This past weekend we used our living room fireplace three nights in a row. You might not see how that’s a big deal but it actually is for us. We moved in to the house we currently live in 3 years ago. The first year I don’t know if we used our fireplace more than twice that winter. Our first summer in our new house and we may not have eaten on our patio or used the fire pit more than once. Instead we were constantly going here and there, eating at restaurants with friends, at peoples houses, parties, get togethers etc. If you know anything about me you know that I’m a homebody. I rarely drive more than 15 minutes from home and I will avoid going out of my house as much as I can. But we were being social, not wanting to say no to things or people and life was chaotic. Life is chaotic enough with three kids, sports, after school activities, religion, work, meetings, etc. but this was a whole different dimension added.
At some point we reflected on our first year in our new house and realized it wasn’t spent the way we would’ve liked it to be. We had wished we had more family dinners on the patio, more fires and marshmallows, more watching family movies on the couch by the fire…so we made a conscious decision to do better. We’ve put more time in to our family, ourselves and our home…and oh my goodness it’s been so rewarding and has had such a domino effect on so many aspects of our lives!
At one time we talked about making our basement more suitable for entertaining but instead we did a 360 and made ourselves a home workout room. And it’s used daily!! My husband, myself and all 3 kids are down there pretty much every day. When the kids aren’t working out with us, they’re playing ping pong, doing gymnastics or basketball while we workout.
Since we aren’t eating out as much and socializing with food & alcohol we are eating so much healthier, in better shape and no doubt saving money. We’ve done more movies with the kids, family reading hour- where we all sit together and read (my favorite 🙋🏼♀️), family games, hikes and so many other family activities. Life has totally changed, so many memories made and heaven knows these kids won’t always want to be in our company.
I saw this post shared on Instagram the other day:
It really made me think about the choices we’ve made. It’s so very true.
What kind of life do you want?
Don’t worry about pleasing others. Don’t feel bad about saying no to things. You’re not living for others. One of my biggest issues is that it’s always been hard for me to say no to people, well I officially quit that!
This past weekend we had 3 fires! I fell asleep on my couch reading by the fire! I’m pretty sure I haven’t done that in at least ten years….possibly more. 😳🤣
~Elena 💖
Elena And Erin.....It Is What It Is 