Whew! That's a wrap.

I've loved every minute of being Kaylyn's room mom for her class. Its been super fun!

One of our tasks as room mom is to coordinate our class project for our big fundraiser. Its a festival of sorts complete with a live auction in which they auction off each of the class projects. Projects range from thumb-printed picnic tables, gift baskets, trunks with hand prints, and mosaic bird baths. The goal is to incorporate the students as much as possible in the actual project.

I chose to do a "Dick & Jane" theme. I LOVE Dick & Jane and old vintage fabrics. I had some on hand including some sock monkey fabric, so it worked out perfectly. I wanted our project to be unique and appeal to more moms than just in our class.

The students decoupaged the desk with fabric cut-outs and paper alphabets. We used Modge Podge. I seriously am in LOVE with Modge Podge. I want to decoupage my entire house now. Its fun stuff!

I painted the top portion with chalkboard paint so it can be written on as well!




They also applied buttons to clothes pins for our chicken wire bulletin board made out of an old window. I took pictures of the students on the playground at school to display in the window.


And lastly, I made this apron as an accessory. I just used Heat N Bond for the appliques and pockets. Its super easy to use and I'm equally in love with Heat N Bond. Its a major time savor.


I also tried my hand at sewing for the very first time. Jason bought me a sewing machine and this is the result of that- a Dick & Jane chair cushion. I will admit its a bit on the small side, but I didn't have a pattern and didn't consider the seam in the fabric nor the actual filling. So, I set my perfectionism aside long enough to appreciate the fact that I actually sewed something. I complicated things by adding the fringe between the two fabrics, but I had to have it!


We had a few other accessories that Kaylyn's teacher made (a decoupaged clipboard) and another mom made (a terra cotta pot painted with chalkboard paint and filled with chalk). These were all precious too!

So that's what I've been up to this week among a plethora of other things.

A whirlwind of sorts!

Let's see.

Since my last post an unreal amount of stuff has happened. Is anyone else's life on fast forward???

The Lord is doing some deep things within my heart, our family, and farm. Its been hard for me to just sit down and update on the happenings of life when my life is being restored and renewed in so many wonderful ways (He is not quite done with me yet), but my choice was to either sit down and update or let you continue to think I was abducted- because, you know you thought that.

I celebrated my 28th birthday.

We've had some baby calves.


Construction has started on our new addition to our house. There will be two rooms with closets when its all said and done. We are super excited about this and will have so much room when Ruthie gets here!


We've had 3 litters of piglets- and then lost an ENTIRE litter due to ONE narcoleptic pig. Needless to say, she is a goner and will be no longer residing with us on the farm!



We received another shipment in of baby broiler chicks- 250 of them!


Construction is underway on the farm store. We are adding a commercial kitchen, a bathroom (for all of the visitors), and jazzing it up a bit.


Our large flock of layers are out in the big pasture as opposed to the little one by our house. They are loving every minute of it too! Do you see this large coop with banner? We get more questions asked and this draws more attention to anything else that we have on the farm. People are fascinated seeing this many chickens on pasture. Everyone wants to know if they go back in their houses at night. And the answer to that is yes!



The farm is really doing well! We've seen God's provision in major ways and we are humbled by Him choosing to bless us in this way. We are excited to see what this Spring and Summer holds as things start picking up around here.


We are attempting our hand at the square-foot gardening method. Last year was ridiculous competing with the weeds. And our soil is not great to say the least. So we are starting from scratch and bringing in our own soil and compost in raised beds. If you are new to gardening or have even been gardening for a while but want to try something new, square-foot gardening is for you!

My girls are still as cute as ever!

Breakfast Beauty

Kaylyn literally hopped out of the buggy and said,"Mommy, take a picture of me!" And then she posed as any good poser would do.

I need to get caught up on some posts about my enormous growing belly, our class project that is due this week (YIKES!), and lots of other stuff.

Happy Birthday My Love!

We've celebrated 9 years of birthdays together and the depth of my love for you has grown each passing year.

Thank you for.....

looking to Jesus and His guidance to lead this family

being our protector

loving us more than you love yourself

being a man of integrity

blessing me with three girls that I get to be home with every single day

I love living this life with you. It is a joy to live alongside you here on this earth. I'm so thankful the Lord picked me as your helpmate. Our family is stronger in Christ because of you.

I hope your day is filled with all of the wonderful things you love.

Happy Birthday My Love!

Laney Rae's Shark!

I was cleaning the floors yesterday with my Shark (that I'm still in love with) and Laney Rae discovered she had a Shark too! She was absolutely precious. Every single room I went into, she followed with her "popper".

Back and forth she'd slide her popper across the floor totally focused and so proud of her accomplishments.

Shark vs. Popper- who will win?

25 Random Things

If you have a Facebook account you know about the latest "25 things" craze floating around. I was tagged a bunch of times and I have less than 100 friends on Facebook.

Since I actually took the time to follow suit and write down my random things, I thought I'd go ahead and put on the blog too. I like a good list. I also love the fact that I had previously created a label that this blog entry fits perfectly into labeled "Lynsey's Randomness."

