change is a beautiful thing.

As I returned from the grocery this afternoon, with two sleeping babies in the back seat, I was taken aback by the view of our little home in the woods.  Four and a half years, two babies, countless projects, and finally this little house is feeling so much like a home! There are days when I love this house, and days when I can't wait to get out.  In some ways it's too small, others too big!

I'm not much of a landscaper, but I love that these beautiful zinnias have been so abundant this year, such a beautiful reminder of the beauty we saw in this old dilapidated house we bought just a few years ago!  I mean, just look at the change!

We have no idea how much longer we'll call The Little Blue House our home, but until then we are soaking up all the memories we've made and continue to make within these walls!

Porch Progress.

So I realized recently that we never shared our new screened in porch.  I didn't do a very good job of documenting the process...but I was able to find a few pictures to show you!  

I found this photo from July. 

Dan did such an amazing job getting the railing up before Caleb's birthday party!  After the railing was up, the screening process didn't take too long.  But then the garden and yard took priority. 

Then later this fall, Dan re-built the steps!  Unfortunately, the steps will need to "cure" over the winter so we'll have to wait until spring to paint them white.

We cleaned up the flower beds this past weekend and planted some new bulbs, I'm excited to share pictures of the FINISHED project this spring with all the flowers in bloom!

And just to refresh your memory, here's a little before!!

filling our pantry

It's been a busy summer around here as we've worked hard to fill our pantry and freezer with as much produce as possible! The left side is this year's produce, and the right what remains of last year's.

Here's what we've canned so far:

- rhubarb-strawberry jam

- blueberry jam

- pickled hot peppers

- pickled onions

- squash/onion relish

- mustard beans

- dilly beans

- bread and butter pickles

- pickled beets

- beet relish

- green beans

- marinara sauce

- corn salsa

- peaches

- sauerkraut

- grape jelly

And we've frozen:

- strawberries

- blueberries

- raspberries

- blueberry jam

- onions

- zucchini

- fajita packets (peppers & onions)

- corn

- pizza sauce

There's still so much left to do before the season's end, but it feels good to have all this food prepped for the upcoming winter!

around here.

It's been a busy summer around here.  Here's a little re-cap... (click on the links for full posts)

Finished our chicken coop.
Our baby turned ONE!
Made a BIG announcement!
Spent the day at the lake with friends.
A video of Caleb's first year.
Celebrated our boy's first birthday with a party!
Got our first egg!!
Lots of growing going on in our garden.
Visited the Children's Museum while my friend Jess was in town.

Also, see our weekly "the 52 project" photos here.

2014 garden // mid July

This has been a slow season for our garden.  It's mid-July and we're getting a few cucumbers every day or two, a couple of peas, and a sparse amount of broccoli.  Raspberries have been pretty consistent for the past few weeks, but they're now dwindling. The weather has been incredibly mild the past two weeks which has basically stalled everything.   Though there is still a lot of green in our garden, we're practicing patience as there are lots and lots of flowers which mean those veggies are coming...we just don't know when! 

turnips

corn

tomatoes

peppers

cucumbers

cabbage

broccoli

green beans

volunteer sunflower & squash in compost

more volunteer squash in compost

golden raspberries

 ever-bearing strawberries

echinacea 

My birthday Gerber daisy has bloomed two times already this summer which has been a wonderful surprise as I've never been able to keep these beauties alive longer than a few weeks!

This has been a bit of a frustrating year for our garden.  We spent a lot of time planning this spring and started many of our plants from seed early in order to spread out our harvest.  Unfortunately, much of our planning has been useless as many of those early seedlings didn't make the transfer, or were eaten by the loads of robins on our property.  Because of this, we ended up direct-sowing much of our garden later than expected.  

I guess the lesson we've learned this year is that no matter how much you plan and prepare your garden, much of it is out of your hands!!

Here's hoping the weather warms up and our veggies start making an appearance on our dinner table!!!

2014 Garden // May

This year we thought it would be fun to take weekly photos of our garden to show the growth over the summer.  We set up a tripod in our bedroom and each Sunday morning, we snap a photo.  Nothing is staged, as you can see, but I think it's fun to see the progress over the past month that we've made in our growing garden.  I'm especially amazed at how quickly the leaves on the tree in the foreground appeared.  

May 4th 

May 11th 

 May 18th

May 25th

Hopefully we'll be able to keep this up over the summer, it's amazing to see just how quickly things grow and change.

summer goals + nature love

Summer goals 2014:
cut down trees
build chicken coop
build deck

This weekend, my parents came to help us cut down a few trees that we've been meaning to take care of for quite a while.  One tree in particular was at the top of our priority list as it needs cut down before we can start to build our deck.

It didn't take long to cut down and clean up the trees.  The weather was perfect for a bonfire to burn all the brush, so we spent much of the afternoon in the back yard slowly feeding the fire and exploring with Caleb.

Thankful for parents who are willing to help us with such tasks and enjoy spending the day outside with us!!  Thanks Mom & Dad!!! XOXO

Moving Up!

We've moved!!!!!

While Dan was away last week, my mom and I finished the master bedroom and moved up!

The week before his trip, Dan finished the trim upstairs and installed the closet organizer and we had the carpet installed on the stairs.

On Monday, after we spent countless hours deep cleaning what felt like inches of dust and filth from years of renovations, we sanded and painted the trim, cleaned again, then hemmed and hung curtains.

Then Tuesday, my mom brought up two great hand-me-down dressers {actually they were my brother and I's childhood dressers} and that lovely wooden pack-n-play.  I love how the different kinds of wood look with the light blue and white.

Next we carried baskets of clothes up and filled the closets and dressers.  Then, in a moment of craziness, we carried pushed the mattress and boxspring upstairs while the baby napped.

Later in the week, I made a bedskirt for the bed with the the second curtain from the diy upholstered headboard project.  Look for details later this week.

It feels amazing to finally be in the room we've been dreaming about for 2 years!  The other night as we were falling asleep, Dan and I marveled at the fact that the only things left on our to-do list are cosmetic!  That means we are done with major renovations!!  Ahh, feels amazing!

Remember when it looked like this!! Yuck!