Probably the biggest news during my blogging hiatus is that we moved. For the last eight years, we've been living in a little 830 sq. ft. house, and for the majority of those eight years, I've been wishing fervently that we could move out of it. Often when I'd be complaining about where we lived, Steve would say, "Aren't we all happy? Don't we have a great family here in this house?" Which was true, of course, so then I would try to force myself not to hate it there and appreciate everything that we did have. Still, it was really hard for me to not begrudge my yard full of snakes and my complete lack of ANY counter space.

Still, looking back, that house did have it's good points. Out of necessity, I mastered the clean-as-you-go technique. I also became pretty ruthless when it came to decluttering because with five people and a dog in such a small space, it's easy to become overrun with clutter. Even though we have more space in our new house, I don't want to fall in the trap of accumulating more clutter, just because we have room for it.Another thing about that house was that our kids shared one room with one bunk bed. A bunk bed that all five of us would pile into every night - Emma on the top and me, Steve, Noah, and Allie on the bottom. We'd squeeze in there and Steve and I would read until the kids all fell asleep. We still all lay in a bunk bed together at night, but it's a bigger bunk bed. I'd be lying if I said I don't enjoy the freedom to move my arms and legs now, but I will always look back fondly on the days when our family of five would pack ourselves into this little bunk bed on a nightly basis.Probably the main reason that we will always feel an attachment to this house is that is that both Allie and Noah were born there, in our bedroom. I imagine we will drive by this house many times over the years and reminisce about the days that they were born, and also all the many happy times we had, growing our family in this little house.We've got the house on the market now, and despite my nostalgia over the years we lived there, we're really hoping someone buys it soon. Perhaps someone looking for an inexpensive little vacation getaway in Grandview (ha!) will see this little gem and snatch it up. We can hope, I guess!