Around here, I have been:


listening to the boys talk about Medieval Times all week long.  My parents gave them the experience gift (which I highly recommend!) for Christmas and they have anxiously been counting down the weeks.  The big day was last Saturday and they loved every minute.  This week has seen its fair share of sword fights!


getting in 10,000++ steps now that Mark has a Fitbit.  We created a challenge through the phone app and since the two of us are competitive (understatement), it’s been beneficial for both of us!  With this kind of commitment to movement, I’ll be fit in no time, haha.


working out and really trying to push myself.  I am sore in ways I haven’t been in a long time, so I know I’ve found the sweet spot again.  This week, I did a mix of T25, running/walking and Dollar Workout Club:

voting on Super Tuesday.  We took the kids and were in and out, only a few people ahead of us!  No matter how you lean, I think it’s so important to remember what a privilege it is to vote and it’s something Mark and I hope to really show our kids as they grow.


falling down half of the basement stairs and having two nasty bruises on my arm to show for it.  Mama’s getting old!


trying a new blend of oils in the diffuser, lemon and lavender.  It’s my new favorite!


loving (and quite possibly hating) Sophia’s new habit.  I think she’s been watching a little too much Daniel Tiger because all of a sudden, she sings EVERYTHING.  And not just songs, but whole conversations!  “Mama, don’t be mad at my brothers, be happy” or “Oh mama, I think I am going to draw a picture” and on and on and on.  It’s hilarious and frustrating.  


reading Bakhita: From Slave to Saint.  So good.


watching Cooked on Netflix and feeling inspired to be in the kitchen again.  This week, I made bread in the machine (x2), granola, Power Muffins (x2) and banana bread.  (Obviously, my specialty is carbs, hah!)  Mark’s been a big help in the dinner department (and I’ll be the first to admit he’s the better cook anyway) but I’m getting there.

Around here, I have been:


parenting solo while Mark worked a very big conference this week.  He had long days and was only home to sleep before getting up early to repeat it all again.  The kids are understanding and tend to take it all in stride, but Sophie had one sad moment and cried, “This is not a good idea!”  Needless to say, she is quite excited to have her Daddy back this weekend!


playing at the park on Monday with friends.  When the weather is 50 degrees and sunny, especially when the rest of the week is rainy and cold, you take full advantage!  It was so good to smell the fresh air and see my kids running and laughing.  I can’t wait for spring.


reading A Man Called Ove, 84, Charing Cross Road and Bakhita: From Slave to Saint.  I finished the first two and just began the third.  All so good.


starting Easter shopping.  I have everyone’s Easter outfits (thank you, ThredUp!) and have just started on the baskets.  The goal this year (like every year) is simple, practical and fun.  


staring at the coat rack Mark and I made last weekend every time I pass the laundry room.  There’s something so satisfying about seeing a project from idea to finished product, even if there were MONTHS in between the two!


watching TJ and trying to enjoy this adorable, yet challenging stage.  I want to remember how he always gets his white blanket when it’s time to watch a show, how much he loves Daniel Tiger and how he initiates “Ugga Mugga” nose kisses.


homeschool notes:
+ We started a big knights and castles unit and we are excited!  This week, we made catapults, learned about castles (this book is a good one) and are reading Castle Diary as our readaloud.

Around here, I have been:


recovering from almost an entire week of a crippling stomach bug, hence the double recap this week.  It came suddenly and went through five of us.  Passing any illness in a big family is hard, but this one was particularly rough.  But what a way to enter into Lent!  I spent the next few days furiously disinfecting everything and doing loads and loads of laundry, so we’re good as new – fingers crossed! 


receiving new product for Big White Farmhouse.  We just got in three new signs made from reclaimed wood and they are super cute.  I’ve managed to add two of the three to the site (our nest and kitchen) and hope to carve out more time this weekend.  


exercising every day this week and each day doing something new.  It’s pulling me out of my rut and I’m starting to look forward to it each day.  Now if I can keep this up!


thinking about running another half marathon in the fall.  The race location is 10 minutes away from my house, which seems too good to pass up.  A little nervous to train through the summer, but I like a challenge.  


reading A Man Called Ove for book club and falling for the cranky, yet endearing main character with every chapter.


sneaking in special time with the kids one-on-one.  After spending way too much time overwhelmed and moping about how hard it is with my toddler, I decided to think in terms of what I could “sneak” into our days vs. what I was missing out on.  So I started “Coffee, Cocoa, and Cards” with J and we played a few hands of Crazy Eights after breakfast.  After getting all of the supplies, I grabbed M and we sneakily made marbled paper together.  D and I found a hiding spot and did his reading where no one could find us.  Life is what you make it and I’m too incredibly blessed to be grumpy about this season of our lives.    


