My Messy House (Otherwise titled: Pictures because Amanda insisted I post these)

We moved! And we have been unpacking all week...making great chaos and big messes. But we are here and we are loving all the space in this house. Pictures have been requested. These are very rough and show the chaos of our life this week. I took these last night so no pics of the kids' rooms or outside. But you get the idea. Enjoy!

Master bedroom...planning on using a gift card for new bedding that will match the paint and curtains. (I asked for all window treatments in this house.)

Master bath...and yes, I have already used this tub a few times!

Bonus room upstairs...future organized school room

From the family room looking toward the dining room and front door

From the dining room looking into the family room

Kitchen. My other kitchen was TINY! So I am loving this. (There are cabinets and counter tops not visible in this picture. I asked the sellers for that fridge as well.)

Standing at one end of the house (beside the master bedroom) and looking all the way down the hall past the family room, dining room, and kitchen. Two of the kids rooms and a bathroom are down there.

Moving Updates

Thanks for all the well wishes and congrats on selling our house. We were not expecting it to sell so quickly but are so glad it did! We can be neat but having to be near perfect all the time is not easy! I pretty much took all the school stuff out of the house and either put it in a cabinet or the attic or just anywhere I could! Some of it has been pulled back out for now though. We did some serious staging and I think it paid off.

If all goes well we will be moving on November 24th. We have scheduled back to back closings on this house and the one we hope to buy. Our inspection was this morning (on the house we are selling) and I am praying that nothing major was found. It's an older home so there is always something to repair or update but we tried to take good care of it and keep it maintained.

The home we are buying is only about 10 minutes from where we live now. It was only built 5 years ago and is in a neighborhood with a few other families from church. We think that is really neat and look forward to having such great neighbors. Rachel can't wait to have her own room and I am excited about having a school room. Mary Evelyn is ready to explore the woods behind the house and Jason is just praising God that it's all going so smoothly so far! Poor Betsie is pretty clueless and is in for a shock. We'll have to make sure she gets lots of loving until she is settled again.

I haven't had the heart to get packing yet. We had a closing fall through a few years back and didn't know until we showed up for the closing and with everything on the moving truck. Once I know the inspections went well I will get started though. Can't put it off forever! For now I am just thankful that we have it under contact and that things are progressing.

I'll post pictures after we move.

Jen

WOW!

WOW! That is my profound thought for the day.

We sold our house today...after a total of 7 days on the market. For a good price. We are in shock and so very excited and thankful.

Still working out the details of closing dates, etc. And we are making an offer on a new (to us) house tomorrow. Thanks for praying...we are SO excited!

Some Updates

There have been so many reasons to blog in the last week and a half. I wish I had not missed them all!

• House fever is not gone but it is not spiking either. We have decided to wait until after tax season next year before there is a "for sale" sign in our front yard. In the mean time, we have made an enormous to do list to get this house ready to sell. The previous owners put carpet over hardwood flooring down the hall and in the bedrooms. We have been rough on the carpet so it will need to be replaced. However, Jason is thinking of ripping up the carpet and refinishing the hardwoods instead. Crazy, crazy...but way nicer for showing the house.
• Mary Evelyn turned 8! Shame on me for not doing a birthday post for her. Sigh... We had a little mini celebration with my friend Hollie and her guys on her birthday. Then Hollie (being the servant kind of gal that she is) drove the big girls to the movie theater to meet my dad so they could see Prince Caspian. My dad says he still hasn't seen the movie because they sat on the front row and he kept his eyes closed. He says it sounded like a good movie though! Then the girls spent the night with my parents...including little Miss Betsie. The next night we celebrated with Jason's parents.
• The above mentioned night at Mom and Dad's was Betsie's first night away from us...she was not a good sleeper unfortunately. But she told my mom, "I yuv you, Mimi." so I think she was forgiven.
• While the girls were with my parents, Jason and I used a gift certificate to a lovely local Bed & Breakfast. So, so nice. Our 15th anniversary was the day before Mary Evelyn's birthday so it was a special getaway for us. Did I mention that about 2 months ago Jason surprised me with a new van (Odyssey...woo hoo!) for my early anniversary gift? Pretty cool. He got an ipod nano. So come the big day, we were broke and just had to be sweet and skip the gifts.
• I painted my master bathroom. It's lovely. I might have to start a new blog category showing before and after pictures with all the projects we have planned.
• I got excited when David Cook won American Idol.
• Then I was broken hearted just an hour later to learn that Maria Chapman, daughter of Steven Curtis Chapman, was killed in a terrible accident. I have been grieving for them since Wednesday night and praying for them constantly. I just received a prayer email asking for prayers for wisdom about when they should return home. They have been staying with friends since the accident. Please pray for the Chapmans.
• We are almost done with school for this year and excited about our short break until mid-July when we'll start back up.

House Fever

Yep, we've got it. Don't know where it came from, but we've been looking. Now that doesn't mean we're moving. Or maybe it does. But my van sure does have some extra miles on it from riding all over town looking at homes we've found online. We've ruled out several neighborhoods but found a few we like.

We have a lovely home, but we feel a bit crowded much of the time. We bought it back when we thought 2 kids and 1 dog would be it for us. As you know, we have added one of each since then. We are content to stay here though and we just might do that. But the thought of a tub in the master bath sure is tempting. Jason wants a more private yard.

I'll keep you posted, but here's a peek at one that we are seriously considering. Of course the sellers will probably seriously laugh at our offer. I'll keep you posted!