By Natalie
Postcards – This is by far my favorite way we keep in contact with Zoe. There’s nothing quite like snail mail. The other day we received a postcard from Berlin! How fun is that? Zoe was on fall break and wrote to us during her travels. I felt so connected to her when I saw her handwriting. I love seeing all the fun places she’s going around Europe and sharing our travels with her as well. It’s sweet to think of her on our travels as we pick out the best postcard we think she’d like.
By Natalie
Zoe. Our dear sweet Zoe. Confident, intelligent, thoughtful, driven, funny, honest, Zoe-oh. I miss you sitting on the floor. I miss you bringing me my refilled water bottle. I miss your laugh, our late night card games, the coffee you made me every morning. You standing in the early morning glow of the kitchen, your German cooking, your truth, your hugs, everything about you I miss with an intense ache.
By Natalie
Zoe’s here! Thanks to everyone who has reached out in the past week to ask how things are going with our new exchange student. Our little family was so excited to finally welcome Zoe to the US. (more…)
By Natalie
We have some exciting news to share! In a few short weeks we will be welcoming a foreign exchange student into our home and our little family for one entire school year ♥ (more…)
By Natalie
Walking into the airport after 9 beautiful days in Puerto Rico was nothing short of heartbreaking. This was so much more than a vacation, it was a homecoming.
Brandon and I had hoped this trip would happen at least 5 years ago, but for one reason and then another it never worked out. As I approached 30 I recognized that something in me longed to connect more with my heritage. I wanted to see where my family and ancestors were from, to experience Puerto Rico for myself. (more…)
By Natalie
This has been a wild year. At the beginning of March I started my shop Lux Sensory with a love for children and a passion for creating. Brandon and I have always believed that we were born to create. He’s always said that creating brings us closer to our creator. Building things, forming things, making things, putting something out into the world that had not existed before is at the core of our being. I love to create all sorts of things. I’m a seasonal knitter, occasional embroiderer, Christmastime sugar scrub maker and all around as my bio states lover of all things crafty. (more…)
By Natalie
I’m giddy to share this exciting news! Many of you dear readers already know about this new venture. On February 28th I opened an Etsy shop! It’s been a dream of mine for years! I have so many hobbies and such a love for multiple crafts, that I was never quite able to hone in on one. Last year when I was discussing this dream with Brandon he said, “Why don’t you put together sensory bins?” The only trouble I had with his question was, why didn’t I think of it first!? As you may have seen here, and here, I love putting sensory bins together for Felicity. Once during a playdate, a friend’s kiddo asked, “Where is that box with all of the Easter eggs and stuff?” I was surprised that he remembered Felicity’s Easter sensory bin. It was mid summer and I had since put it away. (more…)
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…)
By Natalie
Our baby girl is so grown up. This past weekend we celebrated Felicity’s first year of life. Perhaps it’s all in our heads but ever since her birthday Felicity seems to have changed. Maybe it’s because we don’t look at her as a little baby anymore but as a toddler. (more…)
By Natalie
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone ♥
Valentine’s day is a day for us two girls to flaunt our puff sleeves and fill the house with pink.
We don’t usually do anything extra special on Valentine’s day. Brandon makes us dinner. Sometimes I make us dessert. I say I don’t need to have flowers but I secretly always do want them. Sometimes I feel sheepish when people say they don’t really give gifts to eachother for Christmas or don’t really celebrate Valentine’s day. Confession! I really love holidays. I like Valentine’s day. I love all of the balloons and heart shaped things in the stores. I like seeing flowers on Valentine’s day. (more…)