April Happenings

Good afternoon, dear Friends!

You know how it's hard to fill your mom, sister, or good friend in all the details of things if you haven't talked to them in a while?  In turn, it usually takes longer to actually make that long phone call to catch up on everything?  Ha....I feel like that here at my blog.  Life is happening in wonderful ways, but as time slips between each post and I'm taking more pictures the thought of sharing all the stories, photos and thoughts from the past day, week, month becomes all the more daunting.  As I write I'm going to incorporate some photos I've taken over the past few weeks to share with you inside my family's world.  With spring break behind us and both kid's birthdays and not to mention Easter, I don't have time to share it all but ... anyways... enough with the rambling! 

Where do I begin?

What a better way to start than the present....

Right now it's a beautifully rainy looking afternoon and the yard and zillion trees we have on our property look gorgeous in their Irish green!

This morning the kids and I spent most of the morning outside as the sun was shining and I wanted them to get some outdoor times before all the rain comes over the weekend.  The kids played and I began some maintenance yard work, which I really enjoy. Once they saw I was in the flower garden pulling weeds they got excited to join me and I was happy for the help!

These pictures here were taken over the course of the last month...

If you don't know, we live on 4 acres of land that borders several acres of woods on one side.  We have a few established flower gardens in our landscape and around our yard, and those are one of the reasons I was so attracted to this home because they are gorgeous!  The yard our house sits on has over 120 trees alone (yes, I've counted!), so when I say yard work, there is always lots to do! Let's just say it's a very good thing I love the outdoors so much.  It's actually a real blessing for us to have large yard to enjoy! 

Sweet girl has the sun in her eyes!  We were enjoying some quilt time in the yard on a hot April day.  This is one of the many ways we've enjoyed our home this spring!

There's Pebble, basking in the sun with us. 

Our cat is the best cat ever!  I've had a few litters in my lifetime, so I should know!

Watering our newly planted hydrangeas! My husband has spruced up our landscape beautifully this year with new plants.  Thank you, Honey!

So this morning the kids wanted to help me out with the yard work, and it almost became like a game to all do together!  They usually enjoy helping my husband and I outside and since they're growing up at 6 and 7 years old they really do help!  So we were picking up limbs out of the yard, pulling weeds in the flower gardens and I even trimmed some new growth branches on trees that we don't want.  We took a walk around our meadow to see the big evergreen that's covered in honeysuckle!  It smells dreamy when the wind catches the flowery scent and carries it across the field. The temperature was perfect today and while as I sit here typing my back is aching from bending over so much on the ground, being outside and doing all those things along side my kids put me in my "happy place". This time of year is just refreshing for my soul!


Friends, I just got finished doing what I love doing most and haven't done for months!

I just got finished whipping up a big batch of dark chocolate Ghiradelli chocolate chip cookies!!!  Oh my word, these are going to be delish!  The batter is resting in the fridge before I bake a few off tonight after supper.  If you've followed me for a while you already know that years ago I discovered from a pastry chef-friend of mine that most cookie recipes taste the ultimate after allowing the dough to be in the fridge for at least 8 hours or up to 3 days. 





This cookie batter looks and smells so good!  I've never made the Ghiradelli's recipe for chocolate chip cookies, but seeing that that is my favorite kind of cookie to eat, and my favorite kind of chocolate chip, I thought it was high time! 

Let me fill you in on a little guilty pleasure of mine....  Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips, right out of the bag!  They are just so creamy and smooth and larger than the average chip!  In a perfect world --or who am I kidding?--after a long day, they are my go-to treat with a cup of coffee and a good book or movie. 

So this cookie recipe is right on the bag.  I'll let you know how we like them.  If you want to know my all-time favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, check this cookie recipe out for my double chocolate sea salt cookies!

This will be the first treat my husband and I have had for quite a while.  We have began a healthier lifestyle that drastically reduces desserts.  We'll never totally cut them out, because a dessert is part of life's little pleasures, and saying "never" is just shooting yourself in the foot when you're talking about a lifestyle change.  We've decided to be very thoughtful about what we eat throughout the day and have the occasional favorite treat...  so needless to say, I am that much more ready to bite into a deliciously warm and gooey chocolate chip cookie!! 

