Our Home (Before!)

October will be three years that we've lived in our home. We weren't looking to move when we found this house, in fact, we lived literally around the block. We believe in communal living...just kidding, but seriously I do love that idea...We live in the same neighborhood as my grandparents, my parents and one of my sisters. Our current house is on the same street as my parents and sister ! It's GREAT. Seriously. Having baby sitters literally all around you is amaaazing. Again, JK..love you mom and Mema! ;) I was driving down the street to my moms house 3 years ago and saw an estate sale, so we stopped and went in and I remembered that I had been in this house a long time ago when my grandma had sold it (she is a former real estate agent). It was a really great house- really ugly, but really great. SO much space, a cute and cottagey feeling backyard, lots of gorgeous 90's wallpaper. Ew. Yeah, the wallpaper situation was atrocious. Every surface was wallpapered. EVERY. SURFACE. But I could see past all of the mauve, floral patterns, and those scratchy long linen feeling curtains. I made Nathan come look at it with me and he liked the bones of it too. We immediately started wondering if we could sell ours FSBO and buy this one. At the time I was running a successful photography business so we had double income and we knew we would make some money on our current house since we had put a lot of work into it. Long story short, everything worked out perfectly and we closed on our house on October 30th, 3013. I just randomly found some before and during photos and I wanted to share them. I'll update with new ones soon :) It's come a long way!

The Beginning of Our School Year

Here we go again. I saw a hilarious meme today that said:

(From @lexibridges instagram). I died laughing because I feel like that lady there on the right. Actually some days I feel more like the man, because he looks a little more haggard.
But really...I'm entering my fifth year and the excitement has worn off. I mean, not all the way. It was exciting looking at what we were going to do this year; planning it out, ordering books, buying school supplies...but I've done this for four years and I know what it looks like day to day. Our first whole year of Kindergarten with my oldest was a struggle. He hated it. I switched things up over and over and over again just trying to find something to help him enjoy learning.  Over the years things have improved, and I'm happy to report that tonight at dinner, my 1st grader said "I love school!" and my oldest chimed in "And I don't even mind it this year!". Learning the "normal" ways just don't work for him, and since he requires so much of my time and attention, it's a struggle to get everyone else's work done with my sanity in tact. Add a one year old into that mix and you get chaos. 
You know how people choose a word to be their "it word" for the year? I want to do that. I've been thinking about what it should be for our 2016-2017 school year, and I couldn't think of just one. I chose these: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control. Oh do those sound familiar? ;) The fruit of the Spirit is what I want to be coursing through my mind, actions and reactions this year. Did you know that if you say something like, "Ugh! This day is NOT going as I planned it!", the kids will believe that and let it affect them negatively too? I've been noticing just how much power my words have. Today we were having a super crazy morning trying to get school work done while Milo threw wooden blocks at our heads, dumped everything within a one mile radius, and of course our house started dirtying itself up on its own (isn't it crazy how that happens? Where do the messes even come from?!) I was about to lose it when I decided to just start telling Milo how cute he is and how I can't imagine life without him, and the kids chimed in. Then I said how happy I was that we were getting any school done at all with Milo being such a stinker and they all agreed with me and we ended up having a great day! Yes, it took three times longer than it should have to finish school, but who really cares? I want my kids to remember their homeschool experience as a happy one. Not a stressed out one, which unfortunately has been a big part of our past four years.
We are starting a new bible study at my church on the book of Ephesians. I have needed this reminder. These verses from Ephesians 2:8-10


8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.




I want to do those good things he planned for me. And I can't take credit for them because it's His spirit who gives me that desire and drive and will ultimately enable me! So here's to a new school year. Hopefully a lot of learning, growing mentally and spiritually and fun.