My Three Sons

Moving day, part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:07:00 +0000

Last Monday night, the movers came with mom and dad's furniture. They arrived at 9:30 PM, and were out by 10:45. Although it's hard to tell from these pictures, the moving van was HUGE! It was an 18 wheeler, chugging through our neighborhood. The movers were very efficient and set everything up for us. The house is almost arranged and we hope to be taking interior pictures soon!

Alexander's birthday party

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:01:00 +0000

Here is the cake Alexander requested. He wanted a Strawberry cake. I used a white cake recipe and added strawberry jello mix, which turned out quite good. He wanted purple icing!
Alexander had 3 of his friends (and 3 of Benjamin's friends) sleep over that night. Lynnlee and Tanner also came by for cake and some of the activities.

Blowing out the candles with gusto

It really was good!

Wild Holly

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:55:00 +0000

I finally completed my "memory" book of our old home. Take a look at it here:

http://www1.snapfish.com/projectshareewelcome/l=3838988015/p=959141260838334260/g=1283235/cobrandOid=1000/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/otsc=SYE/otsi=SPBKlink/

Christmas, muppets style

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:03:00 +0000

Benjamin's Christmas Band Concert

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 01:55:00 +0000

This is the First Christmas March that was performed at Benjamin's band concert on Friday. They have really improved since their first concert. These kids have been playing their instruments since October!

An Ode to Jonathan

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 01:29:00 +0000

It has been so much fun to watch Jonathan grow up. I think we appreciate it much more, knowing he is our last one. It becomes bittersweet, in a way. Jonathan has had a huge year. This year, he lost his first tooth, learned how to swim, learned how to ride a bike, and learned to read. First grade is such a wonderful year. He's developing quite a sense of humor, and boy, can he talk. Just ask his teacher.

Last week, he got an unexpected (and unwanted) chance to prove just how grown-up he is. It was a day of pouring down rain. Alexander had been picked up early from school to go to a doctor's appointment, so Jonathan rode the bus home alone. No big deal.

Because of the terrible weather, I went straight from the doctor's to the bus stop. We arrived there at 2:25 for a 2:45 pick-up time. I looked down the street, but didn't see him. And why should I? We were there 20 minutes early. I waited and waited, but the bus didn't come. Finally, it was 2:45. Traffic had been bad for me, so I thought the bus could be late. I had a funny feeling, though, so on a whim I picked up my phone and called home.

"Hello?" Jonathan answered. I couldn't believe it. I quickly drove the half mile down my street to find him sitting calmly in the kitchen, a little bit damp. He had walked all the way home by himself, let himself in through the garage keypad, taken off his wet coat and shoes in the garage, closed the garage, and come in the house to wait for me. Incredible. He's six years old.

Since then, I have lodged a complaint with the transportation office. After questioning the other boy at our bus stop (a fifth grader), I have discovered that the bus driver ran the route backwards, dropping our stop off first instead of last. Since my complaint, they've had substitute bus drivers. Hmm.

I've also taught Jonathan how to dial the phone and call my cell, something we should have done a long time ago. We have praised him for his maturity. He now seems to think he can stay home alone by himself. While that won't happen, it sure is nice to know how responsible he can be when something like this happens. He isn't my little baby anymore.

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 01:29:00 +0000

Cousins

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:56:00 +0000

My favorite picture - all of them ages 6-11.

Thanksgiving Day and other pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:20:00 +0000

We're finally getting organized in our house. Yesterday, Mom and Dad Weinrich brought over our new quilt. It looks awesome on our bed, and goes well with our new paint! It's fun to look at and see all the old pieces of material. There are a few that came from clothes that were mine as a kid. Benjamin's first Halloween costume, maternity and nursing shirts, and old quilts are all included. It's wonderful!

Benjamin and Jack are ready for some football. Benjamin, on the right, is 9 months older than Jack. He may not be taller, but he does have more hair.

Kids enjoying our "Harry Potter" closet.

The first night the Martins were here, we celebrated Joey's birthday.

Thanksgiving Day - after many attempts to get the "men" to carve the turkey, Cindi and I were given the job by default. And we did a good job of it.

The kids' table. Jack and Joey are wearing their running shirts from the Thanksgiving 5K.
Joey

Jack

Benjamin, in a lovely pose.

