WonderGIRL turns 14 – the party details

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Since WonderGIRL loves ANYTHING red, white and blue (“birthday colors” she calls them) this was the perfect theme for her birthday party we held at our house yesterday. That and everything red, white, and blue was 50% off at Michaels (winning!!!) Here are some details we/she/I loved (also might be perfect for a 4th of July party tomorrow):

THE FOOD –
Had to create the fruit flag (perfect for an 8 year old begging to help project), plus I saw this “firecracker hot dog” video right before my trip to the grocery store for party prepping – good timing!!! My favorite food was the firecracker popcorn and was quite a hit at the party (a good excuse for adults to consume pop rocks and not be judged!!!).

THE SELFIE STATION –
Since WG is loving her phone and especially the camera function, we created this selfie station to capture all of her loved ones with her at the party. They all turned out so cute!!! We’ll have to practice getting the selfie stick OUT of the shot on our next round.

We can always count on Uncle BJ to liven up our photoshoots.

THE DECOR –

Those jars are filled with rice colored with food coloring – again, another project great for “helpful” kiddos during the party prep stage.
I knew I wanted to create a special video of WG popping this amazing confetti-filled ginormous balloon from Spruce (one of my favorite Bellingham shops) and the video happened and was awesome….but I still can’t get it to load on here so check out the instagram post instead.

Also, the outfit (all Target) was a combination of workout leggings, a tutu and the festive tank. She was also treated to a birthday party manicure so even her fingernails match her outfit/party – how cute!!! Thank you to everyone that came and celebrated one of the bravest dinosaurs (teen-o-saur?) in our crazy little bunch – we are so proud of her growth, especially in this last year of life and will love her to pieces forever and ever.

on creative “cooking”…

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As many of you know, my skills and knowledge around a kitchen and cooking are limited. I am, however, pretty great at PREPARING foods that come to me in an easily accessed pouch or mix. When it’s my turn to prepare dinner, I like to be creative with what we have around the house. One of my favorite things to do, especially to help our wonders with foods we tend to have over and over is to create “cupcake” creations. These BBQ bacon cupcakes are some of our favorites!

For this recipe, I used the following ingredients/mixes:
Honest Earth Creamy Mashed Potatoes (Instant) – 1 package (seriously, pick this up on your next Costco trip….so delicious for instant potatoes and obviously, very easy to prepare)
Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits – yes you can make these yourself but again, the mix is where it’s at for me and my skills
Bacon
BBQ sauce

After preparing, combine these ingredients (bacon sprinkles are always a crowd pleaser) into a delightful “cupcake” formation and everyone in your family will enjoy (I’m pretty sure Scott had 6 cupcakes…..comfort food!). What types of cupcakes can you create with your dinner tonight?

Do your littles need some help with proper teeth brushing?

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One of the things we still monitor and manage closely with our littles is proper hygiene and care of their bodies and teeth. Because routines and expectations weren’t managed at young ages, they still tend to lie and manipulate their way out of certain healthy routines. Teeth brushing is one of them….and especially with WG getting her braces on a while back – we want to scaffold their independence in these tasks. I read about this app called “Magic Timer” from Oral B and we fell in love with from first download and use.

Each child gets to set up their own “brusher” with different characters. If you purchase an Oral B toothbrush (fairly cheap), then you can scan the toothbrush character and that’s what your theme will be.Then each time, your little goes to brush, the timer plays with music and the toothbrush magically erases a secret picture. The brush moves to remind your child to move their toothbrush around and even gives prompts for appropriate “spit” time. Two minutes can seem like such a long time to young children (or hurried teens for that matter), so watching this scene unfold is a great way to pass the time.Try it out and impress your dentist on that next routine exam!!!

on my “to-read” list this summer….

