​I’m excited to begin a new series about our latest and biggest family project. I haven’t blogged in quite a while, but I am not going to waste the opportunity to chronicle the ultimate “from scratch” project-the building of our new home!!! I have been posting a bit here and there on Instagram and Facebook, but here I’ll get you caught up to speed and give a more detailed journey through the process, starting from the very beginning... 

Sometimes it's just a small world. Many years ago, Caleb met a new couple at church that had recently moved to Moses Lake from Maple Valley, WA where they had previously attended the same church Caleb and I were attending during our engagement. Not only had they been going to the same church but they joined the same small group we had been part of all just shortly after we had been married and moved to Salem. How fun to meet people with some of the same ties as us! ​

I had written about Jesse's 5th birthday on a previous blog post (my old Just A branch blog) and had not migrated it over to Scratch Mom yet and since it is the next theme on my list, I thought I'd just post it here in all it's original goodness. I know you'll enjoy it all the same.  Looking back, the thing that really made this party fun was really getting into character, especially with the games. With young kids, being a fun, dramatic and enthusiastic party host ensures the party will be a hit, so moms and dads, go ahead and ham it up!

Alright, now I know some of you are anxious to talk about the all important birthday cake. Trust me I am too, I have made some fun cakes and I am excited to share them with you. However I thought we might continue the series with party themes first, because, well that will determine a lot about how you decorate the cake. So let's get started!

I think we are officially done with apricots for the year. I have one pitcher of puréed apricots left to run through the convection oven for fruit leather and one box left that needs to be picked up by a friend, but we are mostly done! saying we had a lot of apricots would be an understatement by far. We have lived here for 10 years now and we have a apricot jam thanks to our abundantly fruiting tree in the front yard. They are not here for long but they can be overwhelming. They must be constantly picked up lest we have rotting fruit in the front yard and especially if you intend to keep the lawn properly mowed. Of course they ripen around some of the hottest days of the summer, when it's really fun (insert sarcasm) to can them in a home with no central AC and they must be taken care of quickly as they must be one of the most perishable fruits I can think of. Obviously I've got apricots on the brain and the overwhelming task that they can be better you know one thing that isn't overwhelming? All of the apricot related memories we have made over the last ten years.

​In the beginning many of my blog posts were mostly therapeutic, as I wrote about the miscarriage of our fourth child, 3 years ago today. The acute sadness has certainly faded, much in part to the evidence of God's faithfulness and security of His love displayed daily to us through, among other things, our sweet daughter Grace.

​I have too much data on my phone. I'm sure there are people out there who have more than I but 7GB of texts sure seems like a lot to me. I'm running out of room for pictures of all my kids, which is a big problem seeing as my DSLR just doesn't fit as easily into my pocket as my iPhone. I need to delete the thousands of texts from my mother and sister but it just seems wrong. I have made a habit of texting them all the funny little things the kids do and they keep telling me I should write a book, or a sitcom or a movie and, well, I simply don't want to forget these sweet innocent stories once they are older.