Our DIY Advent Countdown

Yesterday we started our countdown to Christmas.  In typical me fashion we had to do two days to get caught up but it worked out.  If you are like me and are late, you can rest assured that it's not too late to get started with a countdown. 

And I'll show you how. 

A little history of our countdown calendar: 

When Emma was two and Calvin was one Nick lost his job.  It was hard and tough and horrid.  We had $200 in our savings account.  Fun times were had by all. 

Not. 

One thing we vowed was that the kids wouldn't know what was going on.  We didn't want them to not have a Christmas or to notice that they had less.  

So I came up with this countdown during that time.  

That first year I took string, tacked up some socks and mittens I found and put things in them that were around the house...a couple of stickers, dimes, candy canes, whatever.  I put them in before I would go to work at 4 IN THE MORNING! And then they had that day's sock or mitten waiting for them when they woke up with Daddy.  

And they still ask for this every single year!  My kids are all about traditions.  In fact, Nick and I even purchased them Playmobil advent sets because they had been BEGGING for them but in the end when I asked which they wanted to do, Playmobil parts or surprises every day they chose our old fashioned surprises method.  So the Playmobil's are going back I guess :/. 

The thing I love is you can really make this as simple or as elaborate as you want. It doesn't have to cost a lot but if you want it to, you can.  It's all up to you! 

Okay, so I'm going to walk you through what you need to do the countdown how I did it this year: 

Supplies You'll Need:

-String, twine, ribbon. I've used all of them through the years.  This year I am going with twine for a rustic look. 

-2 Nails or Hooks to hang the string on.

-Socks, mittens, little stockings.  I have a mixture of these.  Truth be told a lot of these are ones that were cute but we had lost their mate.  So I kept them.  I also love to see how little their tiny hands and feet were when they were babies so I used a lot of their infant-wear :) See how cheap this is by using what you already have?

-Clothespins, Binder Clips, Safety Pins, or Paper Clips to secure socks to string. 

-Numbers. In previous years (I think you can see some from last year on the socks in the previous picture) I printed numbers out.  I've used just plain stickers.  This year I found these cool gold stickers that were for 25 days.  Perfect!  They were a little pricey ($4.99!, I know, I'm pathetically a cheapskate) but I had a 40% coupon so it worked out.  Emma loved the stickers.  I got them at Hobby Lobby if you are looking for them.  They are super thick and super sticky so I'm hoping the numbers will last more than one year.  But again, use anything!  I've used post-it notes before.  

-Optional: A Honking Bag of Junk to use. I bought all of this stuff for 90% off last year after Christmas.  If you don't have your own honkin' big bag of stuff, it's okay, you can just put in there whatever you would like! 

How to Set Up Your Advent Calendar

Hang your wire, string, ribbon, whatever.  I just used two nails and tied it on there.  I tried to make it as tight as I could because the weight of everything will make it sag a bit.  The above picture is what mine looks like before I hung everything.  I then went and scrubbed my wall as you can see dirty clay fingerprints from us making ming bowls for our history lesson. 

Then hang your socks, mittens whatever.  I use some of the kids smaller socks, their baby mittens, and some of those little stockings people give you every.single.christmas.  Now you have something to do with them all! 

After I took this picture I went and peeled off that piece of tape that is on the wall.  This is real life people! I use small clothespins from Hobby Lobby to hang our socks but you can use anything you want.

This is the finished layout I have.  I tend to hang them all up and them move them around so I don't have all mittens clumped together or 4 red socks side by side.  Make it look how you want, whatevs. 

I then put the numbers on.  You can o this however you want.  I put 25 on one side and then 24 on the other side and then work my way towards the middle.  So odds are on one side and evens are on the other.  This works great because then I don't end up with one side of the advent calendar empty and the other side sagging from everything in the socks.  This is from trial and error that I've figured it out.  Also because we have two kids and they like to take turns opening the advent sock, one basically ends up with the odds and one with the even days and so they know which side to go to when it's their day. 

Here is another thing I think I do weird but I'll share it with you.  I make a column of the days and then next to it I figure out how many days there are till Christmas.  Then we open that corresponding day.  I know a lot of people do it the other way where if it's December 10 then they open 10 but we open 10 on the 15th when there is 10 days left until Christmas.  Get it?  Are you confused?  You can set it up like me and then have a mini panic attack every day when your kids open it and you're thinking "what?  only 21 days until Christmas?  Yikes!" but to your kids you can be all "yeah!  Only 21 days left!" because that's what cool moms do. 

Okay so you saw my weird list, I then start to fill it in with what I'm going to use every day.  I started doing this because the first year I kind of ran out of ideas so we had a million days of candy canes towards the end.  Lame.  Don't get me wrong we have plenty of candy cane days but I try to space them out.  

So I write down what events I know we are doing and what we will be up to so if there are things I can tie into that I can plan.  One night we are going to a local Holiday event where they always want to buy something so I will put a little bit of money in the sock for them to each be able to shop for a souvenir. 

Another idea is I will figure out when we can watch Polar Express at home and I'll put "train" tickets in their sock so they know we are watching the moving and it will be special. 

After I've written down events that I know we are doing and things I can coordinate to those I fill in the dates left.  This is where I pull out my honkin' bag and see what I have to give them.  Again these are all things I got super cheap, for real: 

I wait until Target has 90% off and then I buy whatever I can find.  So this kit was $0.20!  Seriously, I can handle 20 cents.  And it makes them work together and it gives them something to do for a while.  

I try to space out events, candy, a toy, money, and craft days.  

As you can see here, Day 25 they got candy canes!  And they were super excited.  It's the little things around here! 

