Happy Friday friends; I hope you had a good week! We had a really good one over here. I worked a lot on my new site design, which is getting closer to launching (just a couple weeks!). I’m working with the most incredible team (Weller Smith Designs) that has helped me unravel the messiness of over a decade of content, reorganize, and bring it to life.

We also had a successful homeschooling week, which to me means there was very little whining or pushback. After a rough couple of days a couple weeks ago, it was really nice. Easing into our days with reading aloud (Harry Potter super fans, over here) seems to work well for us all. Some days we aren’t starting real school work until close to 10:00 or 10:30, but finishing up around 1:00 or 2:00 works just fine.

Tonight is pizza movie night! I always make two batches of pizza dough now because we can devour some pizza. Last week we watched Night at the Museum and it was a big hit. Any suggestions for another family movie night winner?

Ok, enough chitty chat- let’s get to this week’s Five on a Friday!

ONE. We’ve become a family of gamers. David would tell you that Hailey and I are obsessed with Settlers of Catan, and he would be correct. We can’t get enough. However now that we’ve taught the kids Monopoly Deal, which they play all the time because each game only takes about 15 minutes. Between those two, and Ticket to Ride Europe (which is played differently than the US Ticket to Ride– you can build tunnels) we pretty much are playing games daily and I love it! Do you have a favorite we need to try?

TWO. These Amazon exercise leggings 110% live up to the hype. They are high waisted, have pockets on the side of the leg that can fit a phone, and have enough compression to make you feel sleek in a comfortable way. I ordered the black to try them out and will certainly be ordering another pair soon. Highly recommend!

THREE. Speaking of exercise, our workout area has really taken shape. What started in March 2020 as dusty area next to David’s workbench for push-ups has grown into one of my favorite spaces in the house. Not because it’s Pinterest-worthy or anything, but because of how much we all love using it (5-6 days a week with my favorite Madeline Moves workouts).

We’ve pieced together a weight set over the months and David built us a wooden rack to hold them all. We moved my garage treadmill down there and Hailey has taken to it. We have rings that hang that Kaitlyn loves playing on, and foam flooring that gives us a great area to do Madeline’s workouts. For David’s birthday his parents and I gifted him a weight bench with barbell. In the crawl space or not, I don’t think we’ll ever go back to a gym!

FOUR. Give, save, spend bags. We created give, save, spend jars for Hailey to divide her money into years ago and did they same with Kaitlyn about a year back. However, we realized recently that Kaitlyn had been, ahem, rotating her funds between the jars, yet somehow the spend jar always stayed full. How bizarre. 

So we had a do-over. I helped her divide her money evenly into give, save, spend bags and now the give and save bags live safely on the fridge, while her spend bag is tucked into her purse in the car. Gotta keep an eye on that girl!

FIVE. Naming what matters. This lesson from The Lazy Genius Way has stayed in my mind and it’s been most helpful. This simple concept of deciding what matters to YOU then creating your day, your space, or your life around that is not new to me, but the renewed focus and permission it gave me is serving me well. 

One such example is the current state of my coffee table. It’s a cluttered mess of books and coloring sheets. I’m not much of a home decorator as is, but I always feel a little bad that my living room isn’t designed “like a grown up’s should be” (whatever the heck that means). This phrase- naming what matters- freed my mind from that thought instantly, once I said to myself that having a well decorated living room just doesn’t matter much to me. What matters to me is a comfortable spot to curl up and read together (it’s one of my New Year intentions that’s going quite well). 

I know it’s simplistic, but sometimes the extra permission of hearing someone say- hey, pick what is important to you, then streamline and don’t worry much about the other stuff- offered great encouragement for me to actually do it, guilt free.

So, I’m curious, what is something that you realized just doesn’t matter much to you (and that’s OK!). What is one thing that does matter to you?
(PS- these can totally change over time, too!)

Have a wonderful weekend!