The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

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

Hall Closet Turned Butler’s Pantry

I love getting creative with spaces and thinking outside of the box to make my house work for me. If I see a need for a new kind of space, a different arrangement, or additional storage, I put on my thinking cap and play around with a few ideas until I come up with a solution. Such was the case with my lack of table setting storage in my dining room. I had half of my table linens crammed in a kitchen cabinet and the rest in a laundry room cabinet. Chargers and vases were tucked in other various areas throughout the house. Having everything in so many different areas not only made it difficult to set a table quickly, but also created a challenge in really knowing my inventory. Now I'm ... 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

Putting the “Labor” in Labor Day!

Labor Day is a low key holiday for us. My husband always has the day off, so the kids and I take the day off from school, but we don’t plan anything big. It's kind of become a thing for us to work part of the day outside--cleaning up the yard to get it ready for fall--and then chilling for the remainder of the day. Our bodies were made to work and rest! REST just feels so much better after the WORK! So here's what we did! My husband cut the grass, edged, helped our son with his pumpkin patch maintenance, and replaced some rotting wood on a post at our front door. I trimmed bushes, weeded the front flower beds, fluffed the pine straw, and cleaned up the front ... Read more

Italian Cream Cake

One evening last week, the mothers and daughters from our small group got together to celebrate the upcoming arrival of the baby of our friend Rivers. This family has been such a blessing to our group so we ladies wanted to celebrate with Rivers and her two sweet girls. We planned a meal of salads, followed by a few desserts: Italian cream cake, raspberry white chocolate almond bars, brownies, and coffee. This Italian cream cake is my most requested cake by my family or when I'm asked to bring a dessert to a special occasion. It suits any holiday or celebration any time of the year! It's unique from most other Italian cream cakes in that it doesn't call for pecans or coconut, so ... Read more

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache

Mother's Day is coming up and there's not a more decadent dessert for pampering mom with than a flourless chocolate cake smothered with chocolate ganache! Last month, yours truly had a birthday. My husband and kids took me to a favorite local restaurant for a delicious dinner of shrimp and grits, and then back home for dessert and a movie. That afternoon, my sweet baker girl offered to make a birthday dessert of my choosing. She's the best! At the time, I was on week six of avoiding sugar, so, needless to say, I was more than ready to indulge in a rich, chocolately treat for my special day. This cake has always been one of my favorites when it comes to splurging! Since there was a ... Read more