As Christmas break came to a close, Dave and I sat down to go over our crazy-busy January schedule — after which I had a mini melt-down; panicking that I would never be able to do everything I needed to do with Dave gone so much this month.
But then the snow started… and it didn’t stop for 3 days! I was gifted 3 extra days at home with Dave helping — and it totally changed my perspective.
Dave and I intentionally tried to simplify our 2013 Christmas Break. We’ve just been so busy, and we know things will only get busier with a new baby, so we’ve been doing a lot of relaxing lately.
We were also gifted a fabulous local getaway to the Homewood Suites by Hilton — Grand Rapids. It was the icing on top of our super relaxing Christmas break!
We’re all excited for Christmas over here; but honestly, I think I sometime like Christmas Eve even better than Christmas Day. It’s quieter, more low-key, less hoopla, less busyness, and just simpler.
Due to the holidays, having family in town, and a fun little pre-baby holiday getaway Dave and I are taking later this week, I’ll be taking the rest of the week off from blogging. But I’ll see you back here on New Year’s Day!
Today I’m talking about traditions — specifically holiday traditions — and I’d love to hear your thoughts too.
I love traditions… but only if they work with our current family, our current stage of life, our current budget, and our current interests. And I’m definitely not afraid to stop or alter a specific tradition if it stops working for us.
I’ve already shared how much I love giving gift cards as clutter-free holiday gifts. However, I’ve never shared how Dave and I buy gift cards for ourselves this time of year.
Yup! We capitalize on the freebie gift cards, bonus offers, and other seasonal gift card deals to literally get free money. Then we use the gift cards for simple date nights throughout the rest of the year.
Over the last few months, I’ve gotten many emails from desperately tired parents asking for more information about Nora’s sleep… or lack of sleep.
I’ll let you know right now that we still haven’t found anything that has magically worked — but I do think the information in this post will still offer some help and encouragement to anyone who also has a poor sleeper.
I’ve never been a huge fan of coleslaw — however, when it comes to Broccoli Slaw, I’ll almost always go back up for 2nds or even 3rds. I love this easy side dish!
Broccoli Slaw is versatile enough to work with backyard BBQ’s, a simple sandwich buffet, or even a big holiday ham dinner — and today, I’m sharing my super simple recipe for this yummy side dish!
When we first purchased our home, one of the areas I was most excited about was the large landing area at the top of the stairs. And since we’re in the process of renovating Nora’s new “big-girl bedroom” upstairs, we decided that it was also a good time to transform this landing area into the playroom we envisioned when we first moved in.
After a little paint, carpeting, and a bunch of toys, this is what we ended up with!
Since I get SO many emails from overwhelmed parents asking, “how can we ask our well-meaning relatives to PLEASE stop giving our kids so much stuff?” I thought I’d write up a response in the form of a letter.
This post is intended to be humorous, so I certainly hope it doesn’t come off as offensive, rude, or disrespectful — and it is in NO WAY directed towards Dave or my relatives. 🙂
Dave and I love cheesecake — but I don’t always love making a huge cheesecake for just the two of us. So I was thrilled when a reader recently emailed me a recipe for a much smaller cheesecake.
It requires much fewer ingredients, much less time in the kitchen, and has much fewer calories than eating a full-size cheesecake (especially when there’s just two of us).
It’s Black Friday — which means many of you woke up at the crack of dawn (or were up all night) shopping for all the latest deals and steals. Good for you! I hope you’re having lots of fun — say ‘hi’ to my sister and my mom for me!
I, on the other hand, will be hiding under the covers with Nora until the holiday traffic dies down!
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