We got home from a quick outing today and the girls decided they had to get dressed up to go to a wedding. So Elizabeth put on Cecilia's old flower girl dress (which already had rips all over it from the day of that wedding, so it became a dress-up item long ago) and... Went outside to work in the garden. Then she found one of her favorite things, a sour green apple on the ground!

A Day (Well, Morning) In the Life of a Newbie Homesteading Family

6:04 AM: Peter wakes up, and I tell Andrew it's his turn to get him. But before he has to get out of bed...

6:05 AM: Mary Claire wakes up and lets Peter out! Andrew takes them both downstairs and I try to go back to sleep but Mary Claire keeps getting in bed with me and the cows across the road are mooing like CRAZY.

6:40 AM: I give up trying to go back to sleep and go downstairs, where I lie on the couch doing daily readings and trying to pray while Andrew brings me my coffee and gives Peter and Mary Claire breakfast.

7:24 AM: Elizabeth and Cecilia wake up and come downstairs, lying on the couch playing with their sticker books that I got them a couple days ago. I try to finish my cereal while Andrew gets Peter out of his high chair and cleans it off.

7:30 AM: Andrew leaves for work, Peter needs a new diaper. I decide hey, maybe today's the day I'll do one of those "day in the life" posts!

7:40 AM: Get Elizabeth in underwear, watch bluebirds out the window, find a "tick" (according to the twins) on the screen only to see it's really a baby spider. "Da cutest little teeniest tiniest baby spider!!!" Elizabeth coos.

7:50 AM: Pour bowls of Cheerios for Elizabeth and Cecilia. Cecilia grabs a book and goes to eat her breakfast, because why would you sit still long enough to eat and NOT be reading a book?

My Sunday Best, Volume 9: Something New, Something Blue

Whew, it has been a good but full weekend! Friday I got to take the day off from regular life to head to a homeschooling conference. Great talks, great vendors, and all my favorite food because Friday was a Solemnity so I could eat meat! I figured out that apparently I need to be eating 5 meals/day in order to feel satisfied by the end of the day. I'm not sure that's actually possible with children to take care of...

But! Look! I got to meet Kelly!

We talked about math and Latin. You totally wish you could have been a fly on the wall!

Fact: I have no clue where to look when taking a selfie. But hey, I got to meet @kellymantoan in person!

A photo posted by Rosie Hill (@rosiehill425) on Jun 24, 2016 at 10:48am PDT

And I met a reader all the way from Miami! She was the sweetest, sweetest ever and made me smile :)

First Trimester Stitch Fix

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So I got this Stitch Fix months ago, but it took me a while to get around to posting it because I hadn't announced my pregnancy yet and thought some of these pictures might give it away!

I scheduled my fix for April and then found out I was pregnant shortly afterwards, so I shot my stylist a note asking for roomy, stretchy styles that would accommodate a growing belly. She did really well, and was so sweet in her note!

24/52: Outdoors

 Yesterday John Paul took it upon himself to start loading 40 lb bags of compost into the wagon to take to the garden. I was pretty amazed that he was strong enough to do it! He's been begging for more ways to earn money, so I gave him 10 cents/bag (there were only 4) and he was asking for MORE to do!

My Sunday Best, Vol. 8: Time For a Change

Happy Father's Day! We're celebrating with this flank steak tonight, and apparently decided to get bunnies and guinea keets to celebrate as well? I dunno, we just end up with more animals every time we go to the feed store... And I know we keep saying no more birds this year, buuuuut if they get quail again I'm not sure we'll be able to resist. They're SO CUTE.

23/52: Rainy Days

My camera charger is still missing, and boy do I feel the absence of the big camera when I have to stick with my phone for weekly pictures! 

After many straight dry days in a row, we're finally getting some rain! I have to admit, the warm but non-humid days were pretty glorious, but I was getting antsy for some rain... The pond was getting low, the plants clearly needed it, and it just doesn't feel like summer in Virginia without storms!

Today it finally started raining again, and we woke up to a fairly sticky house because it was so humid (literally, my feet were sticking to the wood floors!). So we mostly stayed inside, turned on the air conditioning, and entertained ourselves!

My Sunday Best, Vol. 7: Dog Days Already?

It's only June, but... IT IS SO HOT! If I had realized just how brutal the weather would be, I wouldn't have turned off my alarm clock at 6. Trying to wrangle Peter in a stuffy church is no joke, and I'm fairly certain my exercise for the month was satisfied in that hour!

Chicken Dining, Cherry Picking, and Handmade Seesaws {phfr}

{pretty}

I was pretty adamant about getting herbs started in the late summer/ early fall so that the perennials could get established, and the ones that didn't get dug up by the dog or killed by the cold are doing ridiculously well! I let the sage flower because those sweet little purple blooms are just so darned pretty and make me happy.

22/52: Mostly Mary Claire

Some weeks it just takes me a really long time to put the camera card back *in* the camera, so I don't take many pictures until suddenly I realize, "Oh! I haven't taken pictures for this week yet!"

So this whole blogging thing is totally organic, as you can see.

Cecilia and Mary Claire spent a LONG time playing "doll" which basically consisted of Mary Claire sitting very still in a chair while Cecilia brushed her hair, tied multiple ribbons in it, and then set up a "bed" for the two of them while she read them stories. They went to a "sleepover" also. It was maybe the cutest thing I've ever seen.

My Sunday Best, Vol. 6

I'm just gonna hammer out a post real quick because Peter has decided he no longer nurses down for naps, and even though Andrew can get him down in 2 minutes without a peep, he's decided to be Screamy McScreamerson for me. It's great.

21/52: Hands on Your Hips

A random assortment for this week - Peter makes it harder and harder for me to get the camera out because he WANTS it, precious!