Happy Birthday, we're moving!

What a fun day it's been!  Over on facebook I posted this as my status today and boy did I get people excited. My status read as below - 

Well David, you're not the only one with big news to share today. I also have an announcement to make! We're EXPECTING! I know, I know pretty crazy isn't it?? I really don't want to believe it myself. I wasn't going to put it on here, because it will be obvious soon enough, but thought I needed to make it official. So now you know, its official. We are EXPECTING another hot day today!

There were a dozen or so people who "liked" my status and another 30+ people that left comments! It was fun and even a few people warned me that they were gonna pinch me next time they saw me for playing sucha prank. haha I have to admit it wasn't something I thought of myself, I saw it posted on another friends wall and thought I'd copy and use it and today was the perfect day to do so!

Then after David got home from work I posted a new status that read:

Bonnie  is no longer keeping "the secret" haha David accepted a new job in Louisville, KY and we will be moving soon!! He gave his resignation today at work. We should know by tomorrow where we are gonna be living - thanks to my MIL Kathy and SIL Melanie who are RIGHT now looking at homes for us! TY so much!! 

Several months ago David began job searching and even was offered 2 other jobs which he turned down before this one.  Actually he had phone interviewed with his new company for their plant on the East coast of NC a couple months ago but then after finding out it was still going to be a 10 hour drive to our hometown in KY he turned down the chance to go interview in person at the plant. Thanks but no thanks.

And actually after the ups and downs of weighing the pros and cons of the 2 other offers and turning them both down, we had called off the job seearch and decided to wait until next year.  But I don't think that was God's plan for us b/c just 3 days later after that decision of mine to stay in Texas just one more year... David got another phone call from that same company he'd turned down in NC, but this time they were telling him that they had a larger plant in Louisville, KY and that an opening had just become available and that he was the first person they thought of for that job. Would he go for an interview?

Well how do you say no to that?  David asked me what I thought and I said, well you have to go! Interview and find out more about it so that later on you won't regret not finding out more.

So the week of Father's Day he flew up and spent the day with them at the plant.  After his interview he drove 90 miles South and spent the weekend with his mom and ended up going to Mass with my Daddy on Father's Day Sunday before flying back to Texas.

After he returned to Texas the following week he had three more phone interviews - one phone call from Italy and another from Germany... and finally one with their corporate office in Ohio. By this time it was wrapping up the end of June and would soon be on our summer vacation for the 4th of July and back home with all of our family for a week and a half.

And just as David had thought - the new job's, Plant Manager called him after we were in Kentucky, on Saturday the same day we had arrived at Dad's at 5:30am that morning... and offered the job to David! He spoke to his recruiter several times that week... and had benefits documents emailed, relocation assistance sent to us to read and review... then went back and forth a couple times with negotiations of salary and vacation time, had them do a cost of living assessment of Houston vs. Louisville..... and before we left KY to come back home, I just knew that we should take a drive up and see for ourselves the town/area and schools before we made a final decision. 

So instead of driving back on Monday 7/11th we spent that day "lookin."  We left the twins with Papaw and Mamaw but ended up taking Nora with us so she could see the schools with us.  During our drive up, he got one more phone call from his recruiter.  She said that they had did a cost of living assessment of Houston vs. Louisville and that the KY area was 8% higher and so she had called the new company and now had for him a "FINAL OFFER" with more salary for him.  That sure helped get us in the mood of really finding a new school for the kids and taking a look around to see if we could find a home for us. :)

I know that I've not posted here if f-o-r-e-v-e-r and that is b/c I had to make sure and not let the cat out of the bag... so for me it was just easier not to post for a while.  Hope you'll not hold that against me.  I promise to post more often and share photos soon.

Tomorrow we make a final decision on which home we will rent... it's also my Birthday so I'm wondering if I'll get more voting power in which home we choose....?  Right now the final 2 homes are so different.  Both have their own good and not so good.  One has room for a sewing room (4th bedroom), whereas the other home is a little cheaper per month .... which will it be? stay tuned!

Ever wished for a "vacation - after your vacation"??

   I know I'm not the only one who's returned from a trip and said... I need a vacation after my vacation!  Well guess what, I finally got to find out what it's like!  We left June 30th headed North to Kentucky for our annual 4th of July Celebration back home with family and ended up staying 13 days in all.  We arrived back home just a little after Midnight Wednesday or would that make it Thursday??  Anyway, I didn't even unload the van, b/c we had plans for traveling with David and his ASSE group that he is president of the local chapter.  David went to work on Thursday and just in for a couple hours Friday morning before we all were back on the road again and this time headed South to Kemah, TX (Near Galveston Island)

The kids and I got to join David and his ASSE group for lunch at the Aquarium, take a ride on one of the members' yacht, which the kids thought was sooo cool that they had 2 bedrooms, and kitchen and den on board!! I'd left our life jackets in Kentucky but thank goodness for putting out request on facebook, I was able to borrow life jackets from local friends so that all three of them would have them to wear.  I originally had thought I'd be on my own with the kids back at the hotel pool while David did outings and activities with his group - but in the end we were able to join them most of the day... so it was great to have the life jackets with us to use while on the yacht b/c Nora, Olivia, and Paul Thomas couldn't resist going up and down all 3 levels of this boat. And also thank goodness they were the only kids and all the adults on board helped keep dozens and dozens of eyes on them all all times. ;)

After we were back no shore, at the boardwalk it was about 30 minutes until the whole group was back out to sea, only this time at a much faster pace!!!  I don't think there was a dry seat to be had on the boat called "Boardwalk Beast" race boat. We all got soaked with salt water while the crew members stayed standing and dancing in the isles.  How they didn't slip and fall as the driver dipped on each turn, I'll never figure out!!   Maybe their shoes were attached to the floor kinda like a ski board? haha

After the group activities, we said our good byes to David's group then went back to the hotel and hung out at the pool at sunset - which when the pool lights automatically turned on WOWED the kids like no other!! It was the perfect ending, wrapping up the day with fireworks over the Bay while eating supper at Joe's Crab Shack.

Today, (Saturday) it was very cloudy but the rain held off all day :) and we rode tons of rides at the boardwalk. The kids first time to have stand next to the "you must be this tall to ride" signs, which I think has convinced them to eat more food so they'll be tall enough next year! haha and it was Olivia's big grand tantrum that made us call it a day when she wanted to ride the Boardwalk Bullet. (Nora wasn't even close to the stick much less Olivia!) We got tons of laughs and stares as we walked out and Olivia is screaming and hissing and kicking saying "I'M ALL DONE HAVING A TANTRUM!!!! I DON'T WANNA GO HOOOOOME!  I'M ALL DONE CRYING!!!!!" :/

Fun and more fun! At lease we know we're not *quite* ready for Disney.... yet. ;) OH and did I mention it was the first time we stayed in a hotel since the twins have been walking. Talk about "bouncing off the walls!!!" I can not begin to count the number of times I told them to stop and be quiet. I kept thinking any minute the manager was gonna knock on our room door. *whew* This morning I read a friends' fb status that said ---- "if you're kids are not driving you crazy then you're not spending enough time with them" haha no kidding. I've been putting in a lot of overtime with mine! ♥ ;) 

I'm happy to finally be home... just not looking forward to unpacking the van after church tomorrow. Lots of stuff - especially all our going to KY gear. We are so blessed, looking forward to many more family vacation get aways in the years to come. Thank You David for talking me into making a weekend trip out of it. ;) It was worth it!