We had a beautiful sight two weeks ago...the container packed with all our worldly goods made it all the way across the globe and to the front door of our new house.
A crew of five men spent the better part of the day carrying all 274 boxes into the house and unpacking nearly everything. This was in the minutes just before the chaos began and everything started filling up the house. Thank goodness for the movers but it's crazy with them asking where things go (especially thanks to our lazy movers in Australia that didn't bother to label half the boxes and sent the rest to the guest bedroom) and me checking numbers off all the boxes to make sure they all arrived.
We had no major damage and everything fit in the house so it was a successful move! Several small things were broken or disappeared, which is always disappointing but par for the course, I suppose.
Ready for a tour of the house? We'll do some before and after shots to show how things have come together over the past few busy weeks.
Master bedroom
Feels like home again! It's a big room so we still have tons of space by the windows. It sure beats squeezing past the bed and dresser like we've been doing for the past two years.
Master bath
Loving the his and hers sinks! We also have a nice long bathtub that's big enough to stretch out in and relax and a great shower. And for the first time in four years it's air-conditioned!!
My closet before...it was a disaster until just a few days ago because I needed several uninterrupted hours to tackle the piles of clothes.
The kids spent a few days with Grammy and Grumpy and now I can not only walk into the closet but see everything inside! Matt and I have laughed about how different our clothes look because the light was broken in our closet for the past year.
Ben's room before
I love his bed! It's the front and back from his old crib and it looks great but freaked him out a little at first because it's so tall now. After a week of making midnight trips to say hello in our room, he's finally sleeping well in his own room again.
Alex's room before was just a mattress
Now he has his own bed! He was literally jumping up and down in excitement when he saw his room all decorated.
We'll get him some proper furniture one day but for now he's plenty happy with what's in there and has been completely content since the minute he walked in.
The living room and kitchen were pretty crazy at the end of moving day!
The living room came together pretty nicely although the TV console didn't fit and ended up in the game room. It's worked out really well but we still need a solution for the big TV in the living room.
The kitchen was a lot of work but with all those cabinets it wasn't too hard to get everything put away in a logical place. I LOVE this kitchen!! We'll get some stools around the island and have some great times there. I'm also loving having a full-sized dishwasher and a garbage disposal again.
The game room off the kitchen was one of the worst places. None of the boxes intended for the kids' rooms made it in there so I spent an entire day shuttling clothes, pictures, toys, and books to their correct rooms.
Now it's our favorite place to hang out! We'll be spending a lot of time in here for sure. It's great to have it off the kitchen because I can still talk to the kids and referee while I'm cooking.
The study
It's coming together for sure but we still have some boxes to sort out and have to get some grown-up desks. Until then we'll just ask people not to look this way when they walk in the front door!
The dining room will be empty for a while and is collecting some random things but the kids are playing in here quite a bit as well so at least it's being used right now. Please don't look this way either!
Stacey and Reid have already been down for a visit and it was great incentive to get the guest room in order.
One of my favorite rooms is the mudroom between the garage and kitchen!
I'm loving this laundry room as well. Lots of space for storage and even room for a drying rack so I don't have to bother with hanging delicate stuff to dry. Even better because the washer and dryer are big enough to hold more than four towels so I'm doing about half as many loads as before.
Our outdoor table and chairs fit well in the covered patio and we're loving the yard, although it's too hot to play outside much at the moment. We're still desperate for rain and it's not proving to be an ideal year to get a lawn started but thankfully the house already had a sprinkler system when we moved in. We're getting some help keeping the grass in good shape, too!
Our next step is to start hanging everything on the walls but we have lots of framing to be done and want to take our time and do it right.
We are all so, so happy to be in our own home again and thankful that God has provided us an ideal place to settle. I looked at 40-something houses in just two days when we were looking for a place and this was the one house that made my heart beat faster the minute I walked in the door. I just knew it would be perfect for our family and I can't believe everything worked out and we're moved in it. We're all excited to make some wonderful memories here!
Our next step is to start hanging everything on the walls but we have lots of framing to be done and want to take our time and do it right. 
After 8 weeks (8 VERY long weeks, if you ask Ben) we will be seeing our furniture today! The container is being hauled to our front door as we speak and should be completely unpacked today. We are one excited family! Not only does it mean we'll get to see all the things we've missed, we finally get to move out of the apartment and into the house we've been waiting to enjoy. The kids are with Grandma and Grandpa for several days so I can get ahead of the mess before they come and make an even bigger mess.
