Home Sweet Home

It has been about a month and a half since we have been back in Spring Hill and in so many ways it feels like we never left!! The hardest thing so far?  Getting Charlotte to stop saying "my old... such and such" and just call it her library or park or grocery store.  haha The only "old" thing she has in SH is her old house she spent her first 2.5 years in. We talk about that house and drive by it often :)

One thing I was worried about is that life for many friends in SH would have moved on and we would feel left behind - I'm very thankful that that isn't the case!  Yes, kids are grown up a little more and life has changed, but thanks to social media and the fact that we visited SH and The Bridge so often while in AL, it really helped to bridge that 11 month gap.

Something I was really looking forward to getting back into when we moved home, was doing 'life' with friends and family on a daily and weekly basis.  Boy have we!  When we moved to Huntsville, I was done unpacking and decorating in about 3 weeks (I had no reason to leave the house!) Now with this house, I'm not even finished and we have been here over 6 weeks!  Charlotte and I have had play dates, park visits, library story time, gymnastics, bible study, House Group, visits with Nan and G - and we have LOVED every minute of it!!  We also love having Jeff working from home again :) On his slower days, we have enjoyed lunches out, trips to the park, shopping, and just hanging out as a family.  It's great to be home.

Even though the house is not 100% done (and probably won't be for months or years with all the things we want to change!) I am finally at a point where I'm happy to share pictures with the world wide web.  I know many of my friends across the country, and across the world, have been wanting to see our new digs!  I'll post some here, but most will be over on Facebook, so visit the album there too :)

Some details on the house: it's a 5 year old, 2 story house with a  french country style exterior. We have 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a bonus room, and loft. Charlotte is very excited to have her own playset outback too!  We have enjoyed our neighborhood so far -all the homes are unique, it's a great location (just about a mile from our old SH place) and a lot of  young families live here.  All the room colors remained the same except for Jeff's office. I may want to change some at some point, but for the most part, I'm glad we only had to do some touch ups - even that took a full weekend.

We are currently in a bit of a unexpected battle over the remainder of the neighborhood with the developer - there are only 30 homes built and another 70+ lots left to go - and he wants to build rental town homes/aka apartments!  That's a whole long story but there ya go!  Totally not excited about this coming about a month into our home ownership, but it's been a great way to meet the neighbors :)

Anyway, on to what you want: pictures!! I'll walk you though the house

First up - the front of the house





Walk through the front door into the Living Room, I love the 2 story ceiling with loft! We still need window treatments, want to change out the furniture, and will eventually hang a tv down there, but I'm happy with it now! You can see the dining room behind... the empty dining room! Need furniture for that one too :)  (everything looks very yellow in the picture, it's a tan paint)





The next room is the kitchen. I like that it is open enough to the living and dining room but my dirty dishes aren't "in your face" when you walk in the door!  We love bay window and our new kitchen table and chairs and the new fridge! And yes, still need window treatments (you'll see a theme soon...) Pardon the crock pot and paper products, our House Group was at our house the night I took the pictures.  (and yes, this room is a yellow/golden color)







Down the hall from the kitchen is the half bath and garage.



 

Then further down the hall is our Master bedroom.  This room needs a total re-do!! I love the new bedding that we got (it's chocolate in color, has a "ruched" effect) and the tray ceiling with rope lighting.  We need furniture, window treatments, artwork, and maybe new paint.  Total project room.  I do like the master bath, it is a chocolate paint color with subtle glossy stripes.  I have drapes to hang and need to add a few more decorative touches.





 

Heading upstairs!! Love the view from the top.  It also is great for sound - I was a little worried about the 2 story thing, I really loved how connected we all felt with our 1 story in AL, but it is so open I still feel connected whenever we are upstairs or down.  And speaking of sound - one of Jeff's favorite features?  In home audio! I love having speakers throughout the house so we can enjoy it room to room.



 

At the top of the stairs, on the other side of the half wall, is Charlotte's playroom. Another reason I love this floorplan - all the toys are upstairs and out of the way but I can hear her and talk to her when I'm in the kitchen and such.



 

First room down the hall is Jeff's office.  He chose a great blue/grey color for the walls.  It's very cozy :)  All he needs is some window treatments - and maybe a new high tech desk.



 

Next up is Charlotte's room!  It was already painted the lime green color, and it perfectly matched the bedding that we got for her 3rd birthday/big girl room.  How adorable!



 

We have a full bath upstairs, need to find another piece of artwork but otherwise I'm happy with it.



