220 South Forest Avenue

Whew! What a busy, exhausting few weeks it has been. We moved into our new house on Nov 16, and since then we've been unpacking, cleaning, painting, dealing with repairs, decorating, organizing, looking for furniture on Craigslist, doing yardwork, shopping etc. etc. And we're still not done. Probably won't be totally settled for another month or two.

But we love the house and we love the neighborhood and we can't believe our good luck that we get to live here. The house was built in 1889 and was remodeled about 6 years ago. The pictures below are professional pics that were taken from the sales listing. This is how the previous owner had it staged, and sadly not exactly the way it looks right now! We've still got boxes and empty spaces.

The front of the house. The house actually sits up on a hill, sideways from the road. We are just around the corner from the Middle School and the Webster Groves Rec Center. We are also pretty close to Interstate 44, which I didn't notice at all when the leaves were on the trees. You do notice the traffic noise in the house, but most of the time it is white noise.

The living room. We made our first fire in the fireplace last week. Other than that, we don't actually spend a lot of time in here yet. We only have one couch, but it leaves plenty of room for Luke to play.

Another view of the living room. Currently our bookshelves are filled with boxes and things we don't know where to put yet.

The kitchen. Looks nice, but just about every appliance is broken in some way. The dishwasher guy is coming tomorrow, and I have to call someone to come fix two of the burners on the gas stove.

The dining room. The previous owner took the sconces and chandelier and we don't have a dining table, so we don't spend a lot of time in here yet!

Another view of the dining room. Look at the beautiful archway that leads into the front foyer and the beautiful arched built-in. These are the architectural details we fell in love with.

The sunroom. This is the smallest room in the house and ironically where we spend most of our time right now. The TV is in here and it also serves as the temporary dining area.

Another view of the sunroom.

The entry way with the beautiful spiral staircase. The jewel of the house. As much as I go up and down these stairs fetching things for the kids, I honestly don't mind since the stairs are so beautiful and fun to use. You can see the sunroom to the left and the archway to the dining room on the right.

The back porch. We intend to spend a lot of time here. The house sits on a little over a half acre, so lots of room for boys to run around.

Jake is 13 weeks old today!

 

 

Happy Belated Halloween!

I am two weeks behind in my blog postings, so here are the Halloween pics! Luke was a black cat again and Grandma Stewart sent a raccoon costumer for Jake.

We took Luke to a Halloween Party and he went trick-or-treating with a bunch of kids. He totally latched on to the three, cool 6-year-old boys at the front of this picture.

Grandma Siorek showed Luke how to make a witch's cauldron with dry ice!

Smiley Baby

Jake is 10 weeks old today!

Jake has a heart-melting smile. He loves it when you talk to him, and he talks back with "A-Goo" sounds.

In his car seat last weekend, going on an outing with Mom and Dad while Luke was in Chicago.

First pumpkin patch visit.

Jake and his cousin Greta.

 

 

Luke's Fall Fun

Here are some pictures of Luke's fun October in St. Louis and Chicago.

Today Luke went on a hike with Daddy. They went to the World Bird Sanctuary and Lone Elk County Park.

Luke went to Chicago for three days and had a ton of fun running in a pack with his cousins.

Luke and John playing barefoot soccer.

Raking leaves on Grandma and Grandpa's patio. This was on a day when we had unseasonably warm temperatures.

 

 

Luke and Jake posing for some brotherly love.

What Jake's Been Doing

Jake is 8 weeks old today! 

Here are some pics from the last couple of weeks.

Dressed in his Cardinals jacket to walk to the grocery store.

Photo shoot in his crib

From a walk at the park

And here are Jake and Luke visiting Great Grandpa Siorek a couple of weeks ago. We are so glad the boys got to see him and that Great Grandpa got to meet Jake. Great Grandpa passed last night. He was 99 years old. He will be greatly missed.