Thanksgiving Traditions

I love having traditions to look forward to during the holidays especially. I remember in grade school writing about our holiday traditions. I vividly remember writing that one of the traditions of our Christmas was literally the spot that I would sit as a kid on the fireplace and open presents Christmas morning. My parent’s fireplace still reminds me of Christmas morning, and I think there’s something special about having that simple little memory to hold on to for forever.

As Nathan and I have started our own family, though, we want to have traditions that our family grows into and looks forward to each holiday season. A few we have already started, but I’m always looking for great, new family traditions to add to our own holiday magic! Please share what your favorite family tradition is in the comments!

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Cutting the Cable Cord

You want to know what the final straw was with our cable company? It wasn’t bad service. It wasn’t that our bill had increased by 100% since we first subscribed. Nope. Something much more simple. It was the first weekend of football season, and Nathan found out that weekend that we no longer had NFL Red Zone because our cable provider was in negotiations with….whoever produces NFL Red Zone. Yup. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

In about a week, we had swapped the cable cord for an Apple TV, and a different internet provider. And I don’t think I’ve ever been happier by our non-cable, cable. Here’s the path that we went down…

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Let’s Look At…Your Entertaining Ideas

It’s one of my favorite days of the month! It’s “Let’s Look At” day with Shay and Erika  , and I LOVE reading through these links getting a glimpse into your lives! Today we’re looking at entertaining ideas.

Let’s just take a moment and pause right here. I don’t consider myself an entertainer. About once a year, I have people over to our home for Book Club…really, wine club. The rest of the year, we have family over haphazardly to join in on a meal, but I don’t consider my gift in life entertaining. I bust out the paper plates, everyone serves themselves, and we do the couple of dishes from the main meal at the end of the night.

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Entertaining A Toddler on a Plane

We took a couple of different trips this past summer with Harrison. He was very, very mobile, uninterested in screentime for any length of time at this point, and he is suuuuuper active and physical. Basically, I’m telling you that being trapped on a plane with Harrison on our laps for hours on end was like gearing up for our Super Bowl. Child vs. Parents. Who would win? Would we all be in a good mood leaving the plane? Or would we embarrassingly shuffle out with a screaming child?

I’m happy to report that we survived both sets of flights. Surviving is key. That is the most basic of goals. But we were able to keep Harrison pretty well entertained for hours on end. Here are some of the activities I brought to keep our little man busy.

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7 Quick Takes (v. I)

-1- When you ask Harrison what color something is right now, it’s green. It’s all green. Pronounced “geen.”

-2- I think we may finally be rounding the corner on understanding what it means to help clean up. But man, can he destroy a room in less than a minute flat.

-3- Asking him questions right now, and he responds “Yeah.” Matter-of-factly. Or “No.”

-4- Have you seen his jumping? More like a serious crouch with no spring into the air, while yelling “JUMP!”

-5- Favorite thing he says right now: “Irrryuvyoumama.” Translated to “I love you, Mama”

-6- He came home from daycare one day saying, “No no no no no” while shaking his little finger in front of his face. Not sure if that’s an impression of his mama or of his teacher…

-7- Things that we’re constantly repeating here, “It’s not ‘uh-oh’ if you do it on purpose.”

My Skincare Routine

A New Year’s Resolution I Actually Kept All Year

It was December 2018, and I had just spent what felt like at least a year and a half giving everything of myself and body to keeping a precious new baby boy alive. As the new year was about to roll around, I found myself wondering whether I wanted to make a new year’s resolution. I rarely keep them. But they’re good for a month or two. I decided I would commit whole-heartedly to taking care of my skin. I could start to see the signs of age beginning to wear on my face. Who knows if those smile lines were just the result of a better camera or all of the nights that Harrison was up at night as a newborn. But it was time to put more effort, and yes, money, into taking care of the only skin I’m going to get.

What that meant was that I started seeing the esthetician at my dermatologist’s office regularly. Like once every month or two. In addition to doing regular facials, peels, and dermaplane with her, it also meant changing my at home skin care routine too.

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What’s Up Wednesday {10.30.19}

We’ve had the best October! We’ve done ALL the fall things. Not to mention enjoying the outside cooler temps – cooking out, playing outside in the yard, having the windows open. Those are my absolute favorite days.

I’m linking up with Shay and Sheaffer to share with you what’s going on in our life lately!

1: WHAT WE’RE EATING THIS WEEK:

Nathan is traveling most of this week, so I’ve kept dinners easy for Harrison and myself

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