We sold the house!

Praise the Lord! Our house sold last week while we were at Mom and Dad's! We can finally move into our dream home. I still can't believe it will be ours next week, but it is. We took the girls over to the new house yesterday in preparation for the walk through with the builder tomorrow. I heard Julie Holmer's voice in my head reminding me to take plenty of pictures. Of course, the house is empty, but you can get the idea.

We close on the new house next week (December 5). Kim and I are planning to paint a few rooms on Thursday and Friday and then hopefully move on Saturday. We have a garage full of boxes and yet there is still more to pack - ugh! I will send out the new address soon. I am waiting to find out if we can keep our phone number before I send out the new info.

We asked the builder to paint the front door and the shutters because I just wasn't crazy about the color. Here is the way it looked a month ago.



Here is the update with the new color. I love it!



When you walk into the house, this is what you see




The dining room is to the right and leads into the butler's pantry which leads into the kitchen.





The living room is downstairs with a gorgeous fireplace.



The master bedroom is off the living room and has a huge window seat.



The master bathroom is awesome with the biggest closet I have ever seen!



Upstairs are the bedrooms, playroom, my office, and a bathroom. At the top of the stairs is my office.



Across the hall is the play room. Yes, it is gigantic! 19 x 23!



The girl's bedrooms are much larger than the ones in this house. And both have huge closets.




We can't wait for you to come visit! We have plenty of room now! Please keep us in your prayers as we make this move. I am starting to feel overwhelmed by all that has to be done!

Thanksgiving 2007

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. As most of you know, this is my favorite holiday of the entire year! My heart is very full today, having spent last week with my family.

I flew into Austin from Miami on Friday, November 16 in the afternoon. I did laundry, packed my suitcase again, and all of us went back to the airport on Saturday morning to fly to Nanny and Pa Ford's house. This was McKenzie's first time on an airplane and she was awesome! I am so proud of her! Of course, Maddie is already an old pro. While Maddie watched movies, McKenzie colored, played with toys, and slept. She even carried her own backpack!

We had a wonderful visit with Mom and Dad before Carl and his family arrived on Wednesday. Maddie celebrated her 5th birthday with Nanny and Pa. Mom let her help with baking a birthday cake and Dad supervised birthday pancakes. Grandma Rasmus sent Maddie her first digital camera and Maddie nearly wet her pants with excitement. She is always asking to use mine and now she has her own Fisher Price camera. She has taken about 7 million pictures of nothing, but it's her camera!






My Dad truly came to life when all the grandchildren played together. Maddie and Quinn (age 3) pciked up where they left off last year and had an absolute ball together. Riley (age 1) and McKenzie will learn to love each other. They seemed to have a communication problem. Riley is used to playing with her rough and tumble brother. McKenzie is slightly more delicate and wasn't too sure about the wrestling with Riley. They were a hoot! Quinn can't pronounce McKenzie correctly and his best attempt sounds like MisKenzie. I think I like his version better. The kids had so much fun. Pa played football and baseball in the front yard. They played on the swing set in the backyard. Nanny took pulled them in the wagon. When Pa asked Maddie how far they walked, Maddie replied, "Far enough." What a mouth!







My mother is always prepard to entertain children and of course she had balloons for the kids. No helium - just balloons. They loved it! McKenzie wouldn't let hers go and used it for a variety of things, including playing baby-in-my-tummy!





The weather was gorgeous the first half of the week, but turned very cold at the end of the week. We were bundling everyone up and trying on each other's coats and gloves and even hats ...



We even dressed the kids in their matching pajamas (courtesy of Nanny) to have their picture taken with Santa. It was a lot of fun and I am sure the mall will not soon forget the extended Ford family.



As I write this, I am listening to Faith Hill sing Where is Christmas. Christmas and Thanksgiving are wrapped up in my family. My heart is so thankful for the many blessings in my life, the greatest being my children. Until the day I die I will be thanking God for my babies. I love them so much and I cannot imagine my life without them. And I am thankful beyond measure for the ladies I haven't met but can never forget who brought those babies into this world.



I am also blessed by an amazing brother who I love so much. His children remind me so much of us. I see myself in Riley's eyes and Quinn is 100% Carl Ford with my mother's blue eyes. They are so precious and I love them so much.



And let me not forget the love of my life. I don't always know why she loves me like she does, but she does anyway. I can't imagine life without Kim. I have spent so much time building my business and not nearly enough with the one who made this family possible. It was Kim's dream for a family that brought my babies home and I will never stop thanking her for making that dream come true.

Halloween 2007

Happy Halloween! I spent the week of October 29 on the Carnival Celebration with 70 clients so I missed the actual trick-or-treating with the girls. Fortunately, Sarah took Emery, Maddie and McKenzie trick-or-treating while Stacey and Kim handed out candy. FYI - Halloween isn't Kim's favorite holiday. The girls had loads of fun and we are tremendously thankful to Sarah for saving the day! I am eagerly awaiting the pictures from Sarah and Stacey, which I will share as soon as I get them.

While my girls were going door to door, I was in Key West with Mom. The ship hosted a wonderful costume party and here are a few of my favorites and most memorable costumes. I know some of these people and some of them I do not, fortunately.





Yes, this is me, the Pope, and Sister Mary Merlot (aka Mom). One of my favorites was a man named Denver (approx 6"3 tall) who dressed as Ugly Betty. With the shoes on, he was nearly 7 ft tall. He looks awesome!



Here are some other fun ones.






The grand prize winner of the entire ship was my client, Joey (Yoda), from Denver. I am so proud!



Before I left on my trip, Kim took some pictures of the kids so I wouldn't miss them too much. While I loved the pictures, I still missed them like crazy. Here is the contest of who makes the better Pope. You decide!






Here they are - the two cutest girls in the world loving each other. We are so blessed.

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