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The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

September 18, 2015

{around here} Week 37/52: Week of 9.14.15



A collection of our ordinary days, recorded every week.  At the end of the year, I’ll publish them into a keepsake to treasure.

Around here, I have been:


feeling like an old lady.  I was the only one to get sick after watching the boys’ soccer games in a downpour last weekend!  I’ve been keeping afloat and trying to keep up, but whew.  I’m ready to feel better and get back to exercising. 


reading the first chapters of The Winter of our Disconnect and there’s so much to think about already.  We start discussion in our Facebook group on Monday.


cheering on Mark as he launches his new company, Catholic Combat.  He is so passionate about our faith and desires to create apparel that displays Catholicism in a new way.  I am so proud of him and his big dreams.    


learning about bats during our first week of unit studies.  We’ve read books, researched different species and watched many videos.  Did you know that the largest species of bat is called the flying fox and has a wing span of over six feet?  I’ve learned so much this week.

selling my first few items on Kidizen!  So exciting to get that notification on my phone!


loving my sweet, sweet Sophia.  She never, ever stops talking and so one evening while making dinner, I said in frustration, “Sophie!  Can you please stop talking for five minutes?!”  She replied without missing a beat: “Why, mama?  You my best friend!”


in denial that my baby boy is turning a year old!  The past twelve months have been an absolute whirlwind, but so so good.  We are so blessed to have him in our family.

September 15, 2015

{currently} 20 Things I Love: A Gratitude Journal vol.4

sunshine peeking through the clouds after a torrential downpour during soccer
watching TJ mummy-walk around the house
bedtime prayers with the boys
confidence in my own skin
less social media distractions, more time for things that matter
the kids’ enthusiasm for their co-op classes
reading funny stories just so I can hear J’s belly laughs
the first batch of homemade chili
feeling enough of a chill in the morning air to grab a sweater, if only for a few minutes
Sophie’s sweet love for TJ as she says, “Oh mama!  Look at him!”
a pile of books to read on my nightstand
my new fall jacket
the beginning of new friendships
listening to D read to me
a laundry basket full of clean, folded clothes
when Mark offers to cook dinner
learning something new along with the kids
the memories made with M as we do T25 together (who else in this house understands my Shaun T-isms?)
packaging Big White Farmhouse orders
this quote: “Because always, even in the darkest moments, in moments of sin, in moments of weakness, in moments of failure, I have seen Jesus, and I trusted Him…He has not left me alone.” -Pope Francis

September 14, 2015

{book club} The Inspired Readers Book Club: Book Three



I am so excited for our third book with The Inspired Readers Book Club!  Starting September 21, we will be reading and discussing The Winter of our Disconnect: How Three Totally Wired Teenagers (and a Mother Who Slept with Her iPhone) Pulled the Plug on Their Technology and Lived to Tell the Tale by Susan Maushart.  And guys, this one is going to be good.


Here’s just a snippet from the Introduction:

The Winter of our Disconnect – aka the Experiment (as we all eventually came to call it – was in some ways an accident waiting to happen.  Over a period of years, I watched and worried as our media began to function as a force field separating my children from what my son, only half ironically, called RL (Real Life).  But to be honest, the teenagers weren’t the only ones with dependency issues.  Although a relatively recent arrival to the global village, I’d been known to abuse information too.  (Sneaking the iPhone into the toilet?  Did I have no self-respect?)  As a journalist, it was easy to hide my habit, but deep down I knew I was hooked.  

The Winter of Our Disconnect started out as a kind of purge.  It ended up as so much more.  Long story short: Our digital detox messed with our heads, our hearts, and our homework.  It changed the way we ate and the way we slept, the way we “friended,” fought, planned, and played.  It altered the very taste and texture of our family life…In the end, our family’s self-imposed exile from the Information Age changed our lives indelibly – and infinitely for the better.  This book is our travel log, our apologia, our Pilgrim’s Progress slash Walden Pond slash Lonely Planet Guide to Google-free Living. 

 At the simplest level, The Winter of our Disconnect is the story of how one highly idiosyncratic family survived six months of wandering through the desert, digitally speaking, and the lessons we learned about ourselves and our technology along the way.  At the same time, our story is a channel, if you’ll excuse the expression, to a wider view – into the impact of new media on the lives of families, into the very heart of the meaning of home.

Our reading schedule will be as follows:
Week 1 (September 21):  Introduction, Chapters 1 & 2
Week 2 (September 28): Chapters 3 & 4
Week 3 (October 5): Chapters 5 & 6
Week 4 (October 12): Chapter 7 & 8

Like before, we’ll have discussion questions posted every Monday, so feel free to jump into the conversation whenever you have time.  We are always open to new members and would love to see you in the Facebook group!

September 11, 2015

{around here} Week 36/52: Week of 9.7.15

A collection of our ordinary days, recorded every week.  At the end of the year, I’ll publish them into a keepsake to treasure.

Around here, I have been:


celebrating Our Lady’s birthday with friends.  The kids created little triptychs, decorated cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday.  It was simple and sweet and a good reminder to incorporate more of the liturgical year in our everyday.



laughing (as usual) at Sophia.  Every week, she says something new and hilarious!  Her latest is a hand-on-the-hip, big sigh as she tells me, “He bossin’ me ’round.”  It’s never particularly true and she blames everyone from TJ up to M.  She also tries so hard to keep up as her brothers talk about Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit.  I hear her excitedly offer, “Bilbo Baggins!” every.single.time.  


reading Loves Does and I just started the latest choice for the Inspired Reader’s Book Club (more info on Book #3 coming next week!).


receiving a box from Stitch Fix and for the first time, I kept all five pieces!  I did sell one top on a Stitch Fix B/S/T Facebook group, and I’m iffy about the necklace, but the other three pieces (along with the 25% off discount) made the deal too good to pass up.


starting the Beta phase for T25.  Definitely harder than the first phase, but I like it.  Speed 2.0 is my favorite.

selling (or at least trying to!) unneeded things around the house.  I started adding some baby clothing on Kidizen (find me there at Big White Farmhouse) and I’ve put a few items on our local yard sale Facebook group too.  


working in bits and pieces on Big White Farmhouse.  We launched a handful of new items for fall (gather towels in four colorways and lip balms) and I’m getting ready to order for the Christmas season.  I still haven’t figured out how to add in regular “office hours” to my week yet, but every little bit helps me get closer to my goals.


planning a new part of our learning: open-ended unit studies.  With a science or literature-based “spine”, we’ll be exploring everything from sharks to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  I want to incorporate all kinds of learning: art projects, cooking, a combination of fiction and non, videos, experiments and field trips.  I’ll introduce the topic and then the kids will take the lead.  I’m excited to see what we all can learn.  Next week, we start on bats!       

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