Cyber Monday

Hope you had a great day shopping yesterday & in as much I wish Cyber Monday lasted longer, these sales were from yesterday, therefore this post is inaccurate.

Cyber Monday!!  Pretty much my favorite day of the year.  It’s the day where I add hundred of items to my carts & never check out. Sigh. There’s so much to see!! I’m linking some shops and/or items that are in my cart but may or may not make it out.  Can we all agree it’s okay not to feel guilty if we get things on super sale?!  Or at least this is the argument we can sell our husbands, ha!  Regardless of how it’s justified, happy shopping!

Let’s start with Nordy’s.  Christmas is about giving but it’s also about this mama trying to get some goodies at a steal.  Nordstrom’s selected sale items are an additional 20% off, wow (see site for full details). There’s also a few free gifts w/ purchase, like MAC’s here. I found a few items that I’ve been keeping tabs on. First, these DV booties are so versatile & I’ve been needing a black pair.  There seems to be limited sizing & colors for this specific pair but there are plenty of other, affordable options. Is is true that you can never have too many black leggings?!  I say, yes, it’s true!!  Or, it’s always nice to switch out a favorite pair, for a newer one. I found these  that I’ve actually had my eye on for a while.  They’re on sale right now for less than $40, say wha!?  I just picked a dark blue pair of jeans from the Gap outlet, but I wish I would have waited for these.  I tend to gravitate towards lighter colors in jeans because I feel like they’re more of a casual fit.  I swear by my Topshop jeans that have way too many holes & are probably inappropriate for this season of my life but are so darn comfy.  They’re not ready for retirement just yet, but I can advocate for the Topshop brand.

Our family favorite that will hold immense memories for forever, Legoland!!  We got passes for all three kids’ birthdays for the year & have used their worth & then some.  Every time we go it’s like a new experience all over again for them.  The drive is a time where we can all debrief or take naps.  It’s rarely overcrowded & has pockets of babe friendly activities as well.  They’re currently have a sale on their hotel, which we’ve had the pleasure of staying at & would love to go back.  Their breakfast buffet was to die, with lots of kid friendly options & I highly suggest the stay, if you haven’t already.

Here are some photos from Bubba’s 4th birthday trip, just at the beginning of the month.

Nordstrom is an obvious one-stop shop for steals & deals gifts, through the holiday season, but for the perfect accessory, I highly suggest Nickel & Suede.  They are offering free shipping for Cyber Monday (see site for details). You’ve probably seen me in their leather earrings.   They are one of the most comfortable pieces of jewelry I’ve ever owned. They’re lightweight & so easy to match with pretty much anything. I want EVERY.SINGLE.COLOR & maybe even a leather cuff.  This seems to be a more comfortable alternative, right now, than a watch because I constantly have a babe in my arms. They’ve also recently added other pieces to their site, like outerwear & hats. You can shop their instagram here. I love the brand & hope to add some more pieces to my accessory wardrobe.

We went to the Freshly Picked warehouse sale & snagged my youngest babe 2 pairs of moccs & a pair of sandals that I’m hoping last her through next year.  You can spot the shoes in any of my photos of her as they’re the only shoes she’ll wear.  I can put the shoes on one handed & she never complains or asks to take them off.  I’ve linked their website here & it looks like the sale has items priced that are up to 50% off!!  That is amazing because in my opinion, the shoes can get pricey, but are worth every penny.

Another fun company having a Cyber Monday sale is Poppy & Dot, you’ve probably seen me tag the brand in my insta-stories & on my instagram. These fun pieces never seem to disappoint.  They’re well-made & once again, comfortable.  ‘Cause I’m all about that comfy life.  I’m a ‘Rockstar’ & you can become one too, just click the link & follow the page down to the affiliate section & sign up. You get to use your own discount code & feel like you’re apart of something that’s growing & empowering women to feel comfortable through any season of life.

This isn’t the best quality picture but here I am in one of their tops just yesterday. The material is perfect for running around after kiddos.

