The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

{learn goals} Living Seasonally in February & a Free Printable!

This is a packed post.  Each month in 2016, I hope to share a bunch of ideas for living the fullness of that month.   The possibilities are endless, but I plan to include church feast days, small celebrations, books, crafts ideas and delicious foods to eat.  In no way do I think I will be able to pull off ALL of this, nor should you!  My hope is to provide a handy resource to check in on and get ideas.  I’ve also included a handy printable at the end. Here we go!   
February – the month of love!  .  

Below are a bunch of ideas for celebrating the fullness of this month.  Again, let me say that in no way do I think anyone (me included!) should think they can pull off ALL of this.  My hope is that you could pick and choose what you’d like to do with your own family.  I’ve done the leg work for you.  You just need to add the most important ideas to your calendar and get ready for memory making!

LITURGICAL YEAR

CELEBRATIONS

BOOKS TO READ

ACTIVITIES TO DO
DOWNLOAD YOUR OWN COPY HERE

{around here} Week 4/52: Week of 1.25.16

A collection of our ordinary days, recorded every week.

Around here, I have been:

surviving the blizzard of 2016!  We probably got around three feet of snow and since we’re in the south, the aftermath has been a bit hairy.  Our neighborhood wasn’t plowed until about three days after the storm!  Mark shoveled for hours everyday and I am so grateful.  The kids have loved playing outside and TJ and I have loved watching them from the warmth of the house.  Lots of hot cocoa and coffee being poured around here.

calling off school for a few days, but we got back to the books on Wednesday.  The public school kids had the entire week off, but I’m a mean homeschool mom.  The boys didn’t seem to mind too much.



having heart palpitations when TJ dropped a tomato sauce can on his toe. SO much blood from such a little guy!  We were so worried because we were largely still snowed in at that point.  Thankfully, the bleeding stopped and the cut was minimal.


signing up for a 5 mile race in May.  Just the right kick in the pants to put my running shoes back on.


reading Eleanor, which is a book I chose from Blogging for Books and is SO out of my usual reading comfort zone!


cleaning closets and going through the kids’ clothes again.  One of my 100 Little Things goals is to “Donate 100 items” and I got a fast start one afternoon.  It took me an embarrassingly short amount of time to find about 56 items and I’ve only just begun.  I feel like I declutter often, but there always seems more to pass along.  Where does this stuff come from?!


laughing at Sophie calling TJ her “little feetie” (sweetie).  She uses a high sing-song voice and he just eats it up. What a little mama.

{learn goals} What I Learned in January

{via}



(1) ESSENTIAL OILS ARE AWESOME, BUT A LITTLE OVERWHELMING.
After researching for weeks and weeks (and saving my pennies too!), I finally purchased the Premium Starter Kit.  The kit came with 11 oils and a diffuser, which turns out to be a great deal versus purchasing them individually.  I’m a little overwhelmed with all of the education out there (what oils need a carrier oil, what works for everyone and what should be avoided on kids, etc etc), but starting small and I love it so far!  We use the diffuser almost everyday.  Our current favorites are Thieves (which smells like chai tea to me) and the boys love Lavender in their room at bedtime.  
(My member number is #3507725 if you ever want to order something!)


(2) SLOWING DOWN TO DO ART IN THE MORNING IS FUN AND I SHOULD DO IT MORE OFTEN.
Our big Christmas gift for all of the kids was an IKEA cart filled with art supplies.  We call it the “art cart” and it’s housed in the coat closet for easy access when they want to make masterpieces.  I usually let them go to town on their own, but occasionally, I’ve found inspiration on Pinterest and we spend some time in the morning creating together.  It is SO good for my soul.  Stretching myself, trying new things (like acrylic paint and watercolors) and even making crappy art.  I need to create with the kids more often.     


(3) IT’S BEEN A LONG, LONG TIME SINCE I’VE HAD A PROPER BRA FITTING.
Being pregnant or nursing for the past ten years, I’m a total mess in this department.  Since getting a professional fitting was currently out of the question, I followed the advice on this infographic and what.a.difference.  If you’re overdue too, I highly recommend.


