Summer has officially begun and we are embracing the change of pace it brings for our homeschool lifestyle. After completing our curriculum workbooks in April and balancing various activities such as baking, handwriting, gardening, and aquarium visits, we are ready for some summer fun! We've also managed to fit in end-of-year testing, dance competitions, a dance recital, taekwondo belt testing, and Kensi's 5th grade graduation. Whew! Can you tell we need to slow down?
This year, we've decided to create a summer bucket list, something we skipped last year. The kids have numerous ideas, but it's essential for us to balance fun activities with downtime to foster creativity. I know as a parent of five boredom can become bothersome, but it's nothing to be afraid of as it helps the kids use their imagination. Our list includes budget-friendly activities like pool visits and backyard movie nights, alongside short day trips to explore different towns.
We are eager to dive into our summer plans and would love to hear about your favorite summer activities. Finding that perfect mix of fun and relaxation is key, and we're excited for what's ahead this season!
Happy February friends and welcome to my new space for my blog that started over 12 years ago! It's been a hot little minute since I've shared on this type of platform because I've been slowly moving my old blog posts over here. (still working on it btw). As our family has grown over the last couple years and so had our life, I knew I really wanted to move into a space where I could keep many of the things I continue to work on such as sharing fun crafts, delicious recipes and tips for wellness all in one space! So here we are, welcome to Braden & Crew! I am thrilled to have you here and hope you feel inspired by the things I share.
For those that may be new, I'm Rachael Braden. I married my high school sweetheart, Mike, in 2009 and we immediately moved to Rockville, Maryland where he worked for the government and I taught at a private preschool. During our 2.5 years in Maryland we moved to Frederick, explored the state on our weekends, and would often make day trips to the beaches in Delaware. In 2011 we moved back to our hometown of Bennington, Nebraska (just outside of Omaha) and welcomed our first daughter, Kensington. After a year and a half in Omaha we packed everything up again and moved to an area just outside of Wilmington, North Carolina. We're right on the coast and about 30 minutes from the beach. We've been here for 10 years, welcomed four more children and absolutely love where we live!
I've been a stay at home mom since our first baby, slowly stepped into homeschooling, started my own Young Living business and love finding natural alternatives as often as possible. It's definitely a balancing act between natural and unnatural products and I can confidently say we love our essential oils, making sourdough bread and gardening, but we also love boxed cheese crackers, French fries may be one of our favorite foods, and please let me eat chocolate every day. Thank you for being here and I hope I can inspire you as I share a little bit about our lives.
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 |
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!
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)
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!
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)
