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Hi there! I’m Sarah, a former special education teacher turned stay at home mom living in NE Indiana with my husband, son, and two sweet dogs. I’m a minimal-ish mama striving for balance in the chaos that life can become. Welcome!

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No one has ever accused me of having too much patience but man, have I had to draw a LOT of patience in over this bathroom. 🙃 • Our guest bathroom has been sitting right at 95% done for weeks now and today, progress was finally made on the final stretch. 🙌🏼 Even though it doesn't look any different today than it did yesterday, we're one big step closer to being finished and I'm SO excited. • This vanity is the last big hurdle to jump before the bathroom is fully functional again. It took us a while to decide what to do after our initial plans to install a floating vanity were nixed (it would have involved a big expense in digging out and reworking the plumbing). We ultimately decided to keep the original vanity and update it with paint, new hardware, and a small strip of wood on each side to make it wall to wall. We were already a few weeks into the project when we finalized this decision and looked into vanity tops. We quickly realized standard tops wouldn't fit and we'd need to have one made. • The first company came out, took measurements, and said to expect an estimate in a week or two. Long story short, they essentially ghosted us, which was frustrating and a huge waste of time. After several wasted weeks, I contacted another company and they've been fantastic. I visited their showroom (with a toddler and baby in tow, because I apparently don't think I have enough stress in my life? 😅) and the process of deciding on material and moving forward was nice and quick. Today, they came out to take precise final measurements so they can start to make the top and we expect it to be totally done and installed in about 3 weeks. I feel like we're at mile 25 of the marathon - finally!! • It's been a long and winding road and we've learned so much along the way, but I finally feel like I truly see the light at the end of the tunnel and I'm so ready! I have a whole highlight devoted to our guest suite renovation in my profile but you can also swipe 👉🏼 to see the journey this space has taken so far. . . . . . #bathroomremodel #bathroomrenovation #bathroomvanity #bathroomreno #homereno #homerenovation

Wanted a selfie, got a photobomb. Good thing that dimpled hand is just 😍🥰💕 • I love writing and creating, and I love using my blog and this instagram as a place to do both. I'm not in this to have a ton of followers or monetize or anything like that. I just truly enjoy using this space as a creative outlet and it doesn't matter to me if 10 people or 10,000 people read my words - I just know it makes me happy to do this, and I'm going to keep doing it. But lately, I've been wanting to shift my perspective and create a broader definition for what I'm doing here. • It's scary to make this intentional pivot away from just posting about motherhood, because I feel like right now the world of social media is kind of a "stay in one lane" kind of place. I do think I could choose a lane and find joy in a platform that solely focuses on one of my passions. I think it could be good, maybe even great. And honestly, in the world of hashtags and algorithms, it probably would be "smarter" to choose one focus. To stay in one lane. To bow to the algorithm and try to play the game and gain a following. • But I also think it would feel incomplete. I don't have one big passion, I have several, and they're all important to me. I want to show our real life, the joys and struggles, to encourage and lift up other mamas who see other "perfect" pictures on social media and feel less than, like they're falling short of some magical motherhood standard that doesn't exist. I want to document the process of updating and renovating our house into our home: the ups, the downs, the victories, the "oops!" moments, and of course, the finished products. I want to share ways that I've found to simplify my life so I manage it less and enjoy it more. And I want to keep on sharing what I'm reading simply because I'm a huge booknerd. 😅 • Maybe no one is interested in reading this. Maybe everyone who has followed me will decide this specific mixture of content isn't for them. I know this pivot is the right move for me because even knowing all that, I want to do it anyway. I'm feeling good about what I want to do going forward. I hope you'll stick around for the ride! ✨

Two happy girls ready to take on the week ahead. 💕 This week is going to be a tough one for our family, as Justin has some extra shifts and will be gone more than usual. When my mom offered to drive into town and stay with us Sunday and Monday to help me out, I jumped at the chance. • It can be hard to admit you need help, but it can be such a GIFT to accept it. Yesterday and today set the tone for the week and instead of feeling flustered and overwhelmed, I was able to finish lots of little tasks like laundry and dishes so we start the week with a clean slate. I was able to leave the house for a few hours today by myself while my mom stayed with the kids. I could do things like run a package into the UPS store and be back in my car in the same amount of time it would have taken me just to unload my kids. 🙌🏼 I was able to take my time in a thrift store browsing for overlooked treasures to decorate our almost finished guest room (found some gems!). And when I came home I was so ready to jump into mom mode with my little sweeties. • I catch myself sometimes trying to do it all. I want to be able to say "no thanks, I got this" and handle all the things with superhero mom skill. But the truth is, I am incapable of doing every single thing for my family - it really takes a village. Sometimes the best thing I can do for everyone is accept some help! Accepting help yesterday and today was a gift for all of us: I could both recharge and get some things done to set us up for success for the long week ahead and my mom and my kids got to enjoy some special quality time together. Win-win-win. ✨ . . . . . . #dailyparenting #motherhoodthroughinstagram #igmothermood #embracemotherhood #uniteinmotherhood #motherhoodinspired #bestofmom #babyspam #ohheymama joyfulmamas #mamatribe #thegiftofmotherhood #honestmotherhood #candidmotherhood #candidchildhood #mamalife #ittakesavillage

