Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Maryland Ave N

We are loving our new home in New Hope, MN!! Being directly across the street from a GREAT park is just one of the benefits! The extra space has been much appreciated and the to-do list (although long) is fun to have :-)
The house has definitely been a blank slate! My love for design combined with my recent extreme indecisiveness (who knows if it's from pregnancy or just who I am??) has made it tough to make decisions and feel good about them (wall colors, furniture choices, placement of photos, etc). But the projects are coming along ~ and by the time we've been in the house for one year, I'm thinking we'll have it looking awesome! :-)

front of house:
 front door:
 back yard:
 back of house/deck:
 entry way:
 upstairs looking down into entry:
 upstairs living room (waiting for a sectional to delivered before hanging pics on walls):
 upstairs fireplace:
 from living room looking into eat-in kitchen:
 kitchen:

 hallway to upper 2 BR's & bath:
 
 upstairs bath (entrances from both our BR & the hallway): 

 our bedroom:

 2nd BR upstairs - sliding door to deck off this room - Office:
 entry way looking down to basement:
 tv area/downstairs living room:
 downstairs fireplace:
 downstairs tv:
 laundry & storage:
 downstairs 3/4 bath:
 BR #3 - guest room:
 Kyler's room:
 Kyler on his car bed (refusing to sleep during nap time):

Closing Day!!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

we're still alive here on Melrose Ave

Just an update on our glorious "new house adventure." We are scheduled to close on Friday, June 1st. There is nothing on our end holding things up - it's just that we aren't in control of who/what/when on the seller's bank's side. Apparantly there is still a lot that could go wrong and fall through but we are optimistic! Our lender got an appraisal completed (and it went great) and all of our under-writing is done so we're ready to be homeowners according to Cornerstone Mortgage & blah blah Title Company. Once the papers are SIGNED we will be celebrating, for sure!!!!

And, because I was eager and motivated, a lot of our house is packed up and sitting in boxes in the garage.....  including my camera. I've been missing some KEY moments - Kyler finally figuring out how to push the pedals on his trike, Kyler and Tyson at Como today standing right in front of the orangutan as it walked by (their reactions were priceless!!), Kyler making sure Kenadee is wearing a hat when we're outside.

Em did get these great shots while she watched him on Sunday. Thanks again, Emily!!





Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Ty & Kai

We have been having a lot of fun with Tyson and Kenadee coming to our house!
Tyson and Kyler are great friends and they get along amazingly well! It's a pretty sweet set-up :-)

Monday, April 23, 2012

Potty Time

Tyson's family decided to start potty training him, so we decided it would be a good time to let Kyler get accustomed to it, too. I wasn't necessarily ready, but he's been doing really great! We're kind of starting out the "easy way" but it's working extremely well. I'm thinking after we make our big move and get settled in the new house we'll be much more serious about it.
As for right now, Kyler loves to poop on the frog potty and asks to go everytime he needs to. He pees when we prompt him. He is so proud of his new accomplishment! He also puts his pull-up on all by himself and even his pants (sometimes backwards).
A funny side note: Kayla provides "cars" pull-ups for Tyson... and, I have always thought that pull-ups were a silly waste of money.... but, Auntie Allie gave us a pack of "disney princess" pull-ups... so, we've been using those. Kyler doesn't mind and it sure does make me smile each time he walks around the house in them :-)


CAUTION: this video has a small amount of inappropriate exposure.


Thursday, April 5, 2012

Bye Bye Kia :-(

 We traded in our compact Kia Spectra 5 for a new vehicle!
I think, out of the 3 of us, Kyler definitely likes it the best! He loves getting in and out and feels like it's a little playhouse or something.
 This van is significantly higher in miles but it looks great inside and out. Being able to fit more than 2 car seats will be SO NICE while watching additional families.. and Chris and I are having fun imaging our lives in a couple years as a family of four - camping and road trips will be a lot more fun with this sweet ride :-)
 It's a Mazda MPV. They aren't as large as an Odyssey or Sienna which was what we were planning to buy. It will be perfect for a family of four. Still pretty decent on gas, too.

The seats can configure multiple ways - the rear bench seats folds into the trunk and the bucket seats (2) can either be pushed together to form a small bench, completely removed or have only one (which is how it's pictured).

Lost footage from St Patty's Day

I never got around to uploading this video from St. Patrick's Day! Chris may have gotten a little too into the festivities (whiskey) so he wasn't as "sharp" as he usually is... but Kyler was loving the idea of dancing after dark :-)

Grandma Great

Kyler and I rode along with Chris when he traveled to Sioux Falls, SD last week. He dropped us off in Edgerton and we got to hang with my grandma all day.
Kyler had a great time with his grandma great! It was a really nice visit - thanks, grandma! love you!!

Monday, March 19, 2012

meema visits

We had a great time with Grandma Shelly last week ("meema"). Thanks for the visit, mom :-)
She was on spring break from school and the weather was perfection!
We made it to Como Zoo...



Then we checked out the house we have an offer on (the inspection happened on Friday and it went great)...





Then breakfast at Fat Nat's before she left back for Brainerd on Saturday morning. Kyler loved to match Daddy for St. Patrick's Day!