Guest Room

And now I continue my very SLOW tour of the new house. One of the things we are most excited about in our new house is our GUEST ROOM. That's right! No more couches and air mattresses. We have an actual room with a bed and a bathroom right next to it. 

Please call in advance you reserve your stay :-)

BEFORE

AFTER

We repainted the walls and the trim and recarpeted. We also took down some old, yucky blinds, put up curtains and got a window a/c unit. Eventually we plan on adding some old family pictures and a few other things, but for now it is functional and ready to host some company!

Dress Rehearsal

Alia's dance recital is coming up in just a few days. This weekend she had her dress rehearsal. This year her class is doing tap. It's a ballet/tap combo class so they just alternate which one they do for the show each year. Alia isn't nearly as interested in tap as she is in ballet (not sure how we are related)! Their song is called Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows. Here is a little video I took at the rehearsal:

You can hear me chuckling through most of it. I was getting a real kick out of a couple of Alia's friends. Also, you may have guessed that Alia's teacher is standing just off stage in the wings :-)

Playground

One of the best things about our new neighborhood is that there is a great playground just around the corner from us. Yesterday we took the "long way" there and tried out a Pinterest activity along the way! 

I wrote all the letters around the outside of a paper plate and then cut slits in between each one so that each letter had its own tab. As we found letters on our walk (mostly on license plates) we folded them down. The only letters we didn't find were J and V. 

The kids are both VERY into swinging right now. They "like to go like really high ... like 900!"

On the way to the top Alia made friends with a little bug and Max had to check him out too, of course.

There's also a large sand pile that the kids love to play in. On this day we didn't bring the sand toys so naturally they decided they wanted to play there. They were very creative with sticks and such.

Max's Room

The next most complete room in our new house is probably Max's room. We decided to keep it pretty neutral and simple for now because he still has all of his "baby" stuff but we aren't quite ready for "big boy" yet so we settled on something in between for now.

Still on the to-do list for his room - replace light/lamp shade, replace light switch, replace outlets. Nothing urgent, but on the list nonetheless.

BEFORE

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

AFTER - I purchased these Cars stickers from Target for pretty cheap. The kids and I had a great time putting them up one day. However since then, they've been moved about 100 times. They are having a blast, so whatever :-)

AFTER - on left door to closet, on right bedroom door

AFTER - Found this at Home Depot and couldn't refuse

AFTER - These shelves were in the house when we got here, so we just took them down to paint and put them right back up again

The Laundry Room

I know that everyone wants to see pictures of the new house, but I have a REALLY hard time posting them when I don't feel like a room is "done". I'm going to try to get over it, but no guarantees. Here is my laundry room before/after pictures. I know it might seem like an odd place to start, but it was my biggest project and the one I was the most excited about. I told Jason that for Christmas I want a sign for the door that says "Mommy's Office" because truly that's what it is.

BEFORE - looking straight in the doorway

BEFORE

BEFORE

AFTER - My new cabinets. Lots more storage and handles that I can reach :-)

AFTER - We unstacked the washer and dryer. More on that in a minute.

My command center! There are spots for mail, coupons, keys, kids stuff, menu planning, garbage can, recycling can, etc. I love it!

AFTER - Secret hiding storage under the stairs. Lots of surplus items here plus the bigger kitchen appliances, like blender, mixers, etc.

AFTER - Wine stash under the stairs :-)

AFTER - When planning my new laundry room, I asked Jason if he had any requests and he said that he would like a space for folding in there so that the laundry doesn't end up on the living room floor like it used to. SO, we put these little shelves over the w/d. This covers the space behind them so that you can't see all the cords and hoses, prevents socks from falling back there and is a great place to keep my laundry detergents. I use the tops of the w/d for folding and then set the clothes on the shelves as I go. 

For now I consider this room COMPLETE!

Wheels and Waves

On Monday evenings I teach at a club/gym just a mile up the road from our new house. It is a sister gym of the one we used to go to regularly. The kids and I had a crazy day and were just flailing from place to place. We ended up eating PBJ sandwiches outside right before I had to go in to teach. The great thing about that was that we discovered how completely awesome their outdoor pool is. You can walk right in and it only goes up to 5 feet. So on Tuesday and Wednesday after nap time we went to the pool. The kids had a great time. The ran, jumped, splashed, used their "puddle jumpers" and developed their own little game they call "rescue". It was pretty cute. One day two Mommy bought some of those little diving ring things and entertained every one's children for a solid hour!

We have been trying to get out and get in some bicycling practice. Alia isn't very confident and Max is over confident (I have a feeling this will be the norm for these two). Living on a "circle" is great because there is no traffic and with a grown up nearby the kids can ride their bikes in the street. We even rode them over to the school and practiced riding around their parking lot. 

City Fair

Last weekend, the whole family headed downtown to the City Fair which is on the waterfront as a part of the Rose Festival. We knew Max would have a good time and we knew if we could get Alia on one ride we wouldn't get her to stop and we were pretty much right. Here are some pictures from our super fun morning.

The first "ride" of the day was Daddy and Max on the Super Slide. 

Alia wasn't ready yet and wanted to watch.

Clearly both boys had a good time.

Ride #2 for Max and ride #1 for Alia - the carousel. We really had to talk her into it, but after about 1 time around she was LOVING it!

We had to ride the truck ride and OF COURSE it had to be the orange one (Max's favorite color)!

This is quite possibly my favorite picture of 2013. My little man watching and studying the big kid rides that he's not nearly tall enough for yet, but if they'd let him on I think he would go. 

"Daddy, I want to ride that one" - Max. 

We did finally get Alia on the big slide and she had a ball!

Obstacle course, ball pit thing ... always a hit!