-I recently discovered the wonder that is Jergens Natural Glow lotion.  Which, by the way, is the only reason I have decided that shorts are a viable option this year.  And no they did not pay me, but if they would like to I will gladly take payment in the form of more bottles of lotion, please.

-We’re now less than a month away from the end of school and our church’s VBS program.  Needless to say, my brain is spinning at top speed right now.

-Using my creativity helps me to keep my head on right, so I used a few extra minutes I found the other day to create some new prints for my shop.  I like them very much.

-I also made a few prints for my dear friend Kate.  She and her family are in the midst of adopting a beautiful boy and Kate is selling prints to help with costs.  Their adoption story is full of miracles only God can orchestrate.  I’m serious, it’s an amazing story!  You can read all about their story here and pick up a pretty print here.

-My friend Hannah is hosting a special series this month on motherhood and I was lucky enough to get to participate.  I wrote a letter to my little people and you can read it here.

-I love being a mother.  What I do not love is Mother’s Day.  For me it’s a hard day, full of reminders that Samuel isn’t here to make me macaroni necklaces or sneak down the hall with his brother and sister to bring me breakfast in bed.  I know he’s celebrating in heaven with Jesus, but selfishly I wish he were here with me instead.  What makes the day even harder though is knowing that there are so many other women, for all different kinds of reasons, struggling through that same Sunday, too.  For the next few days I’ll be praying for all of us.

-I started a Summer board on Pinterest, which I’m using to compile ideas of things the kids and I can do with our 10ish weeks of Summer break.  I can’t wait until I can sit down tonight and start adding more ideas to it.

-I’m thinking about taking a class this summer, you know…with all the free time I’m going to have being home with the kids every day of the week.  I do think it would be good for me though, to have something just for myself, so I’m thinking about this one or one of these.

What’s life look like from where you’re standing?

Just click here, select your size, download to your computer and set as desktop picture.

Happy May!

Dear April,

I do believe you will go down on the books as the busiest month of the year.  While you were here we celebrated a 38th, a 9th, and a 39th birthdays.  We also ushered in our 12th wedding anniversary, the kick off for VBS registration, the start of evening walks, a special trip to the theater, and a hotel sleepover party.  Oh, and we had our first 100 degree day, which we used as a reason to stop by Sonic Happy Hour.  You were a really good month to us, but I am very much looking forward to the days of May.

Until next year.

Yours truly,

Heather

Welcome to Home Made Lovely, a special home tour series.

hello & welcome! my name is natalie . i find joy in the everyday moments & share them on my blog. i am happily married to my husband & together we have a family of two sweet pups & a flock of chickens. we have a deep passion for living fully & simply in our home. we cook from the harvests of our garden & prefer old things to new. 

 the first day we moved into our home, i hung twinkle lights on our paint-chipped porch. i instantly fell in love with this space, knowing it would host many early morning moments with coffee in hand & outdoor dinners made from scratch.

we have lived in our home since august & deeply love it here. most of the items that make up our home were thrifted nearby or picked up at a yard sale for a dollar or two. we strive to live modestly while creating a home environment that is creative & comfortable. 

i am also a big believer in doing what you love. my husband & i are fortunate enough to devote our working day hours to the field of sustainable agriculture. he focuses on sustainable food production & i grow gardeners as a program coordinator for a nonprofit organization that encourages healthy living & school gardening. in our home we live out our passions by growing food & raising backyard chickens. when our friends & family stop by, they often bring home a bag of lettuce or a dozen eggs.

within our home, we enjoy creating a place that brings the outdoors in. plants are sprinkled throughout our home & photographs of ferns & flora adorn our walls. we crave natural lighting & open our windows every chance we get to the sounds of the neighborhood buzz & birds nearby.

we are inspired by natural tones with a hint of whimsical color. we don’t own anything too fancy in our home. instead, we try to create a space that feels less like a museum & more like a warm & inviting place to learn, create, make & do. 

we both enjoy toting our cameras around, which lends itself to many moments captured in photographs & hung on our walls. we also love purchasing art from small artists on etsy. some of our favorites include katygirl designs, small adventure & katie daisy.

our kitchen is one of our favorite rooms in our home. it’s very small, almost an afterthought to the house’s layout, but it’s the center of daily living.

during those first few days of moving in & settling, i ripped off the doors to our cabinets & painted the inside a vintage-inspired mint green color. it’s a favorite feature in our home, allowing us to display our collection of cork-topped jars full of bulk grains & beans.

although our kitchen is small, you will often find us in this space baking, mixing, fermenting &canning. our connection to the food we eat is important to us so we make room for jars of flour & fresh eggs on the counter.

it’s inspiring to have everything within reach when cooking in our kitchen. i imagine the many vegetables chopped on our old pull-out cutting board & the dinners prepared on a shoestring budget.

in creating a home, my husband & i made the decision to not own a television so our evenings are spent in conversation over a home-cooked meal at the table. our chalkboard (decorated with paper bag & tissue paper flowers completely inspired by ashley of under the sycamore) displays favorite quotes. i found our old, handmade table from a yard sale for $30. i have collected the chairs over the years, digging deep in a barn for the pretty white one, & never spending over $5 each. we love eating, creating, & sharing life at this old table.

most of all, we hope that our home can be a place where friends & family feel welcomed & we can rest from a long day. thank you so much for visiting our home & thank you heather!

Here’s to the start of a fresh new week full of possibilities.

Let’s make it a lovely one.  xo