...since I last posted...

Things have changed, since I last posted :)

Right now----

the babies are growing bigger and smarter and more beautiful every day

we have no animals or gardens, but hopefully in the spring we will

we love where we live, just minutes from family in the town where we were raised

i am totally obsessed with flash mobs

i am really enjoying earning a little money for doing something i love to do
(crocheting hats)

we are spending way too much money on Christmas gifts that we don't need

i am catching up on all my dental work for the last 8 years (and 4 pregnancies!!!)

i love my husband

i am addicted to reality t.v.

5 people in our house have a cold

i am in the process of creating a new craft area

and my house looks like a cracker monster with a toy center exploded all over the
floors of my house (I guess some things haven't changed that much :)

here in our corner

Oh wow! I didn't realize I hadn't posted in over a month! It has been a busy month full of discussions and decisions, and covered up in more than 8 inches of rain. The highlights of recent adventures include playing settlers with Daniel and Kristin for hours and good times at Nathan's sister and brother-in-law's annual Derby party. The low-light was when our property flooded and my husband, Daniel, Kristin and Zeke got stuck at a neighbors house for a day and a night. The water came up fast and covered halfway up our camper, covered our tool shed completely (which was holding our appliances until we were to build, not to mention all our power tools and hand tools), and destroyed most of Daniel and Kristin's stuff. Most everything they had was in the hoop house that had about 6 feet of water over it at one point. We found things hanging in trees down the street that belonged to us. I am just grateful that everyone is safe! We have ripped cabinets and carpet out of our camper in hopes of saving the shell, so far it looks as though we got everything ripped out in time for it to dry out and be completely usable. We'll be working on that as we can. No pictures just yet as I wasn't down at the land when the water got so high. I'll bet Kristin has some pictures of it though. If she posts some on her blog I'll link up here so you all can see them.

I need to get ready for the day. We've been spending the past couple of days down at the camper ripping stuff out and the apartment is officially a tee-total mess. I need to work at top speed today!

babies at the farm

Our friends are back! Daniel and Kristin and Zeke are in KY and I'm so glad :) Kristin took these pictures of 3/4 of my kiddos and they are beautiful! Just thought I would share.

 

 

 

Top 5

Here's what's up in our corner:

-I'm still keeping the house clean!!! This is bringing such peace to me and making home so much better for us all.

-WE GOT A VITA MIX!!!!! Grinding grain, pulverizing fruit, making sauces.... Good times.

-The first seeds are planted inside for our mondo garden this year.

-House plans are coming slow. We really need to get on the ball with that.

-We're listening to a lot of Laurie Berkner lately. She sings goofy fun kids songs that I'm addicted to.

{this moment}

Participating with SouleMama this week... A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Messy Me

I am not organized. I am not neat. I do not "have it together". I am seriously messy, and always have been. I have been trying to figure the homemaking/housekeeping thing out for years with little to no success. Last week I found this website and although I have only been doing this for a week and a half or so, I feel like it could change my home life forever. I don't know if you were born organized like some people I know, but if you struggle with day to day basics like I have for years and are actually ready for things to be different then I highly recommend this system. I hear the system is great for anyone, really, who doesn't like to spend huge amounts of time cleaning. Apparently if you do things this way you never have to spring clean again, you just have to follow a few routines and spend 15 minutes a day plus one hour a week or so on cleaning. The thing I like most about this is that I don't have to feel guilty about what I'm not doing. Instead I can feel good about what I have done for the day!

So I guess the cat's out of the bag. I'm messy. But maybe this will be changing as I form good habits over the next weeks and months. Ask me about it in a few months. Ask me after the excitement has worn off if I'm still with the program. I'd say I probably will be. I feel better about myself than I have in a long time just after this first couple of weeks. It's amazing what wearing tennis shoes and cleaning your sink can do for you.

Happy Birthday, Toby!

Yesterday was Toby's 2nd birthday! It's hard to believe two years have passed since he was born. I love this boy. He makes every day joyful.

Chloe

Chloe has hit some milestones this week that I want to document. Like....
1) Crawling! Not full-on all over the place, but definite hands and knees action
getting where she wants to go.
2)Speaking! Starting to babble me me, ne ne, and da da!
3)Eating! We officially tried her on bananas and mashed potatoes (in very tiny
amounts), but she gagged and I don't think she's quite ready for flavor even though
she reaches for my plate or cup whenever there is one near. Unofficially, she has
tasted goldfish cracker, apple with nutella, a peanut, a ritz cracker, paper,
magazine, box, and my personal favorite, various and assorted floor crumbs of
unknown origin.
4)Sitting! For short amounts of time when propped up she can remain in a sitting
position for a little while.

It's really only a matter of time before my sweet baby girl grows into a big girl-- excitement and heartbreak are all mixed up together.

holiday and other happenings

Big stuff going on around here these weeks. Christmas was wonderful and I really enjoyed every gathering we went to. I really enjoyed being with my and Nathan's family. I really feel like this was our last commercial Christmas, since that's the way we are shifting, but it was very fun and the kids had a blast and I loved watching them enjoy it. New Year's at Nathan's sister's house was fun too.

This week we decided to go as organic as possible to see if we can afford it. We wanted to see how much we would actually spend if we eat healthful meals at home instead of semi healthful at home and going out to eat several times.

Also, we joined a gym this week!!! I am so excited! It's a little further away than I had hoped, but the ones that were close were outrageously expensive comparatively, and not nearly as nice. We joined Urban Active Fitness, and it has a pool for Nathan, a room full of equipment to use while watching a movie, LOTS of other equipment, a whole floor of weights (which I will never use) an indoor track and best of all a child care center where I can take all 4 kids to play and exercise while I do. Not only can I take them, I can afford to take them. I don't think I can afford not to! Nathan and I could even go on a date there. Put the kids in the kids room and go for a walk together on the track, or race in the pool, or even just read a book while I bike (like this other girl was doing last night:) or take a shower. There is also a mini-gym inside the ladies locker room in case I don't want to work out in front of men. This is so exciting for me!

Since we are eating healthfully this week we go to shop at whole foods (yay!) and I was wearing Chloe in the moby and she was wearing her super cute crocheted hat that I made her and I was approached by a lady who is opening a kids clothing store to see if I would consider selling them!! I am so excited. It would be nice to make some money from a craft! Especially one that I enjoy :)

My birthday is next week, and I'm not sure what we're doing yet, but I think we're going out with Jamie and Josh Pike since her birthday is one day before mine. Here I come 26!

Nathan posted iso of a church on freecycle and we got some responses, and there is even one church we are going to try! Cross your fingers eyes and toes that this is the one cause I'm tired of searching. It should not be this hard to find a church that we like! There is not one church in H-burg that we like well enough to consider, so we'll still be driving a ways, but at least it will be less than one hour and 10 minutes to our old church.

Alright I'm sure that's enough information about my everyday life for now. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Birthday!

PS I am a total nerd and read all 4 twilight books, and I. loved. them. In case you haven't heard (ha!) they're great :)