For those who don’t know us: I’m Danny, the engineer, and she’s Vanessa, the writer. Most of the posts will probably come from her, but most of the work will probably come from me. At least the heavy stuff.
We moved from Missouri to Texas in 2011, rented for a while and have finally purchased a house…that’s 30 years old…and has ten acres. Of course at that age, there are some issues and so we started this blog to keep track of what we do and for family and friends to stay updated.
We decided to post things in detail to help out anyone else who might be looking at tackling some of the projects we do. Maybe you can get some tips and tricks or find some things to watch out for. Of course, suggestions for improvements are always welcome.
We hope you find this enjoyable and informative as you ride along with us, our two kids, and our dog. If you like it, share it. If not, let us know what to change. If you have tips, suggestions of ways to do things better, or ideas just comment on a post or let us know here.
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Hi there. I’m Vanessa. Danny skipped all the good parts. The mushy parts, as he calls them. I’m going to start at the beginning. I mean, the real beginning.
We’ve known each other for, well, ever. Growing up, we went to all the same church revivals and church camps. Eventually, Danny developed a crush on me (giggle) and asked me out for ice cream (is there anything more adorable than an ice cream date?). I wasn’t interested at first, but he was patient. I had a long, slow fall into love (I’m still falling, by the way) and we got hitched in 2007. Three months later, (surprise!) we discovered we were expecting a child. We had a baby before we had an anniversary. Nine days before, in fact. And we began that amazing adventure called parenthood.
I was a voracious reader as a kid and I remember regularly running across the word “precocious” but never knowing exactly what it meant. Boy, do I know now. Baz (not his real name; we joked before he was born that we’d name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, which is the longest name in the bible; now we have a second chance to call him that) is one of those kids who talked in complete paragraphs at age 2 and soberly corrected me when I called a skid steer a “little bulldozer”. He says things like, “I’m thinking about planting a million-high tree that grows chickens,” so you can probably imagine the conversations in our home.
Two years after Baz was born, we brought home our baby girl. Jane (not her real name either; her middle name was going to be Jane for my beloved Jane Austen but we changed our minds at the last minute; now we get our little Jane) is a blue-eyed, blond-haired sweetheart. She leaves melted hearts behind her everywhere she goes. At the grocery store, no one is immune. The grandmas are the first to go, but even grizzled Harley riders fall.
We started this house journey in Missouri in a lovely split-level with lots of space. Then we hatched this plan to get our kids a little farther into the country. So we rented one floor of my in-laws’ house to start a house savings. (Warning: do not try this unless you have wonderful in-laws like mine.) Next we trekked south to Texas to be closer to my side of the family. We rented an aging double-wide until we found the Little Brick House. With each move, the house got smaller, even as our family got bigger. As Danny so diplomatically put it, the little house has “some issues”. But it sits on 10 beautiful acres with room for our children and our dog and our Big Plans.
The Big Plans include (at some point) building a spacious home in the back acre of the property. We even have aspirations of doing some small-scale farming (maybe perhaps possibly but maybe not who knows?). But for now, we want to renovate the Little Brick House and make it truly ours. And we want to share the journey with you.
The pictures of the kids in the Texas Bluebonnets is really beautiful. Making real Texans of our grandkids!
(not to be borrowing trouble, but it makes me think of the picture that Dad took of the rattlesnakes in the bluebonnets several years ago.)
Kids…rattlesnakes… I’ll take kids!
Love love love it! Cannot wait to read more exciting adventures! Love and miss you all!
I’m sure it will be exciting! Too exciting at times. Lol. So glad you like it!
This is exciting! I’m glad you guys are sharing this! Can’t wait to read all about it! Love you all!!!!
Thanks, Bekah. They are exciting times. I look forward to sharing it all with you. If you have any amazing tips for me, do share. I know you’re a girl with an eye for color!