エピソード

  • Last week, we spent a week in Memphis, Tennessee, as a family while Andrew attended a conference. It was a great trip with lots of amazing moments and some really hard ones, too. In this week’s episode, I’m sharing the reflection process that I did after this trip so that we can take in all the data, evaluate the wins, what we loved, and what we would do to make things a little bit better next time.

    Some of the specific tips might be applicable to your family and travel situation, and some of them won’t, but either way, I hope that you will use this process after you have an adventure—big or small—with your family.

    It takes a lot of effort to pull off family adventures, and reflection is the essential step that allows us to do it again as we figure out what worked and what didn’t.

    Here are some things we reflected on that went well, didn’t go well, and what we would do differently next time:

    Mindset: This is a grand experiment, and I’m just here to collect data about what is going well and what’s not going well so we can make changes. If I go in with expectations other than these, my hopes will usually be dashed.

    Food: We stuck to our usual road trip staples on the way out (bagel sandwiches, fruits, veggies, something special - goldfish and veggie straws - and stopped for dinner at Chipotle). The rest of the trip was a little bit rocky. Hotel breakfast takes an hour, which means it is both an activity and a lot to manage, but that is just the new expectation. We packed lunches (sandwiches, fruits, and veggies) and grabbed dinner at a restaurant, but we were all just a little bit hungry. Next time we are going to be in a hotel for a long period of time, we think we’ll bring an Instapot so we can have more food that we are used to that is more filling.

    Quiet Time: I got some activities at the dollar store (coloring book, sticker book, playdough, standup) as an experiment to see if having a little novelty could get me a short nap in the middle of the day. It worked about 50% of the time, but the activities were a big hit and did get me about 20 minutes of rest. It also gave the kids something to do while we were waiting around in the morning for everyone to get ready with one bathroom. This was something that went well, and I would add more intentional effort into it next time because it was a budding success.

    Activities: I started by looking at the weather to get a general idea of what we were facing and saw some rainy days and clear days with generally cooler weather. My conclusion was we needed a mix of indoor and outdoor activities, leaning heavily on indoor options. We went to a few paid museums (National Civil Rights Museum, Cotton Museum, Flight Museum, and Children's Museum), and a few of those had groupons with huge discounts. We took advantage of local parks and found some awesome gems, and it also gave us outside time in spaces where the kids could just run and play and not be corrected by us. We also found things we would do things in our town anyway, like going to the public library.

    Took me off guard: I had zero moments without the kids. In the past, when the kids were little I would be awake an hour or two before them and work in the bathroom in the morning, but this trip, we went to bed together, woke up together, and spent every waking moment together (except for my 20 minutes of quiet time when they were one bed away). On the last night, Andrew took the kids after he finished working so I could go on a walk by myself (and then I found something fun and invited them to join me because it was too good not to share), but even that 15 minutes really rejuvenated me and is something we will be more strategic about next time we join Andrew on a work trip.

    Public Transportation was a huge hit: It saved a lot of hassle with parking. It was a fun activity that the kids enjoyed, and it helped them build some confidence in navigating a new place. We got a day pass for a few dollars each, so it was very economical.

    Include your kids in the entire process. Instead of adventures being all on mom's shoulders, use trips to build family unity and help the kids learn from and own the effort and the joy of adventures. My oldest created the packing list a few days before the trip. Everyone helped clean out the car, gather activities, shop and prepare food, and pack clothes. We might have gone a little slower, but it kept everyone doing the same thing, and there were fewer messes in other spaces around the house. When I started to get a little frazzled at the end of the trip packing things up to go home and everyone running around, I remembered I could ask the kids for help, and they did - with joy. Involving the children in the process of family adventures is something I want to get better at with future trips.

    Keep Similar Rhythms to What We Do At Home: Friday night was still pizza and movie night (with Papa Johns Pizza). At night, we had the same bedtime routine and morning routine. Every day, we came back to the hotel in the middle of the day for quiet time. We kept the basic anchors in our day and week so everyone knew what to expect and didn't start from scratch. We could have brought in a few more daily habits

  • When I shared 3 Thriving Thoughts for Hard Days a few weeks ago, we were not at the end of the unexpected and hard around here. The reality is that my capacity and desire for doing things and running the household are shrinking as my energy is being diverted toward the emotional and physical realities and reactions to our circumstances.

    I’ve also realized that my physical energy and health vary greatly every month, and I have some ongoing health challenges. I want to have a more realistic handle on what I’m committing to. When I created my vision at the beginning of the year, I had no clue what the first few months would throw at us, and I very excitedly jumped into lots of things, but now I’m finding myself stressed by these self-imposed expectations.

    As I was pondering this situation earlier this week, I had the inspiration (in my usual place, the shower) to write a Yes List. What is a Yes List, you ask?

