After 6.5 years of continual house projects, pregnancies, and newborns, Dave and I will both say that all our house projects and all our babies have required more work, time, patience, and energy than we originally envisioned… but both the house projects AND the babies have most definitely been worth it all!
In fact, as I thought more about it, I realized that home renovations and newborns surprisingly have many similarities!
I know it might seem weird to do a post about inside toys in the middle of the summer, but here in West Michigan, it can get REALLY hot and humid in the summers, so we often play outside in the morning and inside in the afternoon, where the air conditioning keeps things very pleasant!
The toys listed in today’s post are things ALL 3 of our kids (ages 5, 3, 2) play with and enjoy almost every single day!
As many of you know, our family is very “routine oriented” — it seems to suit us all quite well. We all have various morning, nightly, daily, and weekly routines that help to simplify, streamline, and de-stress our lives.
These routines work wonderfully… until they don’t! Today I’m sharing a few instances where our routines have stopped working, and I’d love to know how YOU handle situations when your routines stop working.
Today is Dave and my 11-year anniversary — which means I’ve officially been married to him for more than 1/3 of my life!
I decided that I would share a bit more about our honeymoon — more specifically why waiting a week to go on our honeymoon was one of the smartest decisions we made so early in our marriage!
It’s Dave and my 11th anniversary tomorrow — so along with sharing lots of great recipes, organizing ideas, money-saving tips, landscape renovations, and some of my favorite things, I’m also sharing pictures and posts from all of our previous anniversaries!
I hope you enjoy re-reading them as much as I did!
Over the years, I have gradually switched to using more natural (often homemade) cleaning products throughout my home. I love how frugal these products are — and that they are often safer and gentler than many store-bought cleaners.
HOWEVER, there are times when my homemade cleaning concoctions just don’t cut it, and I choose to use more powerful cleaning agents… I’m sharing some of those products today!
After enjoying very long, curly hair for the first 23+ years of my life, I’ve had shorter hair for almost 9 years now… and I just LOVE it!
I’ve gotten so many requests to share exactly how I style my hair each morning; and even though it only takes me a minute or two, I had fun finally making a video tutorial!
Last spring, I transplanted lilies from my Great-Grandparents’ dairy farm… and they didn’t look so great. This year, however, they are thriving with huge blooms and an amazing scent that fills our yard!
It’s amazing what a difference just one year makes — with our flowers, our children, our careers, our own personal lives, etc. etc. Read more of my thoughts in today’s post!
As I mentioned last week, one of the fun post series I’m running over the summer is a “Week in Review”, where I look back on my past 7 years of blogging and highlight old posts, photos, recipes, etc.
Today I’m sharing links to some favorite BBQ side dishes, our huge kitchen renovation, Dave and my engagement story, Craigslist tips… and pictures from this week’s vacation 🙂
As someone who really enjoys planning ahead, setting goals, and daydreaming about the future, I feel like I do a fairly decent job of intentionally living (and enjoying) the present moments…
Today I’m sharing a few thoughts that I hope will encourage you to stop and think about what you’re planning for.
Last month, I shared our favorite EASY at-home lunch ideas, in preparation for all the kiddos being home from school this summer. Soon after I published that post, I started getting requests to share our favorite (easy) at-home breakfasts… so that is what’s on today’s agenda.
I’m specifically sharing several of our favorite HOT breakfast ideas!
Over the past several summers, I’ve taken 2-4 weeks off from blogging… just because I could! However, this year, with a baby scheduled to arrive in late September, I’m “saving” my vacation time for later this year and will be blogging straight through the summer months.
Today I’m sharing more about my summer blogging plans — including a fun new post series I’m starting!
One of the questions I get most often (outside of clothes clutter questions) is how I display kids artwork and snapshot photos.
Over the years, I’ve personally tried many different ways to display photos and artwork, but time and time again, I always end up reverting back to my most favorite (super simple) way…
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