Motherhood Hack: Activities for encouraging independence

May 4, 2017

I definitely leaned towards the side of being a helicopter parent when Gabriel was little. It was mainly out of fear. Fear of messes, fear of catastrophe, fear of any harm coming his way. Since my hands are no longer as free as when I had one, I have slowly learned how to accept these little independent initiatives as opportunities for them to come into their own. It’s also been a good exercise for me to understand I am not in control of every situation. I have noticed that when given the chance to try something new, they start to make choices on their own and become more confident about trying new things.

When they grow up, and are on their own I hope they are confident in who they are and the decisions they make as well as being able to bravely determine right over wrong. Since I now have children in all different stages, and 4 out of 5 are experimenting with new ways to be independent, this topic is on my mind quite often. I thought I would share some ways I am encouraging independence in our home, but I would love to hear your ideas as well! Let me know your favorite books, blogs, or resources on this topic!

VIEW FULL POST

Cinco de Mayo Dinner Party

May 2, 2017

Americans love a good holiday. So much so that we will celebrate another country’s! I personally just love a good cultural experience;) Since we have tacos weekly, I embrace Cinco de Mayo with good music, bright colors, and a good helping of tacos! If you are gathering with friends this Friday, here’s an easy way to feed a crowd and liven up your usual table set up…

VIEW FULL POST

Easy Stromboli Recipe

May 1, 2017

I was going to rule out recipe posts here, but I keep getting requests for meal ideas that we feed our big family. So occasionally I will share one, but typically it’s nothing out of the ordinary! My little ones get to request their dinner of choice on their birthday, and Gabriel has requested Stromboli the last few years. It yields a large quantity, is too easy to make, and will become an instant favorite! This recipe was adapted from my dear friend’s mother. She introduced me to Stromboli years ago, and we have made it ever since. Also, do you think there is such a thing as non-awkward making good photos? I’ll keep practicing, promise.

VIEW FULL POST

Weekend Style: Splurge vs. Save

April 30, 2017

Gabe surprised me with tickets to see Ben Folds perform with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Ben Folds music was the soundtrack of our dating years and the first dance song at our wedding. We were counting down the days for months to see him live, and guess who got called into jury duty the same date? I almost cancelled the sitter, but held out on the hope he would get off in time. Fighting for time in our marriage is more challenging now than ever, but it always is worth jumping the hurdles. Gabe made it back just in time for us to jet to the city, and we let the music take us back to the start.

Anyways, here are a few weekend style looks I posted on instagram from recent nights, and I thought it would be fun to do more splurge vs. save posts. Let me know if these are helpful at all… VIEW FULL POST

Home update: Living Room Layout Plans

April 28, 2017

Our home is a very open layout which makes its smaller square footage feel much larger. Our living room faces the dining area and has very high ceilings. We spend the majority of our time in the living, dining, and patio areas and we have been itching to pull this room together! We’ve had some pieces fall apart over wear and tear so it was time to hunt for replacements. (Here is what the current living room set up looks like.) I look forward to sharing the finished result, but for today here is the process and progress we currently have for the room…

VIEW FULL POST

Family Vacation to the Smoky Mountains, TN (+VIDEOS)

April 24, 2017

Last week, we traveled to the Smokies for a family vacation with the gang. We have camped in the Smokies before, but had no idea how much the area had to offer. We teamed up with TN Vacation to film a series of commercials that were both filmed and aired the same day! This was kind of a way we got to speed date all the sites in East Tennessee. I wanted to share the mini commercials below, the sites we visited, and some of the behind the scenes photos! They were all filmed and aired the same day! It was quite an experience!

VIEW FULL POST

Behind the scenes of a blog update.

April 18, 2017

I recently was asked to share “more transparency as to how we actually run the blog,” since it was hard to imagine how I could do so with little ones. So how about an update on how we are keeping things running here? The short answer I give to these kinds of questions is usually “well I don’t sleep a whole ton.” But as you can guess there is much more to it than that, so I will go a little deeper today. I know time management and balance are things I am always learning, so this topic can hopefully help some of you also trying to juggle multiple jobs or situations in your life.

VIEW FULL POST