Alexander
Jonathan

Katy

Moving in!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 01:49:00 +0000

Monday was our official moving day. The movers arrived at the apartment about 8:30 and loaded everything up. We used the same company as we did last time, but this crew was not as careful as the other.

While Chris was at the apartment, I was at the house, letting the solar guys in to start their work.
John had finished painting the downstairs and had started working on the bedrooms. The movers just piled everything into the middle of the bedrooms, and we had to move it later, once the paint was dry.

Anything we didn't know where to put ended up in our back porch.

The first thing I made in our new oven - flappy. It was a bad batch of flappy. Sorry, Grandma.

After 4 days, here is our pile of boxes. I put them on freecycle, and some were picked up. The rest are going out with the recycling tomorrow morning. I am so sick of boxes.

Here's Alexander's room. He decided to de-bunk the bunk beds. He also chose the color. Not what I would have picked, but he loves it and that's what matters.

Jonathan chose "banana cream" as his color. He has plenty of room for all of his toys. We also attached the canopy to his bed.
On Wednesday, the appliance installer came and put in our microwave and dishwasher. They are wonderful!!! I don't think we've ever had a dishwasher that actually cleans. The others were just sanatizers - we had to almost wash them by hand before putting the dishes in the dishwasher.

Great fridge, too. We sure missed the in-door ice machine and water dispenser.

Solar Power!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:20:00 +0000

On Saturday, the solar guys came and finished up all of our solar. On the right is the "inverter," which makes the electricity. On the left is the meter, which will be running much slower (and hopefully even backwards).
I was trying to watch them put up the panels, but our roof is too tall. I walked way behind the house to get this view. There are 20 solar electric panels and 1 solar water heater panel (on the top).

Close up

Close up of some of the panels before they went on the roof.

They had huge ladders to get up on the roof. They carried the 50 pound panels up the ladder. Not something I would want to do!!!

20 mile run

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:02:00 +0000

Sunday we have to do a 20 mile run!! I've never run that far. So I figured we should at least make it fun - we're going to run to the beach and back. Here's the link:

http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/us/fl/port%20orange/212125920448386668

Think of us on Saturday morning, when we're out running for 4 hours.

Lutheran Observations

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:38:00 +0000

Got this email from a friend - thought I would pass it on.

1. Lutherans believe in prayer, but would practically die if asked to pray out loud.

2. Lutherans like to sing, except when confronted with a new hymn or a hymn with more than four stanzas.

3. Lutherans believe their pastors will visit them in the hospital, even ifthey don't notify them that they are there.

4. Lutherans usually follow the official liturgy and will feel it is their way of suffering for their sins.

5. Lutherans believe in miracles and even expect miracles, especially during their stewardship visitation programs or when passing the plate.

6. Lutherans feel that applauding for their children's choirs would make the kids too proud and conceited.

7. Lutherans think that the Bible forbids them from crossing the aisle while passing the peace. (not true at my church!)

8. Lutherans drink coffee as if it were the Third Sacrament.

9. Some Lutherans still believe that an ELCS bride and an LCMS groom make for a mixed marriage. (For those of you who are not Lutherans, ELCS is Evangelical Lutheran Church Synod and LCMS is Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, two different divisions of the same Protestant religion. And when and where I grew up in Minnesota , intermarriage between the two was about as popular as Lutherans and Catholics marrying.)

10. Lutherans feel guilty for not staying to clean up after their own wedding reception in the Fellowship Hall.

11. Lutherans are willing to pay up to one dollar for a meal at church.

12. Lutherans think that Garrison Keillor stories are totally factual.

13. Lutherans still serve Jell-O in the proper liturgical color of the season and think that peas in a tuna noodle casserole add too much color.

14. Lutherans believe that it is OK to poke fun at themselves and never take themselves too seriously.

And finally, you know you're a Lutheran when:

*It's 100 degrees, with 90% humidity, and you still have coffee after the service;

*You hear something really funny during the sermon and smile as loudly as you can;

*Donuts are a line item in the church budget, just like coffee; *The communion cabinet is open to all, but the coffee cabinet is locked up tight;

*When you watch a 'Star Wars' movie and they say,"May the Force be with you," you respond, 'and also with you';

*And lastly, it takes 15 minutes to say, "Good-bye".