    A yes list is a list of everything you’ve said yes to. Because I really don’t like not finishing things and seeing them through to the end, it was very helpful for me to put things on paper and look at them objectively. Then, I could sift through everything and simplify those “yeses” to the absolute essential. I used a Think and Process page in my Thriving in Motherhood Planner and carried it around with me during the day so I could add to it.

    Here are five areas from my Yes List that I’m currently simplifying:

    Books: I revisited my reading list and wrote down all the books I wanted to come back to in the future. For now, I’m focusing on reading this that builds my character and less on books that require me to take action.

    Gardening: Instead of an all-or-nothing approach, I’m simplifying our gardening activities and making progress without making it too complicated.

    Rooms: We are continuing our journey to simplify our living spaces, focusing on reducing clutter without getting too overwhelmed with perfection.

    Programs/Commitments: I evaluated all the programs I’m a part of and sorted through what is time-sensitive and what can wait. I’ve also re-evaluated my commitments, saying no to some things I had previously said yes to.

    Homeschooling: We are embracing our current homeschool and focusing on relationships over perfection. This approach fosters a deeper and more meaningful learning experience.

    In a nutshell, I’m on a quest to get really clear on what really matters RIGHT NOW and redirecting my energy and focus where it counts the most. Writing in my Thriving in Motherhood Journal every day is really helping me find the guidance I’m seeking.

  • エピソードを見逃しましたか?

    フィードを更新するにはここをクリックしてください。

  • If you’ve been stuck on Exploring on the 5 Step Path from Surviving to Thriving, this week’s episode is for you! Monica Packer shares how a Do Something List can be a powerful tool for exploring and discovering who you are and what you love. It’s a practical push to find fulfillment in your everyday life. It is separate from a goals or resolutions list. It’s more about exploration than competition.

    Monica is also no stranger to struggles and survival seasons and you will hear how she has learned to navigate those seasons a little more gracefully and find peace with things looking differently when life gets hard.

    For Monica, the biggest lesson from the Do Something List is that the transformation lies in the process, not the outcome. It’s not completing the list that brings fulfillment. It’s in the trying that you rediscover who you are, be more of yourself, and experience the trickle-down effect that comes from that.

    Monica’s Tips for a Do Something List

    Pick a timeframe that this list applies to (for example, the whole year or a season).

    Start with a lot of reflection on different parts of yourself that you want to bring back and things you want to try or are curious about.

    Finalize the list based on the things that are right for the season - not paying prices that are too high for the season you are in.

    It is a push to find time, but not to break you.

    Start small and in doable ways so you can gently stretch this part of yourself.

    You can take things off or add things to the list.

    Start with the funnest thing on your list that also seems doable or something that fits into what you are already doing (like trying new recipes).

    You don’t need to complete your list! Monica never has in the last 8 years.

    You can get a step-by-step through and more ideas in this week’s episode and dive deeper with Monica at: https://www.workinprogressacademy.co/dsl

  • We’ve had an intense few months over at our house, and it has taken its toll. But the wonderful thing is that with breakdowns come breakthroughs. Today, I’m sharing three new Thriving Thoughts (what I call the new way of thinking I like to hold onto) I’ve had that are helping me in this season.

    Whether these thoughts resonate with you or not, I hope that when you are struggling, you will follow this pattern that allows you to find more empowering and helpful thoughts.

    Pattern for Creating Thriving Thoughts:

    Notice when you are feeling negative emotions and uncover the thoughts you are thinking. This takes practice and may take some pondering.

    Write down the unhelpful thought

    Pray for a paradigm shift - how can you look at this situation differently? What is another way to think about it? For me, prayer is essential because only God truly understands my brain and how it would be helpful for me to approach my own struggles

    Ponder better ways of thinking. Write down the new thriving thoughts.

    Here are three new Thriving Thoughts that have come from this season:

    Focus on who God is and what He can do instead of my circumstances.

    I was caught in a loop of repeating our challenging circumstances. I noticed when reading scriptures that there are two groups of people: those who focus on the circumstances and those who focus on who God is and what God can do. (Moses and the Israelites are a great example of this). I’m now working on repeating who God is and what God can do - looking up instead of getting caught in the struggle.

    I don’t have to feel good too…

    One of the struggles I have about not feeling good physically or mentally is that it’s hard to be the mom I want to be. To be lighthearted, gentle, and patient is such a challenge when carrying stress, pain, and exhaustion (can you relate?) Then I feel guilty for not being those things and kind of mad that I’m dealing with pain, stress, and exhaustion (brains are fun). No, I’m even grumpier. But one day during this cycle, I had a wonderful Thriving Thought pop into my mind (inspiration, I’m sure): “I don’t have to feel good to smile.” And then I realized that applied to pretty much anything. I don’t have to feel good to be patient, lighthearted, make dinner, play a game - add your own. This was incredibly empowering. It would be easier if I felt good, but I don’t have to feel good to make the choice to behave the way I want to behave.

    I can do one small thing that will make a difference today.

