2020 was definitely a year of difference for our family. We sold our house of 4,000 square feet and moved into our tiny house of 400 square feet. We lived in Branson, MO for the beginning of the year. We experienced a real flood and came home to a place we have worked on practically our whole marriage. Starting a farm was probably my favorite change. There has definitely been many negatives that came with the pandemic, but one of the best positives has been how much time we have been able to spend together as a family. Ava and Shepard have definitely had plenty of time to strengthen their sibling bond. That has been a blessing to see.
We are ready for some more changes this year! We are starting to make more progress on the barns. Scott, myself, my father-in-law, and brother-in-law were able to take down the entire tractor shed in a day. I don’t think we have decided which barn is next, but regardless it was nice to have a fabulous start because nothing else is going to come down that quickly.
A big shout out to our cousins for letting us borrow a trailer that was big enough to nearly fit all the shed on and my mother-in-law for watching the kids all day!
Yay for the kiddos having their very own kid table. Now we can keep the messy crafts outside and they are super excited to have picnics real and make believe. This also gives them a table for the kid cafe too. I imagine Scott and I will be served lots of interesting “foods”.
Once again, the only ones around here who enjoy the continuous rain and cold we have had lately are the ducks. They are super thrilled about their pond increasing in size.
Our sweet Abby got a haircut. I don’t like getting rid of her when it is so cold, but she definitely needed some maintenance and now she is back to her posh self.
This Week’s Books
Can you guess Shepard’s favorite book? “Dig, Dig, Digging ABC” was of course his favorite. He actually did recognize some new letters from reading this one over and over again. “I Wanna Iguana” was adorable. The whole book is a mom and son writing letters back and forth to each other reasoning over him getting an iguana. “Splish, Splash, Splat” was also a cute read.
“Black? White! Day? Night!” was definitely a favorite. It helped Shepard learn some opposites. I think it was a such a hit because it is one of those lift the flap books.
Gluten Free & Dairy Free Menu
Sharing some favorite recipes this week! I’ve been making this one all summer for my family and they always like it. So, I made it for Christmas Eve dinner and everyone else seemed to really like it as well. Therefore, I officially feel like it is worthy to share.
I love this recipe because it is so simple yet so versatile. It combines great with salad, pasta, in a sandwich, a wrap, or can even be a dip.
This is another favorite in our house. My kids like buffalo sauce. I serve this recipe as a dip for them, but it is also wonderful with rice and veggies.
GF & DF Buffalo Chicken Dip/And or Casserole
I’ve been making this one all summer as well and Scott has favorited this one. The kiddos do like it as well. I serve it with rice for them.
And here is a new healthy recipe for the New Year! I love this smoothie. I make mine extra thick so it reminds me of ice cream. If you are a big fan of blueberries like me, instead of the 1.5 cups of Berries n’ Kale, you can do 1 cup Berries n’ Kale and 1/2 cup frozen blueberries. The combination of peanut butter and blueberries is so yummy!
- Homemade Gluten & Dairy Free Biscuits with turkey sausage gravy, sweet peas, and carrots.
- Honey Garlic chicken with buffalo cauliflower and, sweet potato fries.
- Homemade Gluten free pizza bread, pizza sauce, and broccoli.
Since it has been mostly cold and rainy this past week, I was seeking out some comfort food to make. None of us have had biscuits and gravy since transitioning our diet. I was excited to find some recipes that were both gluten & dairy free and of course most importantly that actually taste good. As you can imagine, there are some pretty terrible GF & DF recipes out there that definitely make people never consider transitioning their diet. The kiddos were big fans of the biscuits. I tried my own honey garlic chicken recipe and it was good, but I think with a little tweaking it could be even better. The big favorite of the week would have to be the pizza bread, which the kids really seemed to like. I will definitely be making more of that in the future and may try it with Cassava next time.
Farm Animals
Spoiling our hens over here! Forget free range chickens, our girls are banana fed hens…haha. They seriously do like them some bananas…peel included. We’ve also treated them with some apple slices, which they also devour.
And of course they also get treated with some salad including broccoli, cucumbers, and cilantro.
These hens deserve it. They helped us donate 6 dozen or 72 eggs this week to the blessing boxes!
The quackers have enjoyed the rain for 4 days straight now. They love their ever growing swimming pond!
Workouts
We like to be an active family. I am always looking for ways to keep the kiddos active. They love jumping around and the trampoline is great for that unless it is raining or too cold to go outside for that. This week has been just that. I found these flybar foam pogo jumpers that work for both indoors and outdoors. Here is the link for them on Amazon. They are relatively inexpensive at $16.99. The kids have enjoyed them. They also squeak so that is part of the motivation although our kids don’t seem to need motivation or encouragement to jump around the house. Shepard being 2.5 has also been able to get the hang of it rather quickly.
On Another Note…
New Year’s resolutions feel different like just about everything else has this past year. Instead of setting goals for everything else in my life, I am choosing to focus on “more”. My goal this year is to donate more, help more, and appreciate more. If 2020 was anything, it was humbling. I couldn’t look at my problems the same any more. All I can think is…my biggest problem doesn’t even compare to someone else’s smallest problem somewhere.
Here is to 2021 being the year of giving, helping, and appreciating!
This Week in the Shop..
We are running a sale in the shop through the whole month of January!
I wish everyone the best for this new year! God Bless!
