32 months in one post

I am not even going to try to cover almost 3 years of living in one post, but it feels like a must to have a catch up post. I think I will have archive posts once in a while so those parts of our story are not lost from here.

So lets start with where we are. Last July 2019, we came home to the house in Florida. The same house we lived in since 2006.

We decided to leave Indiana and return to Brooksville. Alex and Lewis and the babies are all here and even though we did try to visit a few times a year during the 6 years we were in Indiana, its just not as good as Mateo and Lewie seeing each other all the time, getting to see our grands and having all our kids in each others lives.

We also now have a granddaughter who is the absolute cutest and a year and a half old. Her name is Charlotte and she is another strawberry blond. Iggy is now almost 3, Sebastian is 5 and Lewis is 7. How in the world did that even happen so fast? Being in their lives is so worth leaving our beautiful Indiana homestead and its such a blessing to be all together again.

Mateo is now 8. He is currently healing from a broken tibia which happened a few days before Christmas. He is still my baby, still my favorite person to cuddle with and always busy climbing something… after he gets his cast off of course. He is in charge of feeding the dogs and taking care of the chickens.

Olivia is now 11 and just the sweetest girl. She loves to read, knit, help me in the kitchen, go on walks, and she is developing her love of photography. She is in charge of feeding the chickens and always has a book in her hand.

Christopher is my resident farmer and now 14. He is the seed starter, animal caretaker, rabbit manager, and dog trainer. He hopes to add goat wrangler to his resume soon. He is also my shipping department manager for our farm and apothecary business and I don’t know how I would do so much without him.

JP is my man of all trades. He is 16 years old… this may make some of you feel old. It definitely does me. If anything breaks, his name is the one I’m calling, he is the strong shoulder I lean on, and always clever with the comebacks. In the last year he has taken up the guitar and his music is my favorite sound in the house

Veronica is 18…. how in the world did that happen? She is my favorite human. You are allowed to have favorite humans while not having a favorite child right? She is genuinely the sweetest human that ever lived, generous and such a beauty. She is an artist and if you are on Instagram, you may look forward to her chalkboard art as much as I do. She runs a Etsy shop which keeps her so busy creating water color art, calligraphy, stickers, creating logos and so much fun stuff. You can find her Instagram and shop here.

Erica, our resident genius is now 20, soon to be 21. Guys… do you remember these girls wearing their mama made pinafores, running around with dolls and climbing trees? It kills me how fast time goes by but I am also really enjoying getting to be friends with my older kids. They really are just amazing people. Erica is a serial entrepreneur. She is the master thrifter and is a reseller through Poshmark. She also has a Youtube channel where she teachers others how to do social media and become a reseller. You can find her here

Eddie is now 22 and he is still as handy as ever. Between him and JP, we rarely have to call anyone to come and make repairs. He is an HVAC guy now and always working or enjoying the outdoors. I am enjoying being with him again. He moved back to this house a year before we did. It was hard being without him but it made me appreciate having time with him so much more when we finally moved back here. He is my lover of bacon and appreciates any food made. Find him here

Nick is my Tuesday night date most weeks, he is also the reason I stay up way too late watching movies and shows and even though I always regret staying up, I won’t pass it up. He is now 23 and I know our days together are reaching their end. He is sarcastic and opinionated but makes me laugh so hard. After his day job, he works on his art and and I love watching his show on Instagram on Sunday nights. I have learned a lot about rappers I would never hear about if it wasn’t for his interviews. Definitely worth tuning in to. You can find him here

and last but not least on the roster is

Alex… she is a mama of our 4 grandbabies. To say that she makes me proud, is an understatement. Besides being an amazing photographer and so talented, she is the best mother which doesn’t surprise me. She helped me raise this bunch and has it all figured out. Married to the best man besides my own husband and Daddy. Lewis is all about family and we are so blessed to have him in ours. They only live 12 minutes away and we get to see them all the time. You can find here on IG here

On the home front, we have been slowly renovating this house. We only have chickens and rabbits right now but we are planning on bringing back pigs and add goats… maybe. In the spring we will bring back ducks and geese and restock the pond with fish.

As for me, I’m still here sewing, knitting, creating, planting, foraging, cooking, preserving and also still making. I closed my Etsy shops but have two shops on Instagram and working on opening them through Shopify to make things easier for customers to buy what they need without having to wait for a restock post. You can find me in Instagram here, my apothecary shop here and I recently started sharing my polymer clay earrings here. Making earrings is such a creative outlet for me… it has helped me so much during this year. I’m having so much fun making them for customers. Being a maker is part of what makes me who I am. I love making our handmades but the feeling of my handmades going out into the world is the second best feeling!!

You can still expect lots of handmade projects, foraging, natural living, homeschooling, simple living and lots of home improvement for the foreseeable future. Right now I am planning a total kitchen and dining room redo and so excited!!

Ok well that is quite enough for now but I wanted to thank you all so much for all the love and comments in my last post. I can’t even describe how my heart soared with each comment. Knowing that YOU are still here with me, I can’t thank you enough friend.





saying goodbye to our Indiana home

writing scripture on the new livingroom entrance

every room and ceiling in this house has to be painted

our new addition, Phoebe. we kept Alex’s dog because she looks mean (most of the time) and is the sweetest pup who loves all of us

mulch delivery to restart the garden

we missed the ocean
renovating the foyer… by the time we got to the top of this wall, we were 12 feet in the air and it was terrifying
Eddie isn’t scared of heights
the foyer in October
Erica and Veronica
our new homestead guardian, Cora the Border Collie
4 days at Young Living farms in Utah smelling the lavendar, spending time with the farmers and soaking it all in
Easter 2020
the boys and I ripped out the stair carpets and redid them
the stairs decorated for Halloween
spring chalkboard
Ronnie and I at the Gaylord in Tennesse
Saint Augustine beach

boys built in bunkbeds

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