Goodbye Moscow, Hello CDA!

It was inevitable, but we had to pack up and say goodbye to Moscow. We had three great years there! We made some great friends and shared memorable experiences, had a couple of kids, and learned some life-long lessons. Our time was very well spent and we'll have a special place in our hearts for Moscow and luckily we just moved up the street to Coeur d'Alene...

It's weird to think that this is where we'll be for a really long time, as in, more than a few years. This is it. This is HOME. This is most likely where my kids' earliest memories will be made. This is where they'll grow up and eventually leave "home". The other day I met a girl/lady/woman? who had a baby boy a couple of months older than Gwen. She made the comment that they'll probably grow up to be friends and end up going on dates together. That was a reality check for me! But so far, I am so glad that Coeur d'Alene is my home. Already, I love it here! I love my house, my neighborhood, and the people I've met so far. I feel like I've "arrived" and it feels good. No more limbo, no more school, no more open-ended future. I'm content. 

Now on to pictures...

My cute "little" yellow house. Great lawn, front and back, with lots of room for the kids to run around. Really simple landscaping that I can totally handle. It's on a great street in a really quiet neighborhood with lots of young families and tons of parks within walking distance.

Let's go on inside, shall we?

Now I have to warn you that we're still in transition. This was a lot of house for us to jump into so we had to make due with what we had. Even since these pictures, things are a little more put together but Milz just had to have her pictures :) I have to say it was weird having the problem of having too much space that I couldn't fill. I've gotten used to cramming things into small spaces to make our lives fit. It was overwhelming at first but then I realized that it was a good problem to have. :)

So this is walking in the front door. Eventually the t.v. will be moved downstairs and this will be a piano room/sitting room. On the right is the entryway into the kitchen and then the stairs going down to the basement. You can see through the archway on the left, the boys' room.

Carson and Reese's room

and it was clean for about 2.3 seconds, before the boys decided they wanted to play with Mr. and Mrs. Hops. That's Mrs. Hops on the bed next to cute little Reese's Pieces. 

(I'm quickly learning the beauty of craigslist and yardsales. I got this bunk bed set at a yardsale.)

Then separating the boys' room and Gwen's room is this bathroom:

And then this is Gwen's room:

there's not a ton to see at this point but I plan on saving up room-by-room and revamping one at a time. You'll be sure to get enough before and after pictures then!

(The dresser on the left is a find off of craigslist that Ry and I refinished before Gwen was born.)

Back to the front room:

door on the right is the front door, door on the left is the garage.

just in case you were curious...

(that chest freezer under all the boxes we got from an old woman at church. The cost: $free.99!)

Then onto the kitchen:

Right now it's the baby corner, but once we can afford some furniture, we'll turn it back into a dining room with a living room. (I got that Pier 1 bookshelf off of craigslist)

Then through the sliding glass doors is the back yard:

The previous owners left that little swingset for us after they found out we had young kids. I love how we have so much privacy! There aren't any other houses looking in our backyard and that was huge for me growing up in the middle of nowhere!

And the icing on the cake:

HOT TUB!!!

Going back inside to the huge master:

I love that there's actually room to walk around the bed, a nice change!

On the left is the master bath and the door in the middle is a huge closet, that I won't show you because I didn't want to have to clean it first. :)

One big bonus to this house was that the whole top floor had brand new carpet. This house is in really great condition. Honestly, the only thing it needed/needs is a coat of paint everything else is mint.

Heading downstairs (beware... it's a disaster!):

Good thing about these stairs, if a kid falls down them, they won't be rolling too far!

At the bottom of the stairs, to your right:

Jenny's playroom

Other side of the hall:

My very own laundry room! I'm so excited to be re-united with my washer and dryer!

Then turning around:

the basement!

(striped sleeper sofa was a craigslist find... $30! and then the car table was free!!!)

(the previous owners left us there foosball table too!)

That closed door on the right leads into the soon-to-be-guest room but right now it acts as a stuff-we're-not-sure-what-to-do-with room:

Then another large bathroom is on the left:

Followed by Ryan's playroom, a.k.a the studio:

And that about sums it up! It's a lot of house to be responsible for so I've had to just take it one room at a time. And as you can see, it's still a work in progress, but we're loving all the space and we can't wait for visitors!!!