September first is the unofficial first day of fall in my mind. I’ve held off this year– mostly due do the move. Fall OFFICIALLY starts next week, so I thought I’d share some of my fall favorites. If the darn weather would just STOP with the summer temperatures and humidity, we’d be set.
I love this cardigan from Target. It reminds me of this one from Madewell– but much more affordable. These booties are also some of my favorites.
I love these jammies for the kiddos! I know, that’s sneaking some Halloween in but I just can’t help myself.
This headband/scrunchie set is so cute! The colors are perfect for Fall and Winter. Is anyone else excited about this trend being back?
This sweater from Amazon is super cute! There are tons of cute sweater options!
This broccoli cheddar soup recipe is my FAVORITE. The nutmeg makes all the difference.
Crock pot stroganoff— we have made this recipe for YEARS. It is one of our favorite comfort foods. It’s so yummy. We’ve served it over both egg noodles and mashed potatoes. Both ways are delicious.
Obviously, the move didn’t go as planned. But, does anything ever go according to plan in life? My experience says a roaring NO. Since the kitchen didn’t need any work, we were able to unpack the kitchen before officially moving in. This made it much less stressful for us. We were able to eat meals in between unpacking and cleaning. Because we use our kitchen so much, there are always a lot of things to unpack.
This is reality. Cereal containers on top of the fridge. Papers stuck all over with magnets. Reality is what you will always find here. The farmer and his wife gifted me with a Bunn coffee maker when they learned that I love coffee. They said that I needed a GOOD coffee maker since we have family over often. I can’t believe their kindness. I take that back. I can believe it because I have been blessed enough to get to know them. They are the most genuinely kind people I have ever met. It blows me away.
We have downsized in counter space, which will hopefully keep everyone from piling their junk on it. Every other mom in the world is laughing at me for my silly optimism. I can dream, right?
I am SO glad to have a gas stove again!! I have learned that it is my favorite to cook on. I’ve had glass and coil stove tops, and don’t like either. Glass was my least favorite– even though it was the easiest to clean.
We all can’t wait to make bread, but we have to wait for summer to go away. I don’t want to heat the whole house up. I can’t wait for soup season!! Bring on all of the cozy comfort foods!!
This is my favorite part. This table is an 1800s Harvester’s table. It has SIX leaves that can be put in to expand the table. In the above picture, we have three in. When complete, it will cross almost the entire kitchen. I’m so excited to have everyone at one table for the holidays. That hutch is a matching piece. Aren’t they beautiful?
Both of these pieces of furniture belong to the farmer’s wife. They have been passed down in her family for generations. Her mother put the burlap and lace inside the hutch. She is graciously letting us borrow them while we live in this house. They were so sweet and happy to see how much we appreciate the history and stories behind everything.
I found five chairs on marketplace for pretty cheap. I would love to recover them since the fabric is pretty stained. But, I love the shape of them! I don’t know the last time we had all matching chairs around our table.
It is all pretty simple. Simplicity is such a breath of fresh air! I forgot how good it felt to walk in the door and feel HOME. I am so thankful.
Small corners of the house are getting finished. I simplified SO much and donated so much while we were packing. While unpacking, I’m getting rid of more! I’m so tired of stuff. I’m so tired of packing and unpacking absurd amounts of THINGS. Things that get packed early in the process. Things that we DON’T MISS AT ALL while they are in boxes.
I am not a minimalist. That is an extreme that I’m just not at. If you are there, there’s nothing wrong with it. It is just not for me. I like things simple. Simplifying is my jam.
One area that I struggle with cleaning out is books. I love books. Scott and I were finally able to unpack our own books for the first time in 4-5 years. This shelf sits in our office space, and it makes me so happy to see. I’ve got a few books in our bedroom that will fill in the gaps.
I’m really wanting to put a little free library in front of the house. Where we live is a route that is popular to run or bike past.
My body is worn out. But, it brings me so much joy to see these little corners of the house getting finished. It’s feeling so cozy and so much like home.
We moved in! We had a moving truck rented for August 31 and people set up to help. The carpet company took their time and we still didn’t have any carpet down. We moved all of our things out of the old house and into the garages here at the farm. My parents graciously opened their home to us, once again, and we spent a few days with them. September 4th, the carpet was DONE and we finally got to move in.
It was all worth the wait! WORTH. IT.
This beautiful table is ours to use while we live here. It’s an 1800s harvester’s table that can cover the entire kitchen, or shrink down to a square. It’s beautiful, and I’m in awe of it.
This picture was taken Wednesday night. I came HOME from work, and just couldn’t wrap my mind around it. This is home. This is our home. This place is a gift and the whole process has been healing.
