Blog

I’m your average mom living in leggings and yoga pants, with shirts covered in spitup 75% of the time, trying to figure out this crazy life of motherhood and wifehood.

I discovered blogging in college and have done it on and off for almost 10 years now. A little baking. A little gardening. A little homeschooling. A dash of natural alternatives and essential oils. A book review now and again. It’s as much of a hodge podge as I am.

Samwise Declan

I will start with there are so many good dogs in rescues. Every single dog we have ever had has been a rescue. Our Pekingese, our Jack Russell, our Brittany- and every dog in between and after; rescued. We love our rescue dogs. Many rescues will not adopt to families with young children. Some animals… Continue reading Samwise Declan

Accidental Hiatus

As I sat down to do a little blog work tonight, I felt like it had been at LEAST 2 months, if not 3 since I’d been able to write a post and share it. Apparently, it’s only been since August 12th, which is just over a month. I’m fairly happy with that, but it… Continue reading Accidental Hiatus

How to Start- Part II

You have your list. You’ve identified how the sun moves in your yard. You’ve more or less decided where your beds are going to be! You have direction. You know if you’re doing a food plot, herb garden, flower garden, pollinator garden, etc. The dream has been dreamed! There is a saying that goes something… Continue reading How to Start- Part II

Saving the Seeds

I know this feels out of order with my gardening series, and you would be correct. But the thing is, we’ve been doing a LOT of seed saving the last few weeks. I have the pictures, and the info is fresh in my brain, so go with it. What started out as a way to… Continue reading Saving the Seeds

How to Start

When I walk outside, I see them. In my mind I construct pods, bean teepees, soft edges of marigolds and catmint, the hum of hummingbirds, the bzzzz of bees, the whisper of flapping butterfly wings. Did you know if you are absolutely quiet, you can hear a caterpillar munch? I see stalks of Foxglove, tangles… Continue reading How to Start

Steamer Mugs

Yes, it’s still summer. But we all know back to school shopping also means that fall is around the corner. And in case you’ve been living under a rock the last 19 months, there are *bugs* out in the world too. And sometimes, those *bugs* cause things like green goop to fall out of your… Continue reading Steamer Mugs

Toddler Bible Time

Part of homeschooling for us, includes Bible Time. I use this term loosely but stick with me. First, we are hitting the age where she is really learning songs and latching on to them. Not only does she ask for “Bible So” but when she plays with her animals and puts them to bed, she… Continue reading Toddler Bible Time

Italian Pork & Baby Led Feeding

As I was prepping dinner I realized that this was also a perfect opportunity to show an example of baby led weaning for us! Baby led weaning is more or less feeding your baby little bits of the same food you’re eating- obviously this should be done judicially based on their age and tooth count.… Continue reading Italian Pork & Baby Led Feeding

Battle of the Pits- Rematch

3 years ago when I first started wearing natural deodorant, it was still a “fringe” kinda thing. People were just starting to learn about what natural deodorant is and why they need to switch. There were fairly limited options, they were gritty, they were hard, often left greasy stains on clothes, and most of them… Continue reading Battle of the Pits- Rematch

What You Didn’t See

With both girls I was back in pre-baby clothes within a week of giving birth. Actually, if I’m really honest, I was wearing pre-baby clothes before that. I’d hear, “You’ve had 2 kids!?”“How lucky you snapped back so quick!”“You look great.” But amongst the comments on how I *looked* nobody knew that I was actually… Continue reading What You Didn’t See

Lord of the Rings Birthday

“When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.” J.R.R. Tolkein The Fellowship of the Ring This year, my dear sweet husband turned 30. Not only is he married to me, but he’s… Continue reading Lord of the Rings Birthday

Foxhole

We are deep in the trenches. I mean like, if the last 10 days had an equivalent, we’re about 15ft down in a foxhole in the midst of the Battle of the Bulge. Simultaneously: -Athena is getting molars-Eleanor is getting teeth-We more or less did not sleep from Monday through Saturday-We’ve all been slammed with… Continue reading Foxhole

🌈Fizzy Rainbow🌈

This month, our homeschool themes are Mom, Rainbows, and Butterflies. There’s a very good chance you have everything you need for this activity in your cupboard. It kept Athena entertained for a good half hour! If you know my kid, that is a LONG time. I am already planning to repeat this activity in variation… Continue reading 🌈Fizzy Rainbow🌈

True North

I’m sure most of us can sit down and pin point pivotal times in your life where you’ve had significant shifts in your season of life. April, was one of those months. I have known for quite some time that I would not be returning to teaching in public schools. I’ve known for just about… Continue reading True North

A New Level of Crunch

My husband needs prayer. God bless him, he’s married a crunchy woman. I’ve always been a nature kid. It’s only gotten worse (better) in recent years. From an academic standpoint, I LOVE learning. From a religious standpoint, I believe God created incredible and remarkable gifts in nature that go beyond visual beauty, and include multitude… Continue reading A New Level of Crunch

