Diana's comment on my last post was a great reminder of how clean and empty spaces can fuel such creativity in our children. Where a space once was filled with legos and plastic animals, now there's room to roll out the yoga mats to make a trail through the downstairs. That's what happened yesterday at our house.

I didn't want to give the impression with yesterday's post that I think my children are slobs because they're not. They're completely normal children who have a home filled with items that spark imagination and creativity and lead them from one thing to the next. Granted, we do have a lot of stuff and maintaining a cleaner home would be easier with less stuff. I always struggle with this, though, since there are three children (and one on the way) of different ages. That means it's not as simple as giving away or selling items that the kids out grow or lose interest in because there's another child there who will grow into it and be interested in it some day. After this baby is born, though, we will be getting rid of too small clothes and maternity clothes as we plan to be finished with the baby making stage of our lives. So, when I look at ways to lessen the clutter in our house, I usually look at my things or household things that don't really interest or affect the kids.

Truthfully, what we need is better storage in this house. At almost 100 years old, this house was not built with much closet space, and there isn't a lot of shelf space other than the book shelves we've brought with us (and those are basically all full). There's a grand old brick house probably about four blocks from us that I've told them kids is the house I'd like to move into when that day comes that we can move. I'm probably more curious than anything about what the inside looks like since the house is monstrous and a single family lives in it now, but I know Cory and the kids would enjoy the outdoor swimming pool. Not sure why anyone would think an outdoor swimming pool in South Dakota would get a lot of use over the year (maybe four months if lucky), but there it is.

It's cold and snowy today. Accalia and Cole are experimenting with Cory's old trumpet, and Ella is playing our Let's Go Fishin' game while wearing one of Accalia's old dance recital costumes. I sat down at the computer with a purpose other than blogging, so I should get back to that.