Wii hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

We definitely did. Despite the disappointment of having to postpone our Tuttle-family Christmas because of the blizzard in Iowa, we had so much fun!! The boys LOVED everything about Christmas, especially the parts about Santa and presents and cookies and treats for days on end and spending time with their aunties and uncles and cousins and G&G. Since then we've been busy playing Wii and Batman and putting on guitar concerts and watching their new movies and playing new games.

Santa found us at our new house!

Give me your best Christmas smiles.

Jingle bells, Batman smells...

And the beloved Wii!!



But this... this is the devil. That's all I have to say about that! ;-)

Merry Everything!

No matter what you celebrate - Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, Festivus - we wish you happiness and peace and a wonderful 2010!

Ya know - we really had a great year. The boys are at an age where they are just so much fun. I've posted before about what good sports they were all year while we worked on house stuff - real troopers! We did try to make sure to balance the work with lots of fun. I think if you asked the boys about the year their highlight would be their first "real" vacation - we took them to Mexico in February and I don't think anyone could have loved it more. From the moment we left for the airport until we arrived back home they were nothing but perfect and so, so happy!!

That trip was sandwiched between a bunch of large and small house projects aimed at getting our house on Iowa Ave. ready to sell. We put it on the market in May and within 2 weeks it was sold - we were incredibly fortunate to have good traffic through it and were able to sell it to someone who fell in love with it as soon as she walked in the door (just like we did a little over 10 years ago). The only problem was... we had nowhere to move to and no options either. So began our search for a new house. We saw house after house after house and they were either too far away from our ideal area or too big or too small or not in a good school district or just not quite right in some way or another. We did try to put in offers on a couple of houses only to find out they were already sold. I gotta tell ya - our experience definitely did not reflect the housing market problems others are seeing in our area & around the country.

In the end we decided (after much deliberation) to design a house and build on a nice lot in a lovely neighborhood with a great new park less than a block away. Luck would have it that our realtors work with a great custom builder so the pieces fell into place for us. Making this decision was great but it didn't really help with the fact that we still had nowhere to live. So, we moved into an apartment from July to October while the house was being built. As much as I complained about the e-partment (as Eli called it), it worked out just fine as a short term solution. It had a great pool that we swam the heck out of. We had the boys out there almost every.single.day this summer and they loved it! They went from being slightly scared of the water and having to be held while "swimming" to Henry knowing how to swim all on his own and Eli being completely comfortable paddling around with his water wings. However once the pool closed after Labor Day, everyone really started getting tired of the e-partment. But, it was all worth it.

The house building process for us was so many different things - fun, exciting, stressful, scary, boring (if you ask the boys) - but in the end it was a great experience and we feel so lucky to have this wonderful new house that was built with such care. We loved our builder (Jason of Bald Eagle Builders) and our site supervisor (the awesome Josh) and all of the people who were in and out of our house doing their part. We absolutely love our new home!!

The boys are funny because they are constantly saying stuff like "this is the first time we've done xxx in our new house" and it's not exciting stuff like Santa coming or anything. It's like "this is the first time I've watched you brush you teeth while you are in your pajamas in our new house, mommy." I think they are really enjoying living here. They love their rooms (pirates for Eli and sports for Henry) and their clubhouse (a closet between their rooms w/ a secret door so they can "sneak" in) and just being able to run around and play and yell again. We have been meeting the neighbors and it turns out that there are quite a few new families so I think it's going to be so fun for them to have kids around to play with.

It really feels like this is going to be a wonderful neighborhood for them to grow up in and for Troy and I to make lots of new friends as well. We've been welcomed with cookies and plants and invitations to parties and "Bunco." Everyone is so friendly and attentive to one another. In Minnesota it can be tough to meet people in the winter so it's not ideal to move at the end of October but for us that hasn't so much mattered - we really have had a wonderful experience. However, we are looking forward to next spring and summer when everyone (including us) comes out of hibernation and spends time outside again.

