Hi, how are you?

I’ve been feeling like not quite myself lately. I’m not sure what’s going on. Not necessarily better or worse, just different.

Anyway all is well 🥰 I decided to do a list this week rather than several large sections. There is no particular order to this. I’ve bolded the key words in case you want to skip around! ❤️

20 Things

1. A while back (2019 maybe) I made French macarons. It took me a little while to get them right, but I did. Then, recently, I have tried again. And I can not get them to come out right! So I looked into it, and there’s a whole different way to make them. I tried making Italian macarons, and the method is much different, but they were overall easier and turned out really good on the first try!

   

2. I restructured our homeschooling day. Basically, I’ve got a few things on a white board (spelling words, Bible verse, phrase of the day, science vocab). Then they each have a notebook that has a little checklist of items they need to complete that day (not JUST school stuff!!). At the end of each day, I go through the previous day’s lists and anything they didn’t do, I add to the next day’s list. It’s been working really well, I think!

3. Have you tried Don’t Wordle? It’s so tricky. I finally think I have the hang of it, after losing about 10 times.

4. Another new game is called Tiles. It’s in the New York Times Crossword puzzle app, but you can also play it online. It’s lovely! Also, the tiles look different each day, but this is one example of a tile board! Each tile is made up 3 qualities, and you just match one of the qualities to another tile with the same quality. You can’t lose; the challenge is just to clear the board without making any mistakes.

   

5. Alexander’s a good reader, but he hasn’t ever chosen to read outside of school time. At the library the other day, I picked up a graphic novel (some IG messages suggested this), and he read it in just a few days. In fact, one night, he chose to read it to Annabelle during their room time. 🤯 So we picked up some more graphic novels for him to try!

6. I want to start buying more frozen veggies. In my head, fresh is always better, but I’ve learned that frozen ones are just as good because they usually freeze them right off the vine (or bush or whatever). I figure, though, that some of them aren’t as good when they’re frozen, like, you can’t roast frozen veggies, right?

7. Here is a playlist of some of my favorite worship songs.

8. The kids have been enjoying Duo Math (it’s an app that’s part of the Duolingo family, but it’s for Math!).

9. Alexander’s 10th birthday is coming up! We made his birthday chain today (he’ll pull off one loop each day). And I’m still working on what to do for the actual day! I’ve got the big idea, not the smaller pieces of it.

10. I signed up for a sprint triathlon! Wish me luck! And if you’ve ever done one, what sort of wet suit, shoes, bike, etc, should I get?

11. Cam and I were talking about big life goals. One thing we decided we want to do some time in the future is take a mom-dad-and-one-kid trip with each kid!

12. Charlie has these little loafers that he wears all the time. Every time we go anywhere, someone compliments them. It’s time to get the next size up!🥹Also? He got his first haircut (by me…I do all the kids’ hair!). It’s so cute.

    

13. In the last couple months, Annabelle has finally gotten better at reading! It’s taken years and a lot of intentionality, lots of programs and trying different things, but she’s finally much more confident. She’s still at the early reader books and a few level 1s but we can finally say “Annabelle can read.” 🙌🏻

14. Taylor Swift is on tour. I'm familiar with a few of her songs. And I’m also aware that people who love her music are like, obsessed. I decided to start listening to her entire song collection from start to finish. I’m only about 40 songs in! I’ll update you when I’m all the way through🥰

15. Def want to try these corn ribs I saw on TikTok. They look delicious!

16. Here’s another must-try recipe I saw on TikTok, for these Texas Roadhouse copycat rolls!

17. Have you watched the documentary about the MH370? It’s that airplane that disappeared. There are a few theories, and I won’t tell you which one I believe. I want to hear which one you think!

18. Here’s one of Charlie’s fav toys lately!

19. This is so random but yesterday, me, AB, and Charlie played this game… me or AB would hide my phone somewhere in the house. Then I’d use my watch to ping my phone (it makes a noise) and Charlie would wander around to find it. 😆 It lasted 20 something minutes, and it was really fun honestly.

20. I made these lemon curd cookies (I didn’t do them gluten-free). They were very tasty and lemony, but the cookie part was dense. I’m assuming it’s because I did not actually follow the recipe exactly!! So give them a try! 🥰

That’s it folks!

Hope you have a great week. Much love, Bethany

PS a disclaimer I must say is that any Amazon links above are affiliate links!