Looking Up

Since we have decided to stay in our home we also have decided to be a little bit unconventional with it to make it more of our own. (I will be sharing pictures along the way, so that you all can take this journey with us. For those of you who have no idea what our home is comprised of - I will give you a before and after shot - I will also let you in on some long term plans as we finalize them.)

Bob had a really good point and noted that food and reading/ play based learning are taking up more and more of our time and seem to be the focus of our lives. Because of this we should make our home centered around those two things. We are going to take our living room and turn it into a dining room & creative play space. This will free up some space in our kitchen and allow us to possibly create a pantry area for the next year or so until we have both the time and money to gut our kitchen and really customize it to fit our needs. Upstairs in our biggest bedroom (and actually the biggest room in the house besides the living room) we are going to create another playroom and house the TV/computer in that space. The girls bedroom will be moved downstairs so that Sarah has easier access to the restroom for her nighttime bathroom needs. The location of the boys room and our bedroom are still to be determined. Because we are going to be traveling so much this year, we are going to make due with the furniture that we currently have and browse through thrift stores for the extra pieces that we need. I am excited about our new vision and look forward to implementing it.

I am also going to be turning our side yard into a big garden. I have received two seed catalogs in the mail and have just borrowed a couple of books from the library that will help me is creating the best garden possible. I cannot wait to share that with you as well. Hopefully, I have some fellow gardeners that read my blog because from what I understand gardening can be a bit difficult for the beginner.

I should have the details of our first trip in the next couple of days. Bob will be shoring up the hotel accommodations tomorrow. We are all super excited to be starting our new life of living with no regrets. Life is really beginning to look up.

Here are some scenes from our life lately:

This is what happens when Josh gets forced by his sisters to play with them.. Poor guy! On a side note he makes a pretty good DIVA.

I normally do not like playing in the snow, but in an effort to live my life with no regrets I promised myself I would do more things with the kids. All the while knowing that this meant doing some of the things that I don't normally like to do. Being wet and cold is definitely not one of my favorite things, but the kids asked me to play with them outside, so I did. They were so excited that I was willing to join them that being cold and wet was worth the discomfort just to see them smile.

Winter time fun.

Playing in the snow with the kiddos.

Too cool for school.

Even Lily joined in the fun.

We did not eat any yellow snow. (At least I don't think we did.)

I found Sarah working on this sign the other day. I thought it was pretty cool. Just goes to show that having hope is on her mind even when I don't think it is.

Made by Sarah.

The beauty of homeschooling is that when most other kids are in school we can be out and about in the world having some fun. This hill is normally packed with people on snowy days. There was not a soul in sight yesterday when we decided to get out and enjoy some winter air.

This is the type of day that I love the best. I love being outside with the kids. Taking in the sights and sounds of the world around us. I love letting them explore and taking in the world as they see it. If Bob didn't have to get to work I do believe we would have stayed even longer on the trails than we did. The kids had a blast playing outside, and it is nice to remember that even when it is cold outside there is no place better to be than in nature.