2009 brought a lot of changes for our family but we wouldn't want it any other way. We're happy and healthy. We have good jobs and great families. Fun times were had with old friends and new. It was a good year!

Happy Holiday. We wish you & yours all the best in 2010!

Love, The Schallys

Black Friday's got nothing on this place

I've been stalking the Room & Board Outlet store each weekend. This place is crazy. Week in and week out hordes of people line up well before the doors open to get first dibs on the week's scratch & dent furniture. Sure, it starts out all friendly - chatting with the folks next to you, drinking some coffee, making smiley faces at their kids. But then it's 10am and the doors open. You'd think they were giving away gold. Seriously there's running and pushing, cutting in line, hollering, dirty looks. And then you finally get inside and you know it's all been worth it. Sofas and couches, chairs and ottomans, pillows and rugs, tables and desks, beds and dressers - everything that Room & Board has but cheaper! And sometimes a really lot cheaper!! It's worth the fear of being trampled. And it's so exciting when you walk in and see the perfect piece, run to it, check to see if there's something terribly wrong with it, find that there's not and you sit down. You just sit there looking all smug because you've snagged this beautiful Jasper sofa with custom fabric that will be just perfect in your sunroom knowing that all the other people who are looking at it want it even more because you want it. But ha! You're already sitting on it. And guess what? You just pay for it and take it home - right then! You don't have to wait - I love that because I'm impatient that way.

I haven't posted any pictures since we moved in really. Here are some of the rooms where we've made a dent in the furnishings. There's still work to be done but I'm feeling more relaxed about it now that we have a vision and start.

Our front entry with a very pretty rug I found at Crate & Barrel. I loved it so much I bought a matching one (only bigger) for the sunroom.

The sunroom - with the lovely matching rug and new sofa. Troy's not sure about all the throw pillows but I think they look nice - add a bit of color to things.

New TV and tables - love how they turned out (this is kind of a crappy picture though). The dark wood against the lighter floors. And the lamp is super cool b/c it's a touch one. I won't even tell you how long we had it before we figured that out - it's embarrassing.

Family room sofa, side table and lamps. We are thinking of getting an ottoman for this area too - make is a little more comfy and cozy. Plus an area rug, of course.

Living room (I think that's what it's called)... I had to call 3 different people from the outlet one Sunday b/c I wasn't sure if a red sofa would "go." I'm so glad I bought it plus this funky chair b/c they look really great in there. Plus my JC Penney lamp - the jury's still out on where this lamp should actually live. We shall see.

And as you can see, we haven't really done any actual decorating - as in, putting pictures up, etc. It's not one of my best skills. But... we'll get there. Slowly but surely.

Thankful

Every year I spend Thanksgiving thinking of all the things I’m thankful for. Of course I do, it’s the main purpose of the holiday.

This year I was up early – before all my boys – and I was thinking of how lucky I am, how much I have to be thankful for and it made me all teary. When I really thought about why, I realized that while I think these things often I rarely say them. And what good is it if other people don’t know how you feel.

It’s so easy to say thank you - for gifts they give or their time or their kind words & actions. But what’s more important and rarely gets said is how truly thankful I am for each and every person in my life. Thankful that just by virtue of being themselves and being present, they enrich my life. By bringing their personality and unique point of views and their love. I am who I am because of the people who surround me.

So, while I may have argued about how many combinations of desserts there were this year (I’m sure I was wrong) at the same time I was also incredibly thankful to have a house full of loved ones to share the day with. Thankful to look around and see smiling, loving faces sharing stories and laughter. Thankful that my boys will always be surrounded by love – and not just by the people who joined us this year for Thanksgiving but by all of their family, near and far, who are so incredibly special to me.

I am truly thankful.

