Day 47 - Rv

As soon as we woke up Camaron wanted to know when we were picking up Colt!  He sure did miss his brother!  We ran a few errands then headed over to get Colt.  When we arrived they asked if he could stay another night!  Colt wanted to and since things have been so busy we thought it would be good for him to hang out with a friend.  Again Camaron had a melt down but that quickly disappeared when we pulled into Incredible Pizza's parking lot!  Ha! I guess bribery works for him!  LOL! We all had a good time and afterwards went home to hang out in the rv.  We missed Colt but it was fun hanging out with Cam. 

Day 46 - Rv

Today I spent lots of time trying to figure out who was going to clear the land and when.  It was frustrating!  But what is done is done!  Colt was invited to spend the night with a friend so we took him over there.  Camaron was not happy about his brother leaving him! Troye and I tried to make the best of it and rent a movie for him and took him swimming!  He loved it and was happy by the end of the night. Yea!

Day 45 - Rv - HOUSE DAY!

Today was the day!  The house made a move today!  The boys and I went to the land and waited for the house to arrive!  It finally arrived (took a while).  It was cool to see it on trucks and ready to be delivered!  They quickly realized that some work had not been done to the road way.  There were a few trees in the way and the turn was going to make it difficult to get the house into the land.  They took the chainsaw and started chopping more trees down.  After several trees came down they were able to get the house into the land.  The bad news was that there were still several spots that would make it difficult to get the house to the foundation.  The driveway is 850 feet long.  They started trying to clear by hand but then it was decided that they needed to get more equipment.  So they moved the house sections together just off the road in a clear spot.  They will work to get the road cleared more and then move the sections into place.  So we are a little closer to having the house in place, just not as far along as we thought we would be at this point!

scrambling to cut trees down! The house is blocking traffic!

waiting on the road!

Day 44 - Rv

MEMORIAL DAY!  Thank you to all who have served or are serving!

Today we hung out at the rv.  We cleaned up and put things away and did laundry.  We watched movies and just were lazy!  It was needed after the weekend trip!

Day 43 - Rv

Today is our last day at the ranch. Troye has to work tomorrow so we have to head back a day before our friends.  The boys are not happy about that!  This morning the kids played their games and ran around in the old cabin.  We had a big breakfast and then went digging for arrowheads.  We have found some really neat things on the ranch.  After a quick lunch a neighbor brought over some bows so the kids took turns shooting.  Then it was time to load up and make the long trip home!  We stopped a DQ for our usual treat and then the boys slept most of the way home.  Once we finally made it home we unloaded and hit the hay!  It was a great trip even if it was a quick one!

Day 42 - Rv

We all woke up early at the ranch even though we were tired from the trip!  The kids were just too excited to play!  The guys went and loaded corn and put out lots of it in the feeders.  We just spent a relaxing morning in the cabin with the kids playing.  After lunch we all went to the swimming hole.  It is a spring fed creek so the water was COLD! But the kids didn't mind!  The evening was just more relaxing at the cabin and letting the kids run around!

Day 41 - Rv

We were invited to go to a friends ranch in the hill country.  We always love going to relax and let the kids have fun!  This morning we ran errands to get ready for the trip.  We were scheduled to leave at 4pm.  Around 2pm the power to the rv goes out! We had no idea at first what was going on but quickly figured out that the main power source had fried!  The main plug and the place where it plug in had melted!  Troye quickly ran to a few places to find a new plug while the rv staff replaced the receptical.  Our "neighbor" is an electrician so he changed out the plug.  Two hours later the rv was up and running again! We loaded up and headed out! We had a 5 hour drive and arrived exhausted!

Day 40 - Rv

We were finally able to celebrate our anniversary today!  Troye and I had a date night while the boys went to their cousins house.  They had a great time playing with the cousins.  And Troye and I had a good time going to dinner and a movie.  A great day!!

Day 39 - Rv - Foundation!

