Author: Mackayla Turley

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…

My maternal grandmother lived to an astounding age of 104. While that’s impressive in and of itself, her independence was even more inspiring. She mowed her own lawn into her late 80s. She cared for a garden and took multiple-mile walks well into her 90s. She grocery shopped, cooked, cleaned, and was generally independent at an age most people don’t even make it to. Was it genetics? Maybe. Was it her eating or sleeping habits? Possibly. Personally, I think it was her activity level. Grandma was active, and current research backs up how important that is. My generation grew up…

We’ve all heard of the 3R’s: reduce, reuse, and recycle. They were taught in elementary science classes, put on banners for various milk jug and soda can tab collection drives, and generally emphasized throughout the 90’s. I feel like all three branches of the 3R’s were equally highlighted in my childhood, unlike environmental movements today. Recycling has stolen the spotlight these days. Reducing and reusing have been pushed to the side – out of sight, out of mind. Economically, it makes sense for companies to focus on recycling. Consumers buy a product, use it, then get rid of it via…

Our family loves picnics. Eating outside with friends is great, and not cooking in the summer heat is amazing, too. We’ve spent a lot of time over the past couple months picnicking with friends at local parks, each other’s houses, and poolside. Prepping for picnic season is easy; I put the picnic blanket in the back of the car and restock the cooler backpack with essentials – napkins, grocery bags for gathering trash, and kid scissors for opening popsicles. Our whole family loves finger foods, so for the most part, we just put together a bunch of snacking foods and…

Laundry. It’s never ending, and left unchecked it’ll get out of out control faster than an unsupervised toddler with a can of shaving cream. I’ve tried a lot of laundry methods to wrangle the washings and have finally settled into a routine I love. The key for our family has been small wardrobes and daily up-keep. Each kiddo has roughly ten tops (or dresses for the girls) and five bottoms – shorts in the summer, jeans in the winter. They usually only have one or two pairs of shoes, and a swimsuit for the summer that gets replaced by a…

I’ve written about screen time as an adult – now it’s time to face the bigger challenge: kids’ screen time. It’s getting out of hand, y’all.A six year old does not need a smart phone.A ten year old does not need a facebook or instagram profile. Kids can be taught to eat at restaurants, go to a grocery store, and be in the general public without being handed an iPad. I’d even go so far as to argue that’s the only way they will learn how to behave appropriately in those situations. I know it’s a hard pill to swallow.…