noticing my oldest and my youngest and how quickly they are changing.  The others are too, of course, but wow.  Time is flying, despite my holding on tight with both hands.


homeschool notes:
+ Starting to bring some more fun back into our school days.  We did the Naked Eggs and Walking Water experiments and they were both big hits.

having heart palpitations when TJ dropped a tomato sauce can on his toe. SO much blood from such a little guy!  We were so worried because we were largely still snowed in at that point.  Thankfully, the bleeding stopped and the cut was minimal.


signing up for a 5 mile race in May.  Just the right kick in the pants to put my running shoes back on.


reading Eleanor, which is a book I chose from Blogging for Books and is SO out of my usual reading comfort zone!


cleaning closets and going through the kids’ clothes again.  One of my 100 Little Things goals is to “Donate 100 items” and I got a fast start one afternoon.  It took me an embarrassingly short amount of time to find about 56 items and I’ve only just begun.  I feel like I declutter often, but there always seems more to pass along.  Where does this stuff come from?!


laughing at Sophie calling TJ her “little feetie” (sweetie).  She uses a high sing-song voice and he just eats it up. What a little mama.

Around here, I have been:

taking care of sick kids.  The little three have gone down one after the other with high fevers and barking coughs.  We’ve been spending a lot of time on the couch reading and watching Octonauts (Sophie’s favorite) and Wild Kratts (J’s favorite).    


celebrating Big White Farmhouse’s second birthday! 


remembering a little date Sophie and I had last weekend.  We went, just the two of us, to Home Goods and she was just the sweetest thing.  She never stopped talking: “This is cute, mama…Look! A pink basket, mama….Daddy would like that coffee mug, mama…” and on and on.  We shared a candy treat on the way home.  It was so special to have that time with her.


reading The Temperament God Gave You and Big Magic for book club.


wanting to remember how the kids wrap themselves in blankets and then lay over the floor grates as the heat turns on in the mornings.


finding Sophia in my makeup: “It’s okay, Mama.  I look beautiful.  I like this makeup.”


watching Making a Murderer after bedtime while putting together a puzzle.  


bringing dinner to a family from church after the birth of their first baby.  We made them a Mexican fajita bar with all the fixin’s.  We also gifted them one of Laura’s gorgeous blankets!


working on a few home projects: sprucing up the parlor (a WMP post to come!), a DIY coat rack for the laundry room and art for the master bedroom.  Decorating always goes so slowly around here, as my BIG visions wait for my small budget to catch up.  So satisfying to see a few of my ideas finally come to life.


starting homeschool co-op again after a month off for break.  The big boys are excited to get back to their friends and classes.


homeschool notes:
+ D flew through Level 1 of his reading curriculum, so we ordered and started Level 2.  He often doubts his ability, so I love to see the surprise and pride in his eyes when something proves easier than he thought.
+ In history, we are starting a new unit on Vikings.  The kids have been acting out the stories and pretending to be Leif Erikson.  Hoping to add a few crafts to the mix next week.

reading 13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi, per the recommendation of my husband.  Intense.  I finished the book in bed and sat wide-awake for another 30 minutes before I could fall asleep.  I’m also reading Big Magic for book club and starting The Temperament God Gave You.


cooking healthy meals and trying to get back on track after the holidays.  This week’s menu:

researching essential oils.  I tend to avoid anything that gets major hype, but curiosity got the best of me this time.  I have a few hormonal issues I’m dealing with and with winter colds coming, I’m curious to see if the oils will help us.  


working behind the scenes on Big White Farmhouse, in preparation for our site relaunch and second birthday next week.  New site navigation, new products and a hopefully improved shopping experience in the works!

Around here, I have been:


celebrating the completion of an entire year’s worth of Around Here entries!  I’m shocked that I kept it up and am so thankful for all of the memories documented.  I can’t wait to compile it altogether.  I’m also thinking about continuing on for another year – as I look back through the entries, the little details recorded are so priceless.  


enjoying such a simple, peaceful Christmas week.  The past few years have been a bit stressful and exhausting, but I have loved every minute of this one.  We hit the jackpot with the kids’ gifts (three gifts for each: one from Mom & Dad, one from Santa and a big group gift) and they all were really pleased. We also loved spending the day with family.  Being in my parent’s house always transports me back to being a little girl…it just feels like Christmas.      


reading The Magic of Ordinary Days and I also started Big Magic for the book club.


listening to Sophia say her bedtime prayers. I love hearing that sweet little three-year-old voice and her random lists of gratitude: “Thank you for my dresses…and my guys…and protein bars..”


playing cards.  Our current favorite is Queen of Spades and woo!  In case I didn’t already know, we are a bunch of competitive people!  
getting the bug to declutter (again!), organize and change things around.  I’m planning to follow along with the 91 Day Declutter Challenge, with the hope that the bite-sized chunks will be easier to include in my busy schedule.    

planning for 2016, but trying to leave room for possibility and unexpected change.  I’m excited to see where this new year takes us!