Next up, Amazon!!  Where we’ll probably do 75% of our shopping because let’s face it, they make it so darn easy!!

We use our echo dot for EVERYTHING. She keeps my lists, plays white noise during naps, wakes us up, tells us the names of the reindeers, helps us with homeschool, plays my Audible books & can do a million other things. Get this, she’s only 29.99 today. This would be my first choice for any family member on your list.

I’m linking some books under $5 that aren’t part of Cyber Monday sale, but are always great stocking stuffers or gift for any babe on your gift list.

We LOVE the message behind this dancing giraffe & received this one as a gift. I’m pretty sure we’ve since given it out a time or two!!

There’s a Very Merry version of this book that I might have to get the kiddos to read on Christmas Eve, or for homeschool.

This classic Lego set is around $20 & is the perfect gift, in my opinion. It is part of the Cyber Monday sale, so hurry!

Great deal on this mixer!! & some other cookware (see site for details).

Is my daughter the only one obsessed with horses right now?!  Here’s a less expensive version to the Spirit toys, that are all the hype right now.

Growing herbs in our tiny house?!  Or for that chef in the family, either way, love it.

I hope you all had the most wonderful start to the holiday season.  I understand this is a time where many people don’t have the money to shop or are missing a certain someone that they can no longer shop for because they won’t be around for the holidays & I think the best gift we can give each other is grace.  So if you feel like you’re not enough, or the gifts you’re buying or making aren’t enough, I say, skip the gift & give some love!! There’s no price tag on that!!

Here we are on Sunday at the dedication.  If you’re looking for a church, ours is pretty amazing & you can find their Instagram page, here.  This is such a sweet time in my life that I never want to forget.  Kinda crazy, but extremely sweet!!

With grace & coffee,

Waynna

I am an affiliate of Amazon, any items purchased through the images in this post, could result in a small commission to me.

Happy Thanksgiving

Three things I’m thankful for today; writing, scented candles & pumpkin pie!!  As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, there are places I like to go where there’s no denying it’s my ‘territory’ & I highly encourage you to find yours.  It’s crazy that I’m just discovering this in my early 30’s but better late than never.  My territory isn’t necessarily the kitchen.  Right now, my kitchen is about the size of an average walk-in closet & I dream of having more space one day.  So as far as my territory, it mostly involves having my kiddos mix up the ingredients & enjoying the fruits of our combined efforts.

Maybe I’m not the most creative pinner on Pinterest & my feed may be a hodge podge of others’ ideas & that’s okay.  Why re-invent the wheel any way?  I’m linking my favorite pie crust & pumpkin pie recipes below.  They’re easy & yummy enough & although it may be too late to use the recipe for post Thanksgiving dinner, there’s always tomorrow, the day after (in my opinion, every day should be pie day), & need I say Christmas!?  Yeeeee, the excitement!!

The pumpkin pie recipe we’ve used time & time again is by Nancy Fuller & you can find it here.  We use The Pioneer Woman’s pie crust and you can find it here.  It makes two crusts so we’ll save half for our apple pie.  This recipe was borrowed mostly from The Pioneer Woman’s caramel apple pie recipe, minus the caramel, crumb topping & the walnuts.  So basically it’s just an apple pie.  You’ll need // apples, juice of a lemon, sugar, brown sugar, flour & salt.

6-7 cups of cut/peeled apples

The juice of 1/2 a lemon

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients into a bowl and then pour into the pie crust.  We use the excess pie crust to make the lattice cover.  Bake @ 375 degrees for 1 hour.

I’m pretty thankful today & am trying to be more habitual about giving thanks.  I’m also extremely grateful that I’ve found this space to call my own, these little people who call me mom, the fact that I’ve been learning so much about myself lately, God’s amazing grace & the money he provided to buy Thanksgiving dinner.  I could name a million more things I’m thankful for but I’ll save some for our turkey day prayer & maybe even my next post.  God bless & enjoy your families this holiday season.  Here are a couple more photos of mine!!

