Five Things You Hate About Bloggers That I LOVE!

Ok, so we've all seen the articles out there about what bloggers or social media users do that drive people crazy. And we've all read articles about how bloggers make life look perfect and, in doing so, make other people feel inadequate. Well, I tend to have some opposing opinions, and not just because I'm a blogger and social media user myself, but because I see some inherent value in these habits.

Five Things You Hate About Bloggers That I Happen to Love:


Sharing what we're eating: I hear a lot of people grumble about how they don't care to see what other people are eating. Me, me! I do care! Maybe I'm an exception to the rule because I like eating clean, but when looking for healthy new meal ideas quickly, I need look no further than Instagram. More than once I've thought, "hey, I want to try that!" And I've actually tried many of them, or they've reminded me to dig out a recipe I may have forgotten about! Also, I am part of the Tone it Up community, and I love seeing what other people are cooking from their Nutrition Plan. The amazing meal pictures were one of the big reasons that I finally bought the nutrition plan in the first place!

Food prep couldn't have been any easier today! #allthecolors #foodprep #sundayfoodprep #cleaneating #eatclean #foodforfuel #healthyrecipes

A photo posted by Jessica Collins (@boun_seejess) on Apr 3, 2016 at 7:23pm PDT

Making things look perfect: Now, I like to see that other people's houses are messy too, not just mine. It makes me feel better. But, I do appreciate picture-perfect settings and easy-to-look-at images more. I myself am always striving to search out and share picture-quality moments, not just for others, but for myself. Reaching inside that mess to extract the beauty is what I'm all about!!!! It's like a gratitude journal in picture form! I already know and acknowledge that the world isn't all pretty and that no blogger has it completely together, so it is not difficult for me to appreciate the perfection inside the chaos. I appreciate paying more attention to the beautiful, rather than the hair-pulling scenarios. I fall into the negativity trap all too easily and can use all the help I can get to retrain my focus on precious moments.

Seeming to do projects just for content: While I don't condone only throwing parties to create blog content, I do appreciate being more intentional with our time, especially time with my kids. If I've figured out a genius activity to do on a rainy day, I love being able to share that with others and maybe inspire them to do the same. If I've set an intention to bring more Scripture into my son's life, I can easily come alongside that with blog posts, with my life encouraging and pushing my blog growth and vice versa. Plus, blogging is just another incentive to keep our homes clean and aesthetically pleasing, the way we'd really prefer it to be anyway.

Starting our Saturday morning with a little project to prepare for Sunday. I've made a bit of a resolution to help nurture Kayne's relationship with God more, and sort of give him a little homeschooling of religion. Who else uses their Homefront?

A photo posted by Jessica Collins (@boun_seejess) on Jan 23, 2016 at 6:49am PST

Over-sharing/little privacy: now, we all love to see peeks into people's real lives. Some things are sacred, sure, but I am the type of person that appreciate other people's authenticity, openness and vulnerability. I like to know that we share the same worries, values, problems and imperfections. So I like when people share what's really going on. In fact, I dislike it when bloggers hold back and don't show readers much about their personality and you can sense that they're hiding something. I tend to seek out "about me" pages when I come across a new blog, and I want to know more about the faces behind the blog.

Sharing about pets and kids: I know a lot of people say "I really don't care about your dog or your special sparkle princess," but I am not one of those people. I love reading about other people's families. I learn more about my own family this way. For instance, I know exactly what our priorities are in my family, and after reading certain blogs, I am better able to reflect on how we implement those values and how we could handle different situations. Dogs and kids are not for everyone, sure. If it's not, just move along from the mommy/cat lady blogs. No need to muck up comments because it isn't your thing. Find your thing and leave your non-things to other people.

Our pit bull looks pretty ferocious, doesn't he? Curled up inside his frilly pink quilt. Haha.

