Ginger

After many empty replies to my offer on Craigs List we have finally found a good home for Ginger. She is going to her new home this afternoon. I will miss her dearly. She is one of the sweetest kittens I have ever seen & is cute as a button. She is also the daughter of my favorite kitty, Sassy. I am thankful that since we can't keep her someone else will love her & raise her. Today we took time to have some last cuddle time.

We wish you a wonderful 9 lives full of cuddles, treats, purrs, catnip & playfulness! We love you sweet Ginger.

Cozy Fire

We are very happy to have a fireplace in our home again. We had a wood stove in our first house which we loved. In our last house we were told there was a fireplace in the girls room but that the previous owners had sheet rocked over it.
Last weekend Elvis & I "christened" our fireplace with our first fire. We didn't have any wood but had plenty of paper from cleaning out the office. I made a strict rule that I was the only one allowed to throw paper in the fire or to touch the matches. Elvis was disappointed at first but then happily set to work crumpling paper for me so I could toss it into the fire. My reason for these rules is that I want to teach the kids that in no way is fire a toy or something to play with. Dave, of course is also allowed to use the matches and set up and maintain the fire. NONE of the kids are. We had a talk about it with all the children and they seemed to understand.

Elvis & I

(Yes, I looked & felt exhausted. Elvis however was clearly bubbling with anticipation making it all worthwhile.)

Bugs joined us.

Both boys oohed, ahhed & cheered when the fire roared.


Family round the fire

Christmas Comes Early!

Friday morning was exciting here. We had our new couches delivered! This is Dave & my main Christmas gift(s) to each other. We decided we'd much rather have these for the new house than some other things for ourselves. I'm super excited! They are very comfy too. These are to be the "formal" couches. They are not for playing around and definitely no food or drink are allowed on them. It sounds a little harsh but we have the Family Room upstairs for all those "fun" things. *Big Grin*

There was only a $20 difference between the love seat price & the couch price. So we went with 2 couches as we get another seat for everyone. Pretty good deal, I think. =)

I simply LOVE the dark red! (The true color is on the couch on the right . The other looks lighter b/c of the flash.)

There is now a little corner for a few of Bugsy's toys.

The other wall.

The kids were bouncing off the walls with excitement! They love them!

And won't the red look extra nice at Christmas?

Stomping Fun

Friday we did some more unpacking downstairs. Sweet Pea was a big help putting things away. The boys favorite job was to smash down the paper once it was folded and placed back in the empty boxes. Bugs did it a couple of times and then because he & Elvis kept bickering I sent him outside to play with Boo.

This is fun!

Jumping up & down!

Big Sister helps him into the tall box.

Smash! Mash! Smash!


I think we got 4 or 5 more boxes unpacked on Friday. Yay!

New House

Some more pics of our new home! I warn you the kitchen & laundry room are not up to par yet. There is still lots of unpacking & organizing to do. But baby steps, right?

The Living Room

From the Other Side

Still a few boxes to unpack but we're making progress!

The Kitchen

See our new stove? Love it!

The Other End

When we moved in there were boxes right down the middle of the kitchen piled almost to the ceiling. What a relief to be able to walk in the kitchen without that wall of boxes to squeeze around!

My Laundry Room

I am beyond thrilled to have this room! And the cabinets are a wonderful bonus! Dave is planning to put up some high shelves on the right side over the pantry. And I'm LOVING our new washer & dryer! They are amazing!

Moving Day

"Moving In Day" was finally here! We had to postpone it for a week b/c of some unresolved issues with the house. Once they were resolved we were on our way to moving into our new home! The day before we moved in we had all the carpets professionally cleaned. I was relieved to have that done. As a nice bonus before they began bringing things in the moving men put down a special kind of tape carpet to protect the traveled areas of the house. I was very happy to see this! We've never had professional movers before so all these bonuses were icing on the cake for us.

The garage begins to fill up. By the time they were done there were twice as many boxes in here. Still are! =)

Boo Bear's Bedroom

She is super excited to have her own room.

The Office
This room will also hold most of our schoolroom supplies & books.


Sweet Pea's Room

Or should I say suite? Her bedroom is the largest of the kids' rooms being that it's the original master bedroom. She also has her own full bath, lucky duck.

The Family Room

This is upstairs. It will be the toy room, bookshelves, t.v. room & playroom. We may also do some school up here. Right now it is filled to the brim with boxes.

The Master Bathroom

This bathroom is upstairs and is the largest in the house. Dave & I are using it as our master bath.

The other view of the Master Bath. I love this as I've never had a bathroom this big - ever!

The Boy's Room

Their room is larger than in the old house. They have a nice, big closet & a little space leading to the attic. Another bonus is their room is right off of the family room so they have extra room to play.

The other end of the boys' room. I love the little nook they have in the corner with the built in shelf.

This will be the Baby's room.

Right now it is being used for storage as we still have several months before we need to set it up. It is so full of boxes, floor to ceiling that you can barely walk inside! Not having a basement after having a nice, large one for storage sure makes a big difference.



I didn't get a chance to take pics of the living room, kitchen, dining nook, laundry room or the 3rd bathroom. Those rooms were very busy with the movers in and out. I can't find the original pics we took when we were deciding on the home either. I'll post pics of these rooms as soon as they get cleaned up a little.

We're Here!

Can you believe it's almost been an entire week since I blogged? I didn't have Internet access on the road. And to be truthful I was too tired by the time we got done driving every day. We drove every day about 5-6 hours except for Tuesday when we had a short 3 hour trip to the in-laws. I had trouble staying awake two of those days and one time had to pull off at a rest stop and take a nap to get through. I'm relieved the driving is over!

We are now safely in Nashville. We are staying in a lovely suite. Casey, our oldest cat lives in the downstairs bathroom (she doesn't like the other cats plus is very ticked at us for the long trip) & the other cats are roaming free in the suite. It has 2 stories and is very roomy. What a blessing! There is also breakfast included daily which helps with the budget. We'll be here until we see if the house we like will work out. Long story I hope to share with you soon.

Now I'm off to drag all the dirty laundry off to the coin operated laundromat here at the hotel. I don't dare venture into the big city of Nashville on my own, , and am very thankful they have laundry facilities here!