Tomorrow should be the happiest day of the year--
We will go in, and scribble our names on paperwork that will make it official that our house is no longer ours. It's what we have prayed for. It's what we have waited for.
And yet, tonight I feel so sad. Going online today to cancel our mortgage payment for next month had me shedding a tear or two...or twenty.
We're not even turning over the keys quite yet--we still have a couple of months to live out life here in the house we have made our home.
But I am feeling a tremendous sense of loss. It's hard to let go of a place that was full of so many firsts. This was the first place that had our name all over it--it had our stamp in the laying down floors, our frustration in removing and replacing a toilet, the hours spent planting things and painting rooms and cleaning carpets, and repairing roof leaks in the middle of December. It has flooring that took me a good 5 months to choose and tile that took over a year. It has DIY projects and laughter and a lot of very hard times. But it was ours. And signing the papers will be turning what belonged to us, over to someone else.
We may still LIVE here...but it will not be our house any more.
And that is a strange feeling. It is the beginning of closing a chapter that has not yet been completely written. It is knowing that when someone else is ready to move in, we will have to move out. And it is letting go of the only first home we will ever have...
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Monday, March 24, 2014
Selling our house--Part 2
For part one and the before and after pics of our house, go here: http://brholloway.blogspot.com/2014/03/for-saleby-owner.html
21 days on the market. 7 showings.
Countless emails and phone calls. And our house is SOLD!
For more details...here ya go. :)
We listed our house the last week of February. Our plan was to just have it listed till March 2, and then put it in the MLS. It gave us a week or so to have it for sale by owner and see where things would go. We had lots of interest at first. Tons of people contacted us, which surprised me. However most of them weren't pre-approved for a loan or wanted us to finance them and it got a little discouraging. Brandon left town and we had a showing by a realtor who saw my sign and contacted me. The feedback from her was great, but her client wanted a house in a higher price range...read that as a fancier house. :)
We had another showing scheduled a few days later with another realtor. Brandon was still out of town at this point and I was flying solo. I got everything ready and wrangled up the 6 children I had (mine and the 2 I babysit), met the realtor to give him my key and mopped my way out of the house. I spent the afternoon/evening at the park with the kids receiving several phone calls saying his clients got delayed and it would be another hour. 3 hours later, after dark, I finally got the call saying they never DID make it to my house because the client wanted a school district across town. I was annoyed to say the least.
March 2 came, but because there was such good feedback and potential emails, and we needed to buy ourselves some time since the weather had been bad and our yard still needed a little attention, we decided to give it another week. Low and behold we had a showing that weekend of someone who was really interested.
We held off listing in the MLS because there was the potential for them to decide they wanted the house, and it cost a lot of money to list in the MLS. So we waited just a FEW more days...
And then we had another showing...from a woman named Susan. She was hard to read...said she wanted an HOA (which we don't have here) but that she was still thinking about it and would let me know. We emailed a few times, and she told me to let her know before I listed in the MLS, but our contact kind of dropped off and I was sure she had moved on.
We were starting to get discouraged and decided we needed an official deadline so we would not miss the upcoming medical match and incoming residents, just in case. We prayed and prayed and told the Lord we had till Sunday, March 16. That was it. If we were supposed to sell it by owner, this was our timeline.
Not even kidding, we had a showing call for that Saturday (the 15th). And then another. And then another. And while one of the showings was here, we got ANOTHER call. 4 showings on a Saturday afternoon, the day before our deadline.
I still knew the chances of one of them taking it at first glance was slim...and even though all of them were really interested, all pre-approved, and potentially good buyers I didn't have a lot of hope for something coming through before our deadline.
That Sunday evening, our deadline day, I felt like I should call Susan and see where things were with her. I really wasn't sure what to expect, but I just followed the prompting and figured it couldn't hurt. Immediately she expressed her surprise in my phone call and said that she had actually put an offer on another house and then the deal fell apart. She said my call was coming right after this...and she said, "I don't know if you're Christian, but this means something to me. So yes, I will buy your house."
