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Stephanie Howell

reading, organizing, shopping, momming too close to the sun. Home is wherever the Army sends us.

full.

Before I share these photos, I want to apologize for never posting the winner of the Claudine Hellmuth class. I think I totally forgot about it in all of the moving madness. SO SORRY.

The winner is

Donna said…

I’ve been interested in collage for a while and this class sounds like just what I need to get started. Thanks for the chance to win.

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Okay, with that (FINALLY) taken care of…here’s what you do when you don’t have your household goods and your house is pretty much empty.

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You get a library card:

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and then read read read.

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You become OBSESSED with watching this show on your laptop:

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You venture to the local farmers market and then chow down (on  paper plates):

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You play peek-a-boo:

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You teach your kids your favorite games from when you were little. After all,isn’t that what that big front porch is for?

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You take field trips:

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Drink wine on your back porch and watch the sun set:

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You use your imagination:

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Play in the backyard all day long:

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You learn to eat in…creative and interesting? ways since your high chairs are not here:

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You make some new purchases. Hey listen…coffee is a NECESSITY. 🙂

IMG_3026 IMG_3131 IMG_3108You revel in the good fortune of being TOGETHER. Empty house or not. You know that even though your house may look empty…those are just THINGS you are missing.Your house is (in actuality) FULL.Full of laughter and love and LOUD noises. And best of all,your house has a male voice in it. 🙂

Your house has a daddy in it. One who got to teach his girls to throw a football this week. This house has a husband in it. My bed isn’t empty.

This house is full.

And if all else fails, you just make this face:

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Happy Thursday,sweet friends!

 

Comments

  3. How perfect! and yes, you have each other, that’s the MOST important thing! it’s amazing what your imagination can do when there aren’t “things” around! good ol’ fashioned hide n’ seek and other games resurface! could not be more perfect! everything happens for a reason right?! and hey, at least you get out of having to cook for a bit! LOL!
    xoxo ENJOY your new home!
    tara

  5. Del’s ~ the best on a hot humid day! We used to stop there all summer on our way home from the beach. And I think I spy Newport Creamery too maybe? I have wonderful memories of my grandparents taking us there for a coffee “cabinet” (RI for milkshake). Enjoy!!

  6. I am so excited for y’all!!! And yes, a HOME doesnt need all of the stuff to be a HOME…it just needs love & happiness!!!

  10. Love how you write. you have such a gift. And you are right, you don’t need furniture and possessions to make a house a home, you need your family! Amazing pics, amazing text, amazing you and what an amazing family!

  12. So very happy for you as you guys embark on this next adventure! The sunset pictures are beautiful.

  16. Stuff in a house is just a house – it takes a family to make it a home…great house too btw!!! Love the look on Cate’s face (did I guess right? lol) and that is the coolest shopping cart i’ve ever seen – it was made just for you!!

  17. Thank goodness for that! I could live pretty easily without much stuff (for the short term) but a mattress is definitely not one of them!

  23. Steph, you guys will have to try Rhode Island Chowder – much lighter than the typical New England Chowder. It is delicious!!

  25. Well to start with, that photo of the babies eating just made me laugh and your sunset photos are beautiful.and yes I just have to have my coffee as well so I know exactly where your coming from there, and how big is your backyard it looks like a football field and the best bit is your bed isn’t empty, I’m so happy for you.
    Xx

  26. Enjoy this time…cause next week when all your stuff gets there…let the CHAOS begin! LOL Love Lucy’s (?) face in the last picture…PRICELESS!!!!!

  30. i’m so happy i came to your blog today – i love your writing and how you find something positive in even the most difficult situations – you make it look easy and help the rest of us stay grounded – so happy your house is full once again – even if it isn’t full of stuff.

  32. You are incredible! Did Harper get new sparkly shoes? Definitely a necessity! I know you’re wonder woman,but how in the heck are you keeping Lucy & Cate contained while you’re sleeping?

  34. This post makes my HEART full… especially as I sit here and contemplate regret over tossing/donating certain household goods in preparation for my own move. I really marvel at 1. how you move so often… this one move I swear is going to kill me and 2. your wonderful, positive attitude. Your family is lucky to have you at the helm.

