I hope everyone has had a nice day so far! Today was the day our maids came, do you remember last time how hard it was for me to get the house ready for them to clean? Well, we were determined to be more careful about cleaning up after ourselves for the last two weeks and I think we did pretty well, sort of. It was still hectic yesterday afternoon and this morning, but we all worked together and got it done. With no tears. Some yelling, yes, but no crying.
We left the house just as the maids were getting here, and I took the children to Costco so they could work in peace. We dropped off library books on the way, and also some bags of clothes. My goal at Costco was to get some healthy snacks for myself, so we had fun picking out some nuts, dried fruit, low-fat cottage cheese, whole wheat bread, and other things. It wasn’t a big trip this time……it’s a good thing because now that I’m 24 weeks pregnant (and feeling like I’m nine months already) my lower back is starting to hurt more, and I get so tired out. I keep reminding myself that I will be back to normal again someday. These tired feelings, and slow moving body, are worth it when I think of the new baby coming.
We ate lunch at Costco and then came home just as the maids were leaving. They had been here for two hours, cleaning, and the house looked great. I thought it would be fun, after putting away all our groceries, to walk around and take a picture of each room of the house.
Ready for a tour?
We’ll start out upstairs.
This is Seth’s room. It is also the guest room, when we have people over. The bed is full-sized and very comfy.
This is the upstairs hallway. I am standing in Seth’s doorway taking the picture…Grace’s room is straight ahead, the office is to the left (and also the stairs), and the bathroom is to the right.
This is the upstairs bathroom, where the little boys have their baths, and the other kids shower. I hang out in here a lot, giving Seth a bath. It’s usually a fun, relaxing time when I can sit and play with him, and maybe even leaf through a magazine, sitting on the floor by the tub.
When I took this shot, I realized that this bathroom could use some sort of decoration. Maybe some pictures on the walls and a rug on the floor. This is kinda boringish.
Grace’s room is next. We all worked with her today, standing her books back up on the shelves. There is another shelf of them on the opposite wall. I see the curtain is still tied in a knot…I did that this morning as we cleaned behind the bookcase. She keeps her American Girl stuff in her cedar chest at the end of the bed. Hannah, do you see the quilt on top? 
By the way, we did not paint the walls this color, it was like this when we moved in and Grace liked it. It’s a bit bright for my taste, but since she likes it we saved ourselves some work.
This is the third bedroom upstairs. We use it for an office/schoolroom now. The boys were online, buying a Narnia book (the Focus on the Family dramatized version) for Jacob’s ipod.
Okay, from the stairs I took this picture of the livingroom. I keep the blanket on the back of the couch because the kids are constantly running their hands down the back of it, which highly annoys me.
At the bottom of the stairs we have the master bedroom to the left. We don’t have air conditioning in this house, so there is a ceiling fan in every room. The top of my dresser is the baby’s changing area. 🙂
The master bath (and I come across Seth). He really loves this place. I have a big jacuzzi tub here (to the right of the cedar chest), and there is a separate shower stall, and a little room (to the side of Seth) with the toilet in it.
Another corner of the master bedroom.
Hi!
My calendar on the wall is my day-planner…everything gets marked on here, and it never gets lost.
Back out into the main section of the house, past the livingroom, here is the kitchen. We spend so much time here. After we moved in almost four years ago, we had to buy a new fridge and a new microwave…we are working on getting black appliances and when the dishwasher goes (it is on it’s last legs) it will also be black. I want to get a rug for in front of the sink.
This half bath is off the dining area of the kitchen. One time, a few years ago, Caleb flushed a big Thomas train down this toilet and we had to call someone to come break it up and plunge it out. Yep.
Down the basement steps we go, to the boys’ room.
David, in a fit of thoughtlessness, drew bats all over the wall above his bed a few months ago. He learned about bats at school and wanted to BE one. The white paper is a drawing of his latest admired animal…the sloth…wasn’t it nice that he drew it on paper this time? David and Caleb like to get on top of that bookcase between their beds and jump, so I hear. They also jump from bed to bed.
