Category Archives: Internet Goodness

Add this to your wish list

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I passed up the amazing Amazon primeday deal and then regretted it when I saw all my blogging friends and insta-friends raving about all of the things they were creating in very little time (my dream cooking situation), so when Black Friday came around and the Instant Pot was on sale again, I couldn’t pass it up. And although it’s back up to it’s normal price now, I would say it is so worth the money (but will probably go back down in price at some point before Christmas). Sorry to all of my work friends when I come in waving my homemade soup or other Instant Pot concoction excitedly at lunchtime……it’s not often anything from the kitchen makes me excited so this is a rare phase in my life I’m sure.

Hard-boiled eggs in 7 minutes??? Spaghetti squash in 20??? Scott and I are already loving the possibilities to still get a good dinner on the table after arriving home close to 5 with our kiddos after school. If you have any yummy Instant Pot recipes you’d like to share, please do in the comments!!!

And our November in video….(only one month left until we get an entire year’s worth of second snippets all together in one video – so excited!!!):

Happy December!!!! We started our favorite DIY advent calendar today and the kiddos are so excited for the activities/missions listed inside! It is such a blessing to repeat traditions with our little wonders and to know that we get to continue them for so many more years…..JOY.

A few things I’m loving right now….

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It’s been a busy couple of weeks with our big Oregon Coast adventure and then WSU volleyball camp so no blogging for me. But here are a few things invading my mind and making me happy right now….This picture literally makes me swoon with my love for my little wonders and the great big beach/world around them they get to discover. I am excited to get it printed big like and display it in our house somewhere….any suggestions?
My brain and I have been battling quite a bit this summer….insecurities, judgements, and comparisons are running wild up in there and I am finding this book is helping me rewrite a few stories that need to be revised for the good of myself and my family. I’m only a few chapters in and feel the impact already. Love personal development reads in the summer…..I can read a few pages and let them simmer in my brain and heart for a bit before moving on.
“Oh your team goes to WSU team camp? What a coincidence since you went there and all….” SOOOOOO not a coincidence. I love everything about WSU and Pullman (even the drive) and really get excited about showing my high school girls around. My heart swells as I enter the town, shop for new crimson and grey gear, and walk around the campus (my calves swell too but from all the hills…..small price to pay). Go Cougs (just in case my Husky friends are reading)!
As many coaches do, I love a good quote and passing it along to others. I also love Instagram…..Word Swag is a fun app that takes cool background pictures and swishes your fonts around until you find a combination that you like. It’s great for both short labels and words on photos AND longer quotes or passages.

I love watching the powerful women of the show, Open Concept and am also insanely jealous of how easy it looks to create literally my dream furniture and decor. Following their IG is full of inspiration – definitely worth a follow!

Some other honorable mentions:
– Missy Elliot pandora station (Ludacris, Usher, and Nelly show up a lot – perfect workout/cleaning/driving music)
– High School Musicals on repeat in our house this summer
– planning for some fun essential oils classes with my peeps in August before the craziness of volleyball starts
– how hard my volleyball girls are working in the off-season
– secret plans for a killer warm up playlist for this season

Coming up on the blog this week – my year “blog-a-versary” and what I’ve learned/loved/hated about it so far.

WonderGIRL turns 14 – the party details

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Since WonderGIRL loves ANYTHING red, white and blue (“birthday colors” she calls them) this was the perfect theme for her birthday party we held at our house yesterday. That and everything red, white, and blue was 50% off at Michaels (winning!!!) Here are some details we/she/I loved (also might be perfect for a 4th of July party tomorrow):

THE FOOD –
Had to create the fruit flag (perfect for an 8 year old begging to help project), plus I saw this “firecracker hot dog” video right before my trip to the grocery store for party prepping – good timing!!! My favorite food was the firecracker popcorn and was quite a hit at the party (a good excuse for adults to consume pop rocks and not be judged!!!).

THE SELFIE STATION –
Since WG is loving her phone and especially the camera function, we created this selfie station to capture all of her loved ones with her at the party. They all turned out so cute!!! We’ll have to practice getting the selfie stick OUT of the shot on our next round.

We can always count on Uncle BJ to liven up our photoshoots.

THE DECOR –

Those jars are filled with rice colored with food coloring – again, another project great for “helpful” kiddos during the party prep stage.
I knew I wanted to create a special video of WG popping this amazing confetti-filled ginormous balloon from Spruce (one of my favorite Bellingham shops) and the video happened and was awesome….but I still can’t get it to load on here so check out the instagram post instead.

