Monday Update

1. House is a disaster!
2. Thinking about moving to the camper. Must get soil evaluation so we can get building permit, so we can get temporary electric run to the farm.
3. Homeschooling is not going as planned, but we are still learning things most days.
4. I have been working on Chloe's birth story, and it will probably be my next post. I am trying to remember everything so I can read it again in 20 years and feel like I am there again.
5. Thinking about making sprouted grain bread. Any ever done it? Have any tips or recipes?
6. I think I am gaining weight. Hence the thoughts about sprouted grain bread. Yes thoughts of sprouted grain bread while eating a cupcake.
7. I love fall. Spending a lot of time at the farm and the wood smoke in the air with the bubbling of the creek mixed with the damp, fresh country air... well it makes for an enjoyable scenic afternoon.
8. I actually nursed in a field while keeping cows in. In the dark. Chloe couldn't wait any longer, and the cows had to be contained.
9. Halloween costume ideas are welcome. Lydia will be a "tappy princess" per her request, Isaiah will be a pirate or an alien probably, Toby will be Jedi warrior Toby-wan Kenobi if I find the right material before Saturday, and sweet Chloe...I'm just not sure yet.
10. Vegetable soup for supper. Yum.

Crazy Crafting

I love making things. This year I am crafting with a purpose. Our Christmas is going to be a mostly handmade Christmas this year (hopefully!). I have a really good start on my sewing projects and am hoping to keep up the momentum. I am working on making this doll and this doll for all the little girls in the fam. I have already completed one, and most of another but I can't steal any more stuffing from the couch cushions to fill them with, so I have yet to put my 2nd and 3rd ones together. I am planning on making these capes for Isaiah, Lydia and Toby, and maybe a niece or nephew or two. I want to make some ribbon twirlers, felt shapes, and a geoboard also for Christmas. I have already started a magazine bowl (for a gift) and a rag rug (for me). Handmade Home has been an inspiration to get me started and then I found all the free patterns and tutorials at The Long Thread and now I can't be stopped!

Somebody posted a craft supply swap on freecycle that was held at the Jessamine County Public Library and I went today! I got two sacks full of craft supplies for FREE! This is stuff I was going to have to buy! Embroidery floss, fabric, ribbon, bias tape, zippers, lacing cord (a whole roll which I needed for my rag rug!), and more! I just had to take some craft stuff to exchange, which I already had a box of just waiting to put on freecycle! Plus I found some awesome vintage bedsheets, a tablecloth, and some fabric remnants at goodwill! It has been a thrifty crafty weekend.

In other unrelated news, the cows got out this week while Nathan was in Lexington at work and had the van. He rushed home and we all got ready. We found the cows in the neighbors yard munching on some hay. Nathan then led them up the road to our property with a little bucket of grain. Just picture me with the van parked across the road and the gate pulled across the road blocking the escape for the cows, while he leads three cows with a tiny coffee bucket of grain. He is working on fixing the fence and providing a water source other than the creek. They have been walking up the creek bed to escape.

The Farm is beautiful right now (minus all the rain) and monarch butterflies are abundant in the field. They love all the purple clover and the kids are loving spotting them. The mosquitoes and lightning bugs have gone for the season, and we can't hear the bees swarming on the sunflowers anymore, but fall is hands down my favorite time of year here. And we discovered that there are three black walnut trees on the property. Anybody know how to get one open? They have such hard shells that a hammer doesn't even make a dent.

Another fun find this week is Adventures in Odyssey and StoryNory radio programming for the kids online.

Happy crafting this week and enjoy this beautiful season :)

favorites

The giant cool tree at Old Fort Harrod.

With kids of mine on top.

Nathan says 10% of our pictures are of food.

Our first home canned goods.

:)

Toby loves bubbles.

I love Toby.

And bubbles.

Homeschooling has begun.

My very first thumb sucker.

Words cannot describe how much I love this.

And her.

My first picture of the Rose Hill water tower.

There will be many more hopefully.

It could be my favorite part of the drive to our land, passing this water tower.

a few pictures

Also..

My BABY is one MONTH old today!!!! How did this happen?! She is so sweet, and such a good baby and now she is 1/12 of a year old! It's ridiculous I tell ya.

This week

Typical morning... one child naked, one in time out, one sleeping on my chest, and one leaping from couch to couch. Can you guess which is doing what?

Interesting things from this past week include my first time making nut butter (didn't follow this recipe exactly, but still super yummy!), buying fabric and "making" my own moby wrap, kind of setting up my sewing area and proceeding to sew nothing. (I'm totally waiting to get this book), Turning 3 gallons of tomatoes into spaghetti sauce which is in our freezer (we will be getting 10 or so more gallons hopefully!), stretching one gallon of milk since Monday, and only eating out once this week! That was last night and it was pizza and it was GROSS. Today is pay day so we might go out again! And we will be making a trip to the grocery soon as well.

Update: now 2 are naked

We also received our first copy of Countryside and Small Stock Journal this week. We can't put it down! So many good ideas!

Well 2 are screaming now! Gotta go!

back in the swing of things

Hello all! I have been putting off posting until my pictures were all uploaded, but I can't wait any more! Pictures really will come soon(ish)! Things are going well around here as we get to know our new sweet little one. I'm feeling more and more like my old self every day, and I am so relieved to feel inspired and also have the energy to follow through! Current projects include changing my pantry over to all glass from plastic, creating a sewing area (haven't started this yet), and cleaning out the refrigerator and using the food that is about to go bad. Tell me, would you use the organic sour cream that expired August 2? It's unopened and I'm thinking hard about it as long as it doesn't smell bad, or look funny. Suggestions for its use are welcome :) Oh, also, buttermilk that expired 12 days ago. Is that safe? I mean, it's already soured, right? Ditto the SOUR cream.

Moving on... The kids are all adjusting pretty well to life with a new baby Chloe. It also helps that she sleeps like, 20 hours a day. Eight hours at night almost every night since we brought her home. Some nights she'll wake up and nurse, but most of the time if she wakes up and I pull her in the bed with me, she falls asleep before I can even feed her. She reminds me a lot of Lydia that way. I haven't yet made my Moby type wrap, but I need to do it soon. I have wanted it several times already.

We are trying very hard to get back to a healthier eating style after the insanely bad eating we have done for the past couple of months. Me being SO pregnant and only wanting garbage, and now I'm nursing, so I get extra calories right? NO! (Says the woman who had Long John Silver's for lunch yesterday) It's slow going incorporating the healthier foods back in with our garbage, but we are working on it now. And Nathan is experimenting in the kitchen lately, making his own BBQ sauces and after paying $3.19 for taco sauce at the grocery store last night he made taco sauce that's pretty darn close to what we buy. I love that he cooks. While I have been pregnant and recovering he has done so much cooking. I'm hoping that it doesn't stop!

I'll end with a few things I'm loving right now:
Little tiny baby snuggles
little tiny baby yawns and "o" mouths
being able to hug my husband without a baby in my belly (I feel like me again! Well, almost:)
reading stories and playing puzzles with the two oldest
Toby's snuggles and new words every day (but only when HE wants to say something)
and watching Design Star on hgtv.com