3 Things....

It's been a while since I've shared a little "3 things" update, so I thought I'd share today about what we've all been up to!

Gretchen

1. Gretchen surprises me every day. In November, she told me that she wanted to write a novel, and she started it. She had a goal to write x number of words a day, and I think toward the end of the month, she stopped writing as much, but maybe one day, she'll complete and later publish her first novel. 

2. She's taking lyrical dance 1x a week and she's loving it. I always wanted her to be my dancer, and then she was bit by the acting bug, but decided that she wanted to take dance as an elective at school. Since, we pulled from school this year, I told her she could take dance lesson and she's loving it! 

3. Someone in our neighborhood started a book scavenger hunt and she found a book Sunday night, and is planning on hiding her own books for others to find. It's such a genius idea because we can't keep books in her hands fast enough. She bought 5 over Thanksgiving and within days had read them all. 

Megan

1. Megan is really loving homeschooling. She literally never complains about her school work, but has decided that cursive isn't as much fun as she thought it would be. I think she'd be fine not ever going back to school. 

2. She moved up to XCEL Bronze in gymnastics, so she should hopefully start competing in another year. She's learning lots and loving bars, beam, and vault. She trains 8 hours a week and never complains about going so much. 

3. Megan loves playing outside with friends. On the weekends, and her days off, she's always outside at a neighbor's house. She's always up for an adventure and a fun time! 

Adalyn

1. Adalyn has mastered all of her sight words in her reading program, so she's eventually going to get an ice cream party to celebrate! We're working on the Fry word list that our elementary school uses now and my goal is that she'll have them all mastered by the end of this school year, even though they continue to work on the list in 3rd grade.  

2. Adalyn's strength is definitely math over reading. She picks math up really quickly and enjoys it more. She's also great at mental math things that sometimes shock me. We're currently working on fractions and addition with regrouping. 

3. Adalyn does whatever Megan does. They're rarely apart and have been sleeping together since Spring. They will lay together on the sofa and watch TV and head outside to play together. It's sweet how much Adalyn looks up to Megan, even though Adalyn is almost taller than Megan!

DJ and I

1. We'll be celebrating our 15 year anniversary next week, and our only plans are to go out to eat between kids activities. 

2. Because of COVID, football season ran late, so our last game is this week, which means we almost have him home and on a somewhat normal schedule! We still may have a bowl game and we're not sure at all what that will look like or where it will be, but we are counting down the days when football is finished for the season.

3. I'm working 2 days a week and have been since September, so I can be home with the girls and homeschool them. I'm also just holding down the fort and working on keeping the house picked up and the laundry done, and in the evenings, I'm the chauffer running them around everywhere.

Alright, there's 3 little things about the 5 of us right now! 

 

Amazon Lately

I've been so thankful for Amazon lately. Need batteries- click, need shave soap- click, need dish soap- click. Need a Christmas present? Click. Click. 

I swear I can't live without Amazon and as much as I cringe every time I click because I know the money goes to a big corporation, the easiness of it just get's me. But also, I do shop through smile.amazon and donate a portion of my spending to the Young Living Foundation, so that's justified- right???

You can also set it up through your app to send a donation to your favorite non-profit and even your child's school! Just make sure your browser always says smile.amazon.com at the top ;) 

Alright, now that that's out of the way. Here's what we've been priming: 

I have our dishwasher tablets on autoship so they arrive at the beginning of each month. These have clean ingredients and they're super affordable. Plus, I love that I don't have to think about ordering it and they just come. 

Megan has to read Heidi as part of her school work, and while there's an online version, I thought it would be easiest if she could just fold down the pages, rather than keeping track of where she stopped online. I also figured that after she read it, we'd have a fun day of watching the movie. I remember seeing the movie as a child, but I don't think I ever read the book. 

Gretchen was excited that I ordered it so she can read the book when Megan is finished. 

Rustic Maka is our favorite clean ingredient deodorant. I ordered two of these, and I probably need to put them on autoship too. I tried several "clean" deodorants before a friend recommended this and once I tried it, I haven't gone back. I found that the baking soda in clean brands broke out my underarms, but this one goes on so smooth and doesn't break me out at all. 

Megan's gymnastics teacher asked that they wear briefs under their leotards, and I know I always see other gymnastics mom's asking what their kiddo should wear. I went on Amazon and ordered three since she has gymnastics 3 days a week. If you have a dancer, these would be great, and they're only $10.00 a pair. 

I ordered this diffuser to giveaway to one of my customers with Young Living. It has 4 timer settings and changes colors, and comes with a little remote to turn it on/off. 

Gretchen needed a protractor for her pre-algebra work, so I ordered this one. She was super excited that it came with a compass too! 

I had been looking for a rug for our back patio, and a brand approached me on Instagram about a rug, and this one was perfect! It's made from recycled plastic, and while it's perfect for our patio, it's so lightweight, we can roll it up and take it with us when we're camping. And, if you're near the beach, I'd recommend this one to take along because it's so lightweight and it would be perfect to throw down with your towels on top and a bit more comfy too! It also comes in blue or red! 

