Last Christmas I was strolling on Instagram and came across a post by a mom. She had created a ‘choose your own adventure’ book for her kids to do just that, choose what they wanted to do as an adventure. This free ticket to family escapades was in place of a tree skirt full of … Read more
We are coming off a year of ‘giving experiences not gifts’ so I’ve been approaching this Christmas with a smaller shopping list and big plans on how to ‘do things’ with our kids. We have told the kids that for Christmas we will take them to a hotel and go swimming. Their reaction has … Read more
I am all for being passionate about ANYTHING you do in life, from mindfully dicing seventeen onions, to studying for your doctorate, to getting up and putting on the clothes you LIKE each day! Where there is passion, there is hope, drive and ultimately (hopefully) joy in the end result. Passion doesn’t always come … Read more
Today, we’re going to talk about how to get your kids to play with their toys. About a week ago, our whole family gathered around my computer in my office, and we looked at old photos and videos from years ago when the kids were just small, little, little. Now they’re nine, eight and six. … Read more
A couple years ago we became ‘minimalists’ and I have been decluttering our entire house. Along with the process, we have babies and toddlers who are constantly adjusting how they use their spaces. After shuffling three kids around two rooms on our main level, we were settling on giving my daughter her own room. This … Read more
We have been working on simplifying our home and the first step we took was to remove the EXCESS. In the first six months of decluttering, we had done three toy purges and reduced the kids’ toys by over half. We weren’t too nervous about removing this many toys because of what we learned … Read more
Nostalgia of childhood toys lingers in the back of my brain. Sometimes I will smell something musty and sweet that reminds me of that little doll I had as a kid. Or see a shade of yellow like an ordinarily magical dress I loved as a girl. If I take a second to think about it, I … Read more
I’m crashing the #fiveonfriday party with some blogging ladies. We each share a list of five things, any topic. This week I’m gonna tell you about FIVE BOOKS I’M READING What!? Five Books!! Who is this literary novice with her feats of speed reading while three toddlers run amok? Funny you should ask. I’m not … Read more
The first time I took away half of my kids’ toys it involved an “incident” that happened while I was nursing the baby. (Maybe you remember this one….) The type of incident which included three jars of baby powder; me having an out-of-body experience of unreasonable calmness; a tearful vacuuming session (my tears mostly); and … Read more