New House- New Start

The famous saying is "Home Is Where The Heart Is".

We recently moved from our special house that served us well for eight years. So many memories were made in that home.

8 years

2,920 days

43,800 potty breaks
7,300 meals
1 baby born
4 kids started school
3 kids learned to ride their bike
3 kids accepted Christ
Over 50 visits from grandparents
A bajillion goals scored
1 world cup party
3 super bowl parties
3 Halloween parties
About 800 too many late nights
1 bathtub flood
1 ceiling collapse
4 daddy daughter dances
1 epic nerf weapons fight
14,750 night night kisses
Over 400 soccer games
81,760 shoes tied
2 times where I shoveled the whole culdesac
Over 9,000 showers taken
Over 300 Movie Nights
3 rounds of P90X, 1 turbofire

14,750 Goodnight prayers

This made it hard to say goodbye.

We are praising God tho for our new home. What a blessing it has been for our entire family. I can not tell you how much this move has impacted us for the good. We love our new house and our family feels more like a unit in this home.

We moved from a two story house to a one story ranch style home. This made a huge difference. We are all on the same level. The school is within walking distance from Dalton and Avery's school. For those of you who know how many countless hours I spent trying to figure out driving schedules and hours in the car to make it to everyones school know what a huge impact this has on me in particular. It's fabulous to say the

least! The kitchen and dining room are set up in such a way that that has become the new hub bub for our family. The kids can be where I am without being in my kitchen space. There is storage galore. I actually have empty cupboards! I love it! When deciding to move we knew that the next house had to be in a cul-de-sac or a very low traffic street, since we had been in a cul-de-sac previously. God came thru with this too. We are at the very end of a dead end street. The street right off of our street is also a dead end. So we literally get no traffic. The kids can continue to ride bikes, rollerblade, and hola-hoop with no worries. Our back yard is huge. HUGE! So is our front yard. The back yard has trees and brush lining the back fence. The kids have already built a secret hide out back there and play together for hours.

Needless to say, my heart is definitely here and it is definitely home.

Verse of the Day (VOD)

Do you struggle with getting in the Word everyday? Do you struggle trying to be an example for your kids in the area of daily quiet time with God? Well if not that is great! I commend you. However, I struggle with these two things.

I want my kids to have a PERSONAL relationship with Christ. Not a relationship based on my beliefs and what they think they should do and believe because that is what I do. But, I do want to be an example for them.

With busy lives and hectic schedules it can be hard to find that time. So, we have started to do a Verse of the Day. Each morning a child takes a turn picking out a VOD. Then we write it on our schedule board. Each child read the verse aloud and then we discuss the verse as a family....kind of a mini devotional. They are not required to memorize the verse. It is just a way that we as a family can get some time in with God before we start our day. It isn't much but it certainly is better than nothing!

Chore Frames

So I discovered Pinterest, but still don't know how to use it yet. I got the idea of making a dry erase Menu Planner out of a picture frame from there.

I liked that idea so much I decided to take it one step further and create picture frame chore boards for each one of my kids. I individualized each one, put them in a picture frame and voila they each have their very own Chore Board. I love this because each one is cute enough to put on their dresser. We

use dry erase markers to put their chores for the morning and afternoon on them. Yes! I said morning and afternoon! (such a slave driver I am)

In the evening after they are in bed, I write down their morning chores and line the frames up on the kitchen table. In the afternoon, while they are at school, I collect the frames and write down afternoon chores, and again line them up on the table. The morning chores typically consist of make your bed, pick up your room and one other task or chore. Some of the kids erase them as they go along and complete a task and others just erase them after it is all completed. But each gets to do it his or her way that works best for them. The afternoon/evening chores consist of setting the table, emptying the hamper, loading and unloading the dishwasher etc.

The kids have really taken to this idea.But I'm afraid just like everything is fun when it's new this idea too will start to wear off. But for now it is working so great!

Starting Over

I am determined to become a blogger again!

I feel it is very important to document and keep a recorded memory of our lives. Our days can be so busy and consumed with "things". I am afraid these years are going to pass and we are not going to know where they went or what happened besides endless soccer game after soccer game;)

Stay tuned.....