This year, we started homeschooling our kids, mostly as a way of sticking together as a family. Because of my husband’s job as a professional baseball coach, we move a few times a year. As we began our homeschool journey, I decided pretty quickly that I didn’t want to have a million pieces of paper to organize or endless works of art that would end up in a shoebox (or…
If I lived in a giant house I would have a craft room where the kids could go crazy and whip up wonderful designs and inventions all day long. But I don’t. If I was Martha Stewart, I would have a perfect craft organizational system with color-coded bins. A place for everything, and everything in it’s place. But I’m not. Until recently, these two limitations had me stuck. If I…
I wanted to do a Thanksgiving project with the kids that focused on being grateful for all the little and big things in life. As I started to peruse Pinterest, I realized that A) I didn’t want to spend a ton of money, and B) I didn’t want to spend a ton of time. So I reached into the closet, pulled out construction paper and double-sided tape, and voilà! Our…
Our family just spent three months in Montana. Three glorious months when our kids could run and play outside all day long. We lived at the top of a hill overlooking a small town. This was our view from the front yard. Aside from being breathtaking, it was the perfect place for Joe and Leila to play outside without me checking on them every two seconds. There weren’t any cars because…
One of the best pieces of parenting advice I’ve ever received came from the friend who I turn to often for wisdom and guidance. The friend who cuts through the craziness of mom guilt and bad advice and gets right to the core of what is important. When my babies were babies, and I started to lament that they wouldn’t be babies forever, my friend Angel told me not to…
I’m what you might call a horrible journaler. First of all, I never stick with it. I have stacks of half-finished journals around the house. And when I start a new journal, I freak out about the first page. Usually I skip to the second page to begin because what if I mess up on the very first beautifully clean page? I know. But as bad as I am at…
Nine years ago today we lost our first baby. Every time June rolls around I feel like I should share that with you. But I haven’t because I don’t know how to talk about it in a blog post. If we were sitting across from each other enjoying a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, I would tell you anything you want to know about the little life…