Home Small Home: Why I Love Living In a House That's Too Small For Us.

 (This picture is not my home, it's a random picture I found. But it's cute!)

Our home is "too small" for us, and that's just the way I like it! No, really, I'm not just saying that to make myself feel better about not having a larger space right now, I really mean it! It's a funny thing, but the larger our family has grown, the smaller our homes have gotten. We certainly didn't plan it that way, it's just how things worked out each time we moved.

We are currently in a time of transition and the house we are living in is a rental. I am eager to own again, but I am now realizing how grateful I am that we needed to wait, because if we were able to buy 6 months ago, we would have felt the need to buy way too much space. We are a family of 6, living in a modest, 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with a great room and an eat-in kitchen. When we found this house I thought, "Yeah, this will be good for now." I use the words "for now" quite often. I really thought that we could do fine for a while here, but that when we eventually buy again, we would definitely need a dining room, office/homeschool room, and another bedroom. I wanted atleast another 500-1000sf more living space. Not anymore. In fact, I really think that I would turn down almost any house that was much bigger than this one. Here's why and what I have learned:

An Open Floor Plan is Key.
This is the factor that will often determine whether your home feels spacious or cramped. Living space that openly flows from room to room will make it feel much larger than it is. I may not have a formal living room or even a dining room, but our current home with the open concept is much more suited for day to day life and for entertaining than our previous one with multiple closed-off spaces.

Multiple bedrooms are not Absolutely Necessary.
Sure, if the right house came along and there were 4 bedrooms, instead of the 3 we have now, that would be a bonus. But honestly, when  it come to children, there are only 2 kinds: boys and girls. So as long as your bedrooms are large enough, 3 is all you really need; boy's room, girl's room, and Mom and Dad's room. Bunk beds are great, of course, as are trundle beds. Even if there are large age gaps between some of your children it can still work. While it is not ideal for a 12 year old to share a room with a 2 year old, big kid stuff can be put up high on shelves or in a closet, while little kid stuff can be kept more accessible. Siblings will develop great bonds and memories while sharing a bedroom, especially when there is a large age gap and the time while the oldest and the youngest are still both living in the house is short.

I don't need a homeschool room, it just gets messy!
The same can also be said even for a dining room. These are the kinds of rooms where it is too easy to walk away and leave a mess behind you. When all you have is an eat-in kitchen and that is also where your school work and crafts are taking place, you have no choice but to consistently be cleaning it up. There are no "extra" rooms to stash stuff either, letting clutter develop behind a door that you close when company comes over. Not that I have EVER done that ;)

Easier to clean all around!
I am amazed at how fast we can get this house cleaned up. Not only are there not many rooms that need cleaning, but since we are using all of the rooms all of the time, they are constantly getting picked up. The rooms are not given a chance to get too messy because all the space needs to be usable. I have many friends and family that live in much larger homes than I do and I used to hope for a home like theirs. Now whenever I visit (although I still think their homes are beautiful) all I can think is, "Who has the time to clean all of this?!"  Less time for clean-up = more time for fun. And sleep :)

The bigger the house, the bigger the bills.
I would rather live in a small house while enjoying more financial freedom, than have it the other way around.

You can't get away from each other!
I know that some would consider this a negative, but I consider it a plus..... most of the time ;) When you are living in closer quarters, it's inevitable that you are going to spend much more quality time together.

I recently read this wonderful blog post about a family of 11 living in an 1100sf home! That's smaller than what we are living in now and there are only 6 of us! The author brings us inside her beautiful home and shows us how they make it work! Her home organization is very inspiring.

Do you live in a home that yourself or others view as too small for your family? What are some ways that you have made the space work for you?

Words of Love: Pin a Heart on Your Sibling

My kids love each other, I know that they do. I just wish that they would show it a little more often. So today, in the name of Valentine's Day, we are going to work on that. I picked up these cute, heart-shaped little sticky notes. I am going to hand them out to the kids and have them write positive attributes about each other on them and then stick them on each other. Hopefully, the end result is a bunch of giggly children covered head-to-toe in words of love from each other.

What are you doing special with your family today?

