friday fun = house tour: part 1

so i know last week i promised a house tour, well it didn't happen...sorry.  but, this week i have pulled it together.  this is part 1 of the tour and i will post the rest next friday!

i got this great little idea to do a house tour from sarah over a clover lane...i just love that lady, so wish i could meet her, maybe someday i will!  she lives in a really cute house...one that i love and her street is so cute too!  so i thought i would take you on a little tour as well and share our story of how we found our house....

we moved into our house in june of 2005...i fell in LOVE with our house the first time i walked it.  i looked at todd and said, ' i have to have it...so don't even say we can't buy it!'  i know, really nice of me...maybe that is why he thinks i am a little bit bossy!  

anyway....back to our house...we got lucky, really lucky!  we had been looking for months for a new house and we were just not finding something that was worth the money...the housing market was crazy in 2005 and prices were so high...crazy high!  

we looked at a house on our street...5 houses away from our current house.  we didn't love it and it was over priced and needed some updating...but, the family that lived in our house wanted that house!!!  our realtors were their realtors, so it worked out that our house didn't even go on the market.  we were able to look at it on a sunday and we signed papers on monday.  we didn't have to go into a bidding war with other couples, we didn't have to wait for weeks to figure out if it was going to be ours or not...in a matter of 24 hours we had bought the house of our dreams...in the city!  i couldn't believe it was going to be our house!!!  we only lived 2 miles from it, so i would drive past it all of the time...i just could not wait to move it!  

here is a little tour of the main floor...next week we will cover the bedrooms and then the downstairs.

one of the first things i fell in love with was our built-in bookshelves...they are the first thing you see when you walk in the front door...and i just LOVE them!

the other thing that sold me right away...white woodwork...i just love it!  yes, it is a pain now with kids...because i have to touch it up all of the time, but i still love it!  and the hardwood floors...i {heart} hardwood floors!

the view for the other side of the room:

the dining room:

 love the arch ways we have in our house too!

kitchen:

we have re-done most of the kitchen...so here is a little before and after!

june 2005:

now:

 june 2005:

now:

we are the 4th owners of our house...and the past 2 sets of owners we know...they both loved this house and miss it!  the family we bought from moved 5 houses away on the same street...and she couldn't come into this house for month after they moved, she would cry!  she just missed it so much!  and i now can see why...it is a great house!  

what is even more great...our neighbors...they are the BEST!!!

we might not have enough room...i would love that sewing room.

we don't have big closets...but they work!

we don't have a mudroom...would love one, but we are making the little back doorway work!

we don't have a bathroom on the main floor, but it is just one less bathroom to clean!

we were/are doing a little house hunting, but really i think it would break my heart to leave this house.  it just fits us perfectly!

we are making it a home and that is what i love...a home that the girls love, a home they want to come back to during college breaks, a home they want to bring their families too.  so for now we are staying put and making it work for us.   

enjoy your weekend!
and 

happy mother's day!

and these are some of my favorite pictures of me and my girls...

6 weeks old

at 9 months...

k at a year...for some reason...no pictures of just the girls and i!

and at 2...the girls!

i am truly blessed to be their mother!