We did find a new house, however! We’re currently in Escrow on a place in Aliso Viejo. I’ve uploaded some pictures of the place we bought, as well as some pictures of another house on the same street, with the same layout, that was really nicely decorated for comparison. Our new house backs onto a fairly large street, but it has a really, really big backyard and a view. We’re planning on painting and replacing the floors with hardwood and carpet upstairs before we move in (budget allowing).

Last weekend we hit up REI to get Liam a bike helmet. A cute little yellow Bell that looks far too large on him. We set him up in the bike trailer and went for a little family ride. Clare even agreed to get on her bike for a quick ride around the block!

While shopping for the bike helmet we discovered that Liam loves skaters. A kid was skating back and forth and Liam was enthralled. Each time the kid did a trick Liam would laugh his head off… and then stare intently at him, waiting for the next one. It was super cute!

Also in the news… the pool safety fence was installed. Boooooo! It’s really not too bad, though. Kinda neat that it can hold up to 300 pounds (the installer demonstrated by leaning back against it).

The kitchen is finally complete (*knock on wood*). Wood flooring was replaced. Granite installers broke the ceramic cooktop on the stove, which was finally replaced. Dish washer re-leveled. Painted. Cleaned.

Only some more painting left to do… the ceiling (ugh) and one wall.

Flooring is almost done! Here’s out latest living room layout. We like it. Tomorrow I’ll be purchasing all of the baseboards.

We still have to pick out a granite for the kitchen countertops, and decide on colors for the backsplash area.

Wow! Here’s the start of our new floor! We’re quite excited… the end is finally in sight!

Ok, the bathroom is pretty much complete. But, boy, Clare and I suck at choosing colors. We went through four different colors (and have many gallons of barely touched paint in the garage to prove it) before choosing this set. And, actually, I didn’t care for it much but Clare loved it… it’s grown on me now, though.

Now all that needs to be done is the baseboard, which will all be done at once when the flooring has been put in for the rest of the house (hopefully complete this week).

Last things to do… purchase baseboards, figure out what granite we like for kitchen countertops, buy new kitchen table… hrm. I guess that’s it! wooooo! finally!!!!

Also, we went to VEGAS last weekend! It was a great time. Mick, Roxanne, Rich, and Maki stayed at the Venetian (SWANK), while we stayed with another group of friends down at the Sahara (CHEAP). Saturday night we went with the Venetian crew to an awesome restaurant in Mandalay Bay called Red Square. As you can guess, it’s a Russian inspired place with fantastic vodka and incredible dishes.

Some updated photos of the kitchen progress. The window in the background is going to be larger, and we haven’t yet decided on what kind of granite we’re going to use for the countertops.

After a few days of our “Contractors” not showing up, they made up for it in a whirlwind day of grouting, fixing, and tearing down.

Our guest bathroom (Marc’s) is just about complete. We just need the faucets installed in the tub, and hooked up with the sink. This is the sink/toilet set we chose.

As you can see from the picture, the Kitchen has been mostly torn out. Only a single piece with the sink remains. I anticipate that that will be torn out today, part of the ceiling removed, and then cleanup. Once that’s done, the floor will be prepped for our new hardwood flooring. That will get installed, and then the kitchen and appliances. Woo!

This time it’s the Guest Bathroom. An impressive amount of demolition. As you can tell by the pictures, the new bathtub has already been installed. We still have to pick some decorative tiles for shower wall, though, that will hopefully match the new Travertine floor that is being put in.

On the same day (yesterday, Thursday), our new wood flooring was delivered, and the leaks were (hopefully) fixed in the new slider and kitchen window (for free, no less!)