She's HERE!

On July 11 Jason and Holli's newest niece came into the world to join our family! Olivia Davis spent her first week in the hospital getting stronger and bigger. She came home on Friday the 15th.

Since Holli and Jason were in Florida with the Jones we missed out on the Olivia's first week. This past Monday, Holli and Jason went to visit Olivia for the first time. She is a true doll. She took to both her Aunt and Uncle!




After a quick diaper change, Holli got a turn at the entertainment. Olivia cooed and smiled and was a little angel. Holli joined in with the cooing and smiling too!

After another quick diaper change, Jason took the rains.
Olivia took to Jason right off the bat. She cooed and
made all kinds of noises for Jason. Jason, being Jason, made
noises right back at her. Faces were made, fun was had, and
Olivia decided it would be a hoot to try and latch...
Little did she know t-shirts make that tough, but a
pacifier takes care of that.

We are glad Olivia is here and enjoyed our time with her. We look forward to times of joy and watching her grow up. We hope to see her again this weekend when Mimi and Poppy come to visit their Grand-daughter.

Visit to Charlotte

We took a weekend to go visit Holli's sorority sister Tracie (Twix) at her home in Charlotte. We played Wii, watched a movie or two, were treated to some great food, and visited the Hendrix Racing museum and gift shop. The museum was cool, we were bummed to find out that the shop tours are only available Monday-Friday, but the museum was neat. Lots of trophies, cars that won big races and championship winners as well. They have a cool set up to show how safety has changed over the years. There is a drivers seat and cockpit setup for you to see what it is like inside the cars. Tracie and Jason tried it out.

Lots to report! GRANDMA addition

Ok, last blog to round out our crazy week last week. Note to self -- don't ever try to watch 5 kids, close on a house, and move in a Grandma into a retirement home in the same week!!

Grandma is around 94 years old. She lived in GA for the first 90 years of her life, and then moved out to Idaho to live with her daughter Ann in 2007. However, after Ann's husband got back cancer and had to have surgery, Ann had to put Grandma into a retirement home up there. Ann still visited several times a week, so the arrangement worked out. However, Grandma often complained about being cold and being so far away from her grandchildren (most of whom are here in the Atlanta area). She just wanted to come home.

Well, Ann and Jason's dad Frank found a nice home for her right here in Lawrenceville -- very close to a lot of us. She moved down over Easter weekend - Frank came down to settle her in. But all of her stuff was being boxed up in Idaho and shipped down. It was supposed to arrive over the weekend, but it came early and arrived on Wednesday, May 4th! So, in the middle of keeping the 5 kids and dealing with the wire transfer for our closing, Jason and I get a call from Frank. Someone needed to help Grandma unpack boxes. She was literally trying to do it herself, and everyone was worried she was going to hurt herself pulling down boxes! In case I didn't mention it, Grandma probably weighs 80 lbs soaking wet!

I rushed over there and spent Wednesday evening getting out her essentials and trying to organize a few things. Jason went to Heather's house to fix dinner for the kids. Then Saturday morning, Jason and I both went over there and did a few more things to help Grandma. We still have at least one more round of going over there to help her hang some pictures and move some stuff out of there and to our basement so she has some more room, but her room looks a lot better now! And we ate some meals with her there in the dining room and got to know some of the people that worked there and others that lived there. So, it was good.

I'm glad that Grandma is home and we can see her more. Definitely pray that she settles in quickly and makes friends there at the home. Everyone seems really nice! Here is a pictures of Frank and Grandma at our wedding. :-)

Lots to report! HOUSE addition

So... of coure everyone wants to know about the house! Here's the timeline of events in the last few weeks:

- March 18- saw the house and loved it.
- March 19- Cam came by and checked it out and didn't find anything too major wrong.
- Offer on the house: March 20, along with 3-4 other offers.
- ~March 25th -- found out they are going forward with our offer!!
- April 5th -- official acceptance of our offer from the bank! Lining up a home inspection and had to turn on all the utilities in our name for the inspection.
- April 11th - home inspection and everything went well!
- April 11 to April 25 -- getting property survey, finalizing everything with the loan, getting appraisal, getting property insurance, getting home waranty, etc.
- April 15 - Find out that some repairs need to be done for the house to appraise. Cam sends in estimate to do the work. He is approved by the bank for the work.
- April 26 - Cam does the repairs on the floor and sink.
- May 3- House is re-appraised and all is good.
- May 4 - SCRAMBLING trying to get this wire transfer for the downpayment. It was a VERY stressful day, but it went through ok in the end -- right at 5 pm when the bank closed!!
- May 5- Closing Day!! Very stressful with revising the HUD at the last minute. They left off Cam's repair invoice and the property survey. Closing was supposed to be at 4 pm, but we didn't get to the table until 5:30 and left around 6:30 pm. Still wasn't officially ours because bank was not there to sign.
- May 6 - One last panic with a piece of paper that was not signed, but we got it taken care of and the bank signed off on the HUD around 4:30 pm. The house was officially ours!!

