The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

{five favorites} Vol.11: Nightlights, Marathons & Enjoying Long Winters


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 March 1.  

First, let’s congratulate Lisa for winning January’s #5Faves Prize Pack!  
The winning post: Christmas Gift Favorites

On to this week’s favorites:

{1}
Protect Your Child’s ‘PDF’: Playtime, Downtime, and Family Time
“There are things to be learned from playtime, downtime and family time that can’t be learned in the classroom, onstage, on the field or at the rink.  Our children are learning to bump up against one another and find a way to get along and to find the things that interest them enough to pull them in when time isn’t an issue.  They’re letting their thoughts sort themselves out, or finding support and comfort in family rituals.  Maybe they’ll even learn that eventually, every one feels like they’ve watched enough television for one day.  Mostly, they’re learning to be whoever they are when no one is watching.”

 {2}

Munchkin Light My Way Nightlight
I originally bought this for that newborn time when you’re up nursing at night.  The light is bright enough to see what you’re doing, but soft enough not to keep you (or anyone else) awake.  The kids now use it as a nightlight.  
{3}
“The pain that I experienced in the marathon – that’s temporary pain,” he said.  “Losing a baby is going to be pain endured forever but we have to find ways to cope and this is my way.”

{4}

The Usborne Book of Drawing, Doodling and Coloring
 We love this book!  The pages are well drawn and interesting.  I like to take these types of books to soccer practice or any place where the little ones need to be entertained.


{5}
The Norwegian Secret to Enjoying a Long Winter
“It turns out that in northern Norway, ‘people view winter as something to be enjoyed, not something to be endured,’ says Leibowitz, and that makes all the difference.”


——————————————


I’d love to hear above five of your favorite things too!  Need some ideas?  Here are a few to get you started:
+ Share five of your favorite blog posts from this week.
+ What are your five favorite movies and why?
+ Show us your planner and five things you do to make your week run smoothly.


{book club} The Inspired Readers Book Club: Book Six

Want a fun way to read a variety of interesting books in 2016?  You should join us in The Inspired Readers Book Club!  Tabitha, Shelly and I started last June and it’s been a great way to add some adult conversation to my weeks.  We’ve read a range of genres, which has helped me try books I’d never think to pull off the shelf.  I also appreciate the accountability aspect of the book club; less mindless TV and more reading!

I’m leading the next book for February into March!  I chose A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.  From the back of the book: “A word-of-mouth bestseller that has causes a sensation across Europe, Fredrik Backman’s irresistible novel about the angry old man next door is an uplifting exploration of the unreliability of first impressions, and a gentle reminder that life is sweeter when it is shared with other people.”  I can’t wait to dive in! 

Our reading schedule will be as follows:
Week 1 (February 15): Chapters 1-9
Week 2 (February 22): Chapters 10-18
Week 3 (February 29): Chapters 19-28
Week 4 (March 7): Chapters 29-Epilogue

As always, we’ll have discussion questions posted on Monday, so feel free to jump into the conversation whenever you have time.  We’d love to see you in the Facebook group!

{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.

Amazon Disclosure Policy

The Big White Farmhouse is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Archives

Copyright © 2025 The Big White Farmhouse · Theme by 17th Avenue