Also, the outfit (all Target) was a combination of workout leggings, a tutu and the festive tank. She was also treated to a birthday party manicure so even her fingernails match her outfit/party – how cute!!! Thank you to everyone that came and celebrated one of the bravest dinosaurs (teen-o-saur?) in our crazy little bunch – we are so proud of her growth, especially in this last year of life and will love her to pieces forever and ever.

Do your littles need some help with proper teeth brushing?

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One of the things we still monitor and manage closely with our littles is proper hygiene and care of their bodies and teeth. Because routines and expectations weren’t managed at young ages, they still tend to lie and manipulate their way out of certain healthy routines. Teeth brushing is one of them….and especially with WG getting her braces on a while back – we want to scaffold their independence in these tasks. I read about this app called “Magic Timer” from Oral B and we fell in love with from first download and use.

Each child gets to set up their own “brusher” with different characters. If you purchase an Oral B toothbrush (fairly cheap), then you can scan the toothbrush character and that’s what your theme will be.Then each time, your little goes to brush, the timer plays with music and the toothbrush magically erases a secret picture. The brush moves to remind your child to move their toothbrush around and even gives prompts for appropriate “spit” time. Two minutes can seem like such a long time to young children (or hurried teens for that matter), so watching this scene unfold is a great way to pass the time.Try it out and impress your dentist on that next routine exam!!!

A few things I’m loving….

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Since I gave up wine for my 30-day detox cleanse, I’ve been missing my glass of red wine each night. I’ve been finding some comfort (and some relief from bloating) with this little “tea” I concocted:
1 cup apple cider
2 tbl. apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
1 drop on guard or cinnamon 
I’ve been disliking my bathroom counter top lately so I asked my crafty husband to do a reclaimed wood shelf and I am loving a little farmhouse feel in our very newly built (aka very vanilla) house.
As a Mother’s Day present to my Mother-in-Law Lori, I crafted a special planner with small pictures of her family members on their birthdays. I liked the idea so much that I used it to decorate my new planner and I love peeking through all the months and seeing so many smiling faces that I love so much.
My new favorite app straight from Shark Tank…..Felt! This app has amazingly cute card designs but then you can customize them and add your own handwriting (using your touch screen) for a handmade look. Plus, I only pay $5 per month and get to send 3 cards as part of the subscription plan (which I already used in the first day I had the app – oops).And just because I love how my little WonderBOY texts – a screen shot between him and Scott. I’m not sure what I was “letting him do because he is cute” but whatever it is, I am fully guilty of and for his exact reasons…..I better work on that before he uses that excuse for more than just staying up an extra 5 minutes or eating popcorn in the living room.

Insta-shopping

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**Disclaimer to my husband: stop reading if you still want to have fond feelings about me and my responsible shopping habits…..now. Thank you.**
Although I know fast fashion has its price overseas I just get so excited about cheap, trendy clothes popping up in my feed on a daily (okay hourly) basis. And with just one easy PayPal click they are on their way to my mailbox. ??? Here are a few of my favorite Instagram shops for clothes/accessories:

Pinkish Trends

Poppy and Dot

Mint Julep Boutique

Put on Love Designs (essential oil accessories)
Apologies to your PayPal account. ?

apps we love….

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Technology and screens can get a bad wrap when connected with children these days…..but there are some amazing apps out there that have been a huge help to our kiddos (and us) in our crazy household. So just in case you haven’t heard of these gems….here are our favorites to check out and add to your phones/tablets ASAP.

Emotions/Breathing Apps:
Calm – This is a game changer not only in our house but in my classroom as well. There is a charge (totally worth it IMO) to get access to ALL of the meditations but the free version is pretty awesome as well. You can choose your background scene and music and then pick from a huge variety of topics, choose the time you have, and then this lovely serene voice will walk you through progressive relaxation and affirmations. All of the meditations are appropriate for children BUT they just added Calm Kids with the cutest little meditation stories ever, especially for sleep.calm appBreathe, Think, Do with Sesame Street (for ages 3-6) – great resource for helping children with frustrations and problem-solving. The child helps the monster take belly breaths and I always watch the younger children breathing with them as they play this game. Love it!breathe, think, do appEducation/Learning Apps:
My Spelling List – this app is wonderful if your child has a weekly spelling list. You enter the words and spell them correctly with your voice….then your child can play games with those words and take practice tests. This has been a huge help to our 2nd grade WonderBOY and we can take his spelling practice on the road with us which is always helpful for us as we spend a lot of time in our car traveling to work/school and home.
**I couldn’t actually find this app on iTunes this time around so it was possibly eliminated but this one is very similar.**

KIZZU Letter Book – For beginner (or struggling) writers….this app provides repetition in correctly forming letters using their finger and the touchscreen. I like this handwriting app more than others because it does not give “points” or stars unless the child correctly forms the letter, even if the letter looks how it is supposed to in the end. They also have a number workbook which is helpful as well. Both of my kiddos (middle school WG included) really enjoy this app.kizzu app

And for adults – Photos/Video Apps:
Google photos – Need a space to store all those adorable kiddo and life photos? Hate deleting them off your phone like I do? This is a great solution and is completely free! This app automatically organizes them and backs them up so then you can access them from any device (perfect for people that don’t use Apple products across the board with their iphone).