Just another day spent sitting on the floor with a lap full of babies. • Every once in a while, I write a detailed "day in the life" blog post. I choose random days to document - usually they are perfectly ordinary days with nothing special going on. • Except, the more of these I do, the more I realize how special our ordinary days are. We get into rythyms and routines in our daily life and as my kids grow, these routines slowly shift. The changes happen almost imperceptibly, and then all of the sudden it's six months later and our days look totally different. I'm so grateful for these blog posts that read more like journal entries, detailing what life was like for us in a particular stage. I have a feeling these will be the days I cherish most when I look back on my life in 50 years - the regular, nothing special (and yet, so very precious) days full of little moments that are the building blocks of our lives. The perfectly ordinary days that are actually the best days of all. • If you're interested in seeing what an Ordinary Tuesday looked like for my crew on 01.14.20. you can check it out at the link in my profile. 💕 • • • #motherhood #motherhoodinspired #honestmotherhood #candidmotherhood #2twoandunder #adayinthelife

No advice on form but girlfriend's got lots to say about my ponytail. I'm in a season of life where at-home workouts are the best option for getting some exercise in my days. In very related news, I'm also in a season of life where, as they say on the @happierpodcast, I need to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Sometimes I can wake up early or utilize nap time and get the whole workout completed while my kids sleep. Other times, I get joined by a workout buddy before I'm finished. I've just learned to embrace it instead of get frustrated. Done is better than perfect. Something is better than nothing. And bonus: my kids get to see that mama prioritizes health and that women can be strong. 💪🏼 Totally worth having my hair pulled or a toy car rolling on my foot during the last set. Also, If you've followed me for any length of time, you know my love for @expectingandempowered is big. These workouts were hugely beneficial to me in my pregnancy and I'm convinced they played a big part in my smooth recovery from my second c-section. I'm currently in the postpartum guide and excited to join in on their latest 10-week challenge. Maybe I'll have to track how many workouts my kids "do" with me too? 😅 . . . #eandemama #eandefreshstartchallenge #eandeaccountability

My entire childhood was spent in the same house. My parents bought it before they got married and have lived in it ever since. Through the years it’s undergone periodic updates and one large renovation, but it has always kept the same cozy, warm feeling of home. While it hasn’t been my home address for almost a decade now, pulling into the driveway still gives me the sense of coming home. When Justin and I moved in May, we knew that this was The One. This home is the one we want to raise our family in. The one where we’ll watch our kids grow as we mark their heights on the wall. This is the one where we’ll laugh and cry and grow and make memories and just live. LJ recently turned two and he’s starting to say words out of the blue that we didn’t even realize he knew. Just in the past week, as I went to turn into our driveway, I heard his little voice say “home” from the backseat and it nearly brought me to tears. He’s only lived here a few months, but he knows this is home. This is the home of his childhood. This is the home he and his sister will remember - the home where they’ll have memories of baking cookies and family movie nights and learning to ride bikes and getting ready for prom (tearing up just writing that!) And I want them to have the same feelings about this home that I do about my childhood home - cozy, warm, and loved. With this as our goal, we’re prioritizing the areas for our kids and our family first as we’re slowly updating the home and putting our stamp on it. Our bedroom is pretty far down the to-do list and likely won’t get addressed for several years. Even if we were to address it sooner, I have no idea what to do with the space. I love the bay window and all the natural light, but the room is awkwardly large and oddly shaped. Right now, it’s just a functional, plain room, but I dream of it being a gorgeous haven for Justin and I to relax and unwind after our full days of making memories with our (beautiful but exhausting) little family. Winning the #CLJxMakerista makeover from @chrislovesjulia and @themakerista would be an absolute dream come true! Here's to reclaiming our bedroom (someday)! 😉

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