(4) I FEEL A LOT BETTER WHEN I DON’T EAT SUGAR.
I love sugar.  Like a lot.  But I know how much damage it does to my insides and since 2016 is the year I start acting like a grownup and taking better care of myself, I’m trying to go without (meaning, I won’t make cookies “for the kids” three times a week and eat most of the batch).  I really do feel so much better!  And being an abstainer, it’s crazy to me how quickly the desire goes away when I just don’t eat it.    


(5) THERE ARE SO MANY AMAZING CHURCHES AROUND THE WORLD.
I’m taking a class on The Great Courses Plus called The World’s Greatest Churches and nerd alert: I love it.  My baby sister, a senior in high school, got a good laugh when she heard I was taking a college lecture-like class online for the fun of it.  I find it all so fascinating: the iconography, the architecture, the influence of different religions!         

(6) SCHEDULING SOCIAL MEDIA AHEAD OF TIME FULFILLS TWO GOALS: SHARING WELL-WRITTEN WORK FROM BLOGGERS AND AVOIDING UNNECESSARY SCREEN TIME.
I am passionate about supporting fellow bloggers, but I also don’t want to spend tons of time online.  Buffer has been a lifesaver in making those goals both possible!  I spend a little time each week searching for good content to share, schedule them between my Facebook page and Twitter account and I’m done!  Love how easy and efficient it is. 


(7) INTENTIONALLY SAYING POSITIVE THINGS ABOUT MYSELF IS HARD, BUT NECESSARY.
I am my absolute worst critic and can be really hard on myself.  I’ve started to try to speak to myself like I would speak to my daughter and while it sometimes kills me, it’s also incredibly needed.  So when Mark asks me how my run went, instead of saying, “It was awful and I’m so slow and I’ll never get back in shape…”, I say “I’m better than I was yesterday.”  Baby steps.


(8) I’M MAKING OVER MY MORNINGS A LITTLE BIT AT A TIME.
I took Crystal Paine’s Make Over Your Mornings 14-Day Course and while some of the material is the preacher talking to the choir (you know me and goal setting!), I have been really inspired to tweak our mornings to be more productive and peaceful.  A few baby steps in that direction: helping my future self out by going to bed with a clean kitchen and relatively picked up house, taking time to say my morning prayers and meal-planning for more nutritious breakfasts.


(9) HOLY WATER IS A WONDERFUL THING.
We have a few bottles of holy water high up in our kitchen cabinet and I ran into them randomly as I was cleaning one day.  This led to a rabbit trail of Google searches, where I learned so much!  (This Q&A and this blog post are a good start.)  I found a beautiful antique on etsy (there are tons of gorgeous choices there!) and we just hung it by our garage door.  


(10) ACCORDING TO SOPHIA, THE KEY TO A GOOD LIFE IS BEING HAPPY AND FUNNY.
So thankful for my girl and for showing me that life doesn’t always need to be so complicated.

{five favorites} Vol.10: January’s #5Faves Prize Pack

Welcome to the Five Favorites linkup!
A reminder about a new twist I’m adding to the linkup this year: At the end of each month, I’ll be giving away a prize pack to one #5Faves participant!  Here’s how it works: every time you link up a blog post, it counts as one entry.  So if you link up a post every week, you’d get four entries.  I’ll keep track throughout the month and then randomly pick a winner on February 1.  

Since today is the last Five Favorites linkup of the month, I’m sharing the five items in January’s Prize Pack!  A few notes:  I wanted to start the Prize Pack incentive as a way to thank you for visiting here and linking up your posts.  It’s my small way of showing you that your words are being heard!  I read every single entry and try to comment on or share a few (I wish I could do this for every one – not enough hours in the day!)  

 The giveaway items I’ve chosen are a mix of some of my favorite things: etsy finds, vintage pieces and little bits picked up from various stores.  All have been purchased by me and nothing has been sponsored.  Here’s what I have for one lucky winner in January:  

1 // Thick Knit Slouchy Beanie in Taupe

2 // To-Do Notepad from Print Stitch & Paste
3 // Organic Wild Berry Tea

4 // Snowy Scene Stoneware Mug from ChattCatVintage
5 // Mrs. Meyer’s Hand Soap in Cranberry


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 I’d love to hear above five of your favorite things too!  Need some ideas?  Here are a few to get you started:
+ What are your five favorite winter essentials?
+ Lent is just around the corner.  What are five of your go-to meatless meals?
+ What are five pieces of advice you would tell a new bride or mom?


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