Friday, January 5, 2018

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!  Hope you had a great week.  It was freezing in Indiana so we barely left the house.  Add in the fact that the kids had colds/stomach bugs and we were kind of hermits.  I'm hoping everyone is on the mend because I've lost count of the loads of laundry, outfit changes and cleaning I've done to keep the germs at bay.  I also had a follow up dental appointment for a crown that wasn't my favorite way to spend an hour of my day.  Olive is mostly over a cold (except that darn nighttime coughing!) and was less than thrilled with all of the 2 hour delays for school.  She's not a fan of cutting her school day shorter.

Oh well... next week should be a happier, healthier one.

The best parts of our week were:

1. Citrus Bowl Champions
Notre Dame won their bowl game making it a 10 win season!!  We had a lot of fun cheering them on to all of their wins this season and are already making plans for next season.  We had hoped to make a fun game day menu and real do things up big.  However, the kids were still sick so we just kept things low key and partied in our pjs.

2. Veggies
I was much better about eating and buying veggies last year so I wanted to continue that this year.  It helped to buy veggies every time I was at the store, wash and chop them so they'd be ready to use at all times.  My family definitely eats better when I take them time to stock our fridge.  I like to do a big salad for lunch, snack on veggies in the afternoon and then plan something like roasted veggies or side salad for dinner.  How do you get all your veggies in??

My healthy habits for the new year are:
MORE veggies, MORE water, MORE movement and LESS late night snacking.


3. Kid Highlights:
Olive as Elsa 24/7.  She got a new Elsa dress for Christmas and she's barely taken it off.

She is so interested in ALL of the Disney princesses right now.

This is a pretty accurate image of Fletcher's week.  Sick since Saturday and OVER IT.
 Good thing firetrucks always make him smile.

4. Good Books
I read 24 adult books in 2017 and got to review 27 adult/kid books.  It was really nice to get back into the swing of reading for pleasure.  I really enjoyed A Simplified Life.  I am a naturally organized person and found this book really motivated to get started simplifying and purging.  Emily Ley gives great practical tips for women of all ages and stages.  I'd highly recommend this book.

I also just finished A Life Beyond Amazing by Dr David Jeremiah.  It was the perfect book to read to kick off the new year.  I appreciated his insight on the source of true joy, thankfulness, generosity and compassion.  His writing is very compelling and motivating.  All of his suggestions are simple things that you could easily implement into your daily lives.  I loved his thoughts on the importance of humility and the idea that a person should never stop learning and growing.  I found myself underlining and taking notes throughout the book.  I would have loved to read this with a friend or my husband because it's filled with great discussion topics.  The chapters make you think and reassess the ways you are giving back to/serving the people you encounter every day.  You'll finish chapters and definitely be motivated to make real changes in your life.  I loved the way the book was organized.  It was a quick read with a mixture of practical tips and tools, biblical characters and stories you'd likely hear in sermons and real life examples of his ideas.  This was my first book to read by Jeremiah and I very much enjoyed it.  I'm excited to check out his other books.
*I was gifted this book in exchange for an honest review of it.

5. New Year's Eve
We planned to have a quiet New Years at home, but it ended up being a sick New Years at home.  I made cupcakes and we all just kind of snuggled the night away.  Not exciting, but it was still nice



6. Olive + Elsa
We got invited to a Frozen birthday party right before we left for Christmas break and Olive was over the moon excited.  She put on her favorite Elsa dress, we watched Frozen and she belted out all the songs for days leading up to the party.  She was mesmerized by Elsa and couldn't have been happier to go to the party.






In case you missed it earlier this week on Polka-Dotty Place:

Monday: The Best of 2017
Tuesday: Best Recipes of 2017
Wednesday: Christmas Break

Linking up with

6 comments:

  1. I love Fletcher's Over It face. I hope you are all on the mend. I am over this cold weather. Next week it is supposed to be in the 30s, which will be a treat. Olive and Elsa look like two peas in a pod. When I came into work later I would listen to Dr. Jeremiah on the way to work. He has such a gift while talking that keeps you engaged that I'm sure his writing is the same. I would love to read one of his book one day. Happy weekend to you! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love Fletcher's cute little expression! And Olive is the perfect Elsa! Hope you guys are back to normal by next week. I always have a hard time with those weeks where we are totally housebound. Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Could you just make my salads for the week and ship them to me?? Mine are never as pretty as yours. HA :)
    Love Fletcher's "over it" face!
    Happy Friday!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sorry you've had sick kiddos :( I hope next week is better!! I have an Elsa obsessed 3 year old... (although she's currently watching The Little Mermaid). We love having fun salads, my new obsession is putting salt & butter pecans in them (which makes them a little less healthy but ohhh sooo good).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Poor Fletcher. I hope everyone is all better in your house friend. The sickness has been so intense this year. It feels like swimming with sharks when going out and about. LOVE Olives doll house & doll collection. My girls would LOVE to play with her I am almost certain :). Happy Monday!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Awww, Fletcher. At least he's cute when he's sick?

    ReplyDelete

I LOVE hearing from you!! Thanks for taking the time to leave sweet comments; I enjoy reading every one of them.