Book Review: Present over Perfect

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“How we live matters, and what you choose to own will shape your life, whether you choose to admit it or not. Let's live lightly, freely, courageously, surrounded only by what brings joy, simplicity, and beauty.”

I think I have found my favorite book of 2019. I have long been a fan of Shauna's writing and when I started hearing good things about her book, Present over Perfect, I knew I had to read it.

This book is so, so good. I honestly don't have the words to describe all my thoughts. Shauna shares about how she is/was a type A, overachiever that realized she wasn't enjoying life. That somehow, in the midst of all her success, she was failing to live the life she wanted to.

“Present is living with your feet firmly grounded in reality, pale and uncertain as it may seem. Present is choosing to believe that your own life is worth investing deeply in, instead of waiting for some rare miracle or fairytale. Present means we understand that the here and now is sacred, sacramental, threaded through with divinity even in its plainness. Especially in its plainness.”

In this book, Shauna shares how she stepped back and evaluated what she really wanted to get out of life, and then what she needed to remove to live the life she wanted to.

So much in this book I can relate to. In fact, I think many mothers can. As moms (and dads), our days and lives get really busy, and with there always something to be done. It's easy to miss the little things in life when taking care of all the needs.

I know for me this really resonated. I tend to not relax, even when I should be relaxing. If I have free time, it's always taking care of something, or sitting down to answer one more email, or write one more article. A "lazy" afternoon is spent washing dishes and folding laundry.

“I don't want to get to the end of my life and look back and realize that the best thing about me was I was organized.”

So, after reading this book, I've decided that, like Shauna, I too need to change something. I'm going to start cutting out things in order to make more time for the things that I want to enjoy. Living the life that I want to really LIVE.

I'm not sure what that looks like at the moment, maybe it's less blogging, more reading, less cleaning, and more adventures. Whatever it is, my goal for 2020 is to find it out.

All that said, this book is so good, and I highly recommend it. Please read it, and if you have already, let me know your thoughts about it. I'd love to hear them!

Thanksgiving 2019

 

Happy Saturday! 

We had a really quiet and laid back Thanksgiving this year. All the family went over to my dad's house to celebrate. We made (and ate) a ton of good food, watched one of the Friends Thanksgiving episodes, went for a walk, and just relaxed. 

Yesterday was a really odd day since Adam had to work, but it felt like the weekend. Now Adam's off hunting, and I'm drinking my second cup of coffee. The children have been up for hours, and poor Adri is STILL sick with a fever and bad cold (it seems to be coming and going). 

We were planning on getting our tree today, but since Adri is sick, I'm not sure how that will work. We might have to wait until tomorrow or next week. 

I'm off to curl up on the couch and finish reading this (book review coming when I'm done!) and read this too. 

Have a wonderful Saturday! 

Our Weekend

Happy Thanksgiving week! The past weekend (and continuing into this week) have been kinda crazy. Piper got hit with the fever/cold that Adam had last weekend, and now, this morning, Adri is sick (just when Piper is feeling a little better). 

To top off our bout with sickness we found out the other day that the engine is shot in our new car (that we just bought 6 months ago). Sooo, that means that we either scrap the vehicle that we just got or invest over $3000 to get it back up and running (which is probably the route we'll take, since it's well-worth putting money into). 

Anyway, lots of stress there, and it couldn't have happened at a worse time of year (and after moving twice this past year).

Oh, well, I guess this is adulting, right? 

So, moving on...I can't believe that we are already at the end of the month! December is really full for us, with things happening nearly every weekend, so I guess the countdown to the 25th has started! 

Last week we had some lovely weather, and I took the girls to the playground for the afternoon. We live right around the corner from the playground, so we go there a lot (it's basically in our backyard), and the girls love it. 

Okay, I'm off to tend to my sick and grumpy children. I'm sure I won't be back here until after Thanksgiving, so if you want to keep up with what is going on, make sure that you are following me on Instagram. 

Also, in case you missed it last week, here is a little list of our favorite board games (we really love the Tea Party one!).

Happy Tuesday and have a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

A few good sales going on right now

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Okay, so I wasn't planning on posting this today, but I saw there were a lot of good deals going on right now on Amazon so I thought I'd share some of my favorites that I saw. This is when I kinda (almost) regret having all my Christmas shopping done!).

• My new diaper bag backpack that I love is on sale for 15% off! 
• Tablet. Our kids each have a tablet and with this deal (half off!), you can't go wrong. I love using ours for educational games and school for Adri (we have ABC Mouse and love it. They are also having a whopping 49% off annual subscription right now!). 
• Amazon Fire Stick. We have one and love it. No need for a smart t.v (although we have one of those too). 
• DNA testing kit. I got Adam one of these for his birthday this past year. They are SO cool! 
• If you eat a lot of eggs I'm sure this would come in really handy (I might go order one right now!). 
• This Fitbit watch is $50 off. I'm kinda on the fence about these, but I'm sure I'd really like the practicality of it. 
• As much as I love physical books I do love my Kindle for traveling. This one is on major sale! 
• This Eureka Bagless Vacuum is only $59 ($10 off!). That's a really good vacuum for under $100!
• This 6-quart InstaPot is $59 off! Such a good deal! 
• I'm a Nikon girl but for those Canon lovers out there this Rebel T6 on massive sale-$350 off! 
• This wireless charger is $20 off. I'm grabbing one right now! 
• Okay, kinda random but I love these whiskey glasses. And under $10! 
• I might also get this record player. We've been wanting one and this is less than $40.

Houseplant Care 101

One of the questions that I get a lot is about our houseplants. Adam and I both love plants and gardening. During our last two moves, we ended up losing more plants than I'd care to admit (some of them did not handle the move well at ALL), but thankfully, not everyone suffered. I'm happy to report that the plants that I have left seem to have stabilized and are doing really well now.

