AnNicole writes one of my very favorite blogs, Our Suburban Cottage. This week she has invited her readers to a linky party and asked us to share the story of how we met our house. I LOVE this idea. It really is a like meeting a new friend when you meet your house for the first time. I love the idea of sharing these stories with each other.

Here’s my story:

Just after my husband and I were married, we bought our first house.

I felt so fortunate. We had found a truly perfect house for us. It was a great price, close to work, in a nice neighborhood, with a beautiful yard and there was plenty of room to raise a family. I felt like we were living happily ever after in our “forever” house. We built a fence, bought a puppy, and the babies followed shortly after.

Life was good, but that was just the beginning of the story of our house.

You see, my sister lived in a beautiful neighborhood in Snohomish and it just so happened that my husband’s sister lives in the same neighborhood. Our kids are all about the same age and we all enjoy spending time together. My sister called me one day and told me about a house in her neighborhood that was For Sale By Owner. I told her that I thought that was really nice that she thought about us, but that we were not moving. She persisted. The next day she called again. She told me that she really thought we should just come out and see the house. Again, I told her that we were not moving and we didn’t even have time to come drive by. Undeterred, she went to the house, knocked on the door, and asked if she could come in and take some pictures to email to her reluctant sister.

This was the picture on the brochure.

The house that my sister had chosen for us was within walking distance to her house and my husband’s sister’s house. It was close to the elementary school that all the kids would attend. The house was within our budget, in a perfect neighborhood, and it was much larger than the house I thought was our “forever house”. When my husband and I opened the email with all of the pictures attached, it was all over. We didn’t even need to see it in person. It was love at first sight. We drove out that very night and made an offer.

Moving to our new “forever house” was the best decision we’ve ever made. There were, and still are, lots of cosmetic changes that need to made. We can handle that. It’s a small trade off for letting my kids grow up with their cousins and I mean REALLY grow up with their cousins. (We see them every day.) I always have someone to go to for a cup of sugar or when I’m short just one egg. I come home from work to find that my sister has “broken in” and left some things she had borrowed on the kitchen counter. We have one really tall ladder between all of us, because why would we want to store more than one ladder when we live so close together? We share dishes, childcare, good days, tough times, home baked treats, and most importantly – we share our lives together. At the end of the day it’s all about home and family. I can’t tell you how fortunate I feel that my home and family share the same neighborhood.

Check out these parties!

The post How I Met My House – A Repost appeared first on home is where my story begins....

I’m reading a book right now called Raising Happiness by Christine Carter. I decided to read this book because my kindergartener tends to be a “glass-half-empty” kind of girl. When I’m feeling joyful because it’s sunny, she’s pouting because it’s too bright out.

Chapter 2 in this book is about building a village… It takes a village to raise a child. At first glance, my thought was that this topic doesn’t really help make my child happier, but I was wrong. I often think about how lucky I am to have family living so close to me. My sister lives in my neighborhood and so does my sister-in-law. All of the cousins go to the same school and help me tremendously with with before and after school care. The grandmas are both retired now too and jump in to help quite often. Some of you are probably thinking, “Well, that’s great for you, but I don’t have family close by!”

Let me tell you about another VERY important member of my village. Her name is Diane and even though we aren’t related by blood, I feel as close to her as any other member of my family. Diane and I met when our kids were in the same infant room at a daycare center. (Actually we met in our child birth class, but we didn’t even remember each other.) When our oldest kids were three, we started mom and me swim lessons together.

Pretty soon, we found that our kids played really well together and started trading child care now and then. When our kids were three, we were both pregnant with our second babies. At that point we started working on something we just called “The Plan”. Our crazy idea was that if we both worked part time, working exactly opposite schedules, we could share child care and save ourselves $1,500 each month in child care. We would raise our kids like they were brothers and sisters (except they’d go home to their own houses at night). We started when our babies were 9 months old and the big kids were 3.

My son is now 9, and my daughter is 6. The babies have gone off to kindergarten and the big kids are fourth graders.

WE DID IT! We made this crazy plan of ours work. We created a village and raised our children together.

So, why am I telling you this story?

In chapter 2 of Raising Happiness, the author talks about building your village. As a parent, I COULD NOT SURVIVE without my village. Yes, some of my village members are family. But there may be someone out there who is just waiting to invite you into their village. Relationships with other people is KEY to providing happiness in our lives. Children who are embedded in a strong network of parents, friends, neighbors, and family are happier children. Playing with other kids teaches friendship skills. When YOU make connections with the parents of your child’s friends you are modeling how to foster relationships!

I’m urging you to reach out to families. Invite kids for playdates and get to know families on a personal level. Maybe you’ll find a Diane, someone who is as close as family and ready to be part of your village.

The post It Takes A Village appeared first on home is where my story begins....