“The Little Things” is my blog version of IG stories...these seemingly ordinary daily moments make up our beautiful life! *Click the images to enlarge.

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.
-Robert Breault

Bella The Climber: Do all teenagers sit on counters? I think so. Bella has recently fallen in love with rock climbing…and she is super focused on getting strong and climbing ALL the things, ALL the time. There is a climbing gym nearby that she has been going to…and making tons of new friends. I love seeing her so happy! She is on the adventure staff at Bible camp next year…so this will come in quite handy!

Nana and The Girls: Nana and Papa are visiting for the week! And playing cards is a favorite past-time! Does your family have a favorite game that you play? Tell me in the comments!

Fennel & Kale: I picked a big bouquet of fennel branches so that I can dry them and use the seeds. We have a jar of them harvested already and I’m loving them in tea with ginger & mint. The kale was for a green smoothie that I made…so delish and fresh.

Let there be BRICK: This week’s house project is the wood burning surround! Matt has the walls done and will start the herringbone hearth today. Hoping to have the stove in by Tuesday! We’ll be doing a German schmear technique to white wash it. Eeeeeep…can’t wait! This is one of the biggest things I missed last winter…the crackling warmth of a real fire. When it’s -20 and the wind sounds like a hurricane outside…it kind of seems like a requirement. I’ll do a separate post on the whole process!

Arrival: There is always MUCH excitement when Nana and Papa arrive…and the dogs love to get in on the action. Maggie loves to run down the driveway and lay in front of the car…such a warm welcome LOL!

Chili Time: Our first meal together was sweet potato chili + corn muffins. Perfect for a cool evening.

Mowing Mrs. Maple: She has finally gone completely to sleep for the winter…so bittersweet! See you in the spring!

Always a Campfire: This will probably be our last campfire of the season…it was verrrrrry cold! But we roasted marshmallows and had s’mores. It was delightful.

My sweetie: Do you pause often to take photos with your spouse? You should. Make sure you’re leaving future generations lots of evidence of your love for each other!

Dressing Up: Emma found a wig in storage and had fun playing with it this week.

Barn Clean Up: It was that time…time to scoop the poop! Our chickens sleep in a smaller contained area in the barn to keep them warm in the winter, and we use the deep litter method in there. It gets quite full…and we wanted to get it all out and start fresh. The girls worked hard and Daddy hauled to our compost pile!

Get Your Ducks in a Row: I love watching the ducks waddle around the farm at sunset…they are always the last into bed. This day was particularly dusty because they were harvesting the corn nearby, and that made for some lovely light!

It was a restful week…despite lots of work prepping the farm for winter and getting ready to settle in. Planning a weekend of cookie making and hot chocolate drinking! Don’t miss my other blog posts from the week:

The BEST Gluten Free Biscuits
They Will Grow Up
Release the Birds!
Frosty Morning

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back
and realize they were the big things.
-Robert Breault

These little things make up our days…and I love being able to go back and remember. I’m going to be doing weekly installments of “The Little Things”…similar to my Instagram stories…but with more detail about the happenings! You can click each image to enlarge it. Let’s get started!

Garden Time: It’s time to clean up the garden! We’ve had cooler temps into the twenties, so everything is done except for a few greens still holding on. I’m excited to do a longer post about my garden adventures this year…so many lessons learned! It’s so bittersweet to see the season end. We took out the Zinnias this week…we’re leaving a lot of the other plants because they still add beautiful texture. If you have any tips for transitioning a first year perennial cottage garden in zone 4, send them my way!

Pumpkin Painting: Creative time with pumpkins and paint! It’s always fun to see what the girls come up with. After much introspection and prayer, we made the decision not to “do Halloween” going forward. But we did make some pumpkins pretty!

Into the Woods: Our 21-acre property has a beautiful little forest surrounding it…and I try to get out there as much as I can. Especially on days that feel hard. As soon as I step onto that soft spongy ground under the trees and smell the dirt and moss…everything seems better. We went for a family walk on a super crisp and cold day and had fun admiring the changing of the seasons. We even stopped to snap a self-timer family photo…when we are all in one place, I have to seize the moment!

Sparrow: Not a House Cat: He may not be a house cat, but he wants to be. It’s hard to resist that face when he’s peeking into the window…and he and his brother Prince have been spending a lot more time indoors! It’s clear they love their life as hardened mouse-hunting barn cats, but once in awhile they check into the spa.

Homemade Granola + Oat Milk: This was one of the best things we had all week! If you’ve never made your own “milk”, be sure to try it! Just get a nut milk bag and you’re all set. We added cranberries, raisins, hemp seeds, pecans, and walnuts to our granola and the girls devoured it. I need to double the batch next time!

Francis the Chicken: This beautiful girl is an Ayam Cemani + Ameraucana mix. She recently started laying and I think she is stunning!

Lucy and The Duck: These characters keep us laughing all the time. Even though they are messy and rude. We are still trying to decide the best set up for sub-zero temps. They make a huge mess of their water…so inside the barn isn’t the best option. We will be butchering the Drakes soon…we have too many and they are not nice to the females. Send me your favorite duck recipes!

Snickerdoodles: I used to make these cookies ALL THE TIME when I was little. But this was the first time the girls made them…and they loved the process. We make everything gluten free around here…so we switched out the flour. Didn’t have cream of tarter, so we subbed lemon juice. They turned out great…and the finished product didn’t last long…so yummy.

Harvest Time: Our farm is surrounded by hundreds of acres of farmland that is owned by previous owners. They recently harvested the corn…and we instantly had a “view” again! We’ve been enjoying the unimpeded sunsets of the prairie.

Saving the Dahlias: This was my first year growing dahlias…and I fell in love with their shape and vibrant colors! I wanted to save the tubers for next year…so I consulted this amazing dahlia book by my friend Erin, and I learned all the things! I got them all washed, dried, and separated and I’m excited to plant them next year!

The Koala: We launched our holiday products this week and Emma fell in love with her new Koala diffuser. It even plays sleepy piano music (and it’s not even annoying! LOL!). You can hear her thoughts about it here!

Insulated for Winter: I shared all the exciting window news with you already…but we also added the insulation to the upstairs as well! It looks like frosting! There will be shiplap going over this and then it will all be painted Alabaster white. This room will be Emma’s…and there will also be a bathroom up there. Lucy’s room (the one with the skylights) is to the right.

Scan it Up: I went to the big city of Sioux Falls with my sister Laura…we go every 6 months for our thermography scans. If you haven’t checked into thermography, you should! We ran lots of errands around town…including looking at tile for our wood burning stove surround and a required stop at Coffea for the gluten free cinnamon rolls (yes, they are amazing).

Farm Time: Laura and my niece Maggie came out to the farm this weekend for an overnight…and it’s always fun to follow her around because she LOVES all the animals. She’s quite fascinated with the kitties and the chickens. “Bawk!”

Three girls: When I can get all three of them together…my mama heart is happy! Bella is planning to work at Bible camp all summer and then head to community college, and I’m already sad thinking about her leaving! I know this is all part of the growing up process…but it’s so hard! She’s looking forward to being close to bookstores and Thai food :) I’ll be visiting LOTS.

That’s a wrap…onto a new week full of endless possibilities!