Packing School Lunches - Motivation, Tips and a PRINTABLE!

Today I am sharing a printable I created to give you some ideas for kids school lunches. Whether you are already a few weeks into school or have a few weeks left of summer (like us!), this is a printable for you! Stick it inside a cupboard door, your home management binder or your fridge. Glance at it when you feel in a rut for lunches and try some new foods. 

DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE HERE 

If you'd like to watch my YouTube video sharing some of our favorite lunch packing tips, here is a link for that video! Thanks for watching and Happy Back To School!

Back To School Collab - Lunch Packing Tips 

A Meal Planning Tool With FREE Printable!

Let's chat a bit about meal planning. Do you love it? Like it? Loathe it? I tend to fall into the "love it" category. But I know it can be such a chore that quickly gets tossed aside. But come 4 o'clock on a weekday, we often wish we would have planned some meals for the week. The baby is screaming, the house looks like a tornado went off and your hubby is due home in an hour. Yikes. 

And all you can think is, "I should have planned some meals for the week."

In a future post we will chat about the process of actually meal planning but for now I wanted to give you a simple tool to help you meal plan easier and faster. 

It's a place to write all of your families favorite meals. Sometimes we can get in a major rut when it comes to our meals. We tend to cook our favorites or the things we know our kids will eat over and over again. Don't they say that variety is the spice of life? Or something like that. :)

So here is a page that you can print to add to your Home Management Binder or tape to the side of your fridge. You can slip it into a clear protective sheet and keep it from spills and messy fingers. I actually had a list of our favorite meals written into my planner but with 2015, that planner was no longer relevant so I decided to create this printable for myself...and you! 

Take some time to sit down with your family (maybe over dinner tonight!) and get a list of their favorites too. Bring the family back together around the table and let planning meals for your family be something that isn't a major stress. 

Let's Eat! 

DOWNLOAD OUR FAVORITE MEALS DOCUMENT

My YouTube Channel

So in the name of jumping into something new and fresh, I started a YouTube channel. I know, what?! Let me just say...guys...I'm so excited about this. I've been watching YouTube videos for about a year now. I found I could easily watch while getting ready for the day, while putting away laundry or just to unwind at the end of the day. I've found this amazing community of moms that I just love to follow. They were having so much fun. I wanted to be a part of it! 

So I jumped on it. 

I got out of my own way and hit record. And before I knew it - I was on the internet. My talking, bumbling, batty eyed self. 

It's comical to see yourself and hear your voice. I was in my total natural state of being so to see myself in my element is so bizarre.

But I'm loving it. 

My channel is an extension of my blog. For now I'm posting mostly organizing videos though I have some varied content coming up very shortly. 

On my blog I will focus on more heart related things though I will still explore lots of other content. It's easier to post how to's in a video format while it's more difficult to talk about heart matters on YouTube. It's better for me to put fingers to keys and blog. 

So be on the lookout for content from both avenues. I'm also building a Sweetly Home Facebook page where we can connect as well. I'll share that link as soon as it's launched. 

In the meantime, you can find me at my instagram account or on Pinterest. And of course, here is a link to my channel. :) 


Here's my latest video about organizing Aubrey's clothes for school. I hope you enjoy it!

What's In A Name?

If you've been hanging out with me awhile, you may notice a few changes around here. Most notably, my blog name. I'll be honest - that was a really hard change. "Finding Home" had been birthed in my heart several years ago and it truly was what this blog was all about. As we have been out of our home for the past four years due to our renovation, it felt even more true. We really were finding our home when we didn't have a physical structure to even call our own. Where was home? How were we creating it? With the addition of our children, the face of our home changed even more. We were Finding Home.

But in the midst of this time, another blog came along with the same name. And she created something beautiful. And big. And her blog and her presence came to be known as Finding Home. And it was hard to see that precious name I held so dearly be birthed into something so big that wasn't mine. But this beautiful thing that she created was just so good. And it only felt right that I changed my name. Not that my blog - or my social media presence - would probably even cross paths with this other Finding Home - but I didn't want to chance it. I didn't want confusion. And I didn't want to be in the shadow of something so great.

And so I let Finding Home go.

And it was hard. It hurt.

But something new was birthed.

And it feels good.

And right.

And that's all that matters.


So welcome to Sweetly Home. There is so much goodness wrapped up in this title. So much that I can feel tangibly. All I want in this life is to create a beautiful, sweet, wonderful space for the people in my life who I love so dearly. It is the the sweet spot in my life. The place where I can create and craft and conjure up this beautiful life for my family and those who we are blessed to call friends.

Thank you for journeying on with us. There is so much more to be written and so much more to be shared. Come along with us, won't you?