Bet you thought I wouldn't be back...

That would make two of us who were doubtful (readers counting as one). And even though my house is hardly in any state of perfection, I am so excited about where the Lord has landed us for a season. Owning a home for the first time has made us feel like grownups (I'd have thought having three kids would do the trick) and we are certainly aware of details we never noticed before. Landscaping, trimwork, window types...all things I saw in a general way but now I see in detail. Of course, the more astute probably don't have to wait as long as I did to see the world through these eyes...

So, we have ourselves a 1960's brick ranch. Who'd have thought?!? When WH and I used to talk about the kind of house we would like to buy or build, it resembled a farmhouse (if on land) or a bungalow (if in a city or neighborhood). We ended up with neither, and yet it didn't take long for this place to grow on me.

Living in this house has drastically changed our lifestyle. We now live in town vs. 20-25 minutes away from church, family, major (ha! there is nothing of the sort in this small town) shopping. So that's 3 minutes from Target vs. 20 minutes. With bad traffic it can take up to 5 minutes, which is annoying. Just kidding. We used to live in a neighborhood on a 1/4 (or less) of an acre. We lived on the corner so I couldn't let my kids go outside by themselves without checking on them every 5 minutes, if at all. So they spent as much time as I could afford outside, but not as much as they needed. Now I lock the back door (I'm not the only one) and tell them to explore (the basement door is still unlocked, but I think they forget about that sometimes). In the old house- and every previous house- we only had one living space.

We didn't have an egg basket hanging by our door in the last house! We're up to 4 eggs a day now.

As I looked through the recent pictures of my house I kept seeing "my new life" evidenced by bizarre objects here and there. At least you will know I didn't stage this.

Before and after pictures are always the most fun, so here goes:

Binoculars for viewing pesky groundhogs (my husband is on a mission)

I finally have a place for some of the photo collages I made over the years. On the left: some of the flowers and cards WH gave me when we were engaged. Middle: baby pictures and a frame that still needs to be painted black.

Remember this carpeted, beige hall that lead to the Room O' Paneling? Not so scary now...

Next we move to the living room. My goal was to go a little more modern here, and yet I didn't really have the option of ditching everything I already owned. We did get a loveseat from IKEA (did you know their white slipcovers are $11? I'm thinking about dying my extra one a charcoal grey). My $10 (for both) Craigslist chairs are a nice retro touch until I recover them in the not-too-near future.  My grandmother's artichoke pictures have always held sentimental value to me, and now I find they are quite the conversation piece (why artichokes, they ask).

Gotta love the shotgun on the mantel. Nothing says "welcome to our home" like guns. You can blame the groundhog.

Ottoman still needs to be recovered...

Little T's room...with a guest bed. We also have bunks downstairs for younger company

Last stop upstairs: my room. This house has one bathroom (for now) and no formal master bedroom. This room is the most unchanged in decor, but now that the elliptical machine is not 18 inches from my side of the bed and our closet isn't used for storage, it seems like a little suite.

These gaudy gold plates took on a new charm painted white...they will be even more charming when we change out some of the electrical plates and make them white, too.

 Hope you've enjoyed this little tour- if you're ever in the neighborhood, feel free to drop by!

This has probably always been my mantra, but now it's framed and in my kitchen as a constant reminder of the joy of making a home.

A few days to catch up

Every time I think about blogging I imagine a post filled with jumbled ramblings, due in part to the rarity of my blog entries, and in part to the three little people who seem intent on calling my name every 4.2 seconds. It's hard to keep my train of thought going, let alone write it down. But I have received a little encouragement of late to keep it up, and so here I am. And I do miss you, my bloggy friends!

My kids are sitting at the table having a tea party with pretend food and real tea. The real tea is a result of a full teapot and my resolve to switch to tea vs. coffee. The coffee seems to be tearing up my stomach and while I'm certainly not vowing off coffee for life (I miss it already...I miss the caffeine jolt, too), I'm at the point where it's worth it if I will feel better. We have a great selection of loose leaf teas on hand, so I'm not suffering (much).

So, the tea party will buy me a few minutes to catch up and, if all goes well, I plan to spend the next several days in the same manner. I'm an eternal optimist...

First- family

Next Monday is Coop's 5th birthday, and we are looking forward to a cowboy party. He doesn't know it (despite asking me 10 times a day if I can please tell him what he is getting for his birthday), but he has this to look forward to (they were having a great sale). I'm trying to move more towards the "tools for exploring, not toys for adoring" mode when I think about giving my children more "things." Toys that help them pretend and explore are welcome...we're just trying to avoid more stuff that doesn't have much of a purpose. Coop spends hours with Playmobil, legos, and even more hours outside. Sweet A is all about her dolls and kitchen, and coloring...typical girly stuff. She is less inclined to be outside and even prefers to help me work if it will keep her inside. There is the mandatory outside playtime, but I'm happy to encourage her to work with me if she wants!