Now we have to make repairs, etc. Jason and I started on Saturday, but we were too busy between helping Grandma unpack boxes (Grandma moved to a retirement home in Lawrenceville from Idaho -- whole other story) and trying to get to Carrollton for mother's day. Tonight will be mine and Jason's first night spending the night in the house -- on an air mattress. The plan for moving the stuff right now is Memorial Day. Trying to get the carpet cleaned and walls painted first.

Will keep you updated as we progress!

Lots to report! KIDS Addition

The last week of our lives was VERY exciting -- as Jason talked about with the kids. It was an amazing experience and I love my nephews and niece SOOOOO much. I don't know how Heather does it all the time -- but I have a new theory about having 5 kids. I think it's gotta be a lot easier when you have them one at a time (I know, shocker). But then you get used to having one baby, then 2 kids, then 3 and so on. Going from 0 to 5 -- big shock! But the kids were GREAT and we had so much fun. I was so exhausted, and I'm still so exhausted because it was like being at a constant slumber party for 8 days. I went to work every day, came home and cooked dinner while Dad and Jason took kids to baseball and/or church, then we ate dinner and watched TV and movies until very late while snuggling on the couch (oftentimes with popcorn, cookies, or ice cream). And then on the weekend we took them to see Gwinnett Braves on Friday, Tangled on Saturday, and bowling on Sunday!! So, one big whirlwind and it was AWESOME. It's weird and lonely now NOT being at their house!! I have tons of pics and videos of G Braves, and bowling. So, easier to check them all out at shutterfly: http://jasonandholli2011.shutterfly.com/, but here is a sneak peak:

Jason helping Noelle bowl:

All 4 boys under the blanket at the ball game:

Jason convincing Noelle to kiss the ball for good luck (GROSS!):

Kids! Lots of Kids!

So, since last Thursday we have been helping take care of our niece and 4 nephews while Heather and Kevin are in Hawaii for a wedding. Let me just say it has been a heck of an experience. I have played lots of games, driven kids to baseball, we went bowling, and even had to been the authoritative adult. It has been a learning experience.

Holli has taken lots of pictures and a couple of videos too, hope she posts them soon.

Jason

IMG_0202.MOV

Click here to view this video

This is our little nephew Dylan when Jason and I watched him last week. Isn't he a cutie!! :-) This is my first attempt to take a video with my iPhone.

One step closer to getting the house...

So for those of you that are following our house drama -- it's been 2.5 weeks since we submitted an offer on the Auburn house. Well, we finally heard back from the bank's real estate agent! As we knew it did, it takes time with foreclosed houses. But they have accepted our offer, and after signing some more paperwork, we sent it back to the bank. They are going to send it back with SIGNED contract to make it a binding agreement. The bank's real estate agent said this could take 2-4 days.

So, next week will most likely be a busy one! All of the utilites have been turned off, and it is our responsibility to get all of them turned back on. So, I'll have to turn on utilities for the home inspector and then get a home inspection all accomplished next week. They agreed on May 5 for closing -- so hopefully everything will go smoothly from here on out and Jason and I will be celebrating with margaritas on Cinco de Mayo after closing on a house!!

Keep those prayers a'comin. I included a picture of the house this time. Doesn't Jason's car look good parked in the driveway?? :-)

Sav. RPM

Last weekend my dad and I made a trip to Savannah for a Prototype Modelers Meet. This is where people to build scale models of trains get together and share their work and give clinics on their techniques.

Savannah is also like a reunion amongst a large group of friends. The best parts are the meals and the cutting up. Lots of jokes and stories are told and we all just have a good time. Most of the guys only see each other once or twice a year since we are from all over the state of GA and the country. There was a guy from Michigan, a couple from Florida, Alabama, North and South Carolina and Ohio. Much Fun was had by all, the models were great.

I will add a couple of pictures of the stuff I took and the video of the models that were there from all the rest.



This is my Southern Railway 0-8-0 switcher. It is modeled for an engine that operated in Atlanta up until the early 1950s.



This is a model of the Central of Georgia 4-6-0 232. It operated in the early part of the 20th century in middle GA.