This shave gel is my second favorite :) For some reason, my favorite brand has been hard to find since Summer, but I like this one for it's clean ingredients and price point. 

I ordered these spray bottles for DIY Christmas gifts. 

As well as these cute perfume rollers. 

And these for diffuser bombs or glow serums. 

And finally, we had to invest in a pencil sharpener since the girls are homeschooling and we are going through pencils like crazy! I finally understand why teachers are so strict about their pencils in the classrooms! We loose or misplace them, or they break, or aren't sharp enough. This sharpener has been a life saver for us! 

Alright, that's what we've been priming! Besides #allthechristmas- what have you been priming?

 

Silver Dollar City

Growing up, I was always fond of our Thanksgiving weekend get-a-ways to Branson and Silver Dollar City. I remember piling in the car with my mom, grandmother, aunts, and cousins and having a huge girls weekend. We've been able to carry on the tradition years later with the girls, and while this year looked different (some of our family didn't want to travel this year), we still had a blast!

Silver Dollar City at Christmas time is a must see. The lights are spectacular, and we were able to get discounted tickets, and the park was less crowded than normal years. There are some perks to Covid ;) 

Temperature checks were required to get in, as well as masks, but we were able to take masks off for pictures. 

We never get a great picture in front of the entrance, but this year, we could because groups of people weren't huddled around it! 

We walked in and found these squares marked off that said "Do not stand here." so, of course, we had to stand in them and take a picture. 

We headed straight to the train and then realized the first train ride didn't start until later that afternoon, so we went on the flooded mine ride and Gretchen got a high score! Adalyn was at first, terrified, and the later asked to ride this ride again. 

Then we walked over to what I've dubbed "the carnival" area. The girls found a cute bench, and Gretchen was too cool for a picture.

It was UT game day, so I sported my burnt orange and watched the game on my phone while we were at the park!  You should've seen me when we were on the train, listening to the Christmas story, as I was silently cheering and cringing during the last minute of the game. 

Gretchen may have been too cool for that bench photo, but this year, she was brave enough to ride all the rides! (Except the upside down roller coasters)

She even rode the ride that shoots you up and drops you, and then back up again. Girl was brave. I was not. 

Gorgeous Christmas trees everywhere. 

and lots of photo ops! 

The girls were ready for the train..... and I was watching football. 

After the train, Gretchen and I rode Fire in the Hole which was the very first roller coaster I ever rode. Thankfully, she enjoys it and will ride with me. The other girls are too afraid. After the ride, we had smores made with chocolate chip cookies. 

And of course we visited the jail. 

We settled in the every other square and watched the Christmas parade, and then walked through to see the lights. 

And they were stunning. 

Since we arrived when the park opened, we didn't stay too late, which was perfect because it was getting cold! On our way out, we had a few more photo ops. And, if I was sending Christmas cards this year, this would be the photo I'd use. 

Then we found Santa and the girls had a blast taking silly photos with him! 

Once we got back to the condo, the girls made gingerbread houses and had a cookie decorating contest. 

We were making ugly sweater cookies, and this girl took ugly to heart, and was upset when she didn't win! 

Silver Dollar City sure was fun! It's changed so much through the years, but it's always a blast to go and make memories with the girls. 

 

Thanksgiving in Arkansas

Last Tuesday, the girls and I ditched DJ for Thanksgiving at my mom's house. We haven't been home for Thanksgiving in a few years, so we were excited to head home. 

8 hours in the car with this crew. Thankfully, we survived with charged tablets and a Hamilton sing a long. 

We celebrated our Thanksgiving on Wednesday so my brother could be home. He's a fireman and was scheduled to work Thanksgiving day. Gee and Papaw took the girls down to the haystacks to get a few pictures of the cousins together. 

Then, they came home for some baking. Gretchen was a huge help and baked pumpkin pie and helped Gee a ton. Megan was just in it for the photo op. She mixed up the dressing and then ran off to play. 

We snacked on our favorite cheese ball. 

And headed back down to play on the hay bales. I mean, what else should we do on Thanksgiving in the country. 

Megan of course, did cartwheels. 

Sweet sister-cousins. 

These girls were made for country life. 

After a quick game of hide and seek we headed back to the house to warm up. Y'all, it was cold in Arkansas and we were not ready for it! 

But, we were ready for the food! 

My mother always has a beautifully decorated kitchen table. 

Siblings! 

We were stuffed and full of pie.

These two were wonderful cooks! 

Thanksgiving morning, we settled in to watch the Macy's Parade, and then we headed to Branson! 

All snuggled in Christmas pj's and ready for bed! 

These girls were pumped for a little getaway and had all decided they would sleep in the living room, and then both of them ended up in my bed! Ha!

It was so fun to celebrate Thanksgiving at home in Arkansas.