Callings from God

I grew up in the church and I always have had a strong testimony. Church has generally been easy and enjoyable for me to attend and I've always liked my callings. In our new ward (and I've done posts on this in the past), my new calling as the primary teacher for the four year old's became a really hard thing for me.

At first, it wasn't too bad. I was pregnant with Parker and Ashtyn would go to nursery. After Parker was born, the other teacher taught for me for almost two months. Then it became harder for me and I developed a really bad attitude about it. I would say things like, "I don't understand why they call people with kids into primary," and talk all about why I was so picked on to have that calling right now. And, in all honesty, it was hard. It was a lot of work and we were often juggling kids to make sure we could both make it to our callings and I would come home exhausted.

After the women's conference in the spring, I realized that God had given me this calling for a reason and that I needed to change my attitude about it. I began to try doing that, but it was hard. I put more into my calling again, but I still didn't like it. I still struggled with my own feelings of resentment and I still dreaded church.

I began praying for help with it. Shortly after that, I found a book called "It's Okay Not to Share and Other Renegade Rules" by Heather Shumaker and it seriously changed my life. It's my favorite parenting book. It's changed the way I look at how Ashtyn behaves, it changed how I interact with the kids, and has made me more patient overall.

What I didn't expect, however, is how it would change my view of my calling. After I read the book, I went to church to teach (I was a team teacher, so I didn't teach every week). I saw the kids in a new light. I saw their wiggles and normal child behavior in a new light. I tried to incorporate many of the ideas that I'd learned in how I interacted and taught. I was able to talk with the mother of one particularly exuberant child and tell her honestly how much I loved him and how many good qualities he had and even talk with her about what I'd learned in the book. It was a total 360 for me.

The next few weeks, we were traveling and sick and had family things, so I didn't teach and when we got back in town, I was called in to talk with a member of the bishopric member. They released me and gave me a new calling (gospel doctrine teacher).

I know it seems normal and coincidental, but to me, I feel God's hand in this. I know God called me to something that would be really hard for me. But as He worked on me and through me, I felt His love for me and finally for those primary children. I know it is no coincidence that God waited until I was able to find that love for them to release me. And I will forever be grateful for that. 

June 2017 - Books I've Read

Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend 

I really liked the premise of this book--which was the importance of setting healthy boundaries in your life, but I honestly didn't like the actual book. I thought it was too long; they repeated themselves needlessly and added things in that are simply obvious (for example, they spent a few paragraphs in more than one place in the book on how our skin is a boundary, duh). It was also very Christian, and I felt they pushed that too much. Some of the time when they were referencing scriptures, it felt like a stretch, that they just wanted to reference more scriptures and it didn't actually back up or fit with what they were discussing.

That being said, I did think it had some good points and ideas. One idea that I saw throughout was to try to find a win-win solution. If somebody asks you to do something and you don't want to do it but say yes, that's lose-win. If you coerce somebody into doing something they don't want to because you can't take no for an answer, that's win-lose. Win-win is best for everyone, even if it's not always easiest.

Another thing that I have a problem with that I recognized from this book was that you shouldn't say yes now if you won't want to do it later. I do this often, where I say maybe or just don't do something because I didn't want to do it. Instead, I should tell whoever it is right from the get go and be honest about what I am able and want to do. An example is when we first moved into our current ward. There was a lady who wanted me to take a turn to set up a play group with the kids in our ward. Ashtyn wasn't even 18 months yet and I was heavily pregnant with Parker and I didn't want to do it. I came up with some excuses, she found some solutions to them, and I said yes. I still didn't want to do it, so I came up with more excuses, texted her, and told her I couldn't do it. I should have just said no in the first place. It was fine for me to say no and I didn't need an excuse to. However, it wasn't fair for me to say yes and then back out of my commitment.

Secrets of a Homeschool Mom by Jamie C. Martin

This book touched on the idea that we've been taught all our lives that education is complicated. It takes billions of dollars and a variety of experts and still can't be "fixed." But education isn't complicated. The simplest of educational methods are actually what work best for teaching kids--teaching them to think, teaching them to love learning, teaching them to become the kinds of adults that we want them to become. I love that idea.

It's more about the atmosphere you create--one of inspiration-- than the curriculum you're using to teach your children.

I love this quote:

"Few people fit within the confines of one singular type of learning. Through homeschooling, we piece together what we find and love, and create something new. We merge and blend to discover exactly what works for us."

An Unschooling Manifesto by Maria Taviano 

I've been looking a lot more into unschooling because I agree with a lot of their ideals. Unschooling focuses on interest led learning, where the child gets to decide what and how they learn. It's very unstructured and believes the best learning happens in real life when the learner is passionate about the subject. I really believe all that as well, but I am not as unstructured as a true unschooler and I also am not going to let all of my children's learning be up to them. There are some things, like choosing readaloud books or initiating projects, that I will be in charge of sometimes. However, I do want to make sure (especially as my children are elementary age) that everything we do is something they are enjoying. That way they will learn to love learning, reading, and books.

This book was basically the journey of one unschooling mom and I really enjoyed it. Her book was well written, she knew what she was talking about, and she was able to articulate the benefits of unschooling very well. Reading it made me want to unschool, until I read their daily schedules :)

Some quotes:

"I don't want us scurrying around like headless chickens, trying to cram everything on earth into one short lifetime. Especially stuff that's not important." I love this because it touches on the idea that we simply cannot do or own or see or experience everything and neither can our children. We need to be intentional about what we put into our lives and the lives of our children.

"You've heard the saying, 'Is this beautiful or useful?' I think it can apply to things we do and learn." I think a lot of expectations for early education is all about what we think kids need to learn, but sometimes that's arbitrary. Besides basic math and reading (the building blocks for life and learning, most of which can be learned through everyday life and reading to your children), do they really need to learn about specific things or memorize facts? If they don't want to learn it now, they won't learn it and if they want/need to learn it later, they can learn it then (and be more motivated to learn it, meaning they'll not only learn it faster and less painfully, but also retain more of what they are learning). That is the number one thing I love about unschooling--the idea that when we are learning things we are passionate about and that relate to our real lives, we really learn them. We don't need to be forced or coerced into it. And if we wait until our children are truly ready to learn something, it will be a fantastic experience for both us and them and leave us both better for it.

Last quote, I promise. "Learn how to learn anything and then no matter what the world is like or what the job force requires a decade from now, you'll be able to adapt and learn it."

Unschooling Rules by Clark Aldrich 

This book was highly recommended in the previous book, but I actually didn't like it. The author didn't seem to know what he was talking about and most of the time, didn't back up what he was saying. For instance, there was one part of the book where he said that playing video games gives children the same educational benefits as reading ............... which is not true. It's true that video games can be educational, but they are not the same as reading.

I've found that no matter how much I don't like a book, though, there's still a lot I can get out of it. Here are some of the "rules" he listed that I really connected with.

There are different kinds of learning--learning to know, learning to do (for instance, trade schools), and learning to be (who you are as a person, etc.). All are important at different times in our lives.

"People unschool to learn most of their knowledge during most of their lives" (for instance, if you run into a problem disciplining your child, you'll research about that problem specifically, not study textbooks on general knowledge).

"To learn something new, a student has to do something new and often be somewhere new."

"Unless what you learn is reinforced very soon, you will forget most of it anyway."

"Building is the opposite of consuming." When children are building something, it might look like artwork, writing in a journal, building a fort or dam, or cooking. When they are consuming, they might be reading or watching something. The idea is to let children build more often than they are consuming.

"By design, public schools rely on a motivational and management system in which there must be winners and there must be winners." This is because schools have an atmosphere of comparison, which fights against creating in students an abundance mentality and to look for win-win situations.

They Knew the Prophet by Hyrum L. Andrus and Helen Mae Andrus 

This was the book I read before bed this month. It's a compilation of personal accounts from people who knew Joseph Smith and was a very interesting read. I definitely would recommend it.

I felt this quote summed up quite nicely what all the accounts had to say about Joseph Smith: "He boldly and bravely confronted the false traditions, superstitions, religious bigotry, and ignorance of the world--proved himself true to every heaven-revealed principle--true to his brethren and true to God, then sealed his testimony with his blood."

It's Okay NOT to Share by Heather Shumaker 

This is my newest favorite parenting book. If you only read one book on parenting, I think this should be it. I LOVED this book.

The book is based off the idea that all children and all parents have rights and all of parenting (rules, discipline, handling conflicts between two kids) uphold those rights. The golden rule is if it's not hurting somebody (which includes feelings) or property, it's okay.

There's way too much in this book to cover it all and explain it right. It's a book you just have to read. It has really changed the way I view parenting though. I'm more patient, I try to give more control and responsibility to Ashtyn (or teach her in a way that will help her take responsibility later). It's changed the way I view my primary class and helped me actually enjoy my calling more. I really love the idea of figuring out all the individual problems that come up through the lens of my children's' rights. I also loved how much practical and specific advice based off those rights there was all throughout the book.

