The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

Between Seasons Luncheon

Good morning, sweet friends! I had a post about adoption in the works for this week but since an adoption post requires more thought than my usual posts about recipes or cleaning, I'll need a little longer to finish it. So instead, I'll go ahead and share some photos from a little "grandmother luncheon" my daughter and I hosted last Saturday. Each year, we like to have our children help with something special for Grandparent's Day! This year my daughter and I prepared a girly luncheon just for the grandmothers while my husband and son took my dad to a downtown restaurant overlooking the river which serves the ultimate "guy food"--burgers, wings, fries, etc. It can be hard to plan a ... Read more

Back-to-School Tea

Friday afternoon we had a few neighbor friends over for an after-school snack--a sort of "teatime" except I didn't call it that in front of my son and our tea was enjoyed iced rather than hot, perfect for our warm summer afternoon. This was really easy to throw together! When you have stuff in your stash to work with--tablecloths, paper goods, ribbon, baskets, trays, etc.--a simple table can come together without any prep or purchases. The chambray cloth was a hand-me-down from a friend. I made the red checked topper when my girls were little (I use that thing all the time). The green napkins were leftover in my party box, the ribbon and pencils were on hand, and I always keep apples ... Read more

Weekend Getaway

Back in October we took a quick fall getaway to Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia. Throughout the years, we've taken many day trips to enjoy the gardens and trails. Due to its close proximity to us we've never needed to stay overnight; however, when trying to think of a place we could spend a pleasant, outdoor fall break that would be close enough to allow us to wait until our college-aged daughter got out of her last Friday afternoon class before leaving town, Callaway Gardens seemed like an ideal destination! We stayed in a cozy 2-bedroom cottage on Sparkleberry Lane. How cute is that name! We loved staying in this cottage! It offered plenty of space with a great ... Read more

Teach Them Tuesday: Thanksgiving at American Village

If you live in Alabama and have had the privilege of visiting American Village in Montevallo, you know what a fantastic educational experience it is. My kids and I have been four times and it has never failed to exceed our expectations. Our "First Friday" group--a homeschool co-op we do field trips with on the first Friday of each month--recently participated in American Village's Thanksgiving program for our November field trip. We enjoyed a day of inspiring American history and lovely fall weather! I have a few photos to share from this most recent trip, but be sure and check out my post from a previous visit for details about American Village and photos of its beautiful colonial buildings ... Read more

Fluff the Nest Friday: Tips and Tidbits for Thanksgiving Prep

Good Friday morning! Fall has flashed by in a blur and Thanksgiving is less than a week away! I'm not hosting Thanksgiving but I did host our small group's annual "Friendsgiving" this week. Beside the usual weekly cleaning routine, here are a few extra preparations I worked into the week leading up to our little feast! Even though I'd put out a few fall-ish items at my front door early in the season, it was time to freshen things up a bit. My summer ferns were still looking too good for me to move so I left those, swept the concrete, added a fresh door mat and a couple more pumpkins from my son's pumpkin patch (more on his pumpkin patch soon!). I took one of my winter wreaths and added ... Read more

Pumpkin Patch Cookies!

My son and I are in a field trip co-op this year which means the first Friday of each month we go some place interesting, educational, and fun with a bunch of great friends! The moms take turns arranging each field trip, and I had the months of September and October. September was supposed to be a trip to a museum and a historic home at our state capitol. Unfortunately, our tour was canceled by the museum a few days before due to a certain virus which shall remain nameless. For our October field trip I had planned a day at a farm and pumpkin patch down the road from our house, and it just happened to fall on the first day of October! There's no place we'd rather be on October 1st than ... Read more

Elegant Autumn Celebration Cake

A couple of weeks ago, my sister-in-law hosted a lovely birthday dinner for my mother-in-law. She and my other SIL prepared a delicious meal of family-favorite party foods and asked me to bring dessert. I asked the birthday girl what kind of cake she would like for her special day, but she said I could choose, which meant my husband and kids hinted at an Italian cream cake for several days after that, heehee. So, Italian cream cake it was! My sister-in-law said she would be decorating in a fall theme, so I wanted the cake to reflect her decor. As I mentioned a few months ago when I first posted the recipe for this cake, it really lends itself to so many different occasions with it's ... Read more

Ten Reasons to Love Fall!

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF FALL! I could not be any more excited about autumn's arrival! When I started jotting down my favorite things about fall, I quickly came up with 20 things on my list, and I wasn't even finished! There's just so much to love about this glorious season! For this post, I'm going to cut my list short and stop with 10 favorite things which means I'm still leaving out some fun ones like football and travel, but I have to stop somewhere. So, here goes! 1- Fall Flowers 2- Warm Drinks 3-Baking! 4-Soups 5- Scenic Routes 6- Fall Scents 7-Fall Decor 8- The Great Outdoors 9-Chilly Evenings 10- ... Read more