Seven Years

Five Years Ago

So thankful for the past seven years spent married to my best friend!  It's been a grand adventure so far! What a blessing to be married to such a wonderful man and to walk through life together!

Last Year

I'll be enjoying a date tonight with two of my favorite men - the biggest and the littlest!  Looking forward to it!

Introducing....

Tobias Jonathan!

Our newest little man arrived at 2:24 am Thursday, August 8.
He weighed in at 8 lbs., 7 oz. (our biggest baby so far!) and was 21 inches long.
Everyone is head over heels for him!
We are all doing great and are just spending time relaxing and getting used to our family of six!

Exciting Simple Threads News!

So...it's been a while since I've updated my business blog.  That doesn't mean I've been completely idle, though!  I did take a break around Christmas, but I've been working on some things in the meantime and I have some exciting things going on!  Head on over to the Simple Threads Blog to check it out!  =)

Waiting...

Never in these past nine months did I think this baby would be late.  I was sure we'd have a July baby on our hands.  But last Friday's due date came and went and here we are, still waiting.  Probably just as well, really, as we've had a yucky virus moving through for the past week (I've been spared so far, thankfully), but I think the end of that is in sight.  

Everything's ready: bags are packed, baby clothes are washed, freezers are full of food, the few baby "equipment" things we have are tucked into their little spots.  I've been spending my days trying to keep the house in some semblence of order, the laundry caught up, and everyone fed and happy so we're ready for "the moment".  And I'm trying to enjoy a few more moments with "just three kids" before this fourth comes.  Soon, I keep telling myself...soon.  =)

 

Snapshots of Summer

We have enjoyed a lovely summer around here - I don't know the last time we've had so many hot, sunny days.  I'll admit I've done my fair share of complaining - I have been sooo hot - but really, it has been lovely, too.

The end of June found us traveling south to Oregon where Seth was helping out at a writer's conference, and we got to tag along for a little mini-vacation!

Otherwise, we've mostly been home, with a few fun day trips thrown in for good measure.  

We've been spending lots of time soaking up the sun and the kids have been loving their new kiddie pool - it's a little more their style than the sprinkler, although we have used that some, too. 

 

Our New Favorite Uses for Glass Jars

Not too long ago I scored on glass jars at the thrift store!  I happened to be there at just the right time when they were putting out a large amount of jars and I was able to buy a bunch, as opposed to the one or two they typically have.  Glass jars are one of my favorite things, so I was pretty happy!

I love having a cupboard full of jars, since I use them constantly.  I use them for all of the usual things:  pantry storage, leftover storage, vases, for freezing jam and broth, etc.  Recently, though, I've started using them in a few new (to us) ways:


Bowls!

 I've been slowly trying to get rid of the plastic from my kitchen, and one of my last few holdouts were the plastic snack bowls the kids use.  I really wanted to get some glass bowls with lids, since I often used them for food storage also, or to send something with Seth in his lunch.  I wanted to get small Pyrex bowls, but the cost for the six or so I wanted was a bit much.  Instead, I purchased a box of the wide mouth half-pint canning jars, and they've been the perfect solution!  They were much less expensive; they have lids, so they work great for storage or on the go; and the wide mouth makes them perfect for small bowls.  We use them every day!


Sippy Cups!

Along with the plastic bowls, we had plastic sippy cups that I really wanted to get rid of, not so much because they were plastic, since we really only used them for water, but more because I was tired of my 4 1/2 year-old always wanting to use them.  So I finally just got rid of them all.  All of the kids drink out of regular cups just fine, so that's what they typically use.  Sometimes, though, it is nice to be able to give them some water in a sippy cup, so they can have it with their snack while watching a movie.  So, I occasionally let them use my Cuppow (I use it for taking tea or cocoa in the car) on a small jar.  It's not spill-proof, but it does help minimize them.

Pour-Over Iced Coffee

Seth typically makes coffee using a French Press, but he wasn't impressed with using it to make iced coffee.  When a friend told him about using the pour-over method to make iced coffee, he wanted to try it.  You can buy contraptions to do this, but I came up with our improvised "jar method".  We put ice in the jar (we use a wide mouth quart size), lay a piece of muslin or tightly woven cheesecloth over the top, indenting it to make room for the coffee grounds, then hold it in place with the jar ring.  The ground coffee then goes in the fabric "filter", and you pour hot water over the top of the grounds.  The ice makes it cold, so it's instant iced coffee.  I don't drink coffee, so I haven't tried it, but Seth loves it.  He does say it tastes much better when the water drips through the coffee more slowly, so a fabric with a tighter weave seems to work best.

These are our new favorite things to do with jars - they truly are one of the most useful things in my kitchen!  =)

July Garden

We have (mostly) enjoyed lots of hot sunshine this week and while I might not like all aspects of that, I love what it's doing in my garden!  Everyday the plants are visibly bigger, and we have started to reap some of the rewards!

Last Week

This Morning 

We will never be able to grow all of our own produce or anything like that, but I did get to skip buying veggies at the store this week, in favor of the abundance of lettuce, spinach and peas we do have available right now.   I'm grateful for this bit of food we are able to grow, and I love the feeling of accomplishment and self-sufficiency it gives me!


I am ever so thankful for this little plot of earth that we get to call ours.  It is so fun to get to change things and make our yard and home reflect our family and our values.  I have so many plans and things that I want to do, and frankly, progress seems painfully slow sometimes.  But little by little we are accomplishing things, and that feels so good!

We finally got three more blueberry plants in the ground, so my blueberry patch is finished.  It definitely adds a lot to our little "urban homestead"!  I picked our first few berries this morning, and the kids were thrilled with this little bonus at breakfast!