New house is officially ours!

January 4th was the closing date on our house. The appointment was in the afternoon, so after we got the keys, we didn't get to the house until later in the day. It is so exciting to finally get ready to start all of the projects we have been planning! We ended up buying the previous owner's riding mower, so the bottom picture is of Anthony testing it out. The pond is really beautiful, but it has a lot of fallen trees and branches around it, so clearing it so you can see it better is on our project list.

Testing out the tree swing:

This is the view from the back sliding glass doors. The tiny house to the left is the pump house for the well. The water is pretty hard, so we are looking around for a water softener and filter for it.

This is the view from one side of the front porch. This is the driveway, if you follow it around the corner it goes to the street, but you can't see the street from the house.

The front yard that you can see from the other side of the front porch.

The view from the far side of the house, the green path towards the back is the path to the pond. The grassy area in the front of the picture is the septic tank drainage field, so we can't put anything or grow anything on it. Figuring out how to properly care for our septic and well systems is another new challenge!

Past the pond is mostly uncleared vegetation. If it was completely cleared out you would be able to see the cemetery that is directly on the other side of our property.

Walking back towards the house:

Front of the house. We are considering repainting and adding shutters as another project.

Rett's favorite part of the new house: peeing in the grass.

The entire house was painted peach and brown and it made everything seem dingy and yellow. I knew I wanted to repaint, so before the closing I picked out colors and got samples. I was so sure I liked the colors, but when I put them on the wall they were much darker than I imagined! So the next day I got more samples to try that were much better. Then it was time to start painting. It took sooooo long to paint the entire house, much longer than I thought it would. Anthony's parents were a big help, they spent days painting while Anthony was at work or I was with the kids. Anthony and I would take turns going over there while someone watched the kids. It felt so good to get the new color up on the wall, This is the living room before. In person it was much more yellow.

After paint:

Working on Rett's room:

The hallway:

For a long time, James didn't really want to talk about the new house. I think all the change gave him anxiety. Any time we talked about painting his room, he said he just wanted to it to be the same color as our room. Then he decided that he liked the original peach color and that he wanted it to stay that color. After I put up sample colors on the wall. We found some old paint in the shed from when they first painted 4 years ago, so we tried it out. It smelled really bad but we weren't sure if that was just temporary. The next day it still smelled horrible, so after school I took James to home depot to pick out new paint for his room. He ended up picking an orangey yellow that is super bright, but kind of a happy color. It isn't what I would have picked, but I was so glad that James was coming around and wanting to make his room his own.

Painting his own room:

After we took his shirt and jacket off, he made sure the door was closed and was yelling, "Don't come in here!" to Mimi. It just gave me a chuckle to see him be modest about his body because he absolutely doesn't do that around us at home!

Master Bedroom:

Working on the side of the dining room where the new aquarium setup is going to go. Anthony built a tank and stand specifically for the new house. He is going to hang the lights from the ceiling!

The kitchen after the walls were painted. The kitchen is yet another project we will be doing. We are going to paint the cabinets white and replace all the appliances with stainless steel.

The dining area:

Rett's room:

The guest room before:

After. This bedroom has a full bathroom and a walk in closet. I am using the closet for storage and this room will have our pull out couch and all of my sewing stuff.

James and Rett loved having Mimi and Papa be at the RV whenever we went over there. They always wanted to go inside and eat bananas and eggs. James insisted that Papa's eggs and Mimi's bananas were so much better than ours at home :)

While making eggs, Anthony's mom cracked one open and found a double yolk! I've never see one before, it was really cool.

We tried to make a fire, but it is too windy and the smoke kept blowing in our faces.

Helping put the fire out:

Eating eggs!

This is a flock of turkeys that have lived in the area since they were little. Anthony saw them while he was there during the inspection, and then his parents saw them one morning. I have been over there almost every day and I still haven't seen them in person!

The neighbors directly across the street from us have two horses that are sometimes right by the fence. I took this picture in the car at the end of our driveway, turning onto the street. Once we are in and settled, we are planning on bringing the neighbors some cookies and asking if they mind if we feed them carrots from time to time. We love our new place!