I am so happy with our little house. We have not moved in yet, but we have to within the next week. Scurrying to get everything done and cleaned up for this weekend so I can recruit some strong people to help me move!



My little house :) :) :)




Living Room (BEFORE)


Living Room (IN PROGRESS)


Living Room (MORE PROGRESS)
Still have to paint the trim, it will be even lighter than what's already there.


Living Room (IN PROGRESS)


Living Room (IN PROGRESS)
Bedrooms to the left, galley kitchen and dining straight ahead


Large Bedroom (BEFORE)
This archway will be covered to turn the once-bedroom-turned-diningroom back into my bedroom! Thanks Dad!


Large Bedroom (IN PROGRESS)
In the middle of mudding the drywall


Large Bedroom (IN PROGRESS)
There was a large china cabinet built into the corner that Dad had way too much fun demo'ing. The room will be Kilz primed and then painted the same as the living room for now. I plan to replace the fugly chandelier with a ceiling fan.


Dining Room (IN PROGRESS)
The other side of that patched wall. The door leads to the basement, galley kitchen to the left, back door to the right.


Dining Room (IN PROGRESS)
Cool bay windows that look out onto the back yard :)


Kitchen (IN PROGRESS)
Basement door on the right. Lori and Mom already started tearing down the two layers of wallpaper. The stove is gone, it was in need of repair but I am looking for something new. Probably will put up shelving and hopefully get my microwave out of the way. That black one was the seller's; mine is white.


Kitchen (IN PROGRESS)
I have lovely orange counters :) The cabinets are in really good shape, just a little outdated. I'm going to look for some new hardware, and probably a new countertop and backsplash sooner rather than later. The carpeting is in okay condition... I may wait to replace that until the kids can keep all their food on the table.


The Basement
The basement is huge, and the seller painted it with DryLoc right before we closed. All I wanted him to do was leave me the paint so I could do it myself! The brighter area has a work table and a peg board but has a wall separating it from the other side.


The Basement
The other side with the washer, dryer, sink and counter. The seller left a rolling clothes rack in the dormer that I brought down here, so with the clothes line there, I've got a nice laundry area! There's a clothes chute from the bathroom also, but it drops right where the nasty floor drain is. I may have to come up with something to catch the clothes up high if we're going to use it.


The Bathroom
Lovely green tile :) Jeanne gave me a great idea to re-grout the tile with black grout. I think that would look cool. The wallpaper has to go. And the floor is tiny pastel tiles. I found a great pedestal sink that's perfect for tiny bathrooms. But that is a project for next year.


The Dormer (aka Haleigh's Room)
This is at the top of the stairs... a little space for maybe a desk or something. There's some built in shelves on the right.


The Dormer
Down the hallway to Haleigh's room. The walls are some weird paneling material... My dad mentioned taping it off and painting it with a sprayer. At the end of the hallway right before the bedroom is a huge cedar closet.


The Dormer
This is the bedroom part. Both sides are the same size, and there's the built-in drawers on both sides. It's cute for a little girl's room, and Haleigh loves it. We had Hayden up here taking a nap the other day. I want to replace the two ceiling lights with chandeliers, and do some other girly things with the walls.


The Dormer
There's no heating duct up into the dormer! The thermometer reads about 58F if you can't see that. This is obviously something I'm going [to ask Dad] to take care of soon. Haleigh will share Hayden's room until we get heat up there.


The Backyard
We love the little backyard. I'm sure there will be many more photos to come. You can see the cute bay windows here, and I can actually fit my van back here! I was afraid the driveway would be too narrow with the neighbor's fence right there. I'm getting good at it now :)

I talked with the neighbor... they are a couple my age with a 10 month old son! She and I are so excited that our boys can be buddies :)


The Backyard
Hayden likes the grass, but finds it too uneven to walk on yet.



And one last cute photo... Haleigh found another backpack in her closet, so she graciously let Hayden wear her Disney Princess preschool backpack and they "went to school"... which really meant they did like 40 laps around the apartment in their PJs!

I Took The Plunge

No, not that plunge... but I did buy a HOUSE yesterday!

It's so cute and absolutely perfect for us. Two bedrooms downstairs, dormer upstairs, huge basement that the seller dry-lock painted for me (I just wanted him to leave me the paint!), small garage, cute yard with a privacy fence on one side, nice quiet safe street, preschool and elementary are right down the street, YMCA is at the end of our street, close to shopping and restaurants, 5 minutes from the babysitter, 10 minutes from work... I think I picked a good one!

Last night after I closed at the title company, I picked up the kids and we stopped to pick up some dinner to eat at the house. The seller had left a few items - a sewing machine/desk, a dresser, microwave and stand, another small stand, lamp, fans, brooms, ladders, misc kitchen and bathroom stuff, work benches in the basement and garage - so I set the kids up on a little table with footstools to sit on, and with a small lamp, we ate our Wendy's chicken nuggets :)

Then the kids ran through the house like maniacs, Haleigh claiming her room and learning where all the light switches are. Hayden just wanted to keep eating.

The entire place needs wallpaper stripped and painted, carpets cleaned, some drywall hung, a bathroom update, and some new light fixtures. I will probably keep updating with before and after pictures. I'm so excited to get started!!!

Photos and Walking

My little preschooler :)

Hayden is now officially walking, and actually sleeping all night for the first time. His little brain must finally be able to shut off at night, now that he's mastered the walking. It's wonderful :)

October Updates

Since we'll actually have a neighborhood to go trick-or-treating in this year (YAHOO!!), and Haleigh is having a parade and a party at school next week, I've decided to get/make the kids costumes this year. (I didn't do anything last year and that was just fine with everybody)

So. Haleigh has mentioned the following things she "wants to be" lately:

Pink Power Ranger
Hannah Montana
Sleeping Beauty "Lororora" (her name is Aurora lol)
a butterfly
Tinkerbell
Iron Man

I love the idea of having the kids kind of match, like a princess and a knight... but I just have no good ideas, so any are welcome :)

Hayden is officially a toddler now, and no longer my sweet immobile infant baby. Just this weekend, at 14 months old, he started standing up from the floor without holding on to anything, and he can now walk all over the place. This is upsetting and thrilling both at the same time to Haleigh, who now has someone to chase her, but also now has someone to chase her. I am constantly hearing, "NO Hayden!! Leave my baby/markers/paper/stuff/breathing air/carpet... alone!!" She's taken to barricading herself in the corner of the dining room with chairs, and playing with her stuff up on the table. And Hayden doesn't like that at all.

He still listens very well when he's told NO, but he gets that "look" now, that testing what-are-you-going-to-do look that shows he kinda wants to know what will happen if he does touch mommy's BlackBerry, but not enough to actually go for it.

Haleigh is still loving preschool... she had school photos taken, which is just unbelievable that my 3 year-old will bring home school pictures this week. But totally cool. She has been practicing writing letters and drawing snowpeople and cutting little shapes out of paper. I have all of her assignments and papers from school in a little file, except the last two because she cut them into tiny triangles. I should save the triangles.

Enjoying a small bonfire at my parents' this weekend... and some marshmallows :)

Happy Hayden :)