• Good Times

    DIY Turkey Trot Hat

    Who needs a DIY Turkey Trot hat? Apparently I do!

    I didn’t know I needed a turkey trot hat until last week when my cousin announced via text message that we would be doing a turkey trot over Thanksgiving Break.

    Our entire family is coming together for Thanksgiving at the beach in Florida. It will be my parents, my brother/his wife/my niece and nephew, my cousin and her husband and three children, my other cousin and her boyfriend, my aunt, and my grandpa. In other words, the whole gang!

    I asked my cousin how to sign up for the turkey trot, and it was explained to me that it wasn’t … Read More

  • Organization

    Using Systems to Reduce Holiday Stress

    using systems to reduce holiday stress

    I want to immerse myself in joy during the holiday season—not stress! And yet “joy” for me means hosting a lot of events and shepherding our family through lots of rituals. In order to make both things true, I’ve had to get into the habit of using systems to reduce holiday stress!

    Here’s a partial list of the kinds of things we have going on during the holidays:

    • We host a Halloween party.
    • We host an October Saturday Supper.
    • We host a Friendsgiving celebration.
    • We celebrate Matt’s birthday right around Thanksgiving.
    • We host a Fondue Fun party around Christmas.
    • We travel to see my family at Thanksgiving.
    • We travel to
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  • In the Kitchen

    A New Way to Do School Lunches

    new way to do school lunches

    We’ve been trying out a new way to do school lunches. For years, Matt or I would decide what to pack for the boys. The boys would get the same lunches as each other. When I was in the thick haze of launching an organization, the boys and I used to make all of their meals on Sunday.

    But our old system was making everyone feel pretty blah—myself included!

    So we decided to test out a new way to do school lunches.

    We started by making a list of several different options in several different categories:

    • Protein
    • Vegetable
    • Fruit
    • Carbohydrate
    • Dairy
    • Extra Snacks

    Every Friday morning, I ask the … Read More