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine 

This is a book that I've seen on a lot of book lists for elementary school kids, so when I saw it at DI, I bought it and decided to read it. I loved it! It's about an autistic girl whose brother is killed in a school shooting and how she, her father, and her entire community heal from that horrible experience. It's beautifully written, you fall in love with the characters, and you're able to follow the characters' growth and healing journey throughout the book. I literally read it in almost a day, I could hardly put it down to go to bed. Also, every time I saw it on a book list, it reminded me of To Kill a Mockingbird and that book/movie is actually a big part of this book, which I loved, because I LOVE To Kill a Mockingbird!

Summer Loving Schedule

Well, Parker has officially moved to one nap (at the same time as Ashtyn!) and it's definitely summer and we're loving it! I'm pretty sure my kids would live outside if they could. Of course our routine/schedule has changed with this. I don't think there's a perfect schedule out there, because life is constantly changing and with that, routines follow. This is what our days currently look like.

Ben and I no longer wake up at six. I was reading a book about being a more peaceful parent and it talked about how if you have to wake up to an alarm clock, you're not getting enough sleep. I've heard this before, but it really hit home to me now. Ben and I changed our streak to be a bedtime streak. We're in bed by ten and try to be falling asleep around ten thirty. Then we wake up naturally (this doesn't always work, because ... kids.). We have one streak freeze a week that we can use if we want to stay up later for date night or something. I now usually wake up around six thirty or seven. I still work on my business if I have time and get ready for the day.

The girls wake up between 7:30 and 8:00 (Parker usually closer to 7:30, Ashtyn is usually closer to 8:00). I nurse Parker and then she sits in the high chair and eats her second breakfast while I make eggs and Ashtyn and I clear out the dishwasher. I've also started having Parker watch Signing Time during breakfast most days because I really feel it was beneficial to Ashtyn's early vocabulary growth. It also really helps with Ashtyn clearing out the dishwasher, because then Parker isn't trying to get into it all while Ashtyn is taking forever.

Ashtyn clears out her plates and bowls and all the silverware. It usually takes her close to thirty minutes before she actually starts (she likes to lie on the floor and tell me she doesn't want to do the dishes) but once she starts she finishes in like two minutes. Then she gets to pick out two coins to add to her money and she loves that. That also gives me a chance to work on some math with her (like identifying coins, addition, etc.).

After breakfast, we try to do something fun. Mondays we go to the library for story time and then go grocery shopping. Some other things we do include playing at the park, going to the lake (we got a pass for state parks and go up to Steineker Lake ALL the time; the girls love it), go out in the trees at Ben's parent's house, play in our kiddie pool in the backyard, or play at Melissa's house.

Then we have lunch and I put the girls down for their nap. Ashtyn sometimes sleeps and I might get two to three hours of kid free time. If she doesn't sleep, she has a "quiet time" for an hour. I try to use this time to market my blog and get other  things done. If Parker is still asleep when Ashtyn comes down, we sometimes read together on the couch and then she either plays outside in the front or does stuff at the counter (playdoh, paint, markers, puzzles, those sorts of things).

When Parker wakes up, we usually have some time to kill before Ben is done with work, so we have dance parties or check on the mail or go into the backyard or read together.

Ben usually finishes work around five or five thirty. We have dinner. We've been trying to have lighter dinners (salads, soup, smoothies, etc.) earlier and then not eating until breakfast the next day, but having nice big breakfasts and lunches. We have really liked it so far.

After dinner, we do something as a family. We'll go out to the creek, go to the lake, hang out with family, go for a walk, or watch a movie (we've started a Friday movie night and it's so fun so far!). Then we do our normal kids in bed at 8:30 and have Ben and Charly time until we go to sleep.

We're loving the summer so far!

My Favorite Things about Ben's Business

Today I was talking with a lady at the library about what Ben does and how he works from home. It reminded me of how much I love him working from home and how grateful I am for it. I wanted to share some of my favorite things about his work schedule and flexibility.

I love that he can eat whatever meals he wants with us. If he wants to work through breakfast or lunch so he can finish earlier or because he has a lot to do, he can. I don't have to prepare a meal beforehand, I just take some of whatever the rest of the family is having up to him. Most of the time, though, he eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner with us and I love it. I love that we can all be together for meals so often.