Day 24 I had puzzles to give them but they wouldn't fit in the sock so I wrote this note and stuck it in the sock. They love the little hunts and running to see what they will find. 

By spending a little bit of time putting this together I have peace and quiet in the house.  They worked on these puzzles for about an hour.  They helped each other, we helped them and it was so much fun!  

So I hope that gives you an idea of something you could thrown together and have lots of fun with your kids.  There's nothing really special about "here have another candy cane"  but the act of putting it in a sock or mitten in the countdown makes my kiddos so super excited.  Weird, I know, but it works.  

And remember you can make it as basic or fancy as you would like!  A couple of dimes makes kiddos super excited.  Or put Bible verses in each sock.  Or candy.  Or an event like "drive to see christmas lights".  

I know you'll do awesome! Let me know about your fun advent countdowns and remember,it's not too late to start making memories and traditions! 

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2016 Update:

The kids are getting older (shocking I know!) so I was a little leary about using this again.  After all I started doing this when Calvin was a year old and Nick had been laid off...this was cheap!  But the kids are insisting we do it again this year.  When they were younger it was easier to stick small things in the socks and mittens...coins, candy, stickers, etc.  But as they've gotten older it's been so fun to incorporate clues and crafts into the socks. 

Have fun with it! 

Gift Ideas All Kids Will Love

One of my readers wrote me and requested a holiday gift guide for a boy who isn’t into the traditional boy items…no legos, no super heros, etc.

So I put my thinking cap on and came up with a few items that our our families faves. These are items our son loves to play with. Here we go:

Qba Maze

Seriously the coolest maze, hours of fun and there are so many add on pieces and kits.

Calico Critters

Both my son and daughter have loved to play with these through the years so I can attest that these are popular! They are so detailed and fun that your family will have years of enjoyment with these cuties.

Cooking Set

Nothing gives kids confidence more than having tools that were made for them in sizes that are easy for them to use. We love these kits from Williams Sonoma because they are durable and fun!

Weaving Loom

Both Emma and Cal love using our Weaving Loom. It’s a great item for when we are reading as it is quiet and something they can do to keep their hands occupied.

Gem Kit

These dig kits are so fun and they can be educational when paired with a gem book or a fossil kit paired with a dinosaur book.

Magic Kit

This is something that is so fun and can spark a curiosity that can last for years. A starter kit is a great place to begin and then trickier tricks can be added in.

If you don’t want to purchase a physical gift, a gift of an experience is always a hit! We love our membership to the Western North Carolina Nature Center because we have reciprocity to the ASTC and AZA centers…that’s over 450 zoos, aquariums, and science centers nationwide that are included. We love our membership and know you would love one too!

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So those are my suggestions, do you have any to add? I’d love for you to list them in the comments!

Quick Tips for Getting Your Home Guest-Ready

Are you having guests coming to your house this holiday season? Perhaps they are even arriving in the next couple of days!!!! If so, read on for some quick and easy things you can do now to make your time hosting run smoothly and carefree.

Starting at Thanksgiving we always have people in and out of our house for the holidays and that is just the way we like it: people coming for meals, some staying for a night, others flying in from far off places to stay for a week or more. Whether they are in our home for an hour or a month, we want our guests to feel at ease, comfortable, and most of all, cherished.

We want them to know that we have thought of them. That they weren’t an after thought or a burden to us but rather a guest who is valued and loved.

With that in mind, here is my tailored list of things you can do to make your guests feel extra special and loved:

Make Sure Your Closet Has Hangers

Think about it, when you go to someone’s house this time of year the first thing you are going to do is to take off your coat. So when your guests come into your home they don’t want to have to try to hang their coat in a huge mess of a closet with no hangers in sight.

Now is a great time to go through the closet, donate anything that isn’t being worn, and put all of the empty hangers in the middle of the rod so guests will easily be able to spot them.

If you don’t have any hangers or they aren’t looking too good you can stock up on some new ones. We personally love wooden hangers for the coat closet…they hold up really well, can handle bulky items like a dream, and look super sleek for guests.

These are the hangers that we have and love. We’ve been using the same wooden hangers for about the past 8 years.

Have an Extra Table

For one reason or another folding tables are necessary. Too many people around the table? Too much food to have at the table? Want to set up a drink station or a dessert bar? Need somewhere to place all of those well-decorated sugar cookies? These are all ways that I have used our folding table throughout the holidays. If you don’t have one, it’s always a practical item to ask for for Christmas.

Invest in Towels

We have our every day towels but we keep our guest towels in the guest room so that they are saved for the guests. I opted to purchase white Ralph Lauren towels for our guests and so far they have lasted us 16 years. I highly recommend buying high quality towels that will absorb water and will feel soft and warm. When I know guests are coming I will place a set of towels for each person on their bed. It’s a nice way to let them know we’re prepared for them and then when they want to wash up they don’t have to go hunting for a towel.

Have Nice Guest Sheets

When we first got married our guest room was simply a hodge podge of items that we didn’t need around the house including the scratchy sheets we didn’t use in our bedroom but didn’t want to just get rid of out right. However, I began to view our guest room as a showcase of our home…it should be somewhere where our guests get our first fruits…the very best as a way to show them how cared for they are. Because, let’s be real, no one wants to sleep on scratchy sheets.

The moral of this story is to buy some sheets that your guests will actually like sleeping on. I found these sheets that are cotton, fairly inexpensive as far as sheets go, and have rave reviews.

Make Some Cookies

Walking into a home that smells like cookies is so comforting. But let’s be honest, homegirl doesn’t always have time to whip up a batch of cookies on the spot. That’s why you should do it now!

