A Little Bit of Lately.

We survived a week of Miah being gone at camp.
This is, I like to think, a huge testament to my mothering prowess. But I'll admit. I had a lot of help.

We spent a lot of time with family and friends. I actually had a ton of photography work to do (and the ensuing editing has led to my silence here for the past week).
I picked up a dead chicken (another playmate fell victim to my dozy dog) and reminded myself the whole time that I want to be country.
We picked a TON of blackberries. Everywhere we could find them. And I made jam with this recipe. 

We ate a lot of watermelon. And tomatoes. And Squash. Because these things are growing in abundance in Arkansas right now and NOT eating them would be a crime. Local produce is the best. Ezra agrees. 

We watched fireworks on the fourth and thanked God for the privilege we have been born into. 

And we ate more watermelon. See above.

April and Daniel spoke publicly for the first time since the storm. 

They announced that the foundation they are forming in Cameron and Tyler's memory will be working hand in hand with the Oak Grove Life Center. 

Other noteworthy things from the past couple of weeks:

• A friend wrote an update on April on her blog.
• My kiddos started raising money for their camp. If you'd like to help with that, please contact me!
• I signed back up for Citrus Lane, which I LOVE. I'll have a review up as soon as our box gets here, but you can check it out and sign up for 50% off your first month here.
• Signed up several people to be Young Living distributors and I'm already hearing testimonies of how it's changing their lives! Check out this post if you have considered using or selling essential oils. 
• Our playsilk giveaway has concluded, so I'm coming up with the next giveaway. Here's a big hint: www.babylegs.com. 
• Found this recipe for Almond crusted eggplant. Bought the stuff yesterday and it's happening today! Yet another way to use this beautiful, bountiful produce that the Arkansas summer blesses us with. 

That's all for now. 

From my family to yours, 

Have a beautiful week.

What's new in May.

Many moons ago, I wrote the first post of The Hodgepodge Darling blog. I have been a pretty erratic blogger since that post was published, nothing like I'd hoped for in my original plan. But I do like to think of everyday as the perfect day to carry on with what you'd hoped you'd be.

So here we are. Carrying on.

This month has been a blur of busyness and setting up house. I think I'm more excited about the end of the school year than my kids are, not that the summer promises much in the way of a slow down.
So, to update you all, I will hit some highlights of the month of May and employ the help of my lens.



Some of what's new around here:

God did what He does and blessed us more than we could have asked or imagined. We got our own home. It came in the form of a vandalized foreclosure on four acres, after a three month limbo of financing and favor and help from more people than I could possibly name right now. 

It is perfect.  

This boy turned one.

And learned to walk.

This boy turned 7.

And this boy graduated high school.

This puppy grew quite a lot.

And we got our first chickens.

We started a journey of mourning after the tornado in April. 

(Upload your photo of the ASL Love Sign tagged #lovemovement. To donate to the Smith Family, go here. Please continue to cover them in prayers as they grieve their sons and rebuild their lives.)

And you see, April showers always bring in the May flowers….

The hope after the storm has reached far and wide.

And the life change as a result for it has sprung up as surely as the roadside wildflowers. 

I look forward to sharing with you all our new undertaking as we are given so many opportunities to pursue dreams. God is good, friends.

The verse on my heart for the last month is definitely Ephesians 3:20.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Until next time, 

Jessica

brothers.

That is all.

A few of my favorite things.

Chalkboards, mason jars, and fresh herbs.  These three things, in my opinion, should have a place in every kitchen.  In my house, mason jars serve all sorts of purposes aside from the preserving job they are meant for. At about 10 bucks for a dozen, they are cheap and dead useful.  They are glassware for sweet tea and storage for any refrigerated leftovers that will appropriately fit.  A votive dropped in transforms a mason jar into a candle holder and in the hands of a little boy on a June evening, they become the home of glowing fireflies. They stand proud on the table as a vase for dandelions presented by loving children and today they took on a new role as a window sill herb garden.

My friend Jessica and her family joined us for lunch yesterday and my giant wall calender started a conversation about our shared adoration of chalkboard paint.  It reminded me of this project I've had in my head for quite a while.  I love mason jars and I love all things chalkboard, so I decided to marry the two and throw in some fresh cooking ingredients for good measure.  Sounds like a win all around.

For this little undertaking you will need:

 a few wide-mouth, quart mason jars (one for every herb you want to use)

small herb plants

chalkboard paint

potting soil

I used a small bottle of chalkboard paint from Michael's.  I think I paid about 4 dollars for it after using a 40% off coupon.  If you are planning any larger chalkboard projects, you might go ahead and invest the 15 dollars for an entire quart of paint at Lowe's.  I've also read that you can make chalkboard paint by mixing two tablespoons of tile grout to 1 cup of flat paint in any color.  