    I find it incredibly easy to get overwhelmed when we are in hard seasons. Energy and time allotment for regular tasks get taken up by different things. The house gets out of hand, and I don’t have loads of capacity to deal with it. Multiply this by a few days or weeks, and running away can seem like a good idea. But you know what? One small thing makes a HUGE difference. I sat down with my daughter and sorted through a pile of papers and cleared a shelf and we both felt on top of the world. And it gets some momentum going in the right direction. And then I can do it again tomorrow. A five-minute effort multiples over days, and you can absolutely see progress.

    What Thriving Thoughts carry you through hard seasons?

  • If decorating your home feels overwhelming and you don’t know where to start, this conversation with Myquillyn Smith will bring clarity and hope. We discuss house rules (and how to break them), how to fix things when they don’t look right, how to decorate on a budget, and how to figure out what your next step is when it comes to creating a home that you love being in and feels good.

    I have personally read and implemented what Myquillyn has taught in her books and community since 2018, and I’m so grateful to be able to introduce you to some whom I’ve learned a lot from when it comes to creating rooms in my home that I truly love.

    One of the decorating principles that has made the biggest difference in my home is Myquillyn’s decorating trinity.

    The Homey Trinity: Rugs, Drapes, and Lighting

    As someone who doesn’t love a lot of trinkets to care of, understanding the impact of these three items has set me free and allowed me to to confidently create spaces I love to be in. If you are just getting started putting rooms together, an invaluable resource - and where I first learned about the power of rugs, drapes, and lighting is in Myquillyn’s book Cozy Minimalist Home.

    A confident decorator is someone who, when the room doesn’t look right, knows what to do. No one is born knowing that. You learn from mentors, from trial and error, and by asking lots of questions. Decorating can be scary because other people see it. But your home should be your safe place to try things out.

    Decorating is low stakes and is a great place to take a risk and learn from your attempts. It is a great thing to teach your kids that some risks are high stakes, some are low stakes, and decorating falls into the low-stakes and fun category. A fabulous starting space for learning what doesn’t look right and why is Myquillyn Smith’s fourth book, House Rules.

  • I’ve been meal planning for years in pretty much the same way. I’ve put my process into seven steps for today’s episode.

    As my 6-year-old said when she sat next to me while I edited this episode, “Mom, just because it works for you doesn’t mean it will work for anyone else.” She’s 100% right.

    But I hope that seeing my exact process will give you some inspiration and a starting place to figure out a meal planning system that works for you.

    My 7-Step Weekly Meal Planning System:

    Determine what stores you shop for groceries at. What is the schedule for ads?

    Look at the weekly ads. What is on sale that you can use in your meal plan?

    If you have themed nights, pick that first (e.g., Pizza nights on Friday)

    Look at your calendar and figure out what meals need to be fast/simple. What needs to be prepped ahead in a crockpot or Instapot? What nights do you have to cook more (maybe a bulk recipe to have leftovers for lunch)?

    Fill in with your favorites. I pick maybe one or two new recipes each week, but no more than that. Have favorite sources where you go to look for new recipes. I use Faithful Plateful’s website and cookbooks the most frequently. I use Mealboard to collect recipes we like.

    Currently, I’m creating a meal binder that has our favorites broken down into different categories: quick and easy breakfast, lunch, dinner, road trip food, and having people over for dinner. Then, topical rotations based on ingredients: lentil meals, quinoa meals, beans, tofu, etc. (Once I have this finished, I’ll give access to it to members of my Simplify to Soar Club)

    Keep track of my meals in the Thriving in Motherhood Planner for the week. Sometimes, I treat it like a list of seven meals that we have ingredients for, and then I pick what sounds best each night. But at this point, I’ve gotten pretty good at figuring out what type of day we are going to have and sticking to what I wrote.

  • I’ve started this year by reading a lot from many different genres and areas of interest. Today, I’m sharing six of the books I read in January and my takeaways from each.

    How To Grow Your Small Business

    Awaking Wonder

    Hidden Potential

    Habits of the Household

    The Psychology of Money

    The Penderwicks on Gram Street

  • I’ve had three challenging pregnancies with other kids at home. I was very intentional with the time in between pregnancies to prepare for the next one, figuring it would also be a challenge.

    Today, I’m covering what I did, what worked, what didn’t, and tips to help you figure out where to put your time and energy. These are the same tips I’d give you even if you aren’t planning another pregnancy but in a season where things are going well. You can put your efforts to use in a challenging pregnancy or enjoy the increased capacity in other pursuits.

    1 - Establish Strong Anchors In Your Day

    Begin and end your day with consistency. Having set routines for mornings, quiet time, and bedtime creates a predictable routine for everyone.

    2 - Create Family Systems

    During non-pregnancy times, set up family systems. While they may not always run smoothly when you’re feeling sick during pregnancy, having these systems in place allows for a quicker return to order when you’re feeling better.

