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The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

August 5, 2015

{in the kitchen} Four Delicious Peach Recipes

Our kitchen has been overflowing with peaches the past few weeks.  The kids and I have had fun scrolling through Pinterest until something catches our eye.  If we have the ingredients on hand, we make it right there on the spot.  Here are four of our favorites so far:

Peach Oatmeal Muffins

Peach Upside Down Cake

Peach Pound Cake

Blueberry Peach Cobbler

August 4, 2015

{thrive goals} 100 Little Things: Round Two


If you’ve been reading here for awhile, you may remember my first 100 Little Things list back in 2014.  I loved the process and while I didn’t cross everything off by year’s end, the list was so helpful when I was feeling uninspired or overwhelmed.  At the beginning of this year, I tried to change things up, but that quickly crashed and burned.  


So it comes as no surprise that as I’ve been learning more about myself, I’ve been thinking, “How do I like to get things done?  What fires me up?”  And the 100 Little Things list immediately came to mind.  I considered starting on my birthday in October or waiting until January 1st, but then I thought, “Why wait?  Why put off what I can start right now?”  So here I am, making a list of little things I’d like to accomplish, smack dab in the middle of summer.

Like last time, this list is a mix of silly things and important things. They are things that really need to get done and things that just sound like fun.  They are things I’d like to do and things I really should do.  They are things that excite me and things that scare me.  My goal is to finish them all before the end of next summer, but we’ll see.  I love the process as much as the finish line.  


1. Donate my hair to Pantene
2. Buy succulents for the house 
3. Purchase art for above master bed
4. Take the kids to a baseball game
5. Make a pillowcase dress
6. Watch 20 documentaries
7. Read 15 books
8. Read a book of poems
9. Reread To Kill a Mockingbird
10. Read The Temperament God Gave Your Kids
11. Print updated photos for around the house
12. Make 2015 Instagram book
13. Make 2015 Around Here book
14. Have our family photos professionally taken
15. Send out Christmas cards
16. Bake a cheesecake
17. Grow spinach
18. Make marbled paper
19. Learn how to French braid
20. Have a picnic lunch
21. Install shelves in the boys’ room
22. Buy new duvet covers for the boys
23. Run a 5K
24. Run a 10K
25. Run another half marathon
26. Make my own vanilla extract
27. See my sister cheer
28. Blog everyday for a month (31 days in October?)
29. Move photos to external hard drive
30. Take 4 (out of the house) dates with Mark
31. Explore someplace new
32. Watch 10 TED talks
33. Make an emergency preparedness kit
34. Make a new recipe everyday for a month
35. Armknit another scarf (or a blanket?)
36. Take a bath
37. Wear my hair in a new way
38. Host 5 new families for dinner
39. Complete our wills
40. Purchase a “Thanksgiving meal” to donate to the food bank
41. Buy a birdfeeder
42. Take an online course
43. Potty train Sophia
44. Hang an American flag outside
45. Buy a new throw blanket for the living room
46. Make a quilt
47. Start a separate blog for our homeschooling 
48. Do a month-long running “streak”
49. Get carpets professionally cleaned
50. Participate in Screen-Free Week
51. Donate 100 items
52. Make milk & honey soap
53. Make bread from scratch, no bread machine!
54. Get Big White Farmhouse in a magazine ad
55. Purchase vintage items at a big fair
56. Re-do Big White Farmhouse packaging (business cards, thank you postcards, etc)
57. Make a frame for the big dining room picture
58. Grow cucumbers
59. Make the laundry room more functional
60. Send 5 “just because” gifts
61. Organize the linen closet
62. Try making new flavors of lemonade
63. Sew Sophie pajama pants
64. Learn flower arranging
65. Buy a bench for the dining room table
66. Find a vintage globe
67. Buy a fiddle leaf fig tree for the house
68. Paint anything on a canvas
69. Make homemade Larabars
70. Make homemade marshmallows
71. Read four books of the Bible slowly
72. Read an encyclical
73. Create a hand-drawn printable
74. Replace the pillows in the living room
75. Buy a wreath for the front door
76. Try 5 new local restaurants
77. Make 20 recipes from my cookbooks
78. Create a “celebration basket”: paper plates, napkins, candles, etc.
79. Go to the dentist
80. Buy a new winter coat
81. Rotate master bedroom mattress
82. Complete T25 or another Beachbody program
83. Launch a special project with Mark
84. Write 100 blog posts
85. Make strawberry jam with my mom
86. Go to the shooting range with Mark
87. Pay off remaining student loan debt
88. Make my handwriting a font
89. Go strawberry picking
90. Go apple picking
91. Do a pullup unassisted
92. Take the kids to see something in DC
93. Make a distressed wooden sign for my office
94. Milk paint a piece of furniture
95. Embroider one of Sophia’s drawings
96. Plant flowers in the front flower beds
97. Find a new playground
98. Buy milk glass containers to hold art supplies
99. Do something special to celebrate our 10th anniversary
100. See a movie in theaters

