Setting the stage for the holidays? We always know to sweep the floors, clean the windows, and wipe down the counters – but there’s a whole host of stuff to think about beyond that. Guests see the whole picture when they visit! Here’s a cleaning list that will make sure you get all the most important little crevices in ship-shape for the holidays.
This is gonna be straightforward and to the point. I’ve gotten a few messages on Instagram recently asking for advice on car seat installation. Lots of baffled, busy parents really just want the ONE car seat solution. The easiest car seat to install, one that can take them from infanthood up to elementary school and get switched from car-to-car in the interim. So here ya go.
Chelsea and I have worked hard over the last decade to build our family. After getting married, we set out having kids straight away. Chelsea was building a career in marketing and I was struggling to find my own footing in the job market. Family finances weren’t always easy.
Our kids are constantly asking irritating questions like, “When you and Dada met, did roads exist or was there still mud everywhere?” I mean, WHAT? Are they asking if we predated pavement!? Perhaps this is a new version of saying someone’s older than dirt. In any case, I’ve been meaning to create a family album series for AGES, and I decided that the best way to start would be to make a photo book. I can now fend off my children’s barrage of questions by handing over tangible proof that Nate and I had a life before they were even a twinkle in our (tired, glazed-over) eyes.
We all crave our own space. A place to get away. A place that isn’t invaded by others, by other issues, other memories. A place with a clean slate to call our own and to escape to so we can process everything we’ve had to deal with throughout the day. Sometimes a quiet place to rest or just read a book.
A few people have asked how we manage all the rescue cats that I impulsively adopt. The answer? A BIG litter box! We have an auto-feeder and one of those self-changing litter box things, so the cats are pretty self-sufficient. As I said, though, the box is large. And the inside of our one-level farm house is pretty small. Ongoing renovations have shrunk our useable space even more lately, so the only place for our big litter box to go right now is a few feet from our dining room table.
There’s no getting around it anymore. My oldest son is getting old. As much as I try to baby him, he’s seven now and he has OPINIONS! I used to teach third grade, and I loved the banter, the growth, and the personalities that emerged at that age. Even though it’s so exciting to see my dude approaching a familiar threshold, but it also makes me realize that I need to refresh my knowledge on things like keeping kids safe online.
I was dreading the holidays this year. It’s always a hard time for me, in general. Instead of sugarplums dancing around, my yuletime memories from childhood mostly include liquor-addled altercations. There was the time my stepdad yanked the Christmas tree down on top of me, and a particularly warm recollection of him holding a snowflake ornament up against my neck like a shuriken.
Are you expecting a baby? Looking to maximize your time, money and efforts? We’ve got all the best mom hacks, including money-saving tips like using Store Brand Formula and sanity-conserving efforts like keeping an extra binky on hand at all times. Read on, friend, to make this new mom stuff a total breeze.
Our family travels about half the year, so it can be challenging for our kids to keep up with friends and relatives. Phone calls are tricky, since the baby and preschooler like to interject LOUDLY into our older boys’ conversations. Nate and I used to hand them our phones with Facebook Messenger on – since that’s how we tend to communicate with coworkers and acquaintances – but we’d always have to hope that the kids wouldn’t meander into our personal conversations. Then, we found a messaging app built for kids in our boys’ age group!