Thursday, August 26, 2021
Powder Bathroom Renovation
We've really slowed down on our home projects these last two years. There were several reasons why we took a step back and it was much needed for us to slow down, but we were very much missing the process of renovating. We still have a few rooms left to overhaul, but we're also coming around full circle with some projects we did years ago and wanting to change things up mostly because our tastes and styles have evolved.
Our powder bathroom was in need of a renovation and I'm so happy it's nearly done. I say nearly because I'm still on the hunt for artwork, waiting for this cute enamel sign to arrive and there's four pieces of tile we need to add. Before we can do that we need to replace a piece of our wood flooring that was cut too short. This seems simple, I know, but taking the one board out means we also need to take off our baseboards in the entryway which has us itching to revamp. So those last four pieces of tile will start the process of redoing our entryway and we're very excited about it!
But back to this powder bathroom...
It started with our builder grade fixtures, flat paint (I swear is the worst, hello every scuff and fingerprint) and vinyl flooring. Our very first phase of giving this room a facelift included paint and changing out the faucet, but it really needed a complete overhaul. We started by choosing a fun patterned tile. I've been wanting to do something like this for awhile but had a difficult time committing to it because I'm constantly changing my mind. Who else is like this? When we laid the tile we really should have self-leveled the floors and we didn't because we didn't think it would make that big of a difference, but we definitely should have taken the step to do so. Live and learn.
Once we had the tile laid, our next venture was wall color. Since we were installing vertical board and batten we needed to decide which half of the wall would carry color and the other white. This was quite the process because every color sample we tried it kept pulling blue. Blue is beautiful but our decor pulls more greens than blues. I called my trusted color smart friends and together we ultimately decided going dark was the best option and it added the perfect amount of drama. This worked well because we were able to tie it into our new door trim and crown molding.
(sources linked at the bottom of post)
Next on the list was vanity and hardware. I knew before starting this project I wanted to use brass. What I didn't account for was how difficult it is to match brass with other brass. Luckily for some brass finishes using a brass ager can help by changing the color to help match separate pieces better. As for our vanity we really needed storage and this piece works well in this space. The girls can keep their hair bin and accessories downstairs along with a few other extras that make our mornings so much easier.
I love the choices we made in this space. It's classic, modern and a touch of vintage cozy.
Let's take a look at where we started earlier this year with this bathroom space because I can hardly believe this is the same room...
| Vanity | Light Fixture | Faucet | Towel Hook (originally from Hobby Lobby, similar one linked HERE) | Wall Color - BM Chantilly Lace | Trim Color - BM Black Pepper | Tile | Mirror | Hand Towels | Please Wash Hands Sign |
Sunday, February 14, 2021
Weekly Meal Plan: February Week 3 & Valentine’s Day
Happy Valentine’s Day! The kids have been looking forward to this weekend for a few weeks and just love celebrating each holiday in both big and small ways. We decided to forego any Valentine gifts or baskets this year in order to keep things more simple. Leading up to Valentine’s we had a valentine exchange with our homeschool group, made heart garlands and added hearts into our everyday baking when possible. One of our traditions is to always make a fun dessert. This year the kids decided to choose the dessert and baked it themselves, they chose a flourless chocolate cake topped with homemade whipped cream and sliced strawberries. Oh my, it was absolutely delicious! We also made homemade donuts using Grands Biscuits. This was also a huge hit and tasted just like a funnel cake! We’ll be making these again and again.
After indulging in some extra sweets this weekend, our meal plan for this week is focused on lots of vegetables as sides. I feel the need to boost our produce intake along with water. I’m always terrible about drinking water, it’s something I’ve always struggled with, but I can tell my pregnant body is holding on to things more than usual and I’m not feeling my best self. Hopefully this week I can help curb all of that and get back on track.
Monday, February 8, 2021
Weekly Meal Plan: February Weeks 1 & 2
Last week came and went quickly and I didn’t share our meal plan, so sorry friends! If you ever noticed I missed posting here, I likely still shared on my Instagram account @rachbraden I would love to have you follow along there as well. Sometimes I share recipes over there that don’t always make it over here.