Make up a batch of cookies, spoon them onto a cookie sheet and they throw the whole thing in the freezer. After they’ve hardened you can take them off the pan and pop them into a ziploc bag or plastic container to keep in the freezer. Individual cookies for when you need them. Ta-da!

Need a starting place if you don’t bake much? This is my all time cookie book. Baking cookbooks come and go but this one stands the test of time.

Get Candles

If you follow the Hygge method of life then you know how essential candles are to making things cozy. Candles instantly make your house feel like a home, making things feel comforting and draw people in for conversation.

I used to save our candles for company but let’s be honest…this mama loves candles. I decided one day that my family was worth candles too so we burn them almost every day. I just love the warmth and coziness it gives to our family. This is my all time favorite candle, Moonbeams on Pumpkins. Not every Yankee Candle store has it but I found it on Amazon for you! I love the color of this one and it smells SO great!

Think Details

When you are setting up the room for your guests (go ahead and just do that now, buddy, so it’s ready to go when you need it), think of what you like to have when you are going to bed or waking up. A quick trip to Homegoods or an order from Amazon Prime can have your guest room looking like a heavenly haven in no time. Some of my fave small items include:

Hair Dryer Storage

Water Pitcher and Glass Set

Wifi Password

Reading Material

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And those are my suggestions! You can order most of these items from Amazon Prime and have them to your doorstep in no time! How perfect if you are having last minute houseguests or you need to get some extra items for your loved ones.

Have a suggestion for something that you love using to make your guests feel at home? Make sure you comment so we can all be in the know!

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Our Favorite Thanksgiving Books

Ever since the kids were little I have tried to make the holidays special for them.

One of our favorite ways to do this is to curl up on the couch with one of our favorite holiday books in the coming days.

As a momma of two older children, I’ve had a lot of years weeding through a lot of books. I am a classic, nostalgic kind of momma…I will read new books but I love the books that take me back to the place as a child when I was in elementary school and was so excited for Thanksgiving because of the indian corn, the paper bag vests, the pilgrim hats, the whole atmosphere that the teachers created for us. I loved that excitement and I try to recreate that for our children.

So, here are our top 8 favorite books for Thanksgiving:

Cranberry Thanksgiving

I can still remember sitting on the carpet listening to our school librarian, Mrs. Byrd, read us this classic tale. It’s the best.

The Berenstain Bears and the Prize Pumpkin

Who doesn’t love a good Berenstain Bears book with a lesson? And pumpkins? Perfection!

Squanto’s Journey

We love this book because it tells the Thanksgiving story from Squant’s perspective which is very thought provoking.

Duck & Goose Find a Pumpkin

Oh my word, my kids loved this book when they were a little younger! LOVED. Such sweet illustrations.

Popcorn

So this book could be for Halloween or Thanksgiving but it has a clear message of opening your home and sharing your bounty. Love it and it is such a sweet story.

God Gave Us Thankful Hearts

We love all of the “God Gave Us…” books and this one is no different. If you are wanting a book to talk about gratitude with your children, this is a great one.

The Thanksgiving Story

This award winning book is classic Thanksgiving. You might feel inspired to make a paper bag vest or a pilgrim hat out of construction paper after ;) .

Thank you, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving

While this is not a traditional Thanksgiving book this quickly became a favorite in our home and I love how it talks about the importance of giving thanks for what we have.

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So those are our favorite Thanksgiving that have stood the test of time (meaning that we’ve been reading them for at least the past 5 years). There are so many other books that you could love too….if you have any suggestions, please let us know!

A final tip that I’d like to share is to put these books away or somewhere where they are not being read all year long. I know, I know, how weird that I am suggesting that you don’t read books when we love books but by putting them away and getting them out at Thanksgiving time, these books will be special and new to your kids each year.

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Sweet Gifts for Kids who Like to Bake

I love baking with our kiddos. I always have. Ever since they were little we would bake together and it has always been a very special time that we all enjoy.

Now that we have a tween and a teen I am finding them starting to bake on their own, expressing their creativity (and hello? math skills!) through making sweet treats for the fam, which is totally a-ok with me.

If you are buying for some kiddos (or a family, or just mom) who like to bake, these would make some pretty sweet gifts:

Color Gel

For super vibrant colors in frostings, you are going to want to switch from liquid food coloring to gel. This will really make your cookie decorating fun!

American Girl Baking

This is Emma’s favorite baking cookbook of all time. And I have to admit that we have enjoyed every recipe out of it that she has made us out of it. Great recipes, easy to follow, and overall fun, this is a book that will be perfect for your little girl!

Cake Decorating Set

This set has a lot of equipment in it for an amazing price! This would be an amazing gift for someone who loves cake decorating or for someone who has a 4-h cake project coming up in the next year.

Matching Aprons

Emma and I have fallen in love with matching aprons and these are amazing with their vintage cuteness! If you like baking with your daughter, there is just something about donning matching aprons that takes the fun up a notch!

Kid Chef Book

Our kids have LOVED using the Kid Chef books. There are several of them to choose from. They are fun books and have easy to use instructions for cooking. This baking cookbook would be great!

As we get closer and closer to Christmas (can you even believe it is almost here?) it sometimes gets harder and harder to think straight without the chaos and the pressure of the season taking over your good senses. So if you are in need of a gift one of these items would be great. Or you could group a few of these things together to make a gift basket for someone…even if they don’t like to bake (yet!) you never know but you might be sparking a new love for a hobby they will love for years to come!

White Elephant Gift Ideas Under $10

Our family every year has a white elephant gift exchange. As it goes, the theme every year is to try to outdo one another in the silliness department. So if you are looking for some serious silly or sass, here are some gifts for you to go with. These are all under $10 so you won’t break the bank.

