They're Tumbling our way

Tumbleweeds... I don't like them.

After every good wind storm (and we've had some GOOD ones) we can't get into our backyard gate because it is blocked by the darn pokey tumbleweeds.

I really don't like them.

(Yes, we just throw them into the field behind us... don't tell. We tried putting them in our garbage can but we could only fit 2 and we have 200ish ;0).

Darn things.

Pictures of the house

A few friends asked for pictures of the new house so here they are...

Kaye took this picture of our family a few days after we got here.

Hallie and Megan get their own room now. Megan is really missing Hallie and begs every night to sleep with her.

Hallie, on the other hand, is really enjoying the space. ;)

Kitchen nook

Kitchen

Family room downstairs

We bought 5 bookshelves when we got here and I thought we would have tons of empty space in them. Do YOU see any extra space?! Seriously, how do we have so much stuff?!

Master bedroom

My mom made these beautiful drapes when she came to visit. Thanks Mom!

Master bathroom

Found the perfect spot for our family silhouettes.

Living room

And just in case you think my house is actually this clean... well, here's what you didn't see:

This is how the kitchen usually looks.

Bigger kitchen = bigger mess.

The other side of the master bedroom.

Piles of laundry spread all over the house.


What is supposed to be a kitchenette is being used as a dumping ground.

I'll post the other rooms when I've gotten a handle on them... if that ever happens.

We are loving our new house we just wish these guys were our neighbors. I could use a walk right now Kristine... :(

We sure miss our old Kentucky home.

House Hunting in Washington

Trev and I were SO excited to go house hunting in Washington.

We were especially excited to go on the trip without any kiddos. We had grand visions of sitting in the hot tub at the hotel for hours and sleeping in late every morning.

Reality was a little different.

I was up every morning at 5Am (there is a 3 hour time difference from KY to WA) pacing the floor and flipping through all the houses we looked at the day before trying to decide how long I should let Trevor sleep before I woke him with all my thoughts and questions and then drove around and looked at some more neighborhoods before we met with our agent at 9AM.

We had a great realtor who walked us through 40 homes total. She was patient with us as we kept shaking our heads after each home and tried to explain it was a "feeling" we were looking for more than anything else.



After she dropped us off at the office after a long day of looking at homes we climbed into our car and drove back out to look more at neighborhoods/ houses or search for FSBO signs. We went to bed every night mentally and physically EXHAUSTED.



Well, to make a long story a little shorter I FOUND OUR HOUSE... but Trevor thought they were asking too much so we didn't get it. Then Trevor FOUND OUR HOUSE... but I didn't feel good about the neighborhood so we didn't get it.

It was time to head home and we were at a loss at what to do (and feeling kinda sad and maybe a little irritated that neither of us got to buy our "dream homes") so we decided to look at a few of the houses one more time before we flew out.
We walked through the very first house we looked at and ... well anyway... WE FOUND OUR HOUSE. (if only we would have known in the end it would be the 1st house we saw... we could have spent a lot more time in the hot tub!)


It was the ONLY house that Trevor AND I "felt" peace about. I never would have guessed that this would be the house for us. It just doesn't look like us but I am so excited about it and I'm dreaming up all kinds of ideas to make it fit our style a little more.

More than anything I am excited because I feel peace about it and I know that that peace means this house will be a good place for our family and I can't ask for anything more than that!

The city itself is great. Everyone we talked to was friendly, it is very safe (no more gang fights in the ER for Trev), and it really feels like a good place to raise a family.

Oh, and when we went to the grocery store we saw 3 other families with 4+ kids!!! And no one (except me) was staring at them!!! I couldn't believe it... we will blend right in. ;)




Here are the only pictures I could find of the house since we forgot our still camera (duh Kathryn) and they already removed the listing so I can't link to that.


Here is the front of the house. It is on a quiet street on a hill with some other new homes. They will landscape the front yard for us and install the sprinkling system (btw did you know we don't have sprinkling systems in KY? No need with all the humidity and rain). It has kind of a modern look to the outside which is why I say it doesn't "look" like us but I'm thinking of some things we can do to make it ours.

Here is the back. We LOVE the daylight basement with the huge windows and the great view of the city. It has a great big flat backyard which we get to landscape ourselves. Campbell and Davis are going to LOVE all that dirt to play in and I think I will be begging for sod ASAP.
Currently there is no one living behind us which makes the view even better and there is a walking/ bike trail at the bottom of the hill that we can get to from the backyard.

This is a picture of the family room and kitchenette in the basement.

This is the family room upstairs. They have done a lot more to it since this picture was taken like molding, carpet, fireplace mantel etc. but it gives you an idea anyway.