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With my full schedule during the school year, I often don’t MAKE the time to read. And I LOVE reading so each summer, I try to fill my reading bucket back up by cramming in multiple books that have been on my list for far too long. Here is what I have lined up this Summer for books related to personal and professional development. I also love weekly visits to the library to grab some light fiction reads and encourage my littles to keep reading over the summer. Have you read any of these? I am most looking forward to reading “Essentialism” as I have heard it mentioned over and over again in different podcasts that I listen to on my daily walks.The following picture is brought to you by my daughter’s first school fundraiser that she was VERY excited to participate in and earn prizes from. To earn some prizes, hubby and I subscribed to a few different magazines to bridge the gap. And here they are, all piled up and untouched….ready for long drives in the car, camping trips, and a few lazy days on our new porch soaking up the sun. Even though I can read the content online, I still really love bookmarking pages, ripping them out and saving them for future uses, and a physical copy in my hand. Currently, I am reading In Style, Traditional Home, Health, Oprah Magazine, Family Fun, and Better Homes and Gardens.If you saw my Instagram post from a few nights ago, I also just discovered Happinez and Project Calm (from the makers of Mollie Makes) that I really like too. Happy summer reading everyone!!!

Happy Fathers Day!

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Dear Scott thank you for saving money .

Remmber when we went to hobe town that  was fun.

I like play at the park.

Ilove you when you  care about me .

have a good fathers day.

love WonderBOY,
——————————————————————————————————————

Dear Scott,                                                                                                                                Thanks for always being my protector and its true you will be the only superman I have thanks for a good year and a fun one too. I love hanging out with you. Through my eye rolling and my attitude I love you very much. Happy Father’s Day I hope you have a good day.

Love, WonderGIRL

Intentional Summer 2k16

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We are heading into summer #3 with our wonders this year and after a lot of trial and error with what worked for our family and our children, we are excited to put some different things in place this year to set us ALL up for success and restoration. My wonders feel very threatened by unpredictability…..one of the many reasons that they both feel safe and secure during structured and predictable school days. During the summer, all I want to do is NOT have a schedule so that I can repair my soul and build my energy back up before the Fall. And therein lies the dilemma we have hit in the past.

After attending a workshop hosted by my friend Elizabeth McKinley, inspiring many families to not let summer pass us by, we got to draft what our INTENTIONAL summers will look like on these great posters. The kiddos and I enjoyed drafting out 2.5 months of fun adventures on the big calendar and getting excited about all that we get to do in our time off together.To help with our dilemma of structure vs. free-time, I decided to come up with a daily schedule for the days where we are at home for a majority of the day with nothing on the big calendar. We drafted time slots for different tasks we want done each day. This includes time for our modified home-summer school time and independent time (both wonders need practice at entertaining themselves and playing alone without adult direction). And then we leave the afternoons for getting out of the house for different activities. Free bowling, Trampoline Zone memberships, and the great parks around our county will be filling up our weeks and I know the kids will be excited no matter which option we choose!The nice part about this schedule for ME is that I know which times of our days I will have for my own restorative needs like reading, scrapbooking, or blogging and can plan accordingly while the kids are fulfilling their scheduled duties. I can also plan meet ups with friends and family around this schedule in my beloved new planner.

If your kiddos have a hard time with unstructured days….this scheduling system might be a good experiment to try! As a small sidenote, I am a firm believer to not structure my wonders’ PLAY (what we call independent time)….we tell them often that “boredom is a choice” and I want them to problem solve and be creative on their own. But that doesn’t mean I can’t provide predictability in the times when they will get to make those free choices and the times when we will adventure out as a family unit.

If you are interested in more inspirational content around keeping your family healthy and happy inside and out, please consider following me on Instagram under the username ROOTEDWELL.

