• Life

    January 2020: What’s Up Wednesday

    January 29, 2020

    I haven’t done a What’s Up Wednesday post in forever but I wanted to bring them back this year because they are one of my favorite linkups. I love sharing the ordinary parts of my life with you guys because those are the posts I love to read on other’s blogs too. This linkup is an easy way to do just that. Today I’m linking up with Shay.

    1. What We’re Eating This Week:

    Close up photo of Skillet Shepherd's Pie.
    Source

    Tommy and I have started a new thing in our house where we are splitting the cooking between the two of us. I used to be responsible for most of the cooking. It was at least my responsibility to plan and shop for the meals. Although Tommy would help shop or cook if I asked him to. I realized recently (more on this in a future blog post) that it was all super overwhelming so we decided to split the responsibility and it has been such a weight off of my shoulders. I love cooking but don’t love doing it every night especially if its been a long day.

    Anyway all of this to say, I have been making a lot of these crockpot meatballs and sauce. It’s so easy and yummy. I also really want to make shepherd’s pie this week. I’m planning on trying this recipe (pictured above). 😋

    2. What I’m Reminiscing About:

    Regular ol’ days in our old house. We did a lot of work to our living room (I plan on sharing soon!) and I’m finally starting to feel more and more at home here. (If you didn’t know, we just bought a house.) It’s making me think back but with more peace and less sadness at all of the good times at our old house. I still miss it. It was where we brought Shaney home and where he lived his first almost two years of life but I’m excited that we have this home now too.

    3. What I’m Loving:

    The progress we’ve made with painting this past weekend! Here’s a little sneak peak on a little before and after. We’re so happy with how it’s coming along!

    4. What We’ve Been Up To:

    Honestly, a whole lot of this. Shane has been sick back to back with colds so we have had to stay home from church quite a bit and have had such cabin fever. We’ve been watching a lot of Disney+ movies to pass the time.

    We also celebrated Shaney’s 2nd birthday and mine and Tommy’s birthdays this month so that was fun and has broken up the monotony a little bit.

    5. What I’m Dreading:

    I don’t think anything, which I am very thankful for!

    6. What I’m Working On:

    This year I really committed to do what I have to do make working on my blog and Etsy shop a priority this year. Last year I felt very lost because I thought that these passions of mine weren’t “good enough” because they weren’t as successful as someone else, but I learned to let that go this year and make them a priority because they are important to me. It’s been a huge help to look at them differently and I no longer feel lost being a stay-at-home mom.

    7. What I’m Excited About:

    We joined our local library this past week and I’m really excited to start taking Shane to the story time there and to keep borrowing books for us to read together. He loves to read and it’s going to be so fun to be able to get new books every week.

    8. What I’m Watching/Reading:

    We’ve been enjoying The Good Doctor, and This Is Us now that they’re back from break. But we’re still waiting for HTGAWM to come back on?! How is it not back on until April?! When we don’t have a new show to watch, we’ve been watching Gilmore Girls too.

    I’m really enjoying both of these books and will be reviewing them next month sometime.

    9. What I’m Listening To:

    I’ve been really getting into podcasts this year and it’s been so great. I’ve been loving Work and Play with Nancy Ray; Fight Hustle, End Hurry; and The Real Life Podcast with Jeff and Alyssa Bethke. They’ve been great to listen to while I’m doing things around the house.

    10. What I’m Wearing:

    Nothing exciting or new lol.

    11. What I’m Doing This Weekend:

    Maybe working a little bit more on the house, maybe getting snowed in, maybe having some family over? I’m not sure yet!

    12. What I’m Looking Forward To Next Month:

    Hopefully finding out if this little babe is a boy or girl next month!

    13. What Else Is New:

    I think that’s about it!

    Read More
  • Life

    Shane’s 2nd Birthday

    January 21, 2020

    Last Sunday was Shane’s second birthday and we had the best time celebrating our sweet boy. I wanted to recap the day on the blog for memories sake but also to share with you guys too. I still can’t believe we have a two year old!

    When Shane woke up I had balloons blown up and ready to dump into his crib! He loved it and we played with them for the next 30 mins or so. It was so much fun and a great start to the day!

