Big update over here, friends: we are under contract to buy a new house.

!!!

This came to pass in a quite unusual and stressful manner, because the house went on the market while we were in Maine. (Our realtor, to boot, was also on vacation.) We submitted our offer on Sunday night, learned there were multiple offers and submitted a new offer (and then another one) on Monday, and finally found out our offer was accepted on Monday night. We came home on Wednesday night and saw the house for the first time on Thursday night.

While we hadn’t stepped foot inside, we were familiar with the house – it is in our same neighborhood, right around the corner from one of Shep’s buddies, and is one we had had our eye on for over a year. It checks a lot of our boxes – cul-de-sac location, flat driveway, separate dining room, bigger backyard, space for an office, even the possibility of a mudroom – and we are super grateful.

That does not mean that the last few weeks have been without challenges. I wish I could say we’ve been uniformly blissful and brave, but alas I am a person who deeply dislikes change. In addition to staying on top of the piles of paperwork required to buy and sell a home – as well as fixing things up around our current home, coordinating completion of the rest of the punch list, streamlining our belongings and beginning to pack what remains – I’ve been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster. I am excited, of course, and grateful, but also fearful of leaving the security of our current corner of the neighborhood and all the good we have here, fearful of something “better” coming on the market in the future, and fearful of the unknown ahead.

However. I am purposefully trying to step off the roller coaster of emotion and take up a new posture, embodied by one of my favorite mantras: make a decision, and then make it the right one. It is somewhat embarrassing to admit that I am having to gear myself up to feel anything but grateful for such a blessing, but here we are.

We close on the new home and list our current home in early October, so this month will be full of preparation. Here’s what else is ahead:

A view from our island!

On my calendar:
— A Durham Bulls game! We try to go at least once a year and are all hoping this absolutely delectable weather we’ve been having holds until our game.
— Camping with the Rays! Our annual camping trip is 12? 13? years strong at this point – something we look forward to every year. And now with 8 kids!
— An anniversary weekend away. With thanks to my parents for staying with our kids, John and I are incredibly excited to have some time together in the mountains of NC to celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary.

What I’m loving right now:
— When my Blueland cleaning spray bit the bullet (again – their nozzles are notoriously finicky) I gave up and chose a random Method spray from the store. I’m in love. It smells a bit like the Thymes Frasier Fir candle, but not quite as Christmas-y? Wiping down the dinner table and chairs is one of my least favorite household tasks; leaving this scent in my wake makes it positively pleasant.
— Another lucky grab from the store: Wild refillable deodorant. After my beloved Toms deodorant was discontinued, I mooched off of John’s Native deodorant for a bit, but it never worked well for me. The Wild Honey + Cactus scent, on the other hand, is a revelation – it works SO well. I think natural deodorant tends to be highly personal, so take this recommendation with a grain of salt – but it might be worth a try! I also love that it’s refillable and that the (cute) holder is metal.
— In a bid to switch up my routine and sharpen my focus, I’ve been working from the library on my TCF mornings. I drive over in silence, drafting in my head, then post up in one of the armchairs by the window, scoot in the little laptop table, and happily tap away for a few hours. Bonus: it’s easy to scoop up any books we have on hold!

As a reminder, you can find allll the things I’ve loved over the last few years neatly organized right here!

What you’re loving right now:

This is where I highlight a few items here that have been popular in the last month with fellow readers, based on my analytics. Here’s hoping this will help you find something you’ll love!

— These slim ice packs that fit perfectly in a lunch box and keep things cool until lunch time
— John’s favorite work button-down shirts and beachy sweatshirt
— The underbed boxes we use to store kid memorabilia and memories
— John’s standing desk (it’s as attractive as one can be, but I’ll still be happy to have it out of our bedroom in the new house!)

