Sunday, August 30, 2015

A Day of Family Fun and A Homemade Dinner

I love day's like these(yesterday) when we can all be together as a family and enjoy some quality time in each others presence. Playing with the dogs, checking in on the chickens, collecting eggs, swinging, bike riding, and the list goes on. Then to wrap up a perfect day I made a delicious homemade, skillet pizza for Jacob(his favorite), and some  hamburgers for hubby and myself. I love making our hamburger buns from scratch, they taste so much better than store bought and not to mention a little healthier. The burgers were accompanied by some roasted, rosemary, carrot fries. YUMMM!!! I hope you are enjoying some fun, family time too and some good home-cooked meals.
 
Blessings~
T.
 
Ps: Aaron is almost finished with our pergola and fountain. Pictures of the completed project will follow soon.
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Thursday, August 27, 2015

Siblings

While Lily sat in her bumbo seat this afternoon, Jacob decided to serenade her with his ukulele. She loved it of course, anything her big brother does to make her happy is alright with her. He showed me his creative art work, his legs being the canvas, what else! Thankfully it's washable, I have learned to always purchase washable markers and paint for this kiddo. I am just so amazed by the bond that my children already have between them. I encourage love, kindness, and gentleness to be given by each other. I want my children to grow up respecting one another. Yes, I do know that differences in opinion will arise at some point down the road and little spats may ensue, but for now I will relish in the sweetness between them.
 
Blessings~
T.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Make Do With What You Have - Make It Work For You

Aaron and I, for the past couple of years, have been planning, dreaming, and talking of our desire to "live off the land" and grow/make most of our food, make soap, have chickens for eggs and meat, and possibly a goat for milk. Basically going old school and living like the pioneers, ok well maybe not so drastic, we will keep our electricity. Now that we have a little bit of property and the means to live this way, we are slowly making strides of being mostly self-sufficient. Our spring and summer garden gave us quite a bit for which we are thankful, and now that summer is winding down we will begin planting the fall garden. The agrarian lifestyle is making a comeback, even in urban areas people are finding a way to grow their food and live off of what they can make with their hands. In a world that is based on the idea of more and convenience, it's easy to just go with the flow and not really stop and think about where your food and other common items comes from. We gave up on buying store bought bread and I now make our loaves every week. I made a sourdough starter a couple of weeks ago and have kept it going so that we have fresh sourdough loaves as often as we want. Sourdough is probably the healthiest form of bread there is as it is a fermented food. Lots of live probiotics, good for the gut. I learned something new with making sourdough, after a little research, true sourdough bread is not as sour as most store bought sourdough breads taste. So far it tastes great! I made a loaf of molasses sourdough last week, did you know that molasses is the only natural sweetener that has vitamins and minerals in it. Our chickens are finally laying, YAY!!!! They gave us the first egg two weekends ago, now they lay about an egg a day. Pretty soon though we will see two or more a day. We have two laying hens now and the two little ones will be mature enough to lay in the next month or so. This lifestyle is hard work but so worth it!
 
Blessings~
T.

 
 
 
 




 
 


Thursday, August 20, 2015

Bubbles and A Cool Summer Breeze

Yesterday was a bubble kind of day. The late afternoon was surprisingly cool and breezy, that cool breeze blew in some much needed rain last night. I was awoken to the lovely sound of rain this morning and just about shouted Hallelujah! Instead I quietly breathed a prayer of thanks, didn't want to wake Lily, she has been sleeping so good lately. Jacob, Lily, and I enjoyed some bubbles and the breeze together. Jacob showered Lily with bubbles and kisses,  then showed her his airplane, explaining to her how it flies. Lily blew some bubbles too, spit bubbles. I love my babies so much, I want to soak up every minute of their being little and innocent. The sweetness of their play and love for each other, what  a blessing!  When daddy got home Max and Daisy playfully fought for his attention, and got lots of belly rubs and behind the ear scratches. It was a beautiful and happy evening for us all.
 
Blessings~
T.