Friday Favorites

Hi friends!!!

Happy Friday!!

How are you doing? How was your week? Our's was pretty good! It definitely was what I like to call a fast/slow week. HA! It feels like it flew by- but certain moments of this week definitely felt LONG.

And now its FRI-YAY! 

We've got a fairly full weekend ahead of us...the kids and I will be flying solo since this is Aaron's weekend to work. My two youngest daughters are going to a cute pottery class Saturday morning and as long as everything goes smoothly for Aaron at the hospital- we have a date night scheduled!!! He has already told me his schedule is nuts- but also promised me he is going to do everything he can to be home in time for our date.

I am crossing my fingers AND toes it works out- because WE NEED A DATE NIGHT. 

You know what I mean?!? 

HA!

Okay- enough about all of that.

Here's a few FAVORITES of mine from this past!!

ONE

This past Sunday, the girls and I left the boys at home to play and we went to Kirklands to look around and then to Barnes and Noble. I got caught up on some stuff on my computer and the girls played in the kids' area and read books. It was SO fun to do a couple of things that are NOT easy when James and Marshall are with us and just have some girl time!!

LOVE my girls so so much!

TWO

We have a special date night set up for our kiddos so that once a month they get a little bit of one on one time with just Aaron and me. On their birthdate every month is their date night. We set a timer for 20 minutes (because if we don't- the kids looovvee to find ways to drag out their date and avoid bed. HA!) and we play whatever that specific child wants to do. Celine recently had her date and we played Uno and this super fun Scrabble card game called "Slam."  Have you ever played it? It's SO easy and fun. And it's a great "brain work" game since you are trying to figure out how to spell different words! Definitely one of our FAVORITE games to play in our house. You can find it HERE on Amazon- it would be an awesome stocking stuffer!!

THREE

Oh my goodness. I came across this Thanksgiving Gratitude Game and instantly knew that would be a part of Thanksgiving Day! 

You can find the free printable and more about the game HERE!

It's such a cute, simple way to get a conversation of gratitude happening with your kids while playing a fun game!! LOVE IT!

FOUR

I talked a little bit in my post yesterday where I am with decorating for Christmas- you can read that post HERE! Basically- I decorate early-ish...but this year I am not feeling as motivated as I normally do. So we still have our fall/harvest/pumpkin decorations up :)

What I have been doing is listening to Christmas music. I LOVE it. November 1st rolls around and I am playing all of my Christmas play lists on Pandora. My husband finds this totally obnoxious. He is of the mindset that Christmas music should be played on December 24 and 25- and THAT IS IT. HA!

A couple of my kids think I am crazy- and the rest of them are here for it.

So basically...for now..I secretly listen to Christmas music when nobody is home. HA!

Once December gets here- all bets are off- it's going to be played 24/7!! :)

FIVE

I recently listened to Brene' Brown's Ted Talks on vulnerability and shame- and WOW. She is incredible and I was just blown away by her research and insight. I know she has written several books and I definitely need to get my hands on them because I was so taken by what she had to say in her Ted Talks. You can find them HERE and HERE. 

I can't recommend listening to them enough!! She gives such an amazing perspective on connection and how we relate to one another and it's just all SO GOOD.

I'd love to know if you've read any of books, which one was your favorite? 

And just for fun- here's an extra FAVORITE....

This sums up our life in one picture :)

Now it's your 

What's made you smile this week?

I'd love to know what one of your FAVORITES has been!!

And in case you them- here's my other blog posts from this week:

Gratitude for Our Veterans, What I am Loving Wednesday and Thoughts for Thursday

Hope you have a FABULOUS Friday and a WONDERFUL Weekend!

Linking up with Tif, Becky, Della,and Katie too!

Linking up with Andrea, Erika and Narci!