whole parenting family

5 Free Mother’s Day Ideas

May 10, 2014

  Have you seen a billion Mother’s Day ideas online? Me too. Many include purchasing beautiful gifts (like me & my etsy shop coupon for 30% off MAMA21014) or designing intricate projects. Pinterest worthy. Not realistic for me. Let’s be honest. I’m STILL pregnant at 40+ weeks and motivation is at an all time low. It was miraculous we got to the park the other night (well, that I went along to the nightly ritual of the park). Gotta admit: Mother’s Day for us is usually so low key at our house. We kids either go in on a gift for our mom, or we all do our own thing, and for me, AA has the kids do some artwork and shower me with extra kisses. It’s a beautiful but, like I said, low key time o’ year. Right now, sitting at 40+ weeks pregnant, I would love the gift of our son’s arrival, frankly. ARE YOU LISTENING, BABYLOVES? Riiiight back to your free ideas, for those who’ve run out of time or moolah. 1) Love letter. You don’t have to be a poet. You just have to be able to either write, or type, and say something(s) nice. They can be trite; they can be deep. Just compose it. Something like this for my mama: Dear Mama, You always put your children first, above your own needs, wants, and dreams in life. And now that you’re older and we tease you about wearing our sweatpants from high school, know also…

Read More

Our House on Design Mom

May 6, 2014

I just love Gabby over at Design Mom. Who doesn’t? She’s a great writer, manages a big household with lots of kiddos, and shares her eye for beauty and design with the rest of us. Her series on Living with Kids is one of my favorites and a while back I contacted her timidly, seeing if she’d be interested in including us in her series. She has been gracious, kind, and everything lovely about the process, despite my ineptitude at getting her photos that were the right size–for a very long time. Without further ado . . . our crazy commune: Come see Whole Parenting Family at Design Mom! And no, baby is not here yet. I’m regaining my zen after our false fluid leakage. Full story coming, promise!

Read More

Seven Quick Takes Friday take one

July 19, 2013

I’ve been following Conversion Diary by Jennifer Fulwiler for a long while now. She’s remarkable, mom of a brood, writer, blogger, reality TV star, and pretty seriously funny. Every Friday she hosts a linkup (for non bloggers, that means other people share their link to their blog post with the same topic/title)–7 Quick Takes Friday–and it’s just that, quick takes from the week. Linking up with her and the rest of the interesting & awesome writers. Without further ado, my week in seven quickies: — 1 — SuperBoy’s tempter tantrums have been slowing down. Kinda. He escalates in a more physical way now–stomping & wringing his hands–over small little things. His sister touching his raspberry. Me requesting him to go to the bathroom and try to go. Just try. Being done with toys. Quiet time. Playtime. Transition of any kind. You know him, he’s all about baseball so a little baseball bribery has gone a long way–meaning if he doesn’t listen he loses a few of his oh-so-few (THOUSANDS) baseball cards. They go into temporary jail. Until his good behavior wins them back. It’s kinda working. — 2 — Etsy shop’s a hopping. Busy sewing, busy cutting, busy designing. There were two giveaways of my lovelies by Heartland Parenting & Camp Patton. I’m sure the best winners won! My products were also at a New York tradeshow! Well received! Yay! That’s a lot of exclamations, even for me. And I’ve got orders on my table for friends & strangers alike.…

Read More