The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

Kids in the Kitchen, Part 2: Get Them Eating!

Maybe the title of this post should be "Get Them Trying" because I can't make any guarantees, ha! But I have something to share today that I found in my recipe binders while cleaning out. It was a fun little experiment I did with my girls when they were young and I was trying to find healthy(-ish) recipes they could enjoy. I made these cards that I called "New Recipe Survey" and placed them on the dinner table anytime I tried a new recipe. I found that my girls were more enthusiastic about trying a new food if they could leave a review. It was fun for them and gave them the opportunity to respectfully offer their input. Above is what a blank card looked like and below are some of ... Read more

Kids in the Kitchen, Part 1: Get Them Cooking!

As I was cleaning out my cookbooks and recipe binders this summer, I came across so many sweet memories of my children in the kitchen and I realized wow, my kids really liked being in the kitchen! From an early age they were all eager to "help" and were proud to get the jobs of washing fruit, peeling veggies, stirring pots, adding ingredients, and setting the table. Let me just gush a second and say my kids were super cute in the kitchen! I remember that my first daughter at age 2 loved nothing more than to scrub things with the vegetable scrubber while standing on a chair at the sink (Do kids still stand on chairs?). She was so happy doing her scrubbing and I was tickled to have a cute ... Read more

Movie Recommendation!

Good Monday morning! Just popping in for a quick movie recommendation. Our church had a theater reserved yesterday afternoon for The Forge and it was such a great movie! It's about a young man who is at a pivotal point in his life. Having just graduated from high school with no direction for his future, very little respect for others, and a father who left the family, he must decide if he'll go the way of the world or chose forgiveness and Godly manhood. Our family has enjoyed all of the Kendrick Brother movies, and we think this one is their best yet! And the very best part of all......the return of Miss Clara!!! (from War Room) If you have a chance to see this movie, you won't be ... Read more

Snapshot Saturday: First Week of School ’24

This week began a new school year for my son in homeschooling and my daughter with her online classes and the preschool where she works. There are always a few things to iron out the first week, but all in all, it was a good first week of school! Smoothies and banana muffins have been the popular breakfast for all so far! We got back to our study routine, sometimes at the kitchen table and sometimes lounging on the couch, but always a candle burning and a cat sleeping close by. I think the pets are happy that we're back to homeschooling. Guitar lessons and tennis lessons will continue this year, and we have great instructors for both! A friend to teach guitar and my nephew to ... Read more

A Restful Sunday

I love Sundays! We rest our bodies, we enjoy good food, and we ground ourselves spiritually through worship before starting a new week. I thought I'd show what an average Sunday looks like for our family. This is our most restful day of the week so it's pretty low key. Some Sundays are different than what I show here but this is pretty much our typical Sunday. After I shower and get ready, I head to the kitchen to put muffins in the oven and do a little lunch prep while everyone else is getting up and going. Simple muffins and fruit have been our Sunday breakfast for years. It's easy for mom and fills us for the morning. I switch up the muffin flavors each week and some of my family's ... Read more

Midwinter Table Setting

Happy 2024, everyone! On Christmas Eve Eve when everyone was home, Joel and I prepared a steak dinner for the six of us. On a whim, I set the table with blues, browns, cream, and a bit of orange. The cream dinner plates are Pioneer Woman and are getting old and chipped, but I still love them. The blue floral salad plates are from T.J.Maxx (4-ish years ago), the flatware is from Walmart, and the napkins are from Home Goods (2 years ago). The brown glasses are from Hobby Lobby's fall line which I got for 50% off in November and they have been a nice new addition to our kitchen. Winter wreaths, a frosty tree, oranges, and a gingerbread candle finish off the table for a ... Read more

Christmas Advent ‘23

When my kids were little our Advent time was usually incorporated into our school day. Some years I worked with them on memorizing the account of Jesus’s birth in Luke 2 (tip: The Charlie Brown Christmas movie helped with that!) Some years I read through a children’s devotional book and we made a craft or did a service project to go along with that day’s message. Having older kids now ages 19 and 12 in the home, we’re enjoying a more mature type of Advent. I’ve mentioned before that our family has a Bible time after dinner. It’s nothing rigid and not even every night but just a few nights a week when everyone is home and we can read through a chapter of the Bible and discuss. So, during ... Read more

Fall Camping Weekend ’23

Good Monday morning! I'd planned to have a nice post out early this morning, but we came in from camping yesterday and I wasn't feeling my best. By last night I had a full-blown migraine and had to go to bed, so I wasn't able to work on this last night. I'm just going to quickly share a few photos and give a little detail about our weekend. So sorry for the lack of order in this post! We have a yearly tradition of camping with two other families each October. We love camping with our friends and have special memories from each year. They are all great campers and we've learned a lot of handy camping tips from them! We go to a local campground which is also a historic site by the ... Read more