Showing posts with label Our Van. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Our Van. Show all posts

Friday, February 26, 2010

Welcome To Our Home

Hello, and welcome to "the new house". We closed on it tonight, and then headed over to look it over. Snug and Little Monkey Man will give you the full tour. Or at least show up in many of the pictures because they were running around the empty house like crazy.
There are two closets as you walk in the front door, and this one is really neat. Snug is standing in it and you can see how big it is!

To the left of where Snug was standing is MORE storage space.

Here is one of two bathrooms. It isn't surprising Little Monkey is in this picture as he loves bathrooms. L O V E S them. They hold SO many fun things. Water...potties...toilet brushes...yeah, they are so fun. This bathroom won't have anything done to it as the paint and everything are in good condition. The curtains? They gotta go.

Here is the boys' room. It will be the smallest room they have ever been in...even smaller than the rental. That is the one thing I don't really like about the house is the bedroom sizes, but we really couldn't find a 3 bedroom with bigger rooms that we could afford-found lots of houses with bedrooms smaller than these. This room will get a coat of paint, curtains, and it looks like a new set of blinds.

Ignore the white spots all over this picture, something was on my lens. This is our room. It is also pretty small, but the curtains and the paint-oh my. The paint actually looks OK in this picture, but it isn't. Three walls are a dirty off white color and dirty. The fourth wall is yellow. The trim also looks pretty good in this shot, but it has been painted dark brown, and not painted well. I actually made #1 take down the curtains tonight-they were just GAG.

Anyone who had been to our old house will recognize this floor :o) It is the SAME flooring we had at our old house. This room won't have to have any paint. #1 is thankful for that!
Eventually I'd love to replace the cabinets and take out that wall oven, along with converting the "eat in kitchen" (maybe for a family of 2) you see on the right side of the picture into more cabinets/counter tops.

This is me standing in the dining room looking out to the living room. The kitchen is on the left, the bedrooms on the right.

Now I am standing by the fireplace looking at the entrance. You can see Snug in the closet I love, and the coat closet. This room needs to be painted also. You can see the top right part of the picture where they had things hung on the wall and the paint has actually faded. On the top left of the picture you can see where the garage comes in...to the right is the basement stairs, to the left another bathroom (didn't take pictures of it).

And this is looking into the dining room. To the right is the kitchen and straight ahead goes out to the backyard.

This is the basement as seen from the bottom of the stairs. They left this lovely couch for us, but I think if we vacuum, disinfect, and wash it we will use it. The fireplace can be used (the upstairs one must be cleaned and the chimney cleaned) but we think we are going to save for an insert in this one and heat the basement with it. We love a wood burning fireplace, and want the one upstaires to stay that way.
More shots of the basement. It has a great high ceiling so eventually a drop ceiling will be in order.

This is looking at the basement stairs. The wooden part is built in under stair storage. The walls are painted...but won't look like that forever. This area isn't our top priority.

Seriously, the spots are awful on my camera. I even cleaned the lens when I took this one. I hope my camera isn't on the fritz. This is another area of the basement. They were nice enough to leave lots of interesting things and even some garbage for us.

So we have lots of work to do. We have nearly 2 months to do it in before our lease is up on the rental. We want to be in this house by the first of April, but don't have to be. Mostly cleaning and painting. We have a huge list of "we'd like to..." but the down payment on this one pretty much wiped out "we'd like to..." for awhile. Paint, paint paint. That is our goal.
I didn't get any pictures of the backyard because it was dark out and we are in the middle of a snowstorm. The house has a 2 car garage with a garage door opener (we didn't have that before*). The backyard is twice the size of our old one, and they left the swing set and a Little Tykes play set climbing thing. It also has a really nice deck. We spend lots of time outside so that was a trade off for small bedrooms. Really we spend most of our time in the living areas of the house and backyard, not in our rooms.
I hope you enjoyed your tour. I realize I didn't take a picture of Hannah's room, but it needs a lot of work. I'll try to remember to photograph it next time and then you can see how our makeover progresses. We're hoping a good cleaning and coat of paint, along with working on the sockets (all 2 prong, no 3 prong) will get us where we need to be to move in. We plan on being in this house for many many years, so we can slowly do things as we get the money and as we get the dream. Right now we are just tired!
*When we pulled into the garage tonight, something Snug has never had happen before, he said "Oh look at the big room for our van!!!"