It’s interesting, some are surprised we meal plan for all seven days of the week. I never really thought about it because it’s just something we’ve always done. We love spending time at home and we all love to cook. There are days that come along and it’s just been one of those hectic and exhausting days where no one is up for cooking, even if we’ve meal planned. On those days we may grab something easy from the freezer or order take out. And sometimes if we’re out and about we change our plans and stop at one of our favorite restaurants and go out as a family.
We love planning dates nights too, but we really have to plan those in advance. We have amazing babysitters whom our kids love, but since we don’t live anywhere near family dropping them off last minute with grandparents or even over-night (what’s that like?!?!) is never an option. However, Mike and I are trying to make a point to plan a date night each week, and you’ll see them showing up on our meal plan because I don’t just make this for you -- we actually use it, but those date nights will mostly be at-home-date-nights where we make something easy for the kids, put them to bed early and just spend time together. It’s still pretty cold here, but in the next several weeks we should start seeing some warmer temperatures that will allow us to spend more time outside in the backyard around the fire pit and we’re so excited!
February: Week 1
February: Week 2
This week I’m pulling a couple recipes from a cookbook my sweet friend Heidi wrote with her sister called Food from the Heart. I adore family recipes and this book is compiled of just those from cover to cover! We’ve made a few different recipes that we frequently go back to because they’re so good. This week we’re trying their fluffy dinner rolls. Olivia actually was helping me meal plan and asked if we could make them for dinner tonight. We’re also trying the ‘Bama’ Chicken recipe. This is a true southern recipes and the first time we actually tried ‘bama sauce was a few months ago from a local bbq restaurant. oh my goodness, it’s delicious and that’s coming from a Kansas City bbq raised girl. I’m really excited to try Heidi’s version this week!
Healthy Bruschetta Chicken with Balsamic Glaze
Fluffy Dinner Rolls
(Food From the Heart Cookbook by Heidi Matson & Ann Traffie)
Beef Enchiladas
(recipes on my Instagram Account, originally from by brother-in-law)
‘Bama’ Chicken
(Food From the Heart Cookbook)
For the month of February in my wellness community we are taking on a Faux Lash Challenge. Over the last few years I have loved finding and learning how to swap in natural recipes for different ailments and even more so, beauty hacks!
We all know lashes are all the rage and of course we want fuller, longer, more luscious lashes and I’m sharing a recipe to help boost lash and hair growth naturally. Come join us as we take on this challenge as we’ll be starting February 14th!
1) Register for our February challenge by clicking HERE.
2) Not yet a Young Living member? No problem, it’s so simple to get started. Grab yourself a Basic Starter Bundle by clicking HERE.
3) Add the needed Young Living essential oils to your order and grab the other supplies through the links provided in the email.
4) Once your supplies arrive, go ahead and get started!
Sunday, January 24, 2021
Weekly Meal Plan: January Week 4
Over the last few years we’ve made a bigger effort in eliminating processed foods and making more things from scratch. We decided on this to really eliminate the amount of sugar, sodium and MSG that’s often hiding in foods, especially when it comes to spice blends, dressings, marinades and sauces. This week I added two recipes for dry seasoning mixes in place of buying the packets at the grocery store. I’m all about convince, but it’s easy to mix up a larger batch of seasoning mixes and dry rubs and store them in the freezer or refrigerator if you don’t feel like you’ll use them quickly enough.
Same goes for salad dressings. Try making some of your own to control the amount of certain ingredients. They also taste so much better than the many found on the shelves at the store. For this week’s Cobb Salad, I suggest you use your favorite go to recipe, I always mix things up when it comes to Cobb salad because anything really goes. But instead of using a store bought dressing try making it yourself. This week we’re using Joanna Gaines’ Buttermilk Ranch Dressing from her first Magnolia Table cookbook. We also love using Ree Drummond’s from The Pioneer Woman.
*Buttermilk Tip: to make your own buttermilk use milk and either white vinegar or lemon juice.
