Lovely Lucid Life Update June 2024

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a life update post. We’ve had some milestones and anniversaries. Here’s our life around here lately!

Two Years in Our New Small Home 🏡

It’s been two years since that Memorial Day weekend when we first saw our new home. We walked in, the energy felt lovely and we knew this was going to be it for us for a bit. We moved into this 1000 square foot house (maybe 900, we aren’t entirely sure about the square footage) with an apartment in the back, planning on staying a year, but we haven’t left yet. This home has been a safe nest for us as we’ve created our new life. We will see what time has in store for us, but each morning when I sit out on our deck in the sunshine ,watching and listening to the birds, I feel so grateful to be living this life.

I don’t feel held back by our small home but it definitely takes a bit of effort to navigate living in a smaller space, especially since we homeschool and Jamie works from home. I’ve learned some strategies for using the space as efficiently as possible and become a bit of a master in the art of making a small home work for you. I was even recently named an expert in a Rent. article. Check out the featured article: How to Design a Home Office in a Small Space | Rent. Although I don’t think I would consider myself an expert in this area it was cool to be included in the article. We are open for whatever comes our way, but for now are also quite content with our cozy home. We are so pleased with the decision to move two years ago.

Two Years of Homeschool 📘

We just finished our second year of homeschool and I loved this year even more then the first. There were definitely moments of exhaustion, doubt and plenty of tears shed (mostly me, lol) but there were even more moments of laughter, curiosity, joy and pure gratitude that I get the privilege of having this experience with my kids. Jake learned to read this year, like really read, like chapter books read and Anika started doing long division and adding fractions. Mind Blown. 🤯

Even bigger then those milestones is watching them find a topic they are interested in and taking off with it. Fully diving in and spending as much time as they want, then applying it in real life situations and discussing it in our every day conversations. We have connected with a wonderful homeschool community here, met some genuine, down to earth, good people and made amazing friends. So so grateful for the decision to enter the homeschool world and so happy to be here.

Three Years Since My Dad’s Cancer Diagnosis 🩺

It’s unreal that it’s been three years since my dad’s original cancer diagnosis and over two years since the amazing surgeon successfully removed the tumor. Latest tests and blood work look great. He is feeling good and we have had the privilege of spending lots of quality time with him lately.

He drives up for Jake’s baseball games, Anika’s theater performances and is happy to come along with us on our adventure field trips. He supplies us with the best soil and bags to grow plants in, teaches the kids to make suet bird feeders for the woodpeckers and makes hummingbird food with them. I am so grateful for every second of time we get with him and these memories he is making with us. In April we watched the total solar eclipse with my dad and I was overwhelmed with such a sense of gratitude that I got to experience this momentous event alongside my father, when three years ago I didn’t even know if he would be here with us. So much gratitude that things worked out the way they did.

4 Years of Baseball ⚾️

On a lighter note Jake just finished his 4th year of baseball! He did phenomenal. He was laser focused, always tried his hardest and was a supportive teammate to the rest of his team. I couldn’t be more proud of him and the hard work he put into playing the sport this season. Anika was an amazing and supportive sister. Always cheering him on, checking on him when he was in the dugout and gathering his gear at the end of the game. So sweet to watch these two together.

5 Rental Properties 🛠️

We recently purchased our fifth rental property (not counting the home we live in). We are getting closer to the final goal of this becoming Jamie’s new full time job. He recently finished renovations of one of the properties he’s been working on the past year. If you’d like to check it out you can watch his YouTube channel.

12 Years of Marriage 💍

Jamie and I recently celebrated our 12th year of marriage! The last three years of it have been a whirlwind for us. I am so proud of how we’ve navigated the challenges that have come our way and grown together as a couple through the hard stuff. I wrote a more in depth blog post about it here.