Of course my phone kept cutting out and my mind was in shock and I wasn't sure if I was missing part of the conversation or if I had just made up the fact that someone just said they would buy our house!
She made her offer over the phone--only $2,000 less than we were asking. Cash offer. And she would pay her own closing costs. No realtor fees. No extra anything. I quickly agreed.
She came the next morning and gave me the ernest money, and we signed all the paperwork--which, if you've never done on your own is a little daunting. But we made it through. :) We set a closing date for 10 days later and she will rent back to us until there is another tenant ready to move in--which we hope will be mid-end of June.
Inspection was done a couple days later, paperwork has all gone through, and at this point we are a week from closing and turning over our title as homeowners. It will be a good day--
We have prayed for over a year now that the right person would be prepared to buy our house. We know it can be a tough market...we knew that if we hired a realtor we would have to take out a good size loan to come to the table at closing and pay realtor fees. And that just didn't set well with us. So we did what we could. We prayed...hard. And we used what knowledge we had to market, photograph, and list our house on our own. Interestingly enough, a year ago, shortly after we started praying for someone to be prepared, our buyer moved to the area--to be by grandchildren. And those same grandchildren happened to up and move away after she got her with her husband. But they saw the market here as a great investment market and decided to take some steps to buy a few investment properties and rent them out. Ours happens to be one of them. And I have absolutely no doubt she is the one we have prayed for for over a year--that her goodness in following God's promptings and plan for them helped them to answer our very prayers.
I cannot express the tremendous burden that has been lifted. It doesn't solve our job issues. But it was an incredibly tender mercy to let us know that Heavenly Father is very aware of us, even if we are left feeling abandoned at times because the job situation isn't unfolding like we thought it would. This situation has been a ray of sunshine amid much stress and clouds. We know this was a miracle. We feel that. And we are grateful for the goodness of the Lord.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
46 days
I can hardly believe we are 46 days or less from having baby #5. My mind is swirling with what this means and how much of life is still so very uncertain.
just over 6 weeks to go and I am sleeping less. Oh goodness, this is one of the things I have dreaded. :) While it's tough to say what is worse--the 22 weeks of nausea, or the infections that had me pinned in my bed sleeping most of the day while my poor little guy played on the Kindle and watched TV for almost 3 months straight, or the aches and pains and 50 pound weight gain (thus far...I'm scared...very scared for where the scale will take me in the next few weeks). But man, the sleeplessness, right about now that is ranking at the top of hard things to deal with....seriously hard to function on a couple hours of light sleep.
Everyone tells you (yes, even 4 kids later) that this is just to prepare you for a newborn. I stand by the fact that for me, I sleep WAAAAAY better not pregnant than I do while pregnant. Even if it means being up in the night with a crying little one, nursing, waking every few hours. It, in my opinion, is better than laying in bed with your legs feeling like spiders are crawling inside them, and having your whole body ache so bad that you can't get comfortable and taking 2-3 hot baths a night trying to get the aches to go away...and when you DO drift off, you're awakened by the need to use the bathroom yet again. And that leads to coming back to bed and realizing the baby is awake and kicking your hip bone and doing somersaults in your belly, which is an amazing thing, yes--but not so much when your body just wants to go to sleep again. And once you're awake long enough to get through the acrobat show, the restless legs come back and you stay awake long enough to realize you are now starving...which basically means you're up from 2 a.m.-6 a.m. before you fall into bed and snooze the 20 minutes until the alarm goes off and you have no choice but to wake the kids.
Such a vicious cycle I tell ya!
