The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

Family Nativity Dinner

For about the last ten years, our family has kept an annual tradition of a Nativity Dinner in December. Some years it's just us, some years we invite friends, and some years we use the menu for our small group Christmas party. Since we were home for Christmas Eve this year, we planned our Nativity Dinner for that night, with just us, and it was so special! I arranged my tablescape earlier in the month to stay set up through all of the holidays, New Year's included. My table arrangement is similar to last year's New Year's table, but with a few tweaks. And I kept with the same Christmas Biltmore inspiration I used in the den. This was such a fun and colorful table to put together, ... Read more

Happy Thanksgiving!

This fall, the kids and I have enjoyed lunch on the patio most days which almost always leads to shenanigans with the pets! One particular day, a couple of weeks ago, turned into a silly fall photo shoot with our fur babies, and we thought these photos would be a fun way to say "Happy Thanksgiving" today! Barney, our most exuberant pet, didn’t stick around too long. We were pleased to get him in at least one good photo. To our surprise, the cat and the bunny are pretty comfortable with each other, but, we’ve realized that the cat thinks the bunny is another cat, and the bunny thinks the cat is another bunny. And so now we call them "the sisters"! Happy Thanksgiving from our ... Read more

We Are God’s Children

The photo above is of my sweet little girls when they were about one and six years old. It's one of my favorites because it captures such a tender moment between sisters--one sharing and one listening. Doesn't it just look like one sister is spilling her whole heart while the other is fully engaged and encouraging her? When I found out our second baby would be another daughter, I envisioned their relationship exactly like this photo. Of course, I knew better than to think every moment of every day would be perfect, but I hoped and prayed they would be friends and love each other dearly. Now let me back up to the years before our second daughter was born and our first daughter was our ... Read more

Snickerdoodle Pie and Pumpkin Ice Cream

I wrote this post last fall but didn't get it worked into my posting schedule. Hopefully I'm not too late for this year either. At my house, we are still very much enjoying the flavors of fall and I'm trying to squeeze in every last fall recipe and tradition before Thanksgiving. But, now that I think about it, I make this dessert all through the winter too! Snickerdoodle Pie is like a extra thick, extra soft snickerdoodle cookie baked in a pie shell and it's sooo delicious. Add a scoop of pumpkin ice cream and it's over-the-top good!! Snickerdoodle Pie (I do not even remember where this recipe came from. I searched the internet to find the original source but only found other ... Read more

A Simple Sweet Sixteen Weekend

Last weekend our younger daughter turned Sweet 16! She's our quiet, low key girl so she's never one for a big fuss or for being in the spotlight. With that, plus all the complications with trying to plan a gathering during Covid, she opted for a quiet weekend with a few of her favorite things. Favorite Thing #1: Friday afternoon we finished school and headed for the barn. We lease a horse at a community barn down the road from our house and she rides two or three times a week. The fall weather has been gorgeous for riding lately! We just love autumn days at the barn!! Midnight is so cute and fuzzy right now with his winter coat coming in. He looks and feels like a soft stuffed animal. ... Read more

Hello, Pumpkin!

We've added a furry family member to our home! Meet PUMPKIN! We got Pumpkin a couple of weeks ago, and my daughter asked this week if I would write a post about her. Sweet. This baby girl is the softest and sweeeeetest little puffball. She came at a purrrfect time for our family for a couple of reasons. First of all, an orange kitty in October is such a lovely autumn blessing! Second of all, having her around the house has lightened our spirits during this busy and stressful season of life. She loves to be held and loves to play. The tension of the day melts away. My son's observation put it best, "Mom, God sure made cats really cute! Barney gets supervised visits with ... Read more

Swiss Family Robinson Feast

For a summer read aloud with my son, I chose the unabridged Swiss Family Robinson. I LOVE this book. The unabridged version includes so many amazing details that abridged versions omit. It is packed full of inspiring adventure and countless character-building lessons. I’d need a week of posts to cover them all! We read this with my girls one summer when they were younger and concluded the reading with an island party that included a seafood feast, oceans crafts, silly lobster hats, and watching the Disney Swiss Family Robinson movie. We’ve held such fond memories of that summer read aloud with our girls, that I knew I wanted to read it again with my son. Of course, we repeated the ... Read more

One Week. Six Meals.

I love menu-planning! But sometimes I get into ruts and find it helpful to look at menus posted on other blogs and Instagram. Seeing what other women are cooking really inspires and motivates me to get in the kitchen. Last month I participated in the 31-day "Happy Homemaker Challenge" on Instagram, hosted by Whitney at Come Home for Comfort, and one of the photo prompts was called "On the Menu". So after posting my menu for the week, I thought I might as well snap a photo of each night's meal and post them here. Our weeks are pretty busy, but I still want to put healthy meals on the table. These are a few of my easy go-to's for quick, healthy weeknight meals. Monday~ Greek turkey ... Read more