    We then remembered that Shane loves donuts so we decided to go to the local marketplace and order some breakfast. As you can see Shaney thoroughly enjoyed his donut! And yes he ate the whole thing! I couldnt believe it lol!

    After breakfast, our big two year old requested to watch his favorite movie, Frozen. How could we turn him down?

    On his birthday it was insanely warm for New Jersey in January, it was over 60 degrees! Normal temperatures are anywhere from 0-40ish? Sixty degrees was a dream and even though we all had colds and weren’t really feeling super well, we decided to take advantage of the warm weather and went for a walk around the block! It felt really nice to be out in the sunshine.

    After Shane woke up from his nap, it was time for the thing we we’re most excited about! We took Shane to his first movie in the theaters and saw Frozen 2! He currently loves watching movies and absolutely loves Frozen. He was the absolute sweetest in the movies and loved it and the whole experience so much! Tommy and I both said watching him enjoy the movie was the most fun we’ve had in a long time. He was just so cute!

    After the movie we went back to my mom’s house and ordered pizza and had a very small party to celebrate our two year old! It was a really sweet time celebrating with everyone.

    I kind of fell off the picture train at this point. My cold started getting really bad and I felt feverish so I forgot all about taking pictures. I’m pretty bummed I didn’t get a picture of his cake. I made this one for him and put a little Olaf on top with a little “2” candle. It was simple but really cute.

    We just loved celebrating our sweet boy and it was such a fun, special day!

    Read More
  • Coffee Dates,  Life

    Let’s Have Coffee | Vol. 17

    January 16, 2020

    If we were having coffee, I would tell you that it was Shane’s 2nd birthday on Sunday! I would tell you all about our day and share that it was such a special day and that we had so much fun! I would also share that I can’t believe we have a two year old! Time goes by so so fast!

    If we were having coffee, I would likely talk about how I am just itching for summer to come back already. We are just dying to get back to the beach. The winters are just so long and we always feel like we are just stuck inside with nothing fun to do. I would ask what you do to get out of your house during the cold dreary months.

    If we were having coffee, I would ask how your new year is going. I would ask if you set any goals this year and would love to hear about them. I would share that I don’t really do specific goals but would really like to start. I would ask you how you stick to your goals. I struggle with even really remembering what my goals are and have a hard time really picking what’s important to focus on anyway.

    If we were having coffee, and we were really close, I would probably talk about my struggle to really find my footing as a stay at home mom. I would explain that its hard to explain but that I do really love staying home and being the one to care for my son. I don’t ever seriously consider that as not an option and am incredibly grateful to be able to have the opportunity to do it. But at the same time there is just a longing to be able to help more financially and to have another “part” of my life.

    If we were having coffee, I would share that part of challenging myself to 90 days of no social media was to help me hear from God and to get some clarity about my struggle as a stay at home mom. I would say that God has shown up a lot so far and that I’m eager to share more once it makes more sense.

    If we were having coffee, I would ask about how you’ve been, really been. I would want to know the exciting things happening in your life as well as what you were struggling with. There’s something so special about sitting together in a coffee shop and sharing our hearts with each other.

    Linking up with Lecy. p.s. friends, I have some exciting news coming to my blog on Monday! Don’t miss it! 😉

    Read More
  • Life

    Day In The Life: January 3, 2020

    January 7, 2020

    Hi friends, since I want to start blogging more regularly, I decided I want to do a day in the life post once a month. I love reading others’ day in the life posts and I think it will be really special to have these to look back on.

    This was just a regular, very low key day. I hope you enjoy a peak into our very mundane, but special to us, life! 😉

    5:45am: I woke up at 5:45 wide awake but laid in bed until 6:30.

    6:30am- Decided it was time to stop wasting time on my phone and get up. I made some coffee with my new Ninja coffee maker that I got for Christmas and sat down to read my bible and journal.

    7:30am- I started to get hungry so I had a yogurt, paid some bills then made breakfast. I forgot to take a picture of my full breakfast but I made breakfast potatoes and scrambled eggs with cheese.

