first tour of my new home!

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, than you already know that I just closed on my very first home this Thursday!  A little terrifying, but very exciting! 

Finally! My own place...to decorate however I want!!  And oh boy do I have plenty of ideas (thank you, Pinterest, for being made before I bought my first home! lol)

But first, I will give you a tour of my empty condo.  Cuz I know you wanna see!  :}

Come on in...

 This is the first thing you see when you walk in the front door.  Stairs to the left, guest bathroom straight ahead.

You can also see into the living room and back into the doors to the patio that are between the kitchen (to the left at the back) and the dining room (to the right at the back)

Walking into my living room and my happy little fireplace...and the dining room behind it. 

Turning around to the other  corner of the living room you can also see into the guest room.  

My kitchen to the left of the patio doors. 

Ok, moving on up the stairs you can see the upstairs bathroom at the top. 

Standing at the top of the stairs...bathroom to the left, craft room straight ahead, and my bedroom to the right.

My bathroom. 

Little laundry closet behind the bathroom door.

I don't even need a laundry basket! Ha! Just toss everything into the wash and start it when full! lol 

My craft room!!

The room that Shelby and Melissa are going to come help me set up and decorate...riiiight ladies???  :D 

Other view of my craft room. 

My bedroom. 

Other view of my bedroom.  

And there you have it! 

Today we painted the downstairs and I will put those pics up in another post as soon as I can.  And before I do that, let me just say that the walls may look kind of yellowish but let me just tell you...they're not.  They're creamish.  Not yellow.  Yet....  :} 

insta catchup

ABC match up with Easter eggs!  (Pinterest!)  Big Brother is still learning his letters so he's not quite to the match up stage yet but we have found lots of other games to play while talking about letters and numbers.  Obviously here we were talking about rainbow colors.

Early morning piano concert from this little sleepyhead.  :)  They love to sit on this little chest and pretend the bookshelf is their piano.  :) 

Just looking...  :)

And looking way too much like a big boy!  :) 

Superman is a great eater....but asparagus was a little outside his food zone! Lol.  A little sip of apple juice helped. 

Back at the Little Gym!  He eased into things much faster this time and had a blast.  :)  He has a girlfriend there.  They like to stare at each other and pat each others arms.  :}  The paci is only in his mouth for the sake of not tasting everything else around him ha!  And that picture where he's just lying there?  We sit on a big blow up mat and when we're done we let them experience the feeling of it deflating - Superman loved this and was completely relaxed and just lay there for a couple minutes watching everyone after it was finished. :) 

Extremely rare self photo in my cute Easter outfit....and a sleepy smile.  :)

Do you know what kinds of things you can actually mail without a box as long as they weigh less than 13oz?? I found a blog filled with awesome, fun, and sometimes funny ideas (a plastic shovel...a shoe!...) and knew I had to try some!  Last summer I mailed my kids a frisbee while I was away at camp.  This weekend I mailed them each an Easter egg filled with a couple treats and notes to let them know I'm always thinking about and praying for them.  :)  

I have a sensory box that I bring filled with different things.  I haven't brought it in a long time and I keep forgetting!  On Monday I decided we could do a sensory activity without my actual box - half a cup of flour out on the deck equaled almost half an hour of fun!! Of course a change of clothes was required (wish I had a picture of that!) when it was all done, but it was so worth it. 

New fun crayons that are triangles with holes in the middle! 

Big Brother was just looking so handsome in this outfit and I happened to have my "real" camera with me so I snapped a few quick shots outside.   I found that bowtie in the dollar section of Target and couldn't resist!  (Now I wish I'd gotten three more...nuts!) 

 Heehee! Love this one!  :}

Little Man wasn't really in the mood for posed pictures, but I grabbed a quick smile playing peek-a-boo.  :}

Ohmygoodness the cuteness!!!  Look who has little bitty baby Toms!! 

So. Cute!

I hope this video will work...if not, I will try uploading it again.  This was the game choice of the day today - pretend coughing! :) He's done this before, but today he kept playing it over and over - if I looked away for even a second I'd hear "cough cough" to get me to look and cough back at him.  :}

little miss sunshine is 10!!

introducing....!!!

GUESS WHAT?!?!

Two LOA's came in the mail this week!!  What does this mean?  What is an LOA?  LOA means Letter of Approval and means that Anastasia and Daniel have official approval from that country to adopt Little Lion and Little Monkey.

This also means that we should be traveling in about 10-14 weeks...so...think middle of May-ish.

But most importantly for this blog post....

this means I can now share PICTURES!!!!!  

Wahooo!!!

So, may I introduce to you the next two little boys I will be a nanny for eventually...bringing my total to  5 boys (these two, Big Brother, Little Man...and then Superman on different weekdays)!

Little Lion

  

This was the first glimpse I had of him last August.  Precious boy's eyes look so sad here! 

Updated picture of him we got about a month ago.  And that little bear he's holding?  That is from the care package Anastasia sent him!  So it was so neat to see that he got it!  :)  His first present from mama and baba.  :)

and....

Little Monkey

Eeps! Isn't he sweet?!  This was our first glimpse.  Somehow he looks more content than Little Lion.  But we were still dying to see either boy smile!

Then came the update...

...and a SMILE!!!  I love how his eyes disappear!  :)  And I can't wait to dress them both.  Oh my.  :}

And one more just cuz...

Oh my goodness those cheeks need to be covered in kisses!!  :)

Soon boys.  We're coming to get you SOON!!

instahi catchup

Found Zuzu sleeping away with his giraffe under his paw. Aww.  :}

I took Superman to the Little Gym for the first time last week.  At first he was a little nervous and I was wondering if he would cry at any point - but he didn't at all and ended up having a blast!  :)

 Last Friday evening I headed over to Shannon's house while her husband was out of town and we had a girls night like we used to do in highschool - yummy food and a good girl movie!  And although we had the same general snacks, our taste has gotten more sophisticated - like instead of cheddar cheese, we've graduated to feta and brie.  :}

Took my cute little godson with me to work Monday and Tuesday.  Makes things interesting to have three little guys to chase around! :)

The boys love to climb on this little chest in the corner and sit there.  Apparently there isn't quite room for three boys though and Eli plopped into the waste basket just behind it! Ha! 

Large cardboard boxes: my most definite favorite toy for kids ever.

Story time on the couch!! 

(And a terrible grainy cellphone pic! Oh well.)

He's just so stinkin' cute! 

 Quad stroller adventure for the first time!  In preparation for when Little Lion and Little Monkey come home.  I got quite a few double glances from cars passing by lol.  

Stay tuned for a very exciting post.....!