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Creeeeaky fingers back to blogging here! I loved this post by Anna and this one by Blythe about just doing it again. I have nothing clever to say, that’s for sure, but wanted to catch up on spring in our new house. My whole life I wanted a wrap-around porch. And now I have one! Complete with this incredible swing that the kids like to try to bang against the house. #precious Our window are these 1960 crank windows with built-in screens that screetch up and down. I’m nervous the kids will fall out of them but my husband reassures me they are metal and sturdy. I do very cautiously open them and am amazed it’s FINALLY NOT SNOWING and smells like flowers and fresh cut grass out there! Baking is our new thing as I pay back our incredible carpooling neighbor with baked goods a few days a week. I’ve got earnest helpers and my fav recipe book. I’m in love with the brioche recipe in my fav bread book and ate so much of it I think I legit look four months pregnant. BUT I LOVE BREAD so I’m okay with that. The former owners left a really cool swing play-yard thing but the middle needed this swing for the youngest to really get into the spirit. Our oldest girl finally figured out how to pump on a swing and watching her go flying (slightly too high for my taste) makes me tear up a little. She’s a…
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Shea is basically my sister-in-law as her husband and his siblings grew up like siblings alongside us! She and her husband are the godparents of our youngest and I love them to death. Not real death, but love them so much. When I heard she was thinking of starting to sell Beautycounter, I immediately wanted to buy lipstick and mascara to replace those I bought–gulp–five years ago? I also wanted to share her info with you in case you also need to grab a high quality clean makeup product or if you wanted to start selling them yourself with her guidance! And if you want to skip the chit-chat, and just zip to buy, here you go. Okay no more suspense. Here she is! Hi Shea! Tell us all a little about your new biz, Beautycounter. Hi! Truly, I am surprised to even be telling you about this, because I never pictured myself here as a consultant! Beautycounter is a clean skincare and cosmetic company who just celebrated our five year anniversary. Our mission is to get safer skincare into the hands of everyone. I found out about the company almost three years ago when a dear friend of mine came to tell me about her work with the company. The facts and figures that she shared with me then about the toxic ingredients used often within the personal care industry rocked my world, and encouraged me to actually read the labels of the products I was using all…
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HELLO. Wow, where did this blogger disappear to? The trickiest thing has been to get time at my computer, at my desk, uninterrupted by early-evening-waking-baby, sewing projects, or trying to stay on top of my housework (woeful again and again on that front). But here I am. Hi. What’s new with you? I’m finding we are still in the thick of winter here. Yes, friends in the southern region who are planting their gardens, we see you on instastories. We Minnesotans are bracing for another snowfall this weekend and although today was 45 degrees, who knows what the low will be tonight. I just don’t want to check. Our rhythm feels like winter, still, too. We don’t go to the park but wistfully drive past it while the kids clamor to get out but I insist 20 degrees is just too cold for the baby, even when she’s bundled. I do open the back door to shoo the oldest three out in the fenced yard with their regalia on, down to the neckgator. I wish I could say that I’ve got that spring time energy, but I’m still wrapping up in wool sweaters and dreading to shower and deal with wet hair. #wimp Our oldest has grown through two layers of hems in his school pants, and our second is suddenly fitting 6T pants in length, just not waist. The third born is still in size 2 things but sometimes will pull a 3T sweater over his almost four year…
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These topics distress me enough to write two blog posts in one week! People! Why do we argue about how to attend church with our kids? *shakes head mouth ajar* In case you’re new to this controversy, it’s yet another way good people waste time on the internet: getting huffy about how others attend church with their kids. For reference, my kids are 7, 5, 3, and 14 months. The 7 year old always goes, but it depends with the others. We can all agree to this: attending Mass is a profound privilege and the most important part of our week! We aspire to be reverent, to worship, and to not detract from other’s experiences of the same. We struggle to agree on children’s place in all this: they should be in the cry room; they should be in the front row; they shouldn’t come until they’re old enough to behave like adults; they should come and behave as they’re able to and we should welcome them despite their struggles. Our family has done it all: parents splitting up to go to Mass alone; me solo with all four kids; older kids with us; toddler at home; front row; back row; middle row; books and coloring; nothing; bribes of donuts; threats of trouble, etc. My experiences has taught me that nothing is more humbling than expecting and demanding that my small children behave a certain way in public. Especially in a public place that should be quiet and reverent. What…
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So what’s that phrase? March in like a lion, out like a lamb? I vote there should be one for February. In like a funk, out like ___. “a fun time?” “a frenzy?” This month has been bitterly cold. January is always bitterly cold in Minnesota, but this Feb has taken the cake. When I was little, it was cold like this, but now as an adult, it’s been relatively mild for a while. Yes, Minnesotans talk about the weather, a lot. There’s a debate (light hearted? cold hearted?) going on both on my instagram and Facebook about how many layers we bundle our kids up to go out in the morning. Watch me zoom around getting everyone into their duds and you tell me! (I let them play in the snowbanks on the way back in so that’s part of the snow pants part!) (I also was always cold as a kid so . . . projecting?) The funk has been more pervasive for me than the cold weather. Maybe it’s because I saw a single mom friend’s support system crumble. Maybe it’s because a friend’s baby is home on hospice. Maybe it’s because we attend kinder-12th grade Mass at our parochial school and I want to earnestly remind all the high schoolers that this is the best way to spend your morning (like a crazy middle aged mom) as some of them giggle in the pew and crack their knuckles. When my kids are all in school and I’m facing…
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I’m not on my blogging game! I have so many drafts but the interruptions are constant and the time scarce. The baby (toddler, truth be told) got four molars at once so no one has slept much. Work has been insane for my husband so mostly I’m battling many kids on all fronts by evening and can’t inch over to my computer! BUT. Yes, I reopened my Whole Parenting Goods shop with flannel skirts for the deep cold of winter that Minnesota is experiencing. Mostly because I just love flannel and lace. A few are left! Lent. It is a mere two weeks away and Blessed is She has another reflection journal authored by Laura Kelly Fanucci, even more amazing than our Advent one, and that’s saying something. If you want to do something different this Lent, something deeper, something beautiful and hope filled, it’s here. We always sell out so if you’re on the fence, get off it. Laura wrote more about it on her blog. The short of it is that “She Who Believed” is a journey through the Old Testament ladies and New Testament ones, hearing their stories and hearing our own echoing within them. It all ties in with our journeying with Christ toward Calvery. Beautiful and life changing! Okay, now for the big discussion. Can we all agree that mothers who work outside the home and mothers who work in the home are all doing their best? I have yet to meet a mother who…
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