Series

Lenten Scripture Study is READY!

January 30, 2016

It’s been a wonderful lull between Christmas and now BAM–Lent. I’ve kinda cleaned up the house, arranged our schedule to have more togetherness and less messy running ’roundedness. And I’ve even allowed my daughter to categorize her threads by color. She’s really going after thread right now. In writing my weekly newsletter for the Waiting in the Word group of Christian moms, I realized, yes, I’m into threads too. I’m looking for slender but strong connections to God. I’m looking for less me-time and more Him-time. How do I really turn to Him? How do I really center in Him? I’m so busy with life with small kids, the crying, the spilling, the hugging, the snuggling, the swim lessons, the reading, the hitting fences with sticks repeatedly. This is how. I wrote a scripture study with my two good girlfriends. We broke the six weeks of Lent into six struggles we face as moms of little kids, and then paired those with six attributes we strive toward. selfishness . . . to .  . . sacrifice frustation . . . to . . . forgiveness judgment . . . to . . . love envy . . . to . . . gratitude failure . . . to . . . humility anxiety . . . to . . . surrender Buy the bundle. It includes the study, a printable journal, a bookmark with lectio divina steps, and a calendar to print with all the Bible verses we picked. Today and tomorrow,…

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Humiliation that Only a Three Year Old Can Heap On {7QTs}

September 17, 2015

This past week, I actually had an in-real-life moment that mirrored what I’m always encouraging other moms not to get worked up about little kids are just like this, right? At moms’ group, my daughter had a complete screaming fit while grabbing ahold of me, in front of everyone, while I was taking notes on the white board. I love cheering and encouraging the young mom on. I’m often thinking about the problems we face, and blabbing about it on Facebook. Or snapping a really real pic of my house’s messes and screaming kids for instagram just to say, hey, it’s okay, we are all in this hard time together. I had to cheer myself on a little bit. Because every now and then, be it at swim class or at mom’s group, or anywhere that isn’t in her comfort zone, my three and a half year old SweetPea can really lose her s*&t. And so it happened the other day. I was embarrassed, a little. I was kinda glad it was my kid and not someone else’s because I wasn’t that embarrassed. Maybe I should have been. I scanned the crowd and figured the ladies with older kids thought that looks familiar and the ladies with younger kids probably thought what the heck is her problem and why isn’t Nell doing something about it. Buckle up for a long narrative. Ready? Here’s my overwritten version of the aforementioned meltdown. 1) It was going to be a busy day. A busy, driving around, balancing boxes of napkins…

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A day in the life

March 10, 2015

A day in my life. A day as a recovering lawyer, at home mama, crunchy-sorta, textile artisan, blogger, failed bathroom cleaner. Raising my kids in our 100 year old ancestral home has a rhythm, and familiar inflection so the days are melodic to my very fingers and toes. But this spring has looked a little different with lots of travel with//and for//my siblings. I have always been very close to my siblings. All five of us were like a pack growing up, and now even as we span 30 years old to almost 40, we are still that way, despite living in different parts of the country and almost all being married with kids. Family wedding on the West Coast. No problem packing light because I was just bringing the almost 10 month old, you guys–can you believe he is this old? And this week, as an example of my sib-love, I’ve joined my brother and his wife as they welcomed their second son//and here I am: All up in their business. Woot! Because new baby snuggles. So my third born slung in my sling came down here with me to nurse, throw spoons and blueberries at his older cousin, and generally cause a ruckus. On our way down, we stopped at that great blogging conference I was telling you about where I got to meet some amazing ladies and present about networking and social media. With him in the sling, of course. #CWBNIndiana My feet were hot. You can’t…

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Capsule Wardrobe volume 3: the baby edition

March 3, 2015

And now for the moment you’ve all held your breath: the baby edition! Read SuperBoy (4) here. Read SweetPea (2) here. I promise I’ll put my edition up soon, too. And check out my friend Sarah’s capsule post for her eldest. Really good ideas, here. But back to baby business. I truly hate lots and lots of baby clothing options. They are ill-fitted or unsuitable for movement or scream PRINCESS or SPORTS. And then they all end up stained to high heaven. I get pickier about baby clothing the more babies I have. Go figure. I actually bought more clothing for BabyLove than practically SweetPea, and she was my first girl! Tops. short sleevers: organic cotton onesies are a must. I like Nature Baby and Under the Nile. Avoid Gerber or Circo (target’s brand) as they are so poorly made they just don’t last. I’ve been gifted a few sweet Minnesota themed ones. Love them, natch. L’ved Baby is okay but hasn’t washed well for me. Maybe I need a laundry lesson. long sleevers: I love waffle knit because they don’t absorb spit up as quickly and they are warmer and more durable in this weather. Polarn has great stripes, as shown here, of course. I don’t mind snaps on the side for extra fit, or a few buttons in front, but long sleevers that have that stretch collar where the shoulder part is supposed to fold back. What is that called? Brain freeze. Anyway, I don’t like that because it never fits…

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Week Eats v.12 // Meal Planning & Link Up

February 20, 2015

Hi. Remember me? With my high resolutions about meal planning? It’s been a bit of a mess over here. But I’m determined to get back on my own band wagon. Is it called a band wagon if it was yours? Like you, singular? The purpose of Week Eats is to give each other ideas and inspiration on what we’re preparing for the week for food. And if you’re a blogger, and you blogged about food in any capacity this week, link up so we can get inspiration there, too? Peas and thanks. My friend Rachel started a great Facebook group with her meal plans for the week. Talk about saweeeet? Yup. Sweet. So ask to join here and see what wonders she performs. I’m inspired. And hungry just reading it. I’m going to borrow a little from Rachel and then scoot back to my usual and predictable ways, Smitten Kitchen, et al. The week is a special one because our dear friends in a band are staying with us. So I’ll be feeding seven hungry men in addition to my usual crew. Monday: steak night and celebrating a special birthday I’ve been doing steaks the Alton Brown method with cast iron skillets in a 500 degree oven. And they’ve been really ruddy good. So go read his method here. Cinnamon roasted butternut squash. Mushroom risotto with peas. Sweet potato fries made right. Two desserts: strawberry mousse and lemon poppy seed cake. Tuesday: Beef Chili & chocolate cake. I won’t eat…

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Week Eats v.11 // Meal Planning Made Easy

February 13, 2015

Guess what?? I am not going to let you down this week. Meals for all! And guess what’s even better? My friend Katie who is an actual chef hosting the link up & comment in this week? Yes. She’s amazing and kindly took me up on my pleading to breath some chef life into our little adventure here. She writes at The Humble Onion. So head to her. Link here. And stick around her place. I think you’ll like what you read. And your stomach will too. Comment there with what you’re planning on feeding your kids, self, friends, and loved ones this week. Or if you’ve blogged it, put your link in her link up! Cheers! And thanks to Katie for saving my bacon.  

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