Snapp & a House Update

Snapp on the drums.

Snapp has been having a great summer. He has joined football, and is in summer practices with Mitch. All of the weight training has made him stronger and he can do the most amazing flips outside. He seems to defy gravity as he pops around doing no hand front flips in the front yard. Pretty neat. He has also been practicing on the drums and is getting pretty good. Tucker begged him and he is graciously showing Tuck how to play.



On another note, the new house is finally ready to close. For anyone buying a home I am truly sorry for you. This has been a nightmare. I feel like I have made new lifelong friends with my real estate agent Carol, and the mortgage company rep Denise. I have certainly spent more time with them in the past few weeks than with my family. Very crazy... Anyway, those wonderful women made everything work and we are closing today July 31, at 4. All of the kids are thrilled. They are going to the house as soon as we have the keys to clean the pool and swim.

Snapp says the first thing he is going to do is a "Gainer" off of the diving board. He told me I won't believe it because the dive looks so cool. Tucker is bringing all of his swimming gear, including the new goggles he was saving just for the pool (thanks oma & poppa!) and he told me not to worry about the dirty pool, he just can't wait to clean it. Mitch is a little more reserved about everything, (he is a lot like me) but he said he never thought we would live in a house with such a great yard.

So, the great moving and cleaning is on. Luckily, most of the boys friends have offered to help us move. Pretty great. I am very lucky the boys have such wonderful friends.

LA TECH FOOTBALL CAMP

Mitch returned from the last football camp of the summer on Saturday. He is sure glad to finally be home! Unfortunately, it will not be a rest full end to the summer as we are still looking like the house closing will happen on July 30.






The quality of the dorms left alot to be desired. The inadequate air conditioning, and the ceiling that fell in while the boys were in the room were just the beginning. Mitch said it made WSU dorms look like the 4 Seasons. Yikes! Throughout everything, Mitch said he learned alot and is definitely working harder in training than ever before.

Tucker

What do you do when your Aunt CC sends you a package with fuzzy slippers? Wear them on your hands with a pair of shorts on your arms and pretend to walk around the house.

Thanks CC the package was a big hit!

The all consuming house

Tucker and his friend Hunter had a wonderful weekend at the pool. They talked me into taking them both days. I must say it is alot of fun once you get to the pool, but not alot of fun when you are trying to load up all of the stuff they need to have a good time.
The older boys have been immersed in world of war craft, but they still make time to go to tons of movies. Thankfully with friends who work at the theater, they have the wonderful opportunity to go free of charge. Mitch is getting ready for the Louisiana Tech football camp that kicks off tomorrow. He is very excited.
The following are some interior pictures of the house. Please look past the outdated kitchen and bad paint, carpet, and drapes. They will soon all be changed. We have the home inspection on thursday and are plodding right along with the financing and such, so all still looks ok for a closing date of July 31.

The main floor bathroom (this one is my favorite)

The master bath, needs a complete redo, but it has the benefit of being on its own hot water heater. No more cold showers!

This is the den, has a door out to the side yard with a small concrete covered patio. This is the boys man cave.

One of three upstairs bed rooms, they are all similar.

A very original kitchen. This would get a complete redo.

"Dining room" right off the kitchen.

The master bed room, has a large sliding glass door right out onto the patio.

The sun porch. Needs help, but has beautiful views of the pool and back yard.

And finally the upstairs bath, I actually like the blue tile but it needs lots of help as well.

Other than the house, things are going quite well. It is still hitting in the 100s here with the humidity, but that is to be expected in Louisiana. Have a great week!

The 4th of July

The best part of the 4th in Louisiana is the fireworks. You can buy them and shoot them off in the front yard. The boys went nuts and had a wonderfull evening. We had a big barbecue and then moved to the front yard for the festivities. The older boys helped Tucker who loves the ones that look like tanks and airplanes. Nothing like a red neck 4th of July!











Craig and Morgan popping fireworks

A Potential Purchase

What do normal people do when their sons leave town for a nice vacation? Relax, finish some projects around the house, revel in the freedom from regular mealtimes and the massive quantities of food needed to sustain a large family? Not me, I found a new house. We have just agreed on the price, so the only thing that could possibly kill the deal is a bad inspection.

We desperately needed more space. With my husband and stepdaughter (Morgan, a real sweetie) there are six of us in a three bedroom two bath house that is 1470 square feet. The house has continued to grow smaller, and this summer I swear it shrunk to half its former size. This may be in due to the large # of friends the kids have (love you guys)who are all football players and run in a large group. We usually have 5 or 6 extra kids around. I really like it, but we are definitely crowded. So that brings me to the new potential purchase.

This home is a five bedroom three bath home that has 2533 square feet. It was built in 1972 and had two floors. Since it is an older home it needs massive updating, especially flooring, paint, kitchen and bath remodels. It really looks like a 70s home. But its advantages include a much better school district, a great neighborhood, massive space for all of us, and the best part is the yard. It has a back yard I fell in love with. It has a small basketball court, and a below the ground spa and pool with a diving board and slide. Needless to say the whole family is ecstatic.





The kids all have different things they love best about the house. Mitch loves that we will have an upstairs, of course the yard, but he really got a kick out of the gas grill, hooked up to the house gas line (no more propane tanks). Snapp just loves the whole thing and constantly calls it a mini mansion. Tucker loves the pool and the basketball court and is so excited to finally have his whole room to himself with all of his toys in it. Morgan is very glad she will have her own room, and cannot wait to have friends over to swim. Craig is happy to have his own computer room, and I have one room that will just be for me as an office.

We are trying to close July 31, so the race begins to start cleaning and packing. The boys have warned me that if I thought they had alot of friends over before, that is nothing compared to the kids that will be over now. I can't wait.

The house has so much room we might actually need to figure out what to do with the extra space.