I've got a pork tenderloin cooking down in the slow cooker with BBQ sauce for homemade BBQ sandwiches.  (Heath and I will be enjoying sans bun.) It smells divine in the house right now!  I plan to make some sweet potatoes and green beans to go along side.

Before I go, I have to say that I hope that you all had a beautiful Easter celebrating The Resurrection!

Bubby's eyes were swollen on Easter due to allergies, but aren't they precious!

I just love this sweet eyelet dress.

Easter has become even more meaningful to me since having children.  From the weight of dwelling on our Savior's death on "Good" Friday to the overwhelming joy and praise that comes on reflecting on His resurrection on Sunday always makes me cling tighter to Jesus and the power of the gospel in my own life.  I want them to see us living out that celebration year round... 

It's the story that my life sings!!! 

And I love sharing it with my kids and finding creative ways to do so.  One of our favorite traditions is making yummy resurrection rolls with the kids!  They're an easy way to incorporate the story of the resurrection with children and something they help make and eat! They have come to ask to make these every time spring rolls around!  We still give the kid's Easter baskets, although candy is not what we want it to be all about, it's just so sweet to see their eyes light up at the sight of the basket.

I look forward to putting together a cute Easter basket for them.  For many years Heath and I dreamed about being able to do these family traditions with our own children.  I would walk the candy isle praying the Lord would bless us with a child to love.  I can testify that God has been so faithful to us, and now we have 2 kids!!! 

I hope you're enjoying the last weekend we have in April, before the busy month of May begins.   The month of yard sales beginning, Mother's Day, and when the end of the school year field trips,  award programs and graduations are being held.  Memorial Day will be after that and then we'll be in the Summertime swing! 

We're ending the month of April with a Night of Worship (woohooo!) at our church on Sunday.  I'm excited about that as we're practicing and preparing for the Lord to change lives that night.  That's what He does best!

Have a beautiful weekend and talk to you again soon!

Spring Decor & the Essence of Making a Home

Good morning and Happy May! 

I LOVE the month of May.  It's up there with October for me.

The beautiful, warm, spring weather that has made the grass come back and thicken up and the trees get their youthful green back to them is just my cup of tea... or coffee is more like it.  

Gorgeous flowers in their array of colors are coming back in my gardens and we've filled most of our pots with pretty annuals to adorn the otherwise stark patios on either side of the house.  

The hydrangeas are taking off and should start to bloom later this month, and I have about 12 (twelve!) peony plants that have stolen my heart!  The smell of those is captivating!

I'm always inspired to freshen up inside my house and brighten things up a bit. Putting away the plaids of winter and getting out my spring décor. 

Speaking of home décor, I wanted to show you what came in the mail this week!  We ordered some curtains for one of our long windows in the kitchen. My kitchen is filled with windows showcasing the views of our property and that's one of the reasons we were attracted to this house, but there are evenings at suppertime when the bursting sunset kindly blinds our eyes as we sit to eat.  Not fun.  So I found some perfectly cheery yellow buffalo check curtains from Country Curtains, and I am loving them!

Note that these kitchen pictures were taken on Monday and it was a dreary kind of day outside, so I didn't have the help of natural sunlight.

My mom and I have always liked the look of buffalo checks.  I think it has a very classic Southern feel and that's exactly what I was going for.  Mom has these exact curtains in the red buffalo check in her dining room, and I've always liked the way they hang and look adorning the window. I'm so pleased with the way they turned out in our kitchen! 

With the cream color on the walls the yellow curtains adds a sunny pop of color, and they really compliment the red accents I have.  My favorite color is red so I have many red accents and that's one reason I chose the yellow (technically they call it gold in the catalog), because I was afraid the red would compete too much.  I also like the classic pattern with out subway tile back splash. 

As you know, I don't have a strict "style" that I adhere too, but I do love farmhouse meets Southern.  

I've reread this last night and I was thinking about my "style" some more. I use that term loosely.  It's hard to even say, because instead of thinking sooo much about one style throughout the house I think of how I want that particular space to feel, if that makes sense.  Everything ends up working together I think, but it's probably not anything a designer would put together; because my home is personal reflection of us and and tells our story!

