When you look around your home what do you see? At first glance you may see the physical aspects of your home; the floors, the color on the walls, or the mirror at the end of the hall, but when you really look inside a home there is so much more to a home than the walls and beams.
Look closely around you for the finger prints on the walls from when your kids forgot to wash their hands after painting the picture you have hanging on the refrigerator. Or the sand that your little one emptied from her shoes after playing at the beach. The collection of sea shells that your family brought home from your last vacation. These are the little things that really make a house a home.
For me, a home tells a story about your family. It’s the memories that you make while playing board games with your kids, or teaching your child to cook, or helping your kids with their homework after a long day at school. It’s about the dreams that are made when you open the door to your new home. A new home is a new beginning where new dreams are made.
When I think back to my favorite memories from my own childhood it’s the little things that I remember. I remember the wooden stump my mom had on our front porch where she would take our first day of school photos. The weekends that were spent at my best friends home playing pool in the basement. Waiting up for my mom to return home from work late at night when my girlfriends were spending the night (she always brought us pizza from the restaurant she worked at). When I take my kids back to the town I grew up these are things you can’t show them. You can drive by the houses that were homes for your memories but they don’t see what you see. I’m sure as they grow up they will have their own memories that remind them of home.
When you started your search for the perfect home I’m sure you had your list of features that you just had to have. The hardwood floors, the granite counter tops, the stainless steel appliances, the open kitchen, the spacious master bathroom, or the perfect community near the perfect school. These features are just the supporting characters in your families story. They are the elements that help bring your story to life.
Lennar has been the leading home builder in Tampa Bay for 40 years and will help you find your perfect home. They offer townhomes and single-family homes in the most desired areas of Pasco, Hillsborough and Polk Counties. Visit one of their Welcome Home Centers today to meet with a New Home Consultant to help you with your search. The EcoSmart program helps make energy efficiency a priority by including Energy Star appliances, WaterSense faucets and Low-E glass windows standard in your new home.
What makes YOUR house a home? What favorite memories of home do you have from childhood? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Disclosure: This post is part of the Mommy Certified sponsored campaign with Lennar Tampa. All opinions share in this post are my own and not those of Lennar.

We have been moving from one place to another, thus what we consider home is whatever place “as long as we are together”, my daughter would say. Those moments spent together listening to each other’s are cherished memories. We captured some of those memories in photographs and journals. We even write to our kids in the “journal for our kids.”