Photo tour of our house

Yay! I love our new home! It seems like every time we move, we get someplace better. And it is SO nice to know we'll be staying here for at least 4 years. Don't get me wrong, we will miss everyone back in the states SO much, but it is really nice to actually get a chance to settle in somewhere (this is our 4th move in 2 years) long enough to justify homey little pleasures like interior decorating, planting an herb/vegetable garden, and painting the walls! None of which we've done yet, lol, but all of which we're [planning on] getting to.

Our new house is adjoined with one other nice family's. They have no kids yet, but hope to have one in the works soon. Ha already has a friend across the street: Gabby, who just turned 2. Ha went to her party last Saturday. Our home is single-story w/laminate wood floors (yay!), a kitchen big enough for our breakfast nook (double yay!), and I guess what you would call 1 1/2 baths. We have one regular bathroom, and then a stand-alone toilet in the laundry room! There used to be a slop sink in there, too, but we had to remove it to make room for one of my most prized possessions: my HE Bosch 500series washer (we needed to bring it overseas with us b/c I cannot do without a sanitary cycle for washing Ha's diapers, trainers, etc.). It's a 3 bedroom, which is great b/c this way Da can have his own office (read: a room he can do whatever he wants to in, without having me nagging him to clean it up!).

So...without further ado, here is a (somewhat incomplete) photo tour of our new digs. LOL, I just realized I don't have any photos of our duplex from the outside yet, or of the master bedroom or Da's office.

What?! A playhouse in the playroom?!
We used to keep Ha's storybook cottage outside, but Martin suggested, since our living area is quite large & Ha loves her playhouse--why not set it up indoors? Plus, with the typhoon threat, if we had it outdoors, we'd have to anchor it down, etc. And the humidity/mosquito combination makes an indoor playhouse sound especially inviting. I forgot to take pix of the rest of our living room, but we also have the TV, a couch, easy chair, desk, etc. set up in this room. Fun for adults, and especially for kiddos. :O)
Ha, blowing kisses from her house to yours:
Good friends, Ha & 'Tunia, sharing some love. 'Tunia is in her festive pumpkin dog bed:
Here is a super-cute photo, which I know Tu in particular will love. Ha is sitting on her playmat, using rubber stamps & helping me scrapbook, LOL!!
Ha's room (which she takes regular naps & sleeps through the night in!!!!).

She loves it--and empties the closet/the dresser/her crib all over the floor every chance she gets, lol. You may notice we don't have a lot of pix, etc. hung yet. B/c of the typhoons, some houses on base are concrete, reinforced w/rebar--so hanging even a simple picture requires me to get out the power tools. I am pacing myself and hope to have this place all decorated by the holidays.
Ha loves to curl up on her bear rug and pretend to snooze when it's time for nap or bed!

One of Ha's fave rooms is the bathroom! She, as her latest vid exemplifies, truly loves to bathe. She also adores brushing her teeth and sitting on her new potty chair!

We're taking the training slowly. Ha had begun to express a real interest in the toilet and also signs "diaper" and says "boop" when she goes #2 or passes gas, so we took it as a sign that she is ready. I tried putting her in trainers one morning, but she went through all of them before lunch, lol. It was like a nonstop morning of changing outfits. So for now, all we are doing is getting used to the potty. Before bathtime, she sits on it and reads a couple of her favorite books (we save her musical books for potty time). So far she hasn't gone in the pot, but she really enjoys sitting there. When she has a solid #2, we dump it in the pot and then dump the pot in the toilet. Ha flushes the toilet, says "buh-bye", then climbs onto her stool from Godmom Vici and washes her hands. After that comes the best part--picking out a sticker! Which, thanks to Tutu and the 100 yen store (Japanese version of the dollar store), Ha has quite the tantalizing collection.
The kitchen is a popular room w/both Ha & me. I love to cook (we hosted our first brunch this past weekend--I have to post a yummy quiche recipe on here later) and Ha loves to: 1) dump Petunia's water all over the floor & 2) entertain the family with music and dance using her fridge DJ system.

I also love our dining area--mostly b/c of the military furniture we have on-loan to fill it!
We have a dining room table big enough to show off the lovely hand-crocheted tablecloth my great-aunt, Cioc, made. AND we have a buffet/china closet thing for our wedding china! No more top shelf in the pantry, lol. Granted, our set is a bit incomplete, but we still love it--especially the wine glasses!
Yummy brunch photos (Da's coworker Paul & his wife Sam were our guests).
The backyard is Petunia's favorite part of the house. She is a dog who truly loves to lounge and sunbathe. Unfortunately, due to typhoons and risk of flooding, we can't install a dog door here. Poor 'Tunia was pretty much constantly sitting by the back door for the first couple of weeks. When we'd let her out, instead of going potty, she'd just sprawl out on the lawn & sunbathe. Last time we tried to tether her, she almost strangled herself, so that was out of the question, and installing a fence requires a lot of time and about $1100--so I went to MonkeyDolphin DIY store and picked up a couple small fence panels and made Petunia a little sunbathing area which she seems to enjoy. A plus: it's light enough to drag on to the porch every other Weds. when our (splurge!) lawn lady comes to cut the grass.
The girls exploring the yard:
A rare sight: Petunia running!!
Love to all!