A Glimpse into Life Lately and What I’m Loving in April

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A Glimpse Into Life Lately

If you’re on my email list, you probably know that my daughter and I celebrated our birthdays together earlier this month! (If you don’t get my emails and you’d like to, sign up here).

I turned 29 and she turned 5, so you can guess who’s birthday took centerstage this year! 🙂

Here is my favorite picture from the day…

Despite the fact that I am NOT into party planning or cake decorating (as you can tell from the picture), I love birthdays! They provide such a great opportunity to express love and make a child feel truly special.

In past years, I’ve shared on the blog how we celebrated our kids’ birthdays. This is because we intentionally choose not to do traditional gifts, but rather, give the gift of doing something special together (read why and how that works here).

So, this year, for Clara, we decided to throw a party! We invited a few of her close friends over, along with their families.

You see, our Clara loves people, party-planning, conversation and attention, so it was really the perfect combination.

And she ate it up. 🙂 She insisted we make a list of every party detail, and she was very attentive to whether or not those things got accomplished. She helped decorate and host. She especially loved being sung to and getting the first piece of cake. It was so cute to see her in her element!

Although we stuck to our guns and did not get her a physical birthday gift, she did receive little gifts from friends and family. Overall she seemed to feel very celebrated!

What I’m Loving: April Edition

Everyday Hope: Encouragement for Worm and Weary Moms

I’ve mentioned it a few times, but this book really encouraged me this month. I laughed. I cried. I related sooooo much. I think it’s a great read for weary moms!

Find it here: Everyday Hope

Jen Hatmaker on Instagram

I “got to know” Jen Hatmaker by listening to her book For the Love on audiobook while doing my laundry last year. She is a wise and hilarious woman. Since then I’ve been following her Instagram profile, and it makes me smile and even laugh out loud! You should follow her too!

Find her here: @jenhatmaker + Instagram

Kiwi Crate

Kiwi Crate is a monthly subscription craft package for kids. Because I’m not crafty (and mostly because it’s hard for me to make an extra stop by the craft store), I’ve been trying them out as a supplement to our “preschool homeschool.”

We’ve gotten crates for three months now, and they are really neat! I expected things like paper, glue and felt, but these crates are quite different than that. They are very unique and purposeful, and are intended to spark curiosity, exploration and learning.

This is the crate we did this week, just to give you an idea what I mean–

 

A couple reasons why I love Kiwi Crate:

1. Their crates are tailored to various age groups
2. The monthly box comes addressed to the child, which is exciting for them!
3. The activities are very well thought out
4. The items included are good quality
5. The activities are meant to be done together, with parent and child

I highly recommend this for anyone who is looking for hands-on and stress-free way to connect and work with your kids!

Find it here: Kiwi Crate

Coming Soon

 

Just a head’s up, Crystal Paine’s latest online course, Make Over Your Evenings will be launching THIS Thursday. I was able to get early access as part of the launch team, and from what I’ve seen so far, it is extremely useful and beneficial!

The tag line of the course is, “a successful day begins the night before.” Makes sense, right?

The purpose of the course is to guide you to use your evenings in such a way as to set you up for success in every other area of your day.

I will post more about it on Thursday, but I wanted to get you thinking about it now, because on THURSDAY ONLY (launch day) it will be on a major sale!

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Katie

 

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