Last month on The Connected Family:
— The willingness to live a life of long-term, intentional repetition | Lessons from my Dad
— Friendship before social media | True friendship doesn’t need to be quantified or transacted for others
— A day in the life of the Connected Family | The summer, Substack writer, workday edition with a 9-, 6-, and 3-year-old
— Back to school rituals for connection | Communicating love, affirmation, and warmth in small-but-mighty ways
— It’s party time | How working hard together brings connection, belonging, and significance

What I read in August:
— I Cheerfully Refuse | This was a read that lingered from July to August, so I’m back with my final review. And it is: eh. The dystopian future setting was more depressing than the hopeful I was promised on the book jacket, and that’s not really what I’m looking for right now. I did finish it, but wouldn’t necessarily recommend it.
— The Self-Driven Child | I first read this in the weeks after Annie was born and loved it. I also noted at the time that it was a book I’d want to return to when my kids were a little older. Four years later, here I am! It holds up, and I gleaned even more wisdom and practical tips this time around – and I still consider it one of the most underrated parenting books out there.
— Run | I almost didn’t review this one, but since it’s on my reading list I’ll go ahead. In short, I would say: not for me. Thrillers are not usually my genre, but add in a rage apocalypse and a good amount of gore and I was left wishing I hadn’t included it on my list. Yes, it kept my interest and yes, I was grateful for the plot resolution at the end, but I also closed the book thinking, I’m not really glad I read that, you know?

My reading list for 2025! I’m 10 / 24 so far.

Revisiting my August goals:
Clean out pantry
Edit June in June (I hate that this got bumped again! I really try to have the last one edited before we start filming for the next one!)
Make a watercolor painting en plein air while I’m in Maine
Help my Dad get his Storyworth off to print
Finalize new chore charts for the new school year
Schedule and enjoy back-to-school shopping dates with the two bigs
Complete Shep’s baby book

It’s worth noting that my priorities shifted in early August, once we knew we would be buying and selling a house!

September goals:
— Prepare our home to go on the market
— Pack and transport everything we don’t want in our home for listing/showings
— Book help and figure out details for the first few tasks we want done in the new home (painting, backsplash, light fixtures, etc.)
— Edit June in June
— Film Sheptember
— Make apple cider scones for the first day of fall
— Sort and tag for the consignment sale
— Experiment with drafting Substack Notes for the week, each week, in advance

As a reminder, many of these are drawn from my 2025 PowerSheets goals!

Friends, help! The last time we moved was 12 years ago, and it was from an apartment to a first home. We had no kids and far fewer belongings, plus we weren’t trying to sell a home at the same time! Please give me all your tips – anything you did (or wished you did!) that made buying, selling, or moving easier. I’m all ears – thank you in advance! 

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Just a quick post today to share a few scenes from around our Christmas home!

With the way our house is laid out – one main open room on the first floor, so only a few walls and corners – we just don’t have that many surfaces to decorate. While our nativity may be clustered around our TV instead of luxuriating on a foyer table or piano top, I think this year more than ever we made the most of what we do have.

Come on in!

Before we step inside, let’s pause on the porch. I envisioned Christmas wreaths on our front gates before they were even built and they live up to all my dreams! Wreaths are from Trader Joe’s and the bows are from Etsy.

Our cheery red front door never shines more than at Christmas. Wreath is from Jordan Lake Christmas Tree Farm and the bow is from Etsy.

My beloved Advent calendar!

These cardboard gingerbread houses were a very fun after-school project last week! I cut shapes from a delivery box and we all used white paint and white paint pens to add detail. The paint pens made it easy to achieve an elegant look even for our five year old. We didn’t trust Annie with them, but she had fun going to town with the white paint – the kids decided her houses were in the midst of a snowstorm, ha.

Popping a few bows in unexpected places was a new addition this year.

We had a German Christmas pyramid growing up and it was one of my very favorite decorations. I asked for the exact same one as a gift the first year we were in our house – this is it! The tablecloth is from HomeGoods.

All dressed up for Articles Club last night!

The pine garland is a new addition this year and is excellent quality. Sadly, it’s sold out (I went back to buy another for our stairs!), but I’d put in your email to be notified if you’re interested! That’s how I snagged these two earlier this year. Here are the candles (battery operated but with real wax!) and candleholders.

This canvas, one of Lindsay Letters’ very first, was a wedding gift more than a decade ago.