The grass is always greener...

when you actually have grass. Yesterday I was so surprised to come home to a perfectly green yard - it's lovely. We are so happy that the weather has finally cooperated long enough to let it dry out just enough to grade, install the sprinkler system and put in sod. It really does make a huge difference in the curb appeal. Now we just need to finish the landscaping and we'll be all set - as if it's that easy... I think that part it's going have to wait until next spring (much to the dismay of our neighbors, I'm guessing).

The move last week went really well despite the rain, cold, wind, and snow we all endured. Thank you to Wade and the Messeroles and Curt for braving the elements and helping us so much last week. And also a big thank you to Ron & JoAnn for watching H&E during the week and all weekend - for carving pumpkins, taking them trick-or-treating, taking good care of Eli's bad cough and just generally showing them a great time. We couldn't have done it without all of your help! By Saturday afternoon almost every single thing we own was in our new house and it was shocking how much stuff we actually have. We spent the last 10 years finding a place for everything in our old house and now all of our stuff is just sitting around - either in the garage or in the basement or still in boxes scattered throughout the house. But we're having fun opening boxes and finding our missing treasures. And, of course, I'm throwing tons of stuff in the garbage or in the garage sale pile.

We still have some shopping left to do before we can feel totally at home. We need a TV for the family room, areas rugs for the main level, furniture for the living room & the sunroom, stools for the kitchen island, bed frames for H&E's rooms, window treatments (especially upstairs) and lots of shelves and storage-type stuff. It's hard buying new stuff! But the house is kind of bare and echoey and doesn't feel as cozy and warm as I want it to so I would like to at least get some of the stuff sooner rather than later.

I didn't get my camera out once during the move. Wait - I did get it out once and that was to photograph the inside of our storage shed. Troy has some seriously amazing stacking abilities. It was like a clown car - stuff just kept coming and coming and coming - it felt like it was never going to end. And you know what - I bet about 80% of the stuff in that shed was not missed even one.tiny.bit by anyone in this family! I know I didn't miss the ironing board...

So anyway, we're here. It's fun and we're happy. And we can't wait for everyone to come visit!

The Final Countdown

The builder locked down the house this weekend so they could control exactly who goes in when - just to make sure nothing bad happens in the final days. Apparently they've had issues with this in the past. So, we haven't been to the house since lunchtime on Friday. They have everything inside pretty much done - just a couple of very minor things to be finished up on Monday. We have our final walk-thru tomorrow at 11 am, which they said would take about 2 hours. Not sure how it could possibly take that long - it's not that big of a house and we've been there everyday but that's cool. The final inspection happened on Friday afternoon and the house passed contingent on the exterior being finished - meaning the driveway, trim paint and the front yard all still need to be finished. It was unclear to us whether all of that needs to be complete before we close or just "sometime." The weather forecast for this week is looking much better so there's hope it all could get done by Wednesday. It would be great to have it all done and not have to worry about it but either way it'll be fine.

We made a huge dent in packing today. The boys were great helpers and sorted and packed all of their toys, games, puzzles and books without a fuss. I still need to tackle the kitchen but really, I don't think that'll take too long. After that it's our clothes and bedding - NBW. We're hoping to be able to move enough stuff on Wednesday and Thursday that we'll be able to start living in the house by Thursday evening!

Here are some pictures I took on Thursday - it was the first time we were able to see the hardwood floors finished. They turned out really beautiful. We couldn't be happier with the end result.

3 days to go!

Bowling

It's our last weekend in the e-partment and we have only one thing that has to get done this weekend... bowling! We've been promising the boys that we'd go bowling since the day we moved in and we haven't done it yet. Yeah, we suck. Last night Eli was talking on his Buzz Lightyear phone and here was the conversation:

Eli: Hello? You're where? You've got to be kidding? I can't believe your at bowling. Did you know bowling is across the street from our e-partment?

Me: Eli, who are you talking to?
Eli: I don't know but she got to go bowling! We never get to go bowling.

