From house to home

I've avoided the subject long enough. Where do I start? We've been in our new 10 year old house for three months now and we love it. We got a great deal on it but it was thrashed. We were warned that there had been criminal activity here and found evidence of that when Brian's dad almost pricked himself with a dirty open syringe while helping us clean the yard. The former owners were heavy smokers so we pulled up all the carpets and flooring and dad and I painted every inch of the place. The potential we envisioned when we first walked through the house is starting to show. We do not regret taking on such a project.
The neighbors we have met are wonderful, friendly and generous people. Our next door neighbor brought a delicious cake and offered to "do anything" for us. She and her husband are devout Christians from Egypt. He is a veterinarian. My next door neighbor on the other side is in our ward, so I knew her before we even moved it. She appreciates old "treasures" like me and is mega creative and talented. I had her daughter in my activity days class and she came and helped us paint our house. I love them both. I met a father and son one morning when I jump started their car...they brought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers the next week. One neighbor is a diamond trader and travels the world. He and his boys came and cleaned up our front yard before we purchased the house. When I mentioned I was Mormon he told me that he wasn't but did play baseball for BYU and likes to invite the missionaries in to have a beer...root beer that is. The latest neighbors we met have already brought a Christmas toy over for the kids. They have volunteered to watch the kids anytime as their grand kids are all out of state. The husband has a collection of nice cars so Brian gets along with him well. He is a retired police officer. I look forward to meeting the rest of our neighbors.
I now have one room I'm officially content with in this fixer upper future dream house of ours. Rachael's room. It was probably the room in the worst condition to begin with. I think I started there because I love pink and I end up falling asleep in her bed most nights while reading books together. She now reads to me! Dick and Jane is our favorite. The furniture is Rachael's great great grandma Rae's who we named Rachael after. After damaging three of our computers during tantrums, we decided to buy Rachie her own computer. She is great on it and spends a lot of time in her room now playing on nickjr, pbskids, and starfall. It is great for her fine motor skills and teaches her so much. It's been wonderful for Brody and Nora too. They have hardly any battle wounds at the present time.
So here it is.......one down, ten more to go!