Less on the Plate

Ahhh, you know how it feels to finally just say no to the extras? It's a relief, let me tell you. It's been a long time coming, but--  

I finally closed "my shop" officially!

The shop was something that was incredibly fun to plan, to dream about, to really immerse myself in preparing. I loved teaching myself how to create a business of my own, how the permits and the wholesale/retail concept works. I love learning new things, and finding new ways to be organized, and working with my talented sister to design a website that can host a shop as well. I'm so glad I tried it, and I'm so glad to be closing it. Real life comes first, and the timing of the shop opening coincided with some stresses (I touched on them in this post), and basically I felt from the moment it opened that I had bitten off more than I could chew. 

SO. Here I am, back to the basics. I have a blog. I use social media-- well Instagram-- a lot. I can focus on what I love to do, which is to take pictures and type on a screen. From the moment that blogs were a thing, I knew it was a good fit for me, and I'm ready to get back to sharing life in my limited free time, rather than randomly running to the post office. When I'm stressed or have too much on my mind and plate, I don't feel like I can write on my blog. I obviously have my hands full with three kids, and less is way, way more these days.

I still have some inventory that I'm happy to send out if you'd like-- just shoot me an email inquiry at kate@stylesmaller.com, and I can let you know if we have what you're looking for. I also may clear the remaining pieces of inventory to my ShopStyleSmaller Instagram, if you'd like to follow that account and be in the know when I'm posting things for sale. :) 

xoxo, Kate

Cooking with Sunbasket

There are a million things I've learned from being a mother, and one of them is that my children eat. A LOT. Maybe your children are nibblers and when you eat out, you can order one kid's meal for three to share, and then you'll have leftovers. I know people like you, and you tell me what good eaters mine are and I tell you how $$$ it is to keep them fed and we both wish for a bit more of a happy medium. My children are the ones who each need an entree for themselves, and Jack eats milk around the clock, making me far too capable of eating two adult meals on my own. We eat a lot. 

I've become a relatively proficient cook in the last three years. Before that, I scraped together soups and tacos most evenings, and had breakfast-for-dinner far more than I care to admit. Once my children started easing past the toddler stage, I had to up my cooking game. Now I'm at the point where I actually enjoy cooking, and I LOVE when I get the time to make a really nutritious family meal where all the plates are clean and tummies full. 

I consistently dislike a couple factors. PLANNING, and buying ingredients that I can't use before they spoil. It's also hard to come up with new ideas for dinner on weeknights when life feels literally insane. I'm working very hard to be better at menu planning, but I love that in this day and age we have other options when we can't quite get our act together for dinner planning. 

Enter Sunbasket. They offered us a box full of ingredients and recipes, and I couldn't refuse-- one week without menu planning? Wellllll okay, if you insist. ;)

I'm a sucker for good packaging, and they start from the box on my doorstep. Everything is separated into daily meals, and packed carefully to maintain freshness. Labels on every individual item (the organization-lover in me gets way too excited about this sort of thing, ha!)

The recipes are straightforward. Some are quick, some take a little longer, but I'm not the type to mind some mindless chopping. Take the picture above... it took maybe about five minutes to chop all of the veggies for a chicken recipe. That doesn't bother me at all-- it may not be your cup of tea. I will say, the vegetables were GORGEOUS, and I have never in my life purchased shallots, and I had no idea how simple it was to make all of those beautiful veggies taste so good in the oven. The girls were raving. There are no leftover ingredients. Everything packaged by Sunbasket goes into the recipe, so you don't have too much or too little of anything. SO IDEAL.

Maggie firmly believes she is a chef. She asks to help me make most meals. She watches Masterchef Junior and believes she will definitely be able to compete when she's old enough. She looked at all the recipes and decided she would be in charge of making the smoothie. 

It was purple. She was sold. It was delicious. I was sold. 

Really, Sunbasket is a sanity-saver. I want so badly to be the wife and mother who has the home together, the kids together, and the meals together, but sometimes something has got to give. Rather than ordering in junk food or making bleary eyed extra trips to the store when I don't manage to get my cooking act together, I am so glad to have this option. There are paleo meals, gluten free, vegetarian... options for all the food restrictions and food preferences. 

Thanks Sunbasket! Looking forward to ordering another box. You can take a look at some of their incredible meals below, and get $30 off your first box by clicking HERE. 

Happy eating!

Meals were provided for review. All were delicious. All opinions are my own. 

Baby Sweet Baby

Books to Love: 01

Our bookshelves are packed. I'm REALLY good at donating toys, passing all the clothing hand-me-downs in the right direction, and purging excess... except when it comes to books. Books we collect and it's hard to let them go. I was a reader as a child, and it makes me SO happy to see that my kids are loving books the way I have. 

