Weekly Top 5 |v.9

  Hey hey, its Friday! And it's summertime, which feels wonderful. We have a neighbor's 1st birthday party, some church things, and literally nothing else planned all weekend- which I love. I'm hoping to get in a longer run one day and finish getting everything ready for our garage sale next weekend (hooray for getting rid of stuff!). Why is it that same basic weekends somehow just seem more fun when its summer? Maybe its the daily trips to our neighborhood pool? Either way, here are some fun things I'm loving this week:

1. This video on the official rules of pre-meal prayers is hilarious! I will for sure be thinking of it the next time I go out to eat with a group.

2. I just signed myself (and the boys!) up for our library's summer reading program. That sounds extremely nerdy, I know. But its a fun way to read a bit more and our library gives a ton of great prizes. It's totally worth looking into if your library has one! Our's has a an online format- so we don't actually have to go to the library to sign up or track our books. (Most have programs for kids AND adults with some great prizes like Target gift cards!)

3. I'm finally upgrading my summer sandals and sneakers (I haven't bought a pair of either for at least two years) and while I was shopping I found that Toms now has the CUTEST options! How cute are all of these?!

4. I've decided to make a new sangria recipe any chance I have this summer and so far this is my favorite.

5. Did you see that this movie is finally coming out next week? I generally don't care about/keep up with movies, but I'm excited to see this one!

Happy weekending!

Weekly Top 5 |v.8

  Happy Friday! Spring temperatures finally hit Indiana this week and it has been as glorious as we all hoped it would be. Nevermind that there's snow coming in three days, today its sunshine-y and warm and we will be scooting our tushes out the door from breakfast until naptime! Spring is amazing like that. Just two days in a row of sunshine, warmth, trees and flowers blooming- and its enough to makes us all forget about 7 months of cold, snow, dreariness, and feeling cooped up.

  It's funny, because even though spring just now appeared- we're also gearing up for summer already. Only a few weeks left of our mom's Bible study, Caleb has his end of the year preschool program coming up, and we've already signed for VBS at church! So even if it snows again in a few days, I know it won't stick. Summer has to come eventually!

  Have any fun plans this weekend? Justin and I are going on our first date in monthssss. I need to find some ways to hype up the babysitter to Caleb today (maybe ice cream sundaes with her?) because his separation anxiety has been pretty sky high (naturally). But either way, he'll survive and we'll have a chance to be grown ups without kids for a few hours!

Here's what I'm loving around the internet this week:

1. I never buy music, but I actually bought this album this week and can't get enough. If nothing else, listen to this song!

2. We've been leaving the potatoes out, but otherwise I really really love this baked chicken recipe. Super crispy on the outside and perfectly cooked on the inside. Also, garlic butter green beans!

3. Emily's decluttering challenge. Are you doing this (or any serious spring cleaning)? I'm not really following along, because I've tried to keep up with decluttering over the past year. But I love the heart of it and will probably purge a few spots in our house over the weekend!

4. Simplicity Parenting. I haven't read it yet, but I keep hearing different people talk about how great it is. I don't typically read non-fiction, but when something keeps popping up and seems to line up with what I'm learning or practicing on my own- I pay attention! So it's on my list to put on hold at the library this weekend!

5. My fav photo printing site has a new $5 off coupon! Perfect for getting a head start on Mother's Day gifts.

Happy weekending!
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Weekly Top 5 |v.7

c/o Noonday Collection

  Fridayyyyyyy! It's been a long week of phasing out of doctor appointments (hooray!) and staying home (because COLD and spring break) and Caleb feeling so much back to his normal self that he's had boundless energy (I will not complain. I will not complain.). We're all excited for the weekend- family breakfast date, a trip to the museum, a birthday party, and mayyyyyybe getting back to church if we're feeling brave enough to risk the germ pool that is the children's ministry (not hating on our church- every children's ministry is germ-y by nature!).
  On top of all the family time, I'm DETERMINED to carve out some time to get away and work. I need to get ahead on my day job work, but I'm also dreaming up and planning a new adventure (stay tuned!). Stealing a few minutes here and there at home hasn't been cutting it, so I'm planning an afternoon Starbucks work session. Anyone else have to literally leave your house to be productive??
  Oh, and the exterminator is stopping by our house in a few hours to kill all the ants that have decided to invade us. Say what you will about harsh chemicals or whatever magic they'll be using, I WANT THE ANTS GONE. We get them every year and store bought ant baits are usually enough to take care of the problem, but they came with a vengeance this time. So give me all the chemical treatments if it means my toddler doesn't run and scream BUGGIES all day long. Best $150 we've spent all month!

