SOCIAL MEDIA

Friday, July 16, 2021

Friday Favorites

Hello hello! We made it to another summer Friday. I am happy to report that we are staying here this weekend and have zero plans. We haven't had a weekend without plans it what feels like forever! I am looking forward to a couple (hopefully) slower days, and going into next week feeling rejuvenated rather than tired. We had a wonderful week and I am looking forward to sharing it with you! 

Favorite Moments:
Our big girl had Princess Ballerina Camp this week which was definitely a favorite for her! She is such a social butterfly and really thrives when being around other kids her age. We have had several playdates this summer with friends, but she is such an extrovert that she seems to thrive in larger groups. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

While Lily Grace was in camp, this sweet boy got to spend a lot of one on one time with his mama. It was a favorite for the both of us! I loved being able to give him my undivided attention for several hours a day. This boy is hilarious and has such a spunky sense of humor. Watching him grow into his personality has been a lot of fun.
Here we went for a walk in the park and he had a muffin. 

We celebrated our 8 year anniversary this week! These past 8 years have flown by and while we definitely get on each other's nerves from time to time, I am so happy we chose each other to spend the rest of our lives with. We had friends and family offer to babysit so we could have a night out just the two of us, but we wanted to celebrate our anniversary with the kids. We grabbed some takeout, had a picnic, and celebrated together at a playground.
I honestly couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the life we've created together than by spending it with our two little loves. 

Favorite Mom Hack:

I've written on here a few times that Lily Grace is starting to transition out of her nap time and is instead having "quiet time" in her room for 45ish minutes. I need those 45 minutes to recharge for a few minutes, get dinner prepped, and either unload the dishwasher or fold a couple loads of laundry. She was starting to get sick of doing the same activities in her room day after day, so I did what any mom/former teacher would do: I turned to Pinterest! The first thing I stumbled across was "quiet time boxes" and I had one of those "oh yeah, duh" moments because it seemed so common sense. In fact, I used to do something similar to this with all the kids toys. The basic idea is to take some toys that are fun but rarely get used, put them in some boxes, and designate the items as "quiet time boxes".  Here's an example of one we used this week:
I pulled out one stencil, some plain white paper for tracing, colored pencils, one puzzle and a coloring sheet. I've noticed when LG has 5-6 different puzzles to choose from she gets overwhelmed and ends up not choosing any of them. Same with stencils and even coloring pages sometimes. By limiting it to only one choice per day, she doesn't feel overwhelmed and just gets to work. 

Here's another box:

Letter magnets (I gave her a cookie sheet so they would have something to stick to), some sight word sheets, a color by number page, and a library book (not pictured). Lily Grace is showing an interest in reading so I'm encouraging it with the sight words/color by number type of activities, but am definitely not pushing it at this age. If she's interested, cool. If not, also cool. She's only 4, there's no need to rush it!

I have 3 boxes that I set up on Sunday afternoon for the week ahead, then she gets one box on each day she doesn't nap. She still naps 3-4 times per week so we haven't gotten to the point where we run out of "new" boxes, but if that happens I'd probably just give her one from earlier in the week.  

This has made everyone's afternoon run so much more smoothly!! 

Favorite New Thing:

I saw this new Garnier Whole Blends shampoo bar advertised online and thought it sounded interesting... shampoo in a bar?? Like soap? How would that work? I was curious. 
By making the shampoo in the shape of a bar instead of a liquid, they are able to use less plastic. You know I'm always down for using less plastic whenever possible. I bought one, put it in my gym bag and used it for the first time yesterday. I honestly really really liked it! It lathered up surprisingly well, got my hair clean, and I won't have to deal with refilling my gym bag shampoo 2-3 times a week. It would be great to keep in my travel bag too so I don't need to buy those little travel plastic shampoo bottles when we travel. It's especially a pain when carrying your luggage on since you can only bring 3 oz. 

I just rubbed it around in my hands like a regular bar of soap, then worked the suds through my hair. I hope they are able to come out with a conditioner soon too. 

Thanks for reading along today! I hope you have a great weekend!

Today I am linking up with Andrea and Erika for Friday Favorites. Have a great day!

5 comments :

  1. Those rest time boxes are a great idea! I might have to do those.
    Caroline @Dramatic in the Best Way

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  2. Happy anniversary! Enjoy your quiet weekend!

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  3. Happy anniversary! So sweet you wanted to spend it with your kids!
    Sarah at MeetTheShaneyfelts

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  4. Happy anniversary! I love the princess camp photos. So sweet! Hayden and I had lots of quality time last week when Hadley was at camp 😆Have a great week!

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