For 1 cup of buttermilk use 1 tablespoon lemon juice/vinegar and fill the rest of the way with milk
3/4 cup use 2 1/4 teaspoons lemon juice/vinegar
2/3 cup use 2 teaspoons lemon juice/vinegar
1/2 cup use 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice/vinegar
1/3 cup use 1 teaspoon lemon juice/vinegar
1/4 cup use 3/4 teaspoon lemon juice/vinegar
Sunday, January 17, 2021
Weekly Meal Plan: January Week 3
Find the recipes for this week’s menu below.
Sweet Kale Salad recipe c/o Magnolia Table Vol. 2 page 125
Homemade Tortillas
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Emotions & Essential Oils
This last week has been quite the rollercoaster ride on top of just finishing up one of the craziest years. It’s easy for us to be affected by events and situations which of course lead so many of us to feel an array of emotions that are difficult to navigate through. Being pregnant during all of this chaos doesn’t do well for my hormones to say the least. I know so many of my friends and family are incredibly hurt, confused, sad and angry. We all are experiencing these feelings. Since we started using essential oils as part of our daily routine I can say they have helped our family be more in control of the emotions. We still feel all of them, but they don’t take over and control everything we do and I’m thankful for that. In hopes of helping others deal with their current emotions I’m sharing some of my favorite essential oils to use for emotional support.
Many of you know we only use Young Living essential oils because we trust the quality and we’ve seen awesome results. The quality of essential oils is very important and if you’re interested in learning more about Young Living’s Seed to Seal promise of quality oils and products you can read more about that HERE.
Essential oils have incredible benefits that can support the different systems of the body. What’s really cool about essential oils and other natural wellness elements is that they can work well with western medicine. It’s creating a balance of the two. This can work especially well for emotional support like our feelings. Young Living even has an entire kit just for emotional support called The Feelings Kit and you can learn more about it HERE.
Here are some of our favorite essential oils to use for emotional support...
Use these oils aromatically by diffusing in a room or throughout the home. I also love using these oils topically by mixing them with a carrier oil and using them in a rollerball. These oils are great for our kids too. Let’s not forget all the emotions our kids may or still are walking through. We can use these tools to help support them just as much as ourselves and remember our emotional demeanor sets the tone for them. Keeping ourselves grounded and calm helps create an environment that feels safe and nurturing for our children. Our home is our safe place and we are the gatekeepers, we get to decide what we allow to come inside.
In our oil community we talk all about how to use our favorite essential oils to help support our bodies and our homes through simple DIY’s, class events and recipes. Come learn more about our Wild & Grape community and how to join in on the fun!
Thursday, January 7, 2021
Winter Reading Favorites & Reading Logs
Winter reading logs are here for the new year! We’re swapping all our Christmas books out this week for our winter and Valentine books. December seemed to fly by and we didn’t read nearly as much as we had hoped, so hoping to kick it back into gear this month. What are some of your favorite winter books to add to your kids’ bookshelves? Since Kensi is reading chapter books I’ve been on the hunt for some winter themed ones. One of her favorites from last last year was All the Fun Winter Things by Erica S. Perl, this is an easy to read book, but it was perfect for her as she was just starting to get into chapter books. I think we’re going to have to make a visit to our local library to find a few new ones for her.
Also, to help keep Kensi on track with reading her chapter books I created an individual book log where she can track her chapters. She’s very much like me in the sense she likes to cross things off her to do lists. This particular book log I laminated so she can use it again and again with a wet erase marker. She also has the book log so once she finishes her chapter book she will record her book on the other sheet.
| one | two | three | four | five | six | seven |
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
Weekly Meal Plan: January Week 1
Happy New Year friends! Several of you have asked throughout the last year about our meal plan and to be honest, we weren’t great about sticking with it the last few months. So in an effort to be better and get back on track I’ll be sharing our weekly dinner meal plan right here and on my Instagram account @rachbraden. I only meal plan for our dinners, it overwhelms me to try and meal plan all three meals each day. We’re pretty low key when it comes to breakfast and lunch anyways, often eating eggs and waffles for breakfast and either leftovers or something simple for lunch.
I’ll also share where the recipes come from if I can link them. Often I throw something on the menu and just go with it such as our baked fish and sautéed green beans. I don’t do anything fancy, but season it with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Some days those simple meals we’ve made a hundred times are just what we need.