  Here's what I'm loving around the internets this week:

1. The Passion Translation. Have you heard of this? I like to compare Bible translations when I'm studying particle passages of Scripture and I love the Holy Bible app on my iPhone includes TPT now- its just a different, amplified way to read the Bible and I like how its given me some new perspective in my Bible studies!

2. A friend sent this HILARIOUS blogpost to our mom's group and I can't. It's so funny!

3. Susie Davis' podcast. It's called Dear Daughters and is different than other podcasts I usually listen to, but in a good way. I always spend days thinking over things she talks about with the wise women she interviews and its a great listen for women of any age who love Jesus!

4. The Selection Series by Kiera Cass. I heard about these books from Sherry (I say that as if we're on a first name basis) and THEY ARE SO GOOD. Pick them up from your library, asap. Seriously

5. My newest art print. Justin's parents gifted us the most generous thing while they were visiting- this print! I've had my eye on it forever and love it even more than I thought I would. It came so fast, fits perfectly in our living room, and is just the perfect way to remind us that 1.) our family is crazy and that's wonderful and 2.) above all, Jesus. Love Jesus.

Happy weekending!

Ps. Anyone up for a Mother's Day gift guide? I'm thinking of putting one together!

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Weekly Top 5 |v.6

 It's Friday! And actually sort of comical that I'm excited about it because, honestly the days run together completely lately. I've taken the trash two days early the past few weeks because I genuinely never know what day of the week it is. But I never miss a doctor's appointment! So there's that.

  Anyways, this week as been a good one. Caleb had a surgery on Monday and came down with a bit of a cold, so that meant staying home all week (literally never leaving the house except for a funeral!). It has been a welcomed break from therapies and doctor appointments, for sure. Lots of riding big wheels around the house, baking cookies, playing with cousins, and watching Ferdinand the Bull.

  It is supposed to be a bit warmer in Indiana over the weekend and I'm crossing my fingers that we can take a family trip to the zoo. Fresh air + family time + normal life things like the zoo are just SO GOOD for all of us right now!

  So here's to a good weekend to you, too! Here are few fun things from around the internets if you need some weekend reading.

1. My most recent Amazon finds (all super random). I'm expecting two of these lights to be delivered today, and I'm super excited about switching out the fluorescent light in our laundry room and adding one to our basement stairwell. I also snagged this adorable spring coat for Caleb and love it. And I am almost embarrassingly excited to hang this in our laundry room! Oh- can't forget to mention my cute pink letterboard that was on super sale. I love it!

2. Spring cleaning. I just printed off a cleaning this from here and literally can't wait to start it. I think I may do Emily Ley's decluttering challenge again this year (you can sign up for it here), and I'm adding a bunch of cleaning products to my grocery list this week to refill our cleaning cabinet (spoiler: vinegar is my favorite!)

3. You could say that physical health hasn't exactly been a priority to me these past few weeks, so lately I've been trying to squeeze in more workouts when I can and add a few healthier meals when it works. Fitness Blender is my go-to (free! so many options!) and Kelly's smoothie formula is literally the best at keeping me full and energized in the mornings (fat+fiber+greens+protein).

4. Statement art. While it is ABSOLUTELY not in our budget right now (or ever??), I am in love with this giant print from Lindsay Letters. How cute and perfect!

5. Things that make me laugh. We're rewatching Parks and Rec on Netflix in the evenings and how did I forget how hilarious it is?? Also, this Christian comedian makes me die laughing nearly everyday.