This is the other side of their room. We had the basement refinished about two years ago and we love it. They have a big built in bookcase down there that’s not in the picture, and a closet. It’s a great place for them to play and spend time together (jumping on beds, writing on walls, and such naughty things like that).
And that’s that for the rooms. I also took these pictures…….of a few little things around the house.
This is a cross stitched wall hanging that I bought for 2 dollars at a thrift store.
And this is a picture that hung in my childhood home, Mom was getting rid of things and gave it to me. I love it.
And this is what I decided to do with some of my antique compact collection. I looped an old piece of lace from them and dangled them from the knobs on my china cabinet. As I run around during the day, it’s little things like this that make me happy, a small bit of prettiness, just for me.
We have been living in this house for almost four years. I was blogging here at xanga during the time we moved here. It is our dream home and we don’t plan on moving again…..it feels nice to be settled and, little by little, turn our house into a home.
Thanks for stopping by my place today! You are welcome here, anytime!
Much love~ Shanda
Good to be Home 
What a lovely home. The house looks great!
Lovely tour of your nice clean home. Can you send those maids over this way? Mine is a wreck right now since we had a week of orthodonticts appointments, eye doctor appointments, and sledding with some friends. I’m exhausted after our week of “break” from school. Won’t make that mistake again. Scheduling appointments during our break!
Thank you for the wonderful tour. I have seen much of it before, but not everything, and it is fun to see the changes ( I think Caleb was upstairs before). I am only missing our cup of tea or coffee on the porch…might be too cold right now, but it is nice that you have your “outdoor room”. The “maybe someday” for a real visit is always out there. Nice to know you will still be there! I have a new antique compact/purse that was in the linen cupboard from Nana. I will take a pic soon. I am sure it was her mothers.God bless you! Have a great weekend!
Shanda, I love your home, especially the boys room! My boys would LOVE to have a room that big. Your whole house is so inviting and welcoming. Thank you for taking us on a tour!I so well remember when you moved to this house. I remember your post when you left your old house…..saying good-bye to a friend. Loved it! I can’t believe I have “known” you that long! Wow!I pray you have a blessed and joy filled day,(((hugs))) to you!Jana
Oh Shanda, your home is gorgeous, so warm and inviting! Thanks for sharing it with all of us!!
So cozy and inviting. Loving the tidiness. I’m hoping it will inspire me to tidy up my own home now. I can just imagine how lovely it felt to come home to that! Thank you for sharing your home with us, I love seeing how other people live.
Isn’t it so nice to come home to a clean house? I am much happier with the job my cleaning ladies do if I leave while they are cleaning. For some strange reason it seems cleaner. I love your boy’s room down in the basement. We are trying to decide what to do with all our boys sleeping arrangements. We have four bedrooms upstairs, and one down stairs. No one wants to move down stairs to the extra room. We keep it for my mom when she flies up for visits. We have a very large master, and right now I have the baby (9months) in my dressing room just off of my room. My little girl (7yrs) has her own room, the two middle boys (3yrs & 7yrs) are across the hall from her, and at he end of the long hall are my two oldest boys (11 yrs & almost 9 yrs). We are thinking about enlarging the older boys room making one great big dorm type room that way the baby can get a real room upstairs. Does it work well having them all together? I am afraid of too much monkey business at bed time. Our basement is just a big playroom. I really do like what you did with yours. Blessings to you ~ Deborah
What a warm loving home you have. I love Grace’s hot pink room. I like bright colors and so does my Gracie Thank you for the home tour~ All the rooms are, markings or not, as beautiful!y~Cinnamon
This was such a great idea – a tour of your home! Like you, I have a few things around the house that are touches just for me! I’ve considered getting the girls “hope chests” and Grace’s make me consider that thought even more! Can you believe, my maid didn’t show up AGAIN today? She’s supposed to come twice a week and barely makes it once. I had to let her go and called the company to “order” someone else! And I even cleared the surfaces last night and this morning to make it easier. Might as well do it myself! (I think I’m slightly out of sorts!)
Love your home. It is beautiful.
