Week 1 Progress Report

Wow. I can’t believe we have already been in the house for a whole week. And what a week this has been!

Not only have we been moving and unpacking, the kids are finishing up their last weeks of school. Grey had his preschool graduation and it was off the charts cute. His teacher took the time to give character awards and she picked out what she thought was the best characteristic of each student. Grey was given the, “gives the best hugs” award and we couldn’t be more proud of him. This fits him perfectly.

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Nolan had Field Day at her school this week and came home soaking wet with a smile on her face. They had a water slide and snow cones. I think it’s safe to say that fun was had by all.

Back at home, organizing and unloading boxes was the name of the game. This house is more square footage than we have ever lived in before and our furniture/stuff is looking a bit sparse as we spread it out throughout the house. I guess this means that I will need to start filling this place up. Challenge accepted.

Here are some pics of the house after our first week. Lots to do but I’m excited about all the possibilities and am swimming in ideas to turn this place into something special.

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Some of my pictures are a bit dark. I have a new camera and am still learning how to use it. The screened porch extends across the back portion of the house and it blocks some light from the living and dining rooms also.

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Our new neighbor, Laura, brought us over some pretty blooms. Just what our table needed!

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I’m loving all this natural light in the master bedroom. Artie is a big fan.

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I’m also happy to report that week one with the kids sharing a bedroom went smoothly. They are loving the bunk beds and have been spending a lot of time playing, reading, and using their tablets on them. One issue that I didn’t think about when we decided they would be sharing a room was the combining of the clothes and toys. We are overflowing in both departments. I am brainstorming ideas for some toy/book storage and am thinking about a new long dresser that could be divided between the two of them. Each kiddo has their own dresser from their old rooms at our rental house but two different dressers would be weird for this small space so I am thinking that I will use Grey’s old dresser and move it into the nursery and Nolan’s dresser will be posted on Craigslist.

So that’s week one. I left out pics of some spaces only because they have been relatively untouched and there is nothing interesting to report. But the house is starting to feel very homey. Now, I think I need a nap.

Nolan and Grey’s Shared Room

So I have been going back and forth on this topic for weeks and finally just decided we are going to pull the trigger. Yep, you heard right, my kiddos, Nolan (who is a 7 year old girl) and Grey (our 5 year old son) are going to share a bedroom. But, why? How could I do this to them, you ask? I have a few reasons.

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First, when we found out we got this house we were in real estate heaven realizing that we were going to have four bedrooms. This was the ONLY house we looked at that had four bedrooms. We weren’t actually looking for a four bedroom house because we thought it would be out of reach for us. We were more concerned about the neighborhood and schools for the kiddos. My head started spinning with all the possibilities for all these bedrooms…guest rooms, kid rooms, nurseries for babes to come. Anyways, when we told the kids we got the house, the first thing they asked was if we could get bunk beds and they could share a bedroom. Hmmm…could they? Is this even allowed?

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I grew up in a family with five kids and everyone always shared a room. I shared with my sister, Collin, and our three older brothers also bunked together. Collin and I never had any serious issues sharing a space (besides the normal sibling fighting from time to time) and as for the brothers, I never hear any stories about how terrible it was for them to share a room. So my point is, sharing a bedroom isn’t an unfamiliar concept to me. But when I brought this up to friends over the last few weeks, I got some sideways glances and comments like, “good luck with that”.

Secondly, Nate and I just found out we are having another baby! Baby Boy will be joining us in November, just before Thanksgiving. Exciting, yes! But again, this news also made my head spin thinking about the bedroom situation at this new house of ours.

Lastly, I wanted to have a guest room. All of our family lives in Oregon so when we have visitors from the Northwest, it’s much nicer for them to be comfortable in their own space and not on an air mattress in the middle of the living room. Having a designated space for guests feels so grown up.

So after mulling this over for weeks, I have made a firm decision. Firm = I reserve the right to change the plan at any time if the current set-up isn’t working for everyone. For now, Nolan and Grey got their bunk beds and are going to share a room. Baby Boy will have the smallest bedroom (next to the master) as his nursery. Finally, the guest room will be at the end of the hall. Feels good to make a decision! Lets just see if this works…

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Officially official

We were supposed to sign for the house on Friday and then Friday turned into Monday, which turned into Wednesday. There were quite a few hiccups at the end of the process shuffling paperwork and making sure our lender stayed on top of deadlines. They didn’t. We (and when I say we, I mean mostly me) were upset at the time but now, a few days later, it’s a done deal and all is forgotten…almost.

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