House Update

Since my "readers" have been requesting a house update - here it is! LOL

(Yes, that's you, Jenn!)

These pictures were taken in our homeschool room. It has been rearranged a little since then because of the wood stove, but it's pretty close. This is Daniel's little play area where I can keep an eye on him while the girls work. Garr's mom gave us the rack and bins and it has been great for keeping Daniel's toys organized and close at hand. We really like it. Below that are Daniel and Olivia working on patterns at the homeschool table. Too cute!

We tore out that disgusting green carpet and replaced it with this Brazillian Cherry hardwood. We love it! It is a bit tough to keep swept up between the kids, the animals, and the wood from the stoves, but it is way easier than carpet! These photos were taken back in Sept. before we arranged the living room. The flooring runs the whole length of the living and dining rooms - about 44'x20'. Garr installed it - he did a great job! I'm so blessed to have such a handy husband!

Here is our living room fireplace before we got the insert. I haven't really done any decorating yet in these photos. Everything on the mantle was just stuck there for lack of a place to put it. Garr and I aren't thrilled with the colors in the living room and will probably repaint - the wall color just looks like mud to me (it's supposed to be "Linen") and I want something warmer - maybe "Cocoa-ish." The next two photos are our dining room (still nothing on the walls yet.) It's our favorite room of the house though! And the last two photos are our "game/puzzle/folding laundry" table in the living room! I've always wanted a table set up for games and now I have it!

The kids have enjoyed making smores in the living room fireplace!!

Our house has only a fireplace for heat. And our house is too big to heat with one fireplace. There is also baseboard heat, but the people before us took the fuel tank. And there are cracks in the baseboard (it's solid steel) so that has been tricky to fix. Add to that the price of fuel oil, and the fact that we have been offered a TON of free wood (that Garr has to chop and bring home, but still!) So we decided to heat with wood. We bought this wood stove and Garr installed it in the homeschool room. The kids were helping to carry wood in these pictures. I wish I could have gotten a better one of Daniel - he looked so cute carrying his little log into the house!

Garr cleaned out our fireplace chimney and installed an insert (more efficient and better heat.) This is him afterwards, finally sitting down. We joked about him looking like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins!! lol Poor guy! I made him smile for the first picture, but the second photo is how he really felt. lol What a great husband I have!!