Friday, August 7, 2009

Carriage Hill Metropark Farm

Today the boys and I, and our imaginary playgroup, went to Carriage Hill Metropark Farm, a living historical farm from the 1800s. We were supposed to meet our church playgroup there, but due to it being summertime and the fact that I really should have gotten the e-mail out sooner, we were alone (except for daddy, but more on that later).
They have fully restored this farm and put back into working order. They boys are in front of the house here. The people working here (both staff and volunteers) dress in period costumes.

Animals are also part of the farm, and the chickens/this rooster are free to walk about as they please.

Snug's chicken catching finesse is about as good as his kitten catching finesse. I'd LOVE to link you to that post, but unfortunately I am having quite the time looking at anyone's blog today, including mine. Google seems to think I am a robot and not a human and is blocking me from all angles. Something about automated queries...Grrr.

Sitting in the window of one of the barns...

They have a blacksmith working there too. Today he was making staples to hold some kind of fencing together.

Playing in the barn...

This wet spot (not an animal barn, used for farm equipment so I don't think it was urine) and crack were most interesting and needed thorough investigation.
Inside the visitors center (pictured at the very top) was a country store where you can buy handmade gifts and penny candy, along with a children's discovery area. Baby J is playing with the wood burning heater. Glad it is fake!

He also enjoyed some time on the front porch...
...while Snug attended school.
Back outside Snug enjoyed some time throwing rocks in the creek. I think he would have done this for hours had we had the time.

Oh look! There's daddy! He is supposed to be home resting after his surgery*. Nope, mommy, with the help of Snug, locked the keys in the van. He came to the rescue and enjoyed the last part of the day.

Baby J did not get to enjoy the creek, as he is not old enough to climb down the embankment and mommy didn't want to risk dropping him in. He sat up on the bridge and watched.
If you live in the Dayton area, you have got to check this place out!
*#1 had a minor procedure today, don't worry, he is FINE. I just had hoped to give him some space. He is so fine in fact, he is currently out mowing the lawn!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Christmas!

Dear Friends and Family (and lurkers who read my blog and don't leave comments :o),

This is our official Christmas letter. If you are reading this entry you are either a frequent reader of my blog, got our Christmas postcard and checked this address out, or happened upon my blog from another blog. Welcome! Please note that I do not usually use our family's real names to protect their privacy, and if you are reading after January 15 their names have been removed. There are many places you can click to see more information...hang on, this is a L O N G post!
This was a big year for our family. Two of the biggest things for 2008 were having Baby J, and starting Financial Peace University.
Winter 2008 brought lots of beautiful snow! Snug posed for a few pictures but...

...he also fell quite a bit seems how he learned to walk just a couple of months earlier. Chester did his best to help him, being a snow dog and all!

March came in like a lion, but definitely went out like a lamb. Here is one of my favorite pictures from 2008...unfortunately that scrape on Snug's nose was also his first scar (many more to come, I'm sure!)
Snug got his new big boy bed...and see that paci in his mouth? He gave it up on his own a couple of days after this picture was taken.

All dressed up for Easter Sunday.

Watching a Cedarville University baseball game at Dayton Dragon's stadium. These boys guys love to play and watch ball!

If only our grass looked this nice all summer! Snug loves to play outside and pick dandelions. We had very little rain this summer, so by the end our grass looked a little more like the Sahara than this!
Memorial Day bubbles with Grandmommy.

Uncle Nathan got to come for Memorial Day too! He and my parents were on their way back from a wedding.

Softball is a big part of our spring...summer...and fall! Snug absolutely loves watching daddy play. #1 still loves his job as a police officer and is now a certified fitness trainer. He enjoys working out daily...and is trying to motivate me :o)
Here is a photo of #1's team at their Virginia Beach tournament.

A family photo at the Richmond Zoo. We had such a nice day at this zoo...and it was an unexpected part of our trip. Our flight was at 8:00pm not am. So we had 12 hours to kill and a beautiful zoo to explore.

Snug is feeding a giraffe! What a treat!

After a few weeks of bed rest it was time for Baby J to be born! He weighed 7 lbs 1 oz, 21 inches long. Snug loves being a big brother, and helps take very good care of him.

Baby J had many visitors come see him at the hospital. Here he is with Uncle Daniel.

Welcome to the family Baby J!