    In My Made to Soar: Next 90 Days program, I delve deeper into this process but basically you identify one small problem, set up the environment to make it easy to do the thing you want to do, walk through the process yourself, and then teach your family how to do it and give everyone a role.

    3 - Food

    At first I cooked freezer meals and snacks ahead of time, thinking we could rely on those during morning sickness, but I never got the timing right. It always took longer than I hoped to get pregnant and that food would not be great by the time we needed it. I started creating meal plans with lots of different recipes in it for variety knowing I would probably only eat them once and then not want them again. What I discovered was we really just ate basic, simple meals during that time. Stock up on paper products to reduce the amount of dishes you need to do.

    4 - Toys

    I put all the toys away and just leave one or two favorites. I wish this was to keep the house cleaner, but I found that my cleaning up ideals were quickly dashed when I was so sick. But it did create options to pull out something “new” to occupy my young kids with.

    5 - Activities

    For homeschool, I’ve set up a daily rotation of activities for my younger kids and I think this could be an interesting option to carry through a pregnancy as well - as long as they are easy enough that you’re not too sick to manage it.

    6 - Reduce Screen Time to Almost Nothing

    This way everyone will be ready to enjoy it when you need it most. Come up with a curated collection of things that you are okay with everyone watching. We’ve always relied heavily on Sound of Music to get us through this season.

    7 - Develop Audio Book Listening Skills

    Listen to the guide I share in this video

    8 - Physical Health

    Invest in your physical well-being, starting with a foundation of good nutrition and regular exercise. I’ve always liked incorporating bar workouts for strength so I could build up muscle before the sickness begins.

    9 - Read When Mommies Get Sick With Your Kids

    This book helps show your kids how to make the most of it when their mother experiences illness or injury and can be helpful to prepare your kids for what’s to come.

    10 - Create Comfortable Places for Sickness

    Prepare a designated space for yourself and your children to rest during times of illness. In our case, an Ikea couch that transforms into a queen-sized bed provided a convenient gathering spot.

    11 - Focus on Mental Preparation

    This made the biggest difference. I went to therapy in between pregnancy three and four specifically with the goal to prepare and train for another pregnancy because I didn’t handle the third one all that well. Learning about cognitive distortions, specifically “should” statements, started to set my mind free from how things were “supposed to be” vs. what reality looked like.

    I also created the Thriving in Motherhood Journal with Megan Dilworth and Pheobe Cook with the intention of using it to keep my mind going down helpful paths after doing so much research to learn where I went wrong and focus on who I want to be instead of what I want to do.

    For more on this, you can watch the Soaring Mother’s Summit season: Thriving in a Difficult Preganancy with Jayne Anne Osborne. We have other pregnancy-related sessions in there as well.

  • Our family has been using audiobooks for years and they have become an integral part of our routines. Today, I’m sharing why we love listening to audiobooks in our home, how we listen, how to develop the skill of listening to audiobooks, and our favorite audiobooks to listen to by age.

    Why Audiobooks?

    Audiobooks have been our trusty companions for years, adding a touch of magic to our quiet time and car rides. Here’s why we love them:

    A daily break for me.

    Empowers the kids to explore incredible stories independently.

    Encourages my kids to work on projects longer because they can listen while they work (or clean!).

    Introduces challenging books in an accessible way, fostering an excitement to read the actual book.

    How We Listen:

    Our audiobook journey started with a CD player from Goodwill. We burned CDs with our favorite MP3s or borrowed them from the library. Over time, we upgraded to basic Kindles snagged on a Black Friday deal. With a passcode in place, the kids can only use it to enjoy audiobooks. We use the Libby and Hoopla apps for library access, making audiobooks an affordable choice.

    Developing the Skill:

    We started with audiobooks during my pregnancy with our third child. Sick on the couch with a three and a one year old, we used the CD player to listen to stories while the kids played with playdoh or did quiet activities near me. This started to train the skill with me in the room.

    Once the kids stopped napping, we rebranded the time to “Rest and Read Time.” Since none of our kids were actually able to read yet, we started with audiobooks.

    Road trips and errands turned into shared listening sessions, which got the younger kids excited about audiobooks.

    Our Favorite Picks By Age:

    Ages 3-5 - Start with story telling adventures with music.

    Alexander’s Amazing Adventures

    Focus on the Family: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

    Scripture Scouts

    Ages 4-6

    Mr. Poppers Penguin

    Little House in the Big Woods

    Little House on the Prairie

    Little House on the Banks of Plum Creek

    Winnie the Pooh

    Stuart Little

    Trumpet of the Swan

    Magic Tree House

    Boxcar Children

    Chronicals of Narnia

    All of a Kind Family

    A to Z Mysteries

    Calendar Mysteries

    Fairy Tales: Jim Weiss Collection

    7-10 - Classics start

    Little Women

    Little Men

    The Penderwicks

    The Secret Garden

    5 Little Peppers and How They Grew

    My Side of the Mountain

    The Far Side of the Mountain

    The Moffats Series

    Pinky Pie Series

    The Shakespseare Stealer

    The Birchbark House

    Story of the World

    Anne of Green Gables

    Harry Potter 1-3

  • This is my seventh year creating a vision for my year. It is always a new experience, and I’m amazed at what comes out of this exercise. In today’s episode, I’m sharing what I’ve learned in 2023 and what I’m focusing on, changing, and working toward in 2024.

