Our House!

Okay, better late than never! Here you go. Our house in a nut shell.

From the front door this is what you see. This room we would like to do a remodel. It is going to be a little bit before we can afford it, but I am refusing to do any painting in this room or furnish it until it is remodeled. Is that going to drive me crazy? Probably, but I am looking forward to the remodel!

As I mentioned before I want to redo the fireplace. I want a mantle and storage on it. I am going to look online for more ideas, but that is the jest of it.

We want to knock out the two walls here. Make all the flooring the same. Right now we have carpet, pergo and laminate on this level. We want it to be hardwood. A dark rich color.

Our dining room. I want to take the trim off the walls, but I guess I will wait for the remodel.

Our Kitchen. Pretty good size. One the two walls are ripped out I want an "L" shaped island. It will look and feel so much better. I can't wait.

Before you get to the kitchen from the front room there are some stairs that lead to three bedrooms, bathroom, coat closet, linen closet and a pantry (Mormon Closet: When I was looking at the house with the girls (Hans was at work) I open the door to the pantry and the realtor says, "They are Mormon." I knew as soon as I walked in the door that they were with the statues and artwork that they had. But I was curious why he said that. "Oh yeah, why do you say that?" I asked. "Look at all their food storage." he pointed out. "Haha yeah that is what ours looks like too." Who would have thought that tipped him off. I didn't know that Mormons were the only ones that stored food. Now I know what we are known for in our homes.) 

Our upstairs bathroom.

Master Bedroom: We have not done much with this room, but we would like to at some point.

Arlee's room

Lydia's Room:

This was a house warming present that one of friends gave us. Love it. (In Lydia's room)

From the kitchen you can go down stairs to a bathroom/laundry room, family room and toy room/ guest room.

Laundry room side ^^^^^^

 Bathroom side above and below.

Family Room: We had the sliding glass door replaced from aluminum to vinyl. And it has made a world of difference with the temperature of this room.

 Wood burning stove, work out area and computer room.

The backyard, is fully fenced and landscaped. It has a garden, play structure, sandbox, raspberries, grapes, two big trees, a few small fruit trees lining the back fence (can't remember what they are though) shed, wood pile, bbq area and plenty of room to run and play.

The hill I am going to put a slip and slide on it. It is going to be a blast. I will be on the look out for one this summer.

 Back inside is the toy room.

the little door on the left is a crawl space where we store all our holiday decor, water softner, water heater, baby stuff, etc. It is so nice to have all that storage. It goes under the whole main floor to the garage. I will not go in their very far. Hans does all the storing in there. 

We love our house.

Plane, Two Showers, A Baby Blessing and WAY TOO MUCH SHOPPING!!!!!!!!

The girls and I traveled to Utah for a week via plane. It was Lydia's first out of the womb flight and I was so nervous about it. She was my lap child and handled it fairly well considering she had to sit still enough for 2 hours.

 I love the tables that are at the airport for the little kids. The girls made pretty good use of them too.

Me and Lydia enjoying the lap riding... not! Just kidding. The two guys to the side of us (that you can see in the picture) were very understanding.  They entertained her too.  Thank you pure strangers!

 Arlee enjoyed all the snacks, sitting in her seat, taking off, the apple juice, entertaining Lydia and looking out the window. Oh and like any child asking if we are in the air yet, raising her hands for take off, clapping, giggling and just being plain silly. She is really easy to fly with.

Arlee was so excited about all the snow there. I made sure that I brought her stuff so she could go play in the snow. (While we were there in November I didn't even think about packing it. And it was very much missed.) The snow was so deep that they couldn't really walk in it. They opted for sitting and playing instead. Arlee had something in her mouth so she took off her glove. Kasiah tried putting it back on, but wasn't successful. My mom went out and put it on for her. After it was on she decided that she wanted to come back in. They had fun in the ten minutes that they were out there. Now I understand why my mom would get upset at us when we would come in pretty quick after going out. It is a lot of work for that little of play. They had a lot of fun though. I guess that is all that matters.

 We bought Leili a matching outfit and gave it to her when we saw them. I have to say they both look pretty cute! Leili was trying to eat Lydia's hand and Lydia really wasn't wanting to sit there with her. But we managed to get a picture or two worth posting.

 Me with the two kiddos.

The next day was Hans' sister's bridal shower. The house was packed and she got a lot of great gifts.

 Abbie's baby shower was a couple days later. The theme was BABY and it worked out great! So cute. Lyndsay did the invitations, but was unable to be there for it. Kali and I did the shopping for the food and the presents. It was a great turn out and a lot of fun.

 The BABY shower spread.

"Thank you for helping us shower the new mom to be who is about ready to POP!" We gave Tootie Pops for party favors.

 BABY carrots and BABY tomatoes

BABY pizzas (sugar cookies with cream and a strawberry) BABY muffins

 Diaper cake

BABY mush (Fruit dip) BABY skewers

 Diaper Cake

It's a baby girl!

Flower made of onesies, 4 wash cloths- match the hooded towel that we made for her, two pairs of pants and some snap pj's

 Abbie's mother-in-law gave her a soccer outfit for the baby. She thought it was perfect. Abbie is my soccer sister. I miss playing soccer with her. We both love to play and have been on the same teams before after I was 18.

Next up was Ryker's Baby Blessing. Jens did a great job.

Random picture of Lydia sitting on a chair that Stine got from the bridal shower.

Abbie with the girls. I wasn't able to see my niece, Harper or my brother's girlfriend, Sarah (Harper's mom), they were sick and didn't want to risk getting us sick. It is going to be a really long time before we see them again. They are moving to New York this month. : ( Maybe someday we will get to see them. We will wait and see when.

Too much shopping you ask?

Since Hans' sister is getting married I was given the assignment to find a purple dress. Not a big deal right? Wrong! They are so many shades of purple that it is actually really difficult. No place has a basic purple either. Example: It is either more of a blueish, pinkish, lavenderish purple. I hate shopping for a specific thing. Anyway, after several hours of online shopping, two days of store shopping and one dress purchased. It is not the right color purple. You have got to be kidding me. So if you see a "flat purple" dress anywhere that is modest, let me know pronto! The only one that I have found is $250! OUCH.

The NEW Arlee Nichole Hoge

Ever since we have moved Arlee in her own room she has been making it very clear that she doesn't like her new room. She wants to sleep with Lydia. So cute, right? Well I would cave, but you see it is too cute of a room to waste and Lydia has been sleeping much better. Lydia's sleep and Arlee's cute room wins. She is going to have to get used to it. Maybe I am a mean mom? NAH!!!

Also Arlee has been taking Lydia's pink blanket everywhere. If she doesn't sleep with it than we have to listen to her cry about it forever. What would you do? At this point I almost went and got her one of her own, but than I would be feeding the fit frenzy. I fight with myself on a daily basis about this one. She has been really hard the last little bit.

Is it because she has a really cute room? Ha! Ha! Is it because I am not giving her enough attention? Is this ever going to go away? Holy Crap Child! Seriously, this is the end of the world as we know it. So if this is the end; what are we going to do about it? Still not sure...

Oh and don't even let her see anything pink and expect her to be okay with the pretty purple, yellow or red one. The pink trumps all; because "pink is my favorite color" Said with a know it all tone. Oh and don't forget the hip and head shake and a click of her tongue. It is to die for- just ask her.

3-2-1! 1-2-3! What in the heck is bugging me?

Ah, I feel better...

I love my little Arlee Bug!

Sincerely,

The Mother who feels like she knows nothing at all