storybook house

I had great intentions of blogging our way through the moving process, but that's not working out so far. We are still living at our old house and don't expect to be fully moved out for another 2-3 weeks, although we are working hard to get the bedrooms ready. We hope to start sleeping at the new house this weekend. The kids are getting tired of going back and forth A few days ago when we arrived back at the old house, Reggie started to cry with big crocodile tears and say, "big big house!" The sooner we can get "settled", the better, but there is lots of work to be done.

I've been calling our new house the storybook house. The night we went to look at it the first time, our realtor's wife came along (they are our neighbors). We pulled into the driveway, and she said, "Wow, this is the house that every girl draws pictures of and dreams of living in someday!" I agreed!It is a traditional 2-story house. On the main floor is the kitchen, family room, living room, a bathroom, and formal dining room. We are going to turn the formal dining room into a play area for the kids. No matter how hard we've tried to have play areas separate from family areas, the kids want to be where we are, and most of the time that is on the main floor. When they get older, it will probably be an office/homework area, as I don't envision using a formal dining area much.I'm glad I have a step stool because the kitchen has really tall cabinets!This is the view from the eat-in kitchen to the front door. The half bath and coat closet are on the right and the stairways are on the left.Every square inch of the house needs fresh paint. This is the formal dining/"play area" looking into the kitchen.This is a view from the kitchen into the family room.View from the family room to the living room. You can see the front door and the stairway to the second floor.

The second floor has three good-sized bedrooms. I'm excited about having everyone's room on the same level - the boys will continue to share a room. There is also a full bathroom and a master bath.

The basement is finished with a large family area, half bath (in case you've lost count, that 3 more toilets then we have now!), laundry area, and a room that we plan to convert to a 4th bedroom (guest room).Here is a picture of the back of the house. One of our biggest desires was to have a good-sized yard with some privacy, and this one fits the bill! It backs up to a pond, so there are no houses behind us.