So, we're going bowling. It's the least we can do. These boys have been such troopers this whole year. We started the year out working on all of the house projects to get our old house ready to sell. Then we put it on the market and they had to endure all the cleaning and being out of the house for showings. We then proceed to move them to an e-partment, which was great b/c we had a pool but most of our stuff is in storage. Now the pool is closed & it's not so great anymore. And on top of all that they've had to come with us to meetings with realtors, meetings with the builder, to the lot and then to the house - almost every.single.day! They've shopped for appliances and lights and tile and paint colors and just about everything else we needed for the house. They have been really great kids throughout this whole process and I'm very proud of them.

We got their school pictures yesterday - look how cute!

Henry - 1st Grade, 6 years old

Eli - PreK, 4 years old

One week to go!

One week from today we'll be closing on the house. It's unbelievable really. The time has gone so fast and yet so slow. We signed the purchase agreement on July 3 and now here we are almost ready to move in. There still seems to be a lot of things left to do in the next 7 days but they've been working hard and I have no doubt they'll meet their deadline. I don't envy them though - the weather is not really cooperating for any of the exterior stuff so I think we'll have to wait and see on that.

We still have not starting packing - maybe it'll get done this weekend. You'd think we'd be more excited to get going on that but man, packing sucks. We still have a few minor things to take care of - house numbers, mailbox, and the ceiling fan in the sun room isn't working out so well so we need to figure that out. Once those are done I think we'll be able to check most everything off our list for the house.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some new pictures of the house - we can't be in there right now b/c of the floors. I did get to peak at the paint the other day and it looks really nice!

Lucky 13

13 days to go! Can you believe it? Crazy.

Kitchen! Totally loving how it's turning out - the stain, the countertop, the lights - all of it! They've started to install the appliances already. The refrigerator, cooktop and dishwasher are in. The rest of the appliances are either in the living room or the garage patiently waiting their turn.

They finished the fireplace today - grouting the tile, color enhancing the slate and putting the face on the actual fireplace. It's stunning! I thought it looked really nice before but was totally amazed at the difference today.

The chandelier we chose for the dining room.

Our future front door. I don't know - it looks pretty nice in the family room... maybe we should just leave it there.

The weather has been pretty crappy here - cold, rain, snow. Not ideal for finishing all of the exterior stuff. They were able to get the steps and the sidewalk in this week and we're hoping that with the slightly warmer weather we're supposed to be getting next week will help. They still have to put in the driveway, paint the exterior trim, grade the front yard, install the sprinkler system in the front yard, etc.

As far as the interior goes - the big things left are carpeting, finishing the hardwood floors, completing the cabinetry, painting everything and finishing up all of the electrical. Then they also have to do all of the finishing touches and clean and probably a million other things that we won't even know about.

Our close date is still Oct 28. Troy & I are planning on moving stuff to the house Wed-Fri and then do a big truck on Saturday morning to finish it all up. We got notice that we have to "check out" of the e-partment by noon on Oct 31 - what is this, a hotel? I think not! So, anyone up for helping us move? It'll be super fun - at least this time we'll be carrying everything down 2 flights of steps and not up.

Seriously though - 13 days. Not even really - more like 12 days and 90 minutes. We are going to be pretty busy for the next little bit b/c we haven't even touched a box or tape or anything since we moved into the e-partment. We're going to have to kick it into gear next week so that we're ready to move ASAP. But first we have a super fun weekend ahead of us - heading to Iowa to celebrate birthdays. Can't wait!

Cabinet Stain

These aren't the best pictures in the world. When I was there they were spraying some type of protective coating on the cabinets so everything is a little foggy. But, I think you can get a pretty good idea of how they look anyway. I am so happy with how the stain color turned out! It was a tough decision and it look a long time with many different attempts to get the right color but it was worth it!