Here it goes......

1. I’m random. Let’s just get this one out of the way. My brain goes 90 miles an hour and I have a tendency to blurt out whatever random thought or question that comes to mind no matter how insane it is.
2. Jason and I met and married all within the same year……when you know, you know.
3. I have a deep phobia of mayonnaise (and Miracle Whip for that matter). I had a horrific experience with it as a child. If you ask, I’ll tell.
4. I’ve never ever had my eyebrows professionally waxed. I wax them myself.
5. I love to take naps watching golf or Nascar. Its so relaxing to me!
6. Up until about 10 years ago, I would NEVER look at my face/self in a mirror with the light on. I used to put my make-up on in the dark…..how weird is that???? I had major insecurity issues. God is so good! Can you even imagine the make-up lines that must have been present???
7. I was an athlete in high school and a total volleyball chick. Since I graduated in 1999, I haven’t really worked out or ran much. I regret getting so out of shape! This is probably one of the biggest regrets in life- falling off the work-out wagon.
8. I didn’t graduate from college. I quit two years into it after we married and knew the Lord was calling me to be a stay-at-home wife and mommy.
9. I was obsessed with dolphins as a child and teenager. I wanted to be a Marine Biologist so badly when I grew up so I could swim with dolphins daily.
10. Up until we moved to the farm three years ago, I never had planted one single plant, baked a loaf of bread, pulled an egg out of a chicken’s hiney hole, or driven a tractor. I’m learning as I go and not afraid to ask for help.
11. Jason and I moved 7 times in the first 7 years of marriage….super hard!
12. I secretly LOVE rap music and techno/club music. There is something about a good bass beat that rocks my socks! Too bad the lyrics are so poopy in some of the songs!
13. I am a social butterfly. I love having people over to my house or going to where people are at.
14. I’m a research buff! I love to learn new things and look up practically anything and everything I don’t know the answer to, but want to learn. I have friends and family who call me to ask me to “look into” (aka…research) things for them.
14. I love coffee! I can drink it anytime of day.
15. I washed trucks (the big kind) with my dad on weekends when I was a teenager. He has the most incredible work ethic and did whatever it took to keep the bills paid. He’s amazing.
16. I love to eat out. It’s a real treat for me. And it doesn’t matter where it is- Cici’s Pizza or Macaroni Grill. I love them all! This presents a big problem having a husband who hates to eat out and also interferes with us trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
17. I’m the most awful story and joke teller. I have no skills in this area.
18. I most happy when Jason, the girls, and I are together. It doesn’t matter what we are doing- watching a moving, eating dinner, riding around in the pasture, or on vacation.
19. I hate abortion. HATE it.
20. Being a mommy and wife suits me just fine. There is no greater profession or job I’d rather have right now and I’m definitely not a 9 to 5 kind of person. Jason giggled the other day at the thought of me working 9 to 5.
21. I understand the value of friendship and what it takes to be a good friend. My girlfriends are precious to me. There were several years early on in our marriage that Jason was my only friend (probably had something to do with moving so much). This grew us extremely close and to this day he is still my best friend. But, it has made me appreciate the girlfriends I now have so much more!
22. When I’m an old lady, I will call all of the young women in my life “darlin” and “sugar” and “honey”.
23. #22 has got me to thinking about how much I love old people! They are among some of my favorites. I even like grouchy old people and try and make it my goal in life to make them crack a smile.
24. I do absolutely nothing in the same order every day. I don’t even make my coffee the same or get dressed in the same order.
25. I don’t like seeing so many sentences start with “I”. This has been enough about me.

You know you want one!

Yonder Way Farm had its first litter of pups and they are ready for homes. We are pretty sure virtually NONE of them are Rowdy's pups, but they are cute nonetheless. What's even better about them being cute as a button is that they are also FREE!!

The momma dog, Piper, wondered up to our house months ago already pregnant and hasn't left since. She has grown on us and is know part of the farm. We have seven of her puppies to find homes for.

Don't ask us their breed. They are Heinze 57s or to be more technical for their vet records you'd write them down as K9X.

Some of them are white with a circle around their eye, one of them is black, a few of them have tan, and another one has spots. We've been handling them as much as possible in hopes that they will be wonderful for children. They are so sweet!

You may not know this, but mutt's are by far the smartest dogs around. I was a vet tech for 3 years when we got married. On the list of smart dogs that I've seen in my lifetime, mutts are at the top.

Just come pick out a puppy! You know you want one!

And her name shall be......

Ruthie Claire.

It's official. We've decided on a name that we're both in love with. I love the name even more because its the name Jason chose for our next little girl.

I think it fits with our family, don't you? We will call her Ruthie. I've been asked this a lot since we have Laney Rae who goes by both. One double name is enough for this girl to keep up with.

I just wanted to share the name news with you all in blog land.

This photo below has absolutely nothing to do with announcing our name.

But, I thought I'd share it with you because it reminded me of the days ahead that I happily look forward to.

I walked into the kitchen a few weeks ago and Kaylyn was sitting on a bucket just like this feeding her baby. How cute!