A few weeks ago Tara emailed me asking this:

My daughter is really starting to enjoy music (she's almost 2) and singing along. I'm looking for suggestions for Catholic hymns/songs that your kids have liked. Kateri seems to like single voices so she can imitate the words (Immaculate Mary and Hail Mary/Gentle Woman are two of her favorites.) What else would you recommend? I appreciate any thoughts! Thanks!

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Hi Tara! My kids love those two songs as well :) Really any *good* hymn is pretty accessible to them - are there some that you guys sing at church frequently? I'd look through your hymnal and jot down a few that you like after Mass one day, since once you sing them at home and she hears them at church she'll probably get REALLY excited like my kids do! I like to try to incorporate different hymns throughout the liturgical year - right now we're singing a lot of "People Look East" and "O Come O Come Emmanuel" as well as "The Angel Gabriel" and "O Come Divine Messiah."  When Christmas comes we'll sing a lot of our favorite Christmas songs, especially from this book (out of print, but affordable used!)

2015 Top 5 Posts

I've pretty much given up on trying to write any year-in-review posts this year - those things take FOREVER for me! But I do get a kick out of finding out what a blogger's most popular posts were for a given year, so here are mine for 2015, based solely on views per post:


#5: Winter Mom Uniform: Nursing-Friendly Dresses

Seriously, I'm still wearing most of these outfits this winter and they're SO comfy, flattering, and easy to nurse in!

#4: The Romper Post

This will forever be the most awkward post I've ever written. And it continues to get daily page views from such ingenious searches as "chunky mom" and "mom in shorts" so... I guess that's flattering? But I promised I'd do it if I hit 500 "likes" on Facebook because I wanted to stick it to the man and not pay for advertisement... And I did.

#3: Stitch Fix #2

My Stitch Fix review posts get a lot of hits, period - smart shoppers google the styles that are going out for the current month to see if there's anything they want to request from their stylists. I don't think it's a particularly engaging posts, but as you can see from my #3, #4, and #5 posts, the fashion posts get a lot of traffic.

#2: That Time We Bought a Farm

In which we made a crazy, life-changing decision to become complete stereotypes: Homeschooling, homesteading Catholics. So hipster. Much chickens.

#1: My #1 Parenting Tip

One of my few posts that has actually been shared somewhat on the internet, hence the number of hits... And still a reminder I could probably use daily!

I'm going to link these up with Ashley at The Big White Farmhouse for 5 Favorites - go link up yourself, you could win a prize!

Why I'll Never Be a "Real" Fashion Blogger

Ages ago when I started following blogs, I followed a small sampling of fashion blogs. And very quickly stopped following most of them when I realized they were just making me covet clothes and accessories that I couldn't afford and couldn't justify buying even if I had the extra cash lying around.

I got an email today telling me the about "6 Shoes [I] Should Own" - not one pair made sense with my lifestyle, but I still opened it to see if hey, maybe there was something I need that I didn't realize I needed! And I deleted it, because no way do I need "heeled sandals" or "over-the-knee boots."

See, my kind of "fashion" blogging mostly revolves around finding quality secondhand pieces and shopping sales to fill wardrobe gaps or replace worn out or outgrown clothing that I can't wear anymore. It takes me a long time to be willing to try a new trend, which is why I could never be on the cutting edge of fashion bloggers even if I did have a limitless disposable income, an even fancier camera, and a photographer husband.

What A Mess {WIWS}

You might have "spirited" children if...

Your almost-5-year-old drops the baby when she's carrying him in the aisle, making him bang his head on the side of the pew...

You take the crying baby out and look into the chapel to see your 3-year-old and 5-year-old playing tug of war with a teething rosary...

You tell the older kids they can stay in the chapel for a few minutes to pray in front of the nativity, then have to go retrieve them because they're wrestling in front of the communion rail... (Elizabeth was trying to climb to get closer, Cecilia was trying to get her to stop)

2016: The Year of Reading?

Every once in a while, I make the unfortunate mistake of getting out of the habit of reading books. Part of it is not having a bed to myself - my very favorite place to read has always been in bed, and with a baby who has been sharing it for 13+ months, books ain't happening. Part of it is the children who immediately remove any bookmark I place in a book, or just take whatever book it is for themselves, leaving me with nothing to read... And part of it is laziness on my part - it's easier to sit around scrolling my phone instead of being intentional about spending time reading.

No more!

This year, by golly, I'm getting back into the reading habit. And since the best way to hold myself accountable is by blogging about it, I might as well set a goal right here in an attempt to ensure this goal is met!