Everyone keeps asking if I am excited for this baby. I told someone the other day it just didn't feel real still. They looked stunned--as they glanced at my incredibly large belly. It totally should. This is not my first rodeo, so to speak. Perhaps it is the fact that our future is so uncertain--we cannot really even plan a date for my mom to come because so much will depend on our moving time, to a job location that is still unknown because...drumroll...we still don't have a job lined up. Almost 9 months of hardcore searching, and things have just not worked out. It's baffling, frustrating, and a million emotions rolled into one. And even when we do figure out when my mom can come out, there is no nursery to envision or future plans to foresee--just a sweet newborn coming and being in our family for 3-5 weeks before we have to move. It's somehow like my mind just cannot process time after our end date here...
So ya...it totally still doesn't feel real. It feels like so long since I have held a newborn, changed a diaper, carried a diaper bag or carseat. It's very, very surreal. And while YES, we are ALL so excited, the weeks that fly by and bring the time closer feel somehow very foreign.
It also feels like in the next 46 days there is a lot that really needs to come together. I don't know how. I don't know when. But I plead and pray daily and nightly that the Lord will somehow give us some direction. We have followed every prompting, every decent job lead, reached out and networked in ways we never thought we would. And yet, we still have no clear guidance on what is supposed to happen or where to go next. It's like we've walked down a completely dark hallway and come to the end, with no door or light to show us which way to go next. Some days I just want to cry and scream and shout, "LORD, WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?! What are we doing so wrong? HAVEN'T WE ENDURED ENOUGH PAIN AND FRUSTRATION AND TESTING OUR FAITH?!" And some days I have a portion of peace to say, "I know...it's in your time. And I don't understand, but I trust you will open a door and make things right."
46 days till life changes drastically, job or not. Time has flown, and despite the aches and pains and life frustrations, we are so excited to have this final member of our family. The kids are more and more excited, and we've been given some ADORABLE little outfits from some very generous friends and family. It has been so much fun to go through the few things we do have and see bows and ruffles and tiny dresses again, and be reminded of how tiny these wee ones are when they are born and to know they will go on a sweet little person...in only 46 days.
just over 6 weeks to go and I am sleeping less. Oh goodness, this is one of the things I have dreaded. :) While it's tough to say what is worse--the 22 weeks of nausea, or the infections that had me pinned in my bed sleeping most of the day while my poor little guy played on the Kindle and watched TV for almost 3 months straight, or the aches and pains and 50 pound weight gain (thus far...I'm scared...very scared for where the scale will take me in the next few weeks). But man, the sleeplessness, right about now that is ranking at the top of hard things to deal with....seriously hard to function on a couple hours of light sleep.
Everyone tells you (yes, even 4 kids later) that this is just to prepare you for a newborn. I stand by the fact that for me, I sleep WAAAAAY better not pregnant than I do while pregnant. Even if it means being up in the night with a crying little one, nursing, waking every few hours. It, in my opinion, is better than laying in bed with your legs feeling like spiders are crawling inside them, and having your whole body ache so bad that you can't get comfortable and taking 2-3 hot baths a night trying to get the aches to go away...and when you DO drift off, you're awakened by the need to use the bathroom yet again. And that leads to coming back to bed and realizing the baby is awake and kicking your hip bone and doing somersaults in your belly, which is an amazing thing, yes--but not so much when your body just wants to go to sleep again. And once you're awake long enough to get through the acrobat show, the restless legs come back and you stay awake long enough to realize you are now starving...which basically means you're up from 2 a.m.-6 a.m. before you fall into bed and snooze the 20 minutes until the alarm goes off and you have no choice but to wake the kids.
Such a vicious cycle I tell ya!
Everyone keeps asking if I am excited for this baby. I told someone the other day it just didn't feel real still. They looked stunned--as they glanced at my incredibly large belly. It totally should. This is not my first rodeo, so to speak. Perhaps it is the fact that our future is so uncertain--we cannot really even plan a date for my mom to come because so much will depend on our moving time, to a job location that is still unknown because...drumroll...we still don't have a job lined up. Almost 9 months of hardcore searching, and things have just not worked out. It's baffling, frustrating, and a million emotions rolled into one. And even when we do figure out when my mom can come out, there is no nursery to envision or future plans to foresee--just a sweet newborn coming and being in our family for 3-5 weeks before we have to move. It's somehow like my mind just cannot process time after our end date here...
