Year Review 2013

As the new year approaches it seems fitting to reflect on this last year. What a crazy busy year it was! In addition to all of the "everyday" things we kept ourselves busy with, we bought a house 6 hours from where we were living and tried to make it livable on the occasional weekend we were able to travel in preparation for the possibility to return home. And during this crazy time of "everyday" activities: work, volunteering, school, kid activities, and making our new house livable, we started our blog. I must admit that years ago (even after many asked me about starting a blog after seeing many of the pics I posted on my personal Facebook page) the thought never really occurred to me to actually write a blog until after we purchased our new house. I thought it would be awesome to have a place to write about our journey in making our new house into our home. And thus, our blog was born.

Since we were no where near ready to actually write about our new house,

I started our blog with some of our older projects

Pink!

Kitchen Shelves

Just A Little Organizing

and mixed in some new to update our happenings 

Happy Birthday Part 2

Happy Birthday Part 3

while waiting patiently for the time to be right for us to include our new home.

Snow Day! (We built and igloo)

Blue Spring and Easter 2013

Strawberry Icecream Shortcake

Brice Graduation

Hailey Graduation

Teacher Gifts

Bake Sale!

That time finally came in June. We were able to share
our exciting news and that's when our blog really kicked off.

Exciting News!

Moving Days

Front Porch

Front Porch: Red, White, and Blue

Since our move, our home has been

a whirlwind of activity while (at the same time)

trying to settle into a routine.

Our Tree Cutting Adventure
Cutting Down The Bushes
Cleaning Up The Bushes
Cleaning Up The Front Yard
Cleaning Up The Left Side Yard

Side Porch Stenciled Planters
Rock Garden
Side Porch Inside Reveal!
Side Porch Outside Reveal and Rock Garden!
Side Porch Furniture

Hopscotch!

Very Mini, Mini Fairy Garden

We also took time to enjoy the local festivities.

Sandwich Fair!
Wandering Wednesday

After spending the summer cleaning up and adjusting 
we decided it was time to enjoy the holidays.

Our Home ~ 2013

Side Porch Autumn 2013

Hot Chocolate Bar

 Christmas Side Porch 2013

And if you follow us on Facebook or Pinterest you were able to keep up

with what was new when I didn't have time to write a post.

Wow, we have accomplished a lot this year! But, of course, we still have so much more to do. We still have projects we started this year that will be completed in the new year, along with many new projects/ideas to get done in the new year. Our ambitions are big! On the list this year: Finish kitchen and dining room, downstairs bathroom, toyroom/office, family room, sunroom, floors, painting, lighting, plumbing, backyard deck and so much more.

We love being home and close to family. We are enjoying this new journey. And we appreciate this opportunity to share our experiences with all of you while turning our new house into Our Family Inspired Home. We hope all of you have a Happy New Year!

Thanks for visiting Our Family Inspired Home!

Christmas Side Porch 2013

I thought I would squeeze in another Christmas post before the end of the year. We love our side porch and because we use our side porch entrance, for now, it's the first thing we see when we come home. So today, I'm sharing our side porch. Not only did I use what we already had from our prior Christmases ( Christmas 2010, Christmas 2011, Christmas 2012), I used basic winter decor so we can use it all through winter. I also, created a little outdoor hot cocoa station while Hailey was enjoying the snow.

She liked making snow angels on her tummy.

And yes even in the snow, swinging is fun.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Thanks for visiting Our Family Inspired Home!

Hot Chocolate Bar

Every night after bathtime and before bedtime I read to Hailey while she has a drink and snack. During the warmer months she has juice, but in the winter it's always hot cocoa. A couple of years ago I saw this Dear Lillie Hot Chocolate Bar (I thought on Pinterest, but for some reason I didn't get it pinned) and have wanted to create one ever since. This year I am super excited that we were able to make our very own hot cocoa bar! We set up our hot cocoa bar on the breakfast bar in our family room and used items we already had on hand.

Yep, that is a sheet hanging in the background 

(we have gutted our kitchen and are trying to keep the 

dirt and dust to a minimum in the other rooms), 

and the bar counter needs to be replaced, 

and the trim needs to be painted.....

You can see how we used these apothecary jars for 

Hailey's 5th Birthday, Happy Birthday Part 3.

We posted about our basket and pitcher here, Our Home ~ Autumn 2013.

The pinecone tree we used in our Christmas 2011 decor.

The red Christmas trees, ball ornaments, and pinecones, we used in our Christmas 2012 decor.

And, so far, we have gotten the most use out of the garland during Christmas.

We have used the garland on our mantle for Christmas 2010, Christmas 2011, and Christmas 2012.

We are loving our hot cocoa bar!

The hot cocoa bar is set up, the Christmas tree is finished in our sunroom, the dining room is almost ready, and the sideporch is looking festive. We are a little bit closer to Christmas!

Thanks for visiting Our Family Inspired Home!

Christmas 2012

We're back today with more Christmas inspiration! How is your Christmas decorating coming along? If you are still looking for ideas I hope you are able to use some of our ideas to help with your Christmas decorating. In our Christmas 2010 decor we used white, silver, and red to create a sparkly snowy feel. And in our Christmas 2011 we used green, brown, and silver to create a woodsy/woodland theme. Today, we are sharing our Christmas 2012 decor. We used most of the decor from 2010 and 2011, but wanted to use more red in 2012. So, we changed out the stockings, tree skirt, and pillows, and then added more red to the mantle. I love the reindeer pillows. We're almost ready for Christmas!

When I saw this idea on Pinterest, I decided we needed to make one too.

Hailey and I made it together and she wanted to know what it said.

After I read to her what it said she answered, "Amen".

This was our front porch.

Thanks for visiting Our Family Inspired Home!