So we have a new tradition this year. Adventing (oh yes, in this house it’s a verb). This year I had felt overcome by the meaning of Advent. Suddenly the weeks leading to Christmas seem so precious to me. Give me ten years max and I will become ‘that weird Christmas lady’ because I am … 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
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
I’ll get right to it. One of the quickest ways you can simplify ANY AREA of your life is to give yourself fewer choices. There are many studies that tell us that having too many choices is a problem. When we have to choose from 100 menu items or 17 career options, or 200 books … Read more
Original publish date: Dec 31 2015 Updated: Dec 11 2023 It’s been a year since everything changed. A year since I started decluttering our home. This time one year ago I was reading The Joy of Less (by Francine Jay) and Seven (by Jen Hatmaker) after hearing about them on Instagram. These books rustled … 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
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
I am constantly looking for ways to keep my toddler busy indoors. So after much pinning and pining I finally made the big trip to the hardware store and made this toddler busy board for my son. It is located at the top of the stairs right beside our kitchen so I can see him. If … Read more