THE TWINS ARE HERE!!

Tuesday, 30 November 2010

Today at 12:22 and 12:23 p.m. EST, the two newest members of our family were born! Laura's water broke during the night - and since one baby was breech, the doctor had her meet him at the hospital to do a
c-section.
Baby A - Alice Robin Chabo arrived first, weighing 4 lbs 15 oz.
Baby B - Penelope Anne (Penny) Chabo weighed 5 lbs 3 oz.
Alice has really dark hair and, Penny, light brown hair.
Everyone is doing well! Can't wait to hold these two new little ones!!

Bob and I will drive to Ohio this Friday and I will stay to help out until after the first of the year. Bob will return to Ohio for Christmas.

'TIS THE SEASON!

22 November 2010

I had to smile when I read my last post and saw that I hoped to have all my unpacking done by the end of the first week of November. Ha! (Not realistic, indeed.) The main floor of the house is nearly complete — and certainly livable — and I'm making progress on the two rooms upstairs. i.e. I painted my studio a few days ago and started assembling a work table and bookshelf I bought at Ikea. There are still lots of boxes upstairs though, and not only have I slowed the pace at which I'm getting things done — but, now, its nearly Thanksgiving!

I've decided its better to pace myself, though, and enjoy the holiday rather than try to push frantically through getting "everything" done. It will all get done eventually. . .

Our daughters, Heather and Susy, plus Susy's two little ones came for a visit during my birthday weekend. (Nov 12-14) We had a great time and really enjoyed their visit!! We even went to a neighborhood holiday craft fair while they were here and Susy and I both won door prizes! Did I remember to pull the camera out, even once, during their visit? Of course not. So I have no cute photos of Lily and Claire (Susy's girls) to share. :-(

We're looking forward to having our youngest son, John, his wife, Amanda, and their daughter, Abby, visit us for a few days over Thanksgiving. Abby turns two in March, so I will look around at what items may need to be placed out of the reach of tiny hands. This week will involve extensive grocery shopping (I've already compiled the lengthy list); some cleaning and laundry; a little more unpacking; baking; prepping for the big Turkey Dinner; and, then, just relaxing and enjoying some family time for a few days. (Perhaps we'll watch some "Punkin Chunkin" on TV) LOL!

AND THEN THERE'S CHRISTMAS. Yikes! Last week I mailed our combo address change / btw "Merry Christmas" postcard — and I've wrapped and begun packaging the gifts, (meager as they are) but, still have one more thing to add to each package. A couple of months ago I started making a little something for each of our kids and am not even half done with those. Its not much, but I want to include it in each Christmas package. So, I'm thinking I'll have enough time during the week after Thanksgiving to get them done, and then, I can put everything in the mail that first week in December.

Because, after that, I'll be in Ohio for a while! Our daughter, Laura's, twins are due any time and I will head to Ohio as soon as I'm needed. It will be fun to be around some of our grandchildren (Sophia, Holly and Lucy, plus the new twins) during the Christmas season! Really looking forward to that!! And, of course, I hope to be as much help to Laura as I can. We are very grateful for the news that Baby A finally turned and is no longer breech. It was looking like Laura might have to have a c-section. (Baby B has been quietly behaving herself, causing no such concern.) Now, Laura will, hopefully, not need one, and will have a quicker recovery from the delivery. Adjusting to caring for twins will take a bit longer, I expect. Exciting times, though!!!

SETTLING IN - PLANTING FOR SPRING

30 October 2010

We turned over the keys to the rental property yesterday — after a very tiring week of going back and forth between cleaning up at the rental (they gave us three pages of instructions for how they expected everything to be cleaned!) and unpacking and organizing things in our new home. (I'm getting too old for this!)

We have a few rooms in order, but still have plenty of boxes to unpack and furniture to assemble. (Bookshelf for the office and a couple of work tables for my studio.) Would like to have everything finished in another week, but, that may not be realistic. . .

I did start planting some spring bulbs yesterday. Will finish up today. I'm planting hyacinths, daffodils and tulips in the bed just at the front of the house - and, hope that at least some of them survive to bloom next spring. Its been years since I planted any bulbs, and the soil in that bed is not very good. I've added some better soil, so we'll see how it goes. Nice to look forward to that come spring.

PRE-SETTLEMENT WALK-THROUGH

Living Room
Kitchen

15 October 2010

Today we had our walk-through of the new house. A few dings on the wall, etc will be fixed before the closing next week. The only big item is they forgot to pour the back patio when they poured the front sidewalk. That is scheduled to be done Monday.

Forgot to take a picture of the front now that landscaping is in - so will have to post that later.

PROGRESS ON THE NEW HOUSE

House on Sep 1, 2010

Making progress

Clearing the lot, April 2010

15 Sep 2010

We're getting excited about being able to move into our own place in about six weeks. Renting is just not the same - I haven't felt really "settled" here, though we moved in nearly a year ago.
We first saw the Potomac Green neighborhood in February. (Remember all that snow? Yup. We were tromping around in it getting ready to make a deposit on this home.)
The house is a nice compact 1-1/2 story, 3-bedroom, 3 bath home in a 55+ community (for active senior living.) We've met the couple who live just to the left of us (as you face the house) and they seem really nice. Turns out they also have six kids - three boys and three girls just like us! The large community center is an easy walk (two blocks) from the house and has an indoor and outdoor pool, an indoor walking track, and lots of fun social and fitness activities to participate in.
Our lot was cleared in mid-April, and construction began about July 5. We had a pre-drywall walk through in late August (so we could see where all the wiring and ductwork is.) They were putting up the insulation before we even finished the walk-through and now the drywall is up; the cabinets and bathtubs are all in place; the counter top is installed in the kitchen (but I didn't see it in the baths, yet.) I can't post any current pics because, right now, everything is completely covered in plastic. They're doing all the interior painting this week.
Not sure if the flooring goes in next week or the following. . .
Will post more pics later.

ITS OFFICIAL!

15 September 2010

We are no longer North Carolinians. The closing on our townhome there went off without a hitch today. And, the money is in the bank to help us buy the house we're building here in Virginia.
Its a good thing most of our kids still live in NC, though, so we can go back and visit one of our favorite places as often as possible!

WE CAME, WE STAGED, WE SOLD!

23 August 2010

We have much to be thankful for! And, we have certainly felt the hand of the Lord in the process of preparing our home in North Carolina for sale. It was an exhausting and, sometimes, discouraging task, but we did everything we could to make the home look as good as we could make it look. Then we listed it with our realtor friend, Grace Naylor, and the Lord took care of the rest.(The slideshow above doesn't show the office/4th bedroom, but all the other rooms are shown.)

Only one week after we listed it, we had a contract. What a blessing!!! Plans are to close on the home on September 15. Then, we can move toward closing on a home we are trying to buy here in Virginia.

God has been very good to us, indeed!!