Today was my LAST day of work for the 2022-2023 school year. 

​I am officially on summer break.  

And while I will definitely need to stop by the school at some point over the next four weeks, I am looking forward to a RESET throughout the month of July.

I will admit...our July is PACKED.  

It just kind of happened. 

Softball is over for the younger two girls, so we'll have a few days off right now, before our youngest heads off to church camp Thursday & Friday.

Saturday, our oldest has a softball tournament out of town.

Sunday, we get a day at home, before the older two girls and I head off to Christ in Youth Conference in Lincoln, Nebraska for five days.

We'll come home for a day before Vacation Bible School kicks off on Sunday, the 16th.

It sounds crazy, but after VBS, I'll have ONE WEEK off until I go back to school.  One week.

At the end of my last week off, we're going to take a little surprise road trip to wrap up our summer fun!

Even in this busy summer, we had set some goals for ourselves.

We are going to make time for fun

We are going to knock out some home projects.

The girls and I decided in late-May that this would be the summer that we marked some of our items off of the ol' "procrastination list".

We have had a few things on the list for the entire six years we've lived here.  Things like "paint the stairwell" and "hang Mattie's ceiling fan" keep getting moved farther and farther down the task list.

Well, that will not be the case when I go back to work on August 1st.

We have a plan and we are sticking to it!

So far, we've marked several of these "to do" items off of the list. 

I painted the basement stairwell one afternoon and I will be painting the upstairs stairwell tomorrow. 

We finally moved a huge pile of welding materials away from the front of the barn and down to the concrete pad with the rest of Mr. Farmhouse's stash.

The hammocks we bought late last summer have finally replaced the frayed ones that were under the Rustic Rooster.

The rest of the list includes things like painting the barn, powerwashing & restaining the deck, adding slats to the bottom of the porch, removing the doors of the coat closet and painting/wallpapering it, and possibly the biggest undertaking -- getting the basement completely clean.

​I know it sounds crazy to try to fit so many things into four short weeks, but I feel like I have REALLY let things go at the house over the last six months. 

So while we are prioritizing fun and relaxation, we're also going to work hard to mark some things off of our list to help us feel more in control walking into the 2023-2024 school year.

I. Can't. Wait.

Trying to get our lives together here at the farmhouse, 
Hannah

❤️🏡❤️

There are 56 days left in 2018.

A few friends and I have been following along with Rachel Hollis's "Last 90 Days", where she has challenged people to make the last 90 days of the year count.

Well, I was successful in following her "Five to Thrive" for about 15 out of 31 days in October.

And now...that 90 days has dwindled down to 56 days.

So this weekend, I've taken some time to regroup and do some planning for the next two months.  

The girls and I did some deep-cleaning in our bedrooms and the rest of the house.

I planned out our meals for the next few weeks.

We set some goals for ourselves and made a commitment to make these last few months of the year meaningful.

If you're feeling like things have gotten out-of-control and you just want to gain some peace and calm in the near future, feel free to join me in building some habits in the next 56 days that will help us to enjoy the holiday season.

More info to come in the morning.  

​❤️🏡❤️

I've got some new readers, so I thought I might take the opportunity to introduce myself a little more formally and give a little background on life as we know it.

My name is Hannah and this is my blog...Farmhouse654.

I've been married to Mr. Farmhouse for almost 14 years.  We started out life in an adorable two-bedroom home in town and stayed there for over two years, before moving to a ranch-style home on four acres outside of town.  We did lots of updates to that home and property and absolutely loved every minute there.  We were completely content, except for the fact that our three girls shared two bedrooms and it was getting just a little bit tight as they continued to grow.

We had so many great memories in that house. 

We brought all three of our daughters home there. 
We raised bottle-calves, pigs, and chickens there. 
We spent 10 Christmas mornings there.

We made updates to the house, added a few outbuildings, and even survived a tornado that picked up one of our barns and threw it to the other side of the property.

Our second home was such a special part of our journey.

However, in May of 2017, an opportunity presented itself for us to sell that home and buy a farmhouse on ten acres.

So in July of last year (after some bumps in the road), we made the farmhouse our home.

And that was the start of Farmhouse654.

Now...a little background on the wife & mom of the family who lives here.

Mr. Farmhouse and I grew up right here in this town. 

We are hometown kids and I can't imagine raising our girls anywhere else.

Our girls are eleven, (almost) nine, and three.

They are so alike and so different in so many ways.

We love Jesus and love our church.

We believe that God's calling for us is to love Him and to love people.

We try hard to do this, but fail miserably a lot of the time.  We're thankful for grace!

I've been a teacher for the last twelve years and will be leaving the classroom in May to move into the position of the Director of Special Services in the district where I currently teach.  I run a photography business on the side and work for my parents, who own group homes for adults with disabilities.

We are busy and blessed.

The girls are involved in our church, play sports, take dance classes, and enjoy piano & guitar lessons once a week.  

We love to be outdoors and spend time often just sitting around in lawn chairs in the back yard watching the girls play basketball or shoot skeet.

When I have some free time, I like to document our journey through this blog.

So there you have it.

Some of where we've been and where we are now.

Someday I'll tell you all about where we're headed...our goals and dreams for the farmhouse.

But for today, I'll just go rock our sweet Mattie-girl while we watch another Barbie movie.

Make it a great Monday, friends.

​❤️🏡❤️

Happy Week 4!

This week we're going to go back through the first three zones we worked on and make sure that those areas of the house are in a "resting state".

You might remember my blog post WAY back in July about getting to start over.  

In that blog post, I talked a little bit about my experience with the KonMari method of tidying your home. 

This method has given me a different way of thinking about my house, but I have to be honest and tell you that I didn't finish the process completely during either round that I went through and so I have rebounded a little bit.

I want to go through another round in the new year, but until then the zone work from the Christmas Countdown will have to pull me through!

So this week, we're going to think about that "resting state" as we run back through our first three zones.

Look around each room you've already gone through on your zone list.

Is there anything that can be taken away? 
Does it all flow nicely? 
Is there any object that looks out of place?  
Are you pleased with all of your decorative items that are out on the flat surfaces or on the walls?

If not, take a few moments to change those things.

You can print your Week 4 checklist and Zone worksheet here.  

Let's revisit our Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3 zones and get Week 4 in order this week.

We are almost halfway there...only five weeks until Christmas!

Make it a great week, friends!

​❤️🏡❤️

If you're just catching up with the Farmhouse654 Christmas Countdown, feel free to join the Facebook group HERE and print out the Planning Calendar and Week 1 Checklist HERE. ​

Christmas Countdown Blog Posts
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3