Last year, we celebrated Christmas in the basement while renovations continued upstairs. This year – reno finished or not – I was determined to have our celebrations in our actual living room. So, we did. We added our traditional live Christmas tree to the corner, stockings to the fireplace and gifts under the tree – right where they belonged. Sure – with …
300 Tulips
In October, Aaron and I were fortunate to attend the CommunityLinc Rent Party to raise funds to support Kansas City homelessness initiatives. While there, Aaron got a little bid-happy and we ended up with some truly incredible additions to the farm landscaping. The first – 300 tulips – went into the ground today. I’ve daydreamed of planting trees, flowers, plants and …
The Kids’ Handmade Ornaments
I really cannot claim to be overwhelmingly crafty. I do, though, enjoy a fun project now and then – particularly when it gives the kids a distracting chance to make a controlled mess. Salt dough ornaments are one of those projects. It’s hardly a tradition. We don’t make them every year – but I have made them for the first Christmases …
Organizing the Tool Shed
Despite every attempt to “not do gifts” – Aaron and I usually end up getting each other something. Most of the time, it’s some kind of mutually agreed upon trip. But other times, it arrives in the form of tool organizers, a crossbow I still haven’t shot or custom-printed mugs with our kids’ faces. This year, we fully acknowledged that …
Living the Life
Some days, it’s really easy to count the things I’m not grateful for: I’ve held on to too much weight after having the kids, I don’t ever have any time to slow down, everything is stressful, our renovation still isn’t done, I can’t fathom starting the next phase of work on the kitchen, the dishes aren’t done, the house is …
Let There Be Lights
Over the past few years, we’ve really struggled to do the house up in all its Christmas garb the way we’d like. Juggling young kids, a renovation, two full-time jobs and multiple full-time projects – decorating is usually the very last thing on our list. And, it usually gets booted off before we can ever even consider busting out all …
A Scary Weekend for Ogi
We had an insanely scary weekend with a sick pup. The OG big dog, Ogilvy T. Rex Von Hambone, started puking everything early Saturday morning. Now, it’s not entirely uncommon for him to eat something random – like some grass or too much dog food from the other bowls – and puke a time or two to clear it out of his …
Window Day (Finally!) Arrives
Window installation day has finally arrived. Although it’s still laden with a ton of anxiety, I really can’t explain how nice it is to finally be at this step of the process. The Window Saga We had a horrible experience with our door and window vendor. HORRIBLE. And while I have no desire to give them any kind of attention …
Our Annual Christmas Tree Chop
Every year, we pick a fresh pine from a local tree farm to bring home for the holidays. With only one exception (the very first year we met), we’ve continued this tradition since before we got engaged, got married, had kids and bought a farm. It’s honestly probably the most consistent and reliable thing in our lives. This year didn’t …
A Little Bit of Christmas
We’re getting a smidge of a head start on our Christmas decorating with the assembly of my vintage 8′ Evergleam aluminum tree. I snagged this stunner last winter when a Facebook friend listed it for sale along with the original color wheel. My jaw dropped then and I’ve been in complete shock that I was actually able to grab it …