    Here are a few areas from my 2024 vision:

    Investing More Into What’s Working:

    Road trips

    Family adventures (beach, historical sites, new experience)

    Vegetable gardening

    Having friends over for dinner

    Hiking and time outdoors

    Relationships with our siblings and parents

    Projects:

    Rock climbing wall

    Write and publish a book

    Plant fruit trees and berries

    Start a medicinal and culinary herb garden

    Fix our fence

    Back to Basics

    Home management and our weekly rhythm

    Taking care of myself

    My relationship with God

    Every year what my vision works like is a surprise. It is unique and fits for the season I am in. I continue to share what my vision looks like as an inspiration for you to see that there is no wrong way to create one. I don’t try to stick to a specific formula. I try to include God in the process and just see where I am for my learning and growth.

    If self care and creating good habits are part of your vision for 2024, Mom Matters Too is the place for you. Learn more HERE.

    And if you need help creating your vision, check out my Create Your Vision Mini-Course.

  • When it comes to goal setting, moms need different strategies in different seasons of motherhood. In this week’s video, I’ll be sharing what works in setting goals for the pregnancy and baby phase, when you have children under six, when you have school-aged kids and a full schedule, and when your children leave home.

    There are also principles that apply to all of us, no matter what stage we are in.

    Tips for Goal Planning in Every Season of Motherhood:

    Survival Seasons (pregnancy, postpartum, baby stage): Create goals around who you want to BE. There is plenty you are learning how to do in this phase of motherhood.

    When You Have Children 6 and Under: This is an exploring phase to figure out what type of motherhood you want to create and what you like to do. Do projects, try new things, and start something that scares you. Keep two lists - things you can do when your kids are sleeping and things you can do when they are awake.

    When You Have School-Aged Children: When schedules are full, and you feel like there isn’t room to add more, ask yourself, “Where do I want to see progress in my life this year?” and be intentional about improving and going deeper on what you’ve already committed to. This progress will create excitement and energy.

    Empty Nesters: This phase can feel a lot like becoming a new mom - disorienting if you don’t know how to fill your days. This is a good time to set goals to explore and figure out what matters to you or do things you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t gotten to you.

    It’s important to remember that as a mom, goals can include things you do with your kids, too.

    For a long time, I thought that for a goal to count, it had to be something I did away from my kids during alone time. So not true!

    I love to have a whole list of things I can work on when my kids are with me. Some things are more mindless activities that I can do next to them while they play, like wood carving or crocheting. Others are things we can work on together, like growing a garden.

    As you are figuring out your goals this year, make sure at least one thing can be done with your children. It’s good for everyone to see mom working on goals!

    If you’re ready to achieve your goals, tune in, grab a pen, take some notes, and get excited about the progress you’ll make in 2024!

  • At the start of this new year, I realized I needed to make some changes to how I’m using my phone. In this week’s episode, I’m outlining the problems I was having with technology and how it impacted my daily life, the parameters I’ve set for myself with my phone, and how I’ve set myself up for success.

    5 Reasons to Reduce Phone Usage:

    Often, when things are out of balance, or we’re not in our usual routines and rhythms, it’s easy to fill the lack of structure and numb our feelings with screen time. This just makes things worse.

    I find that when I have things I want to do on my phone - whether it’s an audiobook, podcast, course, project, etc. - then it is easy for me to come up with lots of excuses for the kids to keep playing, not involve them in helping out around the house, or for me to step away and finding ways to spend less time with them. These are great resources, but I want a break from the pull to step away.

    When I did my yearly review, I was surprised by the stories I was telling myself vs. reality. I was shocked at how much we did with family experiences and relationship-building with our family and people close to home. I want to be more aware and let reality count.

    I’ve been on my devices a lot more the last quarter with business and Christmas prep, which then turns to wasting time because our phones are masters at rabbit holes. I’ve gone down great rabbit holes I’ve learned a lot from, BUT it was still many hours on a screen and disengaged. I want to course correct and be more engaged at home.

    I want to give more attention to intentional rhythms with my younger kids specifically, which means firmer boundaries around screens for all of us.

    How I Set My Phone Up To Be…Just a Phone!

    I deleted all the apps off the home screen on my phone except for phone, text, calendar, and camera.

    I deleted and disabled Google Discover and Search, so I have zero ability to check email or look things up.

    I put my phone in greyscale mode. It looks horrible and makes it very unappealing to use for much besides phone calls.

