As fall approaches, I begin to think about holiday activities, traditions, and gifts. I love planning and preparing early so I can fully enjoy the month of December, and not be completely stressed out. Once our son was born, I knew I wanted to create special traditions for our family. I saw a friend of mine do a family advent calendar with her son where each day was an experience or memory. I LOVED that idea and knew I wanted to create something similar for our family.

Last year our son was too young to appreciate activities or experiences, so I did 24 days of books to add to his library. He is now at the age where he can participate and is fully hands on, so I am extremely excited!

I am purchasing something like this where each year I can change the activities or days certain things fall. I will print off slips of paper and put them in the corresponding boxes. I currently have a google document of ideas I want to do or would like to as he gets older (some not currently age appropriate). It is an easy way to keep everything organized and to continuously update.

Amazon

Here is our calