First House Hunting Trip

About two weeks ago, we took a long weekend to go to Cincinnati for a house hunting trip.  We spread it over three days so we could feel like we were getting a little mini vacation and so Leon could come with us.  We looked at about 12 houses, explored the area, and did a lot of fun stuff as a family.

Leon and I around bed time in the hotel.  We're watching cartoons.

When Leon saw the carousel at the mall, he HAD to ride it.  He really loved it too!

We went to a lookout at the Cincinnati airport and watch the planes take off and come in.  Leon thought is really pretty cool for about 5 seconds and then proceeded to just run around and explore.

We also took Leon swimming in the hotel pool which is loved and was soooo mad when it was time to get out.  We all went to what our realtor calls "the cheap show".  It's a discount movie theatre that shows movies that are just about to be released to DVD.  We saw Tangled and loved it.  Leon did really well.  He enjoyed eating popcorn and watching cartoons on a really big "TV".

(P.S.  All photos taken with my point and shoot canon)

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.

Birthday Candles

 Leon made a very good effort - it was impressive actually - but Daddy did have to help out a little too.

First visit to Cincinnati

The company bused us over to Cincinnati to wine and dine us last weekend.  It was my first trip to Cincinnati.  They put us up in a fancy hotel, we had a fancy dinner where we met Kyle's potential boss, took us on a bus tour (where I pointed out every floral and jewelry shop close to Kyle's work), and then we got to go out with a realtor to scout potential places to live and/or houses to buy.  Over all it was a good weekend.  It was our first night without Leon.  I was so antsy to get back to him the following day.  I will say I'm getting overwhelmed with all the new things and how real this is all becoming.  There are so many things to do and so many decisions to be made.  We're working through them.  I'm so glad I have Kyle to keep me from going crazy.  This is a big change for us.

My babe and I in our hotel room getting ready for our fancy dinner (it was soooo good).

Our view from our room was over the Fountain Square which is a main point in downtown.

Our room:

The Square at night.  It was pretty cool.

There's some pretty cool things in Cincinnati.  Discovering a little bit of it made me feel a little better.  I know now that I could live there...if I have too.

All right, I'm off to go paint...and then paint some more...and then paint some more. 

Turning Two!

Today my baby turns two.  I can hardly believe it.

     

He's such a blessing in my life.  He's a happy little guy who knows just how to make his mommy and daddy smile and laugh.  He's loved by just about everyone.  I can't get enough of his smile, laugh, and this energy (even when it does wear me down).  He loves his blankie, playing with his cars and trains, his cousins, junk food, and being wild.  He's amazing and I'm so lucky that he's mine.

One day soon, I'll take some "nice" portraity photographs of him.  The lighting is terrible today (that oh so wonderful midwest winter storm is to blame), but it'll happen soon.  However, I love these candid photographs I took of him is last weekend.  They just capture his personality so well.