So ya...it totally still doesn't feel real. It feels like so long since I have held a newborn, changed a diaper, carried a diaper bag or carseat. It's very, very surreal. And while YES, we are ALL so excited, the weeks that fly by and bring the time closer feel somehow very foreign.
It also feels like in the next 46 days there is a lot that really needs to come together. I don't know how. I don't know when. But I plead and pray daily and nightly that the Lord will somehow give us some direction. We have followed every prompting, every decent job lead, reached out and networked in ways we never thought we would. And yet, we still have no clear guidance on what is supposed to happen or where to go next. It's like we've walked down a completely dark hallway and come to the end, with no door or light to show us which way to go next. Some days I just want to cry and scream and shout, "LORD, WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?! What are we doing so wrong? HAVEN'T WE ENDURED ENOUGH PAIN AND FRUSTRATION AND TESTING OUR FAITH?!" And some days I have a portion of peace to say, "I know...it's in your time. And I don't understand, but I trust you will open a door and make things right."
46 days till life changes drastically, job or not. Time has flown, and despite the aches and pains and life frustrations, we are so excited to have this final member of our family. The kids are more and more excited, and we've been given some ADORABLE little outfits from some very generous friends and family. It has been so much fun to go through the few things we do have and see bows and ruffles and tiny dresses again, and be reminded of how tiny these wee ones are when they are born and to know they will go on a sweet little person...in only 46 days.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
2:21 a.m.
'
Dear Carter...
For the past 6 days your night behavior has perplexed me.
Of course it started the night daddy left out of town and I was flying solo on this parenting thing.
And even though he is back now, your new behavior is much the same.
Middle of the night.
Pounding on your door over and over.
Waiting for us to come in.
Needing help to button a single button on your pajamas...or something completely odd like that.
But the kicker to me?
You suddenly insist that your blanket be perfectly straight while you sleep.
Not even kidding....
Many a midnight hour has been spent waking, waddling through the house to your door at the end of the hall, having you stand by the side of your bed while I pull the blanket perfectly straight, and then watch you fold it back and climb under the covers and go right back to sleep.
The key to this is that YOU go back to sleep.
This pregnant, achy, suddenly hungry body does not.
Instead I find my eyelids heavy but my body unable to rest, eating disgusting canned ravioli at 3 a.m.
I love you little man...I do.
I love so much about you.
But I do not love straightening blankets at 2:21 a.m.
Love,
mom
Saturday, March 1, 2014
For Sale...BY OWNER!
Gulp. The time has come. The biggest for sale we have ever attempted--
After a lot of prayer and looking at things, and interviewing realtors and crunching numbers, we realized that unless we wanted to take out a big loan to bring money to the table at closing, we really needed to try to sell by owner first. We figured we would just give it a week or two and then pay the money to put the house in the MLS. So I spent $30 in signs and fliers and advertised every single free place I possibly could. I didn't want to be too invested in this for sale by owner thing if we were going to have to be out the money to pay someone else to list it as well.
So we prayed a lot and took a huge leap of faith, and listed...FOR SALE BY OWNER.
If you want to see before pics, head over here: http://brholloway.blogspot.com/2011/05/were-here-kind-of-pics-of-our-new-house.html
I haven't really done a big tour of our house--everything was always a work in progress or not quite "perfect". And I just so happen to be a perfectionist in several ways. However, after obsessing about if things looked right or not down to the little details, I just had to settle on simple because that's what I know best. And suddenly the house had no choice but to be done--and so it was. Are there things I would probably do different? Sure. But my brain just couldn't handle any more detailed decisions...
So here's the little tour of the very first house we bought....and the very first house we listed for sale.