I love this little planter which just happens to be a throne.

And who doesn’t love bacon? These Lady Gaga bandaids will be perfect for any carnivore.

Life feels weird now that I don’t know if mentioning a fanny pack will make you think that is funny or cool. I guess either way this is a pretty sweet deal, as Napoleon Dynamite would say.

Here you go, for the person who has everything.

Can anyone tell me why this highlighter set is so hilarious to me? These are great!

And finally you guys, a literal white elephant!

I hope this helps you guys! Our white elephant event always sneaks up on me so if you are last minute, most of these are prime items which will help a lot. And like I said, when I wrote this all of these items were under $10 so you won’t break the bank celebrating with your family.

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My Completely Honest Review on Hello Fresh

“The links in this post are affiliate links, and we will be compensated when you make a purchase by clicking through our links. This post may be a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. “

This summer I had the opportunity to try Hello Fresh for free.

I had our first box delievered to our hotel when we vacationed in North Carolina, this summer. The hotel had a small kitchenette and I thought this would be a good way for us to save money on meals.

The meals were to be delivered on the day we arrived, however the day came and went and they never arrived. The next day the box arrived. I was a little bit worried wondering where on earth this box had been sitting while it was not delievered.

Everything in the box was still cold however, the salmon we had ordered was out of the package, and all of the salmon juices (isn’t that lovely) was all over the bottom of the box. It was gross.

We were able to ascertain what was still usable and threw the rest away. We called Hello Fresh and they were kind enough to credit us for another box.

That night we made their Korean Beef Bibimbap. Even though there were 4 of us and the recipe was for 4, there was a ton left over! So we boxed it up in the fridge for lunch the next day.

The next evening we made their pork carnitas recipe which again was very good.

Cooking in the hotel it was so convenient to have the Hello Fresh meals because when you need something, say, sour cream for instance, I didn’t have to go buy a big thing of sour cream that I would have had to throw out at the end of the trip because I have no where to put it and nothing to do with it. They send you only what you need.

Also, our kids ate everything we put before them. I don’t know why but if I had tried to make korean beef on my own they would have turned their noses up to it but because it had the novelty of being Hello Fresh, it was fun and exciting for them to try.

When we got home we reordered meals, this time choosing meals for 2, thinking, okay, if the portions for 4 were huge then maybe we can get by with the meals for 2.

When the food came it was like angels from heaven had delievered that box because we came home from a weekend at the lake and were talking all the way home how we didn’t have anything out for dinner…and then there was a Hello Fresh box on our porch.

We were so excited, we tore that baby open, chose a bag of fresh ingredients off the top and a recipe card. I got to work cooking and Nick got to work trying to find room in our fridge for all the Hello Freshness. Everything was going great until he got to the bottom where the meat was. Our 3 recipes needed beef and pork and instead there at the bottom was shrimp, salmon, and lobster ravioli. Needless to say, again, the meat had let us down.

So Nick had to run to the store to buy steak so I could finish our recipe. We called and again they very graciously refunded our order so we could order again. I was dissapointed again in our box but happy with the customer service we received.

Our third box came and all of the recipes were good. We did have a few rotten produce items. That was the only thing I could complain about in the box if I was complaining. I figured out of three boxes, we were just going to call this a good box.

So that has been our experience with Hello Fresh. You can see we had a bit of a unique experience in that 1) we had to get three boxes before we got one with meat we could use and 2) we used the boxes not just at home but also in a tiny, hotel room kitchen.

Here’s a Summary of our experience:

Pros

• It is super nice to have the exact ingredients you need and not have anything left over. No measuring!

• Almost everything you need is included in the box. Some simple things were not included like oil, salt, pepper, and sugar. When we were staying at the hotel I was able to find these things in the breakfast area in the lobby by grabbing some butter pats, salt and pepper packets, and some sugar packets from the coffee station.

• The recipes are new and exciting to try. If you have picky eaters this might be just the thing to inspire them to try a new recipe.

• All of the recipes we’ve tried were super yummy.

• All of the recipes incorporate veggies into them. Like the name “Hello Fresh” suggests, the recipes are all flavorful and fresh with veggies.

• The meals do not take a long time to make.

• The recipe cards are easy to follow and written in every day english.

• The recipes are fun for kids to help with. Older kids could even make almost everything themselves. It would be a good part of a curriculum if you are teaching your kids how to cook.

• All of the meal ingredients are distributed into bags, one for each meal so you don’t have to try to figure out what is for which meal.

• When you open the bag you can use the bag for all of the food scraps and empty food packaging which makes cleanup a breeze.

Cons

• As you read above, several of our boxes had something wrong with the meat. Basically you are putting the safety of your food into the hands of the company and the delivery company.

• I’ve heard this from friends regarding Hello Fresh and I can say it is true…you use a lot of pots and pans to prepare the foods. This is not a one-pan meal kind of thing.

• You do need some basic items when you are cooking that are not included in the box including things like oil, sugar, salt, and pepper.

• The ingredients are not organic.

Ultimately…

Will I be using Hello Fresh again? Probably. I will definitely be using it when we go on vacations where we have access to a kitchen because it is cheaper than going out to a restaurant.

It is super easy to make and is very convenient for weeks when our family is on the go constantly and doesn’t even have time to go to the grocery store, let alone plan meals.

It is expensive but if you like to cook but never find time to meal prep then it just might be perfect for you.

Want to try Hello Fresh?

I have a code Hello Fresh has given to me to share with you! Use code “THEWITW” and you can save $40 off of your first box!

Click here to check out the Hello Fresh website. Create your account, choose your meals and enter the code “THEWITW” in to save!