I will share an “after” tour of the house once we are settled, but I wanted to fill you in on the excitement!!! There was a good reason for the blog silence! I can’t wait to share more!
A few months ago, I heard about this little town in Illinois named Casey. It is home to many world’s largest items. I knew that it was the kind of quirky place that we would love. But, when would we go? We have a LOT on our plate right now, which really is the perfect time to get away. Scott took a day off of work, and away we went.
They are currently getting the world’s largest golf club and twizzle stick certified. Most all of the items are within walking distance of each other. So, wear some comfy shoes. The town is covered in beautiful flowers. You can tell they work hard to keep their place beautiful.
I think the rocking chair was probably my favorite. It’s massive! Currently, they are selling tickets for someone to win the chance to SIT in the chair!
These knitting needles are inside of a store called The Farmer’s Wife. It is such a cute shop!
This cute candy shop is home to the world’s largest wooden shoes. You can toss money inside of them to donate to the local food pantry.
The second floor of this building is home to a little year-round Christmas store.
After a short drive, you can find the World’s largest golf tee and pitchfork. The pitchfork is next to Richards Farm Restaurant. There is a gazebo full of swings and tons of pretty flowers.
We made a stop to see the giant book worm in from the of the library. Of course, I had to go inside and see the library, too. It is in a beautiful building that was built in 1937.
We drove again and followed the map to find the giant baseball bat and the twizzle spoon.
I love that each world’s largest and giant item has a verse from scripture on it. It’s a sweet touch and shows that they really put a LOT of thought into what they are doing in town.
They are in the process of getting certified with more world’s largest items! I can’t wait to go back and see all of the new additions. The girls all had a blast exploring the town and seeing all that it had to offer.
There are so many cute shops to walk through, cafes to eat in, and ice cream and candy to treat yourself with. They also have golf cart rentals so you can drive through town if walking is difficult for you.
If you are looking for BIG fun in a small town, you should definitely stop in and visit. It is worth the trip!
We are still in a waiting period for the carpet. We went to the house and cleaned most of the windows over the weekend. Scott also went one evening and cleaned the inside of the cabinets.
The master bedroom floor is re-done. The farmer thinks he will sand it down once more and even out the stain. You can see where the floor has been damaged, which just adds to the character. Once it’s done, the baseboards will go back down.
These rose of Sharon bushes are going to get moved around. The farmer’s wife is going to plant these along the line of the property before the ditch and road. That way, we can have a visual barrier for the girls to know where they need to stop.
The carpet should come in from the factory this week and get put down. I am praying that this is my last “update” before saying that we’ve moved in! But, we are at the mercy of a carpet factory at this point.
This week, I plan to go over during the day and move some things in. We will be able to get settled a little faster that way. I need to get some shelf liners. My sister gave me some pretty contact paper, but it’s not sticking down in the kitchen cabinets. I’m looking at this non-adhesive liner. It’s the best price I’ve found so far on it.
What is your favorite show? I’m gonna go with Barbie
What’s your favorite outfit? My pretty owl shirt and blue jean shorts
What sport do you like the best? basketball and soccer
What song do you love? Til the Day I Die
What’s your favorite cereal? Lucky Charms
Who is your best friend? Lillian
What is your favorite book? Sanity and Talula
What are you really good at? Almost everything
Where do you wish you could go on a vacation? To Minnesota or to New York or to Oklahoma or to Michigan
What is your best memory? All the special times I had with my family… when we all went to the nursing home for Grandma’s funeral and papa pullen’s funeral. Those were the happiest times when we were all together
What would you buy if you had $1000? I would probably buy all of the Lego sets I want. Particularly, I would do Andrea’s concert.
What is the yuckiest vegetable? broccoli
If you have a wish, what would it be? to have a pet bunny and enough money to take care of it
What is your favorite ice cream? chocolate
Who is your biggest hero? Daddy cuz I remember when I was little I almost drowned in the pool and daddy saved me. Also God because He saves everyone.
What do you like to do with your best friends? I like to talk and do special things with them.
What do you hope you’ll get to do before your next birthday? I would like to head to the beach or the pool.
What do you want to be when you grow up? An astronaut, a mom, a clothes maker, let me see… artist
School’s First Day of School // This is the sweetest book about a new school. He is nervous about the first day and all of the children that will be coming. He learns that it’s nice to have all of the children learning– and he learns, too.
The Pigeon Has to Go to School Who doesn’t love Mo Willems’s pigeon books? Pigeon thinks he doesn’t need to go to school because he already knows everything. He quickly learns that school will be wonderful.
LMNO Peas This is a fun way to teach Letters and sounds! The LMNO peas can be anything they want to be.
