2014 Family Pictures

Pictures are by far my favorite accessories in my home.  I love changing them each year and looking back on how much my family has changed in the year.

These are some of my favorites!

I love this picture and wish I was in it because it came out so well with the water behind them.

 All the pictures show each of the kids personality. I love this one of Selah and George!

Thank you Kati for doing another amazing job. We are so thankful for these memories!

What I've been up to...

I've been making some changes around the house and it all started because of this book!

This book has totally changed my mind about living simply and how less is more!  I am always thinking about what our next house will look like; I had envisioned living in a larger home where everyone would have their own space.  Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with having a larger home, but it just seems simpler to have less and take care of less so you have more time with those you love.

In this book, the author writes about the average house in the 1950's which was 955 sqft.  Now,we live in an age that 2000 sqft is the average, with some even larger.  She explains that the larger the house you have, the more stuff you have to put in that house.  The more stuff that you have, the more things you need to take care of and clean.  I know how hard it is to take care of my 1870 sqft home;  the more time that it takes me to take care for this home, the less time I have for things that are really important.

All that to say, it has changed my perspective; and I have gone through each room in our home and purged things that were not needed. I also made other spaces more useful for this stage of life.

One of the things that she asks you to do is define what the purpose is for each room, then decorate accordingly.  You ask yourself two questions for each item in the room.

1. Is it beautiful?
2. Is in useful?

If you can't answer yes to both, then it's probably time to get rid of it (Less is MORE!).

Here are a few updated pictures of our home.

Here is what our dining room use to look like.  It looks fine, and I love our big square table but we really don't have people over that often.  When the five of us sit together at the table, we are far away from each other. I saw a picture on the internet of a family sitting down and holding hands while they prayed.  It was so simple and I wanted to be able to do that as a family. So, I took the leaf out of the table to make it smaller.

The kids have enjoyed holding each other's hands and it has been a special time for us at night.

While I was purging, I had our glider that was in the girls room. Since I changed their room, there was no longer room for the chair.  I ended up putting it in the garage and covering it, thinking that I would use it in our next house.  Our garage is small, and we have no attic space, so most of our things are in our garage.  This chair was in the middle of it all.  I decided that it was time for it to go.  I posted it on craigslist and had someone that was interested.  I really did not want to sell it as I am still attached to it because of nursing my babies in this chair. I decided to find a way to put in our house without crowding our space.

Sorry for the bad picture; this is what it looked like when I brought it into the house.  After a trip to Ikea, I was able to dress it up and fit better into our living room.

I love this space;  it gives me a place that is separate from the t.v. area that I am able to have my quiet time, or read a book.  I am so happy that I kept it.

Here is what the rest of the room look like before:

I definitely like the old way better, but the new way is a bit better on use of space:

These pictures give you and idea of how it looks now.

You know the other rooms in our house have pretty much been changed over if you have been following my blog.  The one room that I have made a change in is the playroom.

The playroom is still the playroom, but it is now more focused on getting ready for homeschool.  I am sure that there are so many thoughts about us homeschooling, but it is something that we believe God wants us to do, and is best for us as a family.  We are taking it on a year by year basis, and if for some reason God wants us to change things up, then thats what we will do.

Here is what the playroom looked like before:

I removed all the toys and bins from the expedite and moved the blue bins and boy toys to Gabriel's closet and the pink bins and girls toys to the girls room.  In the process I got rid of a lot of toys that they were no longer using and taking up space.

Here is what the room looks like now:

I was able to get the Ikea baskets on craigslist for half the price, and they were in great shape.  I tried to make the colors a bit more neutral as I fell like I went overboard on the colors before.

This gives me lots of space to store craft supplies, games, as well as other items that will be needed for homeschool.

I got these white plastic bins at Ikea that hold our books. It's nice to have a place to put them away since we don't have a formal bookshelf, and they will hold all the little books that we have without them falling all over the place.

Here is the desk area that we had before:

While this table was great there was no storage and the kids were too close together which caused problems.

I was at World Market before Christmas; and found a desk there that I fell in love. When I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for the kids.  I texted a picture to George and told him that this is what I wanted for Christmas.  I was able to use a coupon for 25% off the price, and one of the desks was a floor model and was a little beat up so I was able to get it for an additional 35% off!  I'm always trying to find a good deal or use a coupon when I am able.

This is Eva's Desk.

Selah's Desk

Gabriel's Desk 

So, this is what I have been up too.  I have huge piles of stuff in the garage that I have planned to have a garage sale soon to get rid of it all.  

I can not tell you how liberating this project has been to me. Even though you try to pare down some of the things in your home, it does not mean that you can't have the things that make it beautiful and useful. I love each space in our home; truly they all  have a purpose now!

Are there any books that have inspired you lately?

Merry Christmas from Our Family to Yours!

