Home Sweet Home

As promised, here is the big reveal: we bought a house!!

Ok, this may not be super exciting for you (sorry for the build-up), but for us this is a dream come true.  It is something that is several years in the making and was the light at the end of our debt tunnel.  ("Just $40,000 more debt to pay off and then we can buy a house!" "No, let's not buy that couch.  Only $15,000 more and then we can buy a house!" etc. etc.)  If you follow this blog regularly, you may recall we became debt free this July.  Since then we have been saving up for a down payment for our house and finally, FINALLY, today was the day we got the keys to our house.  We did not realize how long it actually takes from making an offer to taking possession, so we have been sitting on this for quite some time.  It is hard to believe it is actually ours now!  Woo hoo!

Here are some pics I snapped this afternoon.  I have not edited them, and the lighting wasn't the best, but it should give you an idea.  It is an older house and needs a little updating, which we plan on doing over time.  But we love it and can't wait to move in.

Front porch :)

This is the basement, or, if you ask Elliot, the playroom.  There is a pellet stove on the left.

The back yard.  We need to put up a fence to keep the doggies in.

The living room.  Hard wood floors and gas fireplace.

The kitchen.  The seller completely updated the kitchen so it has really nice, brand new stainless steel appliances and new cabinets.

The deck off the living room.  There is another deck off the master bedroom, but I didn't get a picture of it today.

View from the street.  This is the front of the house.  We fell in love with the view.  You can kind of see it behind the house.  You can see pretty much all of the Tri-Cities.

The view from the windows in the living room.  Pictures do not do it justice.

My loves on the deck.  Elliot was beside herself with excitement.  She was going up and down the stairs, and in and out of her bedroom.  Although, when she walked into her room she was dismayed to discover there was no bed in there.  I tried to explain that we will be bringing all of our belongings over to the new house, but I am still not sure she has wrapped her mind around the concept completely.

Alright, well it feels good to share this awesome news with all of you.  Before I go, I just want to recommend to anyone who is buying or selling in the TC area to use the Kenmore Team.  We had a fantastic experience with them.  They held our hands through the whole process, explained anything we didn't understand with patience, and were always available to us.  I can't say enough good things about them, and I promise, we are not getting a kick-back or discount for this plug.  Seriously, today when we went to pick up our keys, our agent was mopping our floors, just because he "wanted them to be cleaner for us."

Anyway, that is all I have for now.  We are planning on moving in within the next few weeks, we just need to get a few things done, like putting in the fence and painting the interior.  I am hoping to post "before and after" pictures every so often as we make home improvements.  Wish us a smooth transition and thanks for reading about our exciting news!

The Return of the Camera

Full disclosure:  This is not the big reveal to which I referred at the end of my last blog post.

As sure as gobs of hair are falling out of my head, postpartum hormones have brought with them the return of my urge to be creative which was basically non-existent while I was pregnant. I have recently started snapping mini, spontaneous photo shoots of, you guessed it, my adorable children.  I have also become aware of at least two relatives who informed me specifically that they enjoy following my blog but are not on Facebook (I am looking at you Aunt Joan and Cousin Sarah!).  With that in mind, I am going to use this forum to display my latest creations.  In other words, a little less talk and a lot more action.  Enjoy!

Elliot Twirls:
All the stars aligned for this impromptu shoot: gorgeous light, an interesting element (her skirt), and, perhaps most important of all, the threenager was in an agreeable mood for picture-taking.

Father Daughter Ball:

Erik took Elliot to her first ball, so of course the camera came out.  There are some really precious ones here.

You guys, I actually gasped when I saw this one as I was going through and editing these.  Love, love, LOVE it.

The Many Faces of Liam:

Ok, to be honest, it is not as much fun shooting a baby, especially one this small, because they don't really do anything.  You put them in one spot and they just kind of stay there.  But I did manage to get a few shots of him learning how to make different expressions.  Plus, he is cute as a chubby button, so there you have it.  

Sometimes I wonder if I actually gave birth to this child, because he looks nothing like me.  He definitely looks more like his handsome daddy, which is fine with me.

Well, that about sums it up.  As I promised before, the big reveal is coming soon.  (Watch, now I am building it up so much you guys are going to be totally underwhelmed.)

Thanks for taking a look at my works of art! Have a lovely day :).