House!!

It's official! We are now homeowners!!!

My Dad closed for us with power of attorney this morning our time, which also happens to be my birthday. So now I can say I got a house for my birthday!!!

We are so excited to get back home. We haven't actually seen the house in person but we have seen several pictures and my parents have been out several times to check it out.

3 bedrooms + office, 2 baths, sits on 1 acre and comes with a riding lawn mower!

{Front}

{back of house... plenty of room for a swing set and garden!}

{Entry}

{office}

{living room - mount for TV above the fireplace}

{bathroom}

{Kitchen}

{island and part of the dining room}

{bedroom - love the ceiling!}

{whirlpool tub in the master bathroom}

{master bath}

{back yard}

{back patio}

{front porch}

New Stuff!

First off, Grace had a big new milestone today (and, no, that tooth has not made its appearance yet). While on our way home from the gym today Grace was talking away. She is quite a vocal little girl! But today she had a few new sounds. At first I was hearing a-ba a-da and then a-da-da! Since then she has said DA-DA quite a bit. She even managed to say it quietly while on the phone with her Daddy and then said it a few times while we were out to dinner with a friend.

Secondly, I posted yesterday about the toys Grace got from Toy's R Us. Here is a video of her playing with one of the toys she went crazy over at the store.

Lastly, I realized I have never posted pictures of our new house. I took some shortly after we moved in but the lighting wasn't good, all our pictures hadn't been hung, and Grace's room wasn't finished. Well, I never did go back and take pictures again and I never did take pictures of the bathrooms, our bedroom, or the guest room. But I will at least post the few that I have.

Living Room

Looking from the dining room to the entry area

More of the living room (also taken from the dining room)

Dining Room - I thought I had a picture of the kitchen but I guess I don't.

Grace's Room - before anything was hung on the walls. She was asleep in her crib when I took

this picture.

Our huge balcony

The other side of our balcony

The view

Beautiful!

You can see another island in the distance

While we were without internet...

Here are some pictures of what went on at the McGriff house this last week.

The movers came and packed up our house and then delivered everything to the new house all in one day. 263 boxes is what I think they said!

Grace was a little helper with all of the unpacking

Time to try out her pool on the big balcony

I think she likes it!

Grace's best friend Maggie came over for the evening and they got to take a ride in the wagon together.

They play really well together!! And Grace will be getting to play with Maggie a lot more now that I am finally able to join the co-op at the gym!

All Set!

We are all set for the move! We will be doing a walk-thru of the new house on Monday and getting the keys. On Tuesday our government appliances and furniture is being delivered. Apparently, we will be getting different stuff than we have now and the stuff we have will just stay here and someone will pick it all up after we move out. It seems like a waste of manpower if you ask me. And on Wednesday the movers will be packing up our entire house and then delivering it all that very same day! We are going to start moving some things on our own Monday and Tuesday. I want to make sure we have enough clothes in our closets and linens for the beds, all of our toiletries, and some of Grace's favorite toys all accessible. We are also planning on moving a lot of our dishes and cookware because I think that would be easier than unpacking it and washing it all. Yesterday I signed up for internet. It will probably be about 2 weeks before they can install it. I guess that will just give me more time to get unpacked and settled before I can post pictures :-)

Signing the Lease

Dustin signed a lease today. We are going to be moving into the Blessing Hill apartment sometime next week most likely! Now we need to start getting ready for the movers to come and I have no idea where to start. Tomorrow is our pre-inspection for our base housing. Then we will take all of the receipts from the housing agency showing we paid all the move-in expenses and set up a date for the movers to come and our final inspection. I am going to assume that pretty soon we will be without internet for a day or two and until then we will be pretty busy trying to figure out what we want to move and what we want to sell, trash, or give away so I might not update on here very much for a while.

In other news, Grace had her 6 month well baby appointment today. She got her 3 shots and was so brave! She is right on track with her growth - 15 lbs 9 oz. and a hair over 25 inches. Developmentally she is doing very well also. She has found her toes (7 month achievement) and can sit up very well. We will also be getting her 6 month photos done pretty soon. My mom has made arrangements for us to go with a professional. I guess my snapshots aren't good enough for 6 months pictures ;-)