August Fields

Photo Recap of the end of 2017.

As a way to do a quick ‘catch up’, I am posting several pictures of our happenings during the last months of 2017.  I often hide moments in my heart and head and try to forever imprint them there….but they do fade.  So here is a recap:

A trip to the Children’s Museum.  Reading in the car, holding his lovey or ‘ZooZoo’ (his grey and white zebra lovey).

     

 

Thanksgiving tablescape and shelf decor.  We dipped leaves into a small crockpot that now permanently houses beeswax.  Those leaves were scattered down the middle of the table with a wooden cake stand, brass candlesticks and eucalyptus.  White mums, cabbage and kale filled the front urns.

     

We bought a golf cart, which I promptly name Gloria.  We took Gloria rides everyday until the snow fell. Riding around the property got me outside and further from the house more than ever and allowed me to see the sunset from various perspectives.

Our school routine has changed drastically this year.  I had started pulling back, scaling down and doing less outside activities beginning in the spring of 2017.  So this year we are having a very rich Morning/Bible time all together most days. We read aloud (so far we’ve finished Trumpet of the Swan, Across Five April and are concluding Five Little Peppers). The yellow poster board is a running plot, character, event chart to help us all remember what is happening to who and where during our read alouds. This particular picture is our 5 year old, Abe, reciting the poem My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Birthdays.  Our 3 oldest boys have birthdays within a month of each other so we are in birthday mode up until Thanksgiving!  I am completely smitten with balloon arches.  You’ll see them at every party from now on.  You need:  Two different sizes of balloons, clear fishing line and a needle.  Blow the balloons up.  Tie them off.  Thread the fishing line into the “tail” of each balloon!  We set up an assembly line and whip these babies out in under an hour.                                                         

The Christmas season includes heading to our local farmer’s market in the Township Center and watching the ‘Tree Lighting’ ceremony. You do see that my son, who turned 13 that day, is now taller than me?!

 

Family Pictures by the amazing Kelly Braman

We decorated our tree at home.  I watched a few youtube videos on ribbon toppers and went full tilt on the ribbon tree toppers this year!

I also decorated our office for our first Christmas in the new building.  Yes, more ribbon toppers, ribbon and picks. 

Holiday Parties at home, and in the city.

On Christmas morning, I go downstairs, make coffee, put 2 quiches in the oven and light the fireplace. My husband and I wait downstairs until all the kids are on the steps together…THEN we take a picture THEN they can come down :).  Tradition.

Jammies this year were from Old Navy (older 3) and Primary (younger 4).

2017 had one big inside building project.  Bookshelves!  These were walls that had built ins on the original building plans in 2009 but we took out for budget reasons.  Well this was the year!  I sketched out what I wanted and here you see the first part being installed.  They turned out beautifully and will post an update. We are avid readers and the consumption of books only continuous to increase as the children grow older.  I love it! Having baskets and shelves of books readily available to young and old is a gift.

Some indoor winter school day happenings. Block towers and play doh. Lots and lots of play doh.

     

 

August Fields Garden 2017

We put our garden in this year, Memorial Day weekend.  So many weeds pulled, dirt turned and fingernails dirtied. It was a team effort.  
The kids were all so helpful and wow….having more older kids makes a huge difference in what can be accomplished.  It’s not that more is accomplished, it’ that different, more complicated things can be accomplished. Like a garden!
Here is Jack, our almost 11 year old.  He drives the tractor and brush hogs the long grass and pushes dirt around where I want to grow wild flowers.

Ian and Isaac.  Pulling weeds, turning dirt.  The beds were rota tilled several times each.  This year I added a grass killer/fertilizer.  I know, all my organic dreams crushed, but we needed some serious intervention!

This little man added two scoops of veggie food to each tomato plant.

Every time he picks a flower and brings it to me, he adds a kiss on the cheek.  Please slow down time!

Cars hat, Paw Patrol garden gloves, red boots.  Do you know how I loathed character clothing items for my older kids…of course by child 6 a few items here or there are adorable. 🙂

Our new kitty…. JoJo.  Or as our youngest calls her, baby JoJo.

We are constantly trimming branches!  

 The garden – June 2017.  Since putting the garden in (2011)  we have added a water line, cut from a sprinkler line. This allows us to have a hose down there.  It is also in need of a little repair.  Some of acheter viagra the door hinges are loose and some netting has ripped.

 I have also added 4 brackets, each with a wind chime.  It really does seem to deter animals.

 Tomatoes!

 Peppers, beans, cucumbers, snap peas and corn. The other side has Tomatoes, basil, zucchini, squash and more corn.

Scaling Down

I think that every person goes through ups and downs.  They can be physical or emotional,  spiritual or relational.

I’ve certainly experienced this in each of these areas throughout my whole life!

Physical.  Well, 7 pregnancies and births should explain the ups and downs there. 🙂  My physical body has changed tremendously and gone all over the scales, sizes and measuring tapes.

