July is typically one of my favorite months of the year.  Summer has really arrived, baseball is over and so our schedule (in theory) slows down a bit .... and it kicks off with July 4th!  Independence day is one of my favorite days of the year.  You could say it's a bit of my patriotic heart and the fact that I love celebrating the history of our nation with family in a nearby town.  It's good stuff.Packed into July was a trip to upstate New York, twice.  We also ventured to Canada, spent a ... READ MORE

What was it about May?  Rain.  Oh, June had that covered too.I realized as I went to download all my pictures from June that I didn't have a single one of the farmhouse for this month.  I must have been looking out at the rain... or not wanted to stand in it.  Above is the one picture of some of the farmhouse as I put my flowers out ready for the rain... because I didn't need to water this month, that's for sure!Here's pretty much my conversations with my dad and brother every day.  ... READ MORE

This month was ushered in by the worst smell in the world and ended with one of the sweetest.  Curious, yet?We started the month by catching a skunk by our front porch.The only problem with catching said skunk is that the trap was right next to our house.  And if you've ever been near the spray of a skunk you know the dilemma this posed.  I'm not talking about the drive-by smell when on the road - I'm talking about the in your face spray - it is BAD.My husband having done ... READ MORE

Well, they say April showers bring May flowers.  In that case, there should be lots of flowers here in Ohio in May.  Rain.  Rain.  Rain.  What should have been the first few weeks of planting has been just a cold and rainy spring.Therefore I took it into my own hands and headed to our nearby green house and bought my potted plants to hang on the porch.  I know so many say to repot your own but mine always die.  I've had luck with buying them already planted and loved by a professional ... READ MORE

It's still gloomy around here but that doesn't mean that we didn't tackle a huge job that we have had on our "to do" list for a YEAR.  Yes, a year.After taking down our barn last spring we also had the fence line taken down.  It was scruffy, overgrown and full of weeds.  The weeds part is an understatement.  It was a jungle!  Every time I would mow I would wonder what was going to jump out at me through the thick and tall reed-like weeds.Not anymore.The reason for waiting to burn ... READ MORE

Snow.  Flooding.  Cold.  Ice.I'm beginning to sound like a broken record.  When is spring?!?In all honesty, when it snows it makes me happy.  Everything is bright and cheery and I'm not looking at the brown grass or thinking about the moles that are invading my front yard and threatening my peonies.This month was filled with moments of playing outside when it was warm enough and the snow was beautiful.But as the last few days have been a bit sunny, I've found myself ... READ MORE

This month's theme is cold and snow.  Hello, January!  All kidding aside, I really do love a good snow and how beautiful it is.  A few weeks ago we had our first big snow fall of the year, and it was a welcome site.We started Saturday with lots of legos.  Anyone else have their kids use their cookie sheets to organize!?Once the storm had passed, we took a snowmobile ride.  I absolutely love going out on the snowmobiles . We don't have fancy ones.  Instead my dad bought older ... READ MORE

This December ended our third Christmas and second full year in our farmhouse.  The first Christmas was chaotic as we had just moved in.  The tree was found a week before Christmas, it was covered in icicles because of an ice storm. What were we to do?  We needed a tree!We had to let the tree thaw in the house surrounded by trash bags on the floor to protect our newly restored floors.  Boxes were everywhere in the house.  It was crazy but we were grateful to finally be moved in.This ... READ MORE

Being that it's November I know this is a month to be thankful. And thankful we are. I was reminded by someone that it's been a long time since I've shared any before pictures.   And so I went digging into our files of snapshots and was amazed at how far we've come.Sure, I lived through it. You may have lived through it with me.  I remember every detail we've done. But there's something about being removed years later to really be in awe of how different our home looks. When we purchased ... READ MORE

Harvest.  That's the one word that summed up this month.  October came in with the heat and left with the cold and rain.  And while we didn't really get to experience the nice fall like weather this year - we did finish harvest, visited the pumpkin farm (twice) and overall enjoyed the month of busy.Harvest started in late September, but soon into October while still feeling the heat, (notice the boys in shorts!) we were out in the fields most nights.  The boys would get off the bus into ... READ MORE