Some of their discount codes are split up through the first few orders you get but this is off your very first box you get so this is an amazing deal!

If you decide to try it out I would love to know what you think! If you are going to be super busy this upcoming holiday season, this could be for you. Marching band, soccer, dance classes all in one night? This would be great for you!

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Happy World Food Day

Today is World Food Day, a day promoting the idea of achieving zero hunger in the world. It is such an amazing idea to think that we could stop people from going hungry but the program is also about nourishing people and nourishing the planet.

There is enough food in the world to feed everyone and yet 1 in 9 people go to bed hungry each night. Over on Instagram we partnered with the World Food Programme USA to bring awareness of World Food Day and to help promote the idea of not wasting food.

We have tried hard to teach the children to not let food go to waste. We eat leftovers and find new ways to use ingredients that were left from previous meals. I love this idea but can I be honest with you and explain that a lot of times I am not so good at this. One of the reasons that our food goes bad is because it is improperly stored in the refrigerator. It was only last year that I decided to invest in some good reusable storage containers to keep our food fresher longer, making less for us to throw away and thereby less food we need to prepare down the road.

Food containers are sometimes so hit and miss and I hate that game where you get out a bottom and can’t find the top of it or vice versa, don’t you? No momma has time for that!

I love the size of these containers that hold 29 oz. They hold about 4 cups and do such a great job. They are virtually spill proof, do great in the dishwasher and microwave, and last for so long! I have had a little bit of spaghetti sauce staining but it hasn’t been too bad. I like the colors of these because you can use them for different foods or you can assign them to different people to take with them to school and work. I often will tell Nick to grab the green lidded container for his lunch at work the next day.

My sweet mother-in-law gifted us with this set and they are perfectly wonderful at preserving food. We keep this set down at the cottage and I’ve honestly been amazed at how fresh our food is when stored in them. I like the square size for the cottage because we have a vintage fridge that is teeny tiny so space is at a minimum and we can cram a lot of these in, tetris style.

I love these oxo storage boxes for our shelves. They keep critters away and keep your food very fresh. These are really great for our cottage because the humidity is really high so I can put cereal in here and not worry about the moisture or critters getting into our food while we are away for extended periods of time.

It was such a hard decision for me to make when I finally decided to buckle down and make an investment purchase of good reusable storage containers but I am so glad that I did! We have saved so much more food from spoiling than we did before we had them…they really make such a difference and once I purchased them I was so glad I did.

Happy World Food Day! We are so blessed to live in America, a country that is so rich in resources. I think we need to work on being as responsible as we can with those resources and look for ways to help those around us that are in need. You can get some great ideas on how to help at this website. Stopping hunger is such a great cause and it can start at home with us stopping the waste. #stopthewaste

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Do you have favorite storage containers you use? I’d love to know what they are!

Cottage Details

My last post about the cottage was the tour of how we are almost done with the interior! We are so in love with our favorite spot and love to go there to get away. If you missed that post you can read it all here and see what we have done with the place!

I thought I would get a little more in depth and talk a bit more about decor and pieces that I have picked up along the way that I love. The feel of the cottage that I am going for is acquired. I don’t want a feel that we went and bought everything new but rather I am going with a collection of pieces and momentos that we love, that bring us joy, and that will give the place a curated feel like it’s been in our family for generations rather than a few years. To do this I look for pieces everywhere: at thrift stores, flea markets, my grandma’s house, and things that we have at our house.

I will also say that by doing it this was it is such a neat experience to see how God provides. For example, this summer we have been getting serious about stocking our kitchen with more gadgets that we need while not going overboard. After all I don’t want a ton of items to have to take care of, put away, and weed through when I am looking for something. Not cool. However necessities like a pizza cutter and an ice cream scoop have proven to be missing items that are desperately needed, especially when you have kiddos. Well, I didn’t want to go and spend a ton of money on buying a bunch of stuff. I wanted this to be a thing of collecting items. It was hard to go without but I knew the pieces would come. Sure enough, last week I was at my moms and she was giving a bunch of kitchen gadgets away. She pretty much had everything that we needed for the cottage.

All of that to say, we are going slow with filling in the gaps of needed items, knowing that we have all the time in the world and that God will provide in His time.

All that to say I am thrilled to be able to show you a few of my favorite details of the place:

Nick built these shelves next to the kids bunk beds (they are a total mess in this photo but you get the idea) and we love them! He built them out of salvaged lumber from a bookshelf that was in the office of my childhood pastor. How cool is that? The biggest obstacle we’ve had to face with having a tiny place is the lack of storage. There just isn’t room for furniture to store things so we’ve had to be really creative. The shelves have really helped to keep all of the kids things at bay and provide them a solid sense of belonging in their bedroom.

Hello my name is Lindsay and I am sucker for fun towels. Seriously, give me all of the towels. It’s a real problem, folks. I love this one I picked up in Middlebury, Indiana.

I picked this pillow up at an antiques store in Nappanee, Indiana. The color scheme for our cottage is gray, blue, white, and a teeny bit of green. So this fits in great. I love it because my Grandpa was in the Navy at Great Lakes. This is totally something he would have sent home to my Grandma. It is so special to me because of that.

Does anyone else love old boxes for storage or is it just me? This box holds a lot of the kids toys and books…and a shirt apparently.

We found this cold brew coffee press at Bloomingdales and love, love, love it! It works so well, the coffee tastes great, and there have been no grounds in the coffee. This has been perfect for super hot days. Also, I love these cute cups we found at Homegoods and gifted ourselves at Christmas (does anyone else do this???). Sorry guys but I scoured the internet for ours and can’t find them, but I adore these and think they would be a great gift idea!

