The Happyish Homestead

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

You Know When You Look At Other People’s Lives….

and they’re like:

we went hiking for 15 miles with twelve kids, eight of who belonged to a neighbor but I just love kids! and nobody cried

we had a silly string war with just the boys {hi Jamie!} and it was so FUN

I whipped up matching outfits for four children and did a photo shoot and I didn’t cause bodily harm to anyone

my husband reno-ed our whole bathroom while I was away on a girl’s weekend

or

my kids have willlingly given up TV, video games, and sugar because they really want to be better people?

And you’re like:

my kids are jumping on the trampoline that I begged off of a neighbor four years ago and I bought them a cheap bottle of dish soap to pour on it so when the sprinkler is on under it it’s like a red-neck slip and slide

and you’re pretty sure your child’s runny nose was caused by sneaking a piece of candy from off the carpet under the vending machines at Toys R Us where you were because you were kinda tired of your kids destroying your house

and you feel pretty lame?

Me too.

So, in an effort to rally my self esteem, Bryce and I took our kids down to Ashland

{note: any pre-conceived notions you have about Oregon being over run with hippies, mullets, bare feet, children where you’re not really sure if they’re male or female, free-gans, vegans, or people who play the accordion for a ‘living’, can all be found in Ashland.}

for a kid friendly International Talk Like a Pirate Day get-together.

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One of the local bookstores hosted it.

There was a treasure hunt where we had to go to various shops and the kids did things like: find the mermaid, get tattoos and mustaches, walk the plank, declare their pirate name, recite the pirate anthem, and make a pirate flag.

It was actually really fun.

The kids eventually warmed up to random pedestrians talking to them like pirates and soon learned to respond with a growl.

We even received a $20 gift certificate to the bookstore for the best pirate family.

{It probably didn’t hurt that we had the largest numbers…by a.lot.}

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And in case you thought I might be home-schooling my children this year.

Which I’m not.

But it’s fine if you do that sorta thing.

I just don’t.

But embrace it if you do.

But don’t expect that from me.

But I totally support your efforts…

Back to school pictures.

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And so it’s just me and these charmers.

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And Libby cut her first tooth.

I know you were all anxiously awaiting that announcement.

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Spencer wearing the ‘itchy’ wool scarf he and I made while doing his workbook.

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Katie

Monday, September 21, 2015

Not A Model

or a model like life.

But I try.

I saw this outfit in my Pinterest trolling.

and thought I’d sew it up and replicate the modeling:

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I know!

We’re like twins separated at birth.

Except I already have a twin….

and this isn’t her.

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It was fun and Bryce humored me.

And Adeline kept asking if I was posting this on craigslist.

And Elizabeth’s like, of course she’s not, why would Mom want to sell herself?

It’s a charmed life I tell you.

Katie

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

While String Beans Are Pressure Cooking and Cucumbers Are Pickling

and the kids are all asleep, I thought I’d take a moment to blog.

I might also be putting off going to sleep.

Bryce is out of town and I may be ever so slightly convinced that we have

a ghost.

Or that previous owners of the home are complete morons.

I think both are pretty plausible.

I’m hoping it’s the latter.

Because, again, the other alternative is a haunted house.

Which no one really wants.

Unless you’re in Hollywood getting paid millions of dollars for the use of your house to film a horror movie.

Anyway….

Monday morning, {the exact morning Bryce was scheduled to leave for five days, and it was the week before school started and soccer practice began and Libby started teething} at 5:30 am, before the sun was up, there was incessant, obnoxious, pretty loud beeping happening through out the house.

Sounding a lot like a smoke detector.

Mainly in the vicinity of the kitchen.

Specifically?

The kitchen ceiling.

Which houses one “vintage” exhaust fan, a pretty awesome chandelier and a battery operated smoke detector {which we had taken down months ago due to our bacon habit}.

We turned off the power.

Nothing.

Dismantled the fan.

Still constant beeping.

Right in our ears.

Took apart some of the ceiling.

And the beeping stopped.

For about three minutes.

And started right back up again.

For a.while.

And I may have felt slightly panicked thinking about busting holes in the ceiling looking for who knows what frantically trying to get it to stop before all children were awake before the sun, and listening to it all morning long till I could find I don’t know a necromancer? electrician? to find out what in the *&%^ was making that beeping sound.

And then all of a sudden, it was quiet.

And haven’t heard it again.

So….

ghost?

Or did someone actually encase a smoke detector in the house between a ceiling and a floor?

I don’t know, guys.

Open to ideas or sympathy or babysitting….

{P.S. If any weirdos out there reading this think it would be a good idea to come over uninvited, I’m warning you, I’m sleep deprived and I.will.cut.you. K?}

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Libby is four months old!?

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I love this one, Meg was talking to her.

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One good shot and then…

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these.

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Going,

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going,

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gone.

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And some Sunday morning Twister.

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And this fun surprise when I came in from the garden the other morning.

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And the winner of the lap quilt: Starr

And the winner of the table runner: Michelle T

Email me your addresses so I can get those in the mail….soonish.

Katie