Hazardous To Your Health

Having an older brother can be hazardous to your health.

Camping

We went camping with a group of new friends from our ward.  We got to use our tent that we bought a long time ago and haven't had a chance to break out yet.  The kids got so dirty and had so much fun.  We ought to go more often.

House Pictures

Okay, here they are.  I finally got things together enough for pictures.  Please ignore any random piles of boxes you may see.  I took way more pictures than I intended so if at any point you find yourself rolling your eyes or yawning please feel free to skim to the end!



I started in the sun room which is in the back of the house just to be confusing.  We use this as our dining room and computer room.  It was just too pretty to use as a kids toy room!



The computer part, the door on the right goes to the garage.



Going into the kitchen from the sun room.



What boxes?  Do you like how Anya is trying to get into the no-no cupboard.  How do they know?



Going toward the front door from the kitchen.  On the left is the laundry closet and on the right a half bathroom.



The "toy room" which is really the formal dining room.  The downstairs layout is a big cirlce except for the sun room off the kitchen if that helps you orient things.



Griffin wanted to be in the picture :)



The living room from the toy room.

 

The other side.

From the living room toward the front door and stairs.



Going up the stairs, a linen closet on the far right, the kids bathroom in the middle and the open door is Mesha and Griffin's room.



On the opposite side of the hall from Mesha and Griffin is Anya's room.



Sorry for a million pictures, small rooms are hard to get in fewer shots.



Almost there...



...Last one.



Mesha and Griffin's room.

More...



The giant bunk bed sort of fits, you can see that it overlaps the closet a few inches.



Look Mitch, we hung up the mirror you gave us years and years ago...



Look Mom!  I found a cute place for these!  This is a hall going from the kid's rooms to the master bedroom.



My room (yes, Sterling gets to stay here too...) We got new bedroom furniture, I love Ikea.



Sterling's home office.  It makes the room not so glamorous but it sure saved us a lot of time and trouble with some other home office solution.



Master bathroom (yes that is way to much carpet for a bathroom area and yes the drawer is missing, drives me crazy...)

 

On the other side is the toilet room and a closet.



So that's it!  We like it.  We still have a mile long list of little repairs and such, welcome to home ownership eh?  We really do enjoy working on the house together though.  Our next project is cleaning out the garage so we can put the car in it.  That also includes making some storage shelves in the attic so the stuff in the garage has a place to go!  Also the yard has been neglected for years.  We have about 10 trees we would like to come down.  Sterling has been looking at tree climbing spikes on craigslist...good thing for life insurance...  The hotel Smith in Charlotte is officially open!  Come visit us!

Our House

Some of you may have thought that I forgot to post about our house once we closed on it.  I didn't, the truth is we just closed on it a week ago.  It was a long drawn out process that never should have been.  But it is all over now (hallelujah!!!!) and the house is all ours!
I have been working hard to unpack (That's correct, we are still not unpacked.  We were holding off on purpose because we were not sure if we were going to actually buy the place... Drama, drama, drama) and get things looking pretty for some pictures.  So soon, my friends, soon.

We are enjoying being home owners.  Yes you have to deal with and pay for lots of things but you can also make it yours.  It's a nice feeling to be able to invest in yourself and your family.

1 Year Old Pictures

I got Anya in to get her 1 year old pictures taken.  She is such a little ham.  Here are my favorite shots.

What a lovely lady!

Tooth Number 3

Mesha lost another tooth!!  This one has been wiggly for a long time and the last few days it has been hanging on by the skin.  I refused to pull it or let Sterling pull it and Mesha was glad for that.  Sterling did convince her, however, to let him tie some floss on it so she could pull at it herself.  After one good yank she screamed until Sterling took it off.

After calming her down Mesha pushed it with her tongue and it popped right out.  I still can't believe she is losing her teeth so young but from what I have read and been told by my dentist anywhere between 4-8 is normal.

Remember my other two kids?  They are still here and they are still cute.