where the pines touch the sky

early december before all the snow and real cold weather settled in the girls and i adventured to one of our favorite wilderness parks, where the pine trees touch the sky. this place is a little slice of heaven all year round and a place we adventure to when we need it most.

it's been three months since my big career change from family therapist to stay at home mama-hood and while i thought it was going to be an easy transition, i quickly discovered my ideals were much different than what i imagined them to be. before this new life all began, i landed on this idea that being home would free up more time and space for me to be more present with my girls while allowing some time to build on some dreams i've been wanting to dive into more freely. how incredibly wrong i was. in some ways my idea of how this new life would be have been just as so and in other ways they have posed some very new challenges.

i've learned being home with my children delivers a heap of sacrifice, more than i ever imagined. BUT i also learned how much i was missing and how much i needed this new way of life almost as much as they did. my days with them have been some of my hardest but also some of my very best. i feel i work twice as hard than i once did and feel ten times more tired at the end of the day. BUT every morning i rise feeling so grateful that i get to spend my days like this with them.

our adventure to where the pine trees touch the sky took place on a day where our moods were off and our need for adventure and fresh air were something fierce. coming from a home body who on cold winter days prefers to stay inside where it's cozy and warm than to face the bite of bitterness on my nose, i've found little adventures mixed into our day are a complete game changer.

so on a cold winter day we bundled up in our winter gear, snuggled klo in our stokke stroller using their foot muff to keep her extra cozy and warm, and off we went on a long winter walk to one of our favorite places and gathered a beautiful plethora of pine cones along the way. sometimes fresh air and a change of scenery is all you need.


photography by the lovely kadi tiede

this post is in collaboration with Stokke. thank you kindly for supporting brands that help support living life's moments. 

happy holidays

"you're blessed when you're content with who you are--no more, no less. that's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that cannot be bought" -- Matthew 5:5 

may you wrap your heart around these words this holiday season and find joy in the things that cannot be bought. wishing you happy moments this holiday season and a very happy new year, from our little flock to yours.  

{ girls are clothed in the ever so beautiful marie chantal }

moments lately

"promise to stay wild with me. we'll seek and return and stay and find beauty and the extraordinary in all the spaces we can claim. we'll know how to live and how to breathe magic in the mundane" - victoria erickson

i'm trying to be more intentional about documenting life at home of my girls using my big camera more. it's so easy nowadays to leave those bigger cameras on the shelf with our smart phones within reach that take the quality of images like they do. but there is something so beautiful about having those larger files on hand too. on my old blog i started a series called moments lately where i would share little snippets of moments within our everyday. i'd like to see that become a regular series here too, so here we go…  

motherhood musings and moments lately at home with my girls. 

one: wild hair and always smiling, kaia at age 6 in all her glory at our neighborhood park

two: catching moments of my three lost in play together with their favorite shimmer and shine dolls from toys r us. this is the kind of moment i would imagine and dream up in my head and now to see it play out, it's one of my greatest blessings.

three: it doesn't take much to put a smile on her face, i love that about her so much. klo at eleven months running off with her sister's toy. such a tease, this one.

four: eleven months later and her room is starting to feel more like her own.

five: my dearest kendi, you beat to the sound of your own drum and teach us so much. your smile my dear, makes me so happy.

six: sibling love

seven: kendi all snuggled up asleep, meanwhile a little someone wants to play.

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to simply have courage + be kind

in a time that is sensitive. in a time that is delicate and full of real raw emotion that is crumbling to some and celebratory to others. at a time where our county feels divided and confused and full of fear and anxiety, let us remember these very words… 

"darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that" - Martin Luther King Jr. 

and that no matter what let us always walk with arms wide open full of courage and kindness towards others. 

october's blessing

"i'm so glad i live in a world where there are octobers" - L.M Montgomery 

it's going to be hard to say goodbye to october this year. the colors on all the trees were by far the prettiest i've ever seen. the weather, well that too, was amazing. i honestly adore autumn but i also find it hard to actually embrace for what it brings because of the cold months that follow. here in the upper midwest, we wish for autumn days like the ones we've been blessed with this year. so naturally we've been spending this month relishing in the traditions of the season and really soaking it up.