 

Across from the bath is our guest room.  I'm so glad to have an official guest room!  We have had a sofa bed in the loft, and a twin bed in the playroom in the last 2 houses.  I have drapes and side table/shelf thing to put in still, but for now all my pictures for the hallway are laid out on the bed until I hang them up! :)  The guest room will be better put together than our master!



 

Finally, our favorite room!  Our rec room/theatre/TV room/bonus room. Jeff wants to get a projector, we still have window treatments to get, and some new chairs. Oh, and our door! The entrance is a doorway that has a step down in the hallway, so it's an odd 8ft or so high.  Our solution is hopefully going to be a sliding "barn door" type thing. I'll def post pics once it's done!  But, I LOVE our couch and the bookcases we put behind it!!





 

That's it for the inside , the final pics are of the back (unless you visit my FB album!) - We inherited the swing set from the previous owner, Charlotte calls it her playground :)  I enjoy the fenced in backyard - I can send her out to swing and slide while I am cooking dinner with the windows open.  I know it seems silly, but I love our back patio - it is raised like a deck, but is poured aggregate with a vinyl railing so it is totally maintenance free (which is totally what we need!!)



 

So there it is! Love our new house, being back in Spring Hill - can't say it enough :)  :)  :)

 

A Pinterest Post for Mom

I know I am totally behind on blogging about our family and Charlotte, I'll have to be a little more behind cause this post is for my mom!  She was very proud of her latest project and wanted to put it on Pinterest but didn't know how. I offered to put up a quick blog and pictures for her and "pin" it for her :) So here goes!

My parents are doing a bit of a Master Bedroom redecoration (largely IKEA based!) and my Mom came up with this great idea for some shelving.  My Mom has an old sewing machine that she displayed family photos on for as long as I could remember, but it didn't really match up with her new contemporary IKEA chairs.  So, it was time to find a new way to display the photos.

There is an unused little corner between two big windows that could house some shelves, but mom wanted to do something a little different than just one shelf  a few inches above the next shelf, etc.  This is her solution! (apologies, I don't have any "before" or "in process" photos)

She purchased different shelves of varying styles and depths, that would all be about the same width to fit in the space. She hung them alternating between the walls.  By doing this, it took up a lot more visual space, gave more space to house the photos, and was very visually appealing.

Overall, I think she had a great idea and executed it very well!  It is a wonderful centerpiece to this reading nook in my parents master bedroom.  We just wanted to share the photos, and maybe inspire you to hang your shelves in a little different way! Enjoy :)

 



 



 



 



 

 

 

 

Tanglefoot

Hello everyone!  It has been just over a month now that we have called Huntsville Alabama home.  Well, maybe not "home" yet, but it is our new residence!   The house starting to feel homey though, we are getting used to where everything is and settling in well I think.  My mom and/or mom and dad have already been down like 5 times, Jeff's parents are coming down this weekend, and we have a couple friends that are starting to plan visits.  The next thing on our priority list is to find a church and start making some friends!  I have kept myself pretty busy with moving and Charlotte and all our Spring Hill trips already, so I haven't found time to really be homesick yet!  With all the holidays coming up, it may be awhile before I feel disconnected from life-as-we-knew-it, and I'm ok with that!  Anyway, enough of my rambling, I just wanted to share some pictures of the house.  Most of you probably have seen them on Facebook, but I wanted to make an official blog post too :)

[gallery order="DESC"]

If you ever find yourself traveling down I-65 and want to swing by for a visit, just give me a heads up!  We'd love to see you all :)

P.S. Our street is Tanglefoot, if you're wondering why the blog title is what it is :)

Emotional Day of "lasts"

Today has been the most emotional one (thus far!) for me.  It is Thursday.  We move on Saturday.  Where did all the time go?

I had to contact the Williamson County Animal Shelter just now.  We haven't been able to find any other options for Brady.  He has driven me crazy lately, but still the thought of him not being around and even worse, being in a shelter with tons of other dogs waiting to be adopted... That awful ASPCA or whatever commercial with Sarah McLauclan is playing over and over in my head.  The lady I spoke with was very positive that being younger, and a small dog, with a specific bread, will find a new home easily.  Plus, they will make sure he gets all his needed shots and whatnot updated.  I think this could be a good thing.... Its just hard to actually do.  I don't want to take him and drop him off tomorrow.  Not one bit.

Charlotte and I went to our last story time at the library today.  Oh, I'm sure we'll find another one at the Huntsville library or Barnes and Noble, but still, this one is familiar and C loves going to Her library.