Backyard Nature Hunt

I don’t know if this activity could get any easier. What you’ll need:-Paints-Egg carton (12 or 18 count)-Nature Paint the egg carton slots various colors. I had an 18 count, so popular colors I duplicated. Go outside, and HUNT! Athena had a ton of fun looking around our yard for pieces of nature to put… Continue reading Backyard Nature Hunt

Dirt

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was… Continue reading Dirt

Der Ostereierbaum

No, I’m not trying to get fancy. The topic of this blog post is something known as Der Ostereierbaum. And unless you happen to have fairly extensive knowledge of German culture and language, this more or less translates to The Easter Tree. In Germany, during the Easter season, they decorate trees and/or bushes. It’s basically… Continue reading Der Ostereierbaum

Wound Care

Thorns, cuts, scrapes, slices, splinters, OH MY! With as much time as we spend outside, we see it all. So how do we take care of these wounds in our house? –Redmond Salt–Redmond Bentonite Clay–Patch Bandaids-CorrectX-*Optional* Boo-Boo Spray CorrectX is essentially a natural neosporin alternative! The oils blended into the ointment help support healing, fight… Continue reading Wound Care

Easter Baskets

Some people may think our Easter Baskets are a little extra, and they would be right. Athena’s birthday and Christmas are 5 days apart. That means in general, there’s no other “gifty” holiday during the year for her. It all happens at once. Easter is our parental opportunity to get some clothes in the next… Continue reading Easter Baskets

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Mistress Mary, Quite contrary, How does your garden grow? With Silver Bells, And Cockle Shells, And so my garden grows. Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book (1744) Will I ever take a before picture? Probably not. We aren’t totally in the clear as far as warm weather goes, but this killer week of 60° and above… Continue reading How Does Your Garden Grow?

Toddler Cake Decorating

Do you think I’m crazy? Before you go down that rabbit trail, I won’t lie, I’ve even impressed myself with this creativity. I saw a puffy paint recipe on Pinterest and I had a top 10 idea. I mentioned in the February Review how much Athena has been watching Kids Baking Championship. Let me reiterate.… Continue reading Toddler Cake Decorating

Valentines Day

I love making holidays special. I once heard a speaker say something along the lines of, “Give your children the memories you want your adult children to have.” I loved it so much. Pairing it with our Charlotte Mason education and my own special crazy, makes for some interesting days. Valentines Day was no exception.… Continue reading Valentines Day

February in Review

I keep thinking, “things will slow down.” And then they don’t. I’m going to attempt to avoid saying, “this month was crazy” every month, but well….it was. There are over 40 blog drafts typed up and everything. Have I had the time to sit down to finish formatting? No. So I’m just a wee touch… Continue reading February in Review

Monkey Bread

I have a slight cinnamon obsession. Cinnamon rolls. Monkey Bread. Anything of the like. We’ve been watching Kids Baking Championship and Athena has been very into baking. On a recent episode we watched they made monkey bread. I’ve been wanting to make cinnamon rolls so monkey bread was hardly a stretch. PTL my child took… Continue reading Monkey Bread

Canister Planter

My friend Alexa is a hardcore thrifter. Up there as a serious champ of thrifters honestly. She is a fairly consistent contributor to my blue & white obsession. We also are both “banned” by our husbands to buy more mugs, so we buy them for each other. It’s a nice win-win. 1000 years ago she… Continue reading Canister Planter

Sprouts

I got bags of dirt for my birthday. Some of you may think I’m kidding, but I honestly asked for dirt for my birthday.🤷🏻‍♀️ It was brutal waiting to get seeds in the dirt, especially after getting Cut Flowers. But I managed to stave off the urge until the end of January. Realistically, I’m not… Continue reading Sprouts

Why We Limit TV

I grew up in a great era of TV. Blues Clues. Gullah Gullah Island. Bear in the Big Blue House. Zoom. Crocodile Hunter. I don’t remember my mom ever “limiting” tv per say. I was the weird kid that wanted to watch Animal Planet anyway. Or happily made mud pies outside. My mom talks about… Continue reading Why We Limit TV

January in Review

January brought with it some cold, celebrating another trip around the sun for me, and a new attitude for Athena. We seemed to have turned 3 and hit the “three-nager” wall…. hard. We ask her to clean up, she says “no.” Honestly, it’s like living with the most extreme Sour Patch kid, because when she… Continue reading January in Review

Lady Eleanor

Considering I wrote a whole 3 part series on Athena, I think it’s fair to share about Eleanor some too! In all fairness, I have written about her Pregnancy, L&D, and our early experience working with an IBCLC and her lip/tongue tie revision. I really thought Athena was a happy baby, but Eleanor takes the… Continue reading Lady Eleanor

Kourtney Cannon Art

I met Kourtney last fall at the Greenlight Operation Annual Art Fest. I instantly fell in love with both her and her art. Not only is she incredibly sweet & kind, but I LOVED how bright and fun her art is. One day, I will have rooms designed around her pieces, but that’s another story.… Continue reading Kourtney Cannon Art

