The Mom Hour

Feeding a family can be fun or frustrating, simple or complicated, rewarding or full of resentment. The one thing it will always be? NECESSARY. If you have a family, they have to eat, and in this episode we talk about how that works - from grocery shopping to meal planning to gaining confidence as a home cook.LINKS MENTIONED:How an hour in the kitchen gave me back my evenings (Meagan for The Happiest Home)The six-meal shuffle: extremely simplified meal-planning (Meagan for The Happiest Home)What I make for dinner when I don’t feel like making dinner (Sarah’s post about “copout dinners”)How we beat the fast-food habit (Meagan for The Happiest Home)The beginner’s guide to shopping at Aldi and How does Aldi keep its prices so low? (Meagan’s Aldi-love on The Happiest HomeAnd just for fun, How Trader Joe’s sells affordable goods (since Sarah is a TJ’s shopper)Episode 63 of The Home Hour, all about The Homemade Kitchen (Meagan’s interview with Alana Chernila)MORE HELPFUL LINKS:Visit our websiteCheck out deals from our partnersFollow us on InstagramJoin our private listener group on Facebook (be sure to answer the membership questions!)Sign up for our newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Where Meagan lives in Michigan, temperatures are dropping and leaves are turning. For Sarah in SoCal, people just wish those things were true. Join us as we laugh about everyone's favorite season to talk about - from Pumpkin Spice Lattes to late-90s J. Crew pea coats. We also share a few ideas for bringing fall into the kitchen, no matter what the thermometer says outdoors. Enjoy Episode 22, and thanks for listening!LINKS MENTIONED:An Open Letter To People Who Can’t Stop Talking About Pumpkin Spice Lattes (Sarah’s most viral post ever)4 Easy “Hunk-o-Meat” Dinners PLUS Leftover Ideas (Meagan also has tons of specific cooking tips, products, and other great stuff in this post for The Happiest Home)Lentil Soup with Italian Sausage & Vegetables (Sarah’s recipe with tricks for getting comfortable experimenting with soups and stews)Scanpan (Sarah’s go-to saute pan, also oven-safe)MORE HELPFUL LINKS:Visit our websiteCheck out deals from our partnersFollow us on InstagramJoin our private listener group on Facebook (be sure to answer the membership questions!)Sign up for our newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Showing support for your child’s school and educational experience matters. But does that mean we all have to chaperone field trips and join the PTA? Meagan and Sarah say, rather emphatically, nope. In Episode 21 we tackle eight myths surrounding what it means to be a “good school mom,” and help debunk those myths for those of you new to the school parenting journey. We also talk about the meaningful ways we have found to volunteer or participate at school, and share some advice from teachers that might surprise you.LINKS MENTIONED: 7 “Good School Mom” Myths, Debunked! (Meagan for The Happiest Home)Hilariously Honest PTA Form Goes Viral (The Huffington Post)Sometimes Good Moms Miss The Class Party (Allison Slater Tate)6 Themed Dress-Up Days This Mom Can Totally Get Behind (Sarah for Scary Mommy)The Parent-Teacher Relationship (Meagan’s interview with teacher and author Erica Ladd)Laura Fuentes’s lunch-packing resource Momables.com, and Meagan’s interview with Laura on the same topicsEdit Your Life Episode 4: School Lunch Solutions (great ideas from our friends Asha and Christine)Meagan’s active wear obsession: FableticsMORE HELPFUL LINKS:Visit our websiteCheck out deals from our partnersFollow us on InstagramJoin our private listener group on Facebook (be sure to answer the membership questions!)Sign up for our newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Routines are powerful. When they're just right, we feel energized and balanced. When they're a little off, we feel unsettled. And when they completely fall by the wayside, we sometimes need a complete reset to get back on track (looking at you, back-to-school season).LINKS MENTIONED:LaCroix water, specifically Meagan’s favorite flavors: apricot, blackberry-cucumber, and cherry-limeMusic Together, Sarah’s favorite activity for moms and babies or toddlers to do togetherDear Moms: Sleep Deprivation is Nothing to Brag About (Meagan for The Happiest Home)Sarah’s thoughts on early risers (including that handy night-light that changes color at wake-up time)Rookie Moms’ genius hack for getting out the door without yelling (which inspired Sarah’s evening lullaby playlist)MORE HELPFUL LINKS:Visit our websiteCheck out deals from our partnersFollow us on InstagramJoin our private listener group on Facebook (be sure to answer the membership questions!)Sign up for our newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Once upon a time, Meagan and Sarah were new moms. And we worried - a lot. Years later, we look back at some of the things we could have lightened up about just a tad. (Or a lot.) Episode 19 is for new moms - and anyone who can remember being one. We talk about agonizing over ounces pumped and hours slept (or not slept), and offer a little