Thanks for the tour! That was fun. 🙂
Its good to see your home Shan. I always have felt welcome and at easse in your home. I love the style of your home, the colors of the rooms, your choice of furniture, and the little touches you make with decorations, your own creations, and just the love you poor into your family. I love you, Lish
Beautiful! The best part of it…the love within it! Blessings on your day!PS – My 14 year old daughter caught a glimpse of Grace’s room ~ and adores the color ~ must be a girl thing!
i like the boxes at the ends of the boys’ beds, great way to keep their toys off the floor…my parents need a new microwave…they have had the same microwave since my baby sister was born…and that was 21 years ago(this tuesday…it is her birthday and mine…I will be 27…time sure flies)
Thank you so much for the generous tour of your home. It’s lovely. I have just four boys and the naughtiness never seems to end. I’ve had many toys flushed down the toilets, I think I lost count at 9!! Fortunately, one of my skills is being a plumber (not lisenced of course!). I have lots of drawings on the walls too. I think I’ll try to remember to take pictures before we paint.
Thanks for the tour! I loved it! And yes, I did see the quilt. Your home is full of love! Enjoy your “the maids were just here” clean house!
You have a lovely, warm, welcoming house. My favorite picture, though, has to be of Seth busily working away at the cabinet in the master bath. So cute!My parents painted my bedroom pink when I was little … it came out about the same shade as Grace’s (Pepto Bismal Pink, we called it), which was not how it looked in the can. I loved it, but Mom and Dad said they couldn’t take looking at it day in and day out, so they did a coat of white over it, which faded it down to the prettiest pastel pink – much easier to live with!Thank you for the fun tour!
Sigh…thank you for the refreshing “visit” to your home. It is welcoming and comfortable and I like that. Plus, the hostess isn’t too bad either. ; )
I loved your little tour!! The funniest part was when you recounted the Thomas the train incident. Wow… 🙂 I’m so glad that things were smoother this week with the maids ~ I’m sure it was nice to come home to a clean house.
I wonder if I would think differently about the pictures if I had not been there? What I mean is that I knew right where everything was but even more so I knew the “feel” of each room which can only happen from being there..living there for a few days. Your home is big and beautiful and a wonderful place to raise a family!Where will Seth sleep when he is older?I like the idea of having a box at the foot of the beds for the toys! So happy to hear that today was easier for you, I CANNOT believe that you are so far along already, where has the time gone?!!! Thank you for the tour it was fun visitng!
Such a cozy home that looks like it’s filled with tons of love! Now – I’d LOVE to take a tour of the land you live on I remember you posting some pics from your view off of the porch. It was downright breath-taking!!! Here in TX we really dont see seasons , and I LOVE the outdoors – so it’s a bummer. Enjoy your family time this weekend. Bleesings to you ~
Thank you for letting us into your home, it is beautiful, and also has inspired me to get up and clean and stop reading xanga’s on this Friday afternoon! You are such an excellent writer, I just love it when you post. Have a Happy Friday. =)
Thanks for the tour of your home, It is beautiful, cozy, inviting and so open!!! I really think of how small and boxy or open rooms are since my husband is on a wheelchair!!
Thanks for the tour! You have a lovely home!
Love your cozy home and all the love in it. I’d love to come for a real visit once….if we could ever gap the many miles beween us women who love the Lord and our families…until then…thankyou for the virtul tour!!!
¡GRACIAS! Thank you for the tour! Really you have a home full of love and life, and is so so cozy!!! Bicos from Spain
This is so much fun! I enjoyed my visit at your house, thanks for the invite . Your posts always warm my heart.Yep, we have stickers on the boys beds, too. They love stickers, I just found where they “decorated” Sam’s car seat with stickers. They’re very creative.Have a great weekend.
