286 days!!!

or 9.5 months!  This is how long our family was living apart and/or living in someone else's home.  It was a long time...too long!  But we made it through and after about a month in our new house we are settling in nicely.

Jeff started his new job in St. Louis the first of November.  We finally got an offer on our house in April with a closing date near the end of May.  A long story short, the contract was contingent on the buyers divorce and that ended up being a big mess!  In the end we didn't close until the middle of June.  Jeff and I spent every weekend for many weeks looking for just the right house.  We were very picky!  In the end it all worked out and we were able to get our favorite house out of the 50+ that we looked at!

We are now living just outside St. Louis.  Our house has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a two car garage.  We have two living rooms on the main level so we have turned one into a big playroom for the boys!  They LOVE it!  We also have a basement that is mostly finished.  The finished portion includes a large living area, a storage closet, an office and a bar area.  The unfinished portion includes the laundry area and lots of space and storage.  We are hoping one day to put in another bedroom and a bathroom.  We have a great lawn with amazing green grass and a fence.  It has has lots of landscaping, a storage shed, a wood swing set and a wood gazebo. 

Just a sneak peek!

backyard - sorry not a great view

bar area in basement - still needs some work

half of boys' playroom - lots of work left to do here too!

part of the living room and looking into the kitchen - we got some new furniture, but we are waiting on the rest

our living room in the basement - the open door on the right is the office the door on the left is the closet, the unfinished portion is behind the wall on the left

For the first time since being married we have a mature yard!  We built our last home and has one dinky little tree and all new landscaping.  This mature yard require a lot more time and attention!  We moved in the house in August and the yard was already beginning to look like fall with all the tree limbs, leaves and acorns that fall off on a daily basis.  Some of the flower beds were overgrown and lots of ivy was taking over the gazebo and surrounding flower beds and tress.  We have began the process of trimming and thinning but it will be awhile before we get things the way we want them!

We have lots of things we want to do to this house.  Nothing has to be done though, which is nice.  We have things we want to do to update the house to make it more modern and more our style.  We have some furniture ordered that will be here in a few weeks.  I will have to update when we have painted, hung pictures, and have our new furniture delivered.