5 Years

As we celebrate our five year anniversary of living in our house, I can't help but think about all the projects we've done to make it more us and less of the previous homeowner(s). I hope that in the next 5 years I will be as equally happy or more so. I hope that we will see even more renovations, maybe a new bathroom? Or perhaps a new kitchen? We already have plans to build a deck off our back door and to add onto Lily's swing set. And then there's still progress to be made on Lily's Garden and don't even get me started on the front yard. I definitely think we have 5 more years of projects to work on!

In the past five years, our lives have definitely changed.

On the personal front:
2007 saw my introduction into education, which has definitely changed my life.
2008 included our biggest surprise when we found out we were pregnant with Miss Lily. The end of the year saw the passing of Doug's grandfather.
2009 was all about Miss Lily, as shown with her four baby showers (family, friends and coworkers x2!) and of course, her arrival.
2010 had a mix of feelings throughout the year - we lost my grandfather, Lily celebrated her first birthday, and my family had some other sad news come their way, I also finished up with my teaching certification.
2011 was somewhat of a blur but definitely wasn't a good year. We lost my uncle, great uncle, great aunt, and my brother. On the plus side, since we try to focus on that, we celebrated Lily's second birthday and it helped us come together as a family after all the negative.
2012 has gone by quickly. I graduated with my master's in teaching, Lily had a great third birthday, and we've spent more time with family that moved nearby. We did say goodbye to Doug's grandmother after she passed earlier this year.

On the home front:
I think 2012 saw more progress done to the house than the previous four years, with the exception of the upstairs remodel.
Since buying the house, we've completely changed our side yard into Lily's garden.
We've painted almost every room of the house to help tone down the previous crazy color choices.
We've fenced in the backyard and added Lily's swing set, or as we sometimes refer to it "step 1" in the project.

In the next five years, I hope to accomplish:
A bathroom gut job and reno.
The backyard deck.
Lily's "theme park" of a backyard - slide, so on.
New appliances in the kitchen.
Finishing Lily's garden - although, is a garden ever really done?! I'd like it fenced in, the arbor added, grass replaced with rocks and mulch, and more plants.
Lily's "big girl" room completed - gutted and made over like our upstairs.
Lily's current room turned into another bedroom...
And yes, that means, having another baby.

There are more on this list but some projects are those "if we have money" projects - like the kitchen. Some day....