The choice of “busy”

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I love this quote and all that it implies. I get asked the question of “how do have time for ALL of that?” often. And while I don’t mind answering it, I find it funny that I don’t actually FEEL all that busy at all. Or at least I don’t feel busy in a negative way – I feel FULL because my family and I are blessed to have so many things to participate in on a daily or weekly basis. I strongly that I am in control of my time, including that of my family and my children. I get to choose what I do with my downtime and I also get to choose how many activities and extra-curriculars my kiddos participate in which severely impacts our nightly and weekend routines. I also believe that some of my “busy” activities are pieces of my self-care like this very blog, scrapbooking, essential oil madness, and extra coaching duties. My “bucket of energy” truly gets filled back up when I partake in these things and thus I can put my whole self into my work and my roles as mother and wife. Even right now, I am writing this post, catching up on the Bachelorette, and texting a few friends about some ailments that oils might help with and I don’t feel busy – I just love fitting all of this into my life when I CHOOSE to.

What I know for sure is that weekends is a time for restoration and downtime for us all. I try not to over-commit to events and I always make sure we are home in between events so that we can participate in a team nap OR just release the energy that being out in public entails for my little wonders. This sometimes means I say no or I don’t plan as many social events but the pay-off mentally and emotionally is so worth it. I also know that when I do make invites to social events or classes, they are extended with the same grace and intentions I hope others extend to me. Come if you can….absolutely no judgement or hard feelings if you can’t!

My other trick to staying engaged and choosing my time is to always keep my cell phone on silent. By doing so, I get to choose when I engage with text messages from others and/or social media, versus getting constant dings and rings when notifications pop up. And although this makes some people frustrated when I can’t text back right away (my Mom thinks she’s sneaky when she asks “if I got her last text” just to shame me from not texting her back….I’m on to you Mom).

I think that our culture can “glorify” this busy-ness with many parents responding with “we’re so busy” as a badge or pride and accomplishment which can then pressure others into filling up every free hour with activities to measure up. And while that might be great and wonderful for their family, it doesn’t work for me or my kiddos and thus I have CHOSEN a different schedule. And that means being particular about what we let our wonders commit to AND inserting passion projects and hobby time into the schedule for my husband and I to keep us fresh as well.

If you’re interested in some reading around this topic for some management inspiration, I would highly recommend the following reads:
The Fringe Hours by Jessica Turner
Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less by Marc Lesser

 

 

A few things I’m loving….

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Since I gave up wine for my 30-day detox cleanse, I’ve been missing my glass of red wine each night. I’ve been finding some comfort (and some relief from bloating) with this little “tea” I concocted:
1 cup apple cider
2 tbl. apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
1 drop on guard or cinnamon 
I’ve been disliking my bathroom counter top lately so I asked my crafty husband to do a reclaimed wood shelf and I am loving a little farmhouse feel in our very newly built (aka very vanilla) house.
As a Mother’s Day present to my Mother-in-Law Lori, I crafted a special planner with small pictures of her family members on their birthdays. I liked the idea so much that I used it to decorate my new planner and I love peeking through all the months and seeing so many smiling faces that I love so much.
My new favorite app straight from Shark Tank…..Felt! This app has amazingly cute card designs but then you can customize them and add your own handwriting (using your touch screen) for a handmade look. Plus, I only pay $5 per month and get to send 3 cards as part of the subscription plan (which I already used in the first day I had the app – oops).And just because I love how my little WonderBOY texts – a screen shot between him and Scott. I’m not sure what I was “letting him do because he is cute” but whatever it is, I am fully guilty of and for his exact reasons…..I better work on that before he uses that excuse for more than just staying up an extra 5 minutes or eating popcorn in the living room.

Insta-shopping

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**Disclaimer to my husband: stop reading if you still want to have fond feelings about me and my responsible shopping habits…..now. Thank you.**
Although I know fast fashion has its price overseas I just get so excited about cheap, trendy clothes popping up in my feed on a daily (okay hourly) basis. And with just one easy PayPal click they are on their way to my mailbox. ??? Here are a few of my favorite Instagram shops for clothes/accessories:

Pinkish Trends

Poppy and Dot

Mint Julep Boutique

Put on Love Designs (essential oil accessories)
Apologies to your PayPal account. ?