The Plaid Couch and other adventures

I know, I know.

I have been a naughty blogger.

Life has gotten so busy around our little home.

A new baby keeps you so busy...who knew?!

Miss Evelyn turned 5 months old the other day. WOW!

She is nearly 17 lbs and well she never misses a meal.

She is such a joy. Her siblings just adore her.

And she has daddy wrapped around her chubby little finger...Ok mommy too.

We have been working really hard around here. My photography business is picking up quite a bit and we started a new little venture!

The Plaid Couch

Its an etsy store/facebook we will be packing full of vintage housewares, frocks and finds and other unique items that we pick up on our thrifting adventures. We are hoping this extra boost in income can get us get closer to a home that better suits our family. Our current home has been long outgrown. 

Here is to BIG dreams and new ventures!!

In other new adventure news...

It took me some time to come up with my new years resolution. I always break them. And for the most part they tend to fizzle off. So i wanted to be sure this year that i didn't spend energy on something that wasn't going to lead anywhere.

This year i have decided i want to get back to the things i love. Things that bring me joy, but also things that bring others joy. I miss my friends. I miss real non social network relationships. I miss real cards, not E cards. I miss handmade invites not Facebook invites. So this year i am tapping back into real. Real moments, real gathering, real relationships.

I miss those things so much.

I feel so disconnected from the people i love most.

SO i started collecting ideas via pinterest and just well common sense haha.

I am currently planning real get togethers with my friends and family. I picked up new stationary and i am collecting actual mailing addresses. 

We all know i love handmade anything and i also LOVE getting mail. I know others enjoy these things too. So i want to mail more things and make more gifts. 

So there you have it! My new years resolution! 

Do you have a link to great get together ideas, handmade ideas or cool projects?

Please share in the comments section!!

Preparing and Adventuring

Well, child number 4 should be here pretty much any time. We are due in about 2 weeks. My body has been preparing and changing. I have dropped quite a bit and have become extremely uncomfortable. Shouldn't be long now.

I have been in a frenzy to keep the house clean and organized...with very little success. I remember this from when Adeline was coming. I remember telling myself that no matter what she will come. Even if all the laundry has not been put away. Or the floors are dusty. She will come. And it will be ok. She wont remember the dust bunnies or the dirty bathroom sink. I am trying to remember that as much as possible.

Her nursery is all set and ready to go. But it needs to be vacuumed. I must remember to do that. 

Making a note now.

Her little clothes are waiting and i worry there are not enough. 

There are enough.

Her little diapers are all stacked and ready for her little bottom. 

Her curtains are open and the sun is shining in.

Its time i say. But she will probably take her time, just like the other two.

With all the waiting i decided to take the little ones on a impromptu mini vacation up north to my in laws cottage. 

Oh how i love the beach. 

It was so nice to give them one last hurrah before little sister gets here.

They were both little stinkers most of the trip. But i tried to just block it out and enjoy the water and the woods. Got some knitting done and lots of walking. I was hoping all the walking would get the baby right in locked and loaded position. Not sure if it helped.

The morning  view from my bedroom

 Lumbermans monument

 AuSable river

 Exploring

We visited the AuSable river and Lumbermans Monument. The kids had a blast climbing what i think was like 275 stairs with my inlaws. I had a blast enjoying a half hour of interrupted silence on a bench near the woods while they climbed the stairs. I mainly sat there with my eyes closed just taking in the sounds. It was a glorious half hour ha! 

It was such a great little last minute, last summer trip. I came back exhausted but it was totally worth it.

Summer Bucket List

Summer is finally upon us and we are loving every minute of it.

We started very slowly working on some homeschooling. The first day was a huge failure. I lost the math book and Jeremiah broke down crying. But we have done a few days of it. Like i said very slowly going. Not sure if it will be for us. But we are trying.

We have a list of things we have been working on that we want to do this summer. And we have been checking them off nicely. 

Baby Evelyn Jean (Officially announcing her name) is due in less than 8 weeks!! So i have been trying to get the kids out and about before we will have to take a break.

I feel so much more confident as a mother this year. I used to be terrified to go any where alone with the kids. Like i wouldn't be able to handle it or something. Jer is just a home body and me and the kids are movers and shakers. Now that they are older and can really help each other out on trips, i feel much more confident to head out exploring the world. I feel we finally have some sort of routine and planning that takes place. I finally stopped forgetting the diaper bag and everything we need. Maybe its because we don't have a diaper bag hahaha. But we will soon! AHH! 

I have vowed to no longer be that person who thinks i cannot go anywhere until my baby is at least 4-5 months old. I am just going to wear her everywhere we go. And we will set out on many explorations. These kids are growing WAY too fast to wait until Mommy is ready.

I am so glad we have been making our way through our bucket list so smoothly. 

Beach!!! Was definitely on the list!

On my bucket list for this summer was to knit more. Especially for Evelyn. I wasted no time these last few days. I stayed away from the computer at night and instead sat in bed with the hubs and knitted. And then enjoyed my morning coffee with knitting as well.

Another thing i just really really wanted to learn so that i could teach the girls when they got older is canning. I gave a go to it yesterday and it was a HUGE success. I walked around the rest of the day with a permanent smile. My kitchen is still covered in Strawberry stickiness. But i don't even mind. The kids and i went to the berry patch and picked 7 lbs of strawberries. It felt so good to know that we would be turning these into something we will be eating for months to come. I brought them home and froze them until i could gather enough stuff to can with. Between great friends and family and a super awesome score of my new (used) water bather at goodwill i was ready to go!

We have been so busy already this summer it seems. I am not complaining though. It keeps my mind off being huge and pregnant. And it sure makes this pregnancy seem to fly by. We have so many more things on our list i hope we are able to get to them all.

Our Bucket List

Beach

Picnic in the park

Zoo Trip

Impression 5 Trip

Visit Nana and Papa's pool often

Plant Garden

Harvest Yummy good from the garden

Bike Riding around town

Hollan Farmers Market

Holland Aquatic Center

Camping

Lots of Bonfires

Learn to Can

Homeschooling

Go Berry Picking

Paint Backyard fence with fun pictures

Visit Nana and Papa's Cottage

Send hand written letters to friends and family

Visit Charlotte Farmers Market Often

Paint a new picture on a canvas for Mommy's wall

Baby Evelyn Welcomed home

So far that is just some of our plans. We keep adding more!

Berry Picking!

Oh what fun!

Adeline and i decided to go berry picking the other day.

Neither of us had ever been. I knew we wouldn't have a whole lot of time but wanted to give it a try.

We headed out to the closest strawberry farm we could find. It was SO hot and i learned really fast bending over wasn't about to happen for me. Being 7 months along it made for a difficult time.

So i gave Adeline her own little basket and let her have at it. I just followed along with the camera and chatted with her while she experienced it.

She just turned 3 and let me tell you almost over night she changed. She is such a chatter box. I just listened while i baked in the sun ha!

We paid our $1.27 for our yummy berries about a half hour after starting and headed home.

We are going back later this week. We MUST get more of these.