I have a friend coming over today to pack the last 2 rooms - the kitchen and playroom.  Once those are done, we'll literally have most everything packed.  I'm not ready for it to be done.  That means we have to move to unpack these things in a whole new house. I think the excitement of a new house, a new challenge, etc had taken over the last few weeks but it's a little more daunting now.

Charlotte spend her last night in this house tonight. Ever.  That make me extremely sad.  She has slept in her room since the night we brought her home.  2 years and 9 months of that being HER room and now it won't be.  C is very excited about her new house and her new room, etc.  She doesn't grasp the concept of what that means and what will change, I'm afraid for the time when it does sink in to her that we won't live in the house she remembers anymore.  We won't go to the Home Depot where her Nan works, won't go to the Bridge anymore, won't go to her favorite Target store, won't have her Daddy home every day.... won't, won't, won't.

We had our weekly play date with Allison, Hazen, and Laney Combs yesterday.  Had a great time at their house, and then at the park for lunch and time on the playground.  It wasn't until we were leaving that I realized that's the last time we'll see them as Tennesseans.  We have already talked about plans for them to visit us in Hville or us to make SH trips, but still... it won't be the same as living less than 5 minutes from each other and just getting together to play during the mornings.  Because I didn't realize that this was the last time I'll see Allison for a while (she is leaving to ATL tomorrow and won't be back til after we move) I didn't get to actually saw bye like I wanted.  Maybe that's a good thing...

Our last Sunday at the Bridge was Sunday.  Eesh.  The Bridge is what brought my family and Jeff down to Tennessee/Spring Hill in 2003.  (Jeff and I weren't part of the Bridge for a few years as we leaved in North and East Nashville, we came back in 2008)  Josh recognized all the website, video, and tech work that Jeff has given to the Bridge over the years... it seemed so final.  There were so many people I wanted to say goodbye too, but then it just felt like a normal Sunday and I know we'll be back to visit so in some ways it didn't seem necessary.   And then we were done.

The night before, we had our last "hoo-rah" with a bunch of people from church to hang out and watch the UFC PPV.  We love hosting these events.  I had a moment during the night where I just stood and looked at the full room as we pulled chairs in from all the different rooms so everyone had a seat and I wondered... when will this happen again?  How long will it take us to find a new group of friends, a new church, a new UFC bunch ;0), to fill up our living room?   As my mom pointed out, I love playing hostess, and the thought that I may not do that again for a while was a little depressing.

My dearest and oldest (old like we've been friends forever, not that she is old!) friend Sarah also came down Saturday afternoon and stayed the night and went to church Sunday.  Sarah lives in Bowling Green KY, which is only an hour and a half or so away.  It's totally close enough that every 1-2 months she'll come down for a weekend, especially if it is a birthday or special get together.  And she is friends with Josh and Jana Howerton and loves the Bridge, so that's an added bonus for Spring Hill visits!  Now with us being in Huntsville, it is going to double the drive from BG and not have the Bridge and the Howertons to share a visit with.  We've already talked about how she can still come to Huntsville, but I know it won't happen near as frequent.  I'll miss our times together!

Jeff's parents came down Sunday afternoon for lunch and to watch the Titans game.  They live in BG as well, but sadly we don't see them near as often as we should!  I'm hoping that we'll be able to get a full or queen size bed for a guest bed instead of just a twin, and then they can actually come down and stay a weekend! We will be much more intentional about visits with them.

We had a last dinner with my parents too.  They took us to Pancho's mexican restaurant to celebrate Jeff's birthday.  I'm so used to my parent's being 10 minutes away.  We can just decide, hey, lets do dinner. We see them at church, they stop by the house just to say hi, we go out to the Ridge to use their hot tub.  It's easy and comfortable.  Plus, we have built in free and reliable babysitters that charlotte loves!  I know I'll still talk to them all the time, and we'll make many visits. But it won't be the same.  It won't be the same for my Nana either.  We would make pretty regular trips on Wednesday to play at her house and eat dinner (she lives in Nashville, about 30 minutes away from us)  We are all going to miss our time together.  She has already talked to my parents about making plans for her first trip to Huntsville, so that makes me happy :)  I love my sweet family.  Hannah has already moved to Cincinnati so I know I won't see her til Thanksgiving probably, but still, it feels different now.

Wow... this post went long.  I was just gonna write about Brady and our last story time... oops!  I guess is this probably more of a journal entry than a blog post that people will actually want to read!  So don't worry if you aren't reading this, or if you are and you skipped right over a bunch of stuff!

