Hi there! I’m Natasha – the face behind and the mom in charge of this award-winning blog, Houseful of Nicholes (pronounced like nickles). I’m an African-American blogger living right in the heart of Chicago, where I was born and raised. I’m currently raising four children who were born in 2000 – a boy, Nathaniel, 2008 – a girl, the ladybug, and twins(boy and girl) Lil Miss and Sir Twizzler 2010. My husband, Shomari, and I have been together since 1994, with one Ross and Rachel break somewhere in there. Hey, we were teenagers. I recently just explained HOW awesome we were in my story about our first kiss.
Houseful of Nicholes came to be in 2010 when I found out that I was pregnant with our twin children. I couldn’t find a place on the internet that I resonated with as far as planning for expanding a family by two people at once, let alone one that came from the point of view of an African-American family. Since then, I’ve shared our growing pains, our wins (potty training), and everything in between that it takes to be a wife, and mom of four in the city.
I’ve shared my expertise on travel, homeschooling three young children, and marriage for young and old folk alike. I have grown up around solid marriages, and family units and love being able to share that part of myself with a wider audience. I love showing how large(ish) families can have fun, and not go broke, or be bored to tears.
My husband and I have been fortunate to team up with Habitat for Humanity as a partner family and started the journey to build our own home in May 2014. We are excited to begin this new chapter of our lives, and I also can’t wait to fully decorate and outfit the house so that it will be perfect for our family.
After moving into our newly built home, I decided along with my husband, that we wanted to take the information that I learned from being a Field Mom and community building that we learned from Habitat for Humanity and start an award-winning community garden initiative. We started with our backyard garden in the Spring of 2015, and we’ll continue with the first of three lots in our community to provide food for those around us. In a sense, I’m loving being a part-time homesteader smack dab in the city of Chicago. Soon, we’ll move on to chickens!
I’m a maker by nature. I love making things. Sewing. Knitting. Canning. Preserving. Building. I love it all, and various posts will reflect that at any given time.
I’ve had the awesome opportunity to partner and speak at various places. To date, I’ve worked with companies such as Samsung, General Mills, Dream Kids, and have had the chance to speak at conferences such as BlogHer, WITS (Women In Travel, Mom 2.0, Blogalicious, and National Box Tops University and various Illinois Farm Bureau and agricultural summits.
If you need to get in touch with me, you can find me on the following platforms:
email: natasha@housefulofnicholes.com
natasha@wesowwegrow.org
Facebook – Houseful of Nicholes
We Sow We Grow
Houseful of Stitches
Twitter @natashanicholes
@wesowwegrow
Instagram @natashanicholes
@wesowwegrow
@housefulofstitches
Looking forward to hearing from you! Thank you so much for stopping by.