Thanks for the tour. It is neat to see where people live. We often see the living area and kitchen. I laughed when you said you put the blanket on the back of the couch since the children run their hands across it….we have a wall that gets all that “feeling up” too.
such a lovely place~ warm and cozy. i like the pink on Grace’ walls~
Loved the tour!!!! Such a neat idea!!!! LOVE the counter space in the kitchen… Also like the books in rooms , that always gives such a cozy and warm feeling! Also did not get to comment the other day, but I loved the journal idea, thanks for those pics as well. Scrapbooking , making cards,etc. are a passion of mine, but in this season of my life I cannot find enough time to do it, and I just never tho’t of incorporating it in my Bible journal! Love it and will try that, that will satisfy my longing for now until I have time to scrapbook our pics! Have a Blest weekend and enjoy your clean house!
a very lovely home! thanks for the tour~
Your house is gorgeous…and so clean! I’m jealous!
what a nice treat your tour was. you’ve created a beautiful home for your family in so many ways!!
Love your house 🙂 We just moved in a few months ago to a 109 year old Victorian home. I love it here…although I wish I could just put my touch everywhere with the blink of an eye. So much to do, paint, decorating, etc. As far as the pregnancy goes, I am glad to hear I am not the only one having pregnancy pains. My issues are more in my lower abdomen, feeling like everything is falling out 😉 I too feel 9 months pregnant and I am 22 weeks. I guess being baby number five, it starts taking its toll. Loved the tour…have a great weekend…..Andrea
Your home looks so nice! Abby would love Grace’s room she loves that color:) Thanks for sharing it with us.
darling!
Thanks for showing us around. Davy and the bats made me giggle! I remember as a child I wrote all over the wall paper in my father’s study. He was not amused or understanding.
thanks for the tour 🙂 how fun! It seems nice an roomy for all the kiddos to play and roam and make memories together ~ I too use my calendar as EVERYTHING type day planner of sorts. 🙂 BLESSINGS on your Sat. there. We’ve basketball games – i love to cheer.lys
A lovely, lovely home ~
You have a lovely house Shanda!! I cant wait until we are done moving and finally settle someplace for more than 2 years :).Love, Melissa
I also loved the tour and seeing your lovely home. I know you love the big basement area. We had 6 boys, and a room like that would have been wonderful!
Shanda, you have an absolutely gorgeous house! What I noticed the most though was the HOME part. Just lovely. Thank you for sharing your photos. I love getting inspiration for my home from other Christian women’s homes. I will be praying for you as you continue to carry your precious baby. I don’t get over here as often as I would like. I need to. Your blog is so encouraging and honest. You are such a beautiful person – inside and out!~Tiffanywww.amomentcherished.blogspot.com
Perfect timing for a tour of your home. Right now I’m actually drawing up plans (to eventually show an architect/builder) to build our own dream home, and we have similar tastes! :o) Front porch an’ all. Recently a great aunt just sold her property to our family’s dairy farm and Lord willing if all works out we are going to buy that property and build in a few years. It’s gorgeous wooded property, about 11 acres. The kiddos would have to hop a creek to walk to Grandmas, or to go work on the farm. (It’s about a 10 minute walk. :o) Anyways…you have a lovely dream home…I can keep dreaming about mine. ;o)
Love the boy’s room. I can only imagine how much fun they have!
What a wonderful, wonderful home you have, my dear friend. To you it may often seem a smaller world, but for you and your children it IS The World.. Thank you for letting us in on your home, wich is lovely and so neat. I really hope your lovely children help you keeping it tidy and that you as the mother do not need to excessively have to overstratche yourself in the household even though you will want your kids to be expressive and creative and learning and at ease in their own doing. I learned from Beth Ann from Bakersdozen2: “WE ” clean up and do it all: living together.Much love and a wonderful weekend.Godeliva van Ariadone
Oh my, I soo much loved the tour of your house!! thank you for sharing. I always think it is beautiful in the glances I get, but it was fun to see it all at one time!!Will Sarah be in with Grace eventually?
Just like Better Homes and Gardens…..oh –but so much better– when you know the home is filled with love.
Thank you for sharing your home with us. I see that you have lots of space for your family, yet…it is cozy.Happy weekend, Shanda!xo
Your home looks lovely and cozy.. thanks for the tour. :)~hugs~Lanitha
I loved being at your house today. :o) Thank you for the tour! You’ve done a wonderful job of making your home beautiful, funtional and a place where all feel welcome! Can’t wait to catch up one of these days! Rest when you can!! :o)