Spring.

The south recently got a tease of warmer spring weather... a week or two of flip flops and short sleeves... this week we've been quickly reminded of what March weather is supposed to be like - bitter chilly, windy and rainy... and I have begrudgingly dug back out the jackets and socks for one last hurrah. Really, maybe Mother Nature could make up her mind. Our closets can't handle it. And if we're gonna go ahead with this "Spring" thing... I surely need a pedicure.


Of course, in true Southern Weather form, this morning, despite frigid temperatures yesterday. it's pouring down rain. Unfortunately, there is just no middle ground here. Feast or famine. Sunburn or parka. Take your pick.


Where have I been? I would fail as a career blogger I guess, jumping off the hiatus bridge whenever I feel like it. The past few weeks have been a blur of "busy" being creative for other people, which leaves few brain cells left at the end of the day for anything personal. I am always grateful for these phases of busy, a little extra money in my pocket... my laundry room and kitchen would have never survived without Josh's wonderful mama stopping by at least once a week to recover the domestic situation. Fortunately, she stopped raising her eyebrow at me a couple of years ago and now she just asks for a pot of coffee. I do love her.


When I wasn't photographing or chasing down elementary and middle schoolers clear across the county, I took a few walks with the babies... we really like climbing up and down Mimi's porch steps, feeding the horses, and looking under every rock along the way in search of "Bees" (read : crickets). We have yet to find a cricket that has thawed itself out yet, but we continue our search. I'll keep you posted on our progress. It's really kinda sad for the Bees, Landon just smashes them with his feet as quickly as possible. Maybe he's had a change of heart since summer. Let's hope so. For the crickets.


I've been reading. READING. For the first time since the toddlers showed up around here, I picked up a book, and finished it in a weekend. In case you don't understand, let me just tell you... as CEO of The Farmhouse, my life is busy. I can barely fold a load of laundry without any "help" from my Fanclub, much less read a page of a book without pictures.

The local bookstore is closing, and it was the additional 20% off that tempted me. So, in true Rachael form, I bought not one book, but three. I like to GO BIG, people. I have been happy so far - Jeanette Walls "The Glass Castle" was one of the best books I have picked up in a long, long time. I finished it in a weekend, give or take a day or two. For the first few hours, everytime I would sit down and open up the book, both babies would rush over and each take half of my lap with a stack of board books.

YAY! MOMMY! READING! WE LOVE READING! GGGGREAT IDEA!

Thankfully, after the seven millionth time of putting them in the floor beside me, they gave in and started Lifting the Flaps and telling Biscuit the Dog that it's bedtime on their own.

Josh kept asking me if anything was wrong. Like maybe instead of reading, I was really plotting his demise or sudden mysterious disappearance. He lived, so I guess he believed me on the whole "I'M JUST READING" thing. Next on my reading agenda is Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle." I decided to start with a true story of hers, rather than her fiction. Besides, I'm all about a good garden.

Now, instead of worrying about what I am doing when my nose is buried in a book, I'll be sure to get Josh busy plotting out our garden. Because soon enough, I plan to tell him we're going to grow all our own food. Like I said, I like to go big.