Baby Eliza!!

One of my best friends, Laura, had her first baby on March 8th!! We are all so excited and Jason and I got the chance to go up and visit the proud momma and tiny baby last Sunday on March 20th.

Eliza is soooo precious -- and soooo small!! I guess because my sister grows 'em big (and I know I will too), this little 6 lb baby just seemed soooo tiny. She slept pretty much the entire time we were there -- which was close to 4 hours! Laura says she sleeps during the day, then is awake at night. Next time I visit, I'll have to go at night when I can play with Eliza and Laura can get some sleep. ;-)

Isn't my husband so precious holding a baby? :-)

Daddy-Daugther Date at Toulouse-Lautrec

For my dad's birthday back in Decemeber, I got he and I a dual membership for the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. We had this membership years ago when I lived in Atlanta, but let it lapse when Jason and I moved to Birmingham. A love of art is something that my dad and I share and really enjoy together, so I decided to do this as a big surprise for him!

Well, the current big exhibit at the High is the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit. They were having a members-only reception last night that was French themed with the viewing of the exhibit, French food, and a French movie. Coincidentally, Jason and his dad left yesterday for a long weekend in Savannah at a model train show. Hopefully he can update more about that.

It was perfect! The exhibit was amazing, the movie was funny and entertaining, and it was great to spend some quality time with my dad!! :-) We were so hungry that we left the movie early, so we'll have to rent it on Netflix (they have it -- I already checked!). It is called "Home" and it's a 2008 French movie about a family who lives on an abandoned highway that gets reopened and how they deal with it. We were also able to find a cute little Italian restaurant with all fresh food and it was also really good! :-)

House Hunting

So, as promised, here is a blog about house hunting. :-)

Jason's mom is a real estate agent, so she's been sending us things for a while casually just so we'd get a feel for what was out there in our price range and try to start deciding what we wanted and what was really important to us.

Jason and his mom started casually looking at house back in January while I was still in Augusta. They started to get an even better feel for what we needed and started narrowing down some areas and house types.

Originally we were looking in the Lawrenceville/Suwanee area to stay as close as possible to all our family and church. Many of the lovely houses that kept popping up were more in the Dacula/Auburn area. I believe this area saw a lot of growth right before the housing market took a dive -- so a lot of newer, nice homes are recently in foreclosure. Originally we thought this area was "too far out." However, when I got my job job in Athens a few weeks ago, we decided that Auburn/Dacula might be just perfect. :-)

Well, after both me and Jason went out with Karen a few times in March, we found a house we really like and made an offer on Sunday!! It's in Auburn off Fence Road and Auburn Road (Hwy 324) if you know where that is. It's a 4 bedroom/2.5 bath with a full unfinished basement. It is a foreclosure and will need some work, but my brother has already looked at it and it's nothing that we can't do or easily get him to do.

Well, we heard back from the real estate agent representing the bank yesterday, and they're going to negotiate with our offer!! We should get something formal in writting either today or Monday. I will update as we know more -- and as I get some pictures off Jason's camera so that I can add them to the blog as well! :-)

Your continued prayers and support are always appreciated! :-)

New Start

Since it has been an entire year since I last posted (BAD Holli!!), there is no way I can do the last year justice with how crazy it has been. I want to get better at blogging, so all I can do is start from here and go foward. I will just quickly summarize the last year, and then start my new posts going forward.

- Holli lost her job in March 2010 in Birmingham.
- Jason graduated from UAB in May 2010
- Jason and Holli made a big life decision to move back to the Atlanta area to be near to family and find jobs there rather than move toward job offers.
- Holli and Jason moved in with Holli's dad in Lawrenceville, where they still live.
- Holli found a new job with MACTEC engineering in May 2010 and started in June 2010 at a nuclear power plant south of Augusta working fulltime for MACTEC.
- Jason worked odd jobs and then went on salary in October 2010 working for our brother-in-law Kevin Boeckman at Reach Technologies in Gainesville. Jason drives a delivery van delivering, repairing and selling toner (and other office supplies).
- Holli was working 70 hours a week at the plant (making good OT!), but completely miserable otherwise. Holli and Jason only saw each other a couple of times a month, Holli got no sleep, etc. So, when her former employer called her to come back to work at Geo-Hydro, she jumped at it!
- Holli started at Geo-Hydro in their Athens office in March 2011 and is LOVING it!!
- Holli and Jason have saved up 20% downpayment for a house and are anxiously looking to move into their first house together. More about this in a later post.

Love to all! Thanks for all your prayers and love during this very difficult year for the Greenes.