Welcome to our Home!

Okay, okay, so I thought I could get by with only posting those pictures taken back in May of my beautiful new home before we were living in it, but after multiple requests from the few people who actually read this blog, I finally took some photos of our new "lived-in" home. Please join me on a virtual tour:

Here we have the exterior of the home. It is comprised of such low-maintenance materials as cement "rock" and vinyl siding. The landscaping has been artistically handled by Austin, who pulled up an entire bed of flowers shortly after we moved in. Luckily, the flowers survived re-planting and are recovering well.




Here's a photo of our new neighborhood. Notice that there are no fences! I've learned that underground fences are common among pet-owners in this neighborhood. Unfortunately, they have not approved shock-collars for children in Missouri yet.



Here we have the left half of our enormous 3-car garage. Justin's brother, Bryan, brought this great shelving unit up from San Antonio last weekend. It's nice to be a little more organized!



Here we have the back side of the house. Brandon spilled grape juice on my new area rug, so you can see it hanging off the balcony to dry.





The back yard features our very own forest of discovery!!! Justin spotted a snake here the first time he mowed the lawn at our new house. We're very wary of snakes lately since my 2-year-old niece was bitten by a copperhead last week! (She and her family live about a 30 minute drive from here.)



Now we find ourselves back at the front of the house. This lovely staircase is the first thing you see when you walk through the door.




To the right of the entryway is what we now call the under-furnished office-slash-library of the home. This is where I sit and post entertaining photos and stories on everyone's favorite blog.



From the "office", we continue to the kitchen and dining area. Here is where I can be found daily reminding my children not to drive their trucks across the wood floors.





From the dining room, we continue on into the living area. Here we feature our recently-purchased furnishings. You may now all ooh and ahh.





From the living room, we circle back to the front entryway, where you catch a glimpse of the stairs going down, and going up.



Pit stop anyone? Please take this time to visit the guest bathroom before we continue our tour upstairs.



Up the stairs and to the left, we find Brock's room. Here, we see Brock taking his afternoon "nap".



Past the bathroom and laundry room (no photos here, you'll have to come visit if you want to see the "exclusive" tour of these rooms), we have the twins' bedroom. Notice the attractive new bunk beds assembled by yours truly. Here, we see that Austin and Brandon actually are taking their afternoon nap.



Down the hall and to the right, we have the "pink" room. Though it now serves as a temporary guest room for out-of-town visitors, this will eventually become the baby's room!



Across from the "pink" room, you will find the master suite. Justin and I recently traded up to a king size bed in order to better accomodate my growing belly.




And finally, the perfect spot to end a long day: the master bath. One night, I asked Justin to bathe the kids so that I could enjoy a hot soak in this jacuzzi tub. A few minutes later, however, he reported that I had used up all the hot water in the house, so there was none left for the kids to bathe. Oops.



So there you have it. Our "lived in" house. I hope you enjoyed your tour. Please come back and see us again sometime!