Duck house moving along

The cabinets went in today, electrical is being done tomorrow, countertops & final plumbing next week.  The wall was blown out and arched last week, porch replaced, A/C replaced (refurbished unit), plaster repair, deck and fence repair, kitchen bulk heads removed and garage door replacement done last week. Still to come?  Flooring and final painting. Some exterior paint, home inspection...and...closing?  Maybe this one will actually close?!!!!
This weekend, Jackson is looking foward to packing boxes & buying major appliances.  I met a lady that sells scratch and dent to Builders and she has some packages put together for us to look at tomorrow.  Hopefully she has something we like, and we will move forward with the purchase.  If there is something we really like, but needs a replacement part (like a refridgerator door), we can get that ordered if it is the most cost effective approach.

New cabinets

  Old cabinets

Jackson is also looking forward to the POD that will be delivered to our house on the 18th.  I really think that we should continue to take this slow and steady to ease the transition.  He loves the excitement for sure!

We are ratified!

Well, we ratified a contract a few days ago for a "fixer upper" house.  We are all excited, but given the fact that we have been looking for a house for 1 1/2 yrs it doesn't seem real yet.  It seems we are always getting outbid, the house is sinking into the ground (literally), or all of plumbing and electrical has to be re-done!  Honestly, the cost of housing near the beach is pretty expensive so a fixer upper in a decent neighborhood is about all we can afford.  This particular house was a foreclcosure, and we are working with a contractor to get the interior fixed up.  He is doing the major items, we are doing the minor items.  The exterior will be fixed up after we move in (none of it is an emergency).

In true Curran style (well, I blame it on all of us, but its really just me), we tend to get too busy at one time.  Just seems everything gets busy at once!  We are having a POD container delivered in a couple of weeks, and plan to have most items packed and loaded by the 25th of this month.  I have surgery the 25th and will not be able to lift for several days...so really its a necessity.  Hopefully the container idea works out.  We close on Tuesday the 29th,  and hope to move that weekend!!  What makes all of this hectic, is I am supposed to be out of town for a big chunk of this time!  Ahhhhh, hectic!  Did I mention a probable torn ACL and an appointment with and Orthapedic Surgeon the Tuesday?  Anyway...we are both concerned about how this will affect Jackson.  He tends to have behavioral issues when I travel.  Couple this with the fact that his entire life will be turned upside down....it worries us.  We are talking about it a LOT, and driving by the house on occassion as well.  We think he will dig the big container in the driveway, and it will help him to see our 'stuff' is going into this container, allow him to be a big part of it and it will all go to the new house.  We packed our 1st box as a family last night, which he enjoyed (even though he kept wanting to get in it and hide or drive it like a car). 
Right now, Jackson is reading "A Mother For Choco".  It's a book about a little bird named Choco that is looking for a Mommy that looks just like him.  At the end, he ends up with a bear for a Mommy that also has a pig, aligator and a hippo for children. Jackson said he wanted to take Choco with us to the new house, which is fine with me :)

Speechless Sunday!

Quick pics!

Ice Cream stop
BRAIN FREEZE

Another desert? Yes, please
Helping Nana make dinner

Best buddies :)

Easter 2012

Great Easter! Complete with egg hunting, and lots of playing in the yard. Jack and I had a 3 day weekend, and it was awesome. I really needed the bonding time with Jackson (and the break from work didn't hurt either). Bill had to work Friday, but was home this weekend so we had a fun, productive weekend.
Next week Jackson's school is closed, so he goes to Miss Donna's house (our back up). Hopefully the schedule change goes smoothly. Here are some pictures of our weekend.

I am silly about 90% of the time

Sharing my Easter eggs with Gracie and Copper

Getting my 'fake smile' on

Decorating eggs at the kitchen table

Check me out in Easter 2011, I have grown so much in a year!

Spring Program

We have had a nice few days, and have some pictures to prove it!

Flowers from our yard


Jackson riding his tractor in the front yard

4 leaf clover my boys found in the back yard

Jackson, Daddy and Mommy after the spring program April 4th

Nana, Papa, Daddy and Jackson after the spring program

My little blondie doing the "worm" song at his spring program

Look how adorable I am!

Hard to see the J man in this video, look in the center back

Jackson had a great spring program at school. They had it at the church across the street and it worked out well. No tears, just lots of smiles and fun. Initially, he was in front of the crowd but towards the end they put him in the back and it was kind of hard to see him. They sang "Frere Jacques"; "Walter the Waltzing Worm"; I know a Chicken Blues"; "Sambalele"; and "Its a Small World" as a finale.

Nana and Papa came down while I was out of town to keep the boys company. They went to a hockey game, and an Orioles spring training game. Jackson was WORN OUT the day they left. The teachers say he just laid around all day after and said he missed Nana and Papa. Who knew a retired couple had the ability to wear out a hyper 3 year old?

Just catchin' up

Jackson has been struggling with learning his colors, so Bill had the idea to paint his pucks various colors and practice that way. It is actually working, just slowly. Jack would rather play hockey than anything else in the world, so combining learning with the sport may have been a brilliant idea. He doesn't want to focus for very long on learning, but if Daddy says "pass me the yellow puck", he is interested!!! Let's all hope that streaks of various paint colors will not be all over the hardwood floors :)

We have ordered school pictures, and wow, those are expensive! The pictures turned out cute, but they only did 1 pose. We are hoping to get family photos this summer. This is something we have simply failed on because Bill and I had both gained a little weight and kept thinking we would lose it and THEN get pictures. Well, 2 1/2 years later and still no pictures. This is on our 'to do' list for sure.

We found out a few days ago we were out bid on the foreclosure we were trying to buy. It was a really cool house, so I was a little disappointed. The school district was highly rated, and the neighborhood was awesome. This afternoon we are going to go look at 3 more houses. Honestly, the looking is getting old. I am about ready to just stay in our rental another year.

I have been gone for a couple days a week lately traveling for work. Jackson has had some pretty moderate to severe behavioral issues lately and all 3 of us are kind of beat down. I bring up the travel, because he was doing fine when I was home. It seems the travel and his melt downs correlate, but I may just be grasping at straws trying to find a "reason" for the issues. I leave again tomorrow and get back around midnight the following night. Nana and Papa are coming for a visit and some fun time, so hopefully all goes well. Starting in about a month, the travel will pick up a lot more....so keep your fingers crossed we can get out of this funk.

It is about time that both of my sleeping beauties wake up from their nap! Hopefully we will have some Nana and Papa pictures to share next week!!