One thing we loved about this house is that it feels so open when you walk in. The outside really does look tiny--we have often joked it's like a clown house and people are probably wondering how we fit so many people in here. But the reality is, it's over 2,000 sq feet and has a nice, efficient floor plan with a ton of options for layout!
I love at the holidays or when we host big groups, I can turn the couch against the wall and it makes it such a big, open space...and I love the floors we put in. They were the product of MUCH time and searching for just the right thing.
We move from the living room to the kitchen. We have a dreamy amount of cabinet and counter space in this kitchen and I am SO happy! Only bummer is that it has set us up to expect equal space in future houses. :) And I don't know that it's always reasonable.
Brandon and I put this tile floor in. We started on the last day of school (brilliant, right?) and what we thought would take 5 hours took 5 days and I swore after that if our marriage could survive tiling a floor for the first time, with 4 kids running around, and countless unexpected holdups, then we could pretty much survive anything. It was BRUTAL.
I am not a counter clutter bug. I really hate things sitting out--it's the OCD in me. And I love that we have enough space to always keep our appliances in cupboard and things hidden away. Sigh. I will miss this space so much when we leave...and then there is the walk-in pantry--not pictured--but it's super dreamy and I have been completely spoiled to have such a big space!
One more angle...and that empty space to the left, is meant for a kitchen office type setup, but we actually keep a step stool there for the kids to be able to do their chores easily. :)
Then there is the toy room. We have loved having this space. I wanted an extra space AND my 4 bedrooms. I didn't want toys in the kids' rooms (again, my OCD taking over. lol) and I loved having this big space to keep everything organized and tidy.
Brandon and I built the cornice boards above the windows and took down the icky vertical blinds that were previously hanging. And painted...we painted every inch of this house basically--
We also built the bookcase fireplace insert. It has been one of the coolest things to have, and we absolutely LOVE it!
Nobody can tell it really is hiding this fireplace behind it...but it is. It has seriously revolutionized this play space and made it so functional!
And then we move on to our master bedroom. Another space I've been spoiled--our bedroom is REALLY good size...it's big. Period. I love how spacious it feels...
It took me forever and a day to pick these lamps, but I love them. And all of our bedroom furniture is a mishmash of stuff--the headboard we got on Craigslist and spray painted, the nightstands are really file cabinets because we didn't have a home office space (but I LOVE them and they are perfect nightstands!) The dressers were bought used as well. And the desk (to the left) was a TOTAL score that was ordered and then returned at Walmart. I know you're thinking, WALMART?! But believe it or not, they have some awesome solid wood stuff that can only be ordered online. I never would have thought to look there except I saw it in the clearance as something someone bought online and returned to the store so they marked it down. It's super heavy--no particle board here! And it's my favorite desk ever!
Anyway, point it--we still don't have all matching furniture...but it works! :)
And WHOA does this picture look green all of a sudden--it's really not. It's a nice tan color. But bathroom lights and cameras don't really agree on paint color sometimes. :) Our bathroom was a long labor of love--we replaced the light and sink fixtures, painted the cabinets, put trim on the mirror, installed new flooring, and a slow close toilet seat--if you don't have one, I'm telling you, it's worth every penny! :)
(ahhh, here we go. Much more accurate!)
And moving on to the little rooms--the laundry room. It's simple--but I love the storage and being organized in here. It's made all the difference in a small space. I hope to someday have a real laundry room and not a walk through, but I can't have it all at once. :)
The garage. I know, who really cares, right? But oh how I ADORE the built in storage. I am able to keep so much out there--it's faaaaantastic! And it's exactly what I will want in a future house. :)
Ah, moving on down the hall--the boys room. I know I've posted pics of this before, but here we go again. When we moved in there was a baseball fan in the house, SO they didn't really get a choice. We decorated baseball theme. :)
But I actually loved it...
