A year at home

As I opened this page up to start a new post, I saw that I have written 218 posts since I started blogging.  I can't believe I've written that many.  I really enjoy writing and sharing my life. Thanks for reading :)

We are coming up on a year since we moved into this house. A year since we've been residents of this town.  It was rocky for awhile last summer, not knowing where we were going to live and which school Rylee would attend that fall. It's hard to feel settled and make friends when you don't know how long you'll be in a place.  I couldn't be happier for the way things turned out for us.  We genuinely love our town, the school, the people we've made friends with, our "neighborhood".  From the first phone call I made to the school last summer, I felt like this town would be our home.  Home is definitely how it feels now.

We are getting to the point of seeing familiar faces around town and having friends invite us to do things with them. I've had a lot more opportunities than James to meet people in town, but everyone has been so friendly and welcoming and we have people we know we can call on.

We hosted a "neighborhood" BBQ this summer and invited all of the people that live within a square mile or so. It was nice to have everyone together and gave us all a chance to get to know each other better.

The kids both have friends here too. It's so adorable when we go somewhere and Wyatt sees one of his little friends.  It's heart melting to see him point out someone he knows by name, or play on the playground with a friend from school. Rylee, being older, gets invited to play at her friends' houses or go to the pool with them.  She even got to go to Adventureland with a friend this summer. James and I love that we have gotten to know her friends' parents well enough to be able to let her do fun things like that.

Being a "lunch lady" has made me feel famous in town amongst the young kiddos. Several times I've heard, "Hey, there's our lunch lady" when I'm somewhere other than the school :)

We also have found a high school baby-sitter we really love. The kids get excited to have her over, so that's a huge plus!  I've always been so nervous about having a high-schooler watch my kids, but we really lucked out with a great one!!  Her mom was Rylee's preschool teacher, so that helped ease my nerves a bit.

Even more than the town, I really love our house and our property. At least once a week I comment that our house is too big, but other than that, I really do love it. I loved the layout from the first time we looked at the house. Sure, there are many things I would have done differently if I designed it, but mostly, I love it.

It's funny. Before we moved in I kept demanding that we get rid of the blue carpet, green countertops and wall paper border immediately.  11 months later, guess what....

blue carpet

green counter tops and wall paper border

I still dislike them all, but there's something about it that makes it feel "homey"....like visiting a Grandma's house.  We did finally decide recently that it's time to start putting our own touches on the house. We started with painting the basement.  With that being where our television is, we wanted to make it feel a little more cozy down there for winter when we are stuck indoors.  The walls had all been white before, but are now my favorite shade of gray. Our next project will be the kitchen I think....remove the wall paper, new counter top and new hardware for the cupboards.

My long front porch and back screened porch are probably my two favorite places of this house. I spend a lot of time on them, usually reading. We eat many meals on the screened porch too. It's nice to feel the fresh air without being outside with the bugs....mosquitos love me!  And the front porch allows me to view our big beautiful yard I love so much!!  James and I have watched a lot of sunsets from the front of our house.

During move-in, I had a fall scented candle on the warmer. When I got that candle back out recently and the wax started to melt, sending the scent into the air, Rylee said, "It smells like when we first moved in here."  :)  I will say, without a doubt, we are finally settled and feeling at home.  We love this place and love our town.