I just want to put things inside my house that please me and make a house a cozy place for us!  Those unique kind of finds, like the ones I have hanging here.  I LOVE collecting things from travels and "hole-in-the-wall" places we visit.  Layering things together add personality and character to a space.

This vintage strawberry tray came from a peddlers-antique mall in Louisville.  It's a favorite I pull out every spring and summer!  The cookbook is something my husband bought me last summer when we visited this very bakery -- The Back in the Day Bakery -- in Savannah, GA.  One of our favorite places to vacation is staying at a cottage on Tybee Island and strolling along the Spanish moss draped live oak tree-lined squares of the old city of Savannah!!!  It's like heaven on earth to us!  If you ever go to there, please do yourself a favorite and visit this delicious bakery!  It will be a special place to remember, and this cookbook has most of their recipes so it helps me to remember that very special morning all the time.

My husband most recently surprised me with this apron at beautiful shop at a winery in Southern Illinois.  The food and atmosphere at the restaurant is wonderful, but this shop was filled with unique finds!

I spotted this apron that used to be a skirt, and I just fell in love with the pattern and colors.  I knew it would be lovely in our kitchen, and so my husband surprised me by buying it for me!  (He's so much fun!!)  I think it's adorable hanging here next to the curtains.

Let me show you a few more little things here and there around my kitchen. My parents gave me this chalkboard at Christmas.  I enjoy being able to write messages or scriptures or songs to fill our soul with beauty and inspiration.

My favorite salt and pepper shakers that look like 2 love birds in a nest, a precious gift from my sister. 

This is how I keep my seasonal coffee mugs!  I love how I can display them all and it feels that much more special to choose one each morning to drink from. I collect mugs and use them like nothing else in the house... we are big time coffee drinkers!

YES!

Table is set for supper with my cornflower blue floral china and simple yellow cloth napkins. Store bought rotisserie chicken with smashed potatoes and green beans is the menu.  The yard looks vividly Irish green, doesn't it? Must be all the rain we've gotten. 

At last the sun decided to show up at least for a few moments, so I tried to capture it streaming in!

Home is what you make it. 

It really doesn't matter the size or the style or the views.  We've had almost all of this furniture and décor in a small 1,000 square foot house in the middle of a prairie field, a carriage house apartment over a friend's garage, and even a cape cod cottage in the city that had absolutely no view except for the next house about 30 feet away. 

It doesn't matter! I've always been determined to make a home, even since I lived in our first home as a married couple which was "college courts -- married housing" at the university that was nearly a one room 500 square foot apartment that literally hasn't changed one iota since it was built in the 1950s -- think post--nuclear fallout shelter, cinder block walls, etc.  I laid down colorful rugs over the cold industrial tile and instead of using the harsh fluorescent lights, I set out warm lamps in every space. I set my table for dinner each night, lit candles and put on music we enjoyed, and I made a home out of that sterile place!  Now we look back on those honeymoon days of marriage in our tiny place fondly! 

Home making is in the food we prepare and the coming together almost every night to the same table for supper.  It's the beautiful practice of breaking bread together, be it family or friends.

Home making is being resourceful. Instead of paying for an expensive fresh flower arrangement, snip branches from blooming trees or bushes like this red bud and forsythia.  Another favorite is hydrangea bushes or whatever lovely thing blooms outside in your yard.  Whether it's the homemade desserts or the deli's rotisserie chicken, the secret is in whatever brings the family together!

Homemaking invigorates the senses.  Candles, music, soft blankets, warm bread in the oven, delicious smelling hand soap. 

It's not fancy things. 

You can get an creative as you like, but it doesn't have to be pricey!  Go to the dollar store and pick up what you need, or get out your nicest gifts.  Actually burn that $25 dollar votive that smells like a dream when you're reading a book or you have a family dinner!  It's worth it.

Home making is creating an atmosphere!  Get an inexpensive chalkboard and paint the edges if you like, but there you can write on it something to inspire your family.  Put words in your home that mean something to you and that bring life! That's usually why I write a Bible verse, or lyrics from a worship song.  I have a couple chalkboards around the house for this reason.

