Home- I Love This Place

Our home isn't the nicest on the block. It's not even the 11th nicest home on the block. It's what some people would call basic. It's brown and pretty beat up.  The driveway is cracked and uneven. The yard is more weeds than grass. The kitchen cabinets are peeling. We don't even own the home, we rent it. BUT it's our home and I love this place.

I've tried hard to make it a home full of noise and love and fun and comfort and acceptance and safety.  I've also tried to make it a place where my kids want to be.  I hope it is a reflection of our values, our whole tidy up, but don't worry if it's spotless or if you spill something,play and enjoy life,eat meals together as often as you can, a little friendly competition is a good thing but dude cheer each other on, paint something/write something/play something, it's okay to fight or disagree but talk it out and then go jump on the trampoline together kind of values/vibes.

I took some pictures with my fancy new-ish camera this past weekend of our basic home and some ways we like to hang out there that don't involve phones, iPads or video games (even though we have those in our home too and the struggle is still real to get my kids to not be obsessed with them):

Breakfast on our beloved front porch.

Dogs have become essential to making our home our home. Rufus and Cosi are part of the family. You can never be lonely (or sad for too long) with these two pups around.

The trampoline is new to us and the kids are loving it.

My friend is moving to England and asked if I wanted her trampoline, Foosball table and air hockey table.  I went to take a look at them in her house and said "oh my gosh, yes thank you I love them and you and ahhhhhh!"  

Here's the thing, they looked a lot smaller in her very big, nice house. We got them to our basic much smaller house and Tim was not digging the idea at first.  But I convinced him that the kids are only young once and we needed to have a Foosball table instead of a dining table or space because it's way more fun.  He reluctantly agreed and we pushed our dining table to the corner and set up the awesome Foosball table.  The kids play it all.the.time.

A little air hockey before bedtime is always a good idea. We found a corner in the boys' room for the air hockey table.

Lunch on our beloved front porch.

One of our favorite card games is Five Crowns. 

Rummikub is one of our all time favorite games, we've loved it for a few years now.

Sometimes some of us just want to lay around and not play anything and that's cool here too. That's a quilt that my grandmother made a long time ago, I love that my kids now use it.

Santa brought the family a ping pong table for Christmas last year and we crammed it into our unfinished basic basement.

I mean, there's no way the kids can be bored here right? I always keep board games out and at the ready for whenever someone wants to play.

I like how colorful the board games and even their boxes are.

Our basic home with it's lack of nice furniture and pretty lackadaisical cleaning schedule and emphasis on playing around isn't for everyone.  But it suits us, it's why we love this place.

Check out some other pictures I've taken 

with my Fancy New Camera:

Belle Isle With My Fancy New Camera

Baseball and My Fancy Camera 
Pure Michigan With My Fancy New Camera 
Everyday Kind of Small Town Family Fun w/My Fancy New Camera

The Zoo With My Fancy New Camera

One of Those Weeks & What I Know For Sure

This week as we settled into routines at home and found our rhythms, the world seemed angrier and louder and more unsafe.  Another celebrity death, an anniversary of terrorist attacks, talk of new terrorist groups, more troops, strategies, videos of abuse and allegations of cover ups.  

It was the kind of week that makes me look around and feel heaps of gratitude for my family.  Sure I forgot Wade's snack on only the second day of PreK and yeah he blew a fuse in our house when he stuck a dime in the socket; Tim worked late a few nights this week which threw our newfound routine all out of whack; one of my kids told me I "disgusted" them because I signed them up for an after school activity without their permission; and a million other stupid things.  It was far from shiny and perfect.  But, I am still so grateful.  

I am grateful that we have each other during these weeks that feel so intense and angry in the world, I know that for sure right now.  

Click here to listen to the beautiful Dave Matthews Band song "Oh."

Here's what else I know for sure this week:

• Having people in your life that totally get you makes everything alright.  I had lunch with a friend this week that I hadn't seen since last spring and it was like church to me.  Spending time talking and connecting, listening and being heard...nothing beats that.

• Telling stories heals, transforms, and changes some people's lives. I am so proud to be a part of a storytelling show in Detroit next week.  It's more than a show, it's a movement really.  Check out what they are doing in Detroit this year.

• Physical Therapy is my yoga right now.  I love being told that I have to sit still for 15 minutes while electrodes are hooked to my hip.  I dig it.  

Wade isn't quite as excited as I am however.
Thank goodness for Netflix and headphones, he gets to chill out watching a little Curious George. 

• I love Meryl Streep.  And I love the Blank on Blank Digital Shorts.  Check out Meryl's interview and tell me you don't love her. I mean, come on.

• Bedtime = story time = best time.  I love these boys.

What do YOU know for sure this week, right now?  Share all your knowledge here or on my Facebook page.  

Come over and play with me on Instagram.  

In Love With Home

We weren't supposed to fall in love with our home.  It's a rental.  Not a fancy rental. In fact, we intentionally picked out a not-so-fancy rental because well, we aren't fancy people.  We are messy people that would rather play in the back yard than manicure it.  We are don't worry about tracking mud in the house people.  We are life's too short to worry about being perfect people.  

Source

So this not-so-fancy rental was supposed to fill a need.  We needed a roof over our head and this place provided it.  Who cares that the driveway is the worst and grows more grass in the cracks than in our actual yard? Not us.  Nope.  Roof doesn't leak, we're all good.

That was as far as it was supposed to go.  But what I've discovered is I kind of love this crappy old home.  The green walls, the nice neighbors, the quiet street, wood floors, the way the light shines through the windows in the morning...a few months ago I started to fall in a lot of like.  But then, we started hanging out on the porch this spring/summer.  And it's official, I love this crappy old rental home.

The porch is big enough for all six (seven including the dog) to spread out and do our own thing.   

 Of course the people filling up my porch are pretty wonderful, even those people that don't want to get their picture taken.

It's been an interesting up and down, little over a year since we moved into this house and it feels...not just like home, but a home we love.  And it feels good.


We are less than a week into summer vacation and aside from a couple sick Youngbloods, we are off to a good start.  Check out what we did in 2 1/2 days of summer vaca last week:


Just The Beginning- Summer 2013 from Jumping With My Fingers Crossed on Vimeo.

And here's the old(ish) song that I love so much and is all about HOME.