New Happenings

I haven't posted in FOREVER so I thought it was time to play a little catch up on our blog.

To kick off my return to blogging, I have BIG news!  We are moving again!  I can't believe I am even typing this because when we purchased our current home we just "knew" it would be our forever home.  How does one really "know" anything in life?  Nothing is guaranteed and none of us know what the future holds.  When we bought this home we had a laundry list of requirements.  More space, more room for our stuff, more furniture, better neighbors, a quieter street, extra bathrooms, a guest room, a bigger garage, a better front yard.  I could go on, but I am sure you get the picture.  This home met and exceeded all of those hopes we had.  Since the day we moved in, it has been very clear that this home would meet our needs and wants as our family continued to grow.  I believe we were put here at the right time.

Last fall, my parents went through a divorce after almost 20 years of marriage.  Talk about heartbreaking!  The bright side to that is that we had plenty of space and a lovely guest room for my mom to stay in while she found a place of her own.  I am thankful that we had the extra room for her then.  My parents' divorce was so unsettling for me for many reasons.  Is your parents' divorce EVER easy to handle?  Definitely not.  Not even when you're grown up person with a family of your own.  My mom is now in her house in town and my dad is living in their family home.  Since the divorce we have talked about the possibility of my dad selling the family home.  To me, it's the only place that has ever truly felt like "home" and the thought of someone else buying the home and land has just made my heart ache.  So many happy memories were made there for me, my brother, and my daughters, too.  My dad offered to sell the home to us and it couldn't have come at a better time.

As I said before, we bought our current home with a heart of wanting MORE.  In the year and a half that we have lived here, we've had the luxury of extra space.  We have filled our walk-in closets to the brim, we've stuffed our house full of furniture and flat-screen TVs, everyone has their own bathroom, and we've even managed to fill our garage with gadgets and a new SUV.  I don't know if we have truly enjoyed any of that.  In fact, it has become more of a burden than anything else.  When we sat down and discussed what it would mean for our family to move to the country (as the littles say, the "crunchtry"), at first the talk was centered on the sacrifices.  What would we be giving up?  We wouldn't have a guest room, our youngest two kids would be sharing a bedroom FOREVER (they already share because they like each other, just in case anyone was wondering), we wouldn't be sending Olivia to the private school we'd just decided on, we couldn't have take-out delivered anymore, only two bathrooms in the whole house, and the maintenance of five acres of land and an old farmhouse.  First world problems, right?  None of those things are sacrifices.  I can't say that it was wrong of us to purchase this home, but I can say it was wrong of us to purchase it with a heart of wanting more.  There have been so many times over the last year and a half that I have felt that conviction.  I am thankful that we have the opportunity to focus on what our family NEEDS and not what our family wants.  After sharing all of that, I think it's time for a picture!

This is what our house will look like if you decide to visit us in the winter!  (Don't forget to bring your sleeping bag because we won't have a guest room.)

Our New Home

I have been meaning to post pictures of our new home but I am just now getting around to that!  Of course, since these photos were taken we have changed even more things around!  It is always changing and we are finding what works and what doesn't.

These were taken on a day that we were hosting a friend's baby shower and the others below were taken when we were getting ready for hosting a meetup playdate.  Do NOT think my house is nearly this clean and orderly all the time! :)

 This is the view from the top of the stairs looking down on the living room

 Dining Room

Kitchen

 The Eat-In Area--The kids LOVE eating here!

 (Ignore the clutter-- We were getting ready for a house full of guests)

View of the living room from the dining room

LOVE my Last Supper picture :)

These pictures are of the three bedrooms on the upper level.  Right now we have twin beds in Olivia's room, and a toddler bed and crib in the nursery.  Olivia sleeps in her room, Caroline sleeps in the crib in the nursery, and Ellie is still sleeping in her pack-n-play in our room.  By her first birthday, we are hoping to transition Ellie to the nursery with Caroline.  A couple of years from now when both the babies are sleeping in regular beds I would like to move the twin beds to the nursery and put a full/queen size bed in Olivia's room.  We are still a long way from that right now but I am so thankful that we have plenty of closet space in the girls' rooms!  Two kids can easily share a room in this house!

 Caroline helping me out with an action shot!

I miss the color of our old nursery but painting is just too big of a pain!  I still love their bedding so much :)

This is the girls' bathroom in the hallway!

 Master Bedroom (Bed not totally made... But you're lucky it's made at all!)

 Master bath

 This is looking up at the main level from the garage entrance.  We store shoes, bags, and coats here for now but we are planning to add a mud room area to our laundry room (which needs a facelift and wallpaper removal).