A photo posted by Jessica Collins (@boun_seejess) on Mar 3, 2016 at 4:58am PST

I LOVE blogging and I LOVE social media. I get tons of motivation from there (as long as I'm following the leaders, not the complainers). I LOVE connecting with people. I like knowing what's going on in the world. I like seeing other people going after their dreams or working hard because that fuels me. I like being able to having topics of conversation ready to talk to people about "hey how's the car? I saw on Facebook that you just got a convertible." I love learning new skills on Youtube. I just love love love social media. I even #love hashtags. They're little glimpses of people's personalities and what people are about. They're a way to be cheeky and share humor too. They're a way to find people with similar interests and form little communities. They're a way to learn about different types of people. They can even provide a platform for building a successful business. People use Facebook and social media in different ways and for different things, and that's ok. I just happen to be one of those people that enjoy and keep up with social trends.

Now bad grammar, vulgarity and mindless chatter, those I can do without!! :P

Hey, while we're talking about it, let's connect on social media! Just press the social media buttons on my sidebar to connect.

PSA, I've Been Published on Kind Over Matter!

Hey there, just thought I'd pop in and announce that some of my writing has been published over on Kind Over Matter. I'm super excited!!! KOM is a beautiful platform for "feel-good" reading. The articles are about self kindness and nice things, without getting too gooey. How's that for an elevator pitch? Ha!

Check out my article HERE.

Poetry Analysis: Dresser for Sale

I have a new video up on my Youtube channel (could you show me some love and subscribe, pretty please?) delving a little deeper into one of my poems that I wrote quite a few years ago. Come check it out and let me know what you think!

Make Your Own Sunshine Poem

Last week, I talked about how healing the sun is and I promised that there would be a poem about how much I am drawn to the sun. Here it is:


Sun Spots
by Jessica Collins

I gather bits of sunshine,
roll them out with the blinds
and curl inside the sun spots
on the carpet, like a kitten,
bending it inward with mirrors.

I collect the sun's treasures too,
store them up in glow stick and wick
so even when evening falls--
thought the quiet moon
would suffice once or twice--
I can melt and mend inside the spirit
of what is radiant and alive!



Like I pointed out in my sunshine post, I am just drawn to the sunlight. I long to be outside in it, when it's warm. In fact, this past Saturday, when the weather was stunning for a Wisconsin winter day in March, I rolled a picnic blanket out on our deck and took a nap in the sun. Rayna was napping and Kayne was gone fishing, so it was the perfect opportunity to spend some alone time in the sun. I gravitate toward sunny windows and run around opening all the blinds in our house. This poem encapsulates that feeling for me. Hope you like it!

Let me know what you think!

Make Your Own Sunshine

Can we just put that in quotes and attach my name to it please? Haha! Cuz I just made that up, but it's so true!

I have always has a strong connection to the light. The first time I remember coming to my own realization that sunshine is medicine was in high school. One day, we had a study hall out in the courtyard, and I just soaked up the sun for about 45 minutes. I remember going back into school and feeling...different. I can't quite explain how it made me feel except to say I felt lighter and refreshed. I made a conscious connection then between the sunshine and the satisfying feelings I was having, long before people started talking about seasonal affective disorder.

To the contrary, when I worked third shift in college, I started to feel the effects of sunlight deficiency. I never got used to third. Our bodies are not naturally in rhythm with that schedule. I had trouble sleeping during the day, I was morose about missing daylight, and I was so unhappy it made my teeth itch! To feel this opposite end of the spectrum was just as enlightening. I knew exactly how much the sun affected me and I knew that I never wanted to return to this darkness.

I've noticed too, that all my worst bouts of anxiety have happened in December, February, etc. So, at my last appointment, I asked my doctor what she thought about light boxes. She gave me an enthusiastic, "I love them!" She whipped the one she carried in her purse out to show me, and a few minutes later I had a script for one in my hands and am now the proud owner of a light box to remove the SAD from winter in Wisconsin, where exposure to sunshine is scarce. And my preliminary observations are that it's working:

There's a whole lot of science behind this. Here's an enlightening article about the sun and health.

So, here I am with a therapeutic 10,000 lux sun maker. I really am making my own sunshine!! I love the sunshine and being in the light. I'm drawn to sunny windows like a cat (new poem about that to come). The sun's energy just penetrates me in places that no other drug or uplifting tool or mood-boosting strategy could touch. And that, my friends, is a great metaphor for anyone who strives to make each day a little better...and brighter. Heh! Make your own sunshine!

Just thinking out loud, but now that I'm starting to make videos, I'm wondering if my new light box will make a good light box for shooting videos too. Haha!

