In the beginning, there was a classroom…

Ryan and I always have our best conversations in the car. When we were just a single couple with no kids, those conversations would happen on road trips across California or on our adventurous drives to Las Vegas. Big decisions were made in the car – ideas for our future, hopes and dreams, projects, and plan. We would end the trips with new excitement and drive to turn our ideas into something real.

These days, our alone time in the car is few and far between. However, one day in early January we had some time to ourselves on our weekly drive to Ojai to pick up our CSA share. That was the day “the classroom” began. We had casually talked on an off for months about skipping preschool, but that day we had a more serious conversation which led to Ryan’s suggestion of a special room for the boys. I almost cried when he suggested it. I knew at that moment we were on the same page. We both wanted this. And we wanted it to work in the best way possible. That night we drew up plans, we calculated wood, drywall, and paint costs, we milled around in the garage together, pointing and poking, measuring and scribbling, and after a few hours, we had a plan. We would build the boys a room in our garage.

Over the next couple months, that is what we did. And when it was finally done I gathered up all my art supplies, books, and things I’d been saving and started to see it fall into place. Ryan’s mom surprised us with a huge supply of papers, markers, pencils, crayons, paints, glue, and tons of other do dads and things for the room. We are fully stocked. The boys and I have been having so much fun together creating art, learning how to use scissors and glue and paints, mixing colors and playing and just being silly and free to create what we want. I feel so blessed to have this special space as part of our home, and am so excited for all of the time we will spend working together in it’s creative atmosphere.