The FARM

The Rhoades' Family Farm is like a paradise for us "big-city-folks" (not as in NYC big city, but as in BIG Indianapolis peeps, you know?)

The Farm is Bill's good ol' friend, Nick's, parents' place, in Eastern Ohio.  

Nick was Bill's best man at our wedding and he has the cutest little family that we wish we could see more of!  

Nick and Sarah (he and Bill married some well named chicas, if I do say so myself), have Noah, who's 3.5 and then 21 months later, had Charlotte, and then 17 months later, had Violet, who was just born Sept. 1!  And they are the sweetest little things! 

So after 8:30 mass, we drove the two hours to get there just in time for Mama Rhoades' FEAST at noon and then got to explore the farm through Addie's eyes after consuming two 5 pieces of PIE.  

Addie Jo was in heaven stomping around, seeing all the animals, and hanging with the big kids.

  Watching her enjoy it so much was probably similar to what my parents felt watching us at our great grandparents' farm when we were really little - just the best!  

And here it is:

Lots and lots of sheep

Ice Cream, the horse

 

An old one room school house still sits on the corner of the property.

Nick and Sarah's nephew, Lucas, who's 8, loved showing Addie around.
And she was smitten.

She's telling him that's her Paw Paw's tractor ;)

This one was around for the fun, too!

Lucas telling Addie that this is where he shoots birds with his grandpa.

He just went on and on, thinking AJ was following his stories...

I had to include her ducktail piece because I love a hair status every now and again!

Water for the sheep

And a Wee Wee named Squirrel, I think.

Nice knowing ya, AJ!

Back to this one, who was having a blast, too!

Too close, Mom, too close!!!

Checking out the piggies again.

Cutie Noah Rhoades

Farm dog, Mac, following the herd.

To see Ice Cream.

Oh hi Addie Jo, nice to see you again ;)

This one was getting some lovin from Uncle Nick.

This is the best!
I think she's laughing at their matching shirts. 

Nah, probably just watching Addie and hoping to get her attention.

Farm girl in the making.

Fell asleep as we pulled away.

Drive back.

Almost home.

These were all one handed from the car as I was reaching back to give Junie a bottle.

Indy Skyline

So we left mid afternoon to come home and little did we know it was just in the nick of time!  

We made it home safely and missed the BIG Midwestern storms just barely!!!  EEKK

  It was a rough drive for about an hour and we had to pull over for a few minutes because no one could see to drive - but it soon cleared and the closer we got to Indy, the better it got and the the worse it got behind us.  Just black skies for miles and miles behind us… 

We would have NEVER driven home if we knew what was coming!

It was WAY TOO CLOSE for comfort!

We feel so badly for all those who weren't as fortunate and who were gravely affected.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to them.  

Thanks, Rhoades Family, for a wonderful Sunday afternoon on the FARM!

7 Quick Takes FRIDAY

It's Friday eve and I'm writing my weekly 7 Quick Takes in advance.
Not typical of me usually ever.
So here we go; linking up with Jen and the gang like always!
Be prepared for lots of linking up in this one - and go give those links some love!

1.)  Number ONE.

I can't believe I didn't mention this last week in my Quick Takes, but my fabulous artist sister Katie got her blog up and rolling!
She has been tweaking it for awhile and I'm so glad it's finally up!
She is an awesome artist and not only is posting reflections about her "process," but has beautiful work to view as well, like her AMAZING ROSARIES.

And then here is a great recent post about our DAD.

Katiesahm.com - go check her out!  

Yea, Kate!

2.)  Okay, so there's this thing called ONLINE SHOPPING.

You may have heard of it.

You may have heard of it to the point where sites pretty much pay you to shop them.

Me, on the other hand, not so much.  

I've been living under a rock diapers.

Nice to meet you, ONLINE SHOPPING.  

You've never heard of me until last week but I sure am glad we met.

We've only known each other for a few days and I hope to keep our relationship going so that this only has to happen every so often... 

ALTHOUGH I do hope that my excitedness wears off a bit so that I'm not spending 3 hours every night with you rather than sleeping. 

XOXO,

Sarah

In all seriousness, my life has been changed!!!

Here's an example: 

I just ordered the girls this little tent castle as a shared gift from us for Christmas.

I'm not always a fan of Kohls, unless there are huge sales, but it was half off and then I searched online and found two promo codes - one for free shipping and one for 30% off.  

So it totaled to $15.  

Other sites were selling it for AS MUCH AS $30 - $70 with shipping. Crazy.

And I didn't have to leave the house.  

Now the question is, where will we put it???  

Dog DEFINITELY not included!

Okay, I couldn't help myself, but enough with the someecards…

3.) I got one of my Christmas presents this past weekend - to go on the Midtown Holiday Home Tour in our neighborhood in Indy.  It's just a chance to walk though old houses that have been decorated for Christmas and learn about their history - doesn't sound like my favorite thing at all ;).

I'm a dork, I know.

No pictures were allowed but I got a shot of this cool car parked behind the Booth Tarkington house:

It's parked in front of the Booth Tarkington CARRIAGE HOUSE.

"A two-time Pulitzer prizewinner, Booth Tarkington earned wealth from his novels based on Indiana families and their surroundings, such as The Magnificent Ambersons. Tarkington described the houses in his neighborhood as having a “picture book house” appearance."

4.) June's first tooth broke through this week, actually on her 5 month bday, and she's not very happy about this teething thing… and doesn't make us very happy about it either, but what are you gonna do? 

Bill has had to deal with her SCREAMING UNCONTROLLABLY twice this week -
of course once while I was at the grocery store, today. OF COURSE!!!
How does something like grocery shopping give me SO MUCH ANXIETY???
And then once while I was taking a 20 minute walk AFTER the girls were already supposed to be down for the night!  

Oh goodness, at least she's a keeper! 

*Oops, I said I was done with these…

Looks like Addie has teeth, too.  Maybe I'll be a better teether than she was... 
Fingers crossed. 

5.) I had the lovely ladies in Small Group over on Tuesday and we are reading this awesome book that Katie chose - 

and she brought these AMAZING SNACKS with her- 

Utz SnowBalls, which were fitting because it SNOWED this week! 

I have to hide them from Addie Jo. 

And me. 

TRUE STORY.

6.)  We are finally getting around to giving our good friend Andy the letters for June's name plaque.  He is such a talented comic book artist and illustrator.  

Go check him out on etsy.

We've come up with a some, but any ideas for the June's letters?

J

U

N

E

This is Addie's, above her crib in the girls' room.
June's will go on the opposite wall, above her crib.

Andy is amazing, right? Sorry, the glare does not do it justice!

And here's his daughters', Audrey's - 

And go check others out here! 

7.) And I thought I'd end with a pic for those of you who have boys and all their boys' things around.

Haha

It's hard for AJ to share but we're working on it! 

I know some of you can't imagine this in your house!

Lots of love this chilly November weekend!