And then to Carter's room. I want to do some close up pics in here sometime soon. I loved how things just kind of came together. I randomly found the lamp and wall hanging (and the growth chart in the next picture) on Cragislist the same day I found the quilt and sham on Craigslist--but from 2 totally separate buyers. And they match perfect! There is a shelf hanging that I bought for a dollar at a yard sale, and I hung little wood blocks with vinyl saying "chugga - chugga - choo - choo" and found an vintage train in a box at an antique clearance sale for $5. It's such a cool piece! I got his cute lantern hanging above his bed for $1.00 at a yard sale--also an antique. The curtains were made from a sheet I bought from a secondhand store, and all the strips of color are either pieces of fabric I already had or dishtowels (the red and green) I bought after Christmas on clearance, and ribbon. I literally spent nothing on them--and I LOVE them.
And then there is Jenna's room. It looks fairly similar to what it was in kindergarten. Poor thing still has the same dresser and wall hangings and color scheme. But we haven't had much of a choice. :) I love how airy her room feels. It's a really comfy place to hang out. And Brandon and I just finished the cornice above her window and tacked the curtain pieces up. And after a couple of weeks of adjusting to them, I am really pleased with how they turned out.
Our backyard is pretty simple. But we really love it. Our crepe myrtle tree turns a magnificent pink and there is lots of room to run and play. I love having a covered patio--often the kids go out for breakfast or dinner out there, even if it's raining. They love to eat outside.
And as simple as our swingset is, we have loved having it. We happened to just pick here to put it, and realized later that it's the exact spot the outside flood light hits. So the kids can play after dark if we were super nice. :)
It's so strange to think it's time already time to think this all through--selling the house and moving on. In many ways it feels like yesterday that we were so excited to pick paint colors and take on the world of home ownership. ;)
So we prayed a lot and took a huge leap of faith, and listed...FOR SALE BY OWNER.
If you want to see before pics, head over here: http://brholloway.blogspot.com/2011/05/were-here-kind-of-pics-of-our-new-house.html
I haven't really done a big tour of our house--everything was always a work in progress or not quite "perfect". And I just so happen to be a perfectionist in several ways. However, after obsessing about if things looked right or not down to the little details, I just had to settle on simple because that's what I know best. And suddenly the house had no choice but to be done--and so it was. Are there things I would probably do different? Sure. But my brain just couldn't handle any more detailed decisions...
So here's the little tour of the very first house we bought....and the very first house we listed for sale.
One thing we loved about this house is that it feels so open when you walk in. The outside really does look tiny--we have often joked it's like a clown house and people are probably wondering how we fit so many people in here. But the reality is, it's over 2,000 sq feet and has a nice, efficient floor plan with a ton of options for layout!
I love at the holidays or when we host big groups, I can turn the couch against the wall and it makes it such a big, open space...and I love the floors we put in. They were the product of MUCH time and searching for just the right thing.
We move from the living room to the kitchen. We have a dreamy amount of cabinet and counter space in this kitchen and I am SO happy! Only bummer is that it has set us up to expect equal space in future houses. :) And I don't know that it's always reasonable.
Brandon and I put this tile floor in. We started on the last day of school (brilliant, right?) and what we thought would take 5 hours took 5 days and I swore after that if our marriage could survive tiling a floor for the first time, with 4 kids running around, and countless unexpected holdups, then we could pretty much survive anything. It was BRUTAL.
I am not a counter clutter bug. I really hate things sitting out--it's the OCD in me. And I love that we have enough space to always keep our appliances in cupboard and things hidden away. Sigh. I will miss this space so much when we leave...and then there is the walk-in pantry--not pictured--but it's super dreamy and I have been completely spoiled to have such a big space!
One more angle...and that empty space to the left, is meant for a kitchen office type setup, but we actually keep a step stool there for the kids to be able to do their chores easily. :)
Then there is the toy room. We have loved having this space. I wanted an extra space AND my 4 bedrooms. I didn't want toys in the kids' rooms (again, my OCD taking over. lol) and I loved having this big space to keep everything organized and tidy.
