High Five for Friday #154 | Best of 2017

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Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by me, Becky, Tif, and Della! Come, read up on what we’ve been up to this week and get to know some  amazing bloggers.

Since we’ve got a few days left of 2017 I thought it would be fun to share my favorite moments on Instagram! Because, let’s face it, 2017 was the year of quiet. Instagram became my blog extension 🙂

1. One of my favorites from last year was taking Elizabeth to see Daniel Tiger Live! It was her first time going to the fancy theater, and she loved every moment of it!

2. Having 2 kids has been fun but a struggle. Life gets more complicated the more kids you add on. But this year has been fun once William got a little older. He adores Elizabeth!

3. My husband and I celebrated 10 years of marriage in July! To celebrate, we took a solo trip to Asheville and the NC mountains. It was such a relaxing, wonderful vacation. I could do that again every year.

4. I love holidays! And I loved teaching Elizabeth some 4th of July patriotic tunes 🙂

5. This year, my biggest lesson learned was being ok with not doing things perfectly, or my way. I’m naturally a perfectionist, but I also decide to do nothing if I think it can’t be done the right way. But when your planned staged pics don’t go well, you just roll with it.

What was your favorite moment from 2017? I hope you had a glorious holiday AND you have a great start to 2018!!

This week’s featured blogger is Heather from My Glittery Heart! She’s a crafter at heart and loves running her Etsy shop full of lovely glittery goodness! She’s got the perfect “get to know me” post today with all of her favorite highlights from the year. Swing over and say hello to Heather!

How was your week?? Can’t wait to hear all about it!

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High Five for Friday #153 | Three More Sleeps Until Christmas

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Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by me, Becky, Tif, and Della! Come, read up on what we’ve been up to this week and get to know some  amazing bloggers.

Can you believe Christmas is just around the corner? We did some last minute prep this week and now we’re ready to cruise into the joyous holiday! This week was a real zoomer. I blinked and then it was over. Here are some highlights (sans pics, because we were so busy!)

1. Our weekend was festive! We had our church Christmas play on Saturday and it was a hoot. And then on Sunday we went over to Elizabeth’s school’s church (that’s complicated, right?) for their Christmas cantata. It was so wonderful! I miss singing in choir.

2. How did you get your Christmas presents this year? Did you go to the mall? Physically shop? Or did you just online shop? I blitzed through the last of my shopping online on Amazon. It was so easy! We definitely kept UPS and the postman very busy.

3. Elizabeth had a fun Christmas party at her school on Wednesday. It was so sweet seeing how pleased she was with the handmade gifts she made. Her sweet teacher gave Elizabeth some gingerbread play dough. It smells SO good! She immediately started crafting with it. Next thing I know she shouts “Mom! Look at my Nativity scene”.

4. Thursday we got to do something pretty special. My husband asked if I could round up some friends to sing Christmas carols at his dialysis clinic. So a small group of us, with kiddos in tow, went and sang carols for an hour. It was the most delightful time! I plan next year to be a little more organized and try to visit a few more of his clinics. But boy! Did it bring some joy to the patients and to us! And I think next year we’ll add this song to our list.

5. I stayed up WAY too late last night. I had a last minute cup of coffee because I wanted to wrap presents… and before I know it, after a 5 episode The Office Christmas marathon, I was up past midnight. Oops! But The Office Christmas episodes are SO good!

 

This week’s featured blogger is Jacklyn at Girl Living Life! This week she’s featured a new cookie recipe each day  – yum! Which is perfect if you’ve delayed making your cookies so far this year (me!). Her no bake Sweet Marie bars look amazing! And I loved reading through her post last week about her favorite Christmas traditions. We share quite a few! Be sure to swing over and say hi to Jacklyn.

How was your week?? Can’t wait to hear all about it!

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High Five for Friday #152 | The Week That Didn’t Go As Planned

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Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by me, Becky, Tif, and Della! Come, read up on what we’ve been up to this week and get to know some amazing bloggers down below!

This week… didn’t go right. Sometimes you have the most carefully-laid plans for a week, and then it all blows up!

Here’s the thing, today’s post is going to be more “statement of fact” instead of highlights. I can barely remember what happened a few days ago!

1. We had real snow last weekend! Isn’t that glorious? I couldn’t believe it when it started, but we did. It was mostly ice, to be accurate.

2. There was enough ice/snow that my father-in-law, who was in town for business, couldn’t drive back to his house. So he stayed with us!

3. My big plan for the week was to buy Christmas decorations for our new church. You might remember that we moved in to a new church at the beginning of the year, after years of renting? Well we haven’t had a need for Christmas decorations so far, and it feels less than festive in our church. So I offered to buy stuff and decorate! Thankfully, the bonus of buying decorations NOW instead of a few weeks ago means that everything is on sale 🙂

4. Unfortunately, my careful planning for my week got messed up when William came down with the flu/GI bug early Thursday morning…. I scrambled! Thankfully, there were several people willing to jump in and help!

