We bought a house today

We closed on our new house this morning. We are so anxious to move in. We get all of our stuff delivered from storage on friday. After the closing, i took the girls to Kara's new school to get her registered. She is so excited, and they all seem excited to be getting her. She is going to be in kindergarten for the last 14 days of the year. But that's better than me trying to teach her. I feel like she just already knows everything I try to teach her. She will have to go in the afternoon, and there are only 10 other kids in her class. Her teacher seemed really nice, and is happy to have another girl. I guess she mostly has boys in that class. She really wants to ride the bus, but I worry about letting her. Ben said we should let her, so I'll think about it this weekend. The teacher gets them off and on the bus, and I would take her to the stop and pick her up. The registrar told me that the bus just stops at most of the kids houses, so we'll see. Kiersten is a little jealous. Everyone thought Kiersten would be starting in the fall, and were surprised when I said she just turned 4. a couple people we met assumed she was the kindergartener before they saw Kara. So she was proud to look so old. After the school, I took the girls to lunch, and to the post office, and then we headed to the new house to meet the painter and let him in. He wasn't sure if we bought enough paint, but I haven't heard from him, so everything must be going fine so far. I am really excited to have Kara's school 3 minutes away. We are going to save tons in gas money, and 2 hours driving per day. Evie will love that. She always hated getting in the car to pick the girls up from school. I'm also excited to have a JoAnn, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, post office, grocery store, and tons of restaurants within a few minutes of our house. It will feel like such a luxury not to have a 30 minute drive to go anywhere. Get ready for a TON of pictures. I didn't even post half of what I took. But I think it will be fun after we are settled in, have paint finished, and all of the furniture we need to compare the before and afters. I also tried to get more pics of the yard for the people who have asked about it. so here ya go :)

The girls are so excited to move into our new home!

the deck off the kitchen

the other side of the deck. we didn't know when we saw the house before that it has a sunsetter awning that covers most of the deck when extended.

the kids are really excited about the yard. Every time we've been there, Kara wants to roll down the hill for some reason.

this is on the other side of the fence/retaining wall. so we'll not want the girls getting back there.

house from the back

we may put a hot tub down here in a few years. we'll see...

walking out from basement.

this is only half of the storage room. I am pretty excited to have storage like this :)

this is going to be the craft room/ extra guest room. I have big plans for this room, they just might not happen right away.

the guest room. aren't you all excited to come visit us so you can stay here?

this is the downstairs bathroom. I didn't realize the sellers were leaving that white shelf thing, but it will come in handy.

basement. I say it's a tv room/playroom. Ben thinks it's a tv room/pool table room. so stay tuned to see how it turns out.

Kara's room.

She is excited about her large closet. She asked me if she could get a little desk to do her homework in there. I think she'll have plenty of space in her room for a desk, though.

Kiersten is the most excited about her own room. This is the first time since she was a baby she will not be sharing with anyone. She can't wait to paint it pink. I don't know why she kept curtseying for every picture.

she is really excited to have her own bathroom. I'll have to go through all their hair stuff and divvy it up so they don't fight.

Kara said this hallway is called "girls' hallway". just thought that was silly.

Evie's room. She also has a door to her bathroom from her room.

Kara and Evie share a Jack and Jill bathroom. So they each have their own sink/vanity room, but they share a toilet/tub area. Ben really thinks this will be important as they get older. I know that they will always get along, and wouldn't fight over bathrooms.

this is the master bedroom, looking out of the bathroom. you can see we have his and hers closets on either side, so that will be nice. The sellers left all of the window treatments, which we weren't expecting. I don't like most of them, but think we might keep them for a while so we don't have to buy new ones right away.

master from hall door

master bath

dining room. I am eager to get a rug in here after living in an apartment with a carpeted dining area. It is impossible for Evie not to make a mess. I'm even considering putting down a big sheet of plastic for the next year or so.

those stairs are right as you walk in the front door. they also go down into the livingroom. That carpet runner will be going away very soon. I thought it was glued down, but it was only at the top. So hopefully it wont be hard to take out.

The girls all love going up and down the stairs over and over.

this is the front sitting room. the french doors lead into the livingroom. This might end up being an office too.

"powder room" on the main level.

livingroom. you can see our new tv hanging above the fireplace. And Ben still thinks we need to buy another new one. grrr...

view of livingroom from kitchen. We're not sure why there is a wet bar right next to the kitchen, but it's there, so I'm sure we'll make use of it. Notice the cut out above the bar. I wanted to put decor in there, but Ben wants to put a tv. Seems silly to me, since you can easily see that one from the livingroom already.

kitchen. I didn't realize they were leaving the barstools for us. So that may be one less thing we have to buy. I'll probably replace or recover the cushions though. The painter is there now removing all that wallpaper, so the next time we see it, it will be nicely painted. the stove on the island is probably going to be replaced eventually as well. I am worried about the kids being able to touch it from the stools, so we are considering induction burners, but we'll see later.

kids making themselves comfortable in the new kitchen within minutes of getting there. under those cabinets you can see behind them, is an intercom system, which we haven't been able to figure out yet. But it also is a stereo, so I might keep it just for that.

laundry room. the sellers had their washer/dryer on pedestals, but ours just sit on the floor. so I think that unpainted part of the wall might show. Our realtor found a lot of paint labeled in the storage area, so I'm sure we can get that small area finished up. I hope to get that floor replaced eventually too. Luckily we're planning to stay at least 10 years, so we have time to do things here and there.