Home Sweet Home

I follow several blogs and recently on one of them they posted pictures of their house and how it looks on an "everyday basis".  I was so encouraged to see her home that I thought I would post pictures of my home to try and encourage others like I was.  It's so important to remember that our home needs to reflect us and how we keep it up needs to be what works for us and not others.  I am at the point where I finally have a level of cleanliness that I can live with and manage and I am HAPPY with.  So, here it is, our home...

 In the mornings I always have a stack of dirty dishes on the counter from breakfast.  I do all the breakfast and lunch dishes together after lunch, with help (Emmaline unloads the dishwasher).  At dinner time, Mark loads the dishwasher and I wash the remaining dishes by hand.  There is almost always dishes drying on the right hand side of the sink, because I hate to dry dishes!

 Our "dining room", not really a dining room per se but you get the idea.  The bookcase is where we keep all our school stuff and we "do school" at the table.  The table was recently given to us by some friends and I haven't gotten around to finishing painting the chairs so they all match.  Someday...

 This is what you see when you first come into our house.  I try to keep the living room clean at all times and have a "no toy" policy in the living room.  Which works sometimes, if I keep on top of the kids.

 And here is the family room, where we actually live and where the kids can play with toys all they want.  :-)  It is actually a lot messier than this usually, I'm not sure why it was so clean for this picture, maybe because the kids had been playing outside?

 Our one bathroom, shared by 7 people, is amazingly clean.  Of course, it is a chore of one of the kids to clean it everyday...which helps a lot!
Note (added 3/9/2011) For those of you wondering how in the world I can allow my children to be exposed to those nasty chemicals from cleaning the bathroom everyday...The kids don't actually clean with cleaners, they just use a wet washcloth to wipe down all the surfaces.  I do the cleaning myself once a week.  There, now I have that off my chest... :-)

 Our bedroom.  As I look at these pictures I realize how much more decorating I need to do.  Oh well, I can add it to my someday list.

 The boys room, which stays really clean, mainly because once the boys get up in the morning they don't stop moving till night time and don't ever go back into their room!  The kids all make their own beds, as you can probably tell.

 And finally, Emmaline's room.  (And Micah's for now).  She is a packrat loves to collect stuff and pile it on her dresser.  She is also cleaning challenged so her room is one of the most difficult to keep up in the whole house!  As you can see, she also likes to peel paint and draw on furniture...

So, there is my house in a nutshell.  This is how it looks on a daily basis and is clean enough for me.  :-)  It's small but we love it!