“A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams.” ~ Unknown

If you have ever moved, then you know and understand all too well how it feels to try and settle in. If you have ever moved with kids, it’s even more challenging because you never really have the time to just “get it done.”  No art on the walls, no photos out and about, the furniture “temporarily” in it’s place until you decide it doesn’t look as good there as it might somewhere else.

If you have been reading for awhile, then you might have been here with me as I nearly melted down at the end of July as we moved into our new house, not completely finished (imagine the moving truck pulling up while the workers are trying to sweep up the dust from the laying the floors and the cleaning crew round 2 had to come back because I would not move my daughter with respiratory issues into a house filled with dust and dirt, good times and we are back…) Additionally, we had to have our old house cleaned so our new tenants could move all with KSP out of town.  By some miracle and the help of some wonderful friends, I survived this chaos, and slowly but surely, as things have been completed our new house starts to feel more like we actually live here and aren’t just visiting.

Many of you have asked to see pictures of our new digs and so Monday, after doing a quick assessment of the state of affairs, I agree it’s time.  I left a couple of rooms out as they aren’t quite ready for public consumption, but they too will get there eventually.

I will also say, before we go on our guided tour sans the office, guest room 2 and guest bath 2, this is BY FAR the biggest house I have ever lived in.  I grew up in a 700 sq ft apartment and before this lived fairly comfortably in our 1450 sq ft house in Westwood, but this house was too good of a deal and as you will see below, it has a playroom, enough said:)

So here is our new house in all of its glory:

When our kitchen went from house to home:

Thanks for visiting. Now that we have all adjusted to our new space, we are quite happy, but really it’s not about the space at all. For we are together as a family and our new home has been full lately of friends and family coming to stay and visit and it’s this love that has turned this lovely structure into a place where we laugh, smile, shed tears now and then, run down the hall, play chase with Max the Toddler Cat, cook up yummy meals and play in the playroom, it’s all of these things that have made this new place our home.

Recently we had to re-rent our other house (more good times) and I remember the first time I walked in to show it and saw someone elses’ furniture and it most definitely no longer felt like home. It didn’t feel like the place where we had first brought Max as a 7-week old kitten home to live, or the place where we came home to after we got engaged and then married, or the place where we welcomed Q home 60 days after he was born before we welcomed E 53 days later to become a complete family –  this was the same place but not the same  home.  And now it’s clear…

After so much love, and hope in the past couple of weeks it is clear, we are together, Whereever we are, we are home because we as the 4 of us (5 if you count Max too, sorry Maxwell!), 5 of us, are together.  This love permeates my heart and mind today and makes me look at everything a bit differently, with the tinge of happiness and with that happiness, joy and gratitude comes ‘mynewfavoriteday.’

Today, I hope you can look around to the ones you love and that love you back and feel that sense of home.  Whether they are near or far, let it settle over you like a blanket, snuggle down, and have a great ‘newfavoriteday.’