• Motherhood

    Mommy Camp

    Summer. You either love it or you hate it.  As summer approaches you may be scrambling to figure out ways to keep your kids busy and not fighting with each other for the next two months.  You probably scour the internet looking for VBS, camps, and play dates. You may be overwhelmed thinking about the inevitable squabbles that are about to occur. OR you may look forward to the lazier days of summer that are less scheduled and hectic.

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  • Home Managment,  Motherhood

    TV-Free (ish) Summer

    The TV makes a great babysitter, but is it really the kind of babysitter I would choose if I were hiring a real life person? Would I hire a girl dressed in a princess dress who ignores her parents' wishes and kisses boys she barely knows? Nope. Definitely not. [...] I promised myself at the start of summer that my kids would not spend their whole summer in front of a screen; but saying it and making it a reality are two different things. I needed a plan - a 3-step plan...

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  • Inspiration,  Trades of Hope

    Go While You Stay

    There's nothing worse for an extroverted, achievement-driven, go-getter with severe FOMO (fear-of-missing-out) than feeling like you are sitting on the sidelines.  I've always been a "yes" girl.  I've always wanted to be actively involved in as many things as possible - always with my hand in dozens of jars, wearing multiple hats, and on the go.  I thrive this way.  However, being a mom of littles has made it more difficult to live like this.  Nap times, feeding schedules, bedtimes, sitters, etc...are now all things that come first, and I sometimes find myself feeling more like a bench player.

  • Inspiration

    The Struggle is Real

    "The struggle is real." The other day in my quest to help my family eat healthier meals I tried to whip up some chicken and veggies for dinner as we were rushing to get out the door for swim lessons and the baby was screaming for food. Dinner ended up pretty terrible as my 6-year old gently told me "Mommy, I can't really chew this chicken." I ended up letting them toss the rest of their food as we scrambled to the car. On the way to swim we were notified of a weather cancellation, and I ended up grabbing Taco Bell as our second dinner. So much for healthy…

  • Inspiration,  Motherhood

    2nd Best Day Ever

    It was an ordinary Sunday. I woke up at the crack of dawn with the baby. We spent some time together downstairs before the rest of my family woke up. I drank my cup of coffee. But today, the busyness of the week and the accumulated lack of sleep had caught up to me, and pure exhaustion had set in. I was done. I was grumpy and already snapping at people. I was annoyed at my husband for not understanding how tired I was. The voices and demands of kids (sweet as they may be), a crying baby (already ready for a nap), a persistent headache, and just that general…

  • Motherhood

    In My Daughters’ Eyes

    Today is Mothers Day. Today is the day to celebrate moms everywhere - married moms and single moms; moms of one and moms of ten; adoptive moms, biological moms, foster moms, and stepmoms; moms who have never held their babies in their arms. We celebrate you. Motherhood is hard. So hard. It's an often thankless job in the day-to-day things we do for our families. But we do it because we love them. Because it's our job. Because it's what we have been called to do for the rest of our days. I know our children will grow up and leave our homes, but we will never stop being their…

  • Health and Wellness

    Today’s the Day

    If you're a planner like me you probably don't like to get started on something new until you you have all your ducks in a row; but let's face it: all our ducks are never in a row. If we keep waiting until there are no more birthday parties in sight to entice us into shoving our faces with cake, then we will never start eating healthier. If we keep waiting until we get the garage cleaned out so we have a workout space, then we will never exercise. So, just forget about all those excuses and pick something you can start doing TODAY. You don't have to start 10…

  • Health and Wellness

    All About the Numbers

    The numbers. It's always about the numbers. How much money you make. How many followers you have. How many pounds are on the scale... It's so easy to get discouraged by those little numbers on the scale. Day in and day out I check. (Why do I do this to myself? As if I'm going to drop 5 pounds overnight.) It's so easy to compare, and I don't just mean compare yourself to others. Comparing your current self to your "used-to-be" self can be just as bad or worse.

  • Motherhood

    Interrupted

    Fail. I was totally trying to stage this photo with my sparkly shoes strategically placed next to my hand-quilted throw that matches my color scheme, but then...a crawling infant interrupted my perfectly staged photo op. Story. of. my. life. Interrupted. Even my kids favorite knock knock joke is about interrupting. Have you heard this one? "Knock Knock" "Who's there?" "Interrupting cow." "Interrupt-.... "Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

  • Home Managment

    After All, Tomorrow is Another Day

    Where are my Gone with the Wind fans?!?!  If you have ever seen this movie, then you know this quote from Scarlett O'Hara. (If you haven't seen this movie, go watch it now - after you finish reading this;) When she is faced with utter devastation and crushing heartbreak, you see her inner struggle to face her loss.  She makes her way to the stairs, weeping, as the thoughts of what matter to her most [Tara] come to her and give her the strength and motivation to raise her head in new resolve and say the famous words  "After all, tomorrow is another day." Such a great line from such…

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