Happy weekending!!

Weekly Top 5 |v.5

  Merry (almost) Christmas! We aren't traveling or hosting anything this year, and it honestly feels really great. Justin has had the week off and we've just spent low-key time as a family. We're all a little under the weather and we haven't had any actual plans at all. It's been so nice to just wake up together, pick out some fun things to do, and even just hang out around the house. The chance to run errands without toddlers has also been pretty great!

  I've loved the slow start to Christmas so much, that I'm taking advantage of being on vacation from work, too. I'm deleting Instagram and my email from my phone until New Year's. There's not much better than being present, having few distractions, and ending the year on a restful now.

  Here's to hoping your holiday is great! Here's some weekend reading for you:

This show on netflix. Justin and I always have a hard time finding shows we both like, but this one is SO FUNNY. It has super dry humor, and we love it.

1SE. I've been using this app to make family videos for almost an entire year, and I'm still as obsessed with it as I was last January! If you need a fun (easy!) photo/film project to document your family/year, its a great idea to start on January 1st.

Goal setting. I always love reading Lara's goal setting tips and encouragement. Whether you're setting big, little, or no goals at all for 2018- her blog is worth a read!

5 minute fudge. We made tins of treats for our neighbors, and I may have kept a big thing of fudge to keep for myself!

I'm almost to my yearly impact goal with Noonday Collection! Want to help push me over the edge and make my biggest impact on our artisans who work in vulnerable communities around the world? I just need 10 people to buy a pair of earrings or even just a gift card before the end of the year. And if you shop through this link, you might win $45 of free Noonday for yourself!

Happy weekending (and merry Christmas!)

Weekly top 5 |v.5

How adorable is Caleb's mini Christmas tree with it's single ornament?!

 For lots of reasons, today officially feels like the Christmas season has begun! My moms' group ended the semester this week and had our Favorite Things party last night, we finally have our tree up, its snowing outside right now, and I just sent Justin and Caleb off on their first movie date to see this cute Christmas movie this morning.

  Outside of the movie date, we have nothing on the calendar for the entire weekend and it feels so good! I finished all of our Christmas shopping and I'm going to see how the boys do with wrapped gifts under the tree (my guess is they'll try opening them and I'll have to put them away until Christmas morning). Maybe we'll venture out to see some Christmas lights tonight? Christmas time is just extra fun with little kids, so we're soaking up all the things.

Here's some weekend reading for you::


Last minute gift ideas and deals. Have you seen my gift guides? One with ideas under $30, gifts for her, and gifts for little ones. So many of the places I included have deals right now (I promise I'm not getting paid to say that)! May Designs and West Elm have free shipping this weekend, Walk In Love has 15% off, you can get a free Chatbook with this link or if you already have an account you'll get a free gift on January 1st when you order anything this weekend. I didn't include it in my gift guide, but I bought this hoodie as a gift for someone this year and am kicking myself for not buying myself one- and its 40% off right now! If you shop online and use eBates (you should!) they have double money back on lots of sites this weekend. And, while we don't have any sales right now, if you shop Noonday Collection you'll help me reach a BIG goal I have with my business (shop by Dec. 12th for delivery before Christmas!)

Salted Carmel Chocolate cookies. Need a cookie recipe for a Christmas get-together? Try these! Sally is my go-to girl for cookie recipes and I tried these for our Favorite Things party. They were a hit! The carmel inside is such a fun surprise.

Best slow-cooker pulled pork. I'm on recipe kick this week! I made this pulled pork from my new favorite cookbook (its on my Christmas list!) and IT IS AMAZING. I don't think I can't emphasize that enough. Bonus? It's full of real ingredients.

Christmas (or anytime!) DIY. Long story short, I'm currently obsessed with Caravan Shoppe. (they have the most fun digital downloads for parties and home decor!) I bought this holiday pack when it was on sale last week and then made a FUN diy frame (here's the tutorial). You can see how it turned out here.

Jimmy Fallon and Shaq. If you need a good laugh, this is one of my favorite lip sync battles!

