Favorites From The Week

Happy Friday, friends! I hope everyone had a great week and your new year is kicking off to a good start. It looks like this year isn't going to change much with feeling like time is just flying by. The boys were back to a full week of school and it was nice to have a bit of a routine back. I was able to cross some things off my to-do list and get the house back in some sort of order. Let's jump into some favorites, shall we...

Family Game Nights: 

I think we do a good job of doing a lot as a family but something we're also working on this year is trying to have our week nights feel more relaxed and engaged with each other. Sometimes after school, work, getting dinner together and cleaned up, lunches made, baths, you know all those necessity things—there isn't much room to play with the kids. Over the summer it feels different because we can do a lot more outside and the days feel longer and less rushed, so for now, a nice little focus has been game nights. The boys got UNO Flip for Christmas and it has become almost a nightly thing for us. They love regular UNO so it's been nice to learn and play the game with a little twist. I also love that they enjoy playing some of the classics that Eric and I grew up with like, Sorry, Candy Land, Trouble, Guess Who, and Twister.

Organization:

I shared more in my stories about trying to get some things organized in the house, in particular, our playroom. We have a really good sized playroom that I feel like the boys don't take enough advantage of. When we would go in there, I realized it felt more like a dumping ground for toys than really a functional playroom. So what better way to kick off the new year than hitting up those storage and organization sales (retailers are smart) and tackling all the things. We sorted through tons of toys and made piles to donate, keep, and take some things over to grandmom's.

This 6 cube organizer shelf (currently 15% off with code HOME) helped out a ton with getting things up and off the floor and into specific bins. We picked up these cubes (also currently on sale) and a few decorative baskets. I mentioned that I wanted to do a wallpaper accent wall (thank you to everyone who voted on my poll), it was a really close call. Since I loved both wallpaper designs (we narrowed it to down to this one or this one) for different reasons, I decided to let the boys decide since it is their playroom and I want them to feel involved as well. My mom is coming over this afternoon to help me put it up so stay tuned to my stories to see which one we picked.

I think the playroom is going to be my work-in-progress-project since we also have two little coves in their that I have some ideas with how I want to utilize them better. This will be a bit of an on going project for the next few weeks, but I'll try to share more as we move along. 

Holiday Rewind:

It's hard to believe that we have to wait almost a whole year to experience the Christmas magic and joy of the season again. It was sad packing things away yet nice to have the house back in order. Funny how you can experience sadness and joy all at the same time. It was fun looking back on all of the things we did and the moments we shared together. You can read more about how we spent our winter break.

Thoughts For The New Year: 

I also shared more about my thoughts and 2020 vision ;) I really struggled with trying to narrow down one word to focus on for the year, and making resolutions hasn't really been my thing. I decided not to stress over achieving the perfect mantra for the year and instead focused on what would be best for us as a family. You can also see and read more of our 12pm kids down and the fun we had with the boys.

First Date Night: 

It can be hard to find time to sneak away as a couple for a few hours when you have a house full of little ones. Anyone else struggle with working in date nights? It's something Eric and I are going to try to make more of a priority this year. We were able to have a sitter and enjoy a sixers game by ourselves. We were invited to a coaches meet and greet before the game so it was nice to be there early and also grab something to eat. We weren't able to record anything while we were there but we did get a picture at their table. It's always nice when it's a night that they win, too.

Here's to enjoying the weekend and focusing on our goals for the new year!