My House

Finally, here are some photos of our first little house.  I love what we've made it.  It still could use some work but this is what we've made it.  Before you start browsing, you really should take a look at a few before photos by clicking here. 

The Living Room

Improvements made:  ripped up nasty carpet to expose beautiful hardwood floors,

painted wall and trim, and put a new mantle on the fireplace.

I love the big windows and the great lighting they provide.

The Master Bedroom

Again, great windows and lighting.

The Kitchen

Our improvements:  new ceramic floors, new wall oven, new counter tops and sink, we painted the cabinets and put new hardware, and painted the trim.  Oh, and of course, fresh paint.

We also got this cute little pantry.

And this is my other favorite things - I put up old shoe horns on the wall and we use them to hang up our jackets or purses.

The Office/ 4th Bedroom

The 3rd and 4th Bedrooms used to be one big room.  We gutted the room and made them into 

2 separate bedrooms - making it a 4 bedroom house.

The 3rd Bedroom/Playroom

Leon's Bedroom

The Screened Porch

The 1.5 acre yard

These big pine trees where the previous owner's (who built the house) Christmas Trees!

The rest of the outside isn't anything to be proud of right now.  We had big plans of landscaping this summer but now those plans will be someone else's.  I just hope who ever buys our little house will put just as much love and planning into it as we have the last two years.

So there it is.  It's not much but we've loved living here!

Moving update

Well, haven't I just been the worst blogger?  I remember when I used to blog 3 or 4 times a week and now I'm lucky if I do it once a week!  I guess my life has just gotten a little boring...or maybe I'm just realized that not everybody wants or needs to know about every little thought and/or detail of life.  Anways, here are some details about our upcoming move that some may want to know more about.

1) Getting a house ready to sell really, really, really sucks!  Especially when you really don't have any true desire to sell it.  I like my little house.  I've put a lot of love into this little house.  However, I will say it is looking rather beautiful with all the little things we've been doing to get it ready to go on the market.  We've been cleaning and organizing all weekend and will continue doing so for the next two days until it's perfect for the realtor's camera.  And then we'll have to keep it clean and beautiful for what I'm sure will feel like forever - aka until it sells.

2) We're going to get to buy a house!!!  I'm so excited about not having to rent and to be able to move into a house.  I'm so excited about house hunting.  I will say that even though I love this little house it DEFINTELY has it's flaws.  We've learned so much by this house being our first house - we know what will be important to us for the next house.  We're going in a few weeks to search the northern Kentucky side of Cincinnati which I think it'll be a perfect place for us to live.  It's all little more rural then other parts of Cincinnati and it's still close enough to downtown where Kyle will be working and still has all the conviences of the city too.

3) Have I mentioned that there is an Ikea in Cincinnati?  Or that the closet temple is only 1 hour away?   Or that they supposedly have one the best Zoo's in the US or that they have this awesome aquarium.  As much as I think it'll be hard for me to adjust to not knowing where just about everything like I do here, there will be so much to explore.  Our days and weekends will never be dull with all these new explorations!

4) As much as I'd love to stay here for the rest of my life, I am getting so excited for this next chapter in our life.  I think I'm past that utter state of shock (although, I'm sure there are still a few meltdowns still to come).  I know that the Lord has something in store for us.  I'm not so sure what'll it be, but I have faith that it'll be wonderful for us.

Thanks for reading - I'm sure I've lost some of you over the time I haven't been a very good blogger.  Hopefully the next post will include photos of our sweet little house - I've been promising them for quite a while.

I blinked...

I feel like this happened in the blink of an eye:

to

I'm beginning to really understand what people mean when they say "they grow up so fast".  The other day, I was getting Leon out of the bathtub and wrapping  him up in a towel (one we got from a baby shower) and couldn't believe my eyes.  My baby boy is now a little boy!  Unbelievable. 

I love this kid so much.  He's so sweet, so funny, and so incredibly wonderful.  Honestly, he's amazing.  I've said it before and I have to say it again - I'm so lucky to be his "momma".

p.s. We signed - We're moving to Cincinnati!  I promise I'll post more later.