Today we headed to the land to watch the foundation being poured.  The inspector arrived shortly after we did and performed his inspection.  Everything was as it should be so the concrete trucks were dispatched.  Two trucks arrived and started pouring the concrete.  Only two guys were working so they had to work fast to keep the concrete from drying before it was smoothed out.  The boys enjoyed watching the trucks and all of the concrete being poured!  After they were done with the initial smoothing the boys were able to scratch their names into the concrete and we also put the date.  It is getting exciting!! The concrete will dry for several days before they will move the house.  Since Monday is a holiday they are expecting to move it on Tuesday.

Post 38 - RV

Yea!  We went to the land today and ground has been broken!!  SO EXCITED!  We thought they were going to pour the concrete but they inspector could not make it out today so they are planning on pouring the concrete on Wednesday.  It was still exciting to see some progress being made!  We had to stop by the TXDOT office to pick up the final permit for our culverts.  After that we headed back to the rv stopping by Target for a new floatie for Cam and some pool toys.  We have started making it an evening ritual of playing football or frisbee behind the rv each night.  The boys love it and it burns off some of their extra energy.  Tonight we also had some ice cream cones as a treat.  Not that you will be able to tell from the pictures! Ha!


checking out the work!



Good ice cream!

Day 37 - Rv

Today we headed out to the land but before we even left town we found out that they were not starting until late in the day so we decided to not make the trip.   We ran a few errands then went swimming and played in the field behind the rv.  It was a nice day to just hang out and not have to be somewhere!

Day 36 - Rv - HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!  Today is our 17th wedding anniversary!  Where has the time gone?  It seems like yesterday!  Unfortunately Troye had to work today but that is ok, we are hoping to celebrate next weekend with a date night.  We didn't do gifts for each other (we are buying 20 acres and a new house - that is gift enough!!) but while I was at the grocery store I did see something that caught my eye so I bought it for Troye.... I am so romantic I bought him two raspberry plants!  LOL!
Oh yes, I forgot to mention that the boys love playing spy.  Anything spy related they love and when we went to McDonald's last week they got spy toys!  Big Hit!  Well that same night Troye brought home a REAL fingerprinting kit!  The boys LOVED it!  They have been fingerprinting everything!

taking fingerprints!

Day 35 - Rv

The IronMan race was going on today and they had Hwy 105 shut down, so we decided to stay put! No need to get stuck in traffic if it is not necessary!  The boys and I went swimming for a little bit and then just had a lazy afternoon.   Just before dinner they made friends with a little boy who was camping in the tent spot next to us.  They all had fun riding bike, playing tag, soccer and football.   We made a pinhole viewer to view the solar eclipse.  The boys thought it was cool.  We also enjoyed watermelon! YUMMY!

No need to use the fork in your hand!

Day 34 - Rv

Today was laundry day.  We needed to catch up on all the laundry, there is not enough room to let it pile up!  The boys are getting great at helping with it.  They start sorting it as soon as we get there and of course they love to put the money in the slots!  We said good bye to one of our neighbors.  They moved in the week we did and we really enjoyed getting to know them.  Please keep them in your prayers, Jerry and Angela.  They were not planning on leaving this soon, but the husband needed to get to Austin to have a heart surgery.  He went for a check up and they discovered that his pacemaker only had about 4 weeks left of battery life!  So the surgery was critical and could not be postponed.  I think his surgery is scheduled for Wed, and we hope to hear an update afterwards. 

Day 33 - Rv

We decided to take a day trip today!  We headed over to Columbus, Tx.  There is an off the grid store.  It is called Industrial Country Market.  The store is a "non general general store".  The store is 95% solar powered and 5% back up generator.  They have a green house with Hydroponic gardens, an art gallery, the store and more.  You can even use their composting toilets!  It was a very fascinating place!  We really enjoyed the water catching systems they use for rain water and they hydroponic gardens.  We hope to try our hand at that when we get to the land.  It was a fun day trip so if you are in the area be sure to check it out!

Hydroponic tomatoes!  HUGE!

Rain catching gutters!

The trough where all the rain runs and then into the big container behind it.

watching the fish

pretty pond

3 of many solar panels

This is the back of the composting toilets. 

Day 32 - Rv

Today we went swimming and then we took the boys bowling! Cam had never been bowling so it was a fun experience. When we gave him the shoes to put on he said "these are fancy shoes". And he didn't want to take off the "fancy shoes"! LOL! We all had lots of fun, we bowled, ate and played games! Good times! The construction has been postponed till next week due to the rain/mud. Bummer!