I apologize in advance if you normally get a card from us and did not this year.  A couple weeks ago I was thinking that I did not want to do cards this year and was not organized or ready to do so.  At the last minute I decided I should make the effort to do so since I did not do it last year.  My contact list is horrible and not up to date and I am missing a lot of addresses since we changed our home PC.  So for all of you that did not get one here is our Christmas card to you.

Sorry that this is not a very good picture.  The Scanner did not scan very well so I just too a picture of it with my phone.

2013 has been a year of many changes for us.

George is still managing and selling Real Estate and loves what he does. He has had a very successful year and God has blessed his hard work.  His company was bought out by another company so he no longer works for Prudential NW Properties.  The new name is Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Northwest. George also got his Brown belt in Jujitsu and continues to train and coach as this is one of his greatest passions.

Me- Is has been a busy year and lots of changes for me.  I went from being home all the time to running around and out of the house a lot this year.  It has been a hard adjustment for me this year but it has been good because God has taught me a lot through it all.   One thing that I enjoy doing as my hobby is decorating and have made many changes to our house.  If you read or follow my blog you have seen some of the changes that I have made.  

Michael graduated from High School this year and is about to turn 19!  He is currently working and trying to enlist in the military.

Gabriel and Selah turned 5 in September and they have had lots of changes this year.  We split the twins up and Gabriel and Selah now have their own rooms.   You can see Gabriel's room HERE if you have not seen it.  Gabriel has gotten so tall and has a love for Transformers and building things.  He is the life of the party and is our social butterfly.  He started Pre Kindergarden class and has really enjoyed it!  The most special thing that has happened this year is that he asked Jesus to come and live in his heart!!  That in and of it self has made this the best year to date!

The night they accepted Christ.

Selah has turned 5 and is enjoying sharing her room with Eva.  It has been fun to watch her relationship  grow with Eva as they are together more.  She really acts like an older sister and loves on her.  Selah is getting tall as well and her interest in the body continues to deepen. This girl know so much about the body and I am learning right a long with her.  Selah has started Pre kindergarden as well but she has not enjoyed it as much as Gabriel. They are just different in that way.  Selah and Gabriel both excepted Christ on the same day and it was a special event.  It was October 28th, 2013.

Eva is now 3 years old and my baby is not a baby anymore!  I guess she really has not been for awhile but it's more real when you can not longer pick her up like a baby because she is to heavy too.  She still has a great love for horses and is very independent.  We call her our Boriqua (Puerta Rican).  She is very much like George! I have enjoyed more one on one time with her while the twins are in Pre-school. She is such a delight and is so funny!

So this is what we have been up to this last year and we look forward to all that lies ahead in 2014.  I know both George and I have great goals for this next year so we will see what happens! George and I went to a parenting seminar called Intentional.  It talked a lot about being intentional in your parenting with your kids.  We have felt that spill over into every aspect of our lives and really trying to be Intentional daily.

We pray that you and your family are well and that you have an incredible 2014.

God Bless you and Merry Christmas!

Gabriel's Room Complete (Military Men Photo Gallery)

It has been quite a while since I did a post.  Life has completely changed for me since the twins started preschool and we are gone three days a week in the morning.  I can barely keep up with the daily duties and spending time with the kids let alone doing any decorating around the house.

I have been really ready to finish his room and was just waiting for all the pictures to complete the wall gallery above the beds in his room. If you have not seen the previous post you can see his room HERE.

Here is a picture that I took before I started.  This is not the best photo as my camera battery was dead so I just used my phone for the first couple pictures.  Oh and all the pictures are kind of dark due to the weather today.

I layed out all the frames on the floor to get and idea of the layout.  I then took some old wrapping paper and cut out the shape of each frame so I could get the frames exactly where I wanted them.

Once I got the paper where I wanted the frame, I needed to mark where I was going to put the nail so they were all in the right spot.  I took a little dab of toothpaste and added it to the hook and then pressed the picture against the wall so that it would mark the paper

I then added my nails.  I was just about to tear down the paper and thought that I would check my work before I took the paper off and I am so glad that I did.  I ended have to fix one of the frames so it was level with the others.

Here is how it turned out.

Again the lighting is not the greatest but it gives you and idea.

Here is the breakdown of each picture frame.

I took a shadow box and added some craft paper behind and glued some army men that Gabriel had.

This is my brother that served in the Iraq war and was a gunner on a convoy.

On the (left) is my Dad who served in the Air Force and on the (right) is my brother in-law Jason who served in the Marines.

On the (left) is George's Step-Dad Michael who our son Michael is named after.  He is from Italy and served in NATO during the Vietnam War. This is the type of uniform that they wore back then.  On the (right) is George's father who served in the Army.

The picture on the (left) is a print that I ordered off of the Costco website for $1.49.  They have all sorts of prints and they cost the same as your regular prints.

The last one and the center of all the pictures is my Grandfather.  This was an article done by the Mercury Newspaper in San Jose.  My Grandfather was a Pearl Harbor survivor.

I am so glad to have finally completed his room and I love the way that it turned out.  What a legacy Gabriel comes from.  We are so proud to come from a family of men that have served their country!