Happy weekending!

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Weekly Top 5 | v.4

 I'm all sorts of ready for the weekend and that is mostly because I was off in lots of ways this week. It's crazy what a few days of getting off track (going to bed too late, not eating well, etc) can do to all the things. I am a bit behind in my training schedule and I've basically thought it was Thursday since Monday. Oy. I'm planning to get a 9 miler in on Sunday and am trying real hard not to psych myself out before then or give in to one of a dozen excuses to skip it. I have to do it!

  It seems impossible that its already October, but I love it! We're doing all the fall things, including making our first batch of chili tonight. I'm leaving Justin with the boys tomorrow to do some work with my sister, but we have a day date planned for next weekend and I can't wait. Have I mentioned that day dates are our new favorite thing?

  Here's some weekend reading for you:

Southern Spice Hash Browns & Apple Bars. For whatever reason, I've spend more time in the kitchen over the last few weeks than I did all summer. I stumbled on this new (to me) hash brown casserole recipe and its amazing. One of those that I actually wrote down on a recipe card and put in my recipe box so I don't lose it! I've already made it three times this month for different things (bible study, new baby meal, for our family). Another recipe I can't stop making this month? My mom's apple bars. So. Good.

So Yummy.  Have you seen this instagram account? I've seriously cut down the number of people I follow on there and am really picky now about what I fill my feed with. But this account is just fun! They have short, simple videos of creative things to make in the kitchen. I'm obsessed with the halloween treats they shared this week! (and I'm not the only one that loves them...they have 4.9 MILLION followers!!!)

Last 90 Days Challenge. Did you know there are less than 90 days left in 2017? One of my favorites, Rachel Hollis, is doing a challenge to end the year well. With the busyness of Fall and the holidays, its the most popular time of year to let things slide or get off track (whatever track you might be on). Her tips are pretty lighthearted and fun, but also add up to just getting good things done and ending the year strong! Its already been a big encourager for me to keep up with training, building my Noonday Collection business, and maintaining my trek through the Bible this year.

The coziest pullover. It's absolutely not in the budget right now, but I'm obsessed with this pullover. It totally meets my 'neutrals only' tendency with clothes and I love the subtle verse written in script. Gah. Someone buy it and tell me how cozy it is! (This Tami Taylor top is equally as amazing)

YNAB. I'm probably super late to this, but has anyone else tried the You Need A Budget app/software? I did a ton of research and it seems to be, hands down, the best budgeting tool. I've just started using it and have so much to learn before I have it figured out, but its SO much better than Mint (which is the only app we've used for budgeting). And of course I heard about it on the Young House Love episode this week, because all good things come from John and Sherry! (you can google and find lots of referrals to get a free 90 day trial)

Happy weekending!

Weekly Top 5 | v.3

 Thumbs up for Friday! The days are already getting shorter and it seems as if the warm weather really is on its way out. I've been drinking my favorite chai every morning and started layering the boys' outfits each day. I love it! Caleb started preschool this week and its been so stinking fun. He is in such a different place developmentally this year and already loves school! He's happy when I drop him off (never even says goodbye!) and is bouncing off the walls with excitement when I pick him up. The in-between hours have been a fun chance for Tyler and I to hang out and I think we both love that one-on-one time that's been rare since he and Caleb are so close in age.

  We're spending the weekend sort of trading off time with the kids; I have a training for church and Justin has to work. But we're squeezing in some fun time with friends tonight and hopefully a fun family dinner/park date tomorrow!

Here's some weekend reading for you:

1. BBW wax melts. I'm super picky when it comes to fragrances and I don't branch out often. One of my all time favorites is Leaves from Bath & Body Works and I just discovered this week that it comes in inexpensive wax melts! Its perfect because I have a couple of wax warmers that I never use after not being able to find scents I actually like. With their 3/$12 sale, my house officially smells like Fall now!

2. Spotify playlists. I'm SO late to this, I know. But Justin just showed me how to use spotify on my phone (we share an account) and I downloaded this and this playlist and I LOVE THEM.