It’s Your First Day of School Busy Bus This is another sweet story about Busy Bus’s first day of school. Busy Bus’s driver inspects everything to make sure he is in tip-top shape for his first day of school. Busy Bus goes from being fearful to excited about the new school year.
Lost in the Library While not entirely SCHOOL related, this is a lovely tale of the incredible stories one can learn from a book. Lost in the Library is perfect for the kiddos who will be learning to read.
I received an advanced reader copy of Sarah Mae’s new book “The Complicated Heart”. Once I started it, I finished it the next day. It was so captivating that I could not put it down. It is currently available for preorder. You can get the audiobook version for FREE if you preorder before 9/17. Just visit thecomplicatedheart.com for more info and to claim your preorder bonus!
Goodness, where do I even start? There is so much to unpack, and I’m sure I will not do this justice.
Sarah’s mother was an alcoholic. She was abusive and mean, but Sarah desperately wanted to be loved. Sarah was sexually abused by men..boys.. who would take advantage of her. Here’s the thing that you should know about Sarah. She doesn’t shy away from the messy and ugly parts of her testimony… the ones that so many want to hide in the closet. She shares it all. She shares the hard things so that she can point directly to God. As if she is saying, “Look at God! Look what God did in me through this.”
I don’t want to give too much of the book away. The story is so captivating and heartbreaking. The story of redemption in her and her mother is BEAUTIFUL.
There are definitely parts of the book that are hard to swallow. She writes in the beginning about ways to examine if you are in a place to read what she has written. Here’s your warning that I’m going to talk about some of them..
When Sarah was 16, she got pregnant. She wanted to keep the baby, but her grandmother would no longer speak to her. She was desperate for love and agreed to have an abortion (link to her story). This part of Sarah’s story changed my life. I was able to see abortion through the eyes of a scared teenager desperate for people to love her again instead of from the Christian circle eyes of condemnation. Here’s the thing. In Christian circles, we label abortion as murder; which it is. BUT, we fail to stop and reach out to love on the scared teen mom expecting a baby. We don’t LOVINGLY encourage her to find and follow Jesus. We shame and condemn as though HER sin (and HIS.. let’s stop ignoring that) is so much worse than our sin. Our sin of gossiping, lying, having a bad attitude, gluttony, etc. Jesus died to cover ALL sins.. not just our “minor” sins.. Sin is sin is sin by the way. Sarah sharing this has allowed me to minister to multiple women who carry the weight and shame of their decisions in a way that I probably never would have been able to otherwise.
As the book goes on, we learn more about Sarah’s mother, Susan. We see that she, too, was deeply wounded and never knew how to show love. She, too, was abused by one of her parents. We see the story of her coming to know Jesus. We see the story of restored relationships. We see the hurt and heartbreak. The joy and celebration. The struggle. We see the legacy of abuse and shame ending.
I am blessed. I grew up with two loving parents who showed me love. I was never abused. I never walked through the pain that Sarah or her mother did. But, I know that is not the story for everyone. This book is incredible. This book will change lives. I am so thankful that Sarah told their story.
I HIGHLY encourage you to pre-order this book. If you can’t afford that, get on the hold list ASAP at your local library. In the mean time, you can follow Sarah on her blog, Instagram, or Facebook and see how incredibly God has used her.
This isn’t an exciting update. haha! Being at the home stretch, we are mostly waiting on the carpet to come in. We both also worked most of the day Saturday, so we didn’t get to go work at the house. On top of that, our kids ended up sick on Saturday. That being said, we’ve been away from the farm much more than we wanted to be. We didn’t get to do any work at all, but the farmer has been busy.
He got the master bedroom sanded down. It’s actually been re-stained as well, but I didn’t get a picture of that. We got to visit with him and hear some updates on Friday before anyone got sick. The girls were very excited to learn that he has a lot of knowledge about rocks. He’s going to bring some fossils and geodes to show them, which I love.
Back to the house– He has a lot of OLD doors around, and said he could bring some by to put into the house. He knows how much I appreciate the history of it all. I love old doors. He has also talked about building a half-door to put at the top of the stairs to the cellar. We can safely keep the kids and dog out of there without taking away from the charm of the home. So cool!
Since we were homebound this weekend, we got a lot of packing done. Time slipped away from me on Sunday and I missed going to church! Scott usually goes to AM service when the kids are sick. I go to PM so I can make it to choir practice. I suppose it’s probably a good thing since the sickness spread to the one child that was well yesterday. Boo. We did get several areas completely packed yesterday. Scott was also able to repair our dryer that went out on Friday. #WhenItRainsItPours
I will leave you with a beautiful sunset picture. We have the best views at the farm!
