new house

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Dear Jack: Your 1st Week At Your New Preschool- Rainbow Child Care Center

4 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack: Your 1st Week At Your New Preschool- Rainbow Child Care Center

Dear Jack,

Before Christmas, I wrote to you about how we were deciding between Primrose Schools and Rainbow Child Care Center as the top two contenders for the new school to put you in; for our move from Nashville to Spring Hill.

While both preschools are magnificent and I would personally highly recommend either one, the preschool we went with was…

Dear Jack: Your 1st Week At Your New Preschool- Rainbow Child Care Center

Rainbow Child Care Center!

When Mommy took you there to visit the first time back in December, you were eager to explore the classroom and get involved right away.

I was personally impressed that they have their very own gym in the middle of the school where you get to play twice each day; except for when it’s nice enough to play outside on the playground.

http://www.rainbowccc.com/

And of course, I appreciate how accommodating they are to you being a vegetarian. While you are the only vegetarian student in the whole school, both your teacher and the school director are vegetarians.

Something we are not used to is that we now are handed a personalized meal schedule for each week. I like that.

I am happy to see that you haven’t been nervous at all this week as we’ve been walking into Rainbow Child Care Center each morning.

http://www.rainbowccc.com/

So I can tell you enjoy being there, even though it’s a completely new environment for you.

On Monday, your very first day, your teacher let you feed two crickets to the pet frog. That was a cool new experience for you!

And last weekend we officially realized something else about your new school: It’s literally directly behind our new house! We can look out our dining room window, or the upstairs bedrooms, and see the roof of your school!

Dear Jack: Your 1st Week At Your New Preschool- Rainbow Child Care Center

Granted, until the neighborhood behind our backyard is built, there won’t be a road directly connecting our house to your school.

Still, it’s a cool thought that your new school is visible from our house; and it’s just a 5 minute drive.

Not to mention, I love the fact that we now have a garage to pull out of in the mornings. No more having to worry about frost on the windows or it being cold in the car.

We love our new house! And moving in is what it took to get you all set up with your new school.

Of course, you’re going to like Rainbow Child Care Center and I imagine lots of fun stories taking place there in months to come.

Love,

Daddy

Dear Jack: Your 1st Week At Your New Preschool- Rainbow Child Care Center

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Dear Jack: The 2nd Week Of Living In Our New House

4 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack: The 2nd Week Of Living In Our New House

Dear Jack,

This past week was very special because not only did Nonna and Papa (my parents) come back in town to help us move in, but so did Grandma (Mommy’s mother)… she flew in from Sacramento!

Dear Jack: The 2nd Week Of Living In Our New House

You helped Papa and I build a 2 person desk for our office. (I’m sitting on it now as I write this.) Something we are learning about things we bought for our house (like the Roman Shades and your bed we finished last week, as well as this desk) is that they look awesome once you work your way to the finished product…

Dear Jack: The 2nd Week Of Living In Our New House

But getting there is quite a task. That’s what happens when you buy stuff cheap from China. It’s basically the equivalent of a Lego set.

Dear Jack: The 2nd Week Of Living In Our New House

Yes, we bought a desk; in theory. But in reality, we purchased all the pieces necessary to build it completely ourselves. Over two days, it took us a total of about 4 and a half hours.

Dear Jack: The 2nd Week Of Living In Our New House

You celebrated the finished product buy karate chopping the Styrofoam packaging, then “taking a bath” in the aftermath.

Dear Jack: The 2nd Week Of Living In Our New House

We also had a lot of fun seeing you flying a kite for the first time… in our cul-de-sac.

I love it that we live in a cul-de-sac. I know this may sound weird, but I always liked the idea of living in one- and now we do.

Dear Jack: The 2nd Week Of Living In Our New House

And it was awesome being able to play in our very own backyard for the first time as well. I felt so… American.

Dear Jack: The 2nd Week Of Living In Our New House

I helped you find dirt to put in your dump truck, so that you could them “wash the animals in dirt shampoo.”

Dear Jack: The 2nd Week Of Living In Our New House

Our moving in process still continues, but it’s very rewarding to see certain rooms coming together now.

Dear Jack: The 2nd Week Of Living In Our New House

I’m really enjoying our new home and there is no doubt you are too!

Dear Jack: The 2nd Week Of Living In Our New House

We have every reason to celebrate our new home. After all, we’ve earned it. Our family has paid our dues to get where we are.

Love,

Daddy

Dear Jack: The 2nd Week Of Living In Our New House

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Dear Jack: We Closed On Our New House Today (We Officially Bought It!)

4 years, 2 months.

closing on new house

Dear Jack,

Yes, there are blue lines on your forehead in this picture. That’s because while Mommy and I signed the paperwork to “close on our house” (in other words, to officially buy it, closing the sale), you were busy drawing pictures with a blue pen on a note pad, as well as on your face.

Oh well, it kept you entertained for the 45 minutes it took to close on our new house.

You and I also had to officially inspect the house to make sure all the proper changes were made, based on our final inspection last week.

Dear Jack: We Closed On Our New House (We Officially Bought It!)

No problems there.

You and Pandy made sure everything was legit. For some reason, it was important for you to take with you some straw from our yard; I suppose as a souvenir.

After our closing, we walked over to Burger Republic to celebrate the official sale of our new home.

We made a “cheers” to our new life in our new home in Spring Hill. Here’s to life in the suburbs!

Dear Jack: We Closed On Our New House (We Officially Bought It!)

In many ways, it’s a sense of closure. Of course, by no means does this bring an end to the story of “Our New House.” As the cliche goes… this is only the beginning!

