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...]
Search Results for: lent
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...]
Easter Basket Gift Guide and Giveaway!
GIVEAWAY ENDED (This is a post from 2019 that I'm re-sharing so folks can support these small Catholic businesses.) Lent is drawing to a close and it's time to get geared up for Easter baskets! Our family usually attends the Easter Vigil late on Saturday night. That means wearing our fancy clothes and really hyping up the Mass for our kids: "There's gonna be a fire! We're all gonna get … [Read more...]
Liturgical Living at a Glance: April 2019 (Holy Week Resources and More!)
I’m always trying to figure out how to make it easier for families to observe the Christian Year because we felt so overwhelmed when we first started that journey (which is why we wrote the book we wish we had then). I thought it might be helpful for our family to have resources compiled for the month ahead so that we can plan in advance which special saints days we want to … [Read more...]
A Mother’s Grief at the Stations of the Cross
Trigger warning: stillbirth and infant loss. This post and the images included may be difficult to see for those who have suffered the loss of infant. No matter how many times I pray the Stations of the Cross, the Holy Spirit shows me things I had never thought of before. This year going to Stations at our parish for Lent, one image almost knocked me to my knees. The parish uses St. … [Read more...]
My February/March Reads
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 (And just scroll down to see how to enter the giveaway!): (This post contains affiliate links. If a sale is made … [Read more...]
Liturgical Living at a Glance: February 2019
I'm always trying to figure out how to make it easier for families to observe the Christian Year because we felt so overwhelmed when we first started that journey (which is why we wrote the book we wish we had then). I thought it might be helpful for our family to have resources compiled for the month ahead so that we can plan in advance which special saints days we want to observe and I hope … [Read more...]
Don’t Be Paralyzed by the “Ideal” Creative Routine
This tweet about author Ursula K. Le Guin’s writing routine came across my path this weekend: Ursula K. Le Guin’s writing routine is the ideal writing routine. pic.twitter.com/D0sXigDvWe — Michael J Seidlinger (@mjseidlinger) January 18, 2019 Honestly it sounds dreamy...and nothing like my writing routine. So I thought I'd share mine: All night long: Nurse the baby 6am: First … [Read more...]
A Reading Challenge for Catholics in 2019: CathLIT!
One of my favorite things about the internet is having more people to talk about books with. And I love seeing reading challenges from my favorite writers and bloggers pop into my inbox this time of year. I thought it would be fun (mostly to get some accountability for my own 2019 reading list!) to set up a reading challenge of 19 Catholic books for 2019 so we could all dive a little deeper … [Read more...]
When Your Weary Heart Needs Advent
I’m sitting here bouncing a sick baby to sleep for a much needed nap between two coughing kids on the couch while another sick kid sits on the floor with a puke bucket and we all watch another episode of some stupid Netflix show between breathing treatments and baths. And I am weary. Three weekends in the past month have featured sick children (who kindly shared their afflictions with me). Sore … [Read more...]