May you wake each day with His blessings, Sleep each night in His keeping,And always walk in His tender care.

Move-in Time!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:50:00 +0000

The day has finally arrived!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday we closed on the house. It was not without trial, though. When we arrived in Maitland (45 min away), we found out that the title company gave us the wrong closing amount and we were short $1600. You can't, by law, just write out a personal check. Instead, we had to find the closest bank compatable with our credit union and get a cashier's check. We found one 5 minutes away, returned with our extra check, and walked out with the keys. Needless to say, I won't recommend this title company to anyone else. Her response was, "I didn't mean to send you that closing statement. That's the wrong one." As if we were supposed to know better.

So, finally at 4:30, we returned to Port Orange with keys in hand. Here we are, opening the door for the first time.

The Wedges stopped by with a bottle of Brandy that we can open when we pay off the mortgage. Hmmm...we'll be 70 by then!

John the painter arrived at 5:00, ready to begin the dining room. He'll be back on Sunday to work on the family room and whatever else he can get done before the movers arrive on Monday.

Front door

More front door

We had a ton of boxes to unload in the kitchen - but finished all of them. We need to leave all the counters clear for painting tomorrow.
Right on time (!!!) the appliances arrived. They installed everything but the dishwasher and the over-the-stove microwave, which will be put in on Tuesday.

A bunch of our friends helped us move everything out of Chris' parents' garage. We took over one whole side of it. It only took two trips with 6 cars.

In this picture, we're about 1/3 of the way done.

IT IS DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:00:00 +0000

Move-in time draws near...We walked through the house yesterday and it is 99% done. It passed the last inspection while we were there. Now they pay the impact fees, and the city issues an Occupancy License. Then on Friday, we take a huge check to the closing company, and it is ours!! We move our storage things into the garage on Saturday, the small stuff from our apartment on Sunday, and the movers come on Monday for the big stuff. No time to blog...instead need to pack!!!

We now have a yard! And electric!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:31:00 +0000

On our way to Target, Jonathan and I took a look at all the work that was done today. I knew they were laying sod, but I did not realize the landscaping was here, too.
Of course, they left their trash. All of the workers leave their trash everywhere. It's disgusting.

Side view

I was very pleased to see that they laid sod a bit past our property line - this area was full of dirt, which I thought would run off. So they gave us a bit of extra sod.

Our backyard now looks like a backyard. Jonathan went and checked out the back porch.
Here they laid some extra sod, too, probably about 2-3 feet worth.

The air conditioners were RUNNING!!! Yea!

Yup, this house will be officially sold in a little more than a week.

I took this picture to show the electric is ON!!! Boy, are we excited and relieved. You can also see the carpet, which they installed today. Now that the electric is going, final inspections can commence. Yahoo!!

They had accidentally put carpet pad in the family room portion; today they removed it and it's waiting for flooring. Notice the LIGHT above the oven!

The doorbell is even hooked up and rings. Jonathan got a kick out of ringing it over and over. Good thing all the workers were gone.

Here it is - the meter box we were waiting for. Once our solar panels are on, it will be replaced with a different kind of box that runs backwards when we create electricity and forwards when we use it.

Yesterday, FPL ran a line from this box, which is across the street, under the street, and into our yard.

Jonathan reading

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:12:00 +0000

We must have the day off if I have time to upload all these pictures. Here's Jonathan, reading his "guided reading" book for school. I love first grade!

Updated house pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:00:00 +0000

We had our first walk through yesterday afternoon. The house is not quite ready yet, mostly due to the lack of electric. But we were able to see a lot of finishing touches that were not there previously. Here is Alexander and Jonathan's bathroom, all functional and ready to go.

Our hot water heater will be taken out when the solar panels come. We are getting solar electric and solar hot water, which comes with its own heater. Anyone want to buy a brand-new hot water heater? To the left are our hurricane shutters. They are aluminum and fold up into this small bundle. The screws are already in the house walls, so they should be relatively easy to install.
I hadn't seen these outdoor lights before, right next to the back porch. Alexander's window is directly above.

Carpet has been installed in the top floor and up the stairs. As I type this, the installers are working on the first floor.

This stair rail was stained, and I think it looks great! Much better than the half-wall that was standard. This is one of the few upgrades that we chose. Chris is looking at the first floor air conditioner.

