One of the highlights of the week was visiting the house I grew up in. My mom and dad moved to this house between Jody and myself. Jeremy and I were born in this house (mom had the doctor come here for a home birth). My Dad moved out a few years after my mom passed away. Which meant he lived there for some 25 years. There are a LOT of memories made in this old farm house.
The lady who lives there now was kind enough to let us come visit the old place. She has done marvelous things with it, restored it to it's true character, and made many improvements we never had the money or time to do.
Here's where the old wood burning stove used to sit.
She put in an old-style stove and farm house sink. What used to be a continuous split countertop, is now a beautiful butcher block island.
They tore down the wall where the closet used to be, found the chimney brick and let it be exposed. Beautiful.
The stairs that I went up and down my entire childhood (and never broke any bones)!
This was Jody & I's room most of my growing up.
The upstairs bathroom shared by all the kids. The current owner really opened it up by putting in a claw foot tub.
Melissa's room. And then Anna & Sara's when they came a long.
Jared & Jeremy's room.
Rebecca's room.
We chased each other down these stairs many times.
While many things have changed, it was neat to see some things that hadn't. Like the switch plate covers.
And the pink carpet my mom and dad put in when we were kids.
Where it used to be only a window, they put in doors and made a nice outdoor patio.
Used to be the "back room", or junk/mom's sewing area.
They have certainly done beautiful things with the landscaping.
The old barn. Still there. Still falling apart.
We spent a LOT of time as kids playing in the hay loft. We would find cats, make forts and just hide out.
Here's how it looked years ago:
Only half of the old chicken house remains. I definitely don't miss that thing, although there were a lot of memories made there.
The back of the barn.
A few years for Christmas my parents bought live trees with the root ball. After the Holidays they planted one in our yard. Jeremy is sitting in front of that Christmas tree.
Front view of the house. Most of my growing up years, the roof was red.
All eight kids, raised in this house.
Here's how it looked when I was young: 
The sweet owner who let us walk through her house and property, reminisce and hear our old stories.
So as I was doing this post, I dug up some old pictures of when I was a kid, so you can compare with how it looks now.
This is a side view of the house. It's from a slide, so it's actually a mirror image.
Inside the old chicken house.
Proof that it was actually a farm once (the current owners do not farm it anymore).
Here is where we would wait for the school bus to pick us up.
Me, as a little girl. Many hours were spent playing on that front porch.
View of the farm from across the street. 
One of the many family pictures taken in front of the house (I'm the youngest in this one).
Although many things have changed in the old house, they've only changed for the better. It's so nice to see someone who loves the house even more than we did.
I think it is so close to my heart, not just because I spent my entire childhood there, but because it's where all of my memories of my mother were made. I couldn't help but remember and miss her when we walked through. We stopped at her grave, the first time for all of us since her funeral almost 11 years ago.
We sure miss you mom, you would have loved the first reunion, especially an off-key singing game of Encore! I hope you know that all the love and work you put into this family has been well worth it and continues to grow.
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