Around here, I have been:


finishing my Christmas shopping and starting on the wrapping.  I’m trying to use up five old rolls of paper, but it feels like I’m only making a dent!  


taking care of sick kids and a husband.  We somehow caught some sort of virus and like every big family, we’ve been passing it down the line.  So far I’ve been spared, but feeling out of sorts today…Mama doesn’t have time to be sick!


listening to the second season of Serial.  Very interesting so far.


breaking out all of my very old scrapbook supplies.  They have been taking up space high in a closet for years, I guess waiting for just the right moment?  I pushed aside that nonsense and let my kids enjoy all of the papers and random stickers.  They crafted for hours!  Their enthusiasm has inspired me to be creative with paper again too.  Lots to think and plan for 2016.


laughing at sweet J.  After “working out” by running around the basement, he said, “My heart’s dizzy from all that runnin’ around!”


reading The Hardest Peace and Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Art of Waiting.

decorating (slowly) and enjoying the kids’ sense of wonder.  They decorated the tree entirely by themselves on Sunday and I laugh every time I look at it.  There’s nothing at the bottom (blame the destructive toddler), heavy throughout the middle and sparse at the top.  Even our tree topper is off kilter!  Someday I’ll have a tree to decorate just as I like, but for now I’m soaking up my children’s joy and our crazy, imperfect tree.

Around here, I have been:

celebrating St. Nicholas’ day on Sunday with chocolate coins and yo-yos.

surviving one of Mark’s busiest work weeks of the season.  Parenting solo makes me so grateful for all the help he gives on the normal weeks!  We filled the time with Christmas activities, movies and pizza delivery.

mailing Christmas cards, decorating a gingerbread house, and listening to the Michael Buble station on Pandora.  We put the tree up, but are waiting until Sunday after Mass to pull out the ornaments and decorate.  The house feels so warm and cozy.

contemplating this passage from Wednesday’s meditation in Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations in the Art of Waiting:

We know that when a receptacle for any liquid is filled to the brim, you cannot expect to move it without spilling some.  And that is a wonderful thing spiritually.  Because if we are really overflowing with love for one another, we cannot move without its splashing over…Come now, let us begin.  And let us keep that measure so full of love, because this is not beyond us.  We cannot all of us perform Herculean works of penance.  We cannot and need not produce brilliant works of mind or artistry.  But we can all be overflowing with love, every one of us, so that we just can’t move without splashing it over the house, over our sisters, over the Church. (page 97)

thinking about 2016 and what I hope to work on in the new year.  Lots of thoughts to come, but the short story is: more peace, more creativity, more community and more learning to let go.

reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

laughing at Sophia’s sudden love for chapstick.  She calls it her “lip glops” and applies it quite generously.  She’s definitely got the most moisturized lips in the family.

working a little bit on this blog.  I simplified my sidebar a bit, taking down many ads and unnecessary items.  I also switched over to Mailchimp in case you prefer reading blog posts in your inbox.  I set it to send emails Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I’m still working out the kinks, but hopefully all should be working smoothly soon.

P.S. Today is the last day of Big White Farmhouse‘s last promo of the year.  Ending at midnight tonight, we’re covering the shipping costs on every order as our gift to everyone who has been so supportive of our little shop.  The coupon code is DECKTHEHALLS.

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:


working hard packaging and shipping Big White Farmhouse orders.  Our Black Friday sale was pretty successful and I’m so excited to have our products under so many Christmas trees.  I’m also working on one more promo before wrapping up for the year.


celebrating J’s birthday with pizza and cookie cake.  He is our caboose of fall birthdays  and has been so patient waiting for his special day!  


keeping warm and cozy inside as it was cold and rainy most of the week.  The sun finally came out again on Thursday, just in time for a playdate with friends.  


loving our simple Advent activities.  We’re reading through our literary advent calendar again this year and watching the videos on Holy Heroes’ Advent Adventure.  So simple and stress-free.   


watching Christmas movies with the kids – one of my new favorite traditions.  We are hoping to revisit all of our favorites and add in a few new ones too.

laughing at our voices as we talked through the Chipmunk Voice app.  Oh.My.Gosh.  I laughed so hard, I cried.


reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Come Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Art of Waiting…both are so good so far.