We've been home as a family in self-isolation for three weeks and it feels...kind of normal? Or at least as normal as it can feel to be staying at home because of a pandemic. Which is not to say that it's always easy or that I don't feel anxiety and frustration. But I think I've wrapped my head around this being life for the foreseeable future. Arizona schools are closed through the end of the school year so this is life until school (hopefully!!) starts in August. As soon as schools started closing the internet was flooded with ideas for... Read more →

One of my 2020 family goals is to get an allowance system going for the boys. They are very interested in money and want money to spend but, being five and six, aren't great at managing their money (of course!). As in, they like to get it out and play with it, or give it back and forth to each other, lose it, and usually want to know what they can afford to buy once they have about three dollars. Chris and I want to have ongoing conversations with the boys about money and to set them up to have... Read more →

Lately I've been loving my evening routine. I haven't always had such a structured evening routine or intentionally spent so much time on myself before getting into bed, but now that my routine has evolved I find myself looking forward to it every night. The parts that include getting the boys ready for bed are pretty easy and enjoyable but I especially enjoy my evening habits that are just to help me wind down and relax. I know our evening routine will change so much once our baby arrives so I wanted to capture what my evenings look like right... Read more →

The copious amounts of art that my boys produce is at once precious and overwhelming to me: so adorable! Yet so so much of it. But I think I've found a solution that captures their hard work but takes up very little space in our house. Presenting: the kid art photo book! Years ago, when Dash started bringing home adorable artwork from daycare, I quickly realized that the pages of construction paper with hand prints and glued tissue paper would accumulate. And fast. I had heard about taking photographs of art work against a white poster board background so I... Read more →

One of my 2019 goals was to have "one family meal" meaning that more often than not we are all eating roughly the same dinner each night. At the beginning of the year this felt like a struggle. Often I was making two meals and didn't feel like we had any meals that everyone would eat. I'm happy to report that as 2019 wraps up I'm feeling really good about our family dinners! We've found meals, or at least combinations of food, that work for everyone at the table, and my meal planning/grocery shopping/cooking systems are working well. Having more... Read more →

Places I don't like clutter: kitchen counters, bathroom counters, on my desk, on the dining room table...okay fine, I really don't like clutter anywhere. Including my email inbox! Even though I don't have a full time job and I diligently unsubscribe to unwanted ads and newsletters my inbox can feel out of control pretty quickly. But not any more! I've been using a Gmail organization system for over a year that has tidied up my inbox and keeps it tidy. Are your ears perking up? The way email inboxes are set up, with one long list of emails and maybe... Read more →

camping at Christopher Creek campground outside of Payson Did you go camping when you were growing up? As a kid there's no better adventure than spending all day outside exploring the woods followed by roasting a hot dog, eating s'mores, and then snuggling into your sleeping bag in a tent. When I was growing up my family went on one or two camping trips each year. I also went camping with my Girl Scout troop. I have such fond memories of those trips with my family and friends. I loved being outside, helping to lay a fire, taking notice of... Read more →

Something I've learned from meticulous budgeting with Chris is to question everything in the budget. That way you ensure that you're spending your money on the things you actually want to spend money on. It's alarmingly easy for wants to creep into a budget and then establish themselves as needs. So we go through each line item: Do we need electricity? Yes. How about those expensive gym memberships? Yes, we really use and love them. But sometimes asking these questions revealed things we were willing to let go of. Especially if living without something might actually make us happier while... Read more →

Little things I'm so glad to have done. Clockwise from top left: fixing a broken picture frame, organizing my makeup, simplifying our key ring, hanging a jewelry organizer, installing a flagpole bracket. Does fixing a broken photo frame have anything to do with overall happiness? I'm starting to think it might, at least for me. Little to-do list items tend to clutter in my mind. I think this is a result of being a details person and from my love of efficiency. I notice the little things as I go about my day: I see that the door out to... Read more →

Here's something I've noticed: managing your calendar, reminders, and to-dos can now be done with a zillion apps yet paper planners seem to be enjoying a resurgence. (A paper planner is even one of the cheapish thing that can change your life.) This makes me think there must be many other people who, like me, are trying to figure out the perfect digital-paper harmony. It's taken a while but I think I've finally settled on an effective system using both digital and paper calendar and task management. The challenge with using both is that they have to work together. Otherwise,... Read more →