Do you use a light box? If so, how has it affected you?

Surviving My Long Drive to Work

Our recent move to our country home took us far away from the city, from work, from my mom's house, from stores, from everything. That's what we wanted, of course! To be away from the frenzy of the city. But the drive is something that is taking some getting used to. I shouldn't complain, but when you go from a 1 mile commute--walking distance--to a 25 mile one, you really have some adjusting to do.

While I'm not too keen on driving in general (I LOVE being a passenger) or paying the astounding extra gas costs, I'm trying to find the positive aspects of this long drive. Since I'll be making this long drive for the foreseeable future, I might as well learn to love it, right?

Now, when I'm driving, I'm trying to really "see" what's going past the windows. I'm trying to not take the passing scenery for granted and really notice the cool fog effects, the waking animals, the sunshine. Oh, the sunshine! One of the most pleasurable parts of my drive now is lifting my face toward the sun. Now, I am potentially getting 60 minutes of sunlight on my drive versus the quick flash of light when I was only going 2 miles and sitting inside the office all day.

Thinking and decompressing before walking in the door has been another benefit of a long drive. That 1 mile commute sometimes left me feeling bombarded. All the thoughts that I had rolling around in my mind at the end of a day weren't processed in that short of time, and I had to shift focus within seconds to children and husband and pet, all converging on me. This new drive is a more gentle transition and leaves me time and space to process all the information of the day and leave what I don't want behind me. I have been coming up with great ideas while driving now, and think I'm going to have to invest in a recorder soon:)

No haters please, but I've also been catching up with friends on the phone since I have 35 minutes of uninterrupted air time. I am a much better friend now because I have that time to chat without feeling guilty that I'm neglecting anyone at home. It's hard to find that uninterrupted time to call long-distance friends, but my new drive has opened up chat time for me.

I have also been catching up on podcasts. At first, I was really excited because we have an old CD player in the car and I thought "great, now I can catch up on myriads of books on CD from the library." I was so excited to catch up on all the classics and some self-development--it was really one of the only things I was looking forward to. Well, wouldn't you know, right before we moved, the car CD player seized up and no longer works. Total bummer!!! Well, to make up for it, I found an FM tuner at Best Buy and I have been downloading podcasts with free Wifi at work to listen to with it, and it doesn't cost me data on my phone either.

And finally, when I'm not listening to podcasts, I've been listening to uplifting or informational radio, like KLove and NPR, which satisfies my constant need for information and positivity. I never thought about it before, but there is not one single "downer" song on Christian radio, making it a great way to feed my mind good things.

What do you like to do on long drives alone? What other options might I have?

My Favorite Planner Notebook: Staples Arc System

Oh, the Arc System, how I love thee. I was first introduced to these notebooks when I was searching for a graduation gift for one of my interns. She was an uber-organized, Type-A person who I knew would appreciate what these had to offer. Once I found them and bought one for her, I knew I absolutely had to have one for myself. I used the notebook as a reward for myself for when I passed my NASM exam.

Meet the Arc System. I'm having a love affair with them. Don't tell Hubster.

Check out this video to peek into my planner on YouTube.

Staples and Office Max both have their own versions of this notebook, as do Levenger, Rollabind and Martha Stewart. In fact, they're all compatible with each other. What these notebooks consist of are circular disks (which come in various sizes) that the paper attaches to. But each page is entirely removable and then replaceable. What makes that so amazing is that its a perpetual notebook that works forever. You can continue tearing pages out and buying refills as needed. And you can combine all your notebooks for all your different projects in one so you don't have to carry them all around separately.

You can also purchase all different kinds of fillers from graph paper to calendars to regular lined paper. Believe me, I stood in that aisle for a good half-hour weighing my options. Ok, probably more like an hour. Not only can you buy different fillers, but you can also buy file folders, page dividers, small list pads, sticky notes and other things that work with the disks too.

You can also use any of your own paper to refill the planner. To do that, you just need to pick up a compatible paper punch. The big hole punches cost upwards of $50, but you can get this "portable punch" from Levenger for just $16 like I did.

I only punch a sheet here and there so this works perfect for me. One such sheet is this page of scriptures that speak to my anxiety so I can reference it when I need it.

