I’m back from a little blogging break over the holiday week, and I’m sharing updates on our summer goals, lots of cute pictures of the kids, a few pictures from James’ birthday party, and 2 fun freebies! I also have a question regarding my sourdough bread attempts!
Thanks for sticking around while I took a week off!
I feel like the summer is flying by at warp speed — faster than any other summer before! We’re already a full month in and we still have SO many things we want to do!
I’m sharing a few of my favorite things in today’s post — and I’ll be taking the rest of the week off from blogging to enjoy the holiday week with my family!
Over the years, we have switched and rotated and rearranged the carseats in our van multiple times and multiple different ways — depending on how many children we had and what their ages were.
I’ve gotten SO many questions regarding the ways we arranged our seats — so that’s what I’m sharing more about today!
With only 24 hours in a day, there really is only so much we can accomplish. Of course, we CAN work to increase our productivity and improve our efficiency, but there are times when we simply have to cut corners and give less than 100% effort in order to fit it all in.
I am personally more of a “do more at less than 100% effort” — but there are certainly pros and cons for each side. I’d love to have you weigh in with what works best for you!
We often think of summertime as no work, all play, beach days, sleeping in, vacations, and living carefree without any type of schedule. I don’t know about you, but that’s not how my summers are… even with Dave home all day!
Productive is rarely a hot topic during the summer months — however, in my opinion, preparing to be productive is even more important for Dave and me during the summer months when we have SO many extra things we want to pack into our schedule. I explain more in today’s post!
As many of you might remember, Nora was a very high-needs baby. She caused a huge amount of stress for Dave and for me in the beginning, but I can now see how this steep learning curve paid off exponentially with the rest of our children.
If you are the parent of a high-needs baby, a slightly-sensitive toddler, or a child who regularly acts out for seemingly “no reason”, I would strongly encourage you to put your parenting books back on the shelf for a month or so and simply get “back to the basics”.
It’s been exactly 6 years since we completely overhauled our main garage with the fabulous organizational system and epoxy garage floor coating… and it honestly looks as good today as it did 6 years ago!
We have enjoyed our renovated garage immensely over the past 6 years — I’m sharing some updates (and lots of photos) in today’s post! If you’re contemplating a garage renovation, you’ll want to check out this post!
Although I was originally intimidated by the seemingly long process of soaking, draining, rinsing, and slow cooking dried beans, I quickly realized it only requires a few minutes of hands-on work for a HUGE amount of homemade refried beans!
In my opinion, they taste significantly better than canned beans, and they freeze really well!
For the past 5 years, we have had ONE nice-looking vegetable garden — the others have been completely covered with weeds by fall.
This year, we’re trying something new to (hopefully) help us keep the weeds down– boy does it look ridiculous! I’m almost a little embarrassed to share pictures on the blog!
After months of experimenting, tweaking, testing, baking, and eating SO MUCH whole grain bread, I’m FINALLY ready to share my recipe on the blog!
I’ve successfully made this exact recipe week after week for several months now… and my family gives it 2 thumbs up! I’ve also created a FREE printable recipe (with or without photos) that you may save, download, or print — consider it my birthday gift to you!!!
If you’ve spent any amount of time reading blogs or browsing social media, you’ve probably heard a lot about “Capsule Wardrobes”.
I’m always so intrigued by the idea of a capsule wardrobe, but I also realize that for the majority of people, it’s not the most realistic wardrobe plan… today I’m sharing a few reasons why.
In general, when it comes to books, we almost always borrow instead of buy. However, I will admit to having a teeny-tiny “soft spot” for toddler board books!
I realize there are hundreds and thousands of amazing children and toddler board books — in no way do I think my list contains the “best books” or the “right books” — they are simply the books all 4 of our kiddos have loved and enjoyed over the years.
I don’t think waking up early is essential for productivity or a lifetime of success. It’s completely possible to sleep in and be productive during different times of the day… HOWEVER, based on the number of emails and comments I’ve gotten asking about our 4am wake up time, I figured it was time for another blog post.
If you’re interested in learning to become a morning person (something I DO think you can learn), I hope the 4 tips in today’s post will help!
While I certainly don’t think it’s our job as parents to entertain our children all summer long, I DO think the summer months at home together can be a lot more enjoyable if we try to plan a few fun (or special, different, out-of-the-ordinary) activities each week.
Today I’m sharing SEVERAL of the extra special, frugal family-fun things we do together each summer. Hopefully it will spark a few ideas for things you could do with your family as well!
Today I’m sharing the revamped (and healthified) recipe for our family’s Favorite Make-Ahead Layered Lettuce Salad (yes, our kids will actually eat small amounts of this salad!)
Not only can this salad be made ahead and enjoyed for days (without getting soggy), it can also be made from pretty much any salad-type ingredients you have in the house — oh, and it tastes amazing too!
Summer is here… well, almost! Nora has 2 more days of school left and then the “lazy days” of summer are officially here!
Come read about what we’ve been up to these past few weeks, some of our upcoming summer plans (we’re trying camping for the first time!), and all the food I’ve been making and baking (I got a sourdough starter!)
Summer break is officially here! Dave is completely finished with his school year, his classroom is cleaned out, and all his grades are entered. We’re looking forward to hanging out at home for the next 10+ weeks… that’s one of my favorite things for sure!
I’m sharing a few more of my favorite things in today’s post!
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