So there you go... our house in Washington. I'll take lots of pictures when we get there and post them so you can see what it looks like finished. I can't wait to get my hands on it!!!

Oh, and we have plenty of room for visitors so PLEASE come and visit us... pretty, pretty, please.

PS we close on our house in KY tomorrow... such mixed emotions

Love that new Car-pet smell

Been saving money for awhile now...

It's amazing what something like new carpet can do to lift your spirits on a dark and cold January day... Ahhhh (you can't see me but I am smiling).

Pictures of the new "playhouse"

BEFORE

At the back end of our new room is a little nook we decided to finish and use as a "playhouse" for the kids. We weren't sure if it would work out or be worth the extra cost and effort but it definitely was!

This is the entryway to the playhouse from the loft/playroom. I made the curtains from 2 place mats and I'm going to make a sign to hang above the door that says "Home Sweet Home".

Here is the view from inside the new room. There is a good size step up to the play area (a step that Campbell falls off of daily ;0).

This "project" of building the new room and playhouse started in March and has been quite the experience. I can't tell you how many late nights Trevor spent hammering in nails or how many trips to Home Depot he made. It has been so much work but it has added so much to our house!

We love to just sit up there as a family and read or watch movies or just play with the kids.

It has been a great blessing in so many ways. When Trevor told me he wanted to do this back in February I was VERY hesitant (we've never done anything like this before!) but I'm so glad I finally gave in! He did a great job.

(as soon as we finish the doors in the main room I will post pictures of that too)

What do you see?

Oh, it's just our BRAND NEW FINISHED ROOM!!... nothing really exciting or anything.

(More pictures to come)

Gettin' it done!

Taping and mudding and mudding and sanding and mudding again and sanding again.

The dust, oh the dust... it's everywhere!

But, it's worth it!
Texturizing and priming.

We were letting the primer dry when I heard Trevor walk in the room and yell, "Oh, Crap!"

I came running up the stairs to find that Campbell had snuck

in the room and done a little painting himself. Little stinker!

He wasn't too happy about being caught.

Sheetrock!!!

Trev has been working really hard on the new room. My sis and her hubby are coming in Sept. so we now have a deadline we'd like to meet. Trev, with the help of a few friends, (thank you Brett and Dave N. -- bless you, bless you!) has put up a lot of the sheetrock and it is really looking like a room!

We had no idea just how much work this room would end up being and we are soooo happy to be at this point. Still a lot to do but look how far it's come!

Done... well, pretty much

When I was pregnant with Campbell I made this bumper for the crib (ha,ha, more like my mom made it and I kept her company while she worked on it). Anyway since we are having another boy I guess we will be using it again so I decided to redecorate the "boys room" to match this bumper.
This is what the room looked like before except the ceiling was also blue and the walls didn't have white spots, that is from the spackle (yes, those are all nail holes in the wall. Someone couldn't decide where to hang the pictures or something!)
I just finished the room yesterday. I did all the painting and Trev helped me make the shelves with 1x6 plywood and crown moulding. I was really worried once I got all the paint done that I might have picked the wrong colors but in the end I like how it turned out.

If you know me then you know I am cheap and love to stretch a dime (which is a good thing on a resident's salary) and this project is no different. I just used things from our house to decorate the shelves. I had a bunch of scraps left from when I made the bumper that were just sitting in a box so I decided to just roll them up and stick them in this bucket which I got from our downstairs bathroom. The dog is from Trev's mission and the sign a friend gave me... told you I am cheap.

The only thing I bought was the letters for BOYS but I did use scrapbook paper I already had to cover the letters.

Anyway, I still have a few finishing touches but for the most part I am done and excited to check this one off the list. On to the next project... anyone know how to hang drywall???

Room with a view

When Trevor sets his mind on something- he gets it done.
This particular day he decided he wanted to put in the window for the new room (after working a graveyard and then sleeping about 4 hours... I was nervous) so after measuring and taping then going back to Lowes and buying a different window, measuring and taping and measuring again (this time using string!) Trevor got his saw out and started cutting (at 8:00pm!). Minutes later our neighbor came out to tell us that there was a big storm coming with a tornado warning. Perfect.
Luckily our neighbor volunteered to help us get the window in. Just imagine Trevor climbing a ladder about 15 ft up balancing a huge (it's bigger than it looks, 3ftx5ft) window with one hand and his forehead. It was sooooo scary. I was in the room ready to catch the window and praying my head off.
Long story short, at 2AM the window was done and look how great it looks! We are going to add black shutters to match the rest of the house and a black planter box underneath.
The best part... look at the view we have of the neighbors . Now we can really keep up with all of their comings and goings. heehee