I like to use cute printables for my calendars instead of the ones that Arc puts out. Just do a quick search on Pinterest for calendar printables and you'll find something in your style. Right now, I'm liking these.

I also have a small Rollabind version of the notebook that I found at work. I love the portable size! I use this notebook to record the workouts that I've been designing.

We had another sale at work where I found a few more Rollabinds and I snatched 3 up right away because I love them so much. They're stashed away for a day where I decide I need another notebook for something. I'm a writer. It happens.

I encourage anyone that loves notebooks, planners, organizing, printables, etc to pick up one of these systems and choose a few inserts that suit your taste. Then, come back here and tell me how addicted you are. What are your favorite planners/notebooks?

American Tanka

Once upon a time, I submitted some tanka poetry to American Tanka and got a "these are close" comment. Now, if you know anything about submitting your work in the literary world, you know that automated rejection slips are proliferate. To even get a personal note back is rare. To get a "these are close" comment is as close to getting published as possible. I am proud:)

Now, tanka is similar to haiku in its form as a short poem that packs an entire experience into very few words. There are 5 lines and the typical syllable pattern is 5-7-5-7-7.  But American Tanka doesn't completely adhere to these stringent rules due to the differences in the language structures between Japanese and English. My poems below don't adhere to the syllabic rules, but they do point to very concise, precise moments. Enjoy!



Nothing we can do
but wait until they drip dry-
those icicles 
tight against
our power line.
 
 
Hand-in-hand we 
pass holes in a
winter-beaten road
beside the discomforting 
rip in your jeans.
 
 
The note he left
was stacks of collected
white paper
he never could
penetrate.
 
 
She fashions
title and border
for her pictures,
poems and letters
to surround the vacant hour.
 
 
The sparkle faded
from her eye
as she detected
a dish, dust mite
and ripped fabric.

Insights From Nature as Spiritual Practice

So, I was perusing the spiritual section at the library and came across this made-for-me book and quickly checked it out. Nature as Spiritual Practice. Yes, yes, yes!

I am so excited about this book!!! Out in the counterculture, there is much written about nature and it's connection to the metaphysical. This is where I always end up landing somehow when I'm trying to find articles and insights about connecting to nature. But the metaphysical and magical don't interest me. I'm always on a quest to find something that aligns with my beliefs. Nature has always intuitively been something that I've wanted to explore on a spiritual side. We had a Bible study at church about finding your purpose, and nature kept popping up for me, but I wasn't sure how to merge my spiritual life with nature. Now I am equipped to do that, and take it so much deeper!

After reading the first chapter and exercise, I immediately put this book on my Amazon Wishlist...and shortly thereafter, let's just be real here, I bought it, along with its companion field guide.

I hadn't even gotten past the "How to Use This Book" section before I came to some overwhelming, mind-blowing realizations. This book was exactly what I didn't even know I was looking for!

Every leaf and flower bear the marks and give witness to their Creator...Perception of this reality requires contemplative attention, the eyes of the heart, and the wonder of a child...It is a book that assumes that the glory of the Creator is discernible in creation's ecological material, sacramental, and spiritual realities.

This!

Creation speaks, and the language of creation shapes, forms, and transforms relationships. Our human/creation relationship is born of our common parentage, the relationship is realized in practice. Still pulsing through the lifeblood of this human/creation connection are common genes--common genes whose function seems to be the nurturing of mindful attention, wonder, and shared longing to return to their Creator. Through the eyes of the senses and the eyes of wisdom and the eyes of faith, we behold the Easter in the ordinary, the mundane in the sacred.

And this!

Nature is Christian practice: she is the teacher and she is material and she is spiritual--the everyday and the sacramental.

So much this!!!

I'm reminded of Romans 1:20: "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." All these little miracles in nature are evidence of God!!!!

I can't wait to explore more of this book and dig deeper. I especially can't wait until the weather changes to be more conducive to this life-bearing exploration.

What are you reading? And what is it teaching you?

A Nature Poem

Would You Rather

I’d rather trip over spindly tree roots

than a box on a concrete floor.

One more reverent and warm

than the parched other.

The birds and pinecones soften the fall

instead of the plastic wrapped around a

ceramic statue that signifies

the profitable violation of a holiday.