  35. You always remind me how lucky I am to have a husband who is around all the time. It’s so easy to get annoyed with the socks he took off an left in my daughters room while telling her a bedtime story. The socks aren’t the important part of that sentence… I wish you a very happy year of picking up socks!

  37. Adore! You are so positive!! 🙂 We have only done DITY moves, never let them have our stuff. LOL!! Our next one should be with the Army. I am tired of packing myself.
    Enjoy your husband, enjoy your family, and enjoy your *newish* life!! XOXO

  40. Your house is gorgeous! I’m pretty sure your stuff is delayed “on purpose” so that you all will have this time together before you have to unpack. What a great way to HAVE to spend time together. You will look back on these days with much happiness. 🙂

  41. You have the essentials – family, a porch or two, and wine! Stuff is just stuff. You might even be able to downsize when your ‘stuff’ arrives. Doing without can give you a headstart on what is realy important. Your ‘stuff’, maybe not the kids’ stuff. LOL

  45. Beautiful house! And the “creative eating” pic is a hoot.
    I hear ya on the coffee! 🙂
    Fingers crossed for you that the boxes get there soon…and fingers crossed for you when they DO get there! 😉

  46. You are certainly making the best of it. I’m sure keeping the girls entertained is wearing on you though. Hope a celebration (once the furn. actually arrives)getaway is scheduled for you and J for surviving this 🙂 Also, I think I love the back of your house even more than the front. Just beautiful!

  47. my heart is filled with happiness for you and your family stephanie. may this be the best year for the 6 of you since you became a family. you are so very right, your house may not be filled with material items, but it is filled with love & laughter and that’s ALL that matters. xoxo

  48. Love all the above…. the house is beautiful and wish you were my new neighbors. So glad you share your everyday life with us and it just shows how creative you can get.

  49. Steph your new home is beautiful!!!! Such wonderful photos. Yes, your home is full!! 🙂 It is full of all the important things. 🙂 Hopefully, your belongings do arrive soon. It must be hard without beds and such. Love love love the look on Lucy’s face!!!! Glad Jim is home to teach the girls’ how to throw a football. Oddly enough, it was me and not my hubby with my kids. LOL Not really into the sports, unless it is hunting, fishing and snowmobiling. 😉

  50. That is such a beautiful place you were able to rent! I think it’s coming to be lovely come fall and winter! So nice!
    It’s none of my business but I was just curious if you guys have beds?
    It sounds like you guys are making the best of your situation. Hope you get your stuff soon!

  51. The homeowners have become friends and lent us a queen mattress. The babies have pack and plays and the big girls have twin air mattresses. 🙂
    Sent from my iPhone

  53. Awwww! I love this post! All kinds of awesome. 🙂 And hooray for Del’s lemonade! I actually have a WHOLE bunch here, so I’ll never run out… and when I’m homesick for RI, I just pop some in the VitaMix. LOL. :-p
    You’re making me want to sell EVERYTHING in my house right now. 🙂

  54. Fantastic! What incredibly wonderful memories you are making for your family! Love your style!

  55. Hey I am moving up near there too. To Westover AFB, MA. I am so excited!!! My husband went up there last week to get a house and said it beautiful. He went to some farms for lunch and ice cream, said there was a Yankee Candle Village…. I can’t wait to see the leaves in a few months. You new house looks wonderful. Hope you get your stuff soon.

  57. Keep the stress between you and jimmy and make this an adventure. Get a tent or even make one and let the girls sleep under the stars with jimmy to learn what daddy does. The next 12 months should be bonding with him. He is trained for such challenges show his girls the fun can be had when things go wrong. Their daddy is one tough soldier then let the girls enjoy these things with him. These are the memories of their Daddy. Their memories of you will be fun special girly times when daddy is away sometimes far away protecting them. Give the watered down version of how he protects then and bond with those beauties of yours x

  59. Great post Stephanie! Your house is beautiful and it looks like you guys are already making the most of your time together.

  60. You have a gorgeous house and I’m do happy for you that it’s already so full. And I love that you have a nice back porch to escape to! I can just imagine all the sunsets you can enjoy from there!

  61. Sounds like you are having lots of fun making the best of things! And now I really want a Del’s Lemonade! I’m going to have to get one this weekend. 🙂

  62. I subscribe to you through email and once I see the email (approximately at the same time everyday), I have to stop everything i do and…click! Then I drown myself in joy and for however long it takes me to finish reading and looking at all the pictures…twice. Thanks for writing/sharing. Your family is beautiful!

