Our home: Room by room

Our home will forever be remembered for many reasons. Here is a glimpse of our home, and just some of the memories it holds for us.

The great outdoors:
We loved exploring in the woods. The kids would often grab a bucket for "treasures" we would find. We had many picnics on the porch in the summer, pulled out the kiddie pool into the yard for swimming, jumped in leaves in the fall, and build snowmen in the winter. We had annual photoshoots in the fall colors, the kids spent hours on the playset, and we took numerous walks down the driveway. The seclusion isn't desired by many, but we loved the quiet and privacy.

 

Room by room…

The kitchen… obviously the location of countless meals prepared for the family to eat. While cooking isn’t my favorite thing, I do love to back and have made oodles of loaves of chocolate chip banana bread with the kids at my side helping. I’ll forever remember those beautiful summer and fall days where we came home from school, and the kids played on the swing set in the back yard while I made dinner and watched them from the kitchen window.

The dining area… the space where both kids sat in the high chair, digging into their 1^st birthday cake. Where Olivia took her first steps towards Pat and I in the kitchen, play butcher knife in hand. The place where we discovered the best fort is under the table with our largest blankest spread across it. Also, the spot where I set up sewing central and learned to sew my first projects of baby bibs for Henry.

The living room… where countless movie nights were had, like the one where we watched The Little Rascals, and Henry stuck a piece of popcorn up his nose. Where on Olivia’s 2^nd birthday party, she twirled, and seeing all eyes were on her, twirled and twirled some more. Olivia and Henry had a foam sword fight here and he knocked out one of her front teeth. And then there are those Christmas mornings where we dig into stockings to see what Santa brought.

The office… We didn’t spend much time there after getting wireless internet. I did spend many hours at the desk on the computer while working on my Master’s degree. Olivia also spent much time at the bench working on creating art.

 

Henry’s room… The hours spent in the rocker, nursing him when he was a baby, reading to him, and giving him his neb treatments. Then there were those few times he was a little too quiet in his room and I open the door to find him covered in diaper rash cream and lotion.

The kids’ bathroom… The room where I was most proud of the paint job. A touch of whimsy with water and sea creatures made it a room I enjoyed. The kids had countless baths there and at times could spend a good half hour playing and laughing together in the water.

Olivia’s room… Almost every afternoon we are home she has spent a few hours there having nap time or quiet time. Often in the evening I walk in to get her ready for bed to find a total mess. She keeps herself well entertained on her own, but creates a giant mess in her pretend play. I’ll always remember laying in bed with her, reading from Little House on the Prairie. Aside from a few nights away from home, we read every word of that entire series in her bed together.

Our bedroom… I remember vividly those first few months with Henry, nursing him in bed, changing him, and putting him down to sleep in the pack-and-play. Then there were those nights with a sick kid, bringing them to sleep with us so we could keep a close feel on their temp. All those laundry days (Saturdays in the school year and Fridays in summer) where the washed and dried laundry was dumped on the bed for me to sort and fold. Not such a bad chore when it was nap/quiet time and I could watch Project Runway while “folding laundry”.

Our bathroom… I dreamed of soaking in that tub, staring at the beautiful view out the window. Not sure what I was thinking considering a leisurely bath in the middle of the day NEVER happened, but I did enjoy a few soaks at night. I also remember when Henry was just a little one, he had intense giggles when Olivia would spit her toothpaste in the sink. And then there was that one time he got into Pat’s shaving cream and I let him put it all over his face.

 

Garage... Pat put many hours in working on making our garage so nice. He made all of the storage from cabinets a co-worker was getting rid of. He also painted it and added corrugated metal for a nice finished look.

 

A beautiful home, that we are very proud of indeed. We will miss it so much!