5 Friday Favorites

Hello everyone, I hope you have had a fantastic week!  Thank you for joining me today for my Five Friday Favorites.
This week has been a week of growth in many ways. We are stretching ourselves and finding we can do things we never thought we could. We are also watching our oldest grow into a young lady. My favorites this week are mostly centered around that...

Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12

1. My first favorite is the book  Do Hard Things. It is inspiring to know that we CAN do hard things if we just raise the standard and really push ourselves. This book was written by two brothers (twins) who were in their teens when they wrote it.
This book will encourage you and your teen to break the mold of what society thinks they are capable of and rebel against low expectations of teens. My teen girl is AWESOME and inspiration to me. She can do anything she puts her mind to. I want her to do HARD things.

2. My second favorite is the song, Church Clap. My daughter LOVES this song and we’ve been playing it on repeat all week. It’s A LOT but super fun and a great way to let loose w your kid. 

3. Bonding w my kids through prayer at night.
Every night at bedtime I pray for my kids, one-on-one. I ask them , how can I pray for you tonight? Are you struggling in any area? I am amazed at how my teenage daughter opens up to me every night before bed. I have started to plan for extra time because it is clear to me that she is enjoying the fellowship between us and the closeness we are developing during this time. All of my little ones enjoy it and we have had some great conversations. It has become a special event we look forward to every evening.

4. Getting my director's license for CC!

Next year my daughter will be moving up to the next level of Classical Conversations (our homeschooling community/ curriculum). I will be directing the Challenge A program for our campus. It is going to be a fulfilling year! The circle below gives you an idea of the six strands or subjects she will be studying.

Challenge A according to the CC website,

"Students are introduced to the robust work of the Challenge program as they encounter the joys and challenges of this discussion-charged Challenge A program.

It is a mix of grammar and dialectic materials as well as an introduction to basic rhetorical skills.

This fulfilling program prepares students for the later Challenges by serving as a bridge between the parent-directed elementary level and a more self-directed stage of learning."

4. Shout Color Catcher Dye Trapping Sheets

Ok, y'all may judge me here and that's fine. I'm just tryin' to live my best life w clean laundry...If you only knew my other dirty little laundry secrets ha! I'm going to come up with a post for that someday but for  now I'm just going to say that six people in one house including a teenage daughter, baseball playing son and two young girls makes for a TON of laundry. There are days that I just want to catch up so I don't even bother to separate the colors, I just throw these in the wash and they literally collect every bit of loose dye so my clothes stay brighter and truer to the original purchase color. I can catch up quick when I use this laundry trick and they are worth every penny!

In case you missed my 3 posts this week, I will leave the links and excerpts below.

Striving to be a Good Momma

I feel a sense of urgency now that my children are getting older. I need to get it right! I feel like the first part of motherhood has been learning, a sort of trial and error period but now is the time for me to implement the knowledge I have acquired. No more mess ups. No "do overs". This is it. I want to leave a legacy. What do I want them to remember about their childhood? About their momma and daddy? Their home? 

Vacation Workout / MED

 If you are having trouble getting a daily workout in, try taking 90 seconds six times per day, perform these 3 simple moves and see if you notice a difference in your physical condition in 90 days.

90 Day Sprint : Fitness 

I talked with you about goal setting and a 90 Day Sprint in this post. 

90 days. This time period is the key. Anybody can do anything for 30 days. What usually happens after 30 days, what I have done time and time again, is that people will see results after 30 days and then get bored and try to switch things up. Do NOT do this. Stick to your plan. 90 days is a great amount of time for you to see serious results. Stick with it and you WILL be successful.

I was focusing a lot on my personal fitness this past month. I hadn't had much time to devote to it this past year and I could feel it in my body and low energy. I have noticed a tremendous difference in my energy and strength.

I hope these posts give you inspiration and motivation. 

Thank you for reading. 

Grace & peace,

Adoring Family

💕5 Friday Favorites💕

It has been a rainy yet wonderful week. I am so grateful to be feeling absolutely amazing. I have been implementing my plans for my 90 Day Sprint  (click here to learn more). I'm also using the PMS remedies as found in this post and they are helping tremendously. 😄👍We are looking forward to Mother's Day on Sunday. I am so grateful for the blessings of motherhood. It is such an honor to be entrusted with these four souls. I have learned more than I could ever recount from my children and the joy of being a mother.

 
Thank you for joining me for my Five Friday Favorites!

