Around the House

Our house is finally feeling like home. We have now lived here 3 weeks and are completely settled in. All suitcases are unpacked, we have bought all the essentials, know how to get a taxi and take the bus (sort of), and know how to get groceries. We're slowly getting used to figuring out directions too. We've visited some churches, gone over to some homes for dinner and know how to get to school. It's starting to feel a little bit normal.

Emma of course found a pet. It's a frog that she says she found in some dog poop at the edge of the park...gross...but whatever.

He's really cute. Emma named him Agua because he likes water. She is so creatively challenged when it comes to naming animals. It's always funny to hear what she comes up with and her reasoning behind it.

This frog really likes her (meaning it never pees on her). It rides around on her shoulder and Will even saw it sitting on her foot the other day while she was watching tv.

Cute little Agua. Someone please look this frog up online and tell me if it's poisonous.

Will made a cage for it out of things found around the house. We've now had Agua for 5 days. Lord, please don't let this thing die on us tomorrow. We will be having a funeral for it if so and don't worry...I will most certainly blog about it if/when it happens.

Oh yeah, here's the razor wire purchase we made. Isn't it beautiful? You see how someone could have easily jumped on the roof next door and hopped on to our balcony? Should have known my criminal-minded husband would figure this move out right away. Thank you Will for keeping us safe from the neighborhood rif-raf (old-fashioned grandma term courtesy of Jami Dickens).

This is how I catch Will most of the time on the balcony. Yes he is working.

And this is his view...punk always takes the hammock

Now I will take you on a tour of our house...

I'm warning you now...it's really blue...

View from the side of the balcony into our little garden/front yard area. Emma has lots of little flower pots lined up that she planted seeds in. Since it's rainy season, it's been perfect for growing these things really quickly!

Walking in from the balcony, here is our landing area with computer desk. From here the kids room is on the left and our room is on the right.

Kids room

Such high ceilings!

Master bedroom

Yep...more high ceilings

View looking down into the den from the upstairs landing area

View looking down into the dining room area

Cool random non-working hallway phone. Emma commented that she had never seen a phone with a cord before...makes me feel old.

Downstairs guest room all ready for some visitors...complete with pillow pet comfort

Backyard jungle with covered patio grilling area in the back

Pretty plants and flowers in the backyard growing along the wall

Our empleada "Ms Ebonne" as Jack calls her (Ivonne). Emma made her some huge earrings and she was nice enough to wear them. We have already enjoyed her so much. She is such a sweet and fun spirit, a hard worker, and very encouraging to us as we attempt to speak to her in Spanish. The Lord knew we needed her.

View from dining room into the den. We have some random wall lights on the left that we need to find coverings/lamp shades for...just not even sure where to start finding those here...maybe a hardware store?

Bought a rug, a tv and some new throw pillows. Put the rocking chair and Vonage phone at a little sitting area right above the couch. I think we've arranged everything the best we can...it's nice and functional.

Some pictures we wanted to put in frames but frames are kind of expensive. Home decor is actually pretty expensive and that's been hard for me. I am dying to find a Kirklands or Hobby Lobby or something where there's lots of cheap things to hang on the walls...but no such luck. Just have to decorate little by little I think. So we decided to just put the pics on the fridge and the kids love to look and comment on them every day.

The awesome kitchen. It's really big and so nice. Will has hooked me up some speakers in here to play music while I wash dishes (he's the one cooking these days). Even got us an app with USA radio stations!

The front hallway as you walk in the front door. Den on your right, kitchen straight ahead, guest room on your left, stairs in the back left, coat closet straight ahead. See if you can find the picture of Elvis.

Inside the front gate. Great garage with jeep playhouse. Of course the umbrellas are hanging up. Our front door even has a little "Wizard of Oz" window you can open. So cute! And please notice the duct tape on the broken window by the door...looks nice huh?

Front yard/garden area on left as you walk in the gate. Lots of hummingbirds flying around here all the time.

View out the front gate with park right there. It's rainy season, or winter, here right now until December. That means that it's pretty much sunny every morning and starts raining after lunch until around dinner time. Some days it rains harder than others, and today it never actually rained...it just looked really bad. We do not get hurricanes here...just earthquakes...haven't felt one yet...kind of scared.

We like to sit on the balcony together every night after we put the kids to bed (at 7:30...don't judge...it gets dark here at 6...might as well capitalize on it!). There was a cool fog the other night so had to take some pictures of it.

I'm so thankful for these three weeks we've had to get our house together, be together as a family and just learn to live. I think it's really cut down on our stress level and has made us eager to start school and get going on some Spanish!