Happiness

Happiness isn’t a guarantee. Life is stressful and we sometimes need to work at maintaining it. With all of the responsibilities to tend to each day, those things which raise our happiness levels frequently get put on the back burner. To be our happiest selves, we need to make sure we take time for self-care, hobbies, passions and purpose. Ensuring that we live with intention to reclaim wasted time and spend it on what makes us happiest is essential!

How to make time with family a top priority

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Family is important. It’s one of the most important things in life. Yet we constantly find ourselves wishing we had more time because we don’t spend enough time with our families. Why is that? It sometimes seems like everything urgent in life rushes in and crowds out the important stuff. We struggle to make time with family a top priority. That’s why we have to schedule family time in order to protect it as one of our core priorities. I’ve always been very family focused. Even as a little girl, I could never imagine moving too far away from my close-knit community of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Anything less than twice weekly visits just seemed wrong. But as I … More…

What I’m Grateful for – November 2017

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November was an awesome month. The weather has been so fantastic! It was a little cold a few days, but it actually felt like Autumn instead of just nose-diving straight into Winter at the end of October. Aside from some pretty great weather, I already have most of my Christmas shopping done. No mad rushing for me this December! I did my annual Black Friday shopping with my mom and sister. While I didn’t have much to buy initially, I did get some ideas and accomplished some things so yay! Another successful Black Friday (including a whole new set of dog toys so we can throw out all of their old ratty ones.) Zachary’s been sick a lot this month … More…

What I’m Grateful for – October 2017

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October has gone by so fast. I know time seems to be going by quicker all the time, but it really feels like this month started, I blinked, and October was gone. We were so busy this month. I’m sure it will only get worse as the year comes to an end! October was filled with a lot of work towards potty training. We’re starting to make some headway, but it’s been a lot of work! He’s just so stubborn! We also had family pictures taken which, although I haven’t seen them yet, I think will turn out great. Zachary had some done in his Halloween costume and they should be really cute. We may have even gotten some good ones … More…

Dear Working Mom – It’s okay to not be superwoman

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  As a working mom, I understand how difficult it can be to feel stretched between work priorities and home priorities. It’s tough. It’s even more difficult if your desire is to be a stay-at-home mom. If you’re struggling to “have it all” and be the superwoman you’re supposed to be, this post is for you. Spoiler alert: it’s okay to not be superwoman.   All moms are expected to be superwoman. We have a laundry list of motherly and wifely duties. Laundry, cooking, cleaning, caring for the children, playtime, family time and connecting with our partner are just some of what we do. If we’re lucky, as I am, we have a partner that works with us on most … More…

Quarter 3 Update: Progress on My New Year Goals

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The third quarter of the year is over already?! I guess that means it’s time for an update on my goals for the new year. I posted our goals for 2017 in the beginning of January. As promised, I will be posting quarterly progress updates to hold myself accountable. Overall, quarter one went pretty well. I think quarter two went even better. This past quarter I experienced a bit of a shift. I lost some steam in areas I did better in earlier in the year but had some real progress in my health goals. There were lots of health changes this quarter. I started utilizing the personal trainer and gym at work in the beginning of August. We also adopted a … More…

What I’m Grateful for – September 2017

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Is September really over already? It was a bit of a rough month so it went by pretty quickly. For one, I finally caught one of Zach’s colds. I knew it would happen eventually. Then I had a tooth removed which wasn’t fun. I got tons of canker sores on my lip after making it almost impossible to eat for a week. Zach has also been struggling to sleep and waking up a lot at night, so I haven’t been sleeping as well. We also made the decision to send Zach to daycare so we’ve been looking into options. I hate the idea of it, but it needs to be done. At the end of the month, my annual skin … More…

22 Awesome Cartoon Movies for Family Movie Night

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I love traditions. If you’re new to the blog, you can read a bit about my love of traditions here and here. When I was a little girl, one of my favorite traditions was our weekly family movie night. It never mattered much to me what movie we were watching, but cartoon movies were my favorite, of course. We ordered pizza, had dinner together and gathered around to spend quality time. I was allowed to stay up late, Dad didn’t channel surf, and no one was distracted with other projects. True, there wasn’t a lot of conversation during this time, but there was a certain level of sharing and connection that happened anyway. We each watched movies that may not have … More…