Cam trying to throw that heavy ball!

Colt going for a strike!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 31 - Rv

Well again today was spent dealing with house issues.  Nothing major, just talking to contractors, engineers, managers and coordinating schedules and making sure everyone knows what is going on.  Our contractor, Mike, is expecting to start dirt work on Thursday and pour the foundation on Friday.  Now with that said, I predicted that it would rain after we closed and delay everything!  It is raining today!  So that schedule may be postponed to Monday!  Since it was raining I took the boys to McDonald's and let them play in the indoor playground area for awhile. 

Day 30 - Rv

Today was a crazy busy day.  Mainly dealing with house/land issues.  We are trying to get everything in order so that construction can begin very soon.  We should here today or tomorrow when they will start working.  Of course it is suppose to rain this week. 

Day 29 - Rv

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!  Troye had to work today so the boys and I went to church this morning.  They each  made me something in their class.  They were both so proud to give it to me.  After church we got a bite to eat and then started cleaning up the RV.  We had lots of laundry to do because of the muddy clothes from yesterday!  Then we spent the evening watching a movie.  It was a good day.  I called my mom and spoke to her but missed seeing her today.  But we will get together soon.  Love you, Mom.

Day 28 - Rv

Today we went out to the land!  It is our land (well the banks) but we wanted to go and enjoy it officially for the first time!  Troye's brother and family came with us.  We played in the creek, had a picnic and shot bb guns!  The boys had a blast!  It was very muddy from the rain last week.  The boys loved running around and getting stuck in the mud.  Troye bought the boys bb guns.  This is Cam's first one and he was one proud boy!  He wouldn't stop shooting!  And was so proud when he started hitting the cans!   It was a fun day!

Cam is so ready to shoot!

Here we go!

Both boys shooting!

The gang of boys (big and little) shooting!

Day 27 - Rv

Troye had today off so we wanted to take the boys and do something fun.  Since it was suppose to be rain we decided to take them to Pump It Up.  Pump It Up is an indoor inflatable playground.  We use to take Colt all the time but the last time we went Cam was probably just over a year old!  This was a new experience for Cam and he LOVED it!  Colt had fun too!  The place was pretty much empty so we stayed for a long time!  We ran a few errands after we were done playing then came home so I could go grocery shopping.  It was a fun day! 

Day 26 - Rv

We had an appointment with the Palm Harbor to go over more papers.  We signed many more papers today!  But we were able to confirm that construction will begin next week.  Of course we are expecting rain this week so that will probably mess things up!  Ha!  But hopefully some progress will be made!  I do know that I will start working on more permits and make sure that end does not get left undone.   After the meeting the boys and I ran some errands then just had a lazy day at the rv. 

I am behind on posting some pictures, I will update the posts soon with the pictures that I have taken.  My mind has been preoccupied and when the evening comes I am ready to crash!

Day 25 - Rv - CLOSING!

We finally did it!  We closed on the land and house! It took 2 hours and so many signatures I can't even count! I honestly can't believe the day actually arrived!  I thought we would celebrate afterwards but both of our heads were killing us, we just wanted to relax with the boys!  A friend mentioned that it is different than buying a house because after closing we didn't get to rush off to the house like you do when buying a house already built.  So many some of that super excitement will resurface when construstion begins!  Don't get me wrong, we are excited!  We have a meeting tomorrow with the house people so we should find out more about the schedule!

Day 24 - Rv

We worked on school this morning.  Camaron is almost finished with his farm book! He is so excited and can't wait to do another one!  Colt has now finished his geography and math.  He just has a few other subjects to finish for the year.

We are closing TOMORROW!  Yes! I can finally say that we have a closing date and time!  Of course it is on a day that Troye has to work but he is working on getting some arrangements made so he can at least make the closing!

