The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

Fun Treats for Your Easter Peeps

Good morning, peeps! I'm popping in here quickly to share some very simple ideas for cute Easter treats! I don't think there's anyone who doesn't get excited at the first sighting of Easter Peeps each spring. I'll tell you a secret though: I don't really love eating the peeps, but I do have a lot of fun using them in what I call "food crafts". First up, fruit skewers with peeps gets some healthy fruit in the kids' diets but with a small sugary treat that says "Easter"! My girls and I made these precious bunny peep cars one year with Twinkies for the car body, pretzels for the steering wheel, and jumbo marshmallows for the tires. These were a hit with all our little cousins. Aren't ... Read more

A Quick Hello (with flowers!)

Good morning, friends. My, how I've missed you all! I'm way behind on blogging and I've missed it so much because it's a fun, creative outlet for me. Even during the busy seasons of life, I try to make time for journaling at least a few memories here, but some seasons just leave absolutely NO time. We are thick in the middle of homeschooling, spring soccer for two of our kids, and wedding planning and college graduation for my oldest, among other things. Some moments I'm completely overwhelmed and then other moments I'm having the time of my life with it all! My husband and I just keep saying to each other, "We will look back on these days and miss them so much!" I think a person can be ... Read more

A New Project!

We've been desperately needing to clear out some overgrowth of vines and brush in our woods. For the first few years that we lived on this property, there was enough cleared ground area for playing and picnicking. We even had an area right by the creek for our tent, Adirondack chairs, and a firepit. But over the years, the usable space has shrunk due to the overgrowth. We have plans to reestablish the area this spring and even add some fun new features, so my husband hired someone with all the necessary heavy-duty equipment to come out and clear the mess while leaving our trees. The guy was scheduled to start work at 7:00 yesterday morning and all week our son had been anxiously ... Read more

All is Fair in Love and Star Wars

For many years our family lived in "little girl world". It's a magical place flowing with tule and dripping in pink! And my husband and I loved every minute! Now we're parents of a boy which is also loads of fun. I've learned a lot about boy stuff including all things Star Wars! I must admit I've never really been a big Star Wars fan before, but I work on learning the characters (I'm still getting them wrong) and I watch the movies with the rest of the family. We have a great agreement: I'll sit and watch a Star Wars movie with them, and they don't mind me working on needlepoint or reading a book while the movie plays. It's fair. And it's love, lol. Because I enjoy seeing my kids get ... Read more

Teach Them Tuesday: Homemade Viking Costume

Hello, friends! I told you yesterday that I’d be sharing more boy adventure posts this week. Well, what could be more adventurous than going back in time to sail with the Vikings?! Kids love to dress up! When my girls were growing up, we had a whole cabinet dedicated to their dress-up clothes, packed full of princess dresses, colonial and medieval gowns, native American apparel, jewels, crowns, hats--you name it. My son is still young enough to enjoy dressing up and has a tub in his closet for his hero costumes. Through the years, my kids have dressed up for everything. If they read a book, watched a movie, or learned something in history, they suddenly wanted to be their favorite ... Read more

Adventure Awaits!

Back in January (I'm so behind, y'all!) our young man turned eleven. Because the 11th birthday doesn't hold any special milestone, we give our kids a mystery day for that year's birthday, meaning their dad and I plan all the activities of the day without them knowing what's coming. Our oldest daughter's theme for her mystery day was Hawaiian luau, and our younger daughter's theme was an all-day fall picnic. One thing I've learned about raising a boy is his need to feel like a man--to have adventure, to test his strength, and to be respected for it! So, for our son's birthday, we decided on the theme "Adventure Awaits"! With our girls, their mystery days included surprise parties ... Read more

Facebook Doesn’t Miss Me!

A few years ago, my brother and I were talking and catching up with each other and I mentioned that I hadn't been on Facebook in a while, just in case I'd missed something he might have posted. He laughed and said, "I can't even remember the last time I've been on Facebook, but you know, Facebook doesn't miss me!" This both humored and struck me and I replied, "Yes, Facebook doesn't really need me either!" The last couple of months, I took a post-Christmas break from my social media accounts as I like to do every now and then. And you know what? As usual, neither Facebook nor Instagram missed me! Ha! I don't mean that my close friends and family didn't miss me, because we were still in ... Read more

Fluff the Nest Friday: Candlelight Looks Good on You!

My house really needs it's Friday fluff, y'all. It actually needs more than a fluff! Here's the rundown: The cold weather has meant the pets come inside at night and I feel like I'm cleaning a barn each morning. My husband has offered to buy me a pitchfork. Additionally, we have furniture being moved around, lots of laundry piles (both dirty and clean), and 3 curtain rods throughout the house that have been mysteriously ripped out of the walls. The latter was unsuccessfully blamed on the cat by the 11-year-old boy who is now no longer allowed to ride his hover board in the house (the wheels catch the bottom of the curtains and YANK!). Last night I got all the ingredients out to start ... Read more