If you want to try any of our meals we have planned go ahead and scroll down to either grab the recipe link or work it into your own weekly plan. Happy Meal Planning!
(We grow pesto basil (mom brain) in our garden in the summer, harvest it and make large batches of pesto to freeze so we can eat all winter long. Also omit the pine nuts if you have a nut allergy)
Taco Seasoning (see below)
Homemade Pizza Dough from Magnolia Table Cookbook Vol. 2 page 29
Wednesday, September 9, 2020
Fall Reading Logs
Saturday, September 5, 2020
autumn themed sensory rice
Now that I’m homeschooling all four kiddos at different levels I’m going back to my preschool days of teaching and pulling out all the sensory activities. Regardless of age all our kids love sensory play. Not only is it fun, but it also helps to break up their structured learning throughout the morning and it always keeps them busy.
Today we made a few different batches of colored rice for our sensory table to use this fall. We mixed up green, orange and yellow for a fall leaf theme and we also mixed up purple, orange, green, pink and black for halloween. The kids have always enjoyed scooping and pouring rice, but it’s great for burying letters, numbers, flash cards, animals, pumpkins etc and trying to find them. Making colored rice is simple and there are a few different ways to do make it. I opted for all food safe ingredients just in case a few grains make it into Etta’s mouth! So here you go...instructions can be found at the bottom 😉
pdf version right HERE!
Thursday, July 9, 2020
printable chore charts
over the last few months our chore routine has become inconsistent. maybe this has happened in your home too. we’re not going anywhere, we’re not seeing anyone, the priority is still there, but it’s slid on the list of things to do. especially since we were out of town for several weeks and now we’re full blown into the summer months.
it actually dawned on me to revise our chore charts for summer, but the thought slipped away and then i saw someone on IG share a free printable and of course i lost that too. so i recreated what i saw and if anyone you know who created this original design please let me know so i can credit them. anyways...we are not super strict on chores and don’t want to make it something the kids dread, but understand that we are all part of this family and we all contribute and help each other. this chart is simple to act as a checklist as they can look and know what age appropriate chores can be done each day. we’re also notorious for the ‘oh i forgot to do (blank)’...you know how distractions can easily get the best of us.
so in an effort to find some kind of order again amongst the crazy i’ve added these charts below for you to print yourselves in case you need a little order in your life like me. happy friday!
Monday, July 6, 2020
Chocolate Hazelnut Frozen Fudge Bars
Okay, so if you love fudge bars then you need to stop what you’re doing and mix these simple homemade fudge bars up right now! We love all the fun and festive frozen treats in the summer and I was eager to try and make our own fudge bars where I could control the ingredients and just try something different. I didn’t think fudge bars would be too difficult and my original thought was to just freeze chocolate milk, but I didn’t want it to be icy milk. Does that make sense?
After looking at a few different recipes I chose to mix up two of our favorites chocolatey ingredients: fairlife chocolate milk and chocolate hazelnut spread. Mindblowing! Why has it taken us this long to put these two together?!?! First off if you haven’t had the Fairlife chocolate milk I really think you’re missing out. It’s absolutely delicious and to pair it with the hazelnut spread is just dynamite.
Chocolate Hazelnut Frozen Fudge Bars
*makes 6 frozen bars*
1-1/2 cups chocolate milk
1/2 cup chocolate hazelnut spread
In a bowl whisk together chocolate hazelnut spread and chocolate milk until combine. Pour into popsicle mold. Freeze overnight. Remove and enjoy.
This post is not at all sponsored, just me sharing something we love and use.
Thursday, June 18, 2020
Guest Room Makeover for $500
In early March we had plans to host our friends and our guest room really needed some love. We hadn’t done anything to this space since building our home six years ago. It was a blank slate, a very boring, plain, blank slate and it was perfect for a little makeover.
We wanted to try to use things we already had on hand and keep this makeover on a minimum budget of $500. We felt it was doable based on what we had and what we wanted to do. We already had the bed, linens, curtains and leftover paint in the garage. We built our design around those things and then went straight to work.
