If I could suggest only two books about the current landscape of America right now they would be Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson about our prison system and the recently released Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America by Chris Arnade. I first heard of Arnade from my husband, Daniel, who started following him on Twitter ages ago. “Have you heard of the guy who sits and talks to people who … [Read more...]
Sun’s Out and It’s Time for a Summer Stitch Fix!
This post is sponsored by Stitch Fix. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you schedule through my link I'll earn a small commission at no cost to you. Let me just start out by saying that I've been looking for a midi skirt for FIVE years and each one has fit me all wrong until now. Thanks to my Stitch Fix stylist, I can spend the summer … [Read more...]
Spring/Summer Reads (And books giveaway!)
Since I love chatting about books, I've been trying to share our family's current reads on a regular basis here on the blog. And I like sharing the love by giving away books to my readers! Here’s a few of the great titles I’ve picked up lately as well as my #cathLIT2019 reads I've completed over the past month or two (And just scroll down to the end see how to enter the giveaway for these four … [Read more...]
“Tolkien” Struggles to Explain the Magic that Tolkien Effortlessly Captured
In Tolkien, the new movie based on the early life of J. R. R. Tolkien, myth and romance are the antidote to war. Guest Review by Boze Herrington “To be caught in youth by 1914,” wrote English novelist J. R. R. Tolkien in a second-edition foreword to The Lord of the Rings, “was no less hideous an experience than to be involved in 1939 and the following years. By 1918 all but one of my … [Read more...]
Do You Need a Budget? We Did.
My husband Daniel and I are about to celebrate our 13th anniversary. We got married before my junior year in college when we were 20 years old. We took turns working to put each other through college and our first baby was born when we were 23. We had three kids by the time I turned 27. As you can imagine…we've been working with a pretty tight budget since 2006. We’ve always had to be really … [Read more...]
When God Loves You Through Your Kids
It was three months after my fourth baby was born and I had been feeling like I was going to have a panic attack all morning. On the verge of tears, lump in my throat, brain whirring through all the things that needed to get done. On repeat: “You’ll never get it all done. You’re terrible at everything. You’re failing at everything in your life. Mothering? Homeschooling? Writing? Housekeeping? … [Read more...]
My Body, My Children’s First Home
As my fourth baby has learned to crawl over the past few weeks, I watch her launch out across the living room to grab toys and explore. After scurrying several feet away, she will turn her head back to where I sit cross-legged on the floor and return to me, climbing into my lap to rest her head on my chest or pat my cheek with her chubby palm before going on her next tiny adventure across the … [Read more...]
The Big Carrots Meal Planning/Prep Post: How We Do It
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned on Instagram that my husband Daniel and I have finally fallen into a good rhythm with meal planning and meal prep. There was a lot of interest! "How many hours does it take you?" "How meals do you prepare ahead of time?" "How do you decide what to make?" "Who does the grocery shopping?" etc. So I wanted to take some time and give you the run down in case it makes … [Read more...]
Goodnight, Notre Dame. Easter Morning Is Still Coming.
The baby is napping and I am sitting here just sobbing my heart out over the fire engulfing the beautiful 850-year-old cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. As a Catholic, as a medievalist, as a lover of beauty and history, I am absolutely wrecked. I have always wanted to visit Europe to see the cathedrals. The reality that I will never see the architectural masterpiece of Notre Dame is … [Read more...]
What Bakonzo Naming Conventions Taught Me about the Gift of Siblings
Give a warm Carrots welcome to one of my favorite people in the universe, my dear friend of 18 years and fellow writer, Katherine Grimm Bowers! I twisted her arm into writing a post for you for National Sibling Day.-Haley We were gathered around the bonfire, and our hosts had detected a trend. They couldn't believe it. We were, one and all, Brits and Americans alike, firstborn or maybe … [Read more...]
