Simplify & enjoy life at home with littles.
We used EveryDollar for 9 months, then switched to YNAB. I have updated this post to reflect my current thinking abut EveryDollar after using it for 9 months. While it has some good features, my husband and I both like YNAB much better. (Detailed review of YNAB here.) In the …
Confession: I used to be entitled. (Hey, you can’t get help if you don’t admit you have a problem, right?) I wouldn’t say I consciously thought to myself that people or the world owed me anything. And I definitely didn’t call it entitlement. It was more subtle than that. More …
We read Dave Ramsey’s book The Total Money Makeover (which I highly recommend, by the way) and listened to all the teachings from the class when we first got married. We were on board. Debt is dumb, pay cash, blah blah blah. Made perfect sense. Then we took out a BIG loan …
I recently wrote about ways I keep my house clean. Lest that post in any way communicated that our house is always clean, please know we were a hot mess by Friday night. These pictures are proof. And sometimes, there’s a strange encouragement in camaraderie – in knowing you’re not …
Before I was married, I remember people saying “Oh I’m so glad I married my best friend.” I thought that sounded nice. But honestly, and I probably couldn’t have articulated this until recently, I didn’t marry my best friend… at the time. Ben and I met (as in, met-for-the-first-time-hi-nice-to-meet-you) and …
[Side note: I wrote this post on a more-whining-than-usual-day and now the last couple days have been great. Ben was out of town for a few days, and I think the girls feel it when he’s gone. I know I do! He’s the cheese to our macaroni, the cream in …
My brother and I played with legos ALL THE TIME as kids. I’m pretty sure my parents still have several 30-gallon rubbermaid containers full of legos. I really hope that our kids play with legos. Not that we’ll pressure them. But we probably will. Because Emma is still at the …
I recently wrote about engaging my kids throughout the day as a parenting goal for 2015. In that post, I alluded to some mysterious practical ways I engage my kids. Obviously, I do these perfectly every day. HA! Not. They’re goals. Things that I feel like the Lord consistently puts on my heart …
For the very short period of time that we had only one toddler in our house, we had a toddler-friendly Montessori-inspired work shelf. It was Montessori-inspired in that: Most of the activities could be completed independently. The activities were displayed in a neat and pleasing manner. Our 2 year old …
Updated July 2019 Dear Reader, Thanks for visiting this blog! I’m glad you’re here. My goal at Rhythms + Grace Blog (and in my weekly newsletter) is to provide practical tips, tools, tutorials, and encouragement to help you create healthy rhythms and receive grace in your every-day life! Running this …
Call me crazy, but I used to enjoy cleaning. I found it somewhat therapeutic. Plus there’s the whole instant gratification thing. You put some work into it, and everything sparkles and looks better immediately. With kids, well… that’s just not the case most of the time. Let’s just say, our …
We live in a big-enough-for us-but-not-that-big ranch with 975-ish square feet. There is a living room, hallway and 3 bedrooms on the first floor that are all carpeted. Plus a kitchen and bathroom that are vinyl and fake wood/ laminate flooring. The basement has indoor/outdoor type carpeting. It doesn’t take …
…the highlight of your day is a successful trip to Walmart with your kiddos. Addie got to walk for a little bit (before she lost the privilege by forging ahead into forbidden territory). But overall, her walking or running beside the cart was a success. Emma was happy the whole …
This is not a “how to” potty train, but rather an in-the-thick-of-potty-training survival guide and humorous though sharing session. If you are potty training a kiddo and about to pull all their your hair out , you are not alone! I read all the right books and did all the research and talked to all the …
oh hi there. remember that time I had another baby? Well, here’s the official blog introduction of sweet Emma Catherine. She weighed in at 8 pounds, 1 ounce. 21 inches long (exactly the same as her big sister). This time around, I decided to use a birth photographer. If it’s …
A friend made these pork lettuce wraps for us once and they were AHHH-mazing. I’ve made them a few times since. Everyone I’ve made these for and shared the recipe with so far has loved them too, so I figured I’d post it on the world wide web. The prep …
I was a long-time scrapbooker before finally taking the plunge and switching to digital photo albums. In fact, I agonized over whether or not to even try digital. I thought I would miss scrapbooking… the planning, cutting, and layouts. The ‘thrill’ of going to the store and seeing all the pictures …
This has been my go to lunch for a couple weeks now. Not every day… but almost. It’s so so good. I know it’s a staple and probably doesn’t need any instructions, but here’s how we do grilled cheese and tomato soup around here. HOMEMADE TOMATO SOUP *Get the milk …
This year, Ben and I have discussing how to give more generously and simultaneously cut back on excessive spending. The thing is… We love to give gifts. I love to shop for people and think – she will love that, or he really needs this or… whatever. And I think gift giving …
I stumbled upon this article one day, talking about Pink (the singer). It wasn’t super interesting or anything, but one thing struck me. She was interviewed about her 2 year old and the phrase “the terrible twos” inevitably made it’s way into the discussion. The article reads: The Grammy-winner admits …