And we now have a garage door. It looks nice but a little out of place since nothing else on the outside of the house is white yet. I think once all of the trim is painted along with the columns it will look terrific. Eli, on the other hand, is NOT happy! When we pulled up today he started crying because according to all that is correct in his world the garage door should be red. I mean, of course it should be. Kind of like the hard wood floors have no business whatsoever looking like wood - they should have been painted to look like an e-merican flag! Seriously, he was just disgusted with us for not knowing this. As if!

And here are my sweet, funny, silly, cute boys playing in the garage at the house today. Take a close look at the first picture of Henry - notice anything different? That's right - Henry lost his first real loose tooth. Exciting stuff! Although it only turned exciting after the pulling of the loose tooth was over - before that it was pure torture. Once he figured out that it didn't hurt even one tiny bit he was pretty happy. And once again the tooth fairy came through!

20 days until closing!

October is finally here!

Our house is currently in lock down so they can finish the hardwood floors - we are not allowed in it again until Wednesday. I can't wait to see how it looks when we're finally allowed back in. So much has happened at the house recently - we are finally able to see some of the finishes being put in - floors, tile, cabinets, countertops, trim, etc. It's been a lot of fun to see it actually come together.

Front (obviously...) the columns and the railing will be white when we're finished. This week they are pouring the concrete steps and sidewalk. And at some point very soon they'll do the driveway too. They need to get it in before it gets too cold or it won't set up correctly - I think it's a bit of a guessing game for them.

East side of the house. I think this picture was taken on Friday - since then they've finished this side, the sunroom and most of the rest of the house as well. It's been raining so much here that they are a bit behind on this aspect but they work whenever it's dry. They were at the house most of the day on Sunday working on the siding.

Foyer - instead of a closet we chose a bench w/ hooks above it. Nice and casual but still functional. Plus we have a closet in the mud room so there'll be plenty of room. And this isn't our real front door - at some point they will replace this white one with a lovely wood-like one. I can't remember the name of it but once they stain it it really looks fantastic.

Family room - the orange wall in the stairwell really looks red in these pictures and all of the taupe walls look kind of brown. I don't know how to explain it but it looks different and much better in person.

Entering the house - they installed the tile around the fireplace on Sunday morning. I was so surprised to see it when we stopped by after picking H&E up from their sleepover.

Kitchen - we were at the house this morning to work on picking stain colors for the hardwood floors and the cabinets. We ended up going w/ the natural oak floors instead of staining them. We're still working on the cabinets but I think we're pretty close - we'd better be b/c they are staining them on Wednesday.

Kitchen - here's a pretty good look at the countertop. I love how it turned out!

A little closer look at the tile on the fireplace. It looks really blue in this picture but not so much in person.

Sunroom - this room is getting hardwood floors too but for some reason they didn't install them at the same time as the rest of the house. Seems like there were a few miscommunications with the hardwoods - like they didn't put them in the sunroom and they actually installed the wrong kind of wood (red oak was installed but we ordered white oak). Not a big deal since the red oak floors are just as gorgeous as the white - definitely not something we'd want them to correct b/c it wouldn't make that much of a difference and it would put us behind schedule. It's just one of those things.

Eli's "brown" room. The boys got to pick their own colors. Eli originally wanted red and only red would do - that was until I found some totally awesome pirate bedding then he changed the color to brown b/c pirate ships can only be brown. Obviously his room is more tan than brown but he's happy with it so that's all that matters.

And Henry chose yellow - after he chose orange and then pink and then blue. This isn't exactly the yellow be picked but again, he's happy with it so we're all set. He's getting a basketball quilt and rug so he's excited about that.

Backyard - we were able to get the sprinkler system and grass seed in this fall for the backyard and the sides of the house. The seed is covered with curlex, which looks like a burlap sack kind of blanket over the whole yard. The grass will grown through it and then it was dissolve at some point. The front yard will have to wait until next spring b/c unfortunately it's gotten too cold too quickly here. That's fine though.

23 days and counting...