    I’ve been trying to eat a more balanced breakfast than just cereal because that’s all I’m used to eating and it barely fills me up. Eating a proper breakfast has been such a game changer.

    9:00am- Shaney slept super late this day and woke up at 9! He’s been sleeping a lot more lately, probably because he’s fighting off a sinus infection. Poor bud.

    I made him these waffles for breakfast. I alternate between buying these and Kodiak cake protein waffles for him. While he was eating I let him watch a TV show while I ate my breakfast and read some blogs.

    10:00am- I had lots of laundry to do this day so I folded some and ran down into the basement to put some more into the wash. Noelley just napped all day. 😂

    11:00am- Shaney and I read for a while. This is definitely his favorite activity by far! If he’s not requesting to watch “Froze” then he wants to read lots and lots of books. No complaints here!

    12:00pm- We (I was) were feeling extra sleepy this day so I decided to watch a movie with Shaney while we waiting for Tommy to come home from work. He gets out at 12:00pm most days! I had really been wanting to show Shaney Monsters Inc. since it’s one of my favorites, so that’s what we watched. Shane really liked it.

    Sometime while we were watching the movie I texted Tommy that I was really in the mood for Chinese food so he stopped on his way home and picked us up some delicious lunch that day!

    1:00pm- Tommy came home and we all ate lunch together. Then we put Shaney down for his nap at 1:30.

    2:00pm- I did the dishes from breakfast and lunch, switched over the laundry and while I was in the basement discovered that the pipes under out kitchen sink were leaking (again). We had just bought a new faucet about a month earlier because of the same problem.

    Tommy got to work trying to figure it out. He had to run out to the hardware store to buy caulk, but ended up fixing the issue with enough time to get the dinner dishes done that night. 😉

    3:00pm- While he was working on the sink, I started working on an Etsy order. I painted the decal on this kitchen organizer and got everything else together that we needed to finish it.

    4:30pm- Had to wake Shaney up from his nap otherwise he was never going to go to sleep at a reasonable time that night. So thankful for a boy who loves to sleep! 😂

    We just hung out together for a while until it was time to make dinner. (Yes Shaney did indeed stay in his pajamas all day.)

    5:30-7:30pm- I honestly don’t remember who made dinner or what we ate this night but I think Tommy made dinner. We ate and then Tommy and I talked about changes at his job and then I read some more to Shane.

    7:30pm- Shaney had a bath and then I nursed him and put him to bed at 8.

    8:15pm- Tommy and I cleaned up the house before relaxing. Tommy generally does the dishes while I clean up the rest of the house.

    8:30-10:00pm- Tommy and I talked and caught up for the day without a toddler demanding our attention.

    10:00pm- We went to bed but I wasn’t tired yet so Tommy went to sleep (since he wakes up at 4 am) while I read some blogs.

    11:30pm- I got sucked into reading blogs and went to bed entirely too late at 11:30. It’s really a struggle for me to go to bed early as I’m a natural night owl. I just really would rather be a morning person so I try to go to bed early so I can get up early, but that doesn’t always happen.

    Thanks for following along! What does a typical day in your life look like?

    Read More
  • Faith,  Life,  Self Care

    90 Days of No Social Media

    January 2, 2020

    Hi friends, I wanted to stop in and share a challenge I have decided to start now that it’s a new year. At the end of last year I was feeling like I had a lot of dreams and goals that I wanted to do but wasn’t getting anywhere with. This in turn created a lot of really ugly feelings. Deep down I knew what was causing these feelings.

    Social Media = The Problem

    Social media: mostly Instagram and Youtube was the problem. I’ve come to realize slowly over the course of the last year or so that wasting too much time on social media caused me to feel paralyzed in my own life and goals. It had reached its height towards the end of last year so I decided to cut it out cold turkey. (!!)

    The Rules

    1. Absolutely no time spent on social media of any kind.
    2. Spend more intentional time reading my Bible.
    3. Spend more time journaling.
    4. Spend lots more time reading.
    5. Blog twice a week.
    6. Create new products for Etsy.
    7. Spend more time with others – book time at the library, playgroup at church, etc.
    8. Start doing yoga 1-2x per week by the end of the 90 days.

