Let's be friends!

Hi there! I’m Natalie! Welcome to my little corner of the interwebs. I would love for you to stay awhile and let’s be friends!

I have a mission, by God’s grace, to leave a legacy and steward well the time and gifts I have been given. With 9 children, including 7 boys, there is alot on my plate and ALOT of noise! The constant changing seasons of motherhood are challenging, but I am convinced through God’s supplied grace a beautiful life can be lived anywhere we are, and in any season- even the difficult ones! A life is lived in moments.

About me and my family

Our family

I’m married to my high school sweetheart and we are still 18 together- just with a tad more experience. 😉

We have nine children with seven sons in the middle and 2 daughters on either end. Of course, we didn’t plan it that way, but we are so thankful for each one of them!

We homeschool ALL of them so our lives are crazy, busy, loud and delightfully blessed!

I’m a homeschool graduate myself, and our oldest is set to graduate 2022. We have been homeschooling her since the beginning. A long road is ahead of us yet, as our youngest is still a baby. Although we have applied the Charlotte Mason philosophy of homeschooling to our children’s education as much as possible, we are still flexible and eclectic with our curriculum choices as we adapt to each child’s needs and learn how to facilitate raising and educating each of our children.

Projects are our jam

We love tackling budget DIY projects together and have made over every one of the 5 homes we’ve lived in, even the ones we rented. We are currently making over our new home in the country. We’ve raised chickens, lambs, pigs, ducks and bunnies in the past. With only a dog, cat, bunny and a bunch of kids currently, we have big plans for more to come!

Debt free living

Even though we are a large single income family, we have lived debt free (besides mortgage) for the last 10+ years. I love challenging myself while on a budget. I think my creativity increases when my options decrease. Maybe that’s why we have so many kids! Hehe.

Hobbies

I’m a productivity fanatic, mostly out of necessity. I love to geek out on finding new systems to apply to our busy household to help streamline our life so we can have more time to do the things we love.

I have loved to create for as long as I can remember and now enjoy painting alongside my children whenever I can. It is a fun hobby and also cheaper than therapy. 😉

Studying healthy living and cooking has been a hobby of mine since before we were married. It is more challenging to apply times ten, but like I said earlier, I think I learn better through a challenge!

Some fun facts about me:

Sourdough, kefir, and kombucha are other things I feed and grow besides children.

Don’t let me near your green plants! I can’t keep them alive to save my life! Apparently children, animals and cultures are my limit 😉

I loooooove sushi and ate it through all of my pregnancies and yes, all of our children were born perfectly healthy! But, no, this is not my endorsement for you to do it. 🙂

My husband took me up in a hot air balloon ride in the mountains and he is definitely the most roMANtic one in our relationship!

I’m a trained natural child birth coach and all 9 of our kiddos were unmedicated births- 6 in the water! Not because I am some kind of super mom, but because I love being able to be present to witness the miracle of birth and am so grateful to have had uncomplicated pregnancies and births that have allowed me to.

I’m a total foodie! I love to try to gross my kids out with the unusual foods I like. They ended up being foodies as well, unfortunately for me. Which means they like most of what they try and then I have to share it with them!

I am a hugger!if you ever meet me in public, you better believe I’m gonna hug ya!! 😉

Let’s be friends!