Baby J posed in daddy's softball glove, just like Snug did 2 years ago.


We spent most of July hanging out in the backyard. #1 even got in on the pool action!
We also had lots of out of town visitors to see Baby J. My mom and dad came a few times, and of course "Pop Pop" helped us fix a few things around the house.

My Aunt Beth, cousin Katie, and her four children came to visit when Baby J was a few weeks old. I love how Daniel is making the same face as Jack (and that he is wearing a Michigan shirt!).

Aunt Carol from Michigan came too. Her grandkids (and their parents!) go to church with us, but this was the first time they met Baby J. We miss our out of town friends and family, but really love our local friends and many are like family.

Hi there! This is Snug. I am going to take over my mom's letter and share some of my thoughts for 2008. This year I learned to walk, talk, run, ride my tricycle (with help), jump, swim, use the potty, and charm everyone. Ok, I've been doing that last one since I was very small, but I haven't lost my touch. I enjoy having kids here everyday to play with, visiting the library, eating, and I LOVE going to church. I like to color, play with my cars and trains, and I LOVE everything that has anything to do with sports. If you want to keep up with me as I grow, visit this blog and maybe that will happen...I'm growing fast!

For those of you who don't know these two, they are Brent and Doneda. They are Snug and Baby J's godparents (I don't think that needs a capital...not sure) and good friends of ours. They are the ones who started us on our Financial Peace journey this year. They (of course) also came to see Baby J. Thank you to everyone who came out to meet Baby J, help while I was on bed rest, and brought meals. We appreciate it very much.
In August a softball tournament brought us to Michigan and we made the most of it! It coincided with Aunt Jane returning from Africa, and Uncle Nathan and Aunt Danielle were visiting also. Please know that we I forced Jenny and Grandmommy a few people to take this shot, but we had a great African dinner while we were there.
Snug turned 2 in August...and I still can't believe it. We had a party at our house in Ohio, and then another one in Michigan. Now if you ask him "Snug, how are you?" he will answer as if you had asked "Snug how old are you?" with a hearty "I two!". If you ask how old he is, he is likely to tell you he is 3 or 4...because he would really like to be just like the other kids I babysit for.
We got to see lots of family at Snug's second birthday/welcome home Aunt Jane/get to visit with Nathan and Danielle party. This is my cousin Crystal with Baby J...who slept (he spent the first two months sleeping).
Uncle Nathan and Aunt Danielle
Big brother and going to be bigger than him little brother

The fall brought some big surprises for us, and we were very glad for our "emergency fund". We had a hurricane (yes, you read that correctly) that left us without electricity for a week. During this time we got to know our neighbors and found out Snug can work like nobody's business! And we do have the best neighbors in the world!

Our "new kitchen"

Some of our storm damage. We were so blessed, many people had limbs on their homes and a few were killed.

And this was our other fall surprise. Halloween night I hit a deer (or did it hit me?). Everyone was fine, but we went through quite an ordeal and learned that we really cannot get away with one car. Thank you to all our friends and family that helped us through this situation also!

Here is a nicer Halloween picture. Snug needed a haircut, but insisted he keep his "pike". I gave him a makeshift mohawk that we actually liked, and we are not normally mohawk people. #1 says it "fits his personality". When we eventually cut it off, he cried. He still asks for it and it is weeks later...we'll see...

Baby J's baby dedication was also in October. We love our church and are so blessed to have many people there who love and care for our children.
Snug, Baby J, and I got to go to my cousin Kevin and his new wife Rachel's wedding reception in October. They were married in July, but had a lovely reception for those of us who didn't get to go. (You know, those of us who had just had a baby!) This picture is of my cousin Melissa's two boys with ours. Jayce is almost four months younger than Snug, and Grayson is about 2 months younger than Baby J.

(Snug here again...are you still reading this? My mom is soooo long winded! This is another of my mom's favorite pictures. See how nice I am sitting with my brother?)

The Ohio State vs. Michigan game is a 'holiday' in the Dray household. #1 has been partying alot more than I have been in the past few years, but we still enjoy the day. We enjoyed the game with our neighbors the Castles this year (thanks guys!)
In December we became debt free. It was a lot of work, but God has blessed us richly this year, and we hope we can in turn, be a blessing to others. If you want to know how on earth we did this with the current economy, please ask us, or visit http://www.daveramsey.com/
Merry Christmas!
Love,
The Drays