Okay, so on to the plant care. There are a few rules that I follow when caring for our plants, and it seems to work pretty well.

To start with. We have a variety of plants. I have a huge fiddle leaf fig, my rose and orange-scented geranium (I combined two geraniums), my giant Mama Pothos, a rubber plant, a dragon tree, two Christmas cactus, a rosemary plant, and a TON of succulents (I'm sure I'm missing some other plants too).

Okay. So, I figure out what amount of sunlight each plant need and sent them accordingly around the house. My aloes wanted more sunshine than what I have here, so they are still at my dad's house.

I only water once a week, and it's usually Mondays. They see to do best when I'm consistent on the days that I water, so I try to stick with that. Remember, with most plants (especially succulents), it's better to underwater than overwater them.

I also cut them back fairly often. While they might look good overgrown, it's not healthy for them. I give most of my plants a haircut every six months or so.

Spray them down. Our place is relatively dry (this won't apply to you if you have a damp house), so every 10 days or so I give everyone a spritzing with the spray bottle.

Fiddle Leaf. With Mister Fiddle leaf, I also rub some coconut oil on his leaves every month. It seems to keep him nice and shiny.

Other than that, I make sure that everyone has a big enough pot to grow and in and isn't crowded.

That's it! If you have any questions, just leave a comment, and I'll be sure to answer them!

Our favorite board games (young child edition)

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We love board games around here; however, it took me a while after having children to figure out how to play board games with my kiddos. My solution? Find games that they can not only play, but everyone likes to play.
The weather here in New England is chilly now, and when it's not too cold and windy to venture outdoors, it's raining. Therefore we've been spending a lot of time indoors. Here's a little list of our favorite board games that we like to play around here (we have a lot of other ones, but these are the ones that get played on an almost-daily-basis).

• The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game
• Birthday Party
• Enchanted Forest Game
• Hungry Hungry Hippos
• Hi Ho Cherry-O
• Labyrinth Board Game
• My Little Pony Chutes and Ladders
• Candy Land

Melissa and Doug Puzzles. Okay, they are not board games, but I feel like these need a shout-out. My kiddos both LOVE puzzles, and we have a lot of them. These get SO much use and are well worth every penny that you spend!
We have this Madeline floor puzzle, and it's fantastic (I only spent $5 on ours, but love it so much I might be tempted to pay the $$ on this if we didn't have it already!).

We also love to play matching/memory games and Old Maid. 

Five ways to make adventuring with children easy

(I received this bag compliments of Mominside, however, all thoughts and opinions are mine alone)

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I love going on adventures, and I especially love going on adventures with my children. It's a wonderful way for us to spend time with them, and I love watching them learn and explore. 

That said, it's not always super easy to go on adventures with children, especially when they are small. It's taken me a few years (and two children) to prefect our outings so that they work for everyone, and we all have fun. 

I'm going to share a few of my tips for having a successful adventure with small kiddos in hopes that it might help you while you go exploring with your own small ones. 

Five ways to successfully adventure with children:

1. Make sure that everyone is well-rested. If the kiddos are tired, or I'm tired, nobody has fun. I always make sure that we go out early (we are morning people) or after Piper naps. The more well-rested the kiddos are, the more fun they (and I!) have. 

2. Keep low expectations. This a key to making exploring work. Except to have fun, but not relax. If I want to relax, I stay at home with my kids. Going out is an adventure, and we have a blast, but it's a lot of work for me and is not relaxing. 

3. Bring snacks and drinks. The worst time is if we have hangry little people.  I always, always have water and snacks on hand when we go out. That way, everyone is always well-fed and happy.

4. Dress for the weather. If it's raining, we wear boots; if it's cold, we are bundled up. If I'm cold, or Adam, or the kids, it makes us much more likely to call it quits and leave. I always have a spare change of clothes on hand for each of the kids, too, in case of an accident. 

5. Keep your hands free. I'm a BIG fan of using a backpack to store all your stuff. Nobody with small kiddos has time to be holding a bag in their hand, am I right? This diaper bag that Mominside sent me is just perfect for our adventures. It fits a ton, and I mean a TON of stuff. My wallet, changes of clothes, snacks, water bottles and more. It's also really comfy, so even when it's packed full, it's not uncomfortable to wear! 

Other tips that I have include not having an agenda, keeping things super simple and asking the children what THEY want to do. If you are planning on doing something that is in a busy location or a touristy area I recommend picking a weekday or going off-season so that it's not crowded with people. 

 

Lately

Hello and happy Sunday!

 

We've been busy here, getting into the swing of the holiday festivities. We are celebrating Thanksgiving with my family, and Christmas will be up north with Adam's family (Adri is super excited to meet some new little cousins that were born over the summer!). 

Here's a little of what we have going on lately: 

• I went Christmas shopping yesterday and almost knocked out all of it (just a couple gifts left!), and it feels SO good to know that I can just relax and enjoy the holiday season without having to worry about gifts. 
• We don't get our tree until the day after Thanksgiving when our Elf comes out, but I have been slowly introducing some Christmas decorations here and there, and so far, I don't think Adam has even noticed! 
• Poor Adam has been sick with a fever all weekend and is feeling terrible. It seems to have finally broken, and hopefully, he's feeling better by the time heads to work tomorrow morning. 
• I have some fun content coming to the blog later this week, so stay on the lookout for it (I'm working with a brand I really like, and that's always fun).
• The girls and I are heading over to my dad's later for family dinner (Adam is going to stay home and feel sick), and that means I should probably dress my kiddos at some point today. 
• We pulled out all our Christmas books the other night, and that's always super exciting. It's fun to re-read books that we haven't read in a year! 

Have a great Sunday!