This fan was a Goodwill find but was a really ugly taupey kind of brown color. Nick spray painted it and now it is so fun. All of the windows that face the lake are in our kitchen so sometimes it gets toasty over there while cooking. The fan helps provide just a touch of a breeze.

I adore our dishes. They are vintage Corelle and they belonged to my late Grandma Wannie. They are one of my most treasured possessions. They make me think of her every time we use them.

The blue dishes on the right were a gift from the sweetest Mother-in-Law ever and I just love them. They were a wedding gift they received and I love using them. They are fun for desserts with friends and other snackys.

Our indoor/outdoor rug was the most expensive decoration we bought for the cottage ($60!) but it has been perfect. It helps it is indoor/outdoor because it can be scrubbed or even thrown into the washing machine. I found one that is pretty darn close here if you like ours.

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So those are some of my favorite little details of the cottage! I am always looking for tiny house storage ideas so if you have any pointers or tips for how we can keep clutter at bay, I’d love some ideas!

July Current Project Journal

As I write this Nick is in Toronto. I’ll pause while you sing a roving rendition of Oh, Canada! Steve Martin style.

I thought it would be fun to begin a journal series about our Current Projects if for no other reason than to give you something to laugh at. I mean, we have high hopes around these parts. And let me tell you, owning two homes is not as glamorous as one may think. Like how this past weekend Nick spent THE ENTIRE Saturday repairing a leak in our roof that we discovered after being down at the lake for 3 weeks and having lots of rain. Oh, how fun.

The joys of being homeowners and living in an old house.

If our list of current projects doesn’t make you laugh I hope it at least helps you put your own list into perspective. After all, no one is without the to-do list that must accompany one’s home.

That being said, here is what we have going on currently and what we will be tackling soon:

With the roof fixed, we will now be repairing the part of our bedroom ceiling where we found the inevitable leak.

Repair the ceiling in the blue room after an electrical upgrade and repaint ceiling

Continue putting together the rescued fireplace mantle.

Whittle down the never ending mountain of mismatched socks.

Pack for the lake and get ready to take an enormous box of items to move in…slowly but surely we are getting everything there that we need.

Make a list of what we need for our upcoming school year.

Find someone to wallpaper the stairwell.

Keep the new rosebush alive! Research!

Put up random trim piece in the downstairs laundry room.

Caulk and paint the chalkboard frame

Defrost the freezer

Plant flowers at the cottage

Paint the exterior of the cottage

Repair Cal’s window pane

Those are our current projects going on.

What projects are you guys all working on?

Does anyone know anything about roses? We have a new rosebush and it seemed to do this weird thing where it flattened itself out. It looks like a flying saucer. Now the outer edges have roses and the middle is dying. I told Nick since he’s a Landscape Architect that he should be able to help me. He told me to find a gardener. He just plans them out, he doesn’t keep them alive.

A Cottage Update

You guys, we are almost there.

Two and a half years ago we purchased our lake cottage and we’ve been working on it like turtles…slowly and steady we are getting there.
Pretty much like with every older home remodel nothing has gone as it was planned. Nothing is square or perfect but it is heaven on earth to us because I get to lay in bed every morning and watch the sunrise over the lake.

So many of you have been writing in to ask if we even have the cottage still because it has been crickets on the site about the place. For a long time we were at a stand still with really exciting things like electrical and hot water issues but those have been fixed and we are almost done.

The only large project inside we still have is to paint the floor. It’s a gray color right now so while it isn’t bad it is pretty scuffed up and just not what I want. I want to go with a midnight blue color or something like a Kelley Green and knock everyone’s socks off. Which do you guys prefer?

Until I decide we have that project on the back burner. That and the fact that we are painting it with marina grade paint which has a ton of fumes and needs to cure…both of those factors mean we’ll probably stack the furniture high in one half of the cottage and then paint the other half before we leave the for winter.

Other than that we are done with all of the big projects. We have the details and the fine tuning to work on but the nuts and bolts are in!

Other projects outside include installing a railing on the front porch and putting in a deck out back that overlooks the lake.

I wanted to show you some photos of how the place is looking…

Enjoy!

Here is the view we get to wake up to every morning. I think this alone is worth all of the headache, blood, sweat, and tears we’ve poured into this place. I should also mention that literally, this is what we wake up to. This is what we can see from our bed!

This Ikea coatrack is perfect for the cottage…cute and functional while being simple. That gorgeous wrap is from Evy’s Tree and my Magnolia hat is there too.

This corner in the bathroom is one of my faves…the original cupboard and the lake house sign are precious.

I found this old container at a Habitat for Humanity Restore. Its quirky and works really well as a hamper in our bathroom. I can’t bring myself to scrape off the letters yet but I might one day.

Using hardware from Amazon Nick put together these double barn doors that cross each other in the middle. The door on the right leads to the bathroom and the door on the left is a set of double doors that leads to the kids sleeping area. All the doors we salvaged from a house being torn down next door to our primary residence. Nick cut them to fit the area but they work perfectly!

I’m still on the hunt for a large lampshade that will work for the lamp and will help to hide the electrical panel on the wall. Anyone have any favorite places for lampshades? I am horrible at shopping for them. This antique bed belongs to Nick’s parents and I just love it! The bedding is actually from the 1890’s and goes really well with the cottage. I’m trying to keep everything as neutral and light as possible to keep your eye drawn to the outdoors. We have a Casper memory foam matress that we love!

Everything here was put together. The hutch belonged to my Grandma Jean. It is an old Coppes Kitchen piece. The velvet chair belonged to Nick’s parents and is in desperate need of reupholstering. Anyone have any ideas for what to do it in? I am really tempted to go with a navy velvet but we are trying to make everything “lake friendly” and I don’t know how sandy, wet bathingsuit bottoms would do on velvet. The “W” was a gift from my parents, the lamp came with the cottage. We keep a space heater tucked away there for those cold nights in the spring and fall.

