The American Dream

The other day Larry, Jeff's step-dad and our realtor, called me and asked me how I was feeling. I thought he was talking about my pregnancy and told him I was tired. He responded, "You guys are two college graduates, with two kids and another one coming, you're living in a brand new house in a nice neighborhood...how does it feel to be living the American Dream?" It never struck me until then that we really are living the American Dream. Everyday I count my blessing and give thanks for all I've been given! And now I'll share with you a little of what we've been up to while living "the dream".

Carson LOVES to ride his bike everyday. We are outside a ton and play with the neighbor kids a lot. The boys are both enjoying the yard and garage. It makes me wonder how we survived the summer in an apartment...oh yeah, there was a pool. Jonas playing with our "digger" collection.

Meet Kitty. We adopted her from an animal shelter. We're hoping that she takes care of the mice outside. We built in what was a farmer's field a year ago and we've had some mice get down into our window wells and chew on our screens. We decided a cat would be a better way to control them than poison. I DO NOT like having a cat in my house, but since she was a stray, we are keeping her inside for the first little bit so she doesn't run off. She spends most of her time in my basement or garage as I can't handle the "cat smell" that some houses get. YUCK!! Occasionaly, I'll let her come upstairs for a little bit. We're going to slowly start giving her more outside time...hopefully she'll be catching mice for us soon and staying out of my house. The boys adore her, but they keep asking when we are going to get our dog.

Jeff has already torn into the front yard (of course!)...he can't stand the landscape and is very eager to change it. He hated the grass line on our front planting bed and decided it had to go.

BEFORE: (well, before we added more mulch, but you can still see the original grass line and how wavy it was)

My three landscapers.
We even used Carson's gator to haul in some mulch.

AFTER: Now I need to go get some more plants!

I found my fall decorations the other day.

I made these cute lil pumpkins the other night out of some fat quarters, batting, ribbon and buttons.

I know there's been a serious lack of photos of the inside of the house. I am having decorating blahs right now and just can't get things to look how I want them to. Here is my "plant shelf" . It needs something but I'm not sure what. I'm not a fan of fake greenery as I think it looks old fashioned...unless done appropriately. I might do more red berries as I think the red and aqua look awesome together. Any suggestions? Don't look too close at the paint job! Its a long story but I made Jeff suddenly stop painting as I hated the color. Now its growing on me and when the boys and I are in Idaho next week, he's going to finish it up.

Giveaway

My friend, Tiffany, over at Babes and Kids needs your help to win a new washer and dryer! So all you have to do is head on over there, comment on her "Heart of the Home" post and you could be entered in to win a $50 Amazon gift card. Her current washer in dryer are in serious need of replacing so lets show her some love and help her win!

You know what's really annoying? When you are unpacking and decide to take all the board games down stairs and then the rack you are carrying them in breaks and all the games go spilling down the stairs. At 10:00 at night. Yeah, pretty annoying.

Grass

Have you ever noticed how awesome grass is? After living without a yard for 2 1/2 weeks I have a new found appreciation for grass! Yesterday our yard was finally installed and I am so excited that my front yard will no longer be a big mud hole for my boys to play in. While I was thrilled that they finally got the landscaping done, Jeff was thoroughly disappointed in the quality of work. Of course he would be, he didn't design it. I think we will consider this our "before" picture as Jeff has big plans to transform our yard.

Both Carson and Jonas were captivated by the landscapers. I was telling Carson that this is what Daddy went to school for-- so he could make yards look beautiful. Carson said, "It looks like fun. Guess I'll just have to be a landscaper."

Back to School

Today Carson started school again. He is now in the four year old "Pre-K" class at Apple Blossom Academy. He sure was excited to go to school! We ended up arriving at the school 10 minutes early because he kept insisting that we needed to get going so he wasn't late. I sure love my little man, but am kinda sad that he's getting so big so fast. Jonas knew something was different about today. He kept going up to Carson and giving him hugs every few minutes. I definitely think it will be good for Jonas to have a little brother to play with when Carson is gone to school.

Ready for Takeoff!

This is our housewarming present from Grandma and Grandpa Larsen.Jeff stayed up way too late last night putting it together. When Carson woke up and saw it in the backyard he exclaimed, "My teeter totter is all done! Oh Daddy is the best!"

I think its just perfect for a houseful of boys.

And when Carson and Jonas have finished helping Jeff rake all of the rocks out of the backyard, they are going to get two of these installed....Carson can't wait!

Home Sweet Home

Its ours! All 2280 square feel of it! This is our first house, and the perfect little starter home for our family. I can't express to you how blessed I have felt this past week. To have a house, and a new one at that, has made me feel overwhelmed with gratitude. I feel very humbled to have been given such a great blessing. Sometimes I sit in my kitchen and think its too good to be true...all new appliances, beautiful cabinets...

...and our awesome fridge, that I am in love with.

And while there are still boxes everywhere, white walls (I'm hoping to paint on Monday), and a serious lack of decorating. this house feel so much like home. The second night we were here I sat down on the couch and it just felt like it had been our home for years. I know that we are where we need to be...where our Heavenly Father wants us to be! I can't express to you how thankful we are to be out of our apartment. The boys have adjusted to the move wonderfully! They love being able to go out the back door and run in the yard. I love that we have so much natural light and I don't feel like I'm stuck in a cave all day anymore.

Yup, I'm one very blessed girl right now.