I love that he can come down to talk to me about his business whenever. When he worked at TestOut, I remember emailing back and forth all day (and we still message each other often throughout the day when he's upstairs), but it's so nice to be able to just talk with each other in person when we want to. If he's frustrated with how something's going, he'll come down to vent. If he gets exciting news or finishes a big project, he can come down and share it with me. I love being connected to his life in that way and I love his frequent visits to see us.

I love that he can help with the kids when I need it. This was especially nice right after Parker was born and I had two such little ones. I feel that I need his help less often now that both girls are older, but it's still nice. When I put Parker down for her nap, Ben can watch Ashtyn. If one of them gets hurt or there's a spider that I'm too wimpy to kill or anything happens, Ben's right upstairs.

I love that I can leave while the girls are sleeping. Because Ben's office is right next to their rooms, I can run errands or leave the house if I need to while they're asleep. This was especially useful before Parker went to one nap, because it meant Ashtyn and I could still go wherever we wanted in the morning while Parker was asleep or I could take Parker on a nap during Ashtyn's nap.

I love that his schedule is more flexible. We can do date night in the afternoon during the kids naps if we want. We can go to the lake as soon the kids wake up. We can go on vacation whenever we want. Ben can take as long as he wants for holidays (or not take holidays, like Labor Day) or as long as I need after having a baby. We get to decide his schedule and that has to be my favorite part of his business.

I love that we feel like a team. I don't run his business, but I feel that I contribute to it in ways that I might not be able to if he worked somewhere else. And because he's home, he can help me and be a big part of our family life. I honestly wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.

May 2017 - Books I've Read

Intended for Pleasure - Ed Wheat, MD and Gaye Wheat 

This is a book on intimacy within marriage. I thought it was well written. It was informative but not in any way vulgar and looked at things from a Christian/biblical perspective. I could tell reading through it that it was a general Christian rather than specifically LDS book, but it was still a good read (if you're looking for a purely LDS read, And They Were Not Ashamed by Laura M. Brotherson is a very, very good read. She also has another book, Knowing Her Intimately, that I haven't read yet since I just found out about it, and is also working on a book about knowing men intimately, as well as some online videos). 

One theme throughout the book is that God has told us that men and women have a right to be sexually satisfied. We do not need to feel ashamed about sex or that it is a forbidden or bad subject/action within marriage. It is sacred, but it is ordained for marriage and God wants you and your spouse to enjoy it together. 

Another theme throughout was the idea that you should be giving. The woman should be conscious of her husband's sexual needs and vise versa. "An honest desire for the happiness of our partner will bring a surprising degree of happiness into our own lives." It reminds me of the famous quote by Gordon B. Hinkley. 

On the flip side of that, it's also important to communicate your needs and desires with your spouse. They shouldn't have to guess what you're thinking and feeling in order to please you and you should never be holding in resentment because you haven't spoken up about something, especially in the bedroom. The more open your communication, the better your intimacy will be. When your partner comes to you with anything, it's important to approach with an open and understanding attitude. Almost any conflict in marriage can be resolved if both parties come to the table with a sincere desire to understand their partner's feelings and thoughts. 

It's also important to remember that touch and time outside of the bedroom is so important for a healthy marriage. For Ben and I, in our stage of life, this is something that can be difficult. We get tired and busy and sometimes we put each other on the back burner. It's something we're always working to do better with. 

In one part of the book, Gaye suggested that women measure their physical love for their husbands by using 1 Corinthians 13. I love that idea. 

This is a book I would definitely recommend, especially to engaged or newly married couples. 

Business Boutique by Christie Wright 

I loved this book! Christie Wright is a Dave Ramsey personality who focuses on entrepreneurial women, mostly who are starting businesses from home. Some of it didn't apply to me because of the type of business I am doing, but I loved the information in the book, thought she did a great job with the organization, and came away from it fired up to work on my business again. 

One thing she touched on was the idea of fear in business. She talks about how everyone is scared in business and that even old hats have things they get nervous about. The ones who succeed just work through the fear. There's no reason to think that because you're nervous, you're on the wrong track. In fact, fear is good, because it means you're actually doing something and pushing yourself. 

She also talked about how you don't have to be an expert or have a perfect set up to start. Just start and as your business grows, you'll grow with it! I loved that because I feel like I am not at all ready to start something. One idea she has for pushing past this is talking to yourself instead of listening to yourself. When you have thoughts about not being good enough or not feeling ready, push those away and instead tell yourself that you're ready. When you talk to yourself, you can tell yourself whatever you want. 

