Author: Mackayla Turley

One of my kiddos is allergic to artificial dyes. I know, I know, many of you are rolling your eyes at the crunchiness of it. A few of you may be nodding in agreement, facing similar struggles. He’s one of the oddly “lucky” ones that have a physical reaction to it, he gets hives and a rash anytime red40 passes his lips – a traceable, measurable reaction to track instead of trying to define levels of hyperactivity. This isn’t an article on wacky, misguided food additives or why whole foods are best, though both of those topics are worth writing…

Everyone’s motherhood has hard moments. Decluttering your house, setting up routines, building a village, and finding hobbies to recharge all help, but nothing can really detract from the mind-shattering trial of a three year-old’s tantrum. Ear-splitting screaming at six in the morning after a sleepless night can make even the calmest mama struggle (I hope – I’m not claiming to be the calmest mama, so this is just my assumption). There’s no real hack to avoid children pushing your buttons, ripping open old traumas, and finding all your dormant triggers – the best you can do is deal with them…

My house is loud. We have three noisy, joyful, wonderful children who know how to work my Alexa’s. On top of that, our home has hard flooring everywhere (on purpose – I like being able to really clean them) and I don’t believe in wall art without function or purposeful joy, so our walls echo if you hit the right decibel. As I’m typing this column, my children are yelling “GHOSTBUSTERS!” every time the song calls for it. I’m sure this noise level would appall many other parents and grandparents out there. But here’s the thing – noise is only…

This was a summer of travel for me. I took my youngest to California, we did three family trips to Utah, I visited my college best friend in Washington, and hubby + I went on a couples trip to Tennessee (thanks to the best in-laws in the world for watching our three littles). Throughout these trips, I looked for my three favorite things: local coffee shops, cheap thrift stores, fun plant nurseries, and found them in abundance. What I didn’t find was shocking. Sometime in the past six months, I have lost my dislike of Pahrump. It may be controversial…

It’s no secret that happiness has a market. I’m not saying it can be bought, but the pursuit of it can definitely be sold. There are courses, articles, self-help books, self-care routines, and endless methods advertised for enhancing happiness, and many of them are specifically marketed to moms. In a way, it makes sense. Moms are often the emotional thermostat of their families – influencing the feelings of the entire household. I don’t think struggling moms should focus on increasing happiness though – I think they should do the opposite. If you’re struggling with being short-tempered, negative, or grumpy in…

This was our family’s first year gardening. The kids and I had fun learning and spending time together. We built the beds, learned about composting, installed worm bins, and planted most of the veggies together. It was a blast, but there was a lot of things I’d like to remember for next year. Our family likes cantaloupes occasionally, but not enough to eat twelve a week. I gave away a ton, but still ended up tossing a dozen or so as they went bad before we could get to them. Next year I’ll plant two cantaloupes, not five.On the opposite…

A new school year has begun – I look forward to it every year. What I don’t look forward to is the start of “why aren’t they at school?” season for us homeschoolers. I have many, many answers for this question, but never really get to answer in the detail I want. If I had the time to truly sit down and explain our educational choices to every cashier, librarian, and stranger that asks that question it would go something like this: My kids aren’t in school because they are learning everyday, right here with me. Homeschooling, especially at my…

Our house had an intruder last week. A magical, imaginary one that we all anticipated with joy, but still. It feels like a bittersweet moment – one of my babies is big enough to loose a tooth. I knew it was coming up thanks to a two-week stint of “See how loose my tooth is?! Mama, do you seeeeeee?” Yes, son, I see, and after bedtime I skipped over to Pinterest to learn the current level of Tooth Fairy shenanigans. Not to sound like a dinosaur, but back in my day, a quarter was left under the pillow and I…

Our home, full of toddlers and all their messes, has purposely white walls. As in, we painted them all white by choice and they weren’t this color when we moved in. Personally, I love our home’s walls and minimalist aesthetic, but I’ve also heard our home called sterile because of these choices. For me, and hopefully everyone else who lives here with me, our house feels like a home. It’s not about the bright white colored walls, large amount of blank spaces, or lack of clutter for me. A home is not the superfluous things removed, but the important ones…

There was a couch in my childhood home that no one was allowed to sit on. It was an antique – a mission-style solid wooden frame supporting flat, hard, brown leather cushions with horsehair stuffing. It sat in a prime spot of the front room, right by a window that overlooked the front yard. You couldn’t miss it, but you also couldn’t sit on it unless you were a guest. I want my children’s childhood home to feel different than mine did growing up. I want them to feel like it’s their home too, not just a larger space that…