we've been making our way through the apple orchard and darling neighborhood nurseries to pumpkin patches and long walks along the river near our home with our stokke stroller, a new system for us that is bringing ease and comfort to our special outings. what we're really loving is kaia and kendi can now hitch a ride using the attached skateboard if they get tired. something we've been missing from our other stroller systems, so this has been a nice change and great for our long ventures out. i also love the attached bag it comes with that we've been using to store snacks for the girls along with their foraging treasures. it's super convenient for them to grab what they need and store something when they need to.

i think my favorite routine of the season has been our long afternoon walks. strolling along beautiful draped streets and landscapes. soaking up the fresh air, while letting the girls run freely ahead. it's been fun to watch the them notice the big and settle changes of the season too. pointing out the trees that have changed colors from day to day and the ones that are dropping their leaves. they are just as fascinated by the beauty of this seasonal change which makes me happy. it's the little things, you know?!

pumpkin picking was extra sweet this year. we went to a darling nursery for our annual mums and white pumpkins for painting at home. last weekend we ventured to the pumpkin patch we visit every year. klo picked out her very first pumpkin and then tried to carry it with her wherever she went. to think that just last year, 10 months ago, she was about the weight and size of the very pumpkin she picked out still cozy in my tummy and to see this year, three little pumpkin darlings all in a row… makes my heart swell. time sure has it's way of sweeping us off our feet, doesnt it?!

what are some of your october blessings?


for the curious: 
kaia's is wearing garments from darling clementine and boots from zara. 
kendi is wearing garments from darling clementine and bloom.  
klo is wearing garments from darling clementine and bloom. shoes from zuzii. 
stroller is from stokke.


* this post was sponsored by stokke. thank you reader for helping support brands that help support this space. all opinions are my own. 


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a family's guide to a healthy home

aaron and i are always looking for ways to keep our home and our family more healthy. i know we're just one family among a large tribe of others that are working just as hard to keep health and wellness a priority. in fact, our society as a whole is working hard too and is more health conscious than ever these days. great efforts are being made every single day to support individuals and families on their journey towards healthy living, which i think is pretty great!  

healthy living, gosh those words can sometimes feel overwhelming can't they? i think those words strung together can often feel as so, but honestly i don't think they have to be. healthy living has it's own definition for each individual person and family. which i find to be beautiful and powerful. what i think it so great is that we can learn so much from each other because of it. 

here in our home, we're trying to make graceful efforts to be more intentional about what helps us live the healthy lifestyle we ever so desire. so what does that look like for us? below i put together a list of things we're doing to help us get there. 

a family's guide to a happy healthy home + some tools to help along the way:

- home environment: at home is where we spend most of our time, so it's important that our environment is the best it can be. our Netatmo healthy home coach helps us out with this by monitoring important variables in our home, like air quality, humidity, temperature, and noise for example. with the winter months around the bend, it's even more important that we pay attention to these details because naturally the windows aren't open as much and the air gets so dry. the Netatmo system will highlight any potential problems and guide us to answers if needed. we also use essential oils to help with this too. a couple drops of thieves in the diffuser helps purify and clean the air, keeping those pesky germs at bay. 

- eating habits: raising little humans is a tough job. but they are working just as hard too, if not more with all the growing they do. establishing healthy eating habits is so important for everyone in the family. when we eat healthy and our bodies are getting good nutrition, we feel healthy and good. 

- sleep does a body good: raise your hand if you love sleep! i don't think i'm alone here. sleep is so important for our minds and our bodies. but quality sleep is even better. we have established routines in our home to help us with this, but variables such as temperature and noise are important factors when it comes to a good night's rest. our healthy home coach is there to alert us when the temperature of the room is too warm or too cool, which is so important with little ones. our home coach is also there to alert us if the girls are being a bit too noisy, which tends to be quite often! what i like about the noise alerting system is that aaron and i aren't the ones to remind them of this all the time. it's been helpful for them to see this alert as a gentle reminder of when it's okay to be our wild selves and when we have to keep things tame. this is also the time when we use essential oils to help relax our bodies and prepare for rest. 

- exercise: aaron and i try to schedule an hour a day of some kind of workout. for him it usually always involves going to the gym. for me sometimes it's a long walk with the girls or taking them to the open field by our house and running around with them. whatever it takes, we try to get some form of workout in. it's just as important that the girls get some sort of exercise too. whether that is yoga at home or playing at the park, we try to make it just a much a part of their day as it is for ours. 

i'd love to hear what things you're doing in your home to make it a happy, healthy place to be!