Earning His Keep

It's never too early to teach a three year old a little household responsibility. This would be one chore I would definitely not miss. ....taking out the trash! I'm looking forward to the day when Kyle can actually perform the chores completely on his own....for now I will enjoy all the help I can get!

As shown in these older posts, Kyle already enjoys doing laundry and mowing the grass!

Show Us Where You Live Friday - Foyers/Entrance Ways

This week on Show Us Where You Live-Friday the highlighted area is the foyer and entrance way. This is the final week of the home tour series, but Kelly will be continuing each Friday with more fun and exciting themes. I have really enjoyed providing everyone a glimpse into each area of our home and it certainly has been fun viewing each of your homes.

I love the foyer in our home because it is a two story entry and is very open, which provides plenty of natural light. The entry way opens into the living room on the right, dining room on the left, family room, and also the stairs leading to the second level. Enjoy the tour and have a wonderful weekend!

Welcome to our Home! The Entrance

View of the front door from inside Foyer looking into the living room

View as you step inside leading to the family room

Can Laundry Be Fun?

When asked, I'm sure the majority of people would certainly say "No, laundry isn't fun"! Typically, I would agree with the majority, however at this time I would say doing laundry IS fun! I'm sure you are on the edge of your seat wondering why I feel this way. This week we purchased a new washing machine and dryer. Our old set was eighteen years old, so it was time! It's probably a bad sign when John asked if the tornado sirens were sounding and the noise was actually our washing machine...LOL!

I have been drooling over the new style front loading washing machines and was convinced that would be what we would purchase. Much to my surprise, we didn't and decided to get the top loading machine. They are high efficiency machines and require a certain type of laundry detergent labeled "HE". They are also so much larger than our old ones, you would think we had a family of ten. Granted, on a daily basis we probably don't need anything this large, but it will certainly be nice to have...especially when I want to wash a king size comforter. There are many settings and controls to learn about, although my favorite feature is the touch control, instead of the dial. For now, I'm enjoying doing laundry, but I'm sure once the newness wears off it will become much less exciting!

Goodbye for now...I'm off to wash, dry and fold!

Show Us Where You Live Friday - Yard

It's Friday...a holiday weekend and another edition of Kelly's, Show Us Where You Live - Friday! The yard and garage is the feature home tour this week! My tour will only consist of the yard, since our garage isn't very fun and exciting. It's your typical garage with two cars, lawn maintenance equipment, storage cabinets, etc.

The yard however, is one of my favorite areas of the house. My husband and I LOVE working in the yard and have done many landscaping projects since we purchased our home five years ago. This spring, we completed many home improvement projects in our back yard, such as replacing boards on the deck, staining the deck, hanging lattice around the bottom area of the deck, and replace the patio. We spend plenty of time in our backyard with our three year old so we attempted to have the area child friendly, as well as attractive. Enjoy the tour!

I'm looking forward to viewing everyone's pictures posted for the home tour! Hope everyone has a Happy 4th of July!

Welcome to our Home!

FRONT YARD

BACK YARD

Show Us Where You Live Friday - Master Bedroom

Welcome to Keeping Up With The Spences and to our Master Bedroom, the featured room on "Show Us Where You Live Friday". Our house is a story and a half so the master bedroom is located on the main level, separated from the other bedrooms. The room is very spacious with a coffered ceiling and a bay window, making the room feel even more open. Below are several pictures taken from various angles in the room. Enjoy the tour and have a wonderful weekend!

Show Us Where You Live Friday - Playroom

The featured room on "Show Us Where You Live Friday" is any combination of your playroom, bonus room, or laundry room. I will only be giving a little tour of Kyle's playroom. We had our basement finished a little over two years ago for the sole purpose of providing a play area for Kyle. Growing up in New Orleans, I wasn't accustomed to houses having basements and was introduced to basements when I moved to STL. I LOVE having a basement since it provides so much storage room, easier access to the storage, and more useable space Another reason why I love having a basement is the fact it is so much cooler since it is underground which is nice on days like today when it is extremely hot outside.

Kyle is a huge Thomas the Train fan so one section of the playroom is dedicated to his train table and Thomas decorations. He also has an easel where he attempts to be a little artist, a play table, a book shelf, and enough toys for several children. We also have a large sofa in the corner which is convenient for adult seating in the room. As Kyle gets older and his interests change, we will make changes as needed to keep the playroom his fun space.

To view other playrooms, bonus rooms, or laundry rooms please visit Kelly's Korner. Enjoy your weekend!

Show Us Where You Live Friday - Bathrooms

Welcome to "Keeping Up With The Spences"! Today is Friday, which means the weekend has arrived and it's time for "Show Us Where You Live Friday"! The featured room this week is the bathrooms. In our home we have two full bathrooms and one half bath, which we use as a guest bath.

MASTER BATHROOM

The master bathroom is very spacious, has plenty of natural light, two sinks, and a television. We haven't done much work in this bathroom since we moved in,

however we did have new flooring installed...previously there was carpet.

Below are several pictures taken from various angles in the room.

KYLE'S BATHROOM

Our second full bathroom is Kyle's (our three year old son) and is decorated in a sea life theme...fish, seahorses, octopus, whales, etc. The room is very bright and cheery...and best of all Kyle LOVES it and has so much fun at bath time!

GUEST BATHROOM

The guest bathroom is actually a half bath located just off our family room and master bedroom. It is cozy and compact,

but is so nice to have when anyone is visiting.

Please visit Kelly's blog to tour other bathrooms. I will be back next Friday to give a tour of Kyle's playroom. Enjoy your weekend!

Previous Tours:

Kitchen - I didn't actually participate in the kitchen tour since our kitchen was being remodeled, but this is our brand new kitchen.

Dining Room

Chidren's Room

Guest Room

Home Office

The Journey Has Ended

Welcome To Our New Kitchen!

As many of you know, May was a busy month for the Spence Family. We had our kitchen remodeled and it was certainly an adventure. It was difficult being without the kitchen for approximately three weeks...especially with a toddler. In the end, it was 100% worth all the inconvenience!! We absolutely LOVE our new kitchen! All of the color choices we made worked out perfectly. So without any further fanfare here is our new kitchen!

Believe it or not, our favorite part of the new kitchen...

Pictures of the kitchen before the remodel

Show Us Where You Live Friday - The Office

This week on Show Us Where You Live Friday the featured room is the home office. Our office isn't used very often, since we have laptop computers. We use the room for filing important paperwork, computer printing, and storing our books. My husband and I both enjoy reading so we collect plenty of books as you can see from the two book cases. Although, the room isn't in use on a daily basis it's nice to have the space when needed. Hope you enjoy the tour of our office.

Please visit Kelly's blog to visit other home offices. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

The first four pictures are of the various angles in the room

Diplomas displayed above the desk My husbands framed and signed St. Louis Blues hockey jersey