    The Results

    The hope is that taking a break from social media will cause me to feel less paralyzed in my own life because I won’t be constantly comparing my life to others and feeling like I don’t measure up.

    It will also create a lot more time in my schedule. This will help with finally finding the time to work on the many goals that I’ve been wanting to meet.

    If I’m being completely honest: I am very nervous to start this challenge. I’m worried about how hard it might be. I know that some of the goals I am reaching toward are pushing myself outside of my comfort zone but I know in the end that it will be good for me.

    I will be checking in once a month to share how things are going.

    Have you ever taken a social media detox? How did it go? What did you learn? Can you relate to any of my feelings caused by social media? I’d love to hear how you work through them. 🙂

    Read More
  • Life

    Year In Review: 2019

    December 31, 2019

    This is the first year in review that I have done since 2016!! I can’t believe it’s been three years since I’ve recapped one of our years. I thought it would be fun and really special to go back and see how we spent the year. If you want a blast from the past, you can check out my past year in reviews here:

    2015: Part One + Part Two (the year we got engaged)
    2016: Year In Review (our first year married!)

    January

    • We celebrated Shane’s first birthday at our house with a small group of friends and family. It was a really sweet time. I recapped his birthday here.
    • We got 5 Etsy orders, which was a lot at the time and rewarded ourselves with a table saw.

    February

    • We spent lots of time working on collaborations for our Etsy shop this month.

    March

    Our winter months are pretty slow here in New Jersey. It’s very cold and doesn’t start warming up until April or so. We had lots of family time inside, spending time with this sweet boy. Nothing too significant happened.

    April

    • We took a trip up to Lake George, NY this month and Tommy and I snuck away to our favorite cafe and had a little breakfast date one morning.
    • We celebrated Easter as a family!
    • We gave Shaney his first lovey to sleep with and it was the cutest thing ever. 😍

    May

    I gave Shaney his first haircut in May! It was super nerve-wracking but it turned out not so bad!

    June

    • We took our first family vacation to the beach in Ocean City, NJ and had a BLAST! We discovered how amazing this beach and town was, had some delicious breakfast sandwiches, and enjoyed time at a zoo!

    July

    • We took another beach vacation to Seaside Heights, NJ this month with Tommy’s parents! This beach was not as nice as Ocean City, but we made the best of it and had fun anyways.
    • We also went and looked at the home we currently live in and got our offer accepted on it this month! How exciting!

    August

    • Two out of four of my cousin’s kids came to visit and ended up spending the night with us! The carnival was in town so we took all three kids to the carnival, it was super fun!
    • We took a day trip to a local beach, Belmar, NJ and had lots of fun.
    • Shaney had his first hamburger! 😍
    • We started preparing/selling stuff in our house to move next month!

    September

    • We moved into our new home! This has been a lot more emotional and difficult than we had anticipated but we are enjoying making the home more our own. I would love to start blogging our home improvement projects! Maybe soon I can blog the before and all of the plans we have for the house.
    • I also faced a giant fear of mine and got all four of my wisdom teeth out! 😣I was so scared but it went well and the recovery wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t the worst thing ever either.

    October

    • We celebrated an early Thanksgiving with my family and I got to spend some time with my cousins who I haven’t seen in over two years. I actually don’t have a picture of them, but this is from that day. 🙂
    • We brought Shaney apple picking for the first time! Apple picking is one of my favorite traditions and it was super fun to bring Shane this year especially because he loves apples!

    November

    • We celebrated Tommy’s cousin at her baby shower where Shane got to hang out with his cousin all day.
    • We found out some very exciting news that will be coming to the blog soon enough! 😉
    • We enjoyed a park day because the weather gave us an abnormally warm day for November!

    December

    • We celebrated lots and made lots of Christmas cookies.
    • We had three different Christmas celebrations this year!
    • Shaney loved all of the Christmas decorations and made this Christmas so much fun!

    If you made it this far, you are a champ! Let me know what your favorite memory was from this year! Happy New Year!

    Read More