We have really dirty kids

House #5

*Sidenote: before you read anything else about my house I have to get this off my chest. Remember when we first started building our house and I went on and on about how this house is a "not so big" house and we cut a bunch of square feet etc... Well, Im pretty embarrassed now that the house is done and it's huge, so please don't judge me on house size. I know you are all thinking that my idea of a regular sized house must be some enormous mansion or something but really my conceptual planning of the house on paper was all done in my head and hard to relate to real tangible space. With that said, we really could have gone quite a bit smaller and still have been very happy with it.

The Mudroom would probably be #5

again, it would probably be higher on the list but it isn't done yet either. The mudroom is the room we come in from the garage, our pantry, and laundry room. Right now all we have in there is the pantry cupboards and our old washer and dryer. Eventually we will have all built in cupboards along two walls but I didn't want to have them built around our current old washer and dryer and then have them break down and have to buy new ones that probably wouldn't fit in the space.

So when we replace our washer and dryer we will get cabinets made. A cupboard for vacuum, broom, cleaning etc, a sink under one of the windows and then lots of counterspace and storage for cleaning, and laundry stuff. I have two cute little pendant lights that hang down in each window that you can see from the outside when they are turned on. We will also have a space for hangin coats and hats and shoes. It's fun to dream about it even if it is a long ways away.

Here is the only decent shot of the room looking in through the entry way, you can see our pantry cupboards.

House #6

Well we moved in over a month ago and I have finally got around to getting some pictures done. I thought I would show you my top 6 favorite rooms/parts of the house.

So #6 is the Exterior
it would probably rank closer to the top but its not finished, we still have the yard, a few stone walls, a fence etc to do, and probably wont be done realistically for several years.

My favorite things about the outside are:
The white siding. There aren't very many here but every time I see a white house it brightens my day. Im not so sure that many people really like a white house, people in the neighborhood seem to ignore the subject but it is my favorite.
Our lighting
The backyard hot/cold spout to rinse down the kids with when they play in the mud/sand/dirt
The deck
Our horse neighbors
Our amazing views
A big driveway for the kids to ride around on
A pile of sand the someone dumped in our yard (I love it and hate it;)

Sunset

One of our favorite things to do since we moved in is to sit outside when John gets home from work and eat dinner on the front porch, or ride bikes, or walk or anything fun outside. We have loved our view of the sunset and tonight it was especially pretty. Here is a picture from a few weeks ago. The days are getting colder and shorter now and we are trying to get as much fun from the outside as we can.

a few things from the summer

We went to Mount Vernon several times this summer, it turned out to be my favorite place to visit, here is a family picture of us when we went and had a picnic there. Also, Mae had her first haircut this summer, and I did not do a very good job.

summer reunions

This summer the kids and I went to me and John's families reunions. It was a ton of fun and so good to have some vacation. I didn't get any pictures at mine, but here are a few from John's. (Mae found her curly hair twin;)

Vera is One!

Vera turned one on Sunday and I can't believe she is that old.

She got her first tooth on August 1st and now has five.
She said her first word while we were in Newport: "Uh-Oh"
She is now crawling on her hands and knees (no more army crawling) and is cruising along the furniture

Vera is my little treasure.