 

Psalm 135:3

With grace & coffee,

Waynna

 

Thanksgiving

I’ve missed this space & I can’t believe it’s been three weeks since I’ve posted.  Last week we celebrated my boy, who is now FOUR.  The holidays are a reminder that I once had to stop life to recover & care for a new babe.  The days are long, but the years truly are short.  Here’s a throwback of us on his FIRST birthday.

That’s me & Uriah!!  It feels like I blinked and three years went by.  Excuse me while I go squeeze him.

Kaiyah was TWO in this picture & Uriah had just turned ONE & was starting to walk.

I’m working on prioritizing my time with God & today it worked in my favor.  It was a great tool to help me overcome the negative emotions I experienced as we attended my oldest daughter’s Thanksgiving Feast at her school.  The devotional talked about how we need to differentiate between a real problem & an inconvenience.  You can shop the devotional by clicking on the image below.  It’s currently less than $8 on Amazon & worth every penny in my opinion.  It’s a short, meaningful message.We hadn’t even been at the feast for fifteen minutes when one child had managed to drop an entire plate of food on the floor. All I saw were rolling grapes, from across the room, & some parents that were trying to comfort him as he was hysterical.  I was chasing the baby who had already tried to book it out the front door a handful of times.  She saw balls on the way in & apparently needed to play.  A short time after that incident the baby dumped an entire bottle of water on the floor.  Overall, I’m glad these are the kinds of inconveniences I have to complain about & I’m sure dignity will find its way back into my life sooner than later.  I’m also thankful that another homeschool mom/teacher was kind of enough to take over cleaning up as I worked on restraining my squirming toddler who still wanted those darn balls.

In order to feel somewhat normal in this chaotic season of #momlife, I like to fill in my calendar, make lists & ensure we’re staying true to our holiday traditions, because I’m constantly being reminded that these days of ‘crazy’ won’t last forever & neither will the holidays, as I know them now.

Here are some things I do to combat the Thanksgiving holiday crazy;

Make a list// I usually have more than one list going because that’s kind of how my brain works.  So I’ll usually have three lists going that look something like home, work & family (and not in that exact order).  Here are some examples of what my lists look like & why.

for the home // This list will include a budget for Thanksgiving dinner, black Friday shopping & extras like yummy scented candles & fresh florals.  This list will also include a shopping list with things I know I’ll forget like a turkey pan, extra food storage or spices I may not already have in the cabinet.  This would also be a good time to print and/or bookmark coupons, for when I’m out shopping.

work //  This would include both mundane & important tasks like getting our picture uploaded & ordering our Christmas cards, prepping some coloring pages or a craft for the kiddos for Friday, and maybe even prepping blog post topics for post-Thanksgiving and/or pre-Christmas.

family // I like to make a list of who I plan to buy for so that I can get most of my shopping out of the way on black Friday.  We really only buy for kids so this is a good time to check out the toy section of the Target add.

Traditions // We bindge watch Christmas movies, get out the Christmas decor & lounge in our Christmas jams. We like to bring in the Christmas holiday full force & I don’t think there’s a better day to do it because food & family will be present.  Free of an agenda, just enjoying the season. This year, my husband will adopt the task of smoking a turkey & I couldn’t be more excited. Here’s the smoker we have.I used to go into the holidays feeling burnt out & we decided to make a change.  I want my kids to remember that we took delight in the holidays because we were with them & I want them to know that’s all we needed.

I’d love to hear some of your family traditions & how they’ve changed over the years.  Mention them in the comments below.  I’m also working on becoming more benevolent this holiday season.  Currently there’s a giveaway going on my Instagram page.  You can visit the page by clicking here.

I’ve got my eye on this pair of jams for myself.In light of all of the tragedies happening around the world, I thought I would share this scripture with you. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil by doing good.  Romans 12:21.  My prayer for the holidays is that I trade chaos for kind, ungratefulness for giving, anger for grace & judgement for forgiveness. Lord knows, I’m always a work in progress!!

With grace & coffee,

Waynna

Here’s another from our Fall photos.  Happy birthday Uriah, now let’s eat turkey!!