29 October 2018
Our sixth annual pumpkins and soup party was on Saturday, and I think we’ve got the schedule down – at least for this season of life:
4:30 | arrivals and pumpkin carving
5:30 | soup is served
6:30 | dessert (warm chocolate chip cookies!)
7:00 | departures for little bedtimes
This year, I tried something new for the first hour: a Halloween “charcuterie board” inspired by my friend Kayte! She makes the most creative themed spreads, and I figured an orange and black rendition plunked in the middle of the table, within easy reach of carving stations, would be a hit. It turned out better than I expected, so I thought I’d share!
For this board, I used:
— carrot sticks
— orange bell pepper slices
— sharp cheddar cheese squares
— pimento cheese
— Skinny Pop
— black pepper crackers
— blackberries
— Smokehouse almonds
— clementine slices
— white chocolate covered pretzels
— Wheat Thins
— red pepper hummus
— Concord grapes
— salami
I also added goldfish after I took this photo! The platter is from World Market and the little orange dishes are Target Dollar Spot.
This was seriously so fun and easy, and it really has a wow factor once plated. I’m a bit addicted now and already brainstorming my next theme!! Three of my favorites from Kayte’s repertoire that are inspiring me: end of summer, Fourth of July, and pink for a little girl!
P.S. This would make for a fun spread before trick-or-treating!
9 April 2018
Is it too late to talk about Easter? No? Good :) As I mentioned, our Easter weekend was full and very fun!
On Saturday morning, we gathered with friends for our neighborhood’s egg hunt. The report: it was over in about two minutes flat, and June was much more interested in opening and closing the eggs than anything that was inside them :)
It was not the world’s most challenging egg hunt, let the record show.
We had a bit of time before our next engagement even with a playground pit stop, so a detour for beignets down the road from our house – a favorite weekend indulgence – was in order. Then it was on to our next destination – a classmate’s third birthday party! This was really our first experience with a birthday party geared toward kids, and June enjoyed herself IMMENSELY.
The party was held at a local farm, and June got to pull weeds for chickens, feed the weeds to the chickens, pet and hold baby chicks and rabbits, collect eggs, and ride a pony! The pony ride was undoubtedly the highlight of the day. Even though June kept saying she wanted to ride after we introduced the idea to her, we weren’t sure she’d follow through — but she did, and grinned like a maniac the whole time! As someone who grew up infatuated by horses on my aunt’s horse farm, this was obviously delightful to me :)
My family has quite the farm legacy (my aunt’s farm, the one my Dad grew up on, is the oldest continually-working family-owned farm in Connecticut), and though it’s detached from my everyday life, it looms large in my personal narrative and identity. Not to get too philosophical, but this felt like the tiniest beginning of including June in that legacy, too!
After dinner and games with neighborhood friends (the luxury of walking to our friends’ houses has not worn off!!), I packed up June’s Easter basket before turning in for the night. It was really fun to put together, and I think she was even more excited by it than she was by Christmas morning!
We ended up including a Melissa & Doug wooden school bus (which I got at a consignment sale for $1!), a new bathing suit, lemon pajamas, a sheet of stickers, a pair of sandals, two stuffed bunnies already in her tribe, and the biggest hit of the day: an elephant watering can! (We bought ours from a local nursery, but it’s similar to this.)
We ate Pillsbury cinnamon rolls before church, which we attended at Duke Chapel. The music was incredible, the cherry trees were blooming, and the day delighted us by turning sunny and warm. It felt like the right weather to celebrate the risen Lord!
Cannot. Handle. John says this is her high school portrait sixteen years too early.
When your parents have the nerve to ask a stranger to take your picture :)
While June napped in the afternoon, John and I planted our back bed – various lettuces, some herbs, and tomatoes. I can’t remember if I mentioned this already, but we had to replace our bed this year, and went with this thick cedar one from Etsy. Two thumbs up! We then had an early potluck dinner at our street block party, which left us plenty of time for a walk down to the creek before bedtime. That photo on the right pretty much sums up my hopes and dreams for childhood – endless hours of poking a stick in the water :)
I think we checked off about four things on our spring fun list last weekend alone! Hope y’all have been able to get outside in the warmer weather, too!
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9 March 2018
The title of this post is slightly misleading, because we’ve pretty much decided Easter baskets are a “do” this year in our house. But as with so many things, we studiously overanalyzed the decision (kind of our signature move, ha). I’m curious to hear – to my Christian readers, do you give your kiddos Easter baskets?
As a bit of backstory, I didn’t grow up getting one, and my sisters and I thought that was totally unfair :) I think my parents were hoping to emphasize the religious aspect of the holiday instead of the more commercialized side, which I now completely respect. (We did, however, go to egg hunts and do a jelly bean hunt in our living room on Easter morning, so there was SOME extracurricular fun involved.)
Letting the true meaning of the holiday shine would, of course, be my main reason for not doing a basket for June. But, just like we bake a cake and sing happy birthday to Jesus on Christmas Eve, I think it’s important to have excitement, anticipation, traditions, and magic around religious holidays just as much (if not more so) than around secular ones. And for little kids, simple surprise gifts can fit the bill.
So, we’re doing a basket! This one, purchased yesterday for 20% off (still a splurge, but I love the simple scalloped liner). And now, what to put in it… I’m not a huge fan of junk that will be tossed aside in two seconds, so I’m aiming for the sweet spot of fun and functional, with at least a few things that point to Jesus’s resurrection. I’d rather spend a little more on something I know we’ll all enjoy for awhile! Here are a few of my ideas, in case you’re looking for your own:
A set of spring pajamas. So happy I got these lemon jams for 40% off over the weekend because they are pricy!!
