Beginnings of this bonanza

So this is the beginning.  A tale of this young family, taking on this crazy young project of redoing this ugly (be truthful!) older cape cod remodel.
For starters we bought the place when Giggles (daughter #2) was 8 months old.  And we were sleepless.  In other words, our eyes were entirely peeled when we bought this place.  But, the neighborhood enticed us.  Two little neighbor boys peeked over the backyard fence: “This is our apple tree.  We make apple pie with the apples. It’s delicious.”  Who could resist? Swings, trikes and bikes decorate almost every front yard in this neighborhood.  My mom grew up here.  My grandma lives here.  My aunt lives here (and by “here” I mean a few blocks away).
Muscles currently commutes 1.5 ish hours each day to Boulder but we deemed the nearby location to family and the neighborhood more important.