The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

Fluff the Nest Friday: It’s Gonna Take More Than a Fluff!

Happy Friday, friends!! It’s been a little while since I’ve posted on the blog, and it’s been even longer since I’ve posted a FTNF! If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that Friday is the day the kids and I finish up our school week and then get the house cleaned and fresh for the weekend….the day we “fluff the nest”. But today this house is going to require much more than a fluff because we got new carpet this week in each of the bedrooms! I’m soooo happy with the new carpet, however it’s created quite the upheaval since EVERYTHING had to come out of FOUR bedrooms, closets included. When we first started prepping the rooms for the carpet installers my fairytale plan was to do it ... Read more

Oh, Thrifty Christmas Tree!

Since I FINALLY finished my Christmas decor this week (only 2 weeks late of my goal for December 1st) I thought I'd share some snapshots of my "new-to-me" Christmas trees. This year we purchased our first-ever artificial tree! For the 26 years that Joel and I have been married, we've always had a real tree with the exception of one year when we were going to be out of town for a whole week in December and didn't want to leave a real tree alone to be a fire hazard. We borrowed an artificial tree of my mom's that she wasn't using so we could go ahead and put the tree up before our travel. Other than that one year, we've always gone to cut one down at a tree farm or pick one from Lowe's. ... Read more

Star Ornament Craft

My kids and I are part of a homeschool field trip co-op which meets once a month. The moms take turns planning the trips and activities and it's always so much fun! Each year my friend Kelli is brave enough to host a Christmas party for our big group in her home which includes some fun activities followed by a pizza lunch. The kids are divided into groups of 5-6 kids and rotate through 4 different activity stations: story, craft, cookie decorating, and games. I was in charge of crafts again this year and since making an ornament proved successful last year, I decided to do it again (plus, I know the mamas love a keepsake ornament from that year!). The challenge with this is finding a ... Read more

Snapshot Saturday: Soaking Up Autumn

Good morning and happy weekend! Boy, these weeks sure pass quickly, don't they? I'm soaking up as much of autumn as I can because it'll be gone before we know it. This week we've been doing a lot of work inside and outside in preparation for some upcoming gatherings and just the holidays in general. It's exciting how close we are to the holidays! We have our daughter's soccer team coming this weekend and our life group coming next week. It's so much fun entertaining outside during the fall evenings so we're trying to finish some areas for sitting and doing activities. While working last weekend I noticed this fungus on a tree. Isn't it interesting! My friend told me it's called ... Read more

Snapshot Saturday: A Colorful Week

Saturday means another week of snapshots in the books and today I have a lot! To our surprise we witnessed a burst of autumn color all around us this week! Nothing as vivid as what those of you up north get, but enough to delight our eyes! The temperatures were higher than the chilly week before, so it was nice to have the changing leaves to still make it feel like fall. We're near the end of fall soccer and Liberty has enjoyed getting to go to the games for two reasons: pretzels from the concession stand and lots of attention! She gets petting and cuddles throughout the entire game. Saturday was very busy. We had our neighborhood yard sale, my son's soccer game, and a big ... Read more

Snapshot Saturday: This and That

Hello, friends! I have a few snapshots to share this week but without any kind of theme like I sometimes do. Just some of this, some of that. I'm going to begin with the highlight of our week which was time with our small group! Graduation Fiesta Our small group met at our house this week to reconvene after our summer break and honor one of our sweet girls who's been a precious friend to my girls and graduated high school this past May! We celebrated with a belated graduation meal--a taco bar! Many in our group have been traveling this summer so it was so good to have the whole gang back together. I found some cute cactus paper goods, a pinata, and a cactus garland at Target, ... Read more

Fluff the Nest Friday: The Great Summer Cleanout and the One Year Rule.

Happy Friday, friends! The kids and I have been chipping away at our summer cleanout list and we follow one simple rule. A year after my husband and I were married, I cleaned out our whole house--all 1292 square feet of it--and was shocked at how much we'd accumulated in that little house in just a year's time. I then made up the "One Year Rule" which I still follow. If we haven't used it or worn it in the last year, it has to go! Of course, there are a few exceptions to this rule like my wedding dress, the children's keepsakes, special china and dishes, etc. But I'm talking about the stuff that is supposed to be the everyday stuff that just isn't getting used like the kitchen gadget we ... Read more

Ladies’ Day Out

Yesterday was the first day of a fresh new month--Hello, August! --and my girl and I got to do something fun! My friend, Missy over at The Woods at Whippoorhill, and I have been trying to plan a day just to sit down and discuss a couple of new projects we'll be working on together this year, so we decided we'd make a day of it and meet up in a lovely little historic downtown about 45 minutes away. Our daughters joined us too! Our first stop was a tea and coffee room that had such a fun chic boho decor! I mean, every light fixture, table, cabinet, chair, handle, knob--you name it--were unique and lovely. But the beverages were the showstoppers! Oh. My. We all enjoyed our ... Read more