Warning: Affiliate links appear in the following post. Although shopping the embedded links won’t cost you any additional dollars, it might contribute to an afternoon Starbucks run for me. Your support of my caffeine habit is always appreciated. It might still be September (for a few more hours, at least), but we are already in full fall mode at the Rock House and that means Halloween costumes! The girls were chatting about what they wanted to be on the way to school last week, so we decided to go ahead and decide on our costumes so we could share them with you a little early. I have to confess, Sophie was pretty peeved when Ella decided to be Taylor Swift and then I later vetoed a scary, blood-soaked vampire (what in the world?!), but all was right again in the world when we settled on ...
Collaboreads | A Banned Book
Tomorrow, Amber and Rachel will be hosting another round of Collaboreads and this month's prompt was to read a book that had been previously banned. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger was one of my favorite books from high school and college. I have multiple copies of the original paperback, acquired from one too many thrift store adventures, and this beautiful hardcover was a birthday gift from my favorite roommate during my freshman year of college (Hi, Ali!). When I was thinking about what book to choose for this month's link up, I briefly considered Harry Potter. I haven't ever read it before (I know) and I was planning to wait and read it with the girls over the holidays, but it might be en route with a scheduled delivery date of... TOMORROW. I looked at several lists of banned ...
What Ella Read | Part 2
Disclosure: Affiliate links appear in this post. Any purchases made using these links will earn Taz + Belly a small commission. You can read more about our affiliate relationships here. We got such a great response from last month's kid-friendly book review post, that we thought we'd make it a regular series. Aren't you excited?! In case you missed it, Ella (my ten year old daughter) thinks she'd like to start her own blog, so we're giving it a test run by letting her guest post here occasionally. I'd love to tell you that the book series will occur monthly, but it might be every other month, depending on the number of books she completes each month. Ella will be using the same Goodreads scale to rank her books each month. 1 star // she did not like it 2 star // she said it was ...
DIY Dream Catcher Party Craft
Less than a week before Ella's birthday party, she told me that she thought we needed a craft. Normally, I would have had a moment of sheer panic, but since the party was already geared to be super low-key, I felt sure we could pull it together in the nick of time. I took to Pinterest and searched through tons of "summer camp" themed crafts, but these Kid Made DIY Dream Catchers were my absolute favorite! via ArtBar Blog I started by digging through my own stash of craft supplies and (fortunately) had most of the items we needed on hand. The berry baskets were left over from a previous birthday party, I had plenty of random ribbons and trims, I bought discounted Christmas gift tags at Target last year that I knew would be perfect, I had plenty of washi tape thanks to Bible Journaling and ...
Blogtember | A Letter on Belief
To my sunshine girls, There are so many words in this world: competing voices and things you won't always understand, people who will contradict what you know and believe, letters written on pages that will hurt your feelings. From the time you are old enough to listen, people are giving their opinions. They are offering unsolicited advice and passing judgment on your choices. Don't listen to them. Believe in yourself. Believe in Jesus. Believe in each other. Believe the words your mama whispered in your ear. Believe the wild stories your daddy spun under sheets. Believe the Bible stories and worship songs that filled your home. Believe the encouragement and correction from your teachers. Believe the smiles and high-fives of your closest friends. There will be days when you don't feel ...
Planner Update: Create a Hybrid Bullet Journal
Today's Blogtember prompt was to share a product that we love and that simplifies our life. I thought long and hard about this one and even though it's not technically a "product," I couldn't resist sharing my planner with you today. I've gone through so many planner versions and have finally settled on one that works perfectly for me. Store-bought planners never have everything I need and as much as I love using a bullet journal, the inability to insert pages or rearrange things is a deal breaker for me. After months of using a mini binder, I wanted to share how I've created a hybrid bullet journal that meets all of my planner requirements! Warning: Affiliate links appear in the following post. Although shopping the embedded links won’t cost you any additional dollars, it might ...
Camp Ella Birthday Party Recap | Vlog
I knew today's Blogtember prompt was to share a vlog, so I had planned to take plenty of video from Ella's party for you. When I got to the barn that afternoon, I realized that my video camera didn't have a memory card inside, so I had to use my big girl camera for both video and photographs. It was hard toggling back and forth while trying to monitor the party and keep everyone happy, but I'm super happy with how it turned out. I've been saying for actual years that I was going to start sharing more video here and now that I finally know how to edit and make it all pretty, that might actually happen. How excited are you? No, really... HOW excited?! This was the most atypical birthday party that I've ever thrown and simultaneous the most fun. If you've been reading here for any amount ...
What I Read in August
Warning: Affiliate and sponsored links appear in the following post. Although shopping the embedded links 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! At the end of July, I was up to thirty books for the year. I'll admit to thinking I'd be way ahead at this point, but it's been slower going than I expected. Part of me thinks that having a goal has been more hindrance than help, but I'm determined to finish the year strong either way! After a pretty dismal July, I'm proud to say I have my reading mojo back. I might not have tackled ten books this month, but I'll consider these four a win. Josh worked so much this month and the kids have been exhausted from their return to ...