We finished our George Washington unit (we are loving history SO much), had a great day at co-op (the art lesson was particularly awesome this week), and David and I even got in a date night.
ONE: Date Night! We’ve been better at consistent date nights by making them more casual. We don’t have to drink fine wine; we just want some time to hang out together. So, we worked out, made the girls soup and grilled cheese, then we ate Mexican food and shopped at Costco. I got the coat of my dreams and it was only $44. I’m keeping it by the door all winter so I won’t be scared to go outside.
I’m still tracking all our grocery spending, so I took our Costco total, subtracted out the non-food related items (pillows for Bearolina, coat, giant Christmas ornaments for the tree in the front yard, etc) and put just the total for food (butter, naan bread, etc) on our tracking list.
TWO: Bread machine. Since I brought up grocery spending again, here are two things I’m doing to help in that department. First, I’m using my bread machine to bake sandwich style loaves. I use the King Arthur recipe. If you’re like me and don’t use/drink a lot of milk, keep some of this in your pantry. It’s so convenient for baking and lasts forever. I just put in 1 Tbsp mixed with the water for this bread recipe instead of milk. Turns out perfectly!
THREE: Coffee switch up. I pulled our grind and brew coffee maker out of the cabinet and gave it a permanent home on the counter. We love our Nespresso for early morning ease, but when David’s home and has several cups, it’s burning through our pod supply. I noticed how much we were spending while tracking!
I bought some quality coffee (including Equal Exchange’s decaf so we can brew half caff) and since the grind and brew makes excellent coffee, I’m hoping that making it more accessible will help us ease up on the dependency on our Nespresso machine.
FOUR: One on one time. I’m with the kids together a lot, which is really nice, but also makes solo time with each special, even when it’s just a brief amount of time. David took Kaitlyn to TKD this week, so Hailey and I had a little over an hour to ourselves.
When it’s just my 10 year old and me, it’s evident how much more mature she’s getting. She’s great at playing pretend with her sister, but one on one, she seems a little older and it’s like I’m hanging out with a little buddy. I had some dresses I ordered from Shein (which I ended up being pleasantly surprised by!). I ordered the girls Christmas sweatshirts (only $8!) and we had a fun time playing fashion show! I can’t believe she’s almost as tall as me.
We played a few rounds of Monopoly Deal and it was just a really fun time. Mamas of littles, you’re in a special phase for sure, but don’t fear being sad as your kids get older. Every stage is so super cool and I’ve truly enjoyed them all.
FIVE: A thank you! I’ve really enjoyed blogging the past few weeks and I wanted to thank you for being here and connecting with me. IG is so instant and I love that about the platform, but it’s so obvious to me that on days when I’m active on there, I’m less present for my family. I struggle with it because I want to do all the things and I enjoy all the things, but it’s something I can’t ignore. I don’t want to give up IG because I do love that connection style, but I am not wild about how much real estate it takes up in my mind. Do you struggle with that?
You hear rumors about how blogging is dead, but these past few weeks have given me hope that there’s still a place for journal style blogging, which is what I enjoy so much. It wouldn’t be possible without you coming here to read and chat with me, so thank you for being here.
Time to log off and jump into the weekend! Mom is coming up and we have soccer and a birthday party and some good ol college football… and a little surprise to top it off. More details next week 😁 Have a fantastic weekend my friends!!
Liz says
Would love to see what you got from SHEIN
Brittany Dixon says
It was my first time ordering. My friend swears by them but I only saw the scandalous dresses ha! After digging through I found 3 dresses that worked really well. I’ll snap pictures of them to share, but until then:
Christmas party dress: https://bit.ly/3oiGGiT
Casual holiday dress (going to wear with black tights because it’s pretty short): https://bit.ly/3bJJZtj
and a cute date night dress: https://bit.ly/2ZZbsVy
Anne says
Your bread looks delicious. I’ve been less satisfied by our local bakery lately and need to find a good tutorial on breadmaking. I’m not a baker but that bread machine seems fairly foolproof?!
Brittany Dixon says
It’s completely foolproof. In fact, Kaitlyn (7) usually makes ours. She uses the kitchen scale to make sure she gets measurements right. I use it a lot for just making dough (usually pizza but any kind will work) and then bake it in the oven so I can make it any shape I prefer.
Jamie says
I agree that blogging isn’t dead! I love the day to day random posts the best. I hope you and the family have a great weekend:)
Kathy says
I have not heard that blogging is dead–but then I live in my own little bubble that includes your blog. 🙂 Like I mentioned before, I have really enjoyed your daily posts again. Funny thing is, I am not on Instagram like I used to be, so I have missed a lot of things you have posted in stories. With that said, I hope you will continue posting on your blog. 🙂
Sounds like you have a great weekend lined up!! Enjoy!!!
Joanna says
I’ve enjoyed reading your blog posts, keep it up! Have a great weekend!
Kat says
Yay so happy to hear you’re still committed to blogging. I still have mad love fir blogs and still don’t have an Instagram account.
Brittany Dixon says
I’m so glad you’re here and reading; thanks! And I think you are so wise to not have an IG account 🙂 It can be addicting!
Leah says
Have a good weekend! I have enjoyed reading your blogs! Keep it up.
Megan says
Honestly I am starting to lean more towards reading blogs than Instagram these days. I really love your blog. Hope you all have a great weekend!
Brittany Dixon says
I am, too! I wish more people wrote journal style because I miss having a long list to check in on.
Erika says
I hope blogging isn’t dead because I love reading and checking in on my favorite bloggers. I personally do not use Instagram, Twitter or Facebook so blogging is the only ‘social media’ I follow. Over the years several of the bloggers I followed have quit or moved over to other platforms and I know that’s their choice but I miss them. Hope you stay here 🙂
I’ve wanted to order from Shein so many times but I’ve been hesitant after reading mixed reviews. Curious to hear about your experience and see what items you got.
Brittany Dixon says
So glad you’re here, Erika, thanks for reading!
About Shein, I felt the same way. I only ordered three dresses (I linked them in a comment above) and 2 sweatshirts for the girls. I just got them so haven’t had any wear or washing of them, but my first impression was that it was better than I thought for the super low prices. They aren’t forever items for sure, but I bought one for a Christmas party for $18 and it’s super cute and looks more expensive than it cost. I will give them another try in the future as well.
SJ says
Hi there,
I’ve been reading through your vacation posts vicariously – I don’t even like traveling, but somehow it’s fun to read about other people’s travels, ha! I just thought I’d make a comment truly out of a good place, and hopefully it comes across that way. The impact of fast fashion like Shein (and unfortunately, the vast majority of what’s available out there) is really all-reaching. It affects our environment, our economy, and the actual quality of life of people who have very little say in the matter – all so that we can have cheap, throwaway goods. I won’t link to any particular websites or videos, but there’s a ton of information about the topic, and it can be a great area to introduce kids to the idea of compassion, and how our choices make a bigger impact than we might think. Anyway, I truly mean what I write from a kind place, particularly because you seem like a thoughtful, caring person.
Brittany Dixon says
I have heard bits about that but don’t know a lot about it, but I do struggle back and forth between quality items that last and cute items at a good price. I’ll have to google around and learn more about it. Thanks for your comment!
Kelli says
Keep up the blogging! Haha I’m loving it and appreciate the few blogs I still check. Yours is number one though because of your consistency. That dress is so cute!