 Guest Room-- We also have our computer in a little nook to the left of this photo, but somehow I missed that when taking pictures. 

 The view from the bed in the guest room.  Those stairs lead down the basement where our school room is.

 Homeschool Room!

 Nathan's man cave could use some decor.... We are still in the decorating process!

I missed taking pictures of several things... The back yard, the laundry room, and the basement bathroom!  I will update soon with more pictures!  Thanks for looking :)

-Maegan

Homeschooling Olivia

I am the world's biggest blog slacker.  I really had this idea that a blog would be so EASY and I could just jot down thoughts and VOILA!  A blog post would be born.  What a silly idea.   Anyway, my sweet husband bought me a laptop recently and I really need to put it to good use.  So far all it has been used for is Facebook and Pinterest.  I also got a fancy camera for Christmas so I will be sharing some updated pictures soon.

A little over a year ago, I started researching homeschooling.  We were in the midst of many transitions as a family.  I knew the Lord was pulling me towards homeschooling our children but we just had SO much going on.  I couldn't imagine how I could ever make it work and I wasn't sure that Nathan was completely on board with it.  Looking back on that time, I can recognize it as the "pray and wait" phase!  I was in constant prayer over what to do with our future and I honestly felt like it was so unknown.  I couldn't have imagined that a year could bring so much understanding and clarity.   The Lord has truly blessed our family and we have learned to trust Him in this transitional time.  I am SUPER excited to announce that we are starting Olivia in her kindergarten level curriculum this summer.  We moved to a new house recently, and the basement is one of my favorite rooms now.  I had to share pictures now that it is set up and ready to use!

 This is the view coming down from the stairs.  I am extremely excited about our makeshift white board!  We went with the DIY method and used shower board.  It cost about $20 for the whole board.  We picked up the desks for $5 a piece from a local homeschool mom.  LOVE them!  

 Our toy storage is always a little messy...  But we like to keep our favorites where we can get to them easily.  This is where we keep our felt board, our puzzles, sorting blocks, and some manipulatives.

 That bookshelf is supposed to be the dividing line between homeschool room and man cave.  The baby toys are in the man cave in this photo.  Ooops....  I do think it's awesome to have a big screen TV and comfy furniture in the same area as our homeschool room though!

 This bookshelf is school supplies and crafts that need to be out of reach of small hands.

 This shelf houses all of our non-curriculum books and teaching resources, along with a few games.  Notice the big books on the floor?!  We got those at a yard sale and they are AWESOME.  We have some finger puppets and crafts stored in the baskets and jars on top of the bookcase.

 I love that we can open the back door and get some fresh air if we need to!  This is right off the school room and we are planning to put a swingset back here soon. :)

This is the view looking back towards the stairs.  We do have a bathroom in our homeschool room, which will come in handy for arts and crafts when we need sink access for hand washing!     

Nathan and I went to a homeschooling seminar and curriculum fair in our town a few weeks ago where we got lots of new ideas from other parents.  It was really nice to go without the older girls (Ellie came along but she slept most of the time, thankfully!) so we could ask questions and really devote our attention to the speakers.  We browsed several tables full of different material.  Upon leaving, we both were in agreement that our favorites were Sonlight and Abeka.  I have always been a fan of Abeka, but I think the kindergarten level material may be a little TOO challenging for Olivia and the pre-kindergarten material is not challenging enough.  Since she will only be 4 1/2 when we start our school year, we wanted something more in between.  I LOVE Sonlight because it is a literature based program.  Olivia has such a strong love of books that I know she will respond well to the program.  We opted for Horizons for math and Handwriting Without Tears for handwriting and spelling.  I have prayed over which programs to choose and I think that we ultimately made the right decision.  Sonlight is one of the more expensive programs out there, but I do think it will be worth while, especially since we can reuse most of the materials for the babies when they get to kindergarten level.  The plan for now is to start Olivia's schooling this summer, and school year round.  I love the idea of being able to take a vacation (school free) whenever we want!  I am so thankful for our supportive family and friends.  We are so blessed to have each and every person God has placed in our lives.  I will update with more pictures soon!

-Maegan

Our Double Nursery!

I just wanted to share pictures of our nursery!  It looks basically the same as before, just with an extra crib!  We are pretty set up for two girls in this room, but if we bring home a boy some bedroom redecorating will be in order over the next several months.  I think for now things will work just fine the way they are.  Caroline JUST started sleeping in her own bedroom.  I think I speak for the whole family when I say I can't wait for this little one to get here! :)

 Newborn crib

 Caroline's crib