Sobremesa Stories

Five on Friday: Long Car Rides And Not Fun Mama Jobs

May 20, 2016 By Lauren

This was my last full week alone with Caleb since after one half day on Monday (thanks to a “blue snow day” we had when the Royals won the World Series), Jordan is HOME for the summer! Hip hip hurray! I can’t wait for slow mornings, family walks, house projects, and all sorts of summer adventures. It will be so sweet! For now, here’s a few updates from our last week of the school year.

1) Long Car Rides And Delicious Donuts

Since Caleb isn’t on a schedule as much as a general routine, it’s a bit challenging to make it to events with a specific start time like church. We’ve found ourselves doing a lot of extra driving to extend those carseat naps as we go from place to place on Sundays. Maybe my favorite part of this new routine of figuring out naps on the go? We’ve started spending Sunday mornings before church at Doughnut Lounge, a new donut shop right down the road from church. Caleb naps in his carseat while we eat delicious donuts and coffee, we feed him right before church starts, then get there just in time for him to sleep in our arms. I’m sure this routine will shift soon enough as his naps spread out, but for now I love that time with my hubby (and I loooove some yummy doughnuts!).

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Womanly Wednesday: Learning To Live After Loss

May 18, 2016 By Lauren

Welcome to this week’s Womanly Wednesday! In this series, different women share stories of their deepest struggles, insecurities, and challenges, all with the heart to inspire and encourage others that they’re not alone in their brokenness. Make sure to check out all the other posts to read about everything from eating disorders, anxiety, depression, and abuse to grief, miscarriage, self-esteem issues, and lots more.

Some say, “Home is where your heart is.” But I have come to know since September of 2013 that home is actually wherever your mother resides. And that is why now, even more than before, Heaven is my home.

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5 Delicious Red, White, And Blue Recipes

May 17, 2016 By Lauren

With Memorial Day and the 4th of July coming up, I’ve been dreaming of warm nights, cookouts, and cool summer recipes. These red white and blue recipes below are some of my favorites and I can’t wait to make them this summer. Make sure to check them out if you’re looking for something yummy to bring to your next summer celebration!

5 Delicious Red, White, And Blue Recipes

1) Berry Almond Tart

This is one of my favorite family recipes and we made it for the 4th of July every year when I was growing up. The cream cheese combined with the graham cracker and berry is ah-maaaaaazing!

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Seven Things I Want My Daughters To Know

May 16, 2016 By Lauren

Today’s post is by my friend Jessica, a sweet mama whose heart to love on her daughters and everyone she meets is beautiful. She shared about her journey with her youngest daughter in a Womanly Wednesday post a few months back, so make sure to check that out if you love her as much as I do and want to hear more!

I’ve been thinking a lot about legacies lately. A few weeks back, my large, loud, and absolutely wonderful family lost a member when my Uncle Pete passed away. In the days that followed, I couldn’t stop thinking about the legacy that my grandparents left behind. My dad’s parents both died young leaving 8 children and several grandchildren.

Over the years, those numbers have grown to a group of over 70 when we include spouses. Typically, after losing parents, it seems like siblings end up kind of drifting apart. In the instance of my family though, it seems to have brought them even closer together and it all boils down to the legacy of love that my grandparents left behind.

While thinking about legacies, I began wondering what I want my legacy as a parent to be. Not only do I want it to be one of love, but also of joy. I want my children, and hopefully grandchildren, to someday look back on memories of me with nothing but smiles on their faces and love in their heart. So here is an open letter to them with a recipe for a life filled with joy.

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Five on Friday: Sick Babies And Intentional Friends

May 13, 2016 By Lauren

Even though this week had a few rough spots, it was full of beautiful sunny days, cozy thunderstorms that made me want to snuggle up with my little man all day, and growing excitement for the summer months ahead when hubby will be home and we have nothing to do but enjoy some sweet time with our little family! Here are a few updates from this past week in the English house.

1) Sick Babies And Little Sleep

Caleb picked up some sort of bug and was coughing and super congested all week. For a few nights in a row he woke himself up frequently throughout the night with his coughing and rough breathing. We finally brought him to the pediatrician on Monday night and after listening to his chest and checking him out, they said he had bronchitis and early signs of pneumonia. Thankfully we caught it early and he responded really well to the medicine within a day or two. It was so, so pitiful to see him coughing, even though he was still sweet and smiley as ever (and even doing tummy time like a champ!). I wish I could protect him from every sickness ever, but I suppose I’ll just take some snuggles and know the sleepless nights will pass.

Little man still did tummy time like a champ. And considering his height/weight are in the 25th percentile and his head is in the 90th, this is quite a feat! 🙂

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How This Blog Will Change After My Blogging Maternity Leave

May 9, 2016 By Lauren

When I shared this post way back in February, I had no idea what the months after our son’s arrival would hold. I’ve written a lot about my fears about motherhood or the ways that pregnancy and motherhood have challenged my perfectionist self, but I really had no idea what to expect when we brought home our squishy, tiny new baby.