Our bookshelf holds a ton of paperbacks, because let's be honest: you get the most bang for your buck! As Sophie has become a more advanced reader in first grade, the goal is quantity vs. quality in this particular scenario. Before we were accumulating the $2 books through book orders, she had basically memorized all of the books at her reading level.

We've begun a solid collection of the inexpensive paperbacks, and will continue to add to that, BUT we also want to purchase stories for the ages. We love the kind that will stand up to wear and tear, and have the scrawled childhood names of my kids in their first page, and will be read to the next generation as well. 

While Sophie is a great reader, the majority of our books are still being read aloud by Brian and me. I have read my fair share of terribly dull stories, so a huge bonus to loving the book is keeping it entertaining for parents AND kids. 

Here are our January picks for each of my kiddos:

Maggie 1. Mix it Up > this is the sequel to Press Here. Both are brilliant and I recommend them as the perfect gift for preschool ages (2-5 year olds). Mix it up is a fantastic book that asks kids to interact with the pages and "mix colors" with their fingers or hands and even by physically shaking the book. I would have absolutely loved to have this book as a child. Maggie is particularly in love with it, and she has memorized the words so that she can "read" it to herself at quiet time regularly.

Sophie 2. The True Story of The Three Little Pigs > We've had this one for awhile (I may have recommended it before), but it ended up in the back of the shelf and we hadn't read it in ages. I heard Brian laughing from the other room recently, and went in and he was reading this story to the girls. I actually sat in and listened because it really is entertaining, and I love hearing my girls giggle. "All the wolf wanted was a cup of SUGAR!" followed by a shriek of laughter. Sophie can read it herself now-- probably best for 5-7 year olds, and she does because it's a good one (also, we have it in hardcover and will keep it forever, but it's only $6 in paperback now if you prefer). 

Jack 3. Trains Go > The illustrations in this book are GORGEOUS. I love them so much that I actually looked into finding prints of the trains inside for Jack's bedroom, but so far no luck. The book does not have many words, but it has train sounds and Jack has been really enjoying it. I actually set Jack on his boppy pillow for tummy time on my bed as I get ready in the morning, and I set this book in front of him for him to enjoy the pictures as I quickly get dressed for the day. It honestly looks hilarious to have him "reading" books at 4 months, but he seems to love it, so I'll keep doing it! ;) 

There you have them: January book picks for kids! SO many more book picks to come this year. :)

xoxo.

Photos above by Modern Kids. Affiliate links included in post.

Happy New Year!

photo by Modern Kids Photography

I took down the Christmas tree, shopped for groceries with all of San Francisco, and started a two month retreat from desserts this weekend.

Predictable and VERY happy new year. 

I'm a big fan of new years. I understand that it's only a number on a calendar that is really changing, but I love the newness, the hope of some sort of better me. I expected last year to have gone much differently than it did (i.e. easier ;), but at the end of the year,  I had a healthy baby and hopefully a whole lot more character built through the challenges. It feels good to emotionally leave the (almost two years of) bad health as a memory, and be able to fully enjoy this stage of our lives. 

I had such high hopes of sharing with you the wealth of learning I did during Jack's birth and bringing him home and juggling three children, teaching my baby the beauty of sleep, etc.... but I truly couldn't properly think until week 12, during which the Christmas season was in full effect.

My mom reminded me (on week 11 when I was talking about how I'm finally coming out of the haze) that the first 12 weeks of our babies' lives can be called the 4th trimester. Hormones are out of balance, our bodies are trying to recover from a significantly painful procedure, and we are rest-deprived while trying to bounce back asap to create some semblance of normalcy for our older children. It was a comfort to hear that my flailing attempts at doing it all were unnecessary, and I could forgive myself for falling behind in so many areas. I'm the type who wants to just bounce back! The Rosie the Riveter concept that "I can do it all" and "nothing needs to hold me back."

To moms having babies, here are my biggest tips and words of wisdom: ... it IS okay to be far from where you were pre-baby. It IS okay to have a huge mess, it's okay if you don't write on your blog for months even when you promised you would (wink, wink), and it IS okay if your daughter gets to school a few minutes late sometimes, and if you just completely forget about soccer practice. You just had a baby. 

SO. I've now muddled my way through all of that, and have come out on the other side of the holiday season invigorated. I'm excited to get Sophie to school, Maggie to extracurriculars, and get the grocery shopping done in person (though special thanks to San Francisco for having Instacart and insta-everything to deliver groceries as needed these months). I'm thrilled to be typing words on here (though pardon any typos/grammar; time is totally limited here). I'm excited to organize and keep color coordinated closets and bookshelves back in order. We're all sleeping through the night and Jack is about to move to his own crib, and the forecasts are rainy and cozy. I'm aware that days ahead will hold their own challenges, and that this year- as all years- cannot be perfect... but for today, I'll just worry about today, and I'll declare it to be a good one.

Happy 2016!!