Making A Home And Family

This past week we spent a lot of time gearing up for all of our Halloween festivities.  On Friday, we spent the evening at my sister’s house having dinner and carving pumpkins.  I bought one of those carving kits, and I enjoyed learning how to use it (one should read the instructions).  Val enjoyed pulling out the “guts” and putting them back in, and it kept her busy while I tried to carve.

We also painted some pumpkins at home with finger paints, which she just loved doing.  She went right into the tub afterwards!

The day of Halloween was a busy one with my little Elmo!  We went to James’ parent’s house, my parent’s house, and then we went to my sister’s so Val could trick-or-treat with her cousins.  It turned into me pushing her in the stroller, and her having a crew walking behind her but it was okay.  She just sat there the entire time kind of expression-less.  Next year, I am hoping she has a little more fun with it.

And since she doesn’t eat candy yet, we are packaging up our candy and sending it to a soldier deployed in Afghanistan.  :)

I hope you all had Happy Halloweens!  What did you or your little ones dress up as this year?

It was 8 years ago yesterday that I said, “I do” to my best friend.

We’ve seen high school, college, military life, moving “back home,” buying a home, and starting a family together.  There have been downs, but there have been so many ups too.

For our honeymoon, and a few fall getaways, we have gone north to see the colors of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  It is beautiful in the fall! On our honeymoon, it even snowed in October!  This year, it was almost 70* while we played on the beach with Val, went to see a waterfall, and rode on a sunset boat tour of Pictured Rocks.

No way could I have imagined this is what it would be like returning 8 years later, and in no way would I change it!  I am so blessed in this life. <3

This last week has been amazingly busy, but in the best way.  It’s been filled with family, smiles, blessings, baby snuggles….

I have learned that it really does take a village to raise a child (even if the child is the most calm and resilient little being I’ve ever met).

Because….

In these last few days, I have learned how important it is that welcoming a baby is a holstic event.  In order for the baby to be content, he must be fed and clean.  In order for him to be fed and clean, the mama must be rested enough for caring for him and nourished enough to make milk.  In order for the mama to be rested and nourished, friends and family must care for her.

Yes, I said it.  The mama needs to be cared for!

In our culture, we want to be “okay” by ourselves.  We don’t want to ask for help, and we certainly don’t want others to wait on us.  But in order for a mama to do her best, her focus needs to be on her new baby.  She has spent the last 9 months carrying him around, a full day or more laboring for his arrival, and days (or sometimes weeks) recovering from birth.

She has worked so hard!

The mama needs love, rest, and nourishment.

I hope that I have been caring for the new family enough, so that they can be rested, relaxed, and content as new parents.  Do you have any ideas to share about how I can care for them?   What things did others do for you after the arrival of a baby that meant the most?

PS – The intent of this update and the update itself were two different things.  It sort of wrote itself, so I am just assuming it needed to be said.

I hesitated updating yesterday in hopes that I would have pictures of a new nephew to share, but he fooled me.  He certainly likes where he is right now, and wasn’t ready to be welcomed into the world just yet.

This past week has been filled with excitement knowing that his arrival would be SOON.  Nesting seemed to become a family affair to make sure our houses were clean, laundry was caught up, and food was stocked so when the little bundle arrived none of that would be stressful.  We could just revel in the little miracle.

Our little stubborn miracle sure has put our lives into a little bit of a whirl.  An exciting of whirl of “whens” and “ifs.”

Hopefully I will have news to share soon!  Please keep my sister and nephew in your thoughts as she welcomes another son into the world.

Yesterday, I cleaned out most of my garden.  Val and I picked all of the green tomatoes off of the plants and we are going to attempt ripening them in wrapped newspaper in the basement.  I was going to experiment with hanging one of the plants upside down in the basement as well, but my little helper couldn’t resist picking the fruit and putting it in the bag.  Oh well – maybe next year!

Today, we were gifted some potatoes.  Pounds and pounds of them!!  I am in the process of sorting through them.  The good ones will go into the basement for storage as well.  I’m loving that we’ll have some produce from gardens into the heart of fall and winter.

Happy Autumn, everyone!  I hope your harvest is just as bountiful.

We have been enjoying a lot of Fall activities already!  These things include:

Watching my nephew play flag football while Val and her girl cousins play in the dirt.

Watching the garden come to the end of its season.  I now have herbs drying, a sunflower drying, and I am learning about how to save seeds for next year.  I have tomato seeds already set in an envelope for the spring.  And I’m still working on getting some tomatoes into the freezer.

Watching the sun change too – the days are getting shorter, the shadows are changing, and it’s cooler outside.

I’ve been enjoying the chill though.  I can indulge in Pumpkin Spice Lattes, or Mocha Lattes, or Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie Lattes.  Be sure to peruse the site a little more if you like lattes too and want to try making them at home.  I’m featuring a coffee recipe each day this week!

What Fall activities are you up to?

This past week I spent time making a monthly menu, writing up a huge list for the store, cleaning cupboards, and scrubbing down the fridge.  Our house looked (and felt) a little bit empty after the purge and cleaning out of opened, stale, and science-experiment like items.

{The Very Clean Fridge}

It makes me really content when everything is clean, but it makes me feel even better when the fridge is stocked and the cupboards are overflowing.

How do you grocery shop?  Buy what looks good, buy weekly, stock up monthly?