Crafts are my nemesis. I don't like creating the craft (enter Kiwi Crate), facilitating the project or dealing with the mess. But I know that my kids, especially my 6 year old, wants to be creative. I needed to find a solution that would fulfill their creative desire and keep the supplies to a minimum. I love this idea of an old wine crate (towards the bottom of the post) but my trips to the antique store are limited these days with three kids 6 and under. Fortunately, Target handles small children well. Look what I found in the garden section for $3.99! It's a potted planter where the cups are attached. (It also comes in a pretty yellow or Keep Reading
Simplifying Kids Craft Supplies
Make Your Own Household Cleaners (easy & inexpensive!)
image credit Guest Post by Kari Patterson Months ago I printed SPRING CLEANING across this week in my calendar. I've looked forward to it for months. No, don't love cleaning, but I do love having cleaned. I love having a home of peace, order, and beauty. Not perfect, not spotless, but fresh and fun. I feel happier when things are reasonably clean and as my husband says, “A happy wife is a happy life.” Now here's the thing -- I don't think any of us love cleaning, so how can we make the whole thing more enjoyable? For me, I feel better about my cleaning when I feel better about my cleaners. A simple switch to natural, homemade household Keep Reading
A tiny little surprise.
This is our fourth and youngest, Matthew. The shirt belonged to our third, Nathan. I thought we would be giving this one to another family (the shirt, not the kid), because the plan was for Matthew to NOT be a big brother, at least by blood... You know what the Bible says about plans. "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." (Proverbs 19:21) Despite a couple of things done to keep us a family of six, God had another plan. It looks like it includes another Davis. And a genetic Davis at that. We will be welcoming our fifth (gulp) baby sometime at the end of the summer! I'm back to maternity clothes, naps, Keep Reading
Vegetarian menu ideas
Vegetarian Menu Ideas As promised, here is a double menu plan for those of you who are interested in adding some meatless meals into your week. Whether you pick one day or a whole week, I hope you'll feel inspired with all the filling, satisfying meals to choose from. There are tons of options. Also, if you are trying to ease your family into the whole more-vegetables-less-meat mode, don't make it too hard on yourself at the beginning. Think about all the things that you are already serving where the meat wouldn't be missed too much. Burritos, stir fry, spaghetti, or pizza are all good places to start. Here are a couple tried-and-true meatless Keep Reading
Less Meat, More Vegetables (and grocery money…)
image credit My husband and I are documentary film nerds. We have more on our Netflix queue than new releases. We have watched documentaries on everything from hay bale houses to high wire walkers to quadriplegic rugby teams. There is some strange and fascinating stuff going on in the world. The topics that impact our daily life the most, however, revolve around food. Watching these documentaries, along with other sources, has changed the way we view and buy and eat our food. One of the biggest changes we have made over the last two years is to significantly cut back on the amount of meat we are eating. It started out as one of our monthly Keep Reading
Overwhelmed by resolutions? Create margins instead.
image credit Do you feel overwhelmed at the thought of January's resolutions adding one more thing to your plate? February could be the perfect month to start working on margins instead. Guest post by Megan Vowell It's a new year, a fresh slate, a new chance to tackle _______. If you are like me, you have the same resolutions as last year. I'm willing to bet that at least one these is on your list: Lose weight. Get out of debt. Get organized. Be more _______. Gentle? Kind? Mindful? Live more ____. Fully? Simply? Frugally? Generously? Noble aspirations all, and yet... how much resolve do you have and how much margin? Is there space Keep Reading
The Unexpected Benefits of Couponing
image credit Guest Post by Kerri Cunningham Like most couponers, I began couponing in an effort to save money. As my children would say (when they think I’m not listening), duh! I think most of us begin couponing because we want to save or stretch our family’s resources. A year and a half later, I’m still couponing. To ever-so-slightly paraphrase John Mellencamp: “Oh yeah, life goes on. Long after the thrill of (couponing) is gone.” While I may not get as excited about free toothpaste as I did eighteen months ago, I still actively coupon. Why? Well, I need to stick to an extremely lean budget, and couponing helps me do that. Even Keep Reading