    I got a flashlight to replace using my phone as a flashlight at night and in the early morning hours. I can’t get sidetracked with it if it isn't in my hand.

    I got a pocket-sized notebook to carry around with a pen. I’ve replaced grabbing my phone with grabbing a notebook to write down a note or to-do item.

  • One of the skills in the structure pillar of the Three Pillars of Thriving is automation - making a decision once and having it happen over and over again. We can apply this principle to our weekly schedule.

    When we sit down and create a template of when we do things every day throughout the week, we can refer back to it with many decisions already made.

    Every quarter, I like to sketch out our current weekly rhythm or schedule. For years, I’ve done this on a piece of paper, but now we’ve added a two-page spread every quarter into the Thriving in Motherhood Planner for easy reference!

    In this week’s video, I’m going to walk through my process for setting up our weekly schedule. This exercise is called an “Ideal Week” - which I really struggled with as a stay-at-home mom with lots of young children. It seemed like there was nothing ideal in my life, starting with the lack of sleep! I’ve adapted the concept in an empowering way for me as a mom, and it doesn’t require me to have it all figured out yet.

    How To Set Up Your Weekly Schedule

    Step 1: Write down your anchors. For me that’s our three meals during the day and quiet time. These happen no matter what.

    Step 2: Write down what’s on the schedule. Church activities, music lessons, sports practices, library story time - what are your recurring appointments for the next few months?

    Step 3: Write down your essentials (there can’t be a lot of them) for you and your family. Pair these essentials with an anchor. For us, that is scripture study at breakfast and my morning routine before everyone wakes up.

    Step 4: Write down what your days currently look like. Write down things as they are (in pencil). This isn’t supposed to be ideal but reality.

    Step 5: What is working well? What isn’t working? Use this to make 1-2 tweaks that involve your kids and another 1-2 that involve you.

    Step 6: Write down the essential things in the “puzzle pieces” section you want to have happen every night, but maybe not at the same time. For me, this is a time to record a podcast episode, have a date night, or have someone over for dinner.

    This is something that is going to develop over a period of YEARS, but making a few tweaks every quarter adds up to big things! I started with just figuring out what our mornings look like with young kids. Each day had a different activity: library, grocery shopping, nature walk in the woods, meeting friends at the park, and home projects.

    As we started homeschooling, we built morning routines to get to everyone’s schoolwork. We made bedtime routines for the kids to get the next element figured out. Then, I focused on developing a good morning routine for myself and the kids (the 6 am - 9 am window). This included getting the kitchen cleaned up after breakfast as well as getting us ready for the day.

    We then added some structure to our afternoon hours, getting dinner ready ahead of time and resetting the house. Finally, I added some structure to the household management and cleaning and assigned certain tasks to certain days. Now, I’m working on creating a bedtime routine that gets me set up and even ahead for the next day.

  • In this week’s episode, I’m sharing the #1 thing moms need to do for 2024 - and I can’t think of any exceptions. In my 10.5 years of motherhood, this is the thing that has helped me in EVERY season, from hard pregnancies where days creep by to full schedules with lots going on in life and business.

    Every mom needs to create a vision for the year.

    There are an almost endless number of paths each day, but with your vision as a guide, you can walk in one direction and get to a destination you want to end up at. You can go to bed confident with how you spent your time and energy and wake up excited for the day ahead.

    Here are three steps to start creating your vision for 2024:

    Start a technology fast. Determine what you will and won’t do for the next 14-30 days. The goal is not to have outside influences present - even good ones! This will help you get mental clarity about what matters to you in this season of life. Make it so the only factors in your life are your own thoughts, your spouse and children, and inspiration from God.

    Reflect on 2023. What went well? What didn’t go well? What did you learn? What are you most proud of? What do you regret?

    Create your Vision for 2024. What do you want to do or experience? What projects do you want to work on? What habits do you want to develop? Who do you want to become? What household routines do you want to put in place? What matters for your family this year?

    As you begin to create your vision, remember this important principle: you have to go slow to go fast.

    This was a principle I learned as I recovered in the post-partum periods that if I wanted to get back to normal life as quickly as possible, I needed to do as little as possible to let myself heal.

    When it comes to productivity, we need to slow way down and create space in our lives to think, dream, prioritize, and plan so that we are ready to hit the ground running in the RIGHT direction. The direction that matters to YOU.

    If you want to learn more about creating a vision for your year, check out my Create Your Vision Mini Course.

    Inside, you’ll discover:

    The steps to create your vision for the year

    The secret to making goals you are excited to accomplish

    How to eliminate stressing about time management and productivity - permanently!

    How to see the good you are already doing in your life to build momentum towards creating what’s next for you

    You get IMMEDIATE access to the Create Your Vision Course when you purchase a Thriving in Motherhood Planner, or you can get the course on its own for just $15.