3. Emily's blog post on wellness vs science. If you're a human, you should read it!

4. Busy boxes. I know this is super toddler-mom specific, because that's my life right now. I made the boys a handful of simple learning and sensory boxes this week and I've been so surprised at how big of a hit they are! The current favorites are kinetic sand (of course), matchbox car 'parking garage', and the biggest hit has been the dry pinto bean box.

5. Jen Hatmaker and Brene Brown. If you only ever listen to one podcast in your life, make it this one.

Happy weekending!

Weekly Top 5 | v.2

  Happy Friday! All of the schools around us have started back up again and this week seemed like a treat with all of our favorite parks and museums less crowded. A perk of not having school-aged kiddos! We went to the zoo, splash pad, and children's museum and each was crowd-free and perfect for letting Tyler out of the stroller to explore (read:be wild) more than usual.

  I have been saying this for the last month, it seems, but I really want to get some smaller house projects tackled this weekend. Tiny things that have been on my list for month like staining some wood for our chalkboard frame, painting some thrifted chairs, etc. Crossing my fingers I actually make it happen! Other than that, we're also going on a date night and heading to a new church with some friends for fun.

Here's some weekend reading for you:

1. Slow cooker pulled pork. Some changes at work mean that Justin is home for supper more often, so we buckled down on meal planning this week. This is a new family favorite!

2. Perpetual meal list. Speaking of buckling down on meal planning, this worksheet is my new bff. I'm forever drawing blanks when thinking of meals to make so this is helping me have a cheat sheet to use. (I'm keeping it in my Home Base Binder)

3. Young house love. My new favorite podcast! This one is short and lighthearted and always leaves me motivated to tackle something big or small around our house. I especially like that it feels as if you're just sitting down for a quick, funny chat with friends.

4. Half marathon training/fitness blender. I'm a few weeks into my half marathon training and these are the two things keeping me on track. This was the best/most realistic training schedule I found. It has a great mix of short/easy runs and cross training. I actually don't love doing living room workout videos, but in a pinch these short (FREE!) workout videos are great. There are a ton to choose from and they are super straightforward and I can play my own background music. 

5. Back to school photo. I don't have any kids heading back to school, but this is HILARIOUS.

Happy weekending!

Weekly Top 5 | v.1

  I've decided to ditch my super infrequent weekly round-up posts and start a new weekly Friday series- a list of my top 5 things from the week. I love reading this sort of highlight post and have found some of my favorite things from them! So, welcome to the first Weekly Top 5.

Guys, this last week was weird. Maybe its because we went on a date Monday night and so I've had the hardest time keeping track of the days after that? Monday felt like Friday, so I have been confused the rest of the week.

  In other news, it seems as if now we can say summer has officially begun. June had lots of fun stuff on the calendar for us and then we went on vacation to the Shore, but we literally don't have anything (maybe one play date?) planned from now until Labor Day! We're filling the rest of our summer days with zoo and museum trips, trying out new parks, soaking up our neighborhood pool, and helping Caleb get over his current potty training hump (ugh). I'll stand by my thoughts that toddlers are exhausting- but Caleb and Tyler are getting along more and more each day and we just plain been having fun together lately (minus that potty training)!

Here's some weekend reading for you:

1. VMP Prayer Journals: These are one of my very favorite things, something I use daily, and a great gift to gift. And they're on sale right now! 

2. A hilarious husky: My brother-in-law sent this to me a few weeks ago and I'm still dying. Can you imagine if we shaved Murphy?

3. Young House Love and Business Boutique: two new (to me) podcasts I started this week.  (spoiler: one makes me want to start my own business and the other makes me want to create my dream house)

4. Why I Won't Quit Social Media: such a great post on social media and how, a Christian, to embrace it

5. Feathered Fringe Earrings: I lost my favorite earrings a few weeks ago (I'm 99% sure I set them on top of the van when loading Tyler in and then drove away without remembering they were there) and its made me realize how often I wear them. Replacing asap!

Happy weekending!