Friday, May 20, 2011

Changes in the Schnabel Family!

I’m not going to mention that I’m a horrible blogger, since that seems like how I’ve started all of my posts over the past 6 months. I’m not going to mention that we’ve been super busy….I’ll just start with a recap!

At the end of February I applied for the Youth Director position at my home church. I was notified in early March that I had gotten the job! I couldn’t be happier!! Being able to put my Religion degree to use thrills me. Since then I’ve been doing a smooth transition with the interim youth director. I’ve had lots of great guidance from her and other member of the church. This is a 20 hour position to which I’m adding on top of my 40 hour daytime position, which I love! BUSY. Because of this new job, I was commuting sometimes twice a day to Deep Creek from Virginia Beach…not good…A change in location was needed.

Starting mid March, we began our hunt for the perfect house! With the help of a great mortgage rep. and our fearless real estate agent, my God mother, Josi Brown. As you know, Chip and I don’t like to take long drawn out time to make decisions. We know what we want, and we either like it or we don’t. We took one day to look at homes and saw about 7-9. That next week we put a bid on one of those houses and were outbid. The very next day we looked at about 6 homes, and found ours! We made a bid that same day and the next day it was accepted! We had a ratified contract by March 28th, and a closing date set for April 29th. So not only was the Royal Wedding taking place, but we were also closing on our 1st home, a big day indeed!

Moving day was so crazy! We had tons of help, and I can’t IMAGINE moving again, it was miserable! We’re back in the CREEK!!! I never thought I would want to move back there so badly. Our new house is zoned for the same Elementary, Middle, & High schools that I went to which is really neat. It’s like the twilight zone though, driving around the Creek where I sowed my wild oats! Lots of great memories and lots more to come!

These are a few of my favorite things about our new house in Meta Pointe:
-Rose bushes -Pergola & outdoor fire pit garden
-All Brick -2 Car Garage
-Hardwood throughout -Front loading washer & dryer
-Stainless Steel Appliances -Dimmers in the Kitchen
-Granite Counter Tops -All Walk-in Closets
-Tres Ceiling in Master -Giant Master Tub/Closet
-Ceiling Fans in all rooms -Wrought Iron Spindles on Staircase
-“The Puppy Room” -Deck

Ok, ok, I LOVE IT ALL!!!! There was only one small hitch, and I say was because I’ve grown to not mind it anymore. We’re directly behind a set of double train tracks. And when I say directly behind, I mean, we’re able to make eye contact with the conductor and wave to him! HAHA! Some trains are louder than others, but some are quiet and slow. Either way, they don’t bother me. Why you may ask…Well my baby LOVES THE TRAINS! He can’t stop saying “CHOO CHOO” which sometimes sounds like “shoe-shoe” but you get the picture. He wakes up saying it, he says bye bye to it on his way to bed. We’re now a Thomas the Tank engine family! And Kane, well he’ll be the envy of all his friends. Who else will be able to say they have a choo choo in their back yard!?

This brings me to my little man! Kane Dog is 18 months! Can you believe it? I sure can’t, I can’t believe how fast the time fly’s. He’s growing like a weed. At his 18 month check up this past week he weighed **lbs. **oz. and was ** inches long. Mimi took him to his appointment and Dr. Wiley said that he was doing great! He’s very advanced in his speech according to her. He’s already saying almost all of his ABC’s and his counting to 10 like a pro! He pronounces 7 “Sebee” which literally melts my heart. He’s so smart; I can’t even count all the words he’s saying now. Some of his favorite words/phrases are: What’s that?, Sorry (we’re saying that a lot these days), Blanket, Choo-Choo, Oreo, Cookie, well any sesame street character for that matter. He does a role call with every person he knows name’s including the dogs. But he’s just picking things up so quickly, if you want him to say it, he’ll try his hardest to mimic what you’re saying.

We’ve been having a little trouble with biting. Hopefully we’ll be out of that stage soon. A stage we’re VERY much into right now is being Mommy’s shadow. He gets VERY upset if I’m not holding his hand, sitting with him or carrying him. This warms my heart, but is a little difficult at times to get house work done. Kane is an expert now at giving kisses on demand and hugs too, his are the best. I die when he walks over to Misha and puts his little hands on both of her droopy cheeks, bends over and puckers up to give her a big kiss! I’m so thankful that Misha, Tank and Kane get along as well as they do. I love seeing the three of them standing at the front door, looking out, and waiting for Chip to get home.

So that’s it for now. Some wonderful changes have been happening in our lives, and we couldn’t be more blessed.



















-C, A & K