A Day in The Life: Our Routines and Favorite Things

A Slow Day at Home (and the Little Things We’re Loving Right Now)

A day in my life usually looks like slow mornings, simple meals, lots of play, and just enough structure to keep things moving. I wanted to share what a fairly typical day looks like for us, with a few things we use and love sprinkled in along the way. As you're reading, just add in lots of dishes, laundry, diaper changes, toddler bathroom-ing, looking for "your other shoe", some whining and tantrums, correction and instruction, and generally silliness and wild toddler climbing. That's all basically a given.

Oh, and I’ll put links to everything we use at the bottom of the page, since this is a product recommendation site.

Jump to links

We wake up around 7:30, though usually at least one kid is in our bed before this point. Brush teeth, get dressed. The kids' wardrobes are 100% natural fibers except jackets and shoes. Mine is 90% there. My uniform is jeans and a cotton tee or a cotton sweatshirt. Marine Layer and Faherty are my absolute favorite ones. I am loving my Quince crossbody purse right now; I thrifted it for $6 but I am now gonna spend all my money on nice basics at Quince.

If we’re headed out, I grab my Klean Kanteen tumbler. I love that the kids can share it in the car and we always have water when they ask (without bringing 3 water bottles everywhere). Some days it's Costco or Bible study or visiting with family. Other days, if the weather is decent, we ride bikes or walk to the park. We try not to let chilly or drizzly weather deter us, but January and February are a little tougher and that's fine.

Lunch is usually simple. Dinner leftovers or lunch meat, cheese, and veggies. If I remembered to make our staple, gluten-free sandwich bread in the last day or two, we have sandwiches. I make 2-3 loaves a week in my Caraway loaf pan.

I like to start dinner around lunchtime if I can. Our favorite meal right now is braised chuck roast. I’ve been using a Le Creuset braiser now since a used one was gifted to me, but a Lodge non-enameled cast iron braiser is a great option if you’re concerned about the enamel coating. I sear a roast with onion, carrots, and garlic, deglaze with bone broth, put the lid on, and stick it into a 200ºF oven for 4-6 hours. If you don't have a braiser, there are instant pot and crock pot methods too. When it shreds easily with a fork, it’s ready.

We try for nap time next, followed by more play and if dinner is accounted for, maybe a baked good or some sort of prepped item for later in the week, my son is almost 3 and really loves helping, so he does much of the scooping and pouring in, usually successfully. He is also excited about loading and unloading the dishwasher some of the time. Then, it's time to start the side—usually Lundberg brown rice that I buy at Costco since we eat a lot of it. Other nights, it’s instant pot mashed potatoes. Either way, I replace the water with homemade bone broth and add grass-fed butter. It makes a big difference, especially on nights when that’s mostly what the kids eat.

Before dinner, I do a quick clean-up and pick lettuce from the garden bed in the backyard. Ideally this would happen in the morning so it’s less bitter, but I never remember. A quick ice bath helps. I toss it with organic balsamic vinegar and olive oil (we like Bragg after we learned about the whole pthalates thing)*. Weeknight easy mode for the sides.

*If memory serves, this list was not behind a paywall originally and I reviewed it and chose to start buying Bragg's. It wasn't the very best one, but it had low pthalates, a glass bottle, and is readily available where I shop.

I make gravy with the pan juices and a bit of brown rice flour. My husband usually pauses working around this time, and we eat together around five, give or take half an hour.

After dinner it's more play. The Pikler with the slide and the ball pit are the stars of the playroom And yes, a foam and polyester ball pit with plastic balls is really very un-crunchy, I know, but we got the Lily & River one before they shut down and let me tell you, the kids use it every single day. We might build with Magnatiles (we like Conetix brand) or Duplos I thrifted (I am proud because I waited a year to stumble on a good set of them).

Then we do bedtime. You know the drill: sometimes a bath, brush teeth, PJs, read books, sing, pray, nurse my daughter, and phew goodnight. We’ve been putting the kids down closer to 7:30, and I love it. Wrapping up toddler bedtime at 9 pm is just a bummer, and so this rhythm gives my husband and I time together to work on Old Ways Today together, watch Survivor, or just chat or I read.

Our days are slow and we really love them. I’m not great at giving my kids my best when our schedule is packed. If you can manage a lot more, that's truly amazing. I have freedom to be present with the kids, to say yes more often, and to rush and stress less. Tonight, my son asked to make a heart-shaped pizza for dinner at around four in the afternoon, and I got to say yes. This is just what works for us, and right now with 2 little ones under 3 and we are in a groove we are really happy with.

Links & Products Mentioned

Clothing

• Burt’s Bees kids clothes
• Levi’s jeans (check for 100% Cotton - No Stretch)
• Marine Layer I have the Sadie Vintage Slub Crop Tee in basically every color. I meant it when I said it's my uniform.
• Faherty
• Quince Italian leather crossbody purse

Kitchen

• Breville Barista Express espresso machine 7 years of daily use and it's still going strong <3
• Camano Island Coffee Roasters this is what I drink everyday. Organic, local to me, and it ships within 48 hours of roasting! You'll get $20 off using my referral link
• Caraway loaf pan
• Bee's Wrap for storing our homemade sandwich bread
• Le Creuset braiser
• Lodge non-enameled cast iron braiser
• Lundberg brown rice
• Instant Pot
• Bob’s Red Mill brown rice flour
• Klean Kanteen Straw Cup

Toys

• Pikler triangle with slide and arch
• Ball pit
• pthalate free ball pit balls The Lily & River balls all popped sover time so we have replaced with these bpa-free crush-proof ones I recommend. I'll restate it here that there just won't be a non-toxic swap for this kind of thing, but it sure is fun.
• Connetix pastel magnetic tiles
• Duplo blocks

We also recommend these clean toy brands: Tegu daredevil set Tegu robot set PlanToys tool bench Green Toys gardening set Under the Nile This brand is amazing because they use organic cotton throughout down to the filling! Which if you've looked, you know that's nearly impossible to find.