The Grand Tour (Minus the Master)

We've still got a few pesky piles of stuff needing to be dealt with, but largely we have the new apartment in order, so I thought I'd do a tour.  I'll save the master bedroom for another day, because we still need to hang the curtains and find a headboard for our new-ish king-size bed.

The apartment opens to a hallway with a big entrance to the kitchen on the left.  This kitchen has SO much more space than our old one.  In the mornings, we all hang out in there, the boys taking turns pushing the buttons on the blender, the Mister cooking bacon, Baby Girl playing in her walker, and me packing lunch boxes.  That just would not have been possible in our old kitchen.

View of the kitchen from the pass-through, which the boys have already adopted as their new favorite jumping perch.

Across the hall from the kitchen is Baby Girl's cubby hole.  The space doesn't have a door, so we hung a curtain.

 The changing table/dresser, the play pen, and the double jogging stroller all fit just perfectly.  She's spent two nights in there now, sleeping a solid 12 hours each time.  So it's a success!

 The entry hallway ends in the living space.  To the left is our dining area.

To the right is our sitting/TV-watching area.

And in the back corner is the children's play area.  Again, waaaay more space than we had before.  It's so pleasant to be able to be able to do a whole floor puzzle without moving the coffee table!

Down another hallway are the bathrooms and other bedrooms.  This is the boys' room, with Buddy Boy in the mini crib, Little Guy in the toddler bed, and the occasional grandmother in the twin bed.  Every night after I kiss the boys good night, I hear the whirr and clatter of the mini blinds being raised.  Little Guy likes a little pre-bed city watching.

I must say I'm with him on that count.  It's as much what's outside as what's inside that we love about this apartment.

Pretty good dinner view.

But as for what I love inside, this tiny table and these two tiny chairs may top the list.  I found them at Ikea {the table was intended to be a side table, but works perfectly for this purpose}.  The boys eat almost every meal here, since the Mister's work schedule means family meals aren't possible except {sometimes} on weekends.  Oatmeal/spaghetti/cereal/etc. + carpeted dining space = no fun.  This new arrangement is awesome.  Perfect for crafts, too.  I love love love it.

I'm trying to encourage more self-sufficiency, so on the racks next to the children's table, there is a bucket of plastic dishes.  The boys still have to ask permission first, but they are serving a lot of their own snacks these days and even some small meals.  The fact that the dishes are plastic means that even Buddy Boy can, on his tippiest of toes, push a plate up and over the edge of the sink after he's finished his snack.  And they really love the knives!

I also love passing by this collection each day, which includes the crucifix the Mister and I selected together when we were engaged and a stone copy of our wedding invitation.

This nook next to the boys' room was perfect for their very own book case, with an arts and crafts cabinet below {with a child-proof lock, thankyouverymuch, Buddy Boy}.

 

I hope to pull the master bedroom together soon, and finish up the tour!