I didn't have a paintbrush so I just finger painted it on.  I like things to be a little imperfect so this delivered a satisfactory result, but you could use a stencil and a brush if you wanted something more precise.

After one coat, it was still a little see through...

so I let it dry and added another coat. 

The finished jars before planting....

Now you could probably fit an entire small herb container in each jar, but since I have large pots of herbs on my porch and I was mostly doing these for decoration, I just separated small portions from my big plants to keep inside. 

And another idea for mason jar planters...a cute touch to a front porch with flowers and words/sayings. 

Monday Monday

The weekends are generally too short for all we try to fit in them, and Mondays are generally spent catching up on the neglected house.  Because of this, it's easier for me to recap in photos than time consuming words.

The big boys had their last soccer game of the season. 

The little boy has been more freely giving grins.

Cheese and yogurt making adventures will soon follow...

Finally got the herbs potted with my helper.

Great garage sale find, a 10 dollar bread machine that had only been used once! The first loaf is baking now.

That's all for now. I'll be back soon with more time and more words. 

A Festival Full Day

Busy is good.  Exhausting, yes.  It keeps blog posts from happening until days after events take place, yes.  But I would always rather be busy than not. However, after a weekend as busy as this one was, a recoop is in order. Today I have decided to stay home for the sole purpose of writing this post and pajama snuggles with my sweet boys.

The Great Cloth Diaper Change was fantastic, as was the Earth Day Festival at which it took place.  We are still waiting for the overall numbers to come back for the world record, but the Little Rock location had 45 babies changed.  There was something really awesome about being surrounded by like-minded parents.
I wasn't taking photos considering I was changing a diaper, but Espresso Love Photography was covering the event and they've given me permission to share a couple of photos here (there are many more photos available on Espresso Love Photography's Facebook page).  This was the moment they said "Go!", we all held up our diapers then started the change.

I love calling myself part of this kind of community.

Also, there was a bit on the news with Rebecca, the precious owner of Natural Bambino, advocating cloth and the record setting.  Check it out here.

Since you already know how much I love earth day and festivals in general, I'll just show you some photos of why...

My score from the silent auction, some goodies from Crow Mountain Crafts. She's a local etsy seller (based out of Russelville) providing lots of deliciously scented soaps for all and wool care products for cloth diapering. 

I got to chat with some folks from The People Tree. They are working towards a goal of enriching our community and building a local food system. One project is the Argenta Veggie Garden, where you can rent a plot to grow your own produce.  It costs $15-$25 a year which includes water, straw & access to gardening tools.  Super cool. 

The People Tree's nifty little give-away, a "flower bomb".  It is a ball of fertilizer and wildflower seeds to throw anywhere that could use "a little life".  Love. 

Can't wait to go visit this place for lunch. Looking at their website is almost enough to make me break my plan to stay in pajamas all day. A menu full of locally sourced food?  Yes, please. 

Of course, I had to visit with the homebirth midwives from Birth Works.  

Mustard Seed Church from Conway came out with a really cool way for outreach.  Tobias and I stopped and chatted with them for a moment, all while planting a basil seedling in a planter repurposed from old fence pickets. What an awesome way to advocate caring for the earth and also sharing His love!

Yummyness from the Homegrown Food Truck. 

The girls from G.R.I.T.S. (Girls Rolling In The South) Roller Derby had a booth selling the best homemade jam ever.  I brought home a jar of strawberry (made from some delicious local berries like I blogged about a few days ago) on Saturday, and it's already halfway gone.  I'm going to have to contact them to purchase more because when it runs out, my household might just weep in mourning. 

From the Earth Day Festival, we headed over to show our support at Little Rock Etsy's 2nd Annual Indie Arts and Music Festival.  The weather was perfect and there was facepainting, food, and lovely crafts by sellers like Mindy's In-Stitches, Bearhunt, and The Little Chick.

My beautiful childhood friends Lindsay and Brandi of The Pigeons etsy shop had their booth of of fabulous vintage clothing and handmade accessories.  All their planning and hard work to make the festival happen really paid off, it was so lovely. 

Can you believe at the end of this post, I wish I had taken more photos?  I suppose that's why I love festivals so much, there is just so much to take in and so many interesting people to meet.
I have more from the weekend to share but that will have to be another day.  Pajama snuggles are going to have to take priority for now!