    If you’re feeling overwhelmed, bored, lost, or crazed by motherhood's demands, creating your vision will make all the difference. It has a compounding effect that will allow you to create a unique life that is better than you could have imagined.



  • I have spent a lot of time inside with young kids who have loads of energy (even though we get out as much as we can). We’ve been in tiny grad student apartments and smaller houses without clear places to physically move their bodies for all 10.5 years of motherhood.

    As we get into winter, I start to feel a sense of panic about what we will do for months with shorter daylight hours, colder temperatures, and lots of need to move our bodies.

    In this week’s episode, I’m sharing how we’ve set up our home (even when we lived in tiny apartments) so the kids have places to play hard inside, as well as activities I have to direct the energy when needed.

    Setting Up Inside So Kids Can Play In The Winter:

    Create a few intentional places for big movement. Even in our small apartment, we had a picker triangle and a small trampoline. We’ve added a pull-up bar in a doorway.

    Have self-directed activities like yoga or calisthenics cards and teach your kids how to use them.

    Have a list of activities you can refer to when things are going crazy (usually afternoons in our house).

    Here are a few of our favorite activities from my list:

    Tape pennies on shoes for tap shoes

    Skate on the floor with socks - bonus with wash clothes and Force of Nature for a mopping party.

    Have an indoor snowball fight with rolled-up socks or indoor snowballs.

    Wheelbarrow walk - hold your child’s legs and have them walk around on their hands.

    Get my personal likes of 25 activities HERE.

    I don’t want to entertain my kids - I want to set up an environment where there are a lot of options for movement. Having these things in place allows us to stay active in the winter months and keep my kids happy and busy.

    I’d love to hear your best inside activities with kids!

  • If you had told me ten years ago that I could be a full-time stay-at-home mom, living 30 hours away from our family, homeschooling my four children, and running a business in small pockets of time, I wouldn’t have believed you.

    In those early years, the days ran together in one big blur, our cinder block student housing had stuff strewn around the floor, and I felt horribly guilty if I put my baby down, let alone did something I was interested in.

    In this week’s video, I’m sharing my brand new 5-step PEACE Method Planning system for your week that has transformed my life from surviving the days to waking up excited.

    Many other productivity strategies work when you have uninterrupted blocks of time, but that is rarely the reality as a stay-at-home mom. This method is different because it takes thos interruptions into account and allows you to create a schedule that works.

    5-Step PEACE Method Planning System:

    P: Purpose - what matters most to you?

    E: Energy - review the previous week for wins to build momentum and energy.

    A: Appointments - Write scheduled items on the calendar.

    C: Choose 3 - write down your big 3 for the week.

    E: Everything else - Write other “have to-dos” in context-based to-do lists for the week.

    This method is easy to start doing and doesn’t need to be implemented all at once. Even doing one thing will increase your peace and confidence in how you use your time.

    You are building a foundation here that will be an upward cycle, and who knows what you will create!

    Let me know which one of these five steps you’re already doing well and which ONE you are going to try this week.



  • How do you feel about chore charts? I like the idea of them, and I don’t mind creating them, but when it comes to having a marker or stickers handy to actually fill them out, we drop the ball pretty much every time.

    This week, I’m sharing a new discovery I made that is simplifying our family cleaning routine: chore boards. This completely self-contained system allows me to clearly communicate each and every step that needs to be completed in a job, like cleaning the bathroom.

    In business, there is a crucial principle of writing standard operating procedures so that someone besides you can do a task and you can scale over time as you systemize.

    It’s the same in our families.

    As my kids are getting a little bit older, I’m ready to delegate a bit more to them in things that it takes to run our household smoothly. We have lots of great habits in place (they all have jobs to keep the kitchen clean, they know their personal habits, and they each have a zone they know they have to pick up), but I need to have a better system to offload regular dusting, vacuuming, and bathroom cleaning.

    I was thinking of making chore lanyards for them, and while doing some online research, I stumbled across something even better: chore boards.

    I got so excited I purchased 10 of them so I could write the process for cleaning a bathroom, deep cleaning the family living space, as well as personal daily habits and weekly chores.

    Now I can give a child a job and a board with a clear step-by-step plan to execute it and then have a clear checklist to inspect it with. Expectations communicated!

  • Every month, I write down the books I read or listened to. Today, I’m sharing my 12 favorites that I read this year from a wide variety of topics and subjects.

    Reading lots of books has allowed me to actively learn while being a stay-at-home mom. When designing a planner for my needs, keeping track of the books I read or listened to each month was an essential piece.

    Why? Two reasons: it helped me to read more because I wanted to be able to write things down AND to remember all that I’ve read, learned, and enjoyed. A Books Read section is still in the official Thriving in Motherhood Planner in the monthly review.

    You can get your 2024 planner today and have it arrive by Christmas!