5. The church DID get decorated last night, thanks to an enthusiastic group of volunteers! It looks really good! But I’m tired from being up so late!!! I plan on hopping over there later this morning to write down an inventory of what we used, to remember for next year. I’ll take you on an InstaStory tour while I’m there!

 

This week’s featured blogger is Amanda from Cupcake N Dreams!  And today is the day to visit her blog! Her post today is a great gift guide! PLUS she has a GIVEAWAY for $25 to Nordstrom! High excitement! Go over and visit Amanda!

How was your week?? Can’t wait to hear all about it!

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Christmas Content Links + Loves

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Anyone else OD’ing on Christmas content yet?

I love getting to read all the various Christmas crafts, recipes and gift guides. I’m so proud that there are MANY better bloggers than I am, making sure to get quality content up and live on time.

I got to thinking – there are SO many good posts out there, I just thought I’d share a few of my favorite reads so far.

Hostess Gift Guide // There are so many great Christmas posts on Come Home for Comfort’s blog right now, but my fav is this collab video with her own momma, sharing ideas for hostess gifts. Heart eye emojis for days. And REALLY good ideas!

Etsy Gift Guide // Even if you don’t order from these Etsy vendors in time for Christmas, save these ideas for later!

Jingle Bell Wreath Ornaments // I’m planning a little DIY ornament project with the kids. It will be our 3rd year making an ornament. And Whitney has the CUTEST and easiest idea! I even have all the materials! Check

Why Decorate for Christmas? // I loved this post from Risen Motherhood. I always get a little humbug about decorating for Christmas, because it feels like by the time the decorations are up and I’m all done, it’s time to take it all down again. They offer great reminders of how to focus your heart while enjoying the decorating process.

Simple Small Hanging Wreaths // This pin of small, fresh hanging wreaths in a window is SO pretty! Someone want to come over and make this for me?

And while I don’t have any new, exciting Christmas content THIS year, there were some great ones the last few years!

DIY Tomato Cage Christmas Tree // One year I was really crafty! I still can’t believe I made that.

Christmas Traditions // Last year I made a video all about my favorite Christmas traditions from my childhood days up to now!

And you KNOW I love a good story or two! One year I told the story of the epic struggle of our non-professional Christmas card photo…  and who could forget the tale of my annual outdoor Christmas light tragedies! (Honestly, if you haven’t read that post, you should… it STILL makes me laugh!)

Christmas content is SO much fun to read! I, unashamedly, am absorbing it all instead of writing new blog posts 🙂

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High Five for Friday #151 | Santa #2 + Christmas Prep

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Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by me, Becky, Tif, and Della! Come, read up on what we’ve been up to this week and get to know some amazing bloggers down below!

Another week! I can’t believe how quickly these weeks are going. Mercy!

1. Christmas preparations are all done! I put up the last of the real pine doodads yesterday, and I’ve told myself if it’s not done now, that’s that. I’ve also just about finished Christmas shopping. I need to do an Amazon order, but other than that, all has been gathered. The kids are done! It feels good to have that done.

2. We got to see another Santa this week, accidentally! We went to Duke Children’s hospital for an appointment for Elizabeth, and when we walked into the lobby, there was Santa in a sleigh! Elizabeth was miffed at first that her favorite fish tank in the lobby was blocked by a crowd, but when she stopped and noticed that Santa was there, she gasped! We stopped to say hi on our way out. He was so sweet! Elizabeth said she needed a “new magnifying glass because William broke mine”. HAHA fact! So I ordered one and plan to wrap it and tuck it in her stocking, from Santa. Both kids left with really great toy dogs too. So generous!

3. We are supposed to get some snow flurries today and tomorrow! That’s pretty exciting for us in North Carolina. I can’t wait! This week we’ve been getting colder weather and it’s so nice. I’m a sucker for chilly temps!

4. This week I’ve had fun hanging with William each morning while Elizabeth is at school. Normally he exhausts me haha! He’s a little tornado, whirling around creating destruction wherever he goes. But he just made me laugh all week! Yesterday, for the first time, he grabbed my cheeks and tried to kiss me, over and over. He’s never done that before! And then he spent about 20 minutes each day standing on a chair looking out the window. He gabs away, telling me what is going on out there. He really is so sweet!

5. What are your plans for this weekend? Anything fun and festive? We’ve got a work Christmas party for my husband tonight, and then tomorrow is our church’s Christmas party! It will be fun. I know we are all looking forward to a little quiet and down time. My husband has been working SO hard the last few weeks. He’s gone from busy shift to busy shift, without a true day off. He is in desperate need of a day off!

This week’s featured blogger is Danielle from Sparkles and Lattes from Reno, NV! She is a blogger who loves pizza, football, the outdoors and her family! If you love blogs featuring posts on fashion, motherhood and everyday life, then definitely check out Danielle!

How was your week?? Can’t wait to hear all about it!

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