Once you've pushed past the hardness of starting, you have to actually get to work or your business will never succeed. But also remember that there are different stages of life and you get to choose how much time you're going to devote to your business and how big you want your business to grow. This is really important for me to remember, since my free time is so limited with such small kids to look after. I also know that I want my blog to reach as many people as possible, but I don't ever want my business to grow so big that I hire employees or spend more than ten to twenty hours a week on it. 

There was a lot in her book, but the last idea I wanted to touch on was focus. It's really easy in a business to get side tracked and want to go in a million different directions or start a million different businesses. I have felt that already. There are so many other things I want to write about or share on, but I need to stay focused. Those businesses that succeed do so because they have focused on their passion and their audience. They aren't trying to do a million things at once. They've chosen a direction and stuck with it. 

I would definitely recommend this book to any entrepreneur and especially to any woman who wants to get into or start a business. I will probably be rereading at least sections of this book. 

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl 

I really liked the idea behind this book, but I didn't think the execution of it was very well done. Ben and I read it together and both felt the same way. 

I don't know if I can quite put my finger on why I didn't like it. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting. It was a little boring. The experiences from the concentration camp that he shared somehow seemed impersonal, detached in a way that made it not as compelling. The psychological side of it had some interesting parts, but at times, it seemed he was reaching to prove his new theory. This might be the kind of book that would be better to go online and find someone's synopsis of it. 

The main idea is that rather than searching for happiness, man should be searching for meaning. If someone can find a meaning for their suffering, they can endure just about anything. If they lose sight of the meaning of it, they will give up. "In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice."

One quote from the book: "If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete." 

Another quote: "From all this we may learn that there are two races of men in the world, but only these two--the "race" of the decent man and the "race" of the indecent man. Both are found everywhere; they penetrate into all groups of society. No group consists entirely of decent or indecent people."

And another: "No one has the right to do wrong, not even if wrong has been done to them." 

He talks also about the freedom we have that cannot be taken away: that of our attitude in suffering. "It is not freedom from conditions, but it is freedom to take a stand toward the conditions." 

The Legacy Journey by Dave Ramsey 

This was reread for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book (both times). In contrast to his other books, which are more focused on how to get out of debt and the importance of using a common sense, debt free approach to finances, this book focuses more on baby step seven and building wealth. 

In the book, Dave Ramsey talks a lot about how it's okay, once you have wealth, to enjoy some of it. Our society looks down on the wealthy and wealth in general, but it's actually a good thing to enjoy the hard work and sacrifice it took to get to where you are. The key is to have a balance between spending, giving, and investing. 

They way he recommends you set up your budget, to ensure balance, is through percentages. So once you are out of debt, investing for retirement, have your kids college funds begun, and your house paid off (so no payments or debt of any kind and your future on track to be taken care of), you and your spouse prayerfully decide on an amount your family can comfortably live on. I'll use Ben and I as an example, pretending we're in that position right now. We have a gross income of $110,000. We would both be very comfortable living on $60,000. That leaves $50,000. To keep everything, balanced, you take the leftover (so for us, the $50,000) and apply percentages to it. We set aside about 35% for taxes right off the bat and 10% to tithing. Then we'd choose a percent for investing (maybe something like 35%), giving on top of the tithe (for example, 15%), and then the remaining 5% would be earmarked for lifestyle (things like traveling or anything we wanted to buy for fun that was on top of the amount we had set aside for living off of). These numbers are all just examples. The percentages don't matter, as long as you and your spouse both feel good about it and feel that you are managing it how God wants. Using percentages means that no matter how much or little you make, this method would work and it also means that as your income increases (as most incomes increase over a lifespan), your spending, giving, and saving remain balanced. 

I love this book, but I love everything by Dave Ramsey. If you are headed toward the wealth-building part of your life, I would definitely recommend this book (if you want to be but aren't quite there yet, I definitely recommend his book The Total Money Makeover or his FPU course). 

A Needed Reminder

I wanted to share an experience I had yesterday.

