Home Sweet Home!!!

I have been majorly slacking on this Blog! We have been crazy since the middle of October and most of it surrounded around our home buying adventure. When we moved out to Mandeville, we decided to rent for a little while so we could learn the area. Our contract was up in May, but Josh wasn't ready to start looking until he confirmed with his boss that he would be staying in the Mandeville/Covington area. They had that important meeting at the end of August so I was able to start looking. I knew I wanted a BIGGER house. We had moved 4 times in 5 years and I wanted to stay put even if we have another baby or two. So I was searching for 4 bedrooms. I also wanted a bonus/playroom, I wanted a good neighborhood, and I had to keep it within budget. Not an easy task! We were working with Josh's cousin's husband Dave. He was a God send! I could email, text and call him whenever and he would take care of us and set things up. Dave and I looked at 3 houses, and I wasn't completely happy with any of them. Sunday September 11th I got one of those generated emails with a house that had JUST come on the market. I emailed Dave that night and said "I want this house!" For some reason as soon as I saw it online I knew it was ours :) Dave was able to set up a walk through for Monday evening when Josh got off work. When we got done touring the home, Josh was ready to put in an offer! We submitted our offer Tuesday morning and were under contract by Wednesday! Fast forward to October 18th, after 10,000 phone calls and meetings with loan officers, inspectors, insurance agents, underwriters and title companies and we closed on our forever home! I got the crazy idea to throw a housewarming/Halloween party less than 2 weeks after we closed on the house. So I got in and got busy! Here is a little walk through of our humble abode :)

Foyer walking in the front door.

Dining room: before

Dining room: after

Kitchen

Breakfast nook: before

Breakfast nook: after

Laundry room

Living room: before

Living room after

Master bedroom: before

Master bedroom: after

Master bath

Guest room

Avery's room

Guest bathroom

Office

Patio

Playroom

The playroom is GREAT! It is a converted two-car garage. So Avery has tons of space! It is off of the kitchen, so she can play in there while I am cooking dinner or cleaning up. There is also a 1 car garage and workshop area off of the playroom. AND a guest apartment/loft off of that. We have so many options for this house! We still have a lot of work to do outside, and little fixing up we want to do on the inside. But I am so in love with our house! Like I said we are here to stay, so we are meeting our neighbors and getting settled in.

Happy Fall 2011!

 It's that time of year again! Time for pumpkin patches, cooler weather (hopefully!), jack-o-lanterns, bonfires, sweaters and FALL! We decided to head out to Hammond to Mrs. Heather's Pumpkin Patch this past Saturday to pick out our pumpkin for the season. Avery was too cute! Here she is before we left.

 Finally enough hair for piggy tails!

 This was our first time going to this particular pumpkin patch, and it was really nice. There were A LOT of spots set up for photo ops. Unfortunately Avery was NOT feeling the Momarrazi :)

 She did enjoy swinging in the big girl swing.

 And playing with the duckies and the water pump with daddy,

 So sweet :)

 There was a little petting zoo set up as well.

 Avery was so excited to see the "horseys" that go NEIGH!

 A real horsey :)

 Very interested in what this little piggy was eating

 Then it was time to pick our pumpkins. There were soooo many to choose from.

 This one looks good!

 Almost got it

 There we go!

 Mom, this is heavy!

 We stopped to rest under a little tent and Avery thought it would be fun to play peek a boo. She was hiding so well behind that big old pole, we couldn't even see her!

 There she is!

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch!

Pretty Days and Beach Vacay!

We have had a few days of respite from the dog days of summer. Of course it occurred after Tropical Storm Lee dumped 12 inches of water on us over labor day weekend! We were outside to enjoy as much of the pretty weather as we could.

 After I picked Drake up from school we went to the park. Drake and Avery are so sweet together. Avery absolutely loves him, and he is so sweet with her. Here they are really enjoying the slide!

 This past weekend the Danford clan trekked out to Pensacola Beach, FL for a long weekend beach vacation and to celebrate mom's birthday. Josh, Avery and I went up when he got off of work Thursday night, we got there are like 1am! But we woke up bright and early ready to enjoy as much of our vacation as we could. We started off with breakfast at a little hole in the wall diner.

 Then Josh and Avery swam a little bit in the pool...it was FREEZING!

 Here is a view of the bay from our condo complex.

 Josh, Jonnilin, Julian, Jake, Angela and Mom got out there at around noon. We made our grocery list for the weekend then Josh L., Avery, Jonnilin and I ran to Wal Mart for the longest shopping trip ever :) We split up all the meals per couple, so that way you only had to be stuck in the kitchen cooking and cleaning for one meal. Josh and Jonnilin made roast beef sandwiches with au jus and french fries on Friday night. After we got the kids bathed and in bed we had family game night! We play "Loaded Questions", drank a few cocktails and died laughing! It was a great night! Jake and Angela made a huge breakfast spread of french toast, hash browns, bacon, sausage, eggs and fruit on Saturday morning.

 After breakfast Saturday we packed up and headed across the street from the condo to the beach. It was absolutely beautiful!

 Our set up.

There was a little pool of water away from the gulf that the kids played in. It was perfect because they could play in the sand and water without having to worry about the waves. JuJu was making grandma a birthday cake here.

 Avery loved the sand and the water :)

 We all had a great time enjoying the sun and the waves.

 The boys went snorkeling but I think all they found were jellyfish!

 Avery wore herself out at the beach, so we came in for nap time and she passed out of Josh within a few minutes. It was so nice, we were really able to relax and rest and get away from all the stressor of work and real life.



Saturday night Josh and I made chicken Parmesan, after dinner we sang happy birthday and gave mom her gifts. We got her a Kindle and the grand kids decorated her card.

 She got to spend some quality time with her grand babies.

Sunday morning mom made biscuits and gravy. And everyone recuperated from another night of cocktails and games :) We packed everything up and hit the road by 2pm to head back to reality. It was an amazing vacation though. We haven't had everyone together for a family trip since 2006. We added another fiance and 2 grand kids since then. Josh's Aunt Sandy's condo was awesome and we have decided to make it a yearly tradition!