The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

Christmas at Biltmore

The first week in December, my girls and I had the pleasure of taking a trip with friends (Missy and her daughter) to The Biltmore Estate--a getaway originally planned for last spring which got postponed due to the pandemic. My sister-in-law and niece were planning to join us as well, but, sadly, had to back out at the last minute due to illness. We missed them greatly! I'd like to share some images from our trip, starting today with photos of the house, and following up with two more posts on the gardens and the dining (yes, food is always a big part of the travel experience!). When I've blogged about Biltmore in the past (on my old blog), I always included some history on the rooms and ... Read more

Christmas Morning Coffee Cakes

I love a good coffee cake, but I must admit that my first experiences with this baked treat weren’t too impressive. First of all, I questioned the audacity of a recipe to call anything that was not topped with icing a "cake"! Ha! Secondly, they just seemed a little blah. Until.... I became a COFFEE DRINKER! I clearly remember my first piece of coffee cake with a cup of coffee. My goodness, it was so good! And then it became clear that my problem with coffee cakes hadn't really been the coffee cakes themselves. My problem with coffee cakes was that they were truly meant to be eaten while sipping a cup of steaming coffee. The two compliment each other, and together they are a delight! ... Read more

Christmas Hello!

Good morning, friends! It's been a while, hasn't it? The fall season absolutely flew by and I can hardly believe it's Christmas! It was a very lovely fall season this year, and I soaked up every bit of its color, coolness, and festivity. However, truthfully, I felt I barely kept my head above water most weeks, so blogging took a back seat to other more pressing things. I've missed posting here and hope to get in a few Christmassy posts in the next week. I have some recipes to share and some photos from a fun little Christmas getaway my daughters and I took with some friends to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina! I also have a recap of fall in the works. Right now, I'm ... 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

Scarecrow Treats and a Fall Bible Lesson

The following post is one I put together last year but did not get worked into my posting schedule before the fall season was over. I've just about missed it for this fall too! Today I have couple of fall goodies that my son and I have been working on for his friends and cousins. I started doing these when my girls were younger so it’s been a lot of fun to repeat with my son. Candy scarecrows are so cute to pass out to the kiddos for a fall treat! You just need a box of raisins for the torso, Smarties for the legs, Tootsie Rolls for the arms, a round candy for the head, and some raffia for the neck straw. Use hot glue to attach candy pieces together in the shape of a scarecrow. Of ... Read more

Entertaining Guests During a Pandemic

Without a doubt, Covid-19 has changed much of our social life as we've known it. For the first couple of months we were in almost total isolation. After taking measures those first couple of months to safeguard our family's physical health by staying away from people, my husband and I began seeing the need to balance that with safeguarding our family's emotional health in being around people. So as it's become more apparent that the virus isn't going to pass on by too quickly and that we're in this for longer than originally anticipated, I'm exploring ways of having friends and family to our home in safe and responsible ways. I thought I'd share a few ideas I've come up with for ... Read more

Fourth of July 2020

I hope you all had a great Independence Day! We enjoyed some "safe" entertaining over the weekend which gave me a fun reason to decorate a little. Nothing too fussy--just flags, flowers, and chalkboards! White crepe myrtles and flags tucked in blue and white vases were just enough! I added flags and patriotic ribbon to old wreaths. Pretty simple! This one is in the front hall by my front door. I snatched the blue bow from my lemon wreath. And this one sits on my mantle. The night before the 4th, we had some friends over for hot dogs and fireworks! Most of our time was going to be spent outside so we cleaned up the backyard and put out a few festive ... Read more