More of Benjamin's band

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:54:00 +0000

Benjamin's band concert

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:52:00 +0000

Video from last night's concert - these kids have been playing for 6 weeks. Pretty amazing in such a short time.

A video bonanza

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:30:00 +0000

Here is the first of a few videos I have to post - finally got around to downloading them. This is from last night's beginning band concert. The 6th graders have only been playing for about 6 weeks, and they held their first concert. Benjamin (along with 24 others) volunteered to do a short solo:

WE HAVE ELECTRICITY!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Finally, we have electricity in our house. FPL came yesterday and, instead of digging up the street, bore a hole in the ground from across the street, then under the street, and up into our yard. A light is on in the upstairs, so it's connected. The carpet people are currently laying carpet, and the sod truck is down the street. We're scheduled to close on the 20th and move on the 23rd. More details and pictures to follow!

Next week's run

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:08:00 +0000

Beginning at Crane Lakes, here is our 18ish mile run for next weekend. We'll have to do it Sunday afternoon, after I get back from my weekend retreat. It's almost 18 miles - we'll have to detour past Ritters (to get water, not ice cream) to get 18 miles total.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/us/fl/port%20orange/446125764951043450

House Update

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:27:00 +0000

Well, we're in the home stretch. No pictures today because nothing has changed on the outside. We have, however, encountered a few problems, some minor, and some very major!

Just about everything is finished. As far as I can tell, we're waiting for window treatments, some flooring, sod, and, oh yeah - ELECTRIC!!!! For some unknown reason, FPL decided not to wire our lot for electric when they started the subdivision a few years ago. And for some unknown reason, the construction company has only noticed it NOW. Hmmm.... could it be because they stole electric from our neighbors?? I think so!

So now we are stuck waiting for FPL to come and tear up our street and yard and wire our house. The house can't pass inspection without electric, which means we can't get a certificate of occupancy. And after it passes inspection, it takes a few days to cut the check to pay the impact fees to the city.

When it's all said and done, our closing date will probably be moved from the 16th to the 20th. Not our first choice, but, it could be worse. Our lease at the apartment is up on the 24th, so we'll still have time to get out. The painting may not be done in time, but we can always put the furniture in the middle of the rooms. We weren't originally planning on painting, but one feel of that flat paint led us to call John the Painter. He's scheduled to come in as soon as we close and paint all of the rooms, except the bathrooms.

Oh, and the best part about this is the irony - As soon as we own the house, we'll be putting solar electric panels on the roof!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen and Chris) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:24:00 +0000

On Sunday, Chris and I ran the Daytona Half Marathon. It was my 4th half marathon, believe it or not, and Chris' first. In many ways, this was my favorite.

It began at 6AM, which is good, because it has been unseasonably hot lately. Although it was humid, the sun stayed behind the clouds for the whole race and we weren't too hot.

At around 5:30 AM, we drove through a tunnel and on to the middle of the Daytona Speedway! Although I can't stand car racing, it was very exciting to be there. We got our chips, hit the bathrooms one last time, and lined up to start. The race began on pit row and we proceeded around the track for one lap. Although I knew it was a very steep incline on the curves, it's much more impressive in person.

From there, we ran out of the speedway and on to the beach. It was a great feeling to stop traffic on Route 1! We had to run up the big bridge twice. The Seabreeze band was there by the bridge to urge us on. It really worked for us, too, because Chris knew many of the parents and students and had to look good. We got to the beach, turned around, and ran back to the speedway. We ended near the checkered flag! By this time, it was light, and there were some spectators there. Some of Chris' co-workers were there and took this picture of us.

We were using this half marathon as part of our training for the Disney full marathon in January. I was hoping to finish under 2 1/2 hours, and was delighted when our time was 2:21:17. Except for water breaks, we ran the whole way. We WON'T be running the entire full marathon.

Here we are, running through the final corral. They're tearing off our chips. Then we went in search of gatoraide and water! This race had the strangest food. It included some of the normal staples - bananas and bagels - and some unusual choices - pizza (plain and pepperoni), donuts, beer, mimosas, and sub sandwiches. We ate a bit, then went home to shower. We made it to church in time for the 10:30 service, wearing our race T-shirts, of course. Want some inspiration? Here it is!