This may be of niche interest, but I wanted to share just in case. I bought two of these little caroling books ($4!) at the start of the season, and they have been fun for guitar singalongs. June, especially, loves them and has squirreled one away to her room in an attempt to memorize the lyrics to every Christmas song :)

Finally, here is a peek at our Christmas card! June and I chose the design together and I love that it’s festive while still working with our outfit color palette.

Thanks for stopping in, friends! If you have any questions about anything I haven’t mentioned, just drop a note in the comments.

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We’re in the middle of what seems to be an unplanned mini-series right now – if I was savvier, I’d have called it something like “living with kids, simplified” :) I guess the back-to-school spirit is in the air!

In my last post, I mentioned that particularly prized pieces of artwork go on our kids’ bulletin boards. After it went live, I realized I haven’t shown you those bulletin boards! They’re simple, but they’ve been a bit of a missing puzzle piece for us, so I’m happy to share.

Photo by Honeysuckle Collective

A few pain points were resolved in this space. First, pieces of artwork that needed a worthy display found a home. Second, our kids got a spot to customize on the first floor. And finally, we made good use of a previously-empty hallway.

I purchased three of these framed linen bulletin boards (the 20×30″ size) and hung them up in a row. They have the neutral, classic look I was hoping for (gotta let that colorful artwork shine!) and the price is great ($24 each (!!) at the time of this writing, marked down from their usual $60 (which is still a great price!)).

Just so you’re not surprised if you buy one, I’d say the surface is a bit harder than your typical cork, so I do need to help the kids push in the pins at this point.

Each child has free rein to decorate his or her board, and it’s fun to see their personalities come out to play. Shep pins things up with abandon, while June adds things very selectively. June’s board also houses her calendar, where she keeps track of her specials and other relevant information for her life. Annie’s gets additions from me and her siblings :) I appreciate that the bulletin boards are centrally located, but not facing into the main living space, which makes the free-rein-ness easy to grant, ha!

All in all, adding these kids’ bulletin boards was a super-simple project. It did exactly what I was hoping it would – give us an extra display space, and add a little colorful fun to the hallway – for minimal effort and expense. A back-to-school win!

Up next: the final post in this mini-series, on after-school jobs!

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Our solution to the voluminous piles of artwork our kids bring home is right around the corner from our solution to kids’ shoes: the art basket!

A solution is necessary not only because of the amount of artwork that comes home (and random scribbles, and folded pieces of paper, and worksheets, and yarn clippings (Montessori life IYKYK)) – if left to my own devices, I could efficiently cull the keepers and toss everything else.

But that’s not what happens, because the idea of throwing out a just-created masterpiece of any kind is anathema to my pint-sized artists. Tossing almost anything in front of them is asking for a daily battle over what gets kept.

So, we sidestep. Here’s what I do instead…

Everything that comes home from school or church goes in the art basket. We ooh and ahh over things as needed, and sometimes they pin items on their bulletin boards. But if it’s not going somewhere else, it goes in the art basket – no matter how lowly or how precious it might be.

The art basket is on the shelf of the bench in our front entry, so it’s right at hand when they’re coming in the door after school and emptying their backpacks and lunchboxes.

Eventually, the art basket fills up. Once it’s threatening to overflow, I’ll find a time when the kids are not around to go through it. I’ll sort through the stack and pull anything I want to keep in their memory boxes, then recycle the rest.

Here’s a very important key: the recycled papers MUST go in the outside recycling bin, NOT the inside one. Trust me, I’ve had plenty of things spotted and removed from the bin in the pantry, but so far they have not started dumpster diving in the outdoor bin. I leave a thin stack of papers in the bottom of the basket so it’s not 100% empty, and neither kid ever seems to notice I’ve been there.

As for those memory boxes, I recently added letter stickers to them and they are looking pretty cute! They’re from Joy Creative Shop, but I actually purchased mine from my friend Kaylee’s shop, where they were on sale. The bins are from Target. All three are stored under the beds upstairs!

Any questions? Happy to help, and godspeed with your own paper adventures this fall, friends.

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