This is the kids bunk area. I found their bedding at a resale and was over the moon that 1 I found nautical themed bedding and 2! that I found two of them together. I bought their striped long pillows at Costco. It helps them both to use their beds as loungers and they like to sleep with them.

Emma has a little ladder up to her area. Nick covered the ceiling in planks. I was bummed he couldn’t find enough reclaimed to finish it so we’ll probably end up painting it because the contrast is so stark. Before it was just the original ceiling boards which were cool but the roofing nails were hanging down…not cool when you wake up in the middle of the night and take a nail to the head.

I think I will forever spend my days trying to figure out if I like this chair or not. It came from Habitat for Humanity Restore. Some days I find it neat and eccentric. Other times I find it offputting and garish. It is comfortable though so it will stay…

Here’s the cottage when you are standing by the bathroom and looking in. As you can see I didn’t tidy for these pictures so excuse the mess. I love the kitchen chandelier, we found it on amazon. The fridge works great and we bought it off Craigslist for $50. The couch folds down into a bed and is an authentic mid-century couch. It came with the cottage but was owned by a friend (there’s a story there somewhere folks). The red cooler on the fridge is the only big pop of color. It was my Grandpa’s and my Grandma gifted it to us. I adore it because of that. I really love how the kitchen counter turned out with the chairs and the bar. It’s one of my favorite features of the cottage.

As you can see we have an active puzzle going on our puzzle table. The table came with the cottage and we knew we had to find a place for it. It works really well for puzzles and will work for board games or if we have a lot of food and/or people. Really, the possibilities are endless!

So we have had this fan for almost as long as we’ve been married. It is vintage and neat. So we brought it to the cottage and introduced it to it’s new home. The dishes in the photo belonged to my late Grandma Wannie. They are one of my prized possessions. I spent countless hours having tea with Grandma Wannie with those dishes and I am so tickled to have them. I miss her so much.

Here’s a shot of our kitchen. We bought our Jenn-Aire range for $60 again from Restore. I am in love with how Nick got it to fit. The seam on our counter just popped up. Actually the counter is what popped up and the bar area is where it is supposed to be. Weird, I know. We have to reglue it and hope that fixes it. We knew something like this might happen with how humid it is at the lake.

You can see things are unfinished but they are coming along. We are having a drawer specially made that will fit around the stove parts. We need trim and outlet covers but the main parts are there. The sink is the original sink. We bought the faucet handles on amazon. It’s a bit weird having hot and cold so far apart but I insisted because that’s the way it was.

Nick salvaged as much wood as he could from the original kitchen before he tore it down and I just love how this wall came out. We aren’t going to paint this wall but will leave it like it is. It has so much character. We have this convection oven because we don’t have an oven but really, we don’t need one save for a pizza which cooks just fine in this. Perfect!

And I think that is everything! I’ll be going around and showing you some of my favorite details. If you have any questions please let us know!

Last Minute Ways to Celebrate Valentine's Day with Your Kids

Let me guess…you’re like me and suddenly you’ve blinked and it’s Valentine’s Day.

Gulp.

Your wreath might still be up on the front door.

Or is that just me?

This is a no-judgement zone people!

I’m here to share with you some quick easy ways you can celebrate Valentine’s day with your kids.

Here goes…

Red Food Coloring

I promise. this makes you look super fancy. Milk becomes pink milk as seen above… Mashed potatoes look super festive. Just play around with it and use your imagination.

Cookie Cutter

Last year I forgot to do anything for Valentine’s (which is the picture from last year) so I cut a heart out of two pieces of bread. Jelly went on the cut bread, peanut butter on the heart, done.

Heart Plate

Putting anything on a heart plate makes it look more festive. Ours are melamine from Target. Super cheap but the kids love them. If you are short on time look around for anything. Pink plates or bowls are fun, anything red leftover from Christmas would work.

Sprinkles

You’ve heard me talk about these before but my kids LOVE muffin tin lunches. I purchased the 6-cup muffin tins from The Dollar Tree and use them for different foods. For this lunch I put things together that had red or pink. For things that didn’t have color, I added color, like to the milk. To the yogurt I added sprinkles. Strawberries, tomatoes, done. Oh and don’t think I am super fancy schmancy…that whole thing is sitting on a dish cloth.

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My point here is you don’t need to spend a lot of money and you don’t have to freak out if you don’t have a lot of stuff to celebrate Valentine’s with your kids. We just like to show we remembered and we look for ways to show love to one another. Be creative, have fun, and enjoy!

Planning our Trip to Georgia

I shared before how I plan our family roadtrips in order to get the most out of them for the least amount of money.

I wanted to share with you now how I am planning our next trip to Georgia.

I chart our route and looked for larger cities that we will be passing through.

I see that we are going through Lexington, Kentucky and Knoxville, Tennessee. I have nothing relatable in my head about either one of those places (do you guys? Do I just live too sheltered of a life?) so I Pinterest them to see what there is to do.

It looks like in Lexington there are some horse race type parks to check out but nothing that is screaming “us” so I’m moving on. I will also point out Lexington is about 4 hours from our house. I want to make sure we cover some distance in the first day of our trip so Lexington is about the closest place I would be willing to go to. Otherwise we’ll have too much traveling to do the next day as we make our way to Georgia.

So the next place I’m going to look up is Knoxville.

There look to be some things but I am not sure if that is where I want to be for very long. We are after all driving through so we don’t have a lot of time to spend.