Home making is personal.  Put your own personality in your home and then own it! It's your unique style that makes your home interesting and not straight out of a showcase.  I like unique so this is something that comes easy for me.

Home making is not perfection!  I live with a real family and we do life the way everybody else does! Lately I've been the hot mess mama just trying to finish homework in these last few weeks of school.  I've found myself running late almost everywhere I go and yes, I forget to throw out the not-so-fresh flowers before they get smelly! 

I've decided relationships in my life, people in my life, come before home décor! 

So that may look like taking the Christmas tree down a couple weeks late, not scrubbing the bathtubs every week, or having take-out instead of homemade meals...but home making is not perfection, so give yourself some grace!!

You should be proud of where you live. If you aren't, think of simple changes you can make and start with just one today.  It requires little resources, but just thoughtfulness and your own creativity. 

I just showed you a few of my favorite things give me bits of joy in my home, now what's some of yours?  How do you make your home a place your family enjoys?

Life!

Friends, it has been way too long.  It's been a very busy year this far!  "All good things, all good things!", as Olaf would say, but I really haven't had any spare time to sit, upload photos and write what's been on my heart or in my kitchen.  I've recently received a few kind notes from some of you since I haven't written in a while, so thank you for your concern! You know I don't often think of my blog as having too much of a following, but I do think I have meaningful followers.  For that I appreciate YOU!:)  Your reading keeps me writing even when life calls!  Speaking of my life...

 

Let's go back the beginning in those winter January days and let me bring you up to speed.  I thought I would share through pictures more than words, because they say a picture speaks 1,000 of them.

First let me say this:  

This winter has been one the best winters I've had since my childhood! 

It's been full of good memories and blessings for my husband and I and for our family.  We have a lot to be thankful to God for in the big and small.

So here we go...

Soups!  I made lots of them.  Cozy white bean and spinach soup here.

And these incredible Cuban black beans.  Oh, my goodness. I took these to a Latin themed dinner that our friends had with succulent Cuban pork with chimichurri sauce and plantains!  Sigh...it was comfort food good for the soul! The next day I added chicken broth to make a soup with the leftovers... and that was delicious.

Did I say that I love soup!?

I also love snow!  This picture was the biggest snowfall we got this season.  It came about the 3rd week of January and brought around 6 beautiful, fluffy inches.  That may not sound like much to you Northerners, but it's a good amount for the South.

We really enjoyed snow days cozy in our new home!  The property was gorgeous and serene like I hoped it would be.

We even have a little hill just big enough for a little sledding and snow boarding!  Yes, I snowboarded for the first time, and it was awesome!! Here's our smallest snow bunny doing her sweet thing!

Mr. Cozy and I were able to visit a favorite coffee shop of ours! It's in Louisville and it's called Quills. Please go there if you live near there or just passing through. You'll probably find a lot of students inside studying, but there is a quaint spot of a patio outside between the buildings that is really nice to sit and relax. They have superb coffee and a really friendly staff.  We brought our friends there to experience the perfect warm sipper, the Alchemist.  It's sweet and spicy and frothy and wonderful in a gulp! We all agreed it's one of the best coffee drinks there is, and beautiful too!

Here I am with the kids relaxing a little in the sun room on a snowy morning.  This was a sweet moment.

I love those two amazing kids more than words!

They really bring charisma into our house, but sometimes they're the ones who also bring...depth.  They see life up close and are so good about sharing that experience with us big people.

Cappuccino muffins with espresso glaze! Our favorite muffin on a snow day, or any day!!!

Snow day activities.

This is a special memory!

Here we are now in February, and our baby girl turned 5 years old!  She had the quintessential girly-girl birthday!   We threw our daughter a "flower" party!!

It was precious in every way. 

For the little girls I got out my different floral dishes and my butterfly napkins.  Jars filled with silk flowers and Spanish moss, antique plates, candles, silver and burlap!

I wanted it to really feel like a young ladies garden party for her and her friends.  The girl in me really came out while I decorated for it, and it was so much fun!  Flowers, fresh and silk, were arranged all around the house.