August 3, 2015

{thrive goals} July Review // August Goals



Oh July.  I struggled a bit this month, but am slowly digging myself out.  Feelings of overwhelm, uncertainty and restlessness (I won’t go into details here, but let’s just say that Rosie is living my dream!)  A few days ago, I read this quote from Elisabeth Elliot: “Restlessness and impatience change nothing except our peace and joy.  Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands.”  


And then there was this one too: “Does it make sense to pray for guidance about the future if we are not obeying in the thing that lies before us today?  How many momentous events in Scripture depended on one person’s seemingly small act of obedience!  Rest assured: Do what God tells you to do now, and, depend upon it, you will be shown what to do next.”  Boom.  Sucker punch right to the core of my problem.  I’m entering August with a new perspective.  

A few of my favorite blog posts in July:

+ 20 Things I Love: A Gratitude Journal vol.2
+ Superhero Cross-Stitch Pillows
+ What Self Care Looks Like for Me Right Now
+ What Would a Calm, Thriving Life Look Like?

My July goals, reviewed:

1. Big White Farmhouse: put in the work!  Done.  I’m getting into the routine of putting in an hour or two of work between quiet time and after the kids are in bed.  I try to keep a running to-do list of tasks, so that when I do get time, I’m really accomplishing something instead of just messing around on Facebook. 
2. Finish Sophia’s princess cross-stitch. Gosh, I tried with this one, but still have four princesses to go.  With limited free time, I tend to have to choose between stitching or reading and this month, reading won.  
3. Write the first 9 weeks of lesson plans for the new homeschool year. Done!  So happy to have this finished.
4. Cross one thing off my Life List.  Done.  A little bit of a stretch, but I added five more documentaries toward my goal of 100.  
5. Look out. Done and I’m just getting started.  Last month, I defined this as “Mail that letter.  Send that surprise package.  Tell that person what they mean to me.  My life at home is full, but it shouldn’t consume all of me.  Instead of always looking in, I want to look out and see all those people who love and support me too.”  I sent two little packages (with a thank you note and a small gift) and can’t wait to do more.

And a few new goals for August:

1. Go on a date. // It’s been too long since we’ve gone out just the two of us.  
2. Complete a Week in the Life project with Ali Edwards. // I’m in dire need of something to inspire me creatively and I’m hoping this will help.  I’m planning to share my photos on the blog (no scrapbooking) and they’ll eventually go into a book along with my “Around Here” posts.  
3. Buy a bird feeder.
4. Revamp my blog’s sidebar tabs. // This has been on my to-do list forever.  After four years of blogging, I want to make things a bit more user-friendly around here.
5. Continue work on my office. // I want to focus on a functional table/work space this month.

July 31, 2015

{around here} Week 30/52: Week of 7.27.15



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:



watching TJ get into all.the.things.  He is everywhere and making all the messes!    


ordering Focus T25 (through my blog friend, Katie – she’s a Beachbody coach) and hoping it will help me out of my exercise rut.  A combination of things have made it hard to do my usual: too hot outside, impatient baby, husband working unpredictable hours.  I’m so ready to finally get this sad, postpartum body back in gear.  I’ve got 10ish pounds still to lose!


reading Everything I Never Told You (I can’t put it down!) and Better Than Before.


starting on a holiday prep plan for Big White Farmhouse: what to buy, what supplies to stock up on, etc.  It’s overwhelming and exciting all bundled together.

thinking about returning to regular school days in two weeks, maybe?  We’ve been out since mid-May and I think it’s time.  The kids have been actually asking to do math and history!


planning to finally paint my office this weekend, the first project on my to-do list.


watching American Pickers as I multi-task and work on the computer at night.  That show both fascinates me and puts me to sleep.

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