  64. Love your house, i was looking to buy the kuerig coffee maker too, how do you like it?
    Oh, and you have such beautiful and expressive girls, love the one of the Cate and Luciy face down on the floor, so sweet!

  66. Love your posts 🙂 Remember Newport Creamery when we lived in Connecticut – Yum Yum Friendly’s was one of our first places to visit 🙂
    enjoy! Hopefully your furniture will be there soon and if not, you are making wonderful memories already without it. Love the house! Enjoy your time!!!

  70. Stephanie,
    And you take pictures, lots of pictures to remember this moment in time. So precious — the children and the memories. Love your house. I’m so happy for you.
    Vickey E.

  71. Oh my gosh! I haven’t thought of Del’s in 20 years. Brings back such good (yet vague, somehow?) memories!

  72. p.s. If/when you drive by a Gregg’s restaurant, please go, for me. Family friendly, inexpensive, good food. And an awesome chocolate cake.

  75. OMG!! The sweetest things ever! As my kids start going back to school next week I am feeling sad. Sad because my days will be quiet, I love the sound of my kids: arguing,fighting, laughing, whispering, loving each other.
    You’re right this is all just “stuff” (I can’t imagine what you’re going through, LOL) but without our family…
    Thank you for sharing, I love the pictures!

  76. WOW your house really is stunning and i am so jealous of the wine on the back porch 🙁 Oh and i LOVE all your chevron and of course the girls facial expressions haha

  78. can i move in with you? pretty please? ri looks RIGHT up my alley. anyplace that gets sunsets that rival mine here? winner.
    i can hear so much happiness + peacefulness in this post, steph. i love that for you.
    xo.

  81. Stephanie your new house looks amazing & that backyard…….
    I can’t wait to see it all decorated. Love love love that chevron ottoman too.

  83. I can’t remember how I stumbled across your blog Stephanie but I am so glad I did… your photos made me smile and laugh so much. These are the stories you will be telling your grandchildren (yes I said THAT word…hehehe) These are the special times… when you make the most of life and enjoy every minute!

  84. It’s your bed just yummy when your man is home, the children are asleep, and he is paying attention! Their arms are the best for a safe place to be.

  86. Back to our roots – love it! Your girls’ expressions are priceless. Your posts always brighten my day. I’m so happy for all of you being together, enjoying the everyday moments. Thanks for sharing.

  87. I know, right?? The rest is just stuff…who needs it? Well, except for the Kuerig, of course. Coffee is a necessity. Love the shopping cart and the sunsets and all those babies. Just wanna squeeze them! Happy weekend!

  90. A house full of love is better than a house full of things! Beautiful sunsets and such fun happening there. I hope you get your stuff soon, though, as life is easier with some stuff.

  92. Hi Stephanie,
    Thank you for sharing so much of your life with us. I have stalked your blog for several years now. I remember when I originally came across your blog you were in the Austin area. I am so happy that your family is all together. It looks like you guys are enjoying every minute of it.
    Best wishes,
    Kim

  94. So beautiful…sometimes you just bring me to tears. 🙂 So happy you are all together and happy and healthy!

  95. Reading this post, about how full your empty house is made me think of just two simple words: well put! Here’s to having Daddy’s & Husband’s at home, how ever long they’ve been away, we’re always happy when they come home!

  96. How sweet this post is, love love all the fun your having with just a big empty house and big yard to play in. I think it’s cool that your house has all this room to roam and play games in it for now, will be great memories for all of you. SOOOOO happy to read the husband part in the house, how great it must feel for all of you. Enjoy this new adventure and thanks so much for sharing, totally made me smile!!

  97. I was going to ask where you got the ottoman but I see you already answered Marshalls. I have been looking for one for my coral and grey nursery for my princess on the way. So cute :]
    Congrats on your new home, but more importantly, congrats on your new family time and change of pace with your hubby being home more in the future. It will be a blessing for all of you. <3 So happy to see such joy in your post.

  98. That house is awesome! You inspire me, Steph. My husband is always bugging me to move out of state and I don’t want to leave our families, but reading your blog makes me realize we will be fine wherever we go 🙂