True Love

   I can hardly believe that this is the last week of January! I was going to do a weekend re-cap, but it would really only consist of a basketball game and an impromptu trip out for burgers for the kids last night, so maybe not, ha. Our lives feel kind of boring lately, as the weather just stinks so we're stuck inside most days (and we've given up shopping/trips to the store, etc for 90 days), and we're all a bit, well, grumpy. Homemade pancakes help. :) The following recipe serves as a nice base for several other variations, and they taste SO much better than pouring powder from a box and adding water. Definitely worth the little bit of trouble to make them from scratch. Favorite Pancakes What You'll Need: 2 cups all-purpose flour (I use unbleached) 1 Tbsp granulated sugar 1 tsp baking soda 2 tsp baking powder dash salt 2 eggs 2 cups milk 2 Tbsp vegetable oil (plus more to cook them) mini chocolate chips (or blueberries!) **u...

I have a hard time with labels, so I'm hesitant to label this space "farmhouse," and I've found that I'm also leaning towards a more minimalist mindset, so... hmm, where does that leave me? Farmhouse minimal? Streamlined farmhouse? I'll have to think about that. :) I typically keep things neutral in January, with maybe a few pops of color, partly because I like the clean, fresh slate feeling after Christmas; and partly because there are inevitably a few lingering holiday things that need to get used up or thrown out. I joked on IG that the coffee bar nook is having a slight identity crisis with all the candy canes still hanging around. If you look below, you can see how we sanded down the table leaf on the left- this table is pretty awful BUT it's what we have, and Levi is going to wreak havoc on it for the next few years, so I can't justify purchasing a new one. Anyway, we tried using a Danish oil instead of poly as a sealer and it just p...

Hey friends! Just popping in to share some highlights from our week...or rather, the first week+ of the new year because they've all sort of jumbled together and we don't have our regular rhythm going yet. It's been a hard week (+, ha) but also good. Ah life, why you gotta be so complicated?? Every year, I treat myself to a new flowering plant to celebrate a brand new year, AND to have some color and life around me. This is a hard time of year in New England when we're often simply stuck indoors and everything seems so lifeless and dull. I've been doing this for over a decade now, so you might think I've got quite the assortment of flowering plants. Not so. My green thumb does not extend to indoor plants for some reason, ha! Also, Levi wanted to read with me, so we were both doing some devotional studies. :) And Story Time is back in session at the library...yay! Big changes are on the horizon for this little guy. He's ready (I think), but I'm...

I know I'll regret it if I don't include highlights of our Christmas week even though it feels like it was already such a long time ago...so here goes! December started off with a special trip to the Polar Express at our library. So fun! Lots of special breakfasts and things... We also discovered that this kid loves candy canes, ha! Twinsies! I don't know who was more excited about this, Isabelle or ME!! Levi was pretty happy about matching, too. :) I made good on a promise, at least according to my children, I had denied them this special feast... Elf Spaghetti!!!! Boys in bear hats and sherpa coats = off the charts adorableness!! Special time at Mimi's house... those are my photos on the wall back there! :) He LOVES cutting little snippets of paper with blunt scissors. Santa was supposed to remember that and bring him his own pair. Oops. SURPRISE!!! Ethan came home three days early to surprise us!!! I was so happy. So...