1. Classical Conversations community awards day.

Classical Conversations is method of homeschooling using classical curriculum and meeting as a community once a week. The students are taught their weekly lessons by a trained tutor, the parent will expound upon that information throughout the week at home. Classical Conversations goals are to:

1. Provide compelling, influential Christian leadership in the home-centered, classical education movement.
2. Provide weekly classical, Christian communities that hone students’ academic and classical skills of recitation, logical thinking, and persuasive rhetoric.
3. Provide Parent Practicums across the United States that empower parents to teach any academic subject classically.
4. Provide a curriculum framework with a Christ-centered worldview while engaging the current culture in which we live.

 We strengthen each other when we are in a community. When you look at a strong woman you can know there is a woman who is supported by a loving community. I’m so thankful for the homeschool mamas that stood beside me and gave me strength during this long journey, held me up when I was weak, supported me and ensured my kids were well taken care of when. So grateful for all we have learned this year through the Classical conversations curriculum and through the like-minded families.  💪🏼

The students learn through repetition, hands-on projects and giving weekly presentations in front of a group. It stretches and grows the students (and parents) , teaches them to see truth and beauty and instills a life-long love of learning.  We teach the student HOW to think, not WHAT to think. 

2. Going through sooooo much stuff and dropping most of it off for charity. As part of my 90 Day sprint, my home is one of the three areas I’m focusing on during this 90 days of goal crushing. I’m focusing on creating a peaceful, life giving home which mean eliminating clutter.  I have to fight the guilt that I feel toward the waste and consumerism that has affected me but this post soothes my soul in regards to letting go of the negativity that sometimes can plague one who is purging their home. It reminds me that things served a purpose in my life and I hope letting them go will serve others. It’s a great reminder that there is peace in less. I’m thankful to re-read this post which reminds me how I want my home to be set up and the feelings of comfort I want my home to evoke in others.  

3. Forgotten treasure: I found a box labeled "Fragile, China" and was delighted to share w my youngest daughters that these items belonged to my great grandmother. It was the sweetest thing to hear them literally squeal w delight every time they unwrapped a new piece. My sweet little Brooke kept telling Katy to be careful because these were fragile Chinese items. I explained, no that’s not what this kind of China this is. I love the way her mind processes things though. We did study China during Geography this year so it's great that her little mind is connecting these things. ☕️ It’s been fun to go through boxes that have been packed away for over 4 years and to enjoy the honeymoon trinkets, baby blankets and family heirlooms.

4. My Sunday School teaching Partner. We have taught together for 13 years, She is like my spiritual mother and one of my closest friends. I've gleaned much wisdom sitting at her feet all these years. 

A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Proverbs 31:30

5 Auction time! I’m looking for furniture to fill our new home with. I love Spanish Colonial style and the Mediterranean Farmhouse look. I have my eye on this beauty so wish me luck!

 I’m previewing this item as we speak and hope to post a pic of it in my home next week... 🤞 Even if I don't win, I'm enjoying the process. 

That is all for today. Thank you for reading and many blessings to you this weekend as you celebrate Mother's Day.

Grace & Peace,

 Adoring Family

Linked here

🌸Five Friday Favorites🌸

Thank God it's Friday! Another week has passed and we have been working hard to organize our home using the technique I talked about it this post:  Simple Luxury.
We have also been making plans for Mother's Day. I'm so thankful for the joy my little ones bring, for the close family unit that we are and for all that motherhood has taught me.

Now for my five Friday favorites:

1. My lil Brobro's are coming next week. I am so looking forward to spending time with them. The three of us share a special bond. I’m so thankful for how close we are. They are a little crazy but so much fun!

2. This week we have been talking about managing emotions using REED. We have been dealing with a lot of emotions over the past few weeks. Moving from our home has brought out some unexpected sadness when leaving our familiar, beloved (though small) home. One way I teach my children about how to handle their emotions is to use the acrostic REED which helps to Recognize the emotions, Examine them, Express them and Decide to leave it in the Lord's hand and trust Him. You can read more about this here: REED

3. Chocolate Brownie Bars
I am trying to up my protein intake and I have fallen in love with these bars. They have dark chocolate chunks in them and are a completely clean protein bar. I usually have one as an afternoon snack and then another half of one after dinner because they are just delicious to me now. They contain absolutely no sugar but satisfy my sweet tooth w stevia. I highly recommend the chocolate almond brownie flavor as the others are nice but these are delicious.

4. Little Readers.
Well, maybe not so little anymore...

I let the kids pick out books for their book reports during the month of May. Our Classical Conversations Community has finished w our schooling for the year but we are doing some things outside of CC such as vocabulary, book reports and math. We use a computer program called Teaching Textbooks for math and Andrew Pudewa's spelling program which we absolutely LOVE! 