Would I find time during naps to sit down and write? Would I still be passionate about writing posts on relationships, marriage, faith, creativity, and other house projects when my days were consumed with taking care of our little one? Would my heart for my corner of the internet grow as I stayed home or wane as I entered into this new season?

I entered into my blogging maternity leave with a lot of questions, and now that we’re a little over two months in to our parenthood journey, I’ve learned a few things about myself and where I want to take this blog moving forward.

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Five on Friday: Birthday Adventures And Crazy Nights

May 6, 2016 By Lauren

Happy weekend, y’all! Even though this week had a few rough nights (see below), it also had some sweet moments and lots to celebrate. And with only two more full weeks of school left until summer break starts and hubby is home with us for 2.5 months, there’s a lot of happy dancing going on in our house! For now, enjoy some fun pictures and updates from our last two weeks!

1) Caleb’s First Wedding

Some friends of ours got married in a beautiful outdoor wedding two weekends ago and it was the first time we dressed up and packed up little man for a big outing like that! He looked oh so handsome and his dad looked pretty sharp too. Is there anything more attractive than a well-dressed man feeding an adorable baby? I think not, people.

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Womanly Wednesday: Guest Posters Needed!

May 4, 2016 By Lauren

My heart for this blog is that it be a place of sobremesa, a place where we gather around the table and share our hearts and our stories. And if just one person does all the talking while we sit around the table, it doesn’t make for much of a conversation.

I started the Womanly Wednesday series to give other women a chance to share their stories in this online space, to open up the conversation to include other voices besides mine. I emailed friends from my childhood, from my college years, and from my life here in Kansas City and asked them to share a part of their story.

The very first Womanly Wednesday post was by my friend Haley and she described her struggles to reconcile being a “grownup” with following her dreams and chasing adventure as a humanitarian photographer.

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Why I Am Overjoyed And Terrified To Be A Stay At Home Mom

May 2, 2016 By Lauren

As the weeks pass by in my maternity leave, I’ve started to get an understandable question from many people: “Are you going back to work?”

Since my heart for this blog (and life in general) is to be honest about the joys and the struggles we all experience, I think it’s time I finally give my answer to that question: I will NOT be returning to work and will be spending my days at home with our kids (both present and future).

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My One Year Blogging Anniversary

April 28, 2016 By Lauren

One year ago this week, I officially launched this blog. A part of me feels like I’ve had this blog forever and the process of writing, creating, and sharing in community with you all has become a normal part of my life that I love and enjoy. Another part of me can’t believe it’s been a year and feels like I’m still so new to this whole blogging world with lots of things to learn.

Over this past year, I’ve seen this blog grow in so many ways. First off, it looks 100% different. I spent 4-6 weeks before launching this blog playing around with the design and coding of it all. I Googled a million things, asked questions in blogging Facebook groups, and learned so much about web design and the blogging world. If you’ve been around since the beginning, you might remember my old design that looked like this picture below! Madison of Grace and Vine Studios helped me redesign the blog to better fit my new goals for it and I love how it looks now!

This blog has also grown a ton in both viewership and its social media community. It’s mind blowing to me that it’s getting 15,000-20,000 views a month, a number that just keeps growing as all you wonderful folks share my posts on Facebook, Pinterest, and any other platforms. I’ve been so encouraged by the community of people who follow this blog on Facebook, especially as I’ve shared about our journey into parenthood. This post below is a great example – I kept going back to read all the encouraging comments from people! If you’re not already a part of this blog’s Facebook community, I hope you’ll consider joining it!

Another thing I’ve loved about the process of writing this blog is how much more confident I’ve grown in my own creative abilities. I remember sharing in this post about how scary it was sometimes to say I’m creative and trust my instincts when it comes to everything from writing to house projects. I’ve had so much fun documenting the changes we’ve made to our house and sharing different crafts, projects, and ideas. One great example is our front room. The makeover we did in this room was so much fun to do and has since gotten thousands of shares on Pinterest (a fun affirmation that I’m not the only one who think it’s pretty darn cute!).

I love taking steps to write posts, design rooms, complete projects, and cook delicious food that uses my creativity in new ways. Running this blog reminds me over and over that I have ideas worth expressing, experiences worth sharing, and creative visions worth putting into action.

As I enter into this new season of motherhood where my days look quite different, I know that this blog will continue to be an outlet, a place where I can share my heart and connect with other women in beautiful ways. I am hoping to share a post soon with some of my reflections from these past months of being on a blogging maternity leave of sorts, so stay tuned for that. No matter what this blog looks like moving forward, I can’t wait to see how it will continue to grow in the next year and the years to come and I can’t wait to keep getting to know all of you wonderful readers!

So long rambling blog post short…thanks to all you folks who keep coming around, who keep reading and sharing my posts, commenting on social media, and reminding me of the quote in this picture below that inspires me over and over. I can’t wait to see what else God has in store for us.