Lately I've been in this kind of a mood. Warm baked things, atmospheric classic reads, contemplating my existence... Late autumn into winter is my favorite time of year. I like to live life slowly; and this time of year, things tend to slow down with me. I made these Cranberry Orange Scones a couple days ago for the kids' breakfast. It had been awhile since I'd baked them something. I like making scones for the same reason that I sometimes don't like making scones: they take time. You can find the recipe for these on one of my older posts here: Cranberry Orange Scones. Thanks for s ..read more

Hello friends! Last night I had a dream in which someone said, "No one reads blogs anymore. Blogging is dead." I woke up and wondered, could this be true? It's been quite a few years since I've devoted attention to this once very thriving blog. Life has always happened... but life started happening super fast for me and I needed a break. I don't think blogging is "dead" --- but I do see a lot of my old friends' blogs have gone missing. So let me reintroduce myself. I'm Sarah Coller, a 44 year old mom of 9 and now grandmother of 2 living in NW Arkansas. (When I started this blog, I ..read more

Hello Friends! Welcome to the Homemaking Party!  This week, Lynzie is away from home until Friday and the teens are at teen camp---which means it's just me and the four littles during the days! Wow, such a different dynamic!  We're doing some fun crafts and things this week and I thought I'd share one with you all.   Years ago, (like 15 or more) I was at a yard sale and found all these metal Band-Aid boxes for sale. I instantly remembered a craft I did as a four year old in Kindergarten and knew I had to grab them so I could do this project with my littles. Those littles are n ..read more

Hello Friends! Wow, well this has really been a week of getting out of the house---and it's only just begun! I spent Monday getting my hair done, getting groceries, and doing several other errands. Tuesday night, we took the kids to the Joplin History and Mineral Museum for a special exhibit. The museum is hosting a small Titanic exhibit through Saturday so we made the quick trip north to check it out.  We'd never been to this museum and were pleasantly surprised about all the cool things there were to see. Joplin has a (literally!) rich mining history and many minerals and machines we ..read more

Good Morning! Welcome to The Homemaking Party! Just want to put up a THANK YOU to everyone who left such sweet comments on my update post last week. You were all so sweet and encouraging! I'm feeling really motivated and encouraged to get back to the heart of blogging and building my community of blogging friends! Last weekend, Daddy started something new in our homeschool---Chemistry! Jamie works much more than full time, week after week, serves as a board member and in worship ministry at our church, and still makes time to be present in the lives of his nine children. I'm so thankful ..read more

Hi Friends! It's Pink Saturday at Beverly's blog so make sure to stop by and say Hi at How Sweet the Sound! Today the kids are having a bunch of friends over so I'm planning to bake them a bunch of treats! My house is decorated for Christmas and I'm getting into the holiday mood! This year I bought this pink Christmas tree for my library. Some of you may remember when I bought the little pink one I've got sitting on my Grandma's sewing box. {Um, my Grandma's dusty sewing box! Yikes! Avalon is dusting it as I write this!} This is our first year without a fireplace mantel so I'm a little ..read more

I'm dreaming of some yummy Christmas goodies!! I've been working on freeing up my schedule these next couple weeks because I really don't want this Christmas season to go by too quickly! About 12 years ago, Jamie's cousin Amy made this delicious popcorn mix and I was hooked right away! I've not made it in a long time but I'm hoping to make some for the kids soon. I hope you'll try it out too and let me know what you think! White Christmas Popcorn Snack Mix (or, in our house, Amy's Popcorn) 8 c. popped popcorn 2 c. mini pretzels 1 c. peanuts 1/2 c. dried cranberries 12 oz. white chocola ..read more

How do you feel about change? Some people love it when the old goes out and the new comes in. My husband is like that. He's always ready to jump into the next technological advancement and he's great when it comes to trying new things. Me, not so much. The Beatles and the Bible tell us there's a time for everything and that circumstances change, but that doesn't mean I have to like it! If there's one thing I've learned about change though, it's that life would get pretty stagnant without it. My life started going a different direction a couple years ago and part of that was reflected on th ..read more

Hello Friends! Welcome to The Homemaking Party! Hope you're all having a happy week so far. I've been busy setting up a second Etsy shop---one dedicated to letter writing and mail art to complement my Victorian Letter Writers Guild. Tonight I listed four of these antique reproduction paper fan Valentine's Day cards. They are so adorable and unique! I'm sure they will sell out fast. I've also got a card for sale with a full letter written on the back of it. The letter dates to 1964 and is good for a couple of laughs! I've also got these bits of vintage Valentines that need a little TLC ..read more

Hello Friends! Welcome to the Homemaking Party! Wow! I don't know about you but this year seemed to completely fly by for our family! We made lots of great friends and special memories---but there's a big part of me that is saying, slow down! So, New Year Resolution Number One is: stay home more! Do you make New Year Resolutions? Some years I make an elaborate categorized list of my goals for the upcoming year. Other times, I just pick one thing. However you do it, the important thing is to assess why you feel the need to make a change and then start taking simple, doable st ..read more