Emotional.  If you can breath and are reading this, I know you can relate.  We were created with an desire to glorify something.  Because of this it can sway from focusing on glorifying God, to pridefully glorifying ourselves, work, things or others.  Throw in love from our heavenly Father and love to and from other people and wow…..just to remain emotionally stable takes work!

Spiritual and relational ups and downs easily fit into our lives too.

Even physical stuff.  Material items.  You’ve witnessed me purge through over half our house and I have a tendency to bring bags to donate or consign wherever I go.  I feel better with

less.

stuff.

I am also in a point in my life where the gift of motherhood is in full gear.  Having a baby and having older (teens) at the same time deserves an entire section in the bookstore.  Throw in physical, spiritual, emotional and relational stability.

I am able to function best in all these areas when I keep things simple.

August Fields Co.  was an amazing adventure and I loved every minute of it.  But it’s time to close shop.  A business deserves attention that I can’t give it right now, and quite frankly the desire to give it the attention it needs is not there.  I am so thankful to each and every person who purchased an item and encouraged me in this endeavor.

Less social media, less emails, less paperwork, less stuff.

I am really hoping that some of the changes I am making will help me to walk a more balanced path in my life.  I completely understand that life will have ups and downs that I cannot control.  Yet, I truly believe that intentionally simplifying in a way that makes me uncomfortable and is hard, will be for the better.

The National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. Our Trip Down South.

Last week we arrived home from a week and half trip down south.  It was wonderful but took a twist. The trip was planned to have its finale on Hilton Head Island with my entire side of the family.  We left on a Tuesday and on Wednesday received word that Hurricane Matthew was going to affect our trip beginning with a mandatory evacuation of HHI.  This in turn, forced my mom (the master vacation planner) to cancel our reservations.  Bummer!

Since our family was already packed and on the road we ended up rerouting to Florida (more on that in a later post).

Our first stop was to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

Highly recommended.  Awesome viagra pas cher for ALL ages.  You can easily spend from 2 hours to all day there.  And drumroll please…..its FREE!

We made a quick pit stop to ChickFilA mostly because it seems to be all the rage and we currently don’t have one close to us.  It was fine.  But still fast food.  So now we can say we’ve been to Chick Fil A.

On to the museum.  It is very easy to get to and ample parking (free).  We went on a Tuesday around 2pm and spent 3 hours there.

I must say Ike was a hero on this trip.  He loads up all the luggage, does all the driving, makes all reservations and goes with the flow.  He repeatedly retrieved the stroller from the cartop carrier and I had to snap this picture to remember. 🙂

Since we only had 3 hours at the museum, we hightailed it to the fourth and newest hangar.  This is the one that houses a historic collection of presidential aircraft.

There are several you can walk through but please note: the walkways are very narrow!  We easily left the stroller at the entrance, no problem.  The aisles are glassed off for viewing.

It was intriguing to see the press seats, meeting rooms, command offices, beds, kitchens, cock pits.  Enormous amounts of history to absorb through reading, seeing and experience.

Also in the fourth hangar is the Space Gallery which was a highlight for this little guy who wants to be an astronaut and a farmer when he grows up.  This was a hands on virtual flight area that allowed you to view your flight on the screen.  We saw satellites, shuttles, missiles, and more!

17 months of cuteness who holds that little lovey almost always.

There is also a large gift shop and book store area.  We will return for sure and spend time in another area of the museum.  There are volunteers at almost every aircraft and roaming around to answer questions.  We spoke with a former Air Force Airman who lived in California and drew maps for war pilots.  This is why you could spend all day there… the stories they tell are a true history lesson!  Last year over 550 volunteers gave their time to this museum.

Loose Leaf Tea Time.

For the past few months a friend of mine has been hosting an IF table at her home for 5 women.  We eat a beautifully prepared dinner, share how the Lord is working in our lives, ask for prayers, pray and study God’s word.  During the final hour of the evening we are all treated to deliciously aromatic and flavorful tea.  Loose leaf and steeped in this pot. Which, out of necessity, I now own. 
Today I ventured into our local tea shop and asked several questions.  I inhaled the fragrance of tea flavors that I never even knew existed!  The labels on the jars now make sense, I understand how they are sorted on the shelves and am confident that all flavors of Rooibos (roy-bos) tea are phenomenal.  
Here are my selections:  Madagascar Vanilla Rooibos, Hot Cinnamon Spice (caffeinated), NuTeaLa (it has actual mini chunks of chocolate in it!), Honeybush Hazelnut, Lavender, Tumeric Ginger, and Very Vanilla.  

The options are endless!  I’m not sure if its proper ‘tea protocol’ to mix the leaves together to create a new flavor…. but I did.  I mixed Very Vanilla and Lavender.  So delicious.  If I’m making only one cup I use this individual infuser.

Today I did not have any coffee.  I’m hoping to replace my frequent stops at a particular coffee chain with the joy of preparing a delicious pot of tea to share or a cup of tea for myself.  Do you tea?  
 I heart planning and tea Tote 
This would be a perfect pairing with some new teas.  
What are your favorite flavors?  I must know!