    Here are my 12 favorite books of 2023:

    How to Break up with your phone: https://amzn.to/3sDNw8J

    The Coddling of the American Mind: https://amzn.to/49L62g8

    What Happened to You?: https://amzn.to/3unnc3b

    Habits of a Household: https://amzn.to/3GchGmo

    Love Life and See Good Days: https://amzn.to/3sy10Tv

    Grace Where you Are: https://amzn.to/47Dwcj1

    Good Inside: https://amzn.to/3uo8bOu

    The Richest Man in Babylon: https://amzn.to/49BzWDk

    My Side of the Mountain: https://amzn.to/3SPyXJR

    On the Far Side of the Mountain: https://amzn.to/47m0zKX

    The Anatomy of Peace: https://amzn.to/49InIZA

    The Outward Mindset: https://amzn.to/3MRUxK5

    I’d love to know your best book recommendations from this year to add to my 2024 reading list!

  • In this week’s video, I’ll take you on a virtual tour of our homeschooling setup for this year. As a homeschooling mom of Kindergarten, 2nd grade, and 4th grade kids, I’ve tested a variety of resources and materials over the years.

    So, if you’re a fellow homeschooling parent looking for inspiration, you’re in the right place! We’ve made a few tweaks to how we are doing school this year. Now that I have three school-aged kids, we are shifting to more of a family school focus with a few individual subjects, instead of primarily individual studies.

    Here is what we are focusing on this year:

    Family Subject Resources

    Science: Science in the Beginning

    Picture Study

    Addition Facts That Stick

    Subtraction Facts that Stick

    Language Study

    History - Story of the World

    Picture books from the library on a variety of subjects

    Individual Study

    Busy town Eye Found It Game

    Spot It

    All About Reading

    Rightstart Math

    Minimalist Math Curriculum Research Parent/ Right start

    Hoffman Academy (Get 10% off with code LEARN)

    Good and the Beautiful books/reading for 4th grade

    The Great Illustrated Classics

    Organizational Resources

    Backpacks with pencil and planner

    Hooks for backpacks

    Notebooking pencils

    Pencil sharpener

    Kids watches

    How to stitch a notebook

    I’m often asked what the secret is to being consistent with homeschooling. I’ve found that consistency in homeschooling is easier to achieve when you have a reset space that makes it easy to do the thing you want to do.

    I want to do all the things in our homeschooling day - math, science, history, music practice, nature study, language study, etc. - so I often would pick just doing one more thing instead of cleaning up.

    What I’ve discovered this semester is that if we just do a little less each day and leave time and energy to reset the space, it is SO MUCH EASIER to get into schoolwork the next day. So instead of doing lots of school a few days a week and getting frustrated and burned out by the amount of effort it took to keep going, we do a more measured amount each day and leave time to reset for tomorrow. It has made all the difference in our consistency.



  • Have you ever felt like it’s too late to be the mom you hope to be and you’ll be a good grandma instead? In this week’s video, Stephanie Stutznegger shares how she has radically changed her life in the last year as she got clear with her vision, took lots of baby steps, and celebrated each month in the Thriving in Motherhood Planner and Soaring Mothers Society.

    Stephanie lives in Northern California with her husband, Jeff, and their four kids. They love being outside together and doing woodworking projects. They have a backyard full of chickens, ducks, a beehive, a newly finished treehouse, and a suspension bridge over their creek, connecting them to her brother and sister-in-law’s house.

    Stephanie loves being a wife and mother, and she’s grateful to be part of the Thriving in Motherhood community. Stephanie’s favorite type of day is dishes piled high from cooking three meals, children laughing in the backyard, the doors and windows open, and fresh cookies in the oven.

    Last fall, Stephanie shared that she was feeling discouraged and like she had missed her opportunity to be the mom she wanted to be. As she watched two of her children play in the backyard, absolutely overwhelmed by the spaces inside and outside her home, she decided if she couldn’t be the mom she wanted, she would be a good grandma.

    Stephanie began thinking about what makes a good grandma’s house: curated rooms of meaningful, special things, favorite blankets, and books to read to make it cozy, and good smells from food baking.

    She realized that she didn’t have to wait to be a grandma to give her family this life now, and a fire lit that carried her through a year of massive decluttering and baby steps, including building family systems to support their goals.

    It’s easy to get caught up comparing our houses to the best of what we see online or the “right way” to declutter, organize, or decorate our homes. But as Stephanie worked through the spaces in her home, she carried the mantra, “Think like a grandma,” and let her home become its own unique space with the goal to make space for relationships.

    She changed her thinking from what her space should be to what it could be.

    Stephanie shows up at our monthly Soaring Mother Society meetings with progress and renewed momentum to keep going as she continues to take action in making her vision for her life a reality.

    This week’s conversation includes so many amazing stories and learning moments in Stephanie’s life - from her oldest child speaking late and going on a 10-year learning journey of working on speech to lessons learned in raising chickens to her specialties of budgeting and making chocolate chip cookies.

    It’s a refreshing chat with a mom going through the realities of everyday mom life, too!