Home

This was our home for the majority of my adult life, the entirety of my kids' lives and every minute of our marriage. I love this house. I love the layout, the location, the size, the windows, the yard, the ditch, the backyard. A bigger house with some different options is going to be pretty nice and I know that we are going to create all new memories, but I never want to forget all of the ones that we made in our first home. 

This view gives me so many memories: the boys ALWAYS sitting at that counter to eat and looking through to the TV, sitting in that red chair HOURS AND HOURS feeding both of the boys in the middle of the night, Max laying in the red chair, Anderson laying on the couch, the month where there was a giant hole in the room and we had no floor or furniture, the birthday/holiday banner always hanging across the kitchen window,Anderson crawling and playing all over the floor. And, of course, life is not all good memories. We were crying on that couch when we heard the news about Jpa. We sat at that table and ate Subway with them that same evening on the day everything changed. I remember those things, too. 

The deck: all of the playing various things outside (dinosaurs, explorers, scientists, destroyers, etc.)

The backyard: the sprinklers, the sandbox, the cardboard box fort, the yellow jeep, football, soccer, sweating to death. 

Here is a better view of the counter. I've always loved those green chairs. 

That space between the counters is probably where I spent most of my time, catering to the little people on the counter, loading/unloading dishes, putting up groceries. 

Also, that StoryPeople print is my absolute favorite thing hanging in my home and will be moving with us. 

The fireplace: all of the Christmas and Easter celebrations. I always hated that black thing hanging up there but never actually bought anything to replace it. I remember the first TV we had in that room just sort of blowing up one night when Anderson was little. 

Brandon lived with his parents and worked so hard for us to buy that fridge when we got married. I liked it because it has a detachable ice thing to dump in coolers and, twelve years later, I still cannot figure out how to do it. 

Right there-there's my spot!

I love this furniture that was Pappaw's. It fits perfectly in our kitchen. We have many memories at this table. My favorite memory of this room was on our wedding night when we sat on the floor (no furniture yet) and ate leftover food from our wedding reception. I was in my wedding dress and Brandon was in his tux and we just sat there and ate as married homeowners. 

This room is so random and was almost more of a hallway than anything because I am not entirely sure that couch has been actually used more than 3 times. There has been a lot of use of the rug, as Gabbi lays on it all of the time and the boys have used that area for lots of playing. There also was a giant train table right there for about 5 years, which was always fun to navigate around. Now that I think about it, how did that vase never actually break?

The stairs make me think of the worthless baby gates that my kids could either climb over or rip off within about 6 months of their births. By the time we left, Chloe could no longer climb up them. The boys always used this runway to jump onto the bed. Also, there has been so much basketball dribbling in this room for the last few years. 

Also, lots of play time on this large carpeted space in front of our bed: football, soccer, basketball, wrestling, etc. 

Better view of our floor playspace....

That green was a good idea when we painted it, but now it does look sort of ugly. 

This room was a guest room before we had kids and then was Anderson's room and then Max's room. Now, it is sort of both of their rooms as they both slept in the bunk beds and fought over the top bunk every night. 

Anderson's room upstairs is basically where he keeps his clothes because nobody sleeps up there. We bought that furniture when I was pregnant with Max and I remember that it was pouring rain when it arrived and Anderson & I were hunting worms in the ditch. 

This random landing space provided lots of entertainment for the first years of the boys' lives. I mean, we spent A LOT of time up there playing with every toy ever owned for 87 hours a day. 

More landing space. Also, we have an amazing attic behind those doors. I mean, I cannot express how amazing our attic is behind those doors. 

Our HUGE backyard provided ALL of the years of fun. The sandbox, the sprinklers, the digging for things, the forts, the dog poop....all of it.

I love that house and am so grateful for all of the time we had there. When I asked both boys what their favorite part was of it was, they both said: the ditch! 

More to come as we actually settle in this new house and make it our home. 

a video of our home