House Tour

Yesterday marked one month from the day our stuff was unloaded from the moving truck. And what a difference a month makes! Everything has found a place and we are all settled in. Here is a tour of our new home...

Looking in the front door. To the right is the music room and straight ahead to the left is the living room.

Looking to the right into the music room. We bought a kitchen table with 8 chairs, but we decided to only keep 6 chairs at the table. These are the 2 extra.

Continuing to look to the right around the music room.

And further around the music room to the computer cabinet.

Back to the view from the entrance looking to opposite direction from the music room. The door to the right is the downstairs bathroom. I didn't take pics but it is still decorated in TX stuff like we had in IN. :)

Further down that hallway looking into the living room (stairs go up to the right).

Looking back towards the front of the house in the living room (stairs on the left here).

Looking from the living room into the kitchen.

Looking from the kitchen back to the front of the house into the music room. Laundry room is off this hall on the right and pantry is on the left.

From the living room looking up the stairs. They go halfway up and then turn to the right and go the rest of the way up.

Looking to the right at the top of the stairs. Master is through double doors on the right and the playroom is through the door at the left.

Master bedroom looking in from hallway double doors.

Looking into master from master bath door.

Looking at stairs from playroom door. To the left of the little desk is the doors to the master bedroom. To the right of the top of the stairs is Elias' room. The two doors you can see are the kids' bath and the guest room. Elena's bedroom door is just to the left of the guestroom door.

Looking into the playroom door from the little black desk.

Playroom view toward Elena's wall.

Playroom view toward Elias' wall (entrance to room to the left of the pink kitchen set).

Elias' room from entrance door.

Elias' room (entrance door is to the right of this dresser).

Elias' room toward front window.

Guest room bed. It is a twin with a trundle bed underneathe. Plus 3 storage drawers under the trundle! This is my craft room and the closet is full of all my sewing, painting, scrapbooking, smocking, etc. stuff!

Guest room. This is the empty wall where my sewing table is going to go. It is at my sister's house right now because it was on sale at WalMart and was sold out in Austin.

Looking into Elena's room from her door.

Elena's room and teacups from her crib.

Well, that's it! Hope you enjoyed the online tour! Better yet, we hope you will come by for a visit (if you are a Texan) or a stay in the guestroom (if you are a Hoosier)!

Big Hair Day...

I was doing my hair this morning with the great new contraption I recently bought. It is like a curling iron shape, but it has a round brush on the end and it blows hot air like a blow dryer. It is wonderful for people like me who have just enough natural curl to make it look bad if it air-dries, but not enough curl to actually style it curly. So, not only does this wonderful thing curl the ends of my hair under, but it also straightens from the root down.

So.... as I was doing my hair, Elena walks in and takes enough interest in what I am doing that I ask her if she would like her hair done. She immediately repeats "Bow" over and over (yes, we do have pretty much every color and shade of bows possible for this girl!) So, I put some leave in conditioner in her hair and comb it out like normal. But then I section it off and begin drying it with the straightener. I could not believe how much hair she has!!! And how much auburn is in it when it is pulled tight and straight around the brush.

The end result is what follows. I think it is absolutely adorable. She looks way older to me with all that long hair! Still, I love her curls and think this will only be a once every few weeks thing. Noce to know there is another option for when she gets older in case she wishes her hair wasn't so curly someday...

Sweet Morning Conversations

Okay, so first I must begin by apologizing to the one or two of you out there who actually check and read this blog. I have REALLY dropped the ball by not documenting and keeping a written record of our move across the country with 2 small children a mere 4 weeks after major reconstructive foot surgery. Actually, as difficult as it has been, there have been so, so many joyous moments where we have seen the face of God through the acts and words of His people. I really do promise that pictures are coming soon. The house is completely unpacked, pictures are all hung, and now I know where the camera is. So that is at least one step closer to taking pictures!

As for the sweet morning conversations in my heading....
Elias and Adaryll went to church this morning without us girls because Elena has bronchitis and I have a sinus infection. I started an antibiotic Friday night and she started one last night. So, for the sake of the other kids in her class, we decided to keep her home and contain the germs here.

I went into her room at 9am this morning to find her sleeping soundly with Mr. Frog squeezed as tightly as could be. I woke her up and proceeded to change her diaper. At which point she decided it was time for a conversation. This is how it unfolded...

Elena: Daddy?
Me: Daddy is at chuch.
Elena: Eeeee-Yiii-Yus? (translation: Elias)
Me: Yes, Elias is at church too.
Elena: Huh-Hee? (translation: Honey, which is what they call my mom)
Me: Honey is at home.
Elena: (BIG smile) Kye-Yee (translation: Kylee, our neighbor in Indiana who Elena hasn't seen now in over a month)
Me: Kylee is at home too.
Elena: (Big laugh)

And I realized at that point that we really are having conversations these days! She is not just babbling aimlessly (although she still does that some, particularly when she is singing because she knows the tune but not the words, so she just makes up sounds to the melody). I love hearing her little voice and what is in her little mind that she is learning to share.