Carpet

Nothing makes a house feel like a home like carpet. Okay, so maybe some furniture would help too, but the carpet does make a huge difference. It feels much cozier now :)

They carpeted the upstairs last week and we went out on Saturday with Uncle Bret, Auntie, and Atticus, and had so much fun exploring :) They have been working on the rest of the carpet this week, and we went out this afternoon, hoping they'd be done. It was all done except the media room. According to the very experienced carpet guy, "It's gonna be a job."

Anyway, we'll go chronologically and start with the top floor.

Here's the master bedroom:
and Ryan's room:

Atticus especially enjoyed the new carpet...

...and eventually all 3 boys got in on the action:

They also had a lot of fun playing on Kaeden's window bed (as usual!):

Atticus is finally starting to return some of Kaeden's affection, and it is super sweet. I love watching these two boys together!

Moving on to today, here is the carpeted great room:

The fireplace is also finally finished... mantel, doors, etc. So fun to finally see that room complete :)

Here's the carpet runner going upstairs:

And finally, on the bottom floor, here's the play room:

and looking down the hallway from the mudroom to the guest bedroom:

...and the beginning of the media/exercise room. This is the ceiling. Yes, it's carpeted. Yes, the rest of the room will be carpeted too, walls and all. Yes, that is metal hanging down for Mason's pull-up bars. Yes, I said barS. Let me introduce you to my husband.

So, that's it for the new carpet. Here are a bunch of other miscellaneous photos from the past week.

The front walkway is finished, grass seeded, etc. :)

A family photo opp in the breakfast nook

Door hardware is in

Pantry shelves in, floor & countertops stained

Dining room with stained floor

Office cabinetry completed, floor stained

And finally, we have refrigerators! The kitchen appliances are complete :)

We were hoping to pass the final inspection today, but as usual, there are nit picky things to fix up for that. Once that's done, we can start moving some boxes in to the attic and all that's left on the house is some little details and cleaning. 2 weeks from tomorrow, it'll be done. We can't wait!

Author or Architect?

Given the content of his books, I sure do hope the answer is architect, but regardless, writing and building are definitely Ryan's favorite activities at the moment. In fact, when we're at home, that's pretty much all he wants to do.

Recently, he got very into illustrating/dictating books.


Looks pretty cute & innocent, right? Just wait...

I'm still trying to decide if I should be concerned. Granted, they're not all like that...


He sure does have quite the imagination, though.

Lately, the books have tapered off and he's been focusing more on individual drawings, making cards for people (including the doctor & dentist that we went to see today), and just practicing his letters. He's doing great!

Here's a picture that he drew the other day of our family. So sweet:


Now, on to the buildings. I'm pretty sure that he's better at designing/building structures than I am, but I guess he does have a lot more time to practice. (Just keep telling yourself that, Lucia.)

The reason that I have photos of all of these is that we have a deal that I will keep Kaeden away from his structures until they are finished and then I take a picture (usually so that he can show Daddy, although he also just likes to have them documented, I guess) and then Kaeden can knock it down. It's been working pretty well, but this is what I get if he's not confident that the picture has been taken before Kaeden gets to it...

Before:

After:
Don't worry, babe. I got it!

Here are a few more:


So, that's what Ryan's been up to lately. Feel free to put in your vote :)

Treasure hunting

Ryan's been into treasure hunting lately and found a few "treasures" to bring home from the park the other day. He decided that we should put them in a jar in his room and ever since has been begging to go outside and look for more treasures to fill up his jar. So, this afternoon, we went out to check on the progress of the new house and agreed that we could go treasure hunting in the woods. It has been a while since we've done much exploring out there... it's either been too cold/wet lately, or we've just been too focused on the house itself. Anyway, we had so much fun, and found some fun "treasures" too :)

Tree vs. Beaver and the tree won. So cool!

I love our creek! :)

View of the side/back of the house from the woods


As for the house itself, the hardwood floors were stained this week, so that makes a big difference in the look of the main floor. The lighting was hard this afternoon, so it's hard to see well in the pictures, but here is the gist:


They've also been working on the landscaping out front - the stone walls are up, the walkway to the front steps is begun, and there is grass seed everywhere - I can't quite imagine what the yard is going to look like with grass!

Guest parking area with steps up to the front yard


They've also been staining the back deck. Here is the underneath from the back yard - that's where the hammock is going to go :)


Ryan got so excited tonight when I told him we were moving in one more month. I'm so thankful that we are already making memories there and it truly does already feel like home. It will still be so hard to leave this house, but I am feeling much more ready than I ever expected. Now, will the next 4 weeks go fast or slow? We shall see...

Kaeden learns to "say" please

This child doesn't do anything halfway:

What a character!

Fixtures

It's about time for another house update. All of our fixtures are in now (lights, faucets, toilet paper holders, etc!) and the house is really starting to look liveable. They turned on the heat and lights this week, so it's very comfortable. We don't even have to run to the end of the driveway to use the port-a-potty anymore :) Hurray!

Here's today's photo tour:

Front of the house, face on

The driveway & parking area. It will be gravel up to this point, and then we have plenty of concrete for some good basketball games :)


Corner view, showing the guest parking area and steps to the future walkway

Closer up view of the steps


Ryan, in front of the front door

Our front porch. I'm in love. And I'm not really even a front porch person.

Ryan, running & playing on the front porch


Mason & Kaeden on the front porch

View from the front porch doors looking into the dining room (with the kitchen & then breakfast nook behind it)

Front entryway


Powder room

Corner of great room, looking back at front entryway, kitchen

Portions of the kitchen "command center", with the backsplash going in!


The Great Room

Pantry (from each end looking to the other)


Breakfast nook


Moving downstairs...

Mud room, from the guest hallway


Multi-colored play room :)


And upstairs:

From the top of the stairs, looking down

Upstairs hallway

Master bedroom

Ryan's favorite little seat in the master bedroom

Master bathroom

Kaeden's future room

And finally, the kids' bathroom

We found out last weekend that we are for sure scheduled to be finished on March 15th. 6 more weeks 'til we move. Wow. Another huge praise is that our current house is under contract! It is such a relief to be able to live a little more normally again. Now, we wait & pray that everything goes through as planned.