Our (soon to be) House

About a month ago Nate and I went up to Cleveland to find a house. I was worried that we wouldn't be able to find one in just one weekend, or that we wouldn't be able to afford anything in the area we felt was best for the kids schooling and for proximity to Nate's work. After seeing close to 30 houses we seemed to keep coming back to this one. I liked it, but it wasn't my dream home nor did it have the wonderful kitchen I had envisioned would be in my home. But it was the one we felt good about and the one that fit all our most important criteria. We are still in the process of getting all the kinks worked out, but our offer has been accepted and they have agreed to fixing the things found in the inspection and everything looks good. SO we will keep our fingers crossed that it works out financially!! Here it is: I am not in love with the way it looks on the outside, but the kids like it and call it the "gingerbread" house.

There is very limited counter and cabinet space so we are going to have to change the breakfast nook area into an extension of the kitchen and get a butcher block or some other things to give me enough room in the kitchen. (Keep in mind I couldn't zoom out with this camera to get a good view of everything so it all looks a lot smaller that it really was.)

But the house was just recently redone and ALL the kitchen appliances are new!! :)!! (Except there is no microwave! )

The formal dinning room will have to be the eating area and maybe the office as well, we will have to see. The living room was really big, although it is hard to tell from the pictures.

We are all excited to actually have a fireplace!! Now I can FINALLY hang my stockings on the fireplace ;)!

There is also a half bath on the main floor and an entry way but I ran out of room to post picture. As you walk up the stairs, before you make it all the way to the top, there is a little sun room off to the left. I love this room!! (Again you can't get a good idea from the pictures but the whole room in windows and it is big enough to be a play room, an office or a sewing room. I am so excited to get there and figure out which way it works best!)

The main bathroom is very nicely redone, too bad they put in pedestal sinks so I need to get something for storage in the bathrooms.

There are three bedrooms on the second floor with the bathroom. I didn't have great pictures of them, so here is just one. The other two are about the same, one is painted light green and the other is yellowish. The closets all need bars or shelves, and they are small, but we'll make due. :)

I have to say one of my favorite things about this house is the third floor. It is one big open room. It is huge, you can't tell from the pictures but I could fit both my girls up there with room for more and make it the play room. I love that room!

We just have to find a way to make the stairway safer, if the kids climbed up on the walls, which lets face it they will try, they would break their necks. The stairs are THAT steep. But Nate has some ideas of how to fix it. I just hope they work... I don't want to visit the hospital unless we are just visiting Nate at work :)!

The basement is another bonus. There is room for Nate to have a workout/whatever kind of work room he wants on one side, a craft room for me on the other and then in the back is the laundry area. It's great!

The back yard is going to be re-seeded before we move in, which is good. But even still it wasn't bad. There is room on the side and behind the garage to put a play set and build a garden! I am so excited about that! I just have to see about getting a fence to keep the kids in and animals out.

There is a nice big two car garage too, which will be nice with all the snow they get up there.

So there you have it. This is our new home, as long as everything goes through ;)! I really do love it and am excited to get started on making it ours! (Hopefully I will get some better pictures soon and then I can really show it off!!)

How do you describe sick?

I am not sure about the rest of the United States, but here in WV there has been a terrible plague going around. At least half of the kids school had either strep or the stomach bug this last week and many friends from other school districts reported the same at their schools. That means we have had a lot of vomit, diarrhea and super high fevers to deal with for the last week and a half. Lily was lucky enough to skip the throwing up part and went straight to the high fever. As long as we kept on top of her meds she wasn't bad. Last night as it was getting time to give her another dose she came up to me and said, "Mom, I'm feeling UGLY! I don't want to feel ugly again!!" I know I shouldn't laugh, but I couldn't help it, she has such an interesting way of interpreting the world and the way she feels!

Washington D.C.

Things have been a little stressful around here. Not that my life is falling apart or anything, but there has just been a lot of stress. I think the Lord knew that I needed a break, because He provided one in the form of an amazing weekend "getaway". Some wonderful girlfriends invited me to D.C. to relax, have fun and do whatever we wanted. We left Friday and got to our hotel just before dinner time. Our hotel happened to be on Pennsylvania Avenue, ya the same street as the White House. This was the view from our window. Just a few blocks down from "El Presidente"! We went to a play the first night, called "An Ideal Husband" which was a fun experience. We had fun walking all over down town as well and found a cute cupcake shop that everone raves about. It was called the "Red Velvet" ,but was closed by the time we got there. Kristen and her friend Alicia were super troopers and got up at 6 am Saturday morning to stand in line and get us tickets to go up in the Washington Monument, which I had never done before. I did NOT get up, as it is my ONLY morning to sleep in. (Sorry, but the kids aren't the only ones who have a hard time getting up for seminary...) But they got all of us tickets!!! (Alicia, me, DeNae and Riann)

The view from up in the monument is amazing. I took a ton of shots, but you can see the DC temple way in the distance in this one!!

DC has so many amazing looking buildings, I never knew that before.

This is the old post office building. I was really impressed with all the history I never bothered to notice before. I guess that is what happens when you don't have kids with you while you are visiting!! :)

We did a lot of other things but I didn't take pictures of it. After looking at some of the monuments it started pouring rain on us. DeNae, Ri and I went back to the hotel and while Ri-Ri took a nap, DeNae and I soaked in the hot tub. It was sooooo nice, expecially because I didn't have Nate telling me how gross and bacteria infested the hot tub was ;)!! We went out to eat and then walked and walked and walked and went back to Red Velvet and had the BEST cupcake I have ever eaten. Seriously it was THAT good. We had a lot of fun and I was sooooo grateful to get to go!! Thanks ladies!!! And now back to reality.... ;)!