The Past 14 Months...

(Waves hands)

Hey!  HEY!  

Being totally honest here, my typing skills are feeling a little rusty this morning.  Chris is sleeping in and he left the computer on the table.  And I made the CRAZY, just spur of the moment decision to actually USE IT.  He took it as his own about six weeks ago.  Leaving me with my phone.  But no real way to write.  Other than, you know, old school pen and paper.  

But mostly, I've been using that old school pen and paper to write out a packing schedule, preschool names and creating dinner menus with what's left in the fridge and pantry.  Which at this point is one potato, two onions and some frozen blueberry pancakes.  

See, Chris got a new job.  And it's good and right and exciting.  But it means moving.  For the second summer in a row.  

So, we've been busy.

All those details, I'll write soon.  Because I don't want to miss documenting them and because I need to process it all.  My head is still on spin cycle.  

Today, I'm going to write about and pay my respects to this little house we've been occupying for the last fourteen months.  I would like to say that's the shortest time we've lived somewhere but it's not.  We lived in our first apartment in Brunswick for less than a year.  

I never posted any real pictures of our house.  This little piece of paradise in the middle of a huge neighborhood.  Chris said all year long he thought we'd only be here a year and I kept saying NO WAY.  I thought for sure God had given us this house for the long term.  To be THE house all of our friends and the kids' friends would come to for fun and relaxation.  I just knew we were gifted this house to bring rest to ourselves and others.

And we absolutely found that.  

For fourteen months.

In oh so many ways, it offered us the rest we desperately needed.  This is the only house we have purchased needing no work.  It was clean, new flooring, new paint and completely ready to go when we walked in the door.  No ugly wall paper to remove.  No poor duck work and windows to replace.  No bathroom remodel.  

Of course, it's not really in our nature to do absolutely nothing.  Plus we do enjoy house projects.  But the things we tackled were optional.  Because we wanted to do them and not because anything HAD to be done.  

And thankfully, the projects we did added value.  

Plus, we loved them.  So totally worth it.

So with all that said, enjoy the tour of our latest home!

 Front of the house.  I kinda loved the blue front door and the big tree.

Our side yard.  The lot was a third of an acer.  Out here, that's HUGE (I'm gonna need you to say that in your best Trump voice.  Thank you.)  Had we not moved, we would have fenced in this side yard to add more play space.  

The view as you opened the front door.  

Dining room.  Our HUGE (Again.  And thank you.) dining room table fit well into the space.  We installed the wood chandler.  I got it off a FB trading site.  Super cheap.  And gorgeous.

Across from the dining room was the bonus room.  We used it as the playroom/guest bedroom/craft room.  This is the staged version but I totally dig it.  

Like last year, stagers came as part of our package deal with our realtor.  I worked like a dog to get the house staged before they came.  I wanted them to walk in and just love it all and change nothing.  Basically, that's what they did.  They moved two things out of the living room but left everything else.  The entire time, they kept saying that normally, they would pare down the decor much more (which, for me, was already bare bones!) but they loved the styling so much, they wanted it to stay.

And, yes, I pretty much beamed.  Our realtor has suggested I get into the staging business and should I ever decide to do it, to call him.  I'm not interested (mostly) but I ATE IT UP regardless.  I love, love, love homemaking.  All the things that make a home a home.  I'm in.  

Okay.  Moving on.

From the front of the house, the kitchen was the next space.  It was such a nice size.  The walk-in pantry was dreamy.  The appliances were new with the exception of the dishwasher.  Which we updated right away.  Those older dishwashers are loud and use obscene amounts of water.  

The dream was to paint the cabinets white.  Except for the island, which would have been turquoise.  Clearly.  But we never got around to any of that and that's okay.  

The kitchen table and the dining room were open to each other.  It was super nice for guests.  The adults could eat in the dining room and the kids in the kitchen.  

Looking from the kitchen, our little living room.  

It was certainly our smallest living room.  Minus apartments, of course.  But it was cozy and, honestly, a good size for our family.  Other houses in the neighborhood with our floor plan have fireplaces in the corner.  I am grateful we did not.  Because the chair and table are way cuter and much more useful.  In Texas anyway.

This is the view of my favorite house project.  The pallet wall.  Chris built this for me and y'all?  It took about two hours.  For reals.  He laid out the sizes and colors in the garage before nailing it to the wall.  We had the pendent lights installed when we moved in.  There were no lights there at all and it was dark.  We picked out lights that worked with Mason jars.  Really, the entire thing is swoon-worthy.  And so on point with decorating trends.  Thank you, Fixer Upper.

I totally loved how the kitchen opened up to the living room and, when the back door was open, to the outdoor space too.  Beautiful flow and function.

The bedrooms were split so Aubrey Kate and Rhys had their own side of the house.  

Their bathroom was small but it worked for them.  Chris built the pallet shelf.  It stayed with the house.  It fits the house well and took so little time to build.  If I want another one, he can build me one on a Saturday.  The shower curtain is an embellished sheet.  The stagers went nuts for that thing.  They had never considered using sheets for anything other than bedding.  To which I said, I rarely consider sheets for bedding!  All three bedrooms had sheets for curtains.  They are cheap and easy and long.  What's not to love!

Our bedroom was comfy.  Not huge, or even spacious but it was enough.  

The master bath was a better lay out than last house.  It also had our first granite anything.  I wanted to paint the cabinets black but, again, never got around to it.  I will say the granite was super nice.  Easy to clean and it almost never really looked dirty.  That was nice since I spent most of the year being out and about instead of cleaning.  

Without a doubt, the best part of the house was our back yard.  The kids spent ALL YEAR on the deck and patio.  We had a TV and fan installed.  Hours, y'all, hours spent outside playing, grilling, eating and just being kids.  

The yard was plenty of space for us too.  Chris built some corn hole boards this summer.  Those along with horseshoes?  Kinda the perfect outdoor experience.  

And the pool.  The pool we were in no way looking for but we got anyway.  We lived in it for two summers.  We swim every day and we have not gone a single week this summer without having at least one play date here for swimming.  My favorite response to the kids' question of "Can we swim today?"  "Yes, we own the pool.  The answer is always yes."

Even in the winter, when we didn't swim, having the water there was relaxing.  There is something about the sights and sounds of water moving that is so refreshing.  And thanks to the relatively mild Texas winters, we were able to spend a good deal of time outside.  

Of course, having the pool for a mere fourteen months has ruined us forever.  Our next house does not have a pool  Not for lack of want.  It simply was not a possibility.  We had about three days to sell the current house and buy the next house.  We saw over 20 houses in two days.  Literally, we had to buy based on what was available at that moment.  Because of school, we had to move quickly.  AK needed to be registered for kinder somewhere.  Moving to an apartment for a little while and waiting to find the perfect house was not an option this time.

So the kids will tell anyone who will listen, or dares ask, they are not happy about moving.  Because the new house doesn't have a pool.  It does have a good sized yard and a patio to play on but I get it.  I'm gonna miss the pool as much as they are.  Possibly more.  Because let's face it, play time in the pool is good for several hours a day of entertainment.  And in a summer where the togetherness factor is sky high, THAT IS GOOD STUFF.  

However, I am older and, hopefully, wiser than the kids.  I can be grateful for the two summers with the pool without wasting too much time and emotional energy being disappointed for the next move.  I will for sure miss it.  But the job change is completely worth it.  Being with Chris more is worth a pool.  One day, the kids will know that too.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our last house!  That is if anyone is actually reading this.  I've been out of pocket for so long.  Hopefully, Chris will get his new work computer soon and my laptop will be returned.  Hopefully!