We still have to move in and get settled.

Actually, tonight while you were asleep, since we are still living with friends who were here in case you needed something, even though you didn’t… Mommy and I both drove separately with both our cars fully loaded; to get a head start on the official move taking place this weekend.

refrigerator

Tomorrow will be your last day at your current preschool, as Mommy and I will be getting the new house set up, making some Lowe’s trips, and waiting around for the Internet to get set up; as well as for the delivery of the refrigerator.

Today, I have been thinking a lot aboutt his: Our first payment will begin in March; the month before I turn 34… Mommy turns 34 a few months later.

My realistic goal is for us to have this house paid off by the time Mommy and I both turn 50.

We’ll do what it takes to reach that goal, yet still have fun as a family.

And so it begins… here’s to life in the suburbs!

 

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Jack: Buying Our Couch And Looking At Pool Tables For Our New House

4 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack: Buying Our Couch And Looking At Pool Tables For Our New House

Dear Jack,

Tomorrow afternoon we are scheduled to close on our new house. I’m definitely looking forward to getting that part over with and feeling that sense of closure… in a good way, of course.

This week at American Signature Furniture we purchased our couch at and matching chair for our bonus room; we had set aside savings for quite a while now to help cover purchases like these so we wouldn’t have to go in debt to buy them.

Dear Jack: Buying Our Couch And Looking At Pool Tables For Our New House

We also stopped by Family Leisure to check out pool tables. What started as wishful thinking and sort of a joke on my part a few weeks back has been evolving into a plan that may truly become a reality:

To get a pool table for our living room; therefore avoiding having to pay all that money for another couch and matching furniture for downstairs.

The bonus room will be the only room with a TV.

Dear Jack: Buying Our Couch And Looking At Pool Tables For Our New House

So it’s important to me that for the downstairs, our family truly has space to have fun and hang out. A pool table could facilitate that for years to come.

Otherwise, I suspect the living room downstairs will just end up a room we simply walk through to get to the kitchen. I don’t want that, because that’s pretty much how things ended up in our townhouse.

Dear Jack: Buying Our Couch And Looking At Pool Tables For Our New House

Granted, we’re looking to pay off this house paid off as soon as possible. So if and when we are officially ready to move a pool table into our living room, my ideal plan is to find a gently used one on Craig’s List that’s basically free because the people just want it moved out of their house.

When it’s all said and done, the pool table may never happen.

Dear Jack: Buying Our Couch And Looking At Pool Tables For Our New House

But for now, it’s actually the most practicial and economical plan for our family. We’re not in a huge hurry to fully furnish our house.

We shall see…

Love,

Daddy

Dear Jack: Buying Our Couch And Looking At Pool Tables For Our New House

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Dear Jack: The Final Walk Through/Punch List On Our New House

4 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack: The Final Walk Through/Punch List On Our New House

Dear Jack,

I’ll be honest: I wasn’t looking forward to today, which was the final walk through of our new home, where Mommy and I went through the “punch list” with the builder and our real estate agent.

Turns out, the builder was really cool, and was very quick to place a piece of blue tape on blemish any of us saw. (We left you at school for this visit of our house.)

I was fearing we’d discover something major today. Something that would delay our closing date next week. Nada.

Dear Jack: The Final Walk Through/Punch List On Our New House

All of the blemishes we found can be easily mended by the builder and his men over the next 7 days, before we officially close on our house.

Which, by the way, think about this: We are scheduled to move in next weekend!

We found the head of a screw sticking out from our marble counter top. The ceiling porch light has a big crack in it. One of the fence posts is broken. The smoke alarm needs new batteries. Two of the bulbs in our kitchen light fixture need to be replaced. Some of the brown paint from our yard fence got on the wooden siding of our house.

Dear Jack: The Final Walk Through/Punch List On Our New House

We also noticed some final finishing touches today that weren’t complete last weekend when we visited. The front door is now painted and the inside appears to have a new coat of pain.

Dear Jack: The Final Walk Through/Punch List On Our New House

Today was also our first opportunity to truly survey our backyard. It’s bigger than Mommy and I realized. The fence being in place shows us we actually will own at least 3 or 4 wider of a plot then we knew about.

Dear Jack: The Final Walk Through/Punch List On Our New House

Oh, and here’s a funny story that happened in the midst of all this today…

"periwinkle"

Our next door neighboor’s house, which is being simultaneously built alongside ours, just got its front door and shutters painted.

The neighbors chose “periwinkle” for their accent color. Mommy arrived a few minutes before I did and warned me about it.

By the end of our walk through, about a 2 hour process, the builder had already received enough complaints from all our surrounding future neighbords about the color choice.

Twilight-Sparkle-my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-20571945-570-402

So now the color will have to be changed. All is well… our next door neighbors won’t be keeping purple doors and shutters that look they were designed by Twilight Sparkle from My Litte Ponies: Friendship is Magic.

As the building and buying process wraps up, here’s what lies ahead:

In a week, we’ll visit the house again, to make sure they fixed everything on our “punch list” today. From there, we’ll sign the final paperwork and officially close on the sale of our new house.

All Lord willing, of course.

Dear Jack: The Final Walk Through/Punch List On Our New House

Hopefully sometime soon, we’ll finally receive that reimbursement from the sale of our townhouse which occured a few months ago; which I’m aching to write about but I just don’t have closure with yet because I want to know how much money we made. It’s a form of closure for me.

And next weekend, Nana and Papa are coming up to help us make the big move!

We’ve still got a lot more hard work ahead of us…

Love,

Daddy