May - July 2012: And then there were 3...

Houses, that is. Yes, we bought another house. With interest rates so low and with a few things we wanted in a more permanent house that we couldn't change on the Overland Park house (e.g., 3-car garage, quieter location, bigger yard, 3 bathrooms upstairs), it was hard not to look at what was out on the market. And look we did. It took us about 6 months and many duds for us to find one we truly liked. Best part is:  NO REMODELING REQUIRED! We put our offer in on St. Patty's Day and the luck paid off! We closed in mid-May and began the dreadful process of moving. We thankfully had the help of both sets of parents, and of course, Belle, and we were mostly moved in by the end of Memorial Weekend.

(These are pictures from the listing and the former owners were great decorators, so it doesn't look quite as nice now)

Being done with the remodeling on the Overland Park house, however, was another story. The new hardwoods and carpet went in right after we moved out (we hired those out because there would have been NO way for us to have done it ourselves), but there were still lots of finishing touches left. Throughout the rest of June and July, Vince caulked, filled the nail holes in, and painted the baseboards and shoe molding; reinstalled and reconnected to the water lines the 1/2 bath vanity and toilet; put back in the kitchen appliances; painted the basement "bedroom"; and installed a backup sump pump (plus a minor scare with a drop of battery acid getting in his eye). After a year-and-a-half of remodeling, we officially declared ourselves done! It's hard to leave all that hard work behind, but we have some great tenants moving in who we know will take great care of the place.

Without further ado, here are the grand finale pics:

It has been great living in a house where tools/furniture aren't piled everywhere and where the floor is actually covered in carpet! And it's been even better to have our weekends free. We don't really quite know what to do with ourselves since we've been devoted remodelers ever since we got married. And I'm afraid our blog content is going to suffer considerably without having before and after shots of various remodeling projects. But hopefully with the coming of our new arrival in January we'll keep busy and have some blog-worthy content too. Assuming all goes well, our new bundle of joy is scheduled to arrive on January 18th. Belle was thrilled to be part of the announcement to the family, however we don't think she fully realizes the impact this little one will have on the level of attention she currently receives.

Here is the little one at about 8 weeks, only about the size of a blueberry and looking a lot like a seahorse. We find out in about a month whether it's a boy or a girl. Casey guesses a boy and Vince guesses a girl. We'll find out soon enough!