I still remember the morning my youngest decided the living room should look more like his bedroom, armed with a stack of crayon masterpieces and a fierce determination. Between packing lunches, taxiing to soccer practice, and swapping casserole recipes with the neighbor who saved my life with a slow cooker years ago, I find small moments to make our house feel like ours. Two kids, ages eight and eleven, leave traces everywhere — a Lego on the rug, a muddy handprint on the stair, and a favorite snapshot taped to the fridge. Those little marks of daily life are why…