I now check out our memberships’ reciprocal programs. We have memberships through the ASTC and the AZA. I see that there is a zoo in Knoxville that looks promising but we still have to pay 50%. That’s a great deal, don’t get me wrong, but I just want to make sure that that is something we commit to do with our time. After all, a zoo takes a large chunk of time to go through.

I check out the National Parks website and, duh! I see that Knoxville is just a hop, skip and a jump a way from the Smoky Mountains National Park. BINGO!

I think we might go that way. We love hiking and exploring so going that route ensures lots of fresh air, exercise, and it’s darn near free.

In case you’ve never been to the Smoky Mountains, it is near Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. This is a really neat area but a huge tourist area that makes it really hard to stay on budget. I am sure we will do some things there but we try to steer clear of this area. An example of the area is when we went mini golfing. We went to a scabby kind of place with flaking paint and it was $60 for the four of us. Seriously. That is why we try to plan carefully what we do in the area and we look for budet friendly items.

The Smoky Mountains park spans over 800 square acres over North Carolina and Tennessee. While it is technically one park there are several sections and areas of the park including Cades Cove, Cataloochee, Clingmans Dome, and more. While there are lots of things to do I think we are going to be focusing on the Cades Cove area.

Cades Cove offers some of the best opportunities to spot wildlife. When we’ve been through the Smokies before we have spotted deer, bears, elk, and coyotes. We like Cades Cove because of the settlement you can explore as well as the nature. We’ve never had a lot of time to explore the area though, so I think that will be a perfect option for us.

We are so excited for our trip and can’t wait to get to the mountains!!!

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I hope this kind of “me talking outloud to you helps you to see the madness behind my method for planning our trips. I can try to do this with another trip if it helps you! Let me know, friends!

The Bag All Mommas Need Now!

You're a mom so you're always are bringing tons of bags with you.  Am I right?  You've got a bag for snacks, a bag with some school work in it, a bag with some games in it. Does this sound like you?  Plus let's not forget your purse because, of course you need that! 

Girl, have I got the solution for you and since I've found this out it has been a game changer for me.  

The answer?  

A Diaper Bag! 

it's true!  Even if you don't have a kiddo in diapers anymore, you need to get yourself one of these bags.  

If you're like me, when your kiddos were done with diapers you wanted to throw your bag in some firepit and walk away, all gangster style like on Office Space.  

But now you can go back to the bag...it will be okay.  I promise.

Our kids are 10 and 12 and I carry a diaper bag. Every.Single.Day.  

Now before you think I've gone off and lost my cotton picking mind...let me explain myself.  

Tons of pockets and zippers and compartments.  

Most diaper bags these days have a waterproof pouch. Maybe these were made for wet clothes but you can now use them for snacks.  Something spills or sweats or leaks?  No biggie.  A contained mess in a wipeable area is aces.  

There is a place for a changing pad.  Take that out. You don't need that anymore.  You're above that.  You owned that.  See?  You're left with a pretty ample sized pocket.  I use this to store a binder or my planner.  And suddenly it's like I'm some kind of organizational wizard.  

Bottle holders on the sides?  Hello water bottles!  Or sunglasses!  Or your cell phone! 

I'm telling you all, diaper bags are not just for diapers.  They should just be called mom bags from the beginning because they can hold so many things.  And you don't need to have a diaper bag with monkeys on the print or whatever you may have had before.  You can have a cute bag that will hold everything you need it to...I kid you not!  

Once I let go of the idea that I needed my own bag and then a bag for school work and a container for snacks, and a container for this and a container for that...once I could let that go I was able to accept the idea of a bag for me, as a mom.  I am my own person but I am also ultimately a mother who carries the weight (literally!) of bringing things with us so instead of 27 different bags I've been diligent in finding a cute bag that suits my personality and the stage of life I'm in.  

I have a stylish Coach diaper bag in a pretty blue color.  This color is not the norm for Coach bags and I get so, so many compliments about it.  The great part?  We went to a baseball game recently and I was able to comfortably store food for my kids in it...I had 4 sodas, 2 bags of chips, 7 cookies, and two baseball hats.  I'm for real here...this is why you need a diaper bag! 

Here are some of my favorite bags...some of these I have and others are on my shopping want list! Like I said, I love these bags.  Almost all of the "purses" I carry around these days are actually diaper bags. 

Maybe one day I'll have a smallish purse again but for our life right now these work great! 

This sweet bag is on my Amazon wish list. I have friends who have this bag and I've heard rave reviews from other CC tutors who use it to bring their books to community day. I love that it can be carried as a tote or a backpack! And the color is on point. So adorable.

I have this bag and really love it for vacations! It can become a cross body or a hobo style bag with adjusting the straps. It holds tons of snacks and provides a really soft cushiony case for my DSLR. So versatile!

I don't have this striped bag but I have this in a black version and it is easily my favorite bag of all time! It has been so many places with me and I have been able to take so much with me because of this bag! The top zippered compartment is perfect for cell phone storage...it's great for people like me who lose everything and need a place for everything! Also, when my sister dumped an entire cup of coffee on my purse it cleaned up beautifully!

This bag is similar to my coach baby bag although the pattern of mine has been discontinued. I love the removable strap...I use it a lot when we are out of town or have a lot to lug around and then usually take it off for every day use.

So those are my favorite mom bags (aka diaper bags I guess). If you have a favorite way of carrying all of the mom stuff around be sure to comment below and keep all of us friends in the know, too!

ALSO! Make sure to hunt at any children’s resale events you go to for diaper bags. It’s one of my favorite places to find bags. I’ve snagged some before for just a few bucks and they were brand new!

Happy shopping and toting all of your stuff around, friends! XO