7 Ways to be Generous This Season

By Natalie

This Christmas season we’re teaching Felicity what generosity is all about. Though receiving Christmas presents is exciting we want her to know what it feels like to give as well. We want her to understand that we have been provided for and in turn we are a family who helps those in need. I’ve been researching charities and looking for more specific places to donate our gently used items to rather than taking them all to Goodwill and I wanted to share my findings with my fellow Charlotte readers. (more…)


Fall Sensory Bin

By Natalie

This is a little late to the season but here you have it. Felicity and I put together this fall sensory bin at the beginning of October. Full of both Halloween and fall items. I love a good sensory bin for my busy girl. She’s tactile and a problem solver so she loves having a new set of goodies to discover. It’s versatile fun! This kept her busy when she lost interest in making dog treats with me toward the end of baking. (more…)

Camping with a Toddler

By Natalie

On our way home from our first camping trip with Felicity Brandon said, “Well it was worth a try. If we’d never tried it we would have never known.”

Alot of friends said that we were brave for taking a toddler camping. I’m not sure it was brave per say. Maybe spontaneous is a better word. Going into it I thought that the worst case would be we didn’t sleep well and it’d be a disaster. It wasn’t a disaster, but we also didn’t sleep well which will always put a damper on things. With a brand new family tent and new camping chairs including a chair sized for Lici we had big hopes that our little outdoorsy girl would have the time of her life and we’d be camping all the time. I’ve come to realize that the more activities we’ve done this year the higher my expectations have become. After half a year of blah cabin fever I’ve expected so much joy and refreshment from these new adventures and that’s maybe too much to ask of a camping trip and a pumpkin patch hayride. (more…)

Fall Favorites 2020

By Natalie

Get ready to cozy up, it’s time for some new fall favorites! Typically I suggest something to eat, something to smell, something to listen to plus something pretty or useful to you or around the home. That covers the majority of the senses perfect for getting into the season. Enjoy and please share your fall favorites with me! (more…)

A Handmade Halloween

By Natalie

Let me start off by saying that I cannot take full credit for these ideas! I was inspired by lots of Pinterest photos, which I’ve linked off to at the end of this post. I’ve never decorated for Halloween in the past, nothing more than a Jack o lantern. But this year I wanted to decorate Lici’s play corner in our family room. I went for classy spooky modern Halloween decor, sticking to a black, white and orange color scheme. Nothing scary, just animals and bugs, which she loves! Really this area is just a testament to how well I can copy Pinterest ideas. (more…)

4 Ingredient Dog Treats

By Natalie

Felicity and I made these super easy dog treats for Bingley and all of our doggie friends. She loves getting on her learning tower to help make smoothies or help pour ingredients for pancakes. My amazing baker friend Pam taught me to let Felicity crack an egg in a separate bowl and pick the shell out. She often hits it on the counter for a little crack and then squeezes it over the bowl until it bursts which is actually pretty fun to watch. Since then I’ve incorporated some mommy daughter baking mornings to our schedule. (more…)

Naivety

By Natalie

One Sunday morning at church, just before we were thinking about trying to have children, I watched a woman in a video voice her pain. The video highlighted people’s struggles and how the community they received from church helped through the hard times. Standing next to her husband she spoke about how they had been trying to conceive their second child for over a year. I remember thinking, “At least you already have a child.” I was so dead wrong. We’re always a little naive about the things we have no experience with.

The love you have for one child does not consume the love you desire for another. After over a year of trying to conceive our second child I still feel like a family member is missing, just as I did with Felicity. If anything I know much more so what is missing now. Here I am in that woman’s shoes. Over one year in, with secondary infertility. (more…)

Potty Training and Pandemic Birthdays

By Natalie

Felicity is pretty potty trained at this point which is exciting! I don’t really feel like I did very much other than suggest she sit on her little potty and hey if she peed she could have a sticker for her chart and a couple M&Ms. Low and behold we should have known what this girl was willing to do for a little extra chocolate. In a matter of a couple days she took it upon herself to go whenever she needed to go. She doesn’t even tell us anymore! She just goes off on her own and plops down. We usually hear the bathroom door swing open and are running in to help her just as she finishes. She also doesn’t even ask for the chocolate anymore, she’s just totally accepted that this is what we do now. I am considering ourselves extremely lucky. (more…)

K is for Kindness

By Natalie

During a time that feels so uncertain, I’d like to take a moment to talk about what is certain. When people can’t see eye to eye, when an invisible force sweeps through our world, taking lives with it, when we all want to be heard but can’t seem to get through to anyone… I want to say that God is still in control. Everything I do is within that framework. I try to do my part to keep my family safe, to educate myself as well as my daughter. Talk to my husband about the state of the world, our country, our community and keep an open line of communication with everyone I know to say I’m here and I hear you. Not being heard is a pain too great and I fear that with everyone screaming, no one is being heard. So I’m sitting here, quietly, in my community, in this space, saying I see you, I hear you, I hear your concerns, I may not understand, but I hear you. (more…)

On Our Ninth

By Natalie

We’re celebrating nine years of marriage today! Our anniversary looks a tad different this year as it has for most during this time but we are still smitten! We grabbed coffee this morning with Lici. She pointed to our cups and said, “Coffees?”. Then we blew some bubbles, chased her around and walked until we found some dog pictures on the side of a pet store. Which our little animal lover found very exciting. (more…)

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