Making A Home And Family » pictures

Life Updates

Jennie — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:09:29 +0000

There are so many changes around here that I’m not sure I can even document them all (or remember it).

::”AJ” was born on October 9th after a quick labor but a transfer to the hospital. It was a successful VBAC so I still feel accomplished. :) Hopefully soon I’ll get back on the blog to post the birth story.

::Four days later we moved from our rental to our homestead. I am so grateful for family and friends because I went from sitting on the chair, to the bed, back to my chair while they hauled things to the trailer. My chair was the final thing to be moved. The bed was the first thing to be moved in so I could bring AJ in and lay down.

::We got 4 laying hens from my mom and added them to the 2 hens, 1 rooster, 1 drake, and 3 ducks we had.

::Then we got 6 more laying hens from my sister-in-law.

::Just because the barn was too quiet, we got an Alpine/Nubian goat named “Juno the Goat Goat.” She needs a friend, so at the end of this week we will get a bred Nubian named “Luna.”

::Lots of random little projects like getting fences, building goat runs, fixing our kitchen sink which turned into trying to fix the drain field which turned into fixing the plumbing in the basement. My poor DH!

::Our essential spaces of the home are set up -the kitchen, pantry, living room, and mostly the bedrooms. Our dining room is still in progress because DH is using that space as his office until he can remodel a room upstairs.

Some days it’s all a little overwhelming with the projects we see before us and two little ones who need our attention, but when we sit and think about our place and our life it’s really rewarding too.

A glimpse at the homestead

Jennie — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:16:39 +0000

The countdown for buying our homestead says “TOMORROW!”

I can’t put into words how excited I am about the transaction and the transition to our new life there.

Yesterday we spent most of our afternoon and evening on the farm with the owner who is handing the place off to us. He gave us the grand tour with lots of information about the buildings, how things work, advice, and it made me fall in love even deeper with the place. We have an antique apple orchard on the property with some trees being a 100 years old! There are eating apples, baking apples, apple sauce apples, pickling apples, cider apples…. There’s an asparagus patch. There are lots of deer and a big fat gray barn cat that will be staying on the property with us. Love, love, love!

View of the orchard from the back porch. That’s the cider tree with bright red apples.

Val loving the back porch and red apples fresh from the trees.

Playing in front of the barn.

Sunset from the back of the property. About the time a big buck came running by!

This Moment

Jennie — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:24:46 +0000

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by soulemama.

This Moment ~ 31 weeks

Jennie — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 13:52:41 +0000

This Moment ~ Garden Harvest

Jennie — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:01:51 +0000

{This Moment} ~ Life is sweet and a blur!

Jennie — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:19:52 +0000

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama

Welcome to my Home Wednesday ~ Mackinac Island

Jennie — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 00:36:10 +0000

We took a trip to the beautiful Mackinac Island for my birthday weekend, so we took the Starline Ferry across Lake Michigan where we had a great view of the Mackinac Bridge.

I enjoyed an evening with my girl at Starbucks while J took the ferry back to retreive his laptop from the car. Doh!

The following day we were busy walking amongst butterflies at the Original Butterfly House.

And riding on a horse drawn carriage tour ride upon Val’s request to RIDE THE HORSES. She was fascinated with the horses as a means of transportation. She yelled from our hotel window when more horses were coming and what colors they were.

We also had great views the entire weekend – ferries, Lake Michigan, the big Mac, sunshine, sunsets….

What a great retreat it was!

Garden updates

Jennie — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 12:00:30 +0000

We went out to my parent’s house yesterday, where our garden is. I spent time out there inspecting, weeding a little bit, and even harvesting the first of the lettuce. I just love my time out there and I can’t wait to be living in my own place in the country (soon… soon)!

Most things in the garden are doing really well! The potatoes are huge but have potato bugs, so J was out picking those. Our peas, beans, carrots, and broccoli are really sporadic and I’m not sure why, but we’ll eat what we get.

Our tomatoes, peppers, and onions are all strong and we have itty bitty tomatoes and peppers growing.

Luckily, my mom planted cucumbers because I think ours were a bust. I know our zucchini is big though!

And I’m growing too! I’ll be 27 weeks pregnant tomorrow!

This Moment – Dirty little face

Jennie — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 11:34:11 +0000

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama

Weeding the garden

Jennie — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 20:41:00 +0000

This Moment

Inspired by Soulemama