1se – As many of you have seen, I am attempting to capture 1 second of our lives each and every day this year. This app has been a huge help in doing so and it saves my video clips so I don’t have to keep them saved on my phone. Some people are just showcasing one week at a time, others months, and I can’t wait for my year end 4:00ish minute video to see what a crazy ride our years always are! This example below are all clips from one vacation – perfect for this summer as some of you embark on your own epic adventures!second app

Easy like Sunday morning…..

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Except it’s not easy…..when daylight savings stole an hour (grrrr)….and you drove back from Seattle at midnight….and one cute little WonderBOY just wants to play volleyball in the hall all morning.

HOWEVER, I am taking on this morning in my delightfully cozy new Jennifer Adams robe and I wanted to quickly share that they are on super sale for only $68 right now! These robes are so so soft and remind me of the robes at the Chrysalis which are seriously, my dream robes. Grab one for you, grab one for Mother’s Day…..but hurry as I’m not sure how long the sale will last.

(C)DanCoogan.com

(C)DanCoogan.com

*Totally not affiliated with Jennifer Adams at all…..just love the robe and like to spread the internet goodness/shopping opportunities to all my readers. Happy Sunday!

Daily oils – Husband edition

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Welcome to Day 3 of how Team Brave Dinosaurs are using little vials of awesomeness to keep us healthy and happy without using any toxic products and chemicals! Today, I will discuss how I got my husband hooked on their true worth in our household. Of course, he was skeptical to spend a chunk of change on a starter kit without fully knowing how they would work but a few experiments later and he was ready to purchase a few more products just for him!

If interested, please go back and read how I personally use these oils as a busy mama and how we help our school-age children get through their daily lives.

Allergy relief –
Scott has always struggled with allergies throughout the different seasons in the Pacific Northwest. Once I had him inhaling the trio of Peppermint, Lavender, and Lemon out of his own hands, he became a huge fan. He felt instant relief but then what happened weeks down the road was that he didn’t have as many symptoms as often just from regular use. He has also used the Digestive Blend to alleviate sinus congestion right on his nose.

Snoring/sleep relief –
Each night, we put a blend of Thyme, Frankincense, and Respiratory Blend in our bedroom diffuser and place it right on Scott’s bedstand. It has significantly decreased his snoring, although sometimes it does not make it go away all together (no magic wand here). Scott would also say that he has a more restful night’s sleep since starting this protocol.

Daddy confidence –
Although this is not a specific recipe or use, I believe that Scott enjoys being able to offer oils as a solution to some of the children’s “owies” (both physical and emotional ones). He is also not a big fan of getting to the doctor (or spending money on doctors visits), so being able to help some ailments with the oils has been a game-changer for our family.

DIY Natural Cleaning solutions –
I am very spoiled in that Scott does a large portion of the cleaning and upkeep of our household. I would like to say that it’s primarily due to his schedule and having more time to do it, but really I am just extremely messy (and sometimes lazy) and he can’t stand the clutter I often leave in my wake. We haven’t spent any money on cleaners since last May when I received my first oils in the mail and love the added cleaning power they add to natural cleaning recipes. If you are interested in those recipes and other DIY cleaner tips and tricks, check out this post. Our essential oils team will also be hosting two different classes in March about natural cleaning solutions, so if you are interested in that, please message me and I will get you the details!IMG_2692.JPG(see above picture for the obvious excitement ahead of us in our marriage with essential oils)

If you have read enough to dive in and empower yourself with everything you will need to keep your family healthy and sane, head to my oils website to sign up. Under the “join and save” tab, you just enter some personal information, pick your favorite starter kit, and within a week’s time, you will have products in your hot little hands to start playing with. Plus, February is an awesome time to join with the option of getting $100 in free oils just for signing up this month. Message me with any questions and as always, no pressure here….I just want to spread the information and true power I feel with these to as many people as I can to help their family grow and thrive just like mine!

Also, if you aren’t ready to dive in yet but want me to come teach a class for you and some friends, I’m totally available to do that too – just message me and we’ll go from there!!