Another Home Hike

Another overdue post from a couple of months ago. This was the first real hike we did onto the trials together.

Our trail that parallels the road and creek. Evan and I walk this almost every day. 

He loves saying "Goooooo!" and running.

And of course getting a ride when he gets tired.

Ed made a silly face to get our boy to smile :)

It was cold, so I bundled Evan up inside my jacket.

The sun was starting to drop as we walked back home. It's wonderful having nature so close. 

Evan's Daycare

I realized I started this post back before the holidays, so sorry that it's a little overdue. But, here is Evan's current daycare! We love the space he has here to run around and explore :). Hard to believe he has less than 2 months left in the 1-2 year old room!

Hiking from Home

Whew...it's been a busy winter. Between holidays, work, and lots of sickness, it's been pretty easy to fall behind. So, even though I'm sick yet again, I'm trying to find some time to update. 

We are finally done with our renovation as of a week ago, and are loving our new home and not having someone else in our house all the time. We still have more to do, but we're taking a break, which feels great.

Part of enjoying our new home is actually getting out onto our backyard trails. Ed took us on his favorite trail yesterday, which is about a 5 minute walk from our house. 

Everything is so green and beautiful right now - this was a prefect hike, made sweeter by being so close. 

Lots of beautiful views to enjoy!

We could even see Spring Lake - Ed takes Evan for runs to there all the time, and it was fun to see how close it actually is. 

Ed and Evan have been doing Father/son hikes together at least every other week - we're hoping to raise a little boy who loves the outdoors as much as we do.

We probably only hiked a couple miles, but it felt like we were a world away. I told Ed that we really have no excuse for not hiking every weekend, especially when we have such a wonderful one from our front door. 

Evan had a great time as always, and enjoying doing the last part of the "hike" up our street. What a beautiful day.

Evan's Room

Evan's room has already been redone, if you can believe it!

When we moved in, we wanted his room to look as much as possible like his old one. But, we ultimately want his room to be a better fit for his toddler age.

So with some time over break, I got to work. The biggest change was having an organizer for his toys so that he would actually want to play in here. 

Plus, his closet is another play space, with a tent, tunnel and reading nook.

Evan is loving his room so much more and spends lots of time reading and playing!

Such fun

House Pictures

We are making progress!

(besides the fireplace and a little trim, the family room is close to done!)

Yes, it's still a bit of a construction zone, but it is feeling more and more like home every day. 

Our kitchen is finally getting close :)

Our beautiful counters were installed right before we left for the holidays - they are "sea pearl quartzite" which we love. 

We finally got running water on Monday, which was huge. It's amazing how helpful it is to have funning water in the kitchen. We missed our dishes so much. 

And today, we got our stove put in! We love it so much - and I'm so thrilled that we switched from electric to gas. Tomorrow we'll hopefully get most of the cabinets installed and our kitchen will be even closer to finished.

We got the original chandelier back up in the dining room and that plus the art makes it feel very finished. We celebrated on Tuesday by having dinner in there, and it was lovely. 

Evan is loving our home more and more every day. It's just so much more kid friendly than any of our other homes, and it's fun making it special just for him.

Evan got this great play kitchen from my parents (which took forever to assemble!) and we have it set up in the family room. Evan was very excited to see it when he got up from his nap.

The kitchen, plus this sweet table and chair set from Ed's mom, makes up Evan's play nook. It's so nice to have a designated space downstairs for him to play and explore. He is so happy here and I can't wait to see him grown and learn in this space.

First Week In!

We're in our new home!

It is wonderful, but a bit crazier than we probably imagined. We're still definitely under construction, without a functioning kitchen, covers on all the outlets, a fireplace, and lots more. Plus, with only a weekend to move in, we've unpacked just a few boxes. 

But, we are home. My parents came up to help hang artwork and get us settled, and we have one room at least that feels close to done. 

We are in love with our flooring and the home layout. It is the perfect amount of space for our family and is so nice to come home to!

I've also finished my last week of teaching before break - no school on Friday is a happy bonus :). As I dreamed, I do indeed have a couple of students whose families work for wineries and got some wonderful wine as teaching presents. I have such a great class and we had a lovely last week. 

This is our view from our bedroom at sunrise. I am so happy to be waking up to this every day. Today's goal is to get as much unpacked as possible and really turn this into our space! Hopefully, our counter, sink, stove and dishwasher will go in this weekend and I'll share some more pictures when I can.

Happy Holidays!

Last Visit Before the Move...

Believe it or not, we're moving in next week! Now, our house won't be 100% done - the countertops won't come in until the 15th, which means no stove, sink, or backsplash that first week. Plus, the fireplace may not be 100% done either. But, as long as the floors are in, we'll be good to go :).

I had a productive weekend, painting Evan's room and removing the rest of the wallpaper in our bathroom. We made the judgement call to  have our guy paint the rest of the upstairs, since it wasn't going to be too pricey and then it'd all be done without having to stress.

So, I've decided that this will be my last visit inside the house! I want to have a little bit of that feeling of surprise when we show up on moving day to see all of our new floors and the rest of the paint (and hopefully kitchen cabinets!). We're in the middle of some frenzied packing over here and getting ready to say goodbye to our lovely townhouse.

Here's one last "progress shot" of our paneling room. Can you believe the transformation?!?