You Can't Have Your Cake and A Petting Zoo Too: Why I Say No to Huge Birthday Parties

I am going back in my mind to a simpler time. A time, not so long ago when a birthday party meant cake, ice cream and presents. Maybe a little "Pin the Tail on the Donkey", "Musical Chairs" or a Pinata if a parent felt adventurous. Every once in a while you would get invited to an extra-special party at the bowling alley, or at McDonald's where all the kids would argue about who gets the piece of cake with the Ronald McDonald sugar figurine on it.  Those were the days... just a bunch of party guests running around, playing, getting filled with sugar and going home. At least that's how I remember it growing up. So, what has happened that made me feel like the worst mother in the world because I was not throwing my child the "Disney-themed-party-of-the-year?" I blame Pinterest! 

Somewhere along the line, I put these expectations on myself to throw my children these huge, themed birthday parties complete with bounce house, hand-made party favors, pony rides, and a designer cake. While I have never gone that  big before, I have tried my hand at cute, coordinated, extra-special, themed parties. I tried. I never met my own expectations and I became completely stressed out. Parties like these are great. If party planning is your passion and you have the time and resources to pull something like that off, then more power to you! Keep doing what you are doing, because my kids love going to your parties! But if you are like me and have neither the time nor the resources in your budget to pull something like that off, then don't. Don't put so much pressure on yourself that you can't even have a happy day with the birthday child because you are so stressed, and don't go into debt at the Party Supply store when all that is really necessary is that your child feels loved and special.

Keep it simple! Those are three of my favorite words. Birthdays in this house start off with chocolate chip muffins for breakfast. The birthday child gets a candle in theirs. We sing, of course. That evening, the birthday boy or girl gets to pick what's for dinner and then we usually have ice cream sundaes for dessert. We sing again. We will also have a small party on the weekend for extended family and maybe a friend or two. Every once in a while I will do a spaghetti dinner for a birthday party, but usually it's just a few simple snacks, followed by cake (yep, more singing), ice cream and presents. We will hang a few streamers up and sometimes get a few balloons, but that's it. Simple. And do you know what? My kids have just as much fun at their simple parties as they did when I tried to have a big, fancy, themed one. In fact, in my case, they were probably happier because Mom wasn't so stressed out! So the way I see it, whether you go big or small, you accomplish the same goal: A child who feels special, surrounded by those who love him on his special day.

How do you celebrate your children's birthdays? Do you go big or keep it simple?

A Home Full of Blessings, A Home Full of Noise

Hi, I'm Rae! My home is full of noise. Most of it is joyful noise, some of it is not. I try and take joy in all of it! In fact, I am taking joy in it this very moment as Hubby has let me lock myself away in a room so that I can finally get this blog up and running. I hear the screeches and squeals of my 4 children as they echo down the hallway to my room. It sounds joyful out there.... I think. There have been times where Hubby has taken the kids out of the house so that I could get something done, and it's not that I don't enjoy the quiet, I REALLY do! But.... it's weird, almost kind of eerie, because it's not the norm. The norm is noise, and I have come to love the sound of it. This is how it is meant to be. I have a home full of blessings, which for me, equals a home full of noise. 

I haven't always felt this way about the noise level in my home, and yes, of course certain kinds of noise still grate on my nerves. The tattling noise, the whining noise, the kids-being-way-too-rough-and-crazy noise, the sibling arguing noise..... need I go on? None of those are particularly joyful moments, but I have learned to take joy in them anyway, because it comes with the territory of having children and THAT is a joy within itself! I can take joy in the noise of kids being crazy, because it means that they are all home and we are all together. I can even take joy in those whiny or tattling moments, because it means that God has given me a perfect opportunity for instruction.

 Now, I am by no means perfect at this, I still get irritated and impatient as I believe most parents do. I rely on the Lord each day to give me joy and to help me find it even the most unlikely of places. And even when it's hard to find something joyful in the noise of a fit-throwing 3-year-old, I can always look forward to the many other noises that will far outweigh that one. Like the excited yelling of children as their Daddy walks in the door from work, the boisterous laughter that comes from having a silly-face contest, the shouts of, "Hey! Now I get it!" from a child who has been struggling with a math concept, and the loud cheering as they watch their baby sister start taking her first steps with her push-walker. I wouldn't trade that noise for anything!

I hope that you will come visit me here frequently as I write about faith, family, taking care of the home, parenting, homeschooling. I may share some recipes, a funny story or whatever suits my fancy at the moment. What I want most is to be a help and an encouragement to all who visit here, that is my prayer. Whatever I am led to write about, it's likely that I will be doing it with an earful of noise. Preferably the joyful kind.