Some pictures of the house...

...Cause I'm sure you're all dying to see them. Haha!

~

Front Entry

(viewed from the family room)

To the left takes you down the hall to the bedrooms. To the right takes you downstairs.

Here is another view of the stairs and part of the kitchen.
Family room
Kitchen

First door is the pantry...and it's huge!

Second door leads to the laundry room which leads to the garage.

Pantry

Seriously...This picture is cutting out a good portion of the pantry. It is really big!

Laundry Room...and Garage Entry

Hall to bedrooms

For whatever reason I forgot to take pictures of the actual bedrooms.

Master is on the left and the other bedrooms on the right.

Kids BathMaster Bath

The door you see in the mirror leads to the closet.

Love the stand-in shower!

Master Closet

View 1

View 2

I love the closet doors in the kids bedrooms!

We love it!

Everything looks so good together! Can't wait to get all my stuff in it this weekend!

Something Precious

I just want to write this down so I remember it later on.

Allie had a sleepover at Grandma Julie's the other night. When I told her to pack her bag to go, she was slightly hesitant saying Brock was going to miss her. When we got there she couldn't push us out of the door fast enough. She had a blast playing with make-up, painting toe nails, and reading books. She loves spending time with Grandma Julie.

Brock woke up early the next morning and I took him out to the family room to play while Kyle slept in a bit. (It's only fair to mention that Brock had a HORRIBLE night, and Kyle was the one who stayed awake with him). On normal days, Allie will typically wake up right after Brock and come out to the living room to play with him. After about 30 minutes of playing, Brock crawled down the hall, stopped at Allie's door, climbed up on it, and started to cry. Then he just sat down in front of her door and bawled! I brought him back out, but he went back 4 or 5 times. He really truly did miss his sister.

They are so cute together! Allie is the one who can make him laugh the hardest and smile the biggest. I love seeing the brotherly/sisterly love they have for each other!

11 Lessons for Those Contemplating Having Children

My friend just posted this to her blog....it's so funny I had to post it to mine.

Lesson 1

1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2

Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...

1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.
Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3

A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...

1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)
Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4

Can you stand the mess children make? To find out...

1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5

Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.

1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.
Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6

Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.

1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment.
Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 7

Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 8

1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.
You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 9

Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 10

Make a recording of Fran Drescher (The Nanny) saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 11

Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.
**This is all very tongue in cheek; anyone who is parent will say 'it's all worth it!' Share it with your friends, both those who do and don't have kids. I guarantee they'll get a chuckle out of it. Remember, a sense of humor is one of the most important things you'll need when you become a parent!**