Take a look around

Some of you have been asking, so here's a look at our new home. I was going to wait until everything was mostly put together (and clean!), but that may not happen for a while. So here's the tour. Please forgive the mess.

Here she is! One story, no basement. Bedrooms and bathroom on the left, laundry and kitchen behind the garage, and living room down the middle, with the playroom behind that.

Here's the patio (behind the kitchen) and half of the back yard. That's the playroom on the left, it sort of juts out into the yard. There's more yard on the other side of the playroom. We have a yard! (And a garage!!)

Before we left Iowa, we sold most of our furniture to simplify the moving process. We brought our beds and dressers, a large bookshelf/desk and a card table with chairs. And that's the only furniture we've had for the past month. (Sorry to all of our guests who have had to sit on the floor!) Last Friday was July 4 and Brandon had the day off, so we spent a large part of the day picking up some furniture. I had wanted a sectional for the living room, but sectionals are pricey and the ones I was finding used were not in great shape. But then we came across this sectional-wanna-be on Craigslist. It's longer than a regular couch and sort of curves, like a sectional. I sent Brandon on a mission to pick it up. Unfortunately, when he brought it home, we discovered it would not fit in the door (because it's big like a sectional, but only one piece... Unlike a sectional)! The front door is off to the side from the front porch, and once you enter you have to turn 90 degrees to enter the living room. Too tight to swing a couch around, we discovered. But Brandon, along with a few neighbors, pushed and pulled and tugged until....

Oops!!

That'd be a six inch hole in our wall. Our neighbor, says his co-worker is coming by to repair the hole. For now, it makes a nice conversation piece, as it's the first thing people see when they walk in the door.

The living room - complete with our "new" (never-leaving-the-house) couch! Bedrooms and bathroom down the hall to the right. And here's the other side of the living room, with our bookshelf/desk area:

If you swing around 180 degrees, you're looking down into the playroom, with the kitchen through the doorway off to the right:

Eek! Ignore all that clutter.

And here's the kitchen, complete with a little eat-in area (hooray for not feeding kids over carpet anymore!). That circle in the ceiling is a solar tube - kind of like a skylight, and it lets in so much light! I love it! There's one in the bathroom, too.

When we bought our house, the seller had just completely redone the kitchen before we moved in - but for some reason, did not install a cabinet over the range. Since there is no vent for the range, we needed to install a built-in microwave to vent the range...but with no cabinet, there was nothing to attach it to! Very frustrating. After A LOT of searching, we finally located the place where the seller got the cabinets and were able to order a matching cabinet. Brandon spent his last Saturday before residency began installing the cabinet and microwave. Looks great, Brandon!

Here's the kids' rooms. Cora's room doubles as a guest room right now. I think we're going to try and put the kids in the same room eventually/soon-ish. We might be crazy!

Here's the master bedroom. Much larger than our last place! Complete with the cutest little half-bath you've ever seen :)

 And here's the hall/main bathroom.

We are loving our new space. More than enough space for us - lots of room for Jonah to run around. And no more trekking up three flights of stairs! Just FYI...We have a guest bed - and now we have places for guests to sit! - so come visit anytime!!