Warning: Affiliate links appear in the following post. Although shopping our holiday gift guides won’t cost you any additional dollars, it might earn us a small commission on any purchases made using these links. We appreciate your support of our favorite brands. Happy Holidays! xo I know what you're thinking: why does every blogger have to share a copious number of gift guides leading up to the big day?! There are so many gift guides out there, but it seems that every guide I come across is for a demographic I don't understand, at a store I'm not familiar with, and for a price point I'm never going to be comfortable with. Can I get an amen? I thought I would put together a few guides over the next few weeks for categories of gifts that I love and at price points that normal people can ...
Coffee with Kristin 005
Because Starbucks is finally handing out our beloved red cups filled full to the brim with holiday flavor, grab your favorite drink and join me for coffee. Amber is still on hiatus, but Erin has our coffee dates going strong. If we were on a coffee date, I would tell you that I am thrilled for that holiday menu. I need to admit that I have never, ever tasted the highly touted Pumpkin Spiced Latte, but on Friday morning I ordered my first Peppermint Mocha of the season with the biggest smile on my face. No, it's not paleo and yes, I could have made it at home. Do I regret drinking it, in all of it's venti glory? No, I do not. It was delicious and full of unnecessary calories and approximately six dollars. I did see that you can buy the refrigerated version at the grocery store, but I ...
Little Letters | November
Dear Friends, Today is the day we write letters! I write letters to my husband and to my children, letters to inanimate objects and even letters to ideas. When all I have to say can be contained in a few of sentences, they show up on the blog in letter form. I used to write letters every week and although I'm not sure why I ever stopped, I miss them! I'll be sharing a letter-filled post with you here, on the second Friday of every month, and I'm hoping that YOU will write a few letters of your own. They can be serious or silly, heartbreaking or hilarious. You can share one letter or one hundred, just be sure to send us coffee in exchange. Dear Election Season, Good riddance. I do not mean to ignore your importance, but I need a break from the rhetoric. I'm tired of reading opinion ...
Thanksgiving Craft Time | Recipe Cards
Would it surprise you at all if I told you I found these photographs from last November that never made it onto the blog. No? Well, me either. The girls and I spent a wonderful fall afternoon baking cookies for our Thanksgiving guests and they were delicious! Baked goodies are always a big hit and we love adding sweet packaging and personal details to make them the perfect gift. Try sending these home with your holiday guests, having your kids take them as teacher treats, or handing them out to your mailman and garbage delivery guy. Everybody loves cookies, especially during the holiday season! You can grab the free printable recipe cards here. Just print them on white cardstock and trim along the edges for cards that will fit perfectly in your recipe box. Still looking for ...
Little Houses
Once we began packing up the Rock House, emptying rooms and stuffing boxes, I knew I wanted to have a family photo session at the house before we moved. I'm sure people thought that was silly and I'll admit that I did worry it would cause more tears than smiles, but I am so glad we did it. My sister met us over at the house on a Sunday morning, the day we handed over the keys. We walked through the empty rooms, laughing and crying, as we recounted our favorite memories from each space. Sophie, especially, was nervous about seeing it empty and asked for a photo in her old room that we could frame for her new room. We talked about the scratched floors being evidence of Beemer's life. We talked about where the cross came from that had been hanging over the arch for thirteen years. We talked ...
Halloween Recap
We've been in our new house for exactly one week and we've already celebrated our first holiday. How is that for exciting?! The girls and I made a big deal of taking photos on the front porch last Friday morning, since it would be our last round of marking holidays and events on those rock steps. We've joked that we're not sure where our place is at the new house just yet, but we tried a few spots for Halloween just to see how it felt. I'm guessing as we add our own personal touches to the porches and start unpacking our things, we'll start to naturally gravitate to a single spot. In case you missed it, Sophie dressed up like a unicorn this year and Ella went the simple route with this Taylor Swift idea. All I can say is that's it's a good idea we started on those costumes early, ...
What I Read in October
Warning: Affiliate links appear in the following post. Although shopping What I Read in October won’t cost you any additional dollars, it might mean that I download a few extra audio books this month. Your support of my reading habit is always appreciated! October was the busiest month I can remember in recent history and, somehow, I managed to read more books than in any other month this year. I'm not sure how that happened, except I spent so much time packing and running errands alone, that I blazed through three audiobooks this month. I read two nonfiction, self-help-ish books -- one for Bible study and another because, Whole30 -- and both of those read really quickly. Add to that, many evenings piled in bed with my people, plowing through the first installment of Harry Potter and we ...
Currently in November | Monthly Infographic
So, it's November. Since I spent most of October packing and preparing to move, it both flew by and dragged on in equal measure. I don't have much to show for the month other than a full storage pod and a new house, but we did manage to fill it full with wonderful memories in the process. Before we recap all that has happened over the last month (again), how about we quickly cover how we're already digging into November? discovering | Moving into my childhood home is bringing all sorts of discovery. I'm discovering that my parents could hear every stomp up the stairs, every late night giggle and every squeak of my bedroom floor. Josh and I are discovering what it's like to have two sinks in our bathroom, three bathrooms in our house (insert ALL the praise hands here), and twenty-six ...