Oh and no, I didn't read over it and do any type of proof reading so no judgement!!

We found a house!

We found a house in Huntsville!  We spent many hours, looked at tons of houses, and had to decide between renting, buying, or building.  We finally decided that while it's more fun to buy, especially a brand new house like the ones we were looking at, it would be best to rent for a bit.  We'll get to know the area better, make sure the job is gonna stick ;), and save up some more money for a better downpayment.  We would also have the flexibility to then build the house that we really want in the subdivision we really want and have plenty of time to get that going.

All that said, we are looking forward to the house that we are going to call home for the next year!  It isn't perfect, I think we'll have some creative space planning things to decide, and it's a little further drive from things than I'd prefer, but it's a really nice place.  It is by far the cleanest we have seen (and boy did we see some icky ones!) it is cute as a button from the outside, its got a great yard, deck, and long driveway for Charlotte to play on, and has some great features like a fireplace, hardwood floors, tray ceilings, big bedrooms, and a lot of storage.  It's a little smaller than our house now - 2100 sq ft vs our current 2600, but it's 4 bedrooms, 2 bath, and has a nice sunroom. OH, and one FANTASTIC thing I'm finding in Alabama - most homes are 1 STORY!  I am so looking forward to being on one level and not having tons of stuff piled on the stairs to go up or downstairs. :)

Here are a couple pictures - of course it will look different with our stuff in it :)

Isn't it cute!  109 Tanglefoot Huntsville AL 35811

It's 1.23 acres... Jeff's gonna love mowing this one!

Kitchen is a bit smaller and not open to the living room, but it's nice and clean and laid out well.

Nice LR with hardwoods, tray ceilings, and fireplace. Our biggest challenge is gonna be figure out furniture placement :)

Stay turned for our next blog post: we'll take a trip on our Car Carousel!

Lost :(

Well, sad news. We lost a year and a half of blog posts :( We switched hosting companies and went back to get the data but the company had been sold and wiped all their stored data. or something like that. Anyway, the posts are gone. I had grand plans of making a book out of the posts documenting charlottes first couple years. Well, I need to stop talking about it all cause I'm gonna cry.
Onward and upward we go.

We Sleep Like Kings

Jeff and I have been sleeping on our wonderful queen bed for years now.  Jeff bought it back when we were dating (I helped him pick it out of course!) so it is a good 5 plus years old.  The age isn't as bad, but the fact that it has been taken apart, moved, and put back up at least 6 times now had begun to show its wear.  The mattress was starting to permanently have Jeff and Jordan shapes and we were not getting good nights sleep from it.  We looked at moving up to a King but the cost of the bed, mattress set, bedding, etc, was just going to be too much at this time.  We decided to go ahead and look at getting just a basic queen mattress for the time being so we can get a good nights sleep and upgrade later.

As you read in the Labor Day post, we went to Mattress Inn here in Spring Hill and found a great sale they were having and we ended up being able to get a full King set with frame for not a lot more than what we were thinking of spending for just a queen mattress.  We did have to factor in new bed linens but between the savings going to places like overstock.com and Ross and looking at the long term savings of going ahead with it now, the King won!

The bed was delivered last Tuesday and linens came via UPS over the past week.  While we still need a headboard, the bed is wonderful!  We have slept many wonderful nights - and we don't roll over and hit or kick each other either!  Here is to many more comfortable and cozy nights in our big fabulous bed.

[gallery columns="2"]

The Long Awaited Living Room

Well after 9 months folks it is finally here! We have furniture in our Living Room!  (Funny it took as long to grow Charlotte as it did to get some furniture... sad) We moved into this house in January and moved from about 900 square feet to over 2400, needless to say there were some empty or sparse rooms.  The formal living and dining rooms were the worst - didn't have a thing in them excepting the occasional pack n' play.  We are not formal people so didn't know what we wanted to do with the rooms, plus it costs $$ to furnish a home at at this point a nursery was more important!  I would have been fine leaving it empty - Brady loves running after his toys in there.  However, if you have been to my home you probably experienced a moment or two of awkwardness when you walked in.  That's because these two empty rooms are the rooms that you walk directly into when you come into our home.  Odd isn't it?  I would feel weird walking into someones seemingly empty home (especially if I knew how long they lived there!) Well it was time to get something done - it was driving me crazy, we had some extra cash, and we were having a lot of things happening at our house in the coming weeks (including dad's big 50th!) so we decided to get it done.

[gallery columns="2"]

Read "more" of our Craigslist adventure here...