The last couple of weeks have ended up busier than expected, so I'm sharing some of my favorite posts from the archives. With the election heating up, this seems like an especially appropriate post this week! On most divisive issues—politics, health, parenting, food, vaccines—I tend to fall somewhere in the middle. For a long time,…
Like a lot of people, the "one word" movement for setting New Year's resolutions has been one that I've embraced wholeheartedly. I love the idea of approaching the new year with a theme that can be summed up in a single word, and I really feel like I've grown through the words I've chosen in…
Looking back at 2015, one of the biggest lessons I learned was to embrace the seasons—the seasons of my life as well as the literal seasons of the year. It took me three years of tracking my reading goals to see that my years follow a very specific pattern that includes lots of goal setting, personal…
I love the new year {I'm a huge fan of Mondays too}, and I think it's a lovely thing to turn the calendar page and take time to reflect back on the previous 12 months and set goals or intentions for the ones ahead. What I'm not a fan of is the pressure we put…
As a family, we love road trips. We drive 2-3 hours to various day trip destinations on a regular basis, think nothing of hopping in the car for the 6-hour drive to my parents, and made the 18-hour trip to Florida regularly before they moved to NC. We've been talking about a trip out west—specifically to St. George, Utah,…
Mother's Day is not very far away. Posts are starting to abound across the blogosphere about what mom really wants (sleep!), how to celebrate the moms in your life, the joy of motherhood, and so on. I'm not here with a gift guide or a sarcastic post about the amount of sleep I'm not getting or to…
I am just days away from officially welcoming the second trimester, and it can't come soon enough! This has been my hardest pregnancy by far...a sinus infection magnified all of my pregnancy symptoms, leaving me bedridden and miserable for almost two weeks; I've spent much time huddled on the bathroom floor, alternately anticipating and dreading throwing…
Easter this year didn't go quite as planned. Instead of Easter lunch and an egg hunt with Sean's mom's side of the family (something we've done every year for the last 9 years), the kids and I headed to church without Sean, grabbed pizza and Starbucks, visited urgent care and then grocery shopped and filled…
I talk a lot about respectful dialogue, listening to what others have to say, and living in the middle, so the title of this post might surprise you. Let me clarify: I think it's okay to believe the decisions you make and the way you do things is the best way for your family. Actually,…
You know how you can tell that you struggle with pride? When you're terrified to admit you are prideful because of what others might think. Ironic, isn't it? But that's exactly where I found myself for many years in my early 20s. I accomplished a lot in my teen years and early 20s, receiving more…