We then tackled the kids' room. Neither one of them liked their beds and so we had to figure out a way to get them sleeping in their room again. They had been sleeping on the couch and the air mattress in the living room. After looking at options, we decided on a bunkbed that had stairs that went to the top bunk. Because it had stairs, Kate would be able to climb to the top without a problem. A few bonus things too- the stairs had drawers built in (more storage) and climbing the stairs required big leg stretches (PT on a nightly basis)! We ordered the bed and then decided to look for someone to buy the old beds- Craigslist again! Both were sold quickly along with the old dressers. The bed arrived in five huge boxes so I went to Craigslist and found someone to assemble the bed for us. John was his name and it took him five hours!!! He did an excellent job and it was well worth what we paid him! It would have easily taken us all day and probably a marriage counselor to be able survive the assembly. Poor guy had to do it when our air conditioning had gone out too! We truly felt bad as we sat out in the living room relaxing while he worked so hard in the bedroom! He charged us $100 for the assembly. He was truly an honest and hardworking guy!
I found two tall white dressers on Craigslist for the kids and their room was complete! It was great to clean-out and organize everything. The kids now have three choices of where to sleep- top bunk, lower bunk, or trundle bed underneath. So far they have BOTH been sleeping on the top bunk. I guess the bottom bunk is good to store all the stuffed animals. And now we have plenty of beds for anyone who comes to visit!
After the bedroom we tackled the living room and sold our off white couch and plaid chair (on Craigslist again). We had been given the off white couch years ago and it was beautiful. Unfortunately with a dog and kids and it never really looked clean. We had steam cleaned it, spot cleaned it, etc. and we never won the battle. This time we picked a dark chocolate couch that was cheap (yay) and comfortable! Besides I got to rent the big truck from Lowes to pick up the couch and drive it home! We then found a seat and a half chair which fit perfectly with the rest of our furniture. We LOVE the new furniture and to make everything come together better, we painted the bottom half of our walls a beautiful brown. It truly does look and feel so much better!
We also had to replace our air conditioner during this two week time and hired a handyman to do a few things around the house. We have the best air conditioner guy around (Gary) and a super handman (Paul). Gary is so honest and hardworking and Paul only charges $35 an hour and is so efficient and knowledgeable about so many things. I had another guy come to give me an estimate to fix the toilet so we didn't have to hold the handle down when we flushed it. The other guy looked at it and said it would be about $85.00. Paul looked at it, pulled a piece of rubber off the flapper in under two minutes and it was fixed! Paul took down and replaced three ceiling fans, fixed the toilet, and fixed our door for a total of $70.00!
And finally during this time we found the perfect dog for our family. We adopted Toby on August 3rd and he is absolutely adorable, loving, and sweet! He is 18 months old so still does a few puppy things but is learning so fast! He came with the name Toby and it does seem to fit him. He loves the kids and Brennan has been great about taking him for his walks.
So our first two weeks home were busy! I love organizing and planning, so it was super fun for me. The kids didn't enjoy it as much though so we spent the last few days swimming and playing.
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| So I guess that's why we bought a trundle- for all the fish! |
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| Sweet Toby! |
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| They both love the dog beds! |
