THE PRODUCTIVITY OF STOPPING

Whether I'm trying to be productive or taking a moment to stop, I've recently been asking myself the question, "will this make me a better wife, mother, or friend?" Sometimes, the best thing to do is work hard and get things done. But doing, doing, doing all the time can run you ragged. When I'm constantly doing and rarely stopping to be present, my energy levels decrease, my stress levels increase, and my patience is shortened. I've found that when I stop to sort through my thoughts and what I am feeling and just enjoy the moment, it helps energize me to do all the other things in life…

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A COVER IS NOT THE BOOK

I’ve been thinking a lot about life and the things that motivate me to do what I do.

So much of my motivation is centered around providing an environment for my children that is safe, loving, and creates a space to learn and grow. As I think deeper about why I want these things for my children, I obviously want what is best for them - but, I also want to keep them from experiencing some of the unnecessarily painful things I experienced in my own childhood.

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HAPPY IN THE SIMPLE THINGS - PT 2

Life is full of joy and pain…and a whole lot of in-between.

Every day feels jam packed from the moment our feet hit the ground in the morning, to the moment our heads hit the pillow. Sometimes the day ends and you wonder “where did this day go?” Nothing was remarkably amazing or horrible, it just kind of happened. These days happen more often than we like to admit and they can feel discouraging.

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HOME RULES

Our mission statement communicates the things that we want to be true of each person that lives in our home. These are the values that we want to cultivate every day and extend to our family, friends, and others we interact with.

We simplified our mission statement even more and created something we could hang on the wall in our home as a regular reminder of what’s most important.

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EMET BASEBALL - 2021

This last spring, we returned to the baseball field for another season of baseball. This was Emet’s first season of coach pitch baseball. We were so proud of him and the way he adjusted to playing without the tee. It was a joy to cheer him on from the sidelines as he played.

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SPRING BUCKET LIST

I’ve released a brand new Spring Bucket List in my resources. Don’t let this season slip by and miss doing something new or revisiting some of your favorite traditions. Download the bucket list, write them down, and make it happen.

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TOP 10 BLOGS FROM THE LAST 5 YEARS

2022 marks over five years of blogging. Over the years, I’ve written on a wide variety of topics from parenting and cooking to staying organized and setting goals. I’ve even brought in some friends to help contribute along the way.

Below you will find the top ten most read blogs from the last five and a half years. I hope you enjoy this variety of posts and that they’re helpful to you in some way.

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THE ALL NEW MONTHLY PLANNING RESOURCE

When I’m aware of the commitments I’ve made and what I’m choosing to focus on are the months I’m the most successful with accomplishing tasks and moving towards my goals.

I wanted a place for me to collect my thoughts, set goals, and keep track of the most important projects for each month. I’m a big on having regular brain dumps. I even have a couple of different versions of a Brain Dump doc in my resources. But I wanted something that provided the space to see multiple things on one page. So… here’s a new Monthly Planning doc.

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A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS - 2021

I love looking back on the holidays and seeing the highlights from the season. It’s fun to see the boys expecting to revisit old traditions each year and experience excitement as we introduce some news ones. We started the Christmas season a bit earlier this year by stringing up our lights outside before Thanksgiving. We had the time, the weather was warmer, and we knew how busy things would get on the other side Thanksgiving.

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2020 (2)

We started the first few days of 2022 taking it easy because we were feeling a bit under the weather. This meant we didn’t get started on all the things we were planning. Less turning in early and starting before the sun came up and more taking medicine, temperature checks, and resting whenever we could…

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A LIGHT CHRISTMAS - A PLAYLIST FOR THE HOLIDAYS

It’s Christmas, once again!

Every year I try to put together a new collection of fun Christmas music to help put you in the spirit. This year we’ve been listening to a lot of instrumental / easy listening / light music from the 50s and 60s. There’s something really nostalgic about these songs that instantly put me in great Christmas mood.

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MUSICJACINTHA PAYNEComment
HALLOWEEN - 2021

When the summer began winding down I thought it would be fun to have an end of the summer party at our home. We’d invite some of our dear friends for grilled food, swimming, and time to soak in the final days of warmth before fall hit. Well…life got busy, deadlines with work approached, and we had to table the idea for an end of summer party…

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