I let them choose any book they wanted for their May book report. I was pretty elated when my son chose the Hobbit. He has been spouting off wonderful information such as, "Hey, mom! Did you know Hobbits can't grow beards and they are shorter that dwarves?"

Emma chose Soul Surfer. Bethany Hamilton inspires Emma with her tenacious spirit and unwavering faith. I'm thankful Emma has such a strong, courageous woman to look up to.

5. NYX Professional Matte Finishing Spray

Now that it's almost summer I like to use a setting spray to help my concealer stay put. The NYX setting spray provides a matte finish and helps my foundation last during the hot, humid Texas summer. Just a quick spritz after I apply my concealer and I am set for the day. 

That's it for today. I wrote a post about mood boosters for when you are feeling overwhelmed or down. If you are interested click here. I will be putting most of those to practice on this rainy day as I continue unpacking and organizing. We are so close to being completely settled!
Thank you for joining me for my 5 favorites today. Blessings to you this weekend. 
Grace & peace,
Adoring Family

Linking up here
Five Friday Favorites 

🤓Five Friday Favorites🤓

Hello everyone. This Friday Favorites Post is coming at you from my phone. Please forgive the format and typos🤦🏼‍♀️  

Linking up here
Five Friday Favorites 

1. My first favorite is my new kitchen. We are settling in nicely and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my kitchen!! I’m so grateful to have plenty of space to work. After living in a camper for a year,  one can get pretty creative at mealtime. I’m still taking those skills with me here but it’s nice to realize that I actually have a place to set my cookie sheet when I take it out of the oven 😄👍

Still need to add a few things. I would also like to do some live edge wood shelving next to a stone hood.

We are doing a tumbled marble backsplash. I’m still trying to find someone to do the vent hood. 
I’m talking about creating a simple, luxurious home in this post. To me luxury doesn’t have to be expensive but means high quality and increased comfort. I’m trying to eliminate excess and only use what I love. To read more about how we built this home debt free, read this post. 

2. I shared with you how much I love Tolkien and Lewis in this post.  I truly find comfort in their writings. I feel like they are part of me. I’m not sure if that makes sense but anytime you read something multiple times and truly love it, I believe it begins to make up much of who you are (that’s why I’m always telling my littles, Oh be careful little eyes what you see 👀). As much as I’ve enjoyed moving into our new house I still miss the old one and my routine.  This week I needed to find some comfort in familiarity.

 I have been listening to I see Fire on repeat. Have you heard that song? I enjoy Ed Sheeran  as much as the next person but this song is a beautifully written and specific to the 2nd Hobbit movie which makes it a favorite. I also enjoyed watching the Hobbit with my son. Of course the older girls couldn’t stay away. We enjoyed snuggling in our Kid Cave and watching the Deselation of Smaug (my favorite of the Hobbit Trilogy). 🐉🧝🏻‍♂️🧙🏻‍♂️💚

Did I lose you yet? Because if that didn’t, this might...

3. I love Love LOVE geology and paleontology.  I enjoy identifying the three kinds of rocks and finding  fossils and petrified wood. I’m currently looking for a cabinet to display all of our beautiful and unique finds. I have a plethora of favorite rocks and fossils but I came across this one when we were moving and I wanted to share it with you.

4. This week my husband’s company had a take your child to Work Day. My husband decided to take our three oldest to work w him. They had a wonderful time and learned a lot about the aerospace industry. 

5. The last one is that our renters are moving into our first rental today!! I’m so thankful and excited. They are as well. They’ve been renting property for us for a year and living in a camper. Now they will move into the home we moved into after we were in our camper for a year. I’m so excited for their children to enjoy the space we have loved so well. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Thank you for reading.

Grace & peace,

Adoring Family

5 Fiday Favorites

Happy Good Friday to you!

We are happily settling into our new home and we completely cleared everything out of our old one. We have a crew in our old home touching up the paint and finishing up a few odds and ends so our favorite renters can move in next week. 

It’s not too late to host a simple Seder meal for your family. This tradition is a very special time for our family to come together and celebrate all of the good things the Lord has done. Click here for a Simple, Kid-Friendly, Seder.

Even with all of the moving and unpacking, I still managed to create a list of five Friday favorites for you this week...

Linked here Good Friday Favorites

1. Rapidlash Eyelash Enhancing Serum This serum works. Give it two weeks and you WILL see thicker lashes and longer length. Use it daily for the first month and then I switch to every other day to extend the life of the product. I have used this product along with the more costly alternative, Rodan and Fields, Lash Boost and I cannot tell a difference. They have similar ingredients and they both work great. Read more about the lash growing products I use in this post. 