The same sky holds them in place,

but the difference is between

tender or tethered.
When crackling twigs break my fall,

when I’ve finally gained my footing on the

tangled outcropping in fertile soil,

I still leave unguarded.

I still leave with an unbroken spirit.

Let's Talk About New Years' Resolutions

But it's only December 15!!! Right?

Well, I propose that you start drafting your new years' resolutions right now. In fact, I propose you even consider starting on them right now. The reason is simple: ANY DAY is the right day to start following your dreams.

What is the direction that you want your life to go? That is the most important question you could consider when it comes to exploring your life's purpose. And the question takes a lot of consideration and brainstorming to answer.

So, get out a pen and paper and start. Give yourself a solid 30 minutes to 1 hour to really dig in. Write out a list of the things that you value most: your family, God, your home environment, helping people, etc. Write out what your goals are as they pertain to each of your values. Your goals and values should be aligned so you're not just starting new projects arbitrarily. In other words, don't adopt another goldfish if your life's ambition is to travel and don't spend an extra hour at "work lunches" every day if your family life is a priority for you to cultivate.

The benefits of defining your goals right now is that you'll have a head start come the new year. You can get all the details prepared, you can "test" out your resolutions and refine them, you can narrow your focus, and you can build up your excitement and motivation.

I would also strongly recommend going through Chalene Johnson's 30 Day Push to refine your goals. It's a free online program that will push you toward your life's goals. It will help give aim to your ambitions.

Now, if you have fitness goals for this year, please contact me and I would love to help you reach them.

Family Recipe Binder

If you're anything like me, you know how important it is to keep a file of all the recipes you've tried and enjoyed or use on a regular basis. I tend to forget some of my family's favorite meals if they're not listed in front of me, so having them all in front of me saves time and brainpower when it's time to meal plan for the week.

Our favorite (mostly healthy) recipes had been printed and thrown into an ugly crinkly folder for YEARS. I've had intentions for at least the last 5 years to get our recipes in some kind of better order, but never quite had the interest to do it. Somehow, recently, I finally got hold of some recipe book inspiration and ran with it. Even Hubster is appreciative of the outcome.

Before

And after

What I did was put every recipe inside a plastic page protector. I love the page protector idea because I tend to obsess about not spilling things on recipe pages. Instant splash protection! Then, I organized the recipes by meal and put them in a simple white binder.

I found some stylin' file dividers and labeled the meal types so everything is super easy to find. I can't tell you how many times I flipped through the pages in that red folder searching for recipes when they were all just thrown in there.

Finally I searched for "retro nature border" on Google (cuz that's how I roll) and did a little editing and added text to turn it into a cover sheet. I cropped a small part of that same design to create the spine title.

I love that this book is completely customized to our family's taste. You know how when you buy a cookbook and you only use a handful of recipes from it? Yeah, me too. That's why the binder idea works best. You only keep what you love! Seriously, besides this recipe book, the only other cookbook we've always kept is the timeless Better Homes and Gardens one.

I was going to scan all the recipes and create a digital file of them all. But who am I kidding? I don't have the patience for or interest in that. I love referring to paper copies and usually end up printing recipes off anyway. I am a very visual person when it comes to food, so I wasn't very attracted to the idea of little recipe cards either. Must have pictures!

I also started a list on a Google Doc with all our family favorites listed out on one sheet. That way we can choose 5 or so dinners per week at a glance instead of trying to search our brains for ideas.

It feels so good to finally have our recipes organized! How do you organize your recipes?

A Drum Circle Experience

There's a little bit of hippie in me and every once in awhile it comes out in a free-spirited blend of essential oils, a backyard tepee, a flowy bohemian skirt, or a community drum circle.

This past week, Kayne and I participated in our local drum circle. He had experimented with drumming at the farmer's market and was willing to give the drum circle a try. Plus, I like to treat him to special one-on-one time when I can, and this was a great opportunity to do that. I've always thought he might enjoy something like this.

The drum circle was set up at a park in town instead of their normal headquarters in a nondescript storefront. The outdoor setting had a nice nature/community/open air element to it. Passersby would stop to watch and passing kids were handed maracas and other noise-makers to try.