Baby T desperately wants to be potty trained; I'm trying to psych myself up for the task. With his eagerness, it probably won't be as much of a drag as I expect, but he is only 21 months and I just don't want to draw out the process. I keep telling myself he's probably not really ready, but that's not true. He has used the potty on multiple occasions and there is no fear and he's all excitement. I need to jump on board, stay home for a few days and just get 'er done.

I finally finished Teaching the Trivium, and to my great pleasure it turned out to be a philosophy of homeschooling with which I readily agree and can easily embrace. It's not the latest greatest in the world of homeschooling ideas, and actually, most of their ideas are old-fashioned (i.e., circa 850-1700). After much reading, and evaluating our own personal homeschooling experiences, WH and I were interested in making intense academics an important part of our curriculum, but not at all in the early years. I wanted to be ordered in my laid back attitude toward the early years, with a clear idea of where I would like to be and what we need to have accomplished by the time we reach that more intense schooling stage. This book gave us just the plan and outline we needed. As with any book or system, there are aspects we will omit and ways we will adjust to fit our family and children, but all in all I was very pleased. Our goal- especially in the early years- is not academic superiority but training our children up in the Lord. We don't want them to be numskulls, either. But if they gain the whole world of knowledge and lose their souls, I hardly think I will have accomplished the work I've been given to do. Here are the 10 Things we plan to focus on during the next few years (read the entire article here):

1. Reading and Writing (phonics, reading, dictation)
2. Oral Narration
3. Memorization
4. Hearing and Listening (with a goal of reading for 2 hours a day)- they include history in this section, keeping a history notebook and a time line and map
5. Family Worship (we also have a separate Bible story time)
6. Arts and crafts
7. Field trips
8. Work and Service
9. Discipline
10. Play and Exploration

Over the last few weeks I've tried to implement a new element of our "school" schedule every few days so we don't have to jump right in and then fall on our faces because we tried to make too many changes at once. I can't say it's been a smashing success, but there have been some extenuating circumstances (we'd better get used to that!) and also some small successes.

Here's Baby Little T working on his new morning chore assignment:


The tea party has long since been abandoned in favor of outside playtime. I'm still finishing my second cup, hoping for the caffeine to eek its way to my brain and give me some energy. Maybe I should down the tea and THEN blog next time.

Tomorrow: House update

Hey, remember me?

As you can see, I've taken a little (permanent) break from the Whole Foods posts. At first it was a "I'm moving and living in two houses and have no time to make anything creative for my own family let alone find new recipes to try" kind of break. I did still read a few blogs- many of them are food related- and I really think there's enough floating around the internet on food without adding my two cents. See my blogroll for the best finds (maybe one day I'll update it).

But really, you didn't come here to see recipes today. You came because I have a pulse! I'm alive and so is the rest of my family (which is growing...see announcement below).

I'd better make this "below" because I could say a million very important things and you would just skip to the end to hear about the family. First off- we are expecting... Eggs in a few months!

WH and Coop check on the chickens early this morning

We now have four chickens and a rooster, thanks to a friend who had too many and was happy to get them off his farm and away from his tomato plants. We had a chicken date last night (there are so many firsts I'm glad I saved to share with my husband!) and left our children with my sister, who is staying with us for a month. First stop: Tractor Supply. How romantic. In my summer skirt and chacos I was debating with WH over the best chicken feed. Next stop: the little gelato bar. It is nice to sit with one's spouse and talk without being interrupted (with gelato, no less). Then it was on to the farm to pick up the chickens and the chicken tractor in the dark of night so as to make the transition as easy as possible for the girls. It was an unusual date night, to say the least.

Their new outside world

Taking a break from blogs (and the computer in general) was just what I needed to realign my priorities. It wasn't a conscious decision; there was just too much to do and no energy at the end of the day. Since we moved three weeks ago, we've taken a trip to Charlotte to visit family (and IKEA), and a trip to visit my sister and her new baby in NC. Fortunately, my family (7+ people) will be here for 5 days starting next week, so we have a deadline to get things in shape around here. There will be plenty to do after they leave (and while they are here...I'm not hanging anything until my Mom comes) but some of them will be staying here so that's motivating me to at least get another guest bed set up.

In NC, visiting cousin Elijah and baby Sophia

She's in love- and almost every day she nags me, saying, "You and me NEED a sister." Since we're the only girls in the family, she thinks a new baby will be a sister to both of us.

Here are a few pictures (mostly to satisfy my mother) of the house...

The all grey/white dingy basement gets a splash of color (and a few questions of my sanity from the hubs)- here's the rest of the story...

Part of the basement playroom

My $10 PB Craigslist table gets a makeover

These ugly lamps were about $5 for both, and the wood and brass are a thing of the past.

More "after" pictures after my Mom comes. :)