Birthday wish

This year, I got a house for my birthday.  Really, on my birthday.  In the words of my childhood self, "It's just what I always wanted!"

Thanks to wonderful help from J's grandparents, some amazing folks (and new friends!) in Rochester, and most of all to the tireless of efforts of my fabulous husband, we have gone from this...

(J really liked having his chair on the floor.  

I'm not sure he viewed the arrival of kitchen furniture as an improvement.)

...to this.  These pics are of the upstairs.  The downstairs is still not exactly picture-worthy.

 The upstairs bath has two vanities.  You get the eternity effect.

 Here are the workers in action.  Yep, my folks drove all the way to Rochester, MN from Utah to help us get settled in.  And resurface the entire deck.  I'm not sure why we are so lucky, but I'll take it!

 Here you can see the before and after.  And you can also see how glad I am that I don't have to do it.

Thanks to craigslist, yard sales and our incurable dumpster diving habit (if you can't tell what we picked up for free, then we won't either ;) ), we managed to outfit the place without breaking the bank.  I especially love the 6 dining chairs for $50!  We also picked up a few other "essential" items, including the next vehicle in J's growing collection:

This picture doesn't quite capture the sheer joy of this first ride.  This toy was meant to be his.

Well, the walls are still bare, but it feels like home already.  Little J loves the park out back, and he finishes just about every day by running laps around the loop from the kitchen to dining room to living room and back.  By the end he is sweaty and smiling.  I think he's enjoying his new pad.  So are we.