+J.M.J.+ Our family has made two major moves in the last three years. We went from Ohio to Nebraska, and then Nebraska to our now permanent home in South Dakota. I was asked what it has been like making friends - it seems like the older you get the harder it can be to meet [...]
I have long wanted to make family photo albums - not fancy scrapbooks with all sort of fun stickers and notations - just plain old photo albums. My parents used to develop all of the film from the family camera once a year and do a massive sorting of the photos, putting them into albums [...]
+J.M.J.+ I am all for less-is-more with gifts. I'd rather find one or two quality items or experiences that actually bring joy or function to the recipient, rather than buying a bunch of random junk so there is "stuff" to unwrap. With inflation and instability rampant right now, remember that "things" may not be what [...]
+J.M.J.+ How to handle taking children to Holy Mass is often a challenge for parents to navigate, as well as a polarizing topic amongst Catholics. Obligatory disclaimer: I am not writing this judging other parents and how they handle their children at Mass, or trying to say this is the best way to handle taking [...]
+J.M.J.+ There is a lot of information out there on how to prepare for birth (and I have a whole post about how I prep here!), but I feel like a huge aspect of getting ready to welcome a baby is getting ready for the incredibly beautiful and simultaneously challenging postpartum period. Here are the [...]
+J.M.J.+ A year and a half ago, Ethan and I got rid of over half of our stuff, and we have never looked back. This is the story of our family reclaiming our home, and at the end a list of action steps if you need help starting a similar process. So. Much. Stuff. Despite [...]
+J.M.J.+My former-school-teacher-husband has been wanting for us to choose an official curriculum for this fall, and Philomena has had such eagerness to get to work after so enjoying preschool. In this post about preschool from last year, I shared what books we used, as well my thoughts on play being the most important work she [...]
+J.M.J.+Laundry is a chore I actually don't dread. The following routine is how I have eliminated endless piles of dirty or clean laundry around my home for the last couple years.This system may or may not work for you, but I hope you find at least a couple tips or ideas to help you with [...]
+J.M.J.+Last week I shared my best tips for traveling with kids in this post here, and today I wanted to share how we plan little weekend getaways on a small budget. Consider the Location We tend to make trips in a 2 - 3.5 hour range away for weekends. This is close enough that Ethan [...]
+J.M.J.+ We talked all about breakfast in this last post found here - let's move on to lunch! A lot of people like to make enough of dinner for lunch the following day, but I would rather come up with simple lunches I can throw together and save those precious dinner leftovers for another night [...]
The Natural Catholic Mom 