Yesterday was a hard day. If I'm honest, pretty much everyday lately has been hard. I have a one-year-old and a two-year-old. Ashtyn is a test boundaries all day long and then throw major tantrums when the boundaries are enforced. This tests my patience and I have to admit that I do not always keep my temper in check. I often yell and get upset when I want to stay calm. This is something we're working on, on both Ashtyn's and my side. Then there's Parker, who is in a stage of getting into everything and puts everything in her mouth. It feels like I have to be ever vigilant watching her and am constantly chasing her around. She's also in a clingy stage, where she cries at least five times every time I set her down to do anything, like get dressed or make dinner.  On top of that, for the past little while, their nap schedules have been flip flopping each other as Parker works her way to one nap. Parker takes a morning nap and wakes up just in time for Ashtyn's nap, who wakes up before I put Parker down for her afternoon catnap. Which means the only kid free time I have is waking up at six in the morning or after we put them down for bed before I go to bed.

I love being a mom and there are plenty of moments that remind me of how grateful I am to be a mother, but that doesn't diminish the hard parts of life right now.

Well, yesterday I was attempting to make dinner. Parker was crying at my feet and Ashtyn was throwing a fit because she wanted to play outside. I had music playing on Pandora, but I changed it to Hilary Weeks station because I felt that we needed a little more peace in the house.

This song (ignore the video, just listen to the song) came on. It was exactly what I needed. Before the song, I was feeling like a failure as a mother. I was thinking of the times I yelled or got impatient. As this song played, though, the Spirit entered my heart so quickly and powerfully. And as it did, I was reminded of all the things I had that day that was building and teaching and nourishing my children.

The time we'd spent reading the Book of Mormon and learning a story from it.
The songs we'd sung together.
The time we'd spent playing in the dirt together.
The moments I'd had with Parker as we took turns giving her doll kisses.
Rocking in the chair with Ashtyn before her nap singing "I am a child of God."
Teaching Ashtyn with magnetic letters on the cookie sheet.

The good moments are there and I know that I do my best as a mother. Sometimes, it really feels like I fall short. It's easy to get lost in the mundane of motherhood. It's important, even when I mess up and am not perfect, to remember that I did a lot of good too.

It reminds me of this video. It's basically my favorite thing right now. It's such a good reminder that where we see ordinary and work and mundane, the kids see time spent with us, magic, and beautiful moments. We would do well to see parenthood through our children's eyes.

So I want to thank my Heavenly Father for sending me a reminder when I most needed it that I am doing a good job as a mother. I still want to be better and will work to be more patient with my children, but as I am, I need to know, I am not failing. My children feel loved, are learning about their Heavenly Father, and are growing and learning daily.

And that, that's the most important thing.

Little Excitements with a Big Move

Small things can make a big difference. I've learned that as I've gone through life. You can be happy anywhere, since happiness is a choice, but comfort is greatly determined by the small things. Right now, we're in our own apartment and we like it. We could stay longer than we are going to and be happy (and fit, as a family), but we are very excited to move up to a house. Here are some of the small things that we're looking forward to, for when we can finally move into our house.

Having our room on the main floor. It will be so much easier to do things like get dressed and do my hair in the morning after I get the girls in the morning. It will also be nice to have our clothes on the same floor as the washing machine.

Parking our car in the garage. For weather and keeping our car cleaner and weather, it'll be so nice.

Having a yard that isn't close to a busy road. Being close to a busy road is stressful with kids and annoying because of the loud trucks and motorcycles. It'll be nice to be in a quiet little neighborhood.

Living down the street from the park. It'll be nice to be able to walk down the street with the girls anytime and go to the park.

A coat closet. I am so excited for this, because we don't currently have one in our apartment and it drives me absolutely crazy (though I will say it's worse when it's actually cold).

My giant pantry. Because what woman wouldn't be excited about that?

Our shower not sharing a wall with one of the girls' rooms. I will say, I don't think the shower usually wakes them up, but it stresses me. I want to shower while they're asleep (because it's basically the only time I can) but then I worry that showering will wake them up. It's not good.

A new stove and oven. My goodness, I hate the range in our apartment. It's been my least favorite thing about living here and since I do use it literally several times a day and cook/bake a lot, it is kind of a big deal. I'm really excited for our convect gas range in our new house!

Having blinds on all the windows and blinds that actually fit in the windows. The blinds in our apartment are not fitted to the windows, so you can actually see through the edges and we have to be careful where we stand when getting dressed. Also, our kitchen window doesn't have anything covering it, which is super annoying. The sun comes in during the day (sometimes hitting at the most inconvenient places) and we can be seen by all the cars driving by at night.

There are so many little things that will be nice. Plus, just the fact that it will be ours. Our own home. That will make a big difference too. We can't wait!