2.Revlon Balm Stain in Honey Also, a go-to favorite. I have been using this product for 6 years and I still love it. It moisturizes and stains my lips. I use it under my lipstick so that when my lipstick does fade, I still have the color from the balm stain on my lips.

3. Alba Botanica Hawaiian Sugar Polish

This body polish has been on my subscribe and save for 3 years. I use it as an all over body scrub. I usually use about a eighth of the jar at a time and massage it into my entire body and rinse. It's extremely mousturizing and leaves my skin with a supple glow.  It is an all natural product so it will go bad if you do not use it quickly or refrigerate. I also their sunscreen and I have a subscribe and save to the spray! This is the perfect time of year to exfoliate. If you do this once a week, you will feel like you've had a luxurious spa treatment for a fraction of the price.

4. My first bath in my jacuzzi tub 🛀 

Oh my goodness, was this relaxing! The bubbles were amazing. I actually used my caldera sea salt and neroli dish soap from Grove.co. I was taught when I was a little girl that dishwashing soap makes the best bubble bath bubbles. I use caldera because it’s gentle and natural and is my new favorite scent!! I definitely felt like I was at a lux bed and breakfast. My husband was so sweet and made sure the kids didn’t come in (😆KK usually tries to get in the tub w me if the door isn’t locked and we still don’t have handles on our doors). I love, love, LOVE my tub! It’s actually a standard size tub w jacuzzi jets. I prefer a smaller tub. When we were in Martindale we had a large tub and it was nice but I always felt like I was floating away and it took forever to fill up. By the time it would fill up the hot water wasn’t as hot as I enjoyed. I’m so happy and thankful for this one, it’s perfect! 

5. Our Loquat tree is producing!

You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

Psalm 128:2

Loquats are one of my all time favorite fruits. They taste like a peach with a hint of a tropical flavor. Our tree is bursting with them this year! My children can usually be found climbing the tree and emerging with a bucketful of loquats to enjoy. 

Blessings from above.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter!

Thank you for reading.

Grace &peace,

Adoring Family

🙌5 Friday Favorites🙌

Hello everyone, I hope you had an amazing week. We have some wonderful news...we are moving into our house today!  We hope to be finished with all of the big items this weekend. We are only moving across the street so moving everything should be fairly simple. 

Now onto my five Friday favorites... 

1.Red Raspberry Leaf Tea

This is one of the 8 ways to eliminate PMS symptoms that I wrote about in this post.

I have found these 8 things help me greatly minimize bloating, cramps, and PMS induced anxiety. 

2.Songbird by Josh Garrels. 

I enjoy lighting candles and listening to quiet music while cooking dinner. This song is perfect to listen to during calm, cool Spring nights.

💕We were blessed with tickets to see Josh Garrels last May. He is my favorite. 

3.Today is moving day!! 🎉

Actually, the kids started moving all of their toys and clothes yesterday after their tutor went over school with them. I was on the hunt for curtains. I went to 8 different stores but none of them had what I was looking for or if they did have the ones I like they didn't have the right length. Looks like I'll have to order them online. My moving goal today is the kitchen, the bathrooms and all of our clothing. When my husband gets home from work he will work on appliances and big furniture. Feeling like the Israelites entering the Promiseland!!🙌

4.🙏🏼Prayers of friends

I am so grateful for the support and prayers from my friends. I have had many close friends praying for us this week. I had a decision to make and it may not have been a huge deal in the grand scheme of life and but I received the BEST advice..."You should consult your God in ALL things." So I did. 

 Hallelujah. 💛

5. Belly-fat-burning Coconut Oil

Hey, old friend, I'm so loving you lately and for so many reasons! If it weren't for coconut oil, I could  NOT do the intermittent fasting that I mention in this post. It keeps me satiated when I add it to my morning coffee. SO delicious! I have read, "Eat fat, lose fat." countless times but I'm starting to see it might be true based on my experience. Coconut oil is thermogenic. Thermogenic = increased energy expenditure (fat burning). Coconut Oil is comprised almost entirely of Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT) which is metabolized more efficiently that other fats and stored less efficiently than other fats (who wants to store fat less efficiently 🙌). If you are a skeptic like I was, read about how it is proven in this peer study.

This is the Organic Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil I have in my subscribe and save. It is the least expensive per ounce even before the subscribe and save but with the subscription it is a great value and ensures I never run out.😄👍

Well, this house isn't going to move itself! Better hop to it :)

Thank you all for reading.

Grace & peace,

Adoring Family

Linking up with Whitney, Erika and Andrea.

High 5 for Friday