perspective from where we are now.LINKS MENTIONED:La Leche League’s breast milk storage guidelines (Kelly Mom also has good ones)Rookie Moms, an online resource for new moms that we both loveMotherhood Around the World series (Joanna Goddard, A Cup of Jo)Babies (2010 documentary from Focus Features)Some posts we’ve written about new motherhood:On labels & limits: why I no longer calls myself an ‘attachment parent’ (Meagan)A letter to my friend, about to be a mom (Sarah)MORE HELPFUL LINKS:Visit our websiteCheck out deals from our partnersFollow us on InstagramJoin our private listener group on Facebook (be sure to answer the membership questions!)Sign up for our newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Meagan has never identified as a "sports parent," but this fall she has four kids in four different sports. Sarah is still learning to find the balance between protecting precious time at home and allowing her younger kids to explore different activities.LINKS MENTIONED:‘I love to Watch You Play’ but Not Every Game (Sharon Holbrook for The New York Times Motherlode blog)Minimalist Parenting, authored by our friends Asha and ChristineMORE HELPFUL LINKS:Visit our websiteCheck out deals from our partnersFollow us on InstagramJoin our private listener group on Facebook (be sure to answer the membership questions!)Sign up for our newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Do the supply lists and back-to-school clothes shopping expectations overwhelm you? You’re not alone. In this episode, Meagan and Sarah share real-life tips and tricks for minimizing back-to-school stress and enjoying the process of returning to routine.LINKS MENTIONED:Posts from The Happiest HomeMeagan’s Lunch Box Challenge series from 2011 (the giveaway is obviously years out-of-date, but the featured products remain staples in Meagan’s kitchen)11 Children’s Books About Starting SchoolMeagan’s strategy for Organizing Off-Season Clothes & Hand-me-downsOn Love, Laundry, and Finding Satisfaction in the Work of NurturingThat gorgeous bento box lunch is explained in this post (and no, Meagan didn’t make it)Other podcast episodes you might love…Meagan’s interview with Erica Ladd, teacher and author of Candid ClassroomMeagan and Sarah’s back-to-school episode of The Home Hour from 2014Episode 16 (in case you missed it!) about choosing the right school for your kidsMeagan’s favorite electric pencil sharpener (similar to this one), and the one Sarah has at homeAsha Dornfest & Christine Koh’s great new podcast, the Edit Your Life showSarah Stewart Holland’s post on Bluegrass Redhead about Celebrating Without ConsumptionMORE HELPFUL LINKS:Visit our websiteCheck out deals from our partnersFollow us on InstagramJoin our private listener group on Facebook (be sure to answer the membership questions!)Sign up for our newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Repeat after us, moms: It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. Choosing a school for your child can seem like a life-altering, permanent decision. In Episode 16, Meagan and Sarah are here to reassure you that it isn't. We share our own experience making school choices for our kids, from private to public to home schooling to charters to magnets to lotteries to... (Nope, not kidding. We've actually experienced, and discuss in this episode, all of those things.)LINKS MENTIONED:Posts on The Happiest HomeHomeschool, Private School, Public? Education Choices & The ‘Ideal Mother’How To Be Confident In Your School ChoiceWhy Meagan’s Daughter Didn’t Go To Preschool (And What They Did Instead)* Satire Alert! * Mother Still Searching For Preschool That Focuses Exclusively On Her Son (The Onion)Sarah’s piece on The Mid: The Homework I Wish My Child Brought Home From SchoolWhy We Don’t Stress Out About Choosing a School (Design Mom)Afterschooling: An Update (The Art of Simple)MORE HELPFUL LINKS:Visit our websiteCheck out deals from our partnersFollow us on InstagramJoin our private listener group on Facebook (be sure to answer the membership questions!)Sign up for our newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In episode 15, Meagan and Sarah get into the details of chores, home management, delegating, and helping kids take on age-appropriate responsibilities.LINKS MENTIONED:Relevant posts from The Happiest Home:Delegate Like Downton: A Strategy For Managing Home HelpersConfessions of a Chore-Chart DropoutThe Honey-Do List & Why It Works For UsHow Meagan Learned To Keep A Cleaner HouseSometimes It’s OK To Be a Control Freak (or, why Meagan doesn’t delegate certain tasks)MORE HELPFUL LINKS:Visit our websiteCheck out deals from our partnersFollow us on InstagramJoin our private listener group on Facebook (be sure to answer the membership questions!)Sign up for our newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Well, we've reached THAT point in the summer. The one where you have no idea what day it is and your kids eat Otter Pops and Nutella-straight-from-the-jar for breakfast (and if you think we're exaggerating, just WAIT). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.