we would need one soon but we already new that since the unit was made in 1985. He did his best to fix it but said he might have to come back tomorrow because it’s hard to fix something when it’s not currently displaying a problem. Since the unit had been off for a week and two days it wasn’t currently leaking.
Bill gave me a great Aggie discount, his wife is an Aggie, and walked me through everything he had done, answered all of my questions which I greatly appreciated. He was such an answer to prayer!
God is so good! If our dishwasher would have been properly installed the first time then Ken wouldn’t have been there to tell me about his friend Billy and we might have spent $4500+ when we weren’t planning on doing so.
The next few hours spent in air conditioning were amazing until it started leaking again.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Brendan and the rest of the firemen returned home!!!
It was amazing to see Brendan again and great to be back in his arms. Emmalee did great seeing him as well. She was excited and remembered her ‘dada’!
After having lunch at Bren’s favorite restaurant, Buffalo Wild Wings, we rushed home to meet Billy. He was able to see the leak first hand this time and get a better idea of what was going on. He ended up re-piping the condensation line which did the trick. Then when I asked how much it would be he said nothing. I said yeah right it’s Sunday and you just re-piped all that stuff, his reply still boggles my mind. He simply said, ‘It’s called a call back, I told you to call me if it started leaking, it did so it’s my job to fix it for you.’ I was floored! He is such a blessing!
…..
Stay tune to hear about Bren’s big welcome home surprise and all about the rest of May and half of June!
I hate vomit!