Winter Olympics

The 2020 Winter Olympics may have been cancelled, but they just got post-poned in our world. Part of our January curriculum is a week learning about the Winter Olympics, topped off with our own special, Winter Olympics Day! We were even able to have our sweet friend Ezra join us for our Winter Olympics day!… Continue reading Winter Olympics

Acupuncture with Dr. Kari

I wasn’t skeptical, but acupuncture wasn’t something I thought I’d ever do. It made sense, pressure points and what not. Similarly, we apply oils at certain reflexology points. But then Kari started practicing out of the same office as our chiropractor. Ethan was the first to test it out. He and Kari actually went to… Continue reading Acupuncture with Dr. Kari

Life with Athena Part III

Meltdown life. Toddlerhood is already a bucket of fun. Living with the real-life equivalent of a Sour Patch Kid. Athena is like living with an extreme version. In the last 18m we have had to learn how to decipher the difference between a “normal toddler tantrum,” and “I am overwhelmed and need help.” One of… Continue reading Life with Athena Part III

New Curriculum!

It has been a slug of a process but I’m finally getting the rest of my various unit plans and curriculum here. Everything is a digital download. All curriculum are written for PDE State Standards. They have also all been taught to real students. Currently, I have full units bulked together. That means instead of… Continue reading New Curriculum!

Life with Athena, Part II

If you didn’t read the first part of this series, I definitely recommend going back and reading Life with Athena. There’s a good chance this post won’t make much sense without it. Figuring out *most* of the pieces of Athena’s sensory puzzle allowed her brain to relax and start learning language. She was going to… Continue reading Life with Athena, Part II

Life with Athena

Chatting with a friend who happens to have been a behavioral therapist for children, she said something along the lines of, “and your blog is going to be such a great resource and encouragement for other parents who have gone through or are going through the same thing!” Then I realized that I actually don’t… Continue reading Life with Athena

Sheet Soak

Like having a favorite stove burner, another sign of adulthood may be having a favorite set of sheets. I think Ethan and I got this set of sheets sometime our first year of marriage. They are Nate Berkus from Target and we love them. Of all of our sheets, they are our favorite. A few… Continue reading Sheet Soak

2021 Gardens

Last year was my first year planting flower gardens and I learned a ton. I’m also no longer pregnant, which I’m sure will help a lot as well. Some things I’m going to do differently this year: Our pollinator garden is actually planned out and blocked verses just randomly throwing seeds in and hoping for… Continue reading 2021 Gardens

December in Review

We almost caught a White Christmas this year! But alas, the snow was more or less gone by Christmas. Ethan happened to have off the day of the storm so he was able to go out and play with her. Eleanor even got bundled up to experience her first snow! I’m super thankful that we… Continue reading December in Review

Word of the Year

A few years ago I started picking a “word of the year.” 2020 was nurture. The 2019 was grace. 2018 was brave. 2017 was joy. In 2020 I ironically struggled with a word until it smacked me in the face. For 2021 I knew my word in November of 2020- I cut social media which… Continue reading Word of the Year

Butterfly Garden

In college I started getting into gardening and growing food. I learned how to can and found a true love of it all. When Ethan and I first got married we were renting and had zero garden space. I regularly joke that we bought our house not for the house, but the land. Our house… Continue reading Butterfly Garden

I Left Social Media

I was 15 when I snuck a MySpace. I was 16 when I was allowed to create a Facebook. It consisted of statuses like, “skol tomorrow. Bored. Txt me.” I wish I was kidding. In college I hopped on the insta wagon, just general pics here and there. I was briefly on Twitter and Snapchat.… Continue reading I Left Social Media

And Then We Were 3…

On December 19th we partied 3x over to celebrate Athena turning 3! For her second birthday, initially we all got hit with a 24hr plague. I rescheduled, and we got snow. We ended up not having any kind of birthday party for her last year.😭 This year was already a crap show, but I was… Continue reading And Then We Were 3…

4….Years…Later

This is coming a few days behind our actual anniversary because I wanted to make sure to include Ethan’s spoiling of me when he got home from work. But before we get there, here’s a trip down memory lane… Ethan and I met in college. His room mate dated my best friend. He had graduated… Continue reading 4….Years…Later

Refuel with Re-Lyte

Field hockey was my life for 10 years. 10. Whole. Years. And I more than likely drank gallons of sports drinks in that time. Because really, that was, and still is, the norm. Who drank coconut water in 2003? Nobody; that’s who. This year Redmond re-released their newly formulated Re-Lyte; their powdered drink mix. I… Continue reading Refuel with Re-Lyte

November in Review

November was as much of a roller coaster as the weather here in PA. November saw weather spikes towards the 80s, and dip down to freezing. I feel like our emotions and life honestly was just as extreme. Kind of as extreme as watching my brother jump out of a plane in shorts and a… Continue reading November in Review

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