Our home is a craftsman style and our interior has some modern farmhouse touches so we decided to add some texture and dimension to the walls by adding board and batten using 1x3 boards. This was fairly simple for us since we installed this same thing in both our entryway and dining room a few years ago.
Instead of purchasing two full size bedside tables, we built two and attached them to the wall using a stair tread and two corbels for each side. We also swapped out the light for a ceiling fan to help keep guests comfortable and lastly, added some adorable wooden pegs near the door.
For decor we shopped the house again and pulled the vintage floral print I found from a local antique shop a couple tears ago. I love having a diffuser for our guests as well especially if they’re not familiar with essential oils because this gives them an opportunity to try them. I think it’s also important to have extra blankets and throws just in case it’s a little chilly.
Hopefully we can host friends or family in this space soon, but until then it’s being used a nice little quiet getaway for us!
Here’s the room before we started...
//source list//
table lamp / target
bed / joss & main
bedding / pottery barn
board & batten paint color / BM Super White
wall color / SW Still Water
Monday, May 18, 2020
Summer Reading
Summer break is here and we can hardly believe it, mostly because the last couple of months have been anything but normal. We finished our school year by driving from North Carolina to Nebraska and we’re spending a few weeks with family. We were all in need of a break and change of scenery and this was just the ticket. The kids have been loving all the time with grandparents and just being somewhere new.
It’s been fun to kick off our summer with so much family around, but to keep the kids on some sort of a schedule while we’re here and even through summer I’m keeping reading high priority. We actually changed things up this past year with our required reading at home. Instead of giving our kids allowance for doing chores we decided to shift it to reading. Why? Mostly because we feel that household chores should be part of our family unit and instead we’re giving the kids an allowance for reading! This has encouraged them to read and we hope it leads them to a love for reading. I’ve heard of families doing this several different ways either paying by number of pages, chapters or by completed book. I love this so much because it really can be tailored to any reader, family and income. Based on our readers we base the allowance by every 50 pages and round to the nearest 50. Here’s an example....Let’s say every 50 pages earns $1. For a child who’s currently reading 100-150 pages books gets her an average of $2 to $3 per book.
We also have a few stipulations; the kids have to be able to read the majority of the book on their own cover to cover and they have to give us a simple report on the book to help build on comprehensive.
The best thing about this change has been if the kids are trying to save up for something they’re usually spending more time reading than anything else. So far this whole idea has been a win!
Since we’re now on summer break I created simple reading logs for the kids. These are fun to keep track of books read and gives some fun topics that may be outside of their radar, but are still centered around summer themes. For older kids I included a basic log to write each book title and pages read. Once it’s filled, we will print another one and keep on reading. I’m really hoping our local libraries will open soon, but if not we can always dig through our own books or reach out to friends and do a book swap!
To print our fun Summertime Reading Logs scroll to the bottom for the PDF link or just save each picture.
Happy Reading!
Click below to grab our reading logs.
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Simple Potato Stamping
Seeking some spring inspired art fun? Potato stamping isn’t just an oldie, but it’s a goody and one that can be thoroughly enjoyed by all ages. If you have older kids have them help carve different designs and pictures into the potatoes using kitchen utensils, forks or a toothpick. The trick to good potato stamps is letting the potatoes dry out before using so they’re not too wet.
Materials Needed:
Potatoes
Sharp Knife
Tool to carve such as a toothpick, fork, or measuring spoon.
Paper towel
Paints
Paintbrush (optional)
Paper
Start by slicing potatoes in half and pat dry. If potatoes are really large, you may want to cut into thirds so smaller hand can hold them.
Next, use different kitchen utensils to carve shapes and pattern design into each potato slice. We used a tiny measuring spoon to create polka dots, a seafood pick to draw a bunny, rainbow and even zigzags. Once you have carved your design, lay each potato slice face down on a paper towel to let them dry for a few minutes while you get the paint ready.
To begin stamping dip each potato slice into desired color. If paint is a little thick you may want to blot it slightly or you can do what my kids did, they painted their potato surface. This was perfect for adding more than one color to each stamp. Then press potato down firmly on paper and lift. You now have a fun a unique design left behind.
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