Brandon and I built the cornice boards above the windows and took down the icky vertical blinds that were previously hanging. And painted...we painted every inch of this house basically--
We also built the bookcase fireplace insert. It has been one of the coolest things to have, and we absolutely LOVE it!
Nobody can tell it really is hiding this fireplace behind it...but it is. It has seriously revolutionized this play space and made it so functional!
And then we move on to our master bedroom. Another space I've been spoiled--our bedroom is REALLY good size...it's big. Period. I love how spacious it feels...
It took me forever and a day to pick these lamps, but I love them. And all of our bedroom furniture is a mishmash of stuff--the headboard we got on Craigslist and spray painted, the nightstands are really file cabinets because we didn't have a home office space (but I LOVE them and they are perfect nightstands!) The dressers were bought used as well. And the desk (to the left) was a TOTAL score that was ordered and then returned at Walmart. I know you're thinking, WALMART?! But believe it or not, they have some awesome solid wood stuff that can only be ordered online. I never would have thought to look there except I saw it in the clearance as something someone bought online and returned to the store so they marked it down. It's super heavy--no particle board here! And it's my favorite desk ever!
Anyway, point it--we still don't have all matching furniture...but it works! :)
And WHOA does this picture look green all of a sudden--it's really not. It's a nice tan color. But bathroom lights and cameras don't really agree on paint color sometimes. :) Our bathroom was a long labor of love--we replaced the light and sink fixtures, painted the cabinets, put trim on the mirror, installed new flooring, and a slow close toilet seat--if you don't have one, I'm telling you, it's worth every penny! :)
(ahhh, here we go. Much more accurate!)
And moving on to the little rooms--the laundry room. It's simple--but I love the storage and being organized in here. It's made all the difference in a small space. I hope to someday have a real laundry room and not a walk through, but I can't have it all at once. :)
The garage. I know, who really cares, right? But oh how I ADORE the built in storage. I am able to keep so much out there--it's faaaaantastic! And it's exactly what I will want in a future house. :)
Ah, moving on down the hall--the boys room. I know I've posted pics of this before, but here we go again. When we moved in there was a baseball fan in the house, SO they didn't really get a choice. We decorated baseball theme. :)
But I actually loved it...
And then to Carter's room. I want to do some close up pics in here sometime soon. I loved how things just kind of came together. I randomly found the lamp and wall hanging (and the growth chart in the next picture) on Cragislist the same day I found the quilt and sham on Craigslist--but from 2 totally separate buyers. And they match perfect! There is a shelf hanging that I bought for a dollar at a yard sale, and I hung little wood blocks with vinyl saying "chugga - chugga - choo - choo" and found an vintage train in a box at an antique clearance sale for $5. It's such a cool piece! I got his cute lantern hanging above his bed for $1.00 at a yard sale--also an antique. The curtains were made from a sheet I bought from a secondhand store, and all the strips of color are either pieces of fabric I already had or dishtowels (the red and green) I bought after Christmas on clearance, and ribbon. I literally spent nothing on them--and I LOVE them.
And then there is Jenna's room. It looks fairly similar to what it was in kindergarten. Poor thing still has the same dresser and wall hangings and color scheme. But we haven't had much of a choice. :) I love how airy her room feels. It's a really comfy place to hang out. And Brandon and I just finished the cornice above her window and tacked the curtain pieces up. And after a couple of weeks of adjusting to them, I am really pleased with how they turned out.
Our backyard is pretty simple. But we really love it. Our crepe myrtle tree turns a magnificent pink and there is lots of room to run and play. I love having a covered patio--often the kids go out for breakfast or dinner out there, even if it's raining. They love to eat outside.
And as simple as our swingset is, we have loved having it. We happened to just pick here to put it, and realized later that it's the exact spot the outside flood light hits. So the kids can play after dark if we were super nice. :)
It's so strange to think it's time already time to think this all through--selling the house and moving on. In many ways it feels like yesterday that we were so excited to pick paint colors and take on the world of home ownership. ;)
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