She couldn't have been happier. Or more beautiful!!!

Strawberry cake from the best place in town.

She wore her sweet birthday hat she's worn at every party for the past 3 years when she blew out her candles!  Some things don't need to change.

Y'all, here is a special photo!  From the left to right is my Granny (mom's mom), yours truly, my sister Faith, and my mom.

I am so proud of these women I call family!!!  My Godly, good cookin and good lookin heritage all together in my kitchen!  What a precious moment, and I'm so glad we got a picture of it.

A couple days after the party and the lemonade jar is clean but still out along with some March flowers.

It's smoothie time! I make a fruit smoothiealmost every day for me and whatever child is home, because they love them. 

I had little helpers at Kroger recently, even baby Lula came along! Hehe.  This was the first time I've gone to the grocery and have been brave enough to let both kids have their own carts!! I prepared them before hand to make sure no sweet elderly lady would be plowed down, and sure enough they did a wonderful job! They were a help, but the sweetest thing was to see how proud of themselves they were.

A beautiful morning to behold.

We have caught up to just last week. We had monsoon rain for 3 day straight.  It was one of those stretches of gloomy days that I'm not a big fan of, but I made the best of them.  I decided to snap some pictures of my kitchen without any frill or seasonal decor at all. This is the only time of year you will see that, because you know I love nesting. My house isn't decorated for anything right now, but I'm about to put out my spring this week!

Vintage towels that were a birthday gift from my Grandmother, who also gave me this antique wash stand that was passed down to me. It's really a lovely piece in the kitchen, and it adds a great sense of nostalgia and soul to the room itself.

One of my favorite things, and we have enormous amounts of them! March flowers are blooming all around here!  They're such a happy flower, and a symbol that indeed spring is very near again!  This house was build on an old farm, and I can tell by all the old fashioned March flowers and irises coming up all over the yard!

The Noah's Ark week we had last week has paid off....

God surely knows what He is doing, because the everything is prettier than ever and the green has finally arrived!!

Yesterday I walked down the driveway and snapped these (unfiltered) pictures nearing sunset.  I was almost overwhelmed by the natural beauty!  The grass and moss on the ground is vibrant.

Huge puddles of rain is all that remains. 

What a good reminder that it's usually the rains of life  that can bring the most beauty and growth once the storm has passed.  God has a purpose for everything!

Kitty needed to play in the stream like a child needs to splash in a puddle! He really enjoys when we're outside as a family, and I'm sure he is also thankful to be dried out and fluffy again!  We've had several cats over the past 10 years, but he is the very best one we've had.

Home sweet home in our very own Kentucky "shire".

Smiles all around!

So here as I sit and write, it's a warm, beautiful spring like day outside and winter has passed. At least here in my little place in the world.  My daughter turned 5 last month and my son is turning 6 this month! We've been on 2 retreat weekends as a couple and we've had friends and family in our homes for suppers, parties, snow days, Sunday afternoon visits, campfires and the like. I have painted and finished a few more projects around the house. Our son has played basket ball as a Little Dribbler for the first time this season. We are back in ministry at our church and it had been such an answer to prayer to be on the worship team leading and serving once again! He has brought the dearest of golden friends back into our lives that we do life together, and given us new and wonderful friends that feel like old ones already.  He has given our children so many precious little friends that warms my heart.  My family lives all around, and we're almost always celebrating something. No family loves celebrating joys in life together more than mine.  That's where my zest for life must come from!

I'm not sure what exactly God has in store this year, but I'm sure it will include more muffins, more puddles to splash.

More flowers to pick and more weeds to pull.

More scrapes to aide and more stories to read. 

More mundane rainy days and more dates with my groom.

More candles to blow and more crumbs to clean.

More homework to teach and more chores to remind.

More songs to sing and more people to pray for.

More answers to prayer and more reasons to praise!

Because no matter what "it" is that keeps me busy it will primarily involve my people.

Those ones that are placed in my care, because it's what we do every single day that really makes, Life.



I hope it won't be so long this next time!  How is your year going so far?  What have I missed?  I would love to hear. :)