Day 23 - Rv

Today I was not feeling well so we had a pretty lazy day.  Troye bought doughnuts for breakfast and then we went to the church.  Troye put the foosball table together and the boys watched a movie.  While we were at church we found out that our loan came out of underwriting with one condition.  We had to resign a form that was now outdated due to the delays.  Ugh!  So I worked on that and we resubmitted the form.  Our loan officer said we should be closing within 48 hours.  We will see.  We went swimming in the evening and then just had a lazy night.  Storms rolled in around midnight. Love watching them! 

Day 22 - Rv

After church today we invited a family over to the rv park.  We all went swimming for hours.  The kids loved having their friends over.  After swimming we grilled out at the rv park area.  The kids played shuffle board, ran around and played other games.  We enjoyed a great dinner and yummy banana pudding!  As we were finishing our dinner a rather large storm starting rolling into the park.  The lightening was amazing!  We drove back to our rv spot and all of the neighbors were out watching the weather.  Two of the ladies were checking out the culverts so they would know where to run in case of a tornado!  Our friends headed off to their house, and offered to take us with them. But we stayed.  The storm was over before we knew it and it hardly rained at all!   It was just a mean sounding and looking storm but nothing major happened.  That was our first storm in the rv. 

Day 21 - Rv

We headed out to the land today.  We thought we would be the official owners by today, but that isn't the case.  But we needed to go check out a few things anyway.  I needed to grab the mail and we wanted to check out the rv park near the land.  It is a nice rv park but after stopping by we decided to stay where we are till we can move into the house.  We are meeting our neighbors at our current place and we have a super nice spot and lots of stuff to do.  The other rv park doesn't have as much to do and we could only pick certain spots and they just were not as nice as the one we have.  So at least we know where we will be staying for a little longer!  It was a super hot day so we didn't stay long at the land.  We just rode the 4 wheeler looking at the dozer work that had been completed.  We came back to the rv and went swimming!  We needed to cool off!

Day 20 - Rv

Today we had our last Clay Homeschool group meeting.  We went to the park for fun and popsicles!  The boys had a blast and I enjoyed talking with the other moms.  One of the boys friends came home with us.  They loved being able to show someone our new house!  The boys played in the yard behind the rv and later we took them swimming.  I don't think we have missed a day of swimming this week!  It was a fun day and the boys were exhausted afterwards!  No news on the closing.

Day 19 - Rv

The boys were both up by 7 am and I looked over (remember small space) and could see Colt getting out his Shark lapbook!  By the time I got out of bed, both boys were working on their books!  Makes a momma proud!   We worked on the books and school for a good part of the day.  We also took Bobber for his daily dog park outing.  And of course we went swimming!  We are going to enjoy that pool for as long as we can!  As far as closing... well we are getting very close!  I had to turn in a few more papers today and I was informed that all paperwork is now done and it has been turned in for a "clear to close" approval.  We should hear back tomorrow with a time for the actual closing.  I am guessing Monday or Tuesday, but as I have finally figured out, nothing is a guarantee when it comes to a mortgage closing!  Oh and the boys and I spent some time cleaning the Rv.  It is so easy for us to feel like we are on vacation.  We really don't have a good routine or schedule right now.  So after we cleaned I sat down and created a chore chart.  Nothing fancy and nothing too hard, but just something so the boys know what needs to be done and who should do it.  I need to run to Walmart to get a brad to assemble it so I will post a picture tomorrow. I am excited to at least have somewhat of a routine.

Bobber enjoying some free time!

Our fish!

Day 18 - Rv

Today we woke up and started school.  It seems we are hit and miss with school since moving!  But today we worked hard!  Colt is excited to see the finish line!  Cam started working on a Farm Lapbook.  A lapbook is a handmade book that you put together using many different activities.  I printed it out before we moved and thought we would spend a few weeks working on it.  Well I was wrong! He spent almost the whole day working on it and even though he didn't finish today, he will finish it before the week is out!  I am going to have to gather supplies for more of these.  I will post pictures once he is done.  Colt also started one on Sharks.  His is more in depth.  We will be doing more of these in the future.

Working hard!

Day 17 - Rv

More swimming!  The boys really love going to the pool.  I think I am actually getting use to the cold water!  Ha!  We did hear from the bank and we are basically just waiting on all of the paperwork to be finalized.  Still no date has been given for our closing!  Oh well, all in God's timing!