I love what it says on their website: "Rhythm is universal. It is inside and all around us. From our heartbeat to the cycles of the seasons, it is more a matter of opening ourselves up to remembering and feeling than a music lesson...Using creativity we all possess we will make beautiful music 'in the moment.'"

Drum circles are really both a physical and emotional experience. I've been trying to incorporate more spiritual and mental fitness into my life, and I think drum circles encapsulate a whole bunch of wellness practices:

1. It's a community builder and great social activity. You're meeting people and you're all working together to build something pleasant. A drum circle is a very open group of people.
2. It's a practice in mindfulness. One of the frontline treatments for my anxiety-related issues is mindfulness. Meditation not only lowers your threshold for stress, but it also helps you live in the present and let worrisome thoughts pass on by. It may sound a bit new-agey, but it's really grounding. And it's really effective. It sounds too simple to be very effective, but it is profound!
3. It's creative.
4. It's physical and gets me out of my head, where I spend too much time ruminating and analyzing.
5. It's therapeutic. There are studies about the use of drum circles, and music in general, as an effective form of therapy.
6. The being outside part is also therapeutic.

Bottom line: I'm kinda hooked!

So now, when I'm at work, you might find me listening to drum circles on YouTube which sort of produces calm energy and helps with my concentration. It's like the musical rhythm gets me into a good work rhythm too. Ok, hippie moment over...

Washington Island Trip: Part Two

Yesterday, I shared a little bit about our introduction to Washington Island, WI. Today, I'll share a little bit about what we explored while we were there. We did a little bit of sightseeing each day with a whole lot of lounging, dock-sitting, reading and napping in between. Just our style and just what we needed.

One of the first days we were there, we went hiking at Mountain Park. It is a huge climb with a staircase that has over 100 steps to get to the top. At the top, you have to climb a billion more steps to get to the top of the lookout tower. For the rest of the day, my poor not-up-to-pre-pregnancy-toughness legs were all wobbly. But the view was amazing! It gave us quite the bird's eye view of the island layout. BTW, I love my Snugli baby carrier that I believe I found at a rummage sale. Rayna just loved being carried in that thing, on my back. We did a lot of non-stroller-friendly sightseeing and this was the only way to do it. Join the #babywearing movement, yo.

While we didn't have any TV or Wifi access, we did want a little something to do at nights before the kids went to bed, so we went to the local library, opened up a card, and rented some movies. Hubster happened to bring his computer along, so we were able to do that. We're still trying to introduce Kayne to all the original Disney characters that we met as kids, including Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan and Snow White. At Disney World, he had no idea who half the classic characters were!

Another day we dedicated to swimming. We visited Schoolhouse Beach, which is one of 5 beaches in the whole world with smooth stones like this. Although this beach is rocky, and I would suggest wearing water shoes, it was crystal clear and THE best place for swimming on the island in my opinion. Cold though. Very cold. Rayna took her very first swim in these waters. She lasted about two seconds. Haha.

Only picture of Rayna that doesn't show her screaming

We also swam off the dock by our cabin, but

the bottom was pretty mucky.

We also went to a little ice cream social event that seemed to be one of the "big" events while we were there. We had hamburgers and ice cream, all-American style. There were activities for the kids too. One of them was a station to build things out of scraps of wood. Not sure why WI was in the scrap pile, but it was. Kayne wanted to build a birdhouse, so he tried his best. But Rayna started telling us she was sooo done, so I quickly swooped in and tried to "fix" the birdhouse, which made Kayne mad. I rectified the situation by getting him all excited about creating a fairy garden with it. We decked it out with a flower garden, swing, walk path and pool (Gatorade lid). I just LOVED doing this little imaginative project with him. We're going to build one at home too.

Another day, we checked out a few museums including the Jacobsen Museum, which had a lot of native artifacts and a cabin that Jens Jacobsen built. We also visited a nature museum and a butterfly house which had a huge butterfly garden out back.

Then there was, you know, the local coffee shop, bookstore. And lots of outdoor play time.

Cute scene behind the coffee shop

We spent a lot of time on our picnic blanket

My infamous pinch bouquet. These dainty flowers were the cutest!

