Instead of making a long, annoying list of photos, I’ve grouped all the images into 6 sections. Click on the images to enlarge them and see all the fun details. Unless otherwise noted, I’ll be describing the photos left-to-right, top-to-bottom—just like you’re reading a book. You will know when it’s time to turn the page when you hear the chimes ring, like this—HUH???
We’ll start by entering the neighborhood:
We live in a gated community, though the gates are usually open in the morning and early evening (high-traffic times, I assume). The neighborhood is nice and quiet, and we’re in a tiny cul-de-sac just on the left as you come into the complex. Across the street from our house is a little park. The other night, Joel ran around in the sprinklers over there. Everyone has Bougainvillea bushes in front of their houses.
Entering the house, you see the living room on the left. You'll notice throughout the house that there's a TON of windows--which we love (especially during thunderstorms!):
We’ve got high ceilings, perfect for my collage self-portrait. To the left of the stairs is the entertainment center, which is all decked out in Disneyland items and movie trinkets. We had to leave our couch in Utah, but we’ve been gradually buying chairs at Goodwill over the past few weeks. We moved our mattress back into the front room (Elliott’s “sleeping through the night” thing needs some work). Further in and to the left is where we’ve set up the computer, sewing table, and treadmill. By the way, don’t you love that bird’s eye view of the front room from the upstairs hallway?
OK, time to journey upstairs:
The photo on the top right shows the hallway at the top of the stairs that (heading to the right) leads to Maddy’s bathroom and bedroom—but for now let’s go to the left to see the boys’ room. That is ACTUALLY the master bedroom, but it works better as a room for Abe, Joel and (hopefully soon) Elliott. They’ve got a nice, big bathroom with double sinks, and their bedroom has a ceiling fan. Their room also has the BEST airflow from the A/C. Joel looks really grouchy in that picture—he gets tired of Abe always hanging around him, I guess.
Left to right, we have the boys’ closet, Maddy’s room, and Maddy’s bathroom:
The little door in their closet leads to the heater, and the boys keep stuff in front of the door so no monsters come out. The bottom left picture shows the usual state of things inside their closet.
The pictures in the middle show Maddy’s room—whenever I go in there, it feels like I’m Gulliver in the land of Lilliput. Her bed has no box spring, so it’s low to the ground, and I can see out the 2nd-story window to the ground below. Maddy loves having her own bathroom that she doesn’t have to share with the stinky boys.
Going back downstairs and through the front room, we come to the kitchen--big with plenty of space and lots of room for everything except food storage.
You’ll notice the cuckoo clock is missing from the clock wall…the other day, Abe knocked a kitchen bench into the wall, hitting the cuckoo chains and pulling the clock to the ground, where it broke into a couple pieces (which we can fix) and ruined the internal clock mechanism (which we CAN’T fix). Amanda and the kids LOVE the backyard, and as you can see, we’ve quickly started filling the garage with junk, as you’re legally obligated to do when you have a garage. Maybe one day we’ll have to park our car in the driveway like everyone else in the area.
We’ll end with the laundry room, downstairs bathroom, and our bedroom, which are all on the right-hand side as you walk into the house:
Elliott will eventually get relocated to the boys’ room upstairs—but for now, he remains proud of his ability to force all family members to do his bidding. Isn’t that right Elliott?
