Homestead

Mini Backyard Pine Forest

Before

We have so many beautiful pines on our property behind our home, and they were a mess! The kids jumped in, and we spent a couple days cutting out the lower branches and dead limbs. See my husband with the saw in the bottom right photo?

After

It looks like a park back there and its my new favorite spot in the yard. I love when pines umbrella over head giving you the richest forest-y smell in the world!

Beyond the tree line are some gorgeous, VERY OLD trees we wanted to play in. We cleaned it up a bit and found the perfect tree for climbing! Still trying to determine what type of tree it is. Possibly sassafras? The largest sassafras in the world is in Owensboro, KY, which is a short drive from us and thought to be at least 300 years old. So, this one might be a few hundred years old too!

Processed with VSCO with f3 preset

Below is the future home of the fencing and shed for the baby goats arriving in May!

Processed with VSCO with f3 preset

If you are curious about our new home here in Indiana, here it is! Also, this is a great photo of the amazing sycamore tree!

Processed with VSCO with f3 preset

Come back soon for fencing and shed progress for the cute little goats!

Family Life

This is our Place

Untitled-1

 

Ooltewah, TN

………..

A year ago, I had NO idea I would be here or that I would be anywhere different than where I was for that matter.

So, for all our family and friends, near and far, here you go!

This is where we landed.

It’s our place.

 

Untitled-13

 

Entryway.

Looking out & Looking in.

Baby Bear wanted a picture.

 

Untitled-16

 

My favorite room.

Classroom.

This is where we learn & play.

This is where it is just “us” and books and art!

 

Untitled-20

 

Untitled-19

Little parts of the dining room.

Untitled-17

Peeking in the half bath downstairs.

Untitled-14

 

I am in love with this print my mom and I found antiquing last weekend.

“The Shepherd” 1909

Also, you can see my funky curtains from World Market on the right.

 

Untitled-12

 

Left: Looking into the kitchen

Right: Looking over our dining room table into the living room.

(Notice how convenient it MIGHT be to put your kids at this table for lunch and turn on a cartoon for them to watch. I mean – only if you were that sort of mom 😉

 

Untitled-8

 

IMG_8722 copy

 

I finally found something to do with all those old clay jars I had laying around…

 

IMG_8713 copy

 

IMG_8709 copy

 

IMG_8586 copy

 

I can’t believe I didn’t photograph my pantry.

You can see the first door to the right in this photo. That is it!

It very big and amazing. This is my first actual pantry can you tell?

I love it!

The second door is the laundry room which leads to the two-car garage.

 

Untitled-22

 

IMG_8584 copy

 

Corner of living room.

Just found this old bookshelf mostly for kids novels and a few of my favorites.

Now that Roman is really reading, I love collecting all the classics for him.

 

IMG_8554 copy

 

IMG_8562

 

Untitled-23

Did I mention how appreciative I am of this laundry room?

It’s right off the kitchen and when I do laundry, (which is much more often now that my washer & dryer are indoors) it smells like warm fluffy lavender all over the house.

 

IMG_8630 copy

Upstairs hallway.

It may be the widest, longest hallway I’ve seen.

Apparently, this is good for nightly kickball tournaments.

 

Untitled-6

I’ll pause here and mention how incredibly blessed my kids are at this moment in time.

This playroom is amazing.

Upstairs Hall again on the right.

Untitled-5

A gigantic walk-in closet in the playroom full of toys.

 

Untitled-3

Plenty of space inside for sleeper sofas, huge outdoor playhouses and wrestling matches.

(Don’t ask me why Roman is wearing Estella’s bib in this photo. I’m pretty sure Jude is feeding Roman pretend baby food.)

Untitled-7

Guest bathroom/Kids brush my teeth space.

(This would be the kids bathroom altogether but it seems that everyone would rather bath in my large jacuzzi tube.)

Untitled-10

Our bedroom.

(I’m reminded of the “Master of the House” song from Les Miserables right now.)

It really is wonderful.

IMG_8638 copy

David made this headboard for me. Isn’t it beautiful?

Untitled-15

Master bath.

Oh why didn’t I remember to pick up candles to fit in those lovely vintage candles stands?

Untitled-21

Do I dare show you our closet?

Well, just a peak… I cleaned it up just for you!

It is truly the size of a small bedroom.

Untitled-4

Roman and Jude’s room.

IMG_8790

 

Untitled-0

Could these boys fit any more stuffed animals in their beds?

By the way, my husband made these headboards too.

IMG_8653 copy

Estella’s room.

IMG_8661 copy

“The Stolen Kiss”

&

“Sitting Pretty”

IMG_8811 copy

Untitled-9

Untitled-2

IMG_8834Who took the Paci from the Paci Jar?

Family Life

Hoopla

This is us.

No spectacular happenings.

Just silly bustling hoopla all day long.

Little Momma turned 7 months old yesterday!

She loves her chick chick chicks!! I think someday she might be dressing them.

So, apparently chickens like to take “dirt” baths. They find any dirt they can, roll in it, then flap their wings! Dirt flies everywhere… It is quite an odd thing to see.

You can see my happy green bean plants climbing up the lattice I made for them!

Look at this boy go! I drew the world and he filled in the details all on his own! He added each of the seven continents from memory. I’d say first year Geography was a success!

Oh sweetness! Can I cuddle up in the quilt too?

I love these babies!

Fresh lettuce variety from the garden! It was delicious with our Asian Pork Tenderloin last night!

Family Life

Hum-Drum

blogging makes me appreciate hum-drum days. i woke up this morning and decided to record bits and pieces of our day. when i was all done writing, it actually didn’t seem hum-drum in the least!

it was rich and beautiful and lovely.

it is easy to get lost in time, worry and work yourself to death and then just feel relieved to lie your head down at night.

if there was only a way for us all to see the reality of what we actually have.

“overdoing it”

a very fitting lesson.

i love that through homeschooling, i’ve been the one to teach roman to read. what an amazing path to walk upon.

teaching him sometimes reminds me of old english literature. before there were schoolhouses, people learned from each other and from studying books. what amazing conversations roman and i have had about the books we’ve read together.

estella holding her dolly’s hand and keeping herself busy while we have school time!

calendar and clock work.

give a boy and box and he is good to go! jude finds PLENTY of things to do during school time!

he pretty much reminds me of quite a few surgeons i’ve works with in these glasses. maybe a doctor in the works?

little momma.

preschool time.

c is for cat. oh, how he wants one. i’m thinking maybe a cat in a box for easter….

globe + map + history books + baby sister

carving hieroglyphics into our clay (play dough) tablet.

chicken tortilla soup. roman likes to borrow my camera.

circus world.

goodnight.