I don't know what it was about Door County, but there were several of these buildings with grass growing on the roofs. Hubster pointed one out and wondered how they mow the grass up there. I turned around and looked back and saw there were goats on the roof! That's how they mow the grass!

Washington Island bookstore with grass on the roof 

See the goats up there at the peak?

I love turning our trips into teachable moments, without forcing it. In fact, I even wrote a whole post about how we do it. We bought a Critters of WI book for Kayne and read up on a few of the animals we saw. We also bought him a net at one of the bookstores so he could explore the little fish, butterflies and bugs on the island. We stopped and explained a lot of the things in the nature museums that he was curious about.

It's hard to see in this pic, but a momma deer

and her two fawns nonchalantly

crossed the road in front of us. Sooo cute!

You know, sometimes you just have to catch

those picture-worthy opportunities. Bahaha!

This was a trip we won't soon forget. Kayne keeps talking about what we'll do "when we go back." Not sure if/when we'll go back, but I'm sure glad he enjoyed it so much he wants to return!

Next up, we're headed camping trip in August and we just can't wait. We still haven't perfected Rayna's sleeping arrangements in the camper, but we've done it once before this spring with a folding bassinet, so maybe she'll get used to it. Lots more sun and relaxation in our future.

Advent Calendar Ideas

When you're an adult, most of the magic of Christmas is just a memory. Santa is a nostalgic part of your youth and it's easy to become disgruntled about the commercialism of the season. But sometimes, you just want to reach back and grasp some of that sparkly Christmas dust and bring it back. I still love looking in windows at Christmas displays, peering at Christmas lights in passing, and I still love to hear the story of Jesus' birth no matter how many times I've heard it before. Every year for the past 20-something years of my life, my grandpa would read the Bible story to us and relate it in some way to our lives in the current day. He took a fresh approach every year, so we always got something different out of it. When we were younger, we had to sit on our hands in anticipation of gift opening, but those memories are now the sweetest treasure. We lost grandma and grandpa pretty close together in the past couple of years. Last year was the final time we gathered as a big full family around grandma's table. This year, that house where all the magic happened is completely renovated and up for sale and it hurts the heart of all their progeny. (Give your family extra long hugs this year, would you?)

It is time now, as parents, to create that magic for our own little family and begin traditions that will be carried on down the line. Perhaps one day the way we choose to celebrate will become one of our own unforgettable legacies. One of those traditions I hope to pass down is our version of the Advent calendar and some of the traditions that are created within that calendar (i.e. giving back, watching all the classic movies together) and celebrating Christmas for the whole month of December, building a climax to the actual holiday itself.

Here are the activities in our Advent calendar and a peek into our Christmas preparations:


Take a ride around town looking at Christmas lights
Rent Christmas books from the library and read together
Make Ninja Turtle ornaments (Inspired by these)
Festival of Lights
Send a letter to Santa
Make Christmas sugar cookies
Go buy a new Christmas CD/album
Eat dinner by candlelight
Have hot cocoa or cider together
Read the Christmas story in the Bible
Make a Gingerbread house
Make and hang coffee filter snowflakes
Bring hot cocoa (and money) to a bell ringer
Make reindeer food
Start embroidery project for grandmas (inspired by this)
Snowball Fight!!!!
Nighttime Christmas walk
Donut date
Think of a special gift for Jesus like the 3 kings
Make an angel tree topper (from here)
Play with Christmas cookie cutter and Play Doh
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Here are some more ideas from two years ago when we did it!

Angel tree topper

Instead of a wishlist, my boy writes a love letter:)

Special North Pole mailbox

Kayne and Rayna with Santa

Cookies! We're not fancy. Just gimme some frosting!

BLT's by candlelight

Cutting down our own tree is a big tradition

Hot cocoa and Christmas movies

I used the printable paper from here and filled in our activities. Then wrapped them up, tied them with string, and put them in a simple Christmas box. Kayne just loves picking one out every day and looks forward to the simple ways that we're building up to Christmas. Notice that these activities aren't extravagant or extra time-consuming (I do have an infant at home!), but they are very meaningful and highly anticipated nonetheless. I hope you are inspired by this simple way of creating new traditions, gather together as a family, and create memories and perhaps even a legacy for your own children.

How are you celebrating this month?