May 20, 2011

New Home Pics!

Hello everyone! I finally made some time to take pictures of our new house! I'm doing my best to arrange them as though you were walking through. No guarantees, and please excuse the presence of the last few boxes, and lack of furniture/decorating-- it's all part of getting settled. We love our new home, and wanted you to see it! :)

Welcome to our humble abode!

We have two of these (the other one looks the other way)- they are our door guardians.

This is our front porch. You can't really see it from the front, it's behind that big bush that is soon to be trimmed.

This is our front entry, after you walk in the door. On the left is a living room that is yet unfurnished (and so is not pictured).
If you continue on the tile through the entry, you'll come to our kitchen, which I really love! The island in the middle has the sink and dishwasher, and to the right of that is our kitchen table, right next to two windows that look out on the back porch. Also not pictured, sorry!

Here is part 1 of our back yard-- the swimming pool! We've got it cleaned out, and we're ready for the water to warm up so it's comfortable to swim! The shed was already here, which is nice. The back porch (I'm standing on it, so you can't really see it) is completely covered from one end of the house to the other, and the arbor (is that what it's called?) was built just a foot or so away from the roof of the porch.

Here is back yard part 2-- as you can see, there is no grass. That we hope to change soon! Zero-scaping is great, but the kids need somewhere to play too!
Here is our living room- on the left is the sliding glass door to go to the back yard. On the right, there's a built-in desk (love it!!) with the same counter tops as the kitchen has. You can see, just past the desk there's a little hallway- that goes to the downstairs bathroom (below), the laundry, and the garage door. There's also a little close that we like to call the "Harry Potter room" because it's a cupboard under the stairs.
This is the bathroom that's down the hallway by the living room-- I LOVE the old-fashioned sink!
Moving back toward the front of the house, this little nook by the staircase is yet to be used-- we're debating between a reading nook and a music nook- a place for my piano, music books, etc. It would be pretty neat acoustically I think.
Foot of the stairs-- going up!
There's a little landing at the top of these stairs. Straight ahead is the kids' bathroom (below), first door on the right is Claire's bedroom, and second door on the right is Ben's bedroom.
The sinks are separate, and in their own part of the bathroom. If I were to turn around, you'd see a door behind which is the tub/shower and toilet room. Yay for being able to multi-task, even in the bathroom!

Claire's room!

Ben's room!

If you turn left on the landing (see the rail at the left, that looks down on our to-be-determined nook), you'll run into our master bedroom. I didn't think I would, but I like the double-doors!

If you turn left before my dresser, you'll go into our master bathroom.

Our bathroom has a lovely, deep tub, and the toilet is in it's own room to the right after you enter. On the left is the walk-in closet.
If you exit the master bedroom, there is a hallway on the right- that rail at the end of the hall overlooks our front entry. :) Love it!!
At the end of that hall, to the right-- a linen closet, and the guest bedroom/office.

Aforementioned guest bedroom/office.
This is the guest bathroom-- its just to the left of that railing that overlooks the front entry.
Sorry for the skewed picture, but this is the last bedroom, to the right of the guest bathroom. It's the biggest, other than the master. The windows look out over the front of the house. It's open!!
So, now that you've all seen it, come have a visit! As you can see, we've got space for you! And now you also know what a terrible photographer I am, hee hee! Guess it's time to take a class- I'm confident that the house wasn't given it's due by my pictures. :)

May 9, 2011

To Life!!!

My kids just put such a smile on my face!!

Today, Claire was being particularly stubborn. I had pretty much given up on the fight, but instead of letting it go, Ben took matters into his own hands. He went to Claire and talked to her quietly for a few minutes, and in just a short time the two of them had finished what I asked them to do!

It's little things like this that remind me just how precious my children are. The lessons that I learn from them every day are just amazing! I cannot believe sometimes how much I love them. They remind me that the little things in life are important, too. Some of the best moments with my kids are when I stop what I'm doing, and go to them to do something as simple as fix a toy that fell apart, help them win a game, build a paper airplane, talk them out of a stressful situation, or take them on a bike ride.

It's such a simple little thing to me, but to them it's an important moment in time when they got help from someone who loves them. I hope these moments never end- they're what makes my world go round!!

To life!!

May 2, 2011

Pictures!

Hi Everyone! I know it's been ages since I've posted pictures of the kiddos, so now that I've finally got them downloaded to my computer, I thought it was time to share some! Enjoy! :)



Ben just chillin'- after his bath/shower, he really likes to keep his head warm. This particular day it was in the 90's outside. :) (Sorry that it's sideways-- I didn't catch that until it was too late. . .)

Claire learned how to drive Ben's tractor! She looks quite at home on it.

Ben and Claire made a hut out of Ben's bunk bed! They had fun with this for hours!

Ben and his good friend Sariah, at their pre-school Christmas trip to the rest home.

Ben and Claire's Halloween costumes-- again, it was in the upper 90's this day, Claire was ROASTING, but still refused to take off her hat.

Claire wants to be just like Ben! She thought wearing his tie might help.

Ben taped "rockets" on his shirt, so that he could run even faster than normal!

Ben and Hunter LOVED the splash park in El Mirage! Claire did too, but she was running so fast I couldn't catch a picture of her. :)

These are the moments that make being a parent really worth while-- I love that Ben and Claire love each other.