All Dressed Up

Neighbor Spying

Don't you just love spying on your neighbors? We only know like two neighbors, but for the one's we don't know it's pretty fun to try and guess what they're like. This is based mostly on what activities I see them doing while staring out the window of our office. So far I've learned that one neighbor has two giant schnauzer's, works in the medical field (always wearing scrubs) and works early hours (she was leaving in her scrubs when Berkeley and I were leaving to go running at 6 a.m.). Another neighbor has a lab and a dachshund (can you tell we're into dogs?) and hits a ball for them with a tennis racket down the street (Berkeley barks at them like they're doing something threatening). Another neighbor showed great patience by stopping her car in the middle of the street when Kaia was about to run in front of it! The real question is what do our neighbors think of us? I don't think I want to know!

Bath Beard

We love bath time! If Kaia's ever a bit sad or whiny, I put her in the bath and she cheers right up. She loves to stick her face in the bubbles.

She also loves to lay down with her ears in the water and talk and talk. I think she likes the sound of her voice under water.

Yard Woes

So, if I were to do it all over, I would have bought a townhouse with no yard. OK, maybe not. But I am dreading putting in our back yard. For one, it is pretty big. Which is what I liked about the area, big lots. I won't feel like our neighbors are staring in our windows 24/7. But this yard is going to be a nightmare. It is not flat, much to our dismay. When we looked at the lots, they all looked flat, but once they put in the foundation, we realized how high up our house would be from our yard. I guess builders like to be over cautious about flooding. Anyway, so that means we have to put in a retaining wall. If we could wait and do it over time, that would be awesome, because we do have a front yard, but we have a dog. And it is pretty lame to have to let him out every two hours or so. I feel like I need to set a timer, like I'm potty training a kid. Anyway, we're also in a fight with our builder to finish the grading of the back yard. It's been a month, and it's still not done. And I'm pretty sure our sunny weekends are over, so woe is me.

Moving In

Wow - I forgot what a nightmare getting all unpacked is. I don't think this house will be organized for the next year! This picture is in our office. The computer is set up, but that is it. You should see the guest room. That is the catch all for anything I don't want to put in the basement. The basement is THE catch all. We have a really big basement and it is filled with boxes! How do we own this much stuff? We're not even that old! I guess if I don't open a box that's in the basement over the next year, it's trash!

Our New House

We closed! It's finally ours! We're super excited to officially move in this weekend (September 13th - hint, hint...if you're available, come on over!).

Some have requested photos of the inside of the house, so here you go. This is the kitchen. Yes, Becca, we went with black granite. Thanks for the recommendation. I think it looks sweet. The kitchen is the reason I totally loved this floor plan. It opens up into the living room, so I can do dishes, keep an eye on Kaia and watch The Office all at the same time!

Here's the living room. I love the mantel. The TV is coming, to be installed by Brian above the mantel.

This is the entry. We love our huge front door. It's already made moving large pieces of furniture much easier.

The master bath. Yea, we'll finally have two sinks again. Why is it so hard to share a sink?

Staircase to the basement. I really don't want to put up a gate, and I am close to trusting Kaia to go down the stairs by herself. She can do it, but sometimes she gets distracted. At least there's a landing half way down, so it's not that far to fall. :)

Brian's throne. We may never see him again....

Kaia's One Year Birthday!

Kaia turned one on August 26th! Wow - how time has flown by! It really does seem like just yesterday that I was in the hospital giving birth to her! We had several fun birthday parties over the last couple of weeks. She has loved all of the attention! And all of the chocolate!



I always wondered whether or not she would be scared of the cake or just dig in - although I had some idea considering how much she loves putting ANYTHING in her mouth, including dirt, rocks and live bugs. As you can see, she absolutely loved making a huge mess and shoving as much cake in her mouth as possible. It was hilarious.


August 26th is also Kaia's cousin Caden's birthday! He turned 5 - wow! He says he doesn't mind sharing his birthday with Kaia, just as long as he doesn't have to share his presents with her!