A classic spring book or set. We don’t have Winnie the Pooh OR Peter Rabbit, so that’s where I’d start.
A fresh spring look, like these floral shorts or this citrus dress.
A quality toy to add to your collection, like Magna-tiles or Tegu blocks (love that they’re in pretty pastels!).
The Jesus Storybook Bible, because every home should have one!
A practical extra, like water bottle name bands.
A fun puzzle (June LOVED doing this one at her cousin’s house last weekend).
Summer sandals or an adorable swim suit, because you’re going to get them anyway.
A tee that lets you talk about Jesus.
Outdoor toys, like a mini gardening set, bubbles, or a kite.
And of course, smaller treats like hair bows, Water Wow, stuffed animals, a race car, eggs, or candy.
Clearly we are not doing all of these things – probably just the lemon jams, swim suit, sandals, a book, and a block set or puzzle. I am also shamelessly planning to put some of June’s existing stuffed bunnies in her basket, because she is VERY into stuffed animals right now and I think she’d get a kick out of it!
Do y’all do Easter baskets? What do you put in them?
P.S. No Easter bunny here – June will know this is a gift from us. I just think the Easter bunny is strange :)
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20 February 2018
Hi friends! Today in our How We Do It series we’re talking about relationships! I know what you all really want to know is how I maintain friendships without text messaging or getting together with girlfriends, so let’s start there! :)
To catch up any new folks: Nancy Ray and I are writing an eight-part series every Tuesday in January and February covering “how we do it” in eight different areas: the rhythms, habits, and routines that help us get things done and make the space and time for what matters most. You can read more of the backstory here.
To be clear, as I clarified on the first post in this series, I do both text and get together with girlfriends – just on a more limited basis than I perceive my peers do. First off, I always reply to texts sent to me :) In general, though, texting just doesn’t seem to be the main way my friends communicate (I’m more likely to send longer-form emails). And, as much as it gets a bad rap, one of my favorite ways to keep in touch with faraway friends is through Instagram! I think it can be an amazing way to be a part of the mundane parts of each other’s lives that we wouldn’t normally think to discuss on, say, a phone call.
A few years ago, I started two practices that made a huge difference in some of my closest relationships. Every Monday on my drive home from work, I call my Mom. We’ll talk or FaceTime at other times throughout the week, but even if we don’t, I always know we’ll connect then! Similarly, every Tuesday I have a Google Hangout with my two sisters. We’ll occasionally miss a week, but having the standing date on the calendar means we chat more weeks than not. Both have been easy habits that have paid dividends in these relationships!
On the girlfriends (and really, friends in general) front, I’ll say this: I am a major quality over quantity person. I don’t really have that many, but the ones I do have are a treasure to me and get extra doses of my love and affection! Our close couple friends we try to see at least once a month. Most of the remainder of my girlfriends live in my neighborhood or on my street, so I get together with them casually just being outside without organizing specific “nights out,” etc. I do have two structured get-togethers each month, which are easy for me to plan for and organize: Articles Club (of course!) and a neighborhood book club.
Here’s one thing that can be a bit difficult, both organizationally and emotionally: getting more than one couple together. For example, we wanted to have three husband and wife pairs over for a game night for my upcoming birthday. I swear, it took no fewer than 25 text messages between the four ladies to figure out a mutually agreeable date from the eight options I originally proposed. Since we don’t have a million close friends, we can’t just throw out a general invitation for something like this and expect anyone to show up, but feeling so dependent on so few people can leave me feeling self-conscious or inadequate, especially around special occasions. In the end, though, that’s just the type of people John and I are, and these friends are worth it :)
A tool that I sometimes use for gauging the best date for larger gatherings: Doodle! I’ve mentioned it before, but it can be a great timesaver when organizing with a bunch of busy folks.
I keep track of birthdays in a pretty perpetual calendar, which I keep out on our counter and reference during my prep days. MY PREP DAYS! They are another key to keeping things organized in my personal life. When I thought about what had stopped me in the past from doing kind and fun things for the people I love, it wasn’t a lack of money or time, it was a lack of preparation. Starting last year, I designated one day a month (the last Sunday of each month, usually) my prep day, and I take about two hours to walk through a few steps to prepare for birthdays, holidays, events, date nights, etc. You can read more about them here.
On those prep days, I always have blank floral cards on hand from Rifle to use for birthdays, anniversaries, congratulations, or condolences. I usually buy a few packs on Black Friday, which cuts down on having to run out and buy a card for every occasion!
A few final tips around holidays: I keep all of my mailing addresses in a Google Doc (I know a lot of people use and love Postable, too!). I keep track of past Christmas and birthday presents (only for John and June) in other Google Docs. Future present ideas go in my Notes app so I can update it on the fly!
As always, I feel like there was so much more I could cover under the very general “relationships” heading, so if there’s something you’d like for me to tackle in a future post, please let me know! Can’t wait to see what Nancy has to share today, too! :)
P.S. I didn’t really touch on tending to my marriage in this post because I feel like I talk about it fairly often – for more on that topic, check out this category!
The rest of the series:
Time: Em’s post and Nancy’s post
Finances: Em’s post and Nancy’s post
Home: Em’s post and Nancy’s post
Personal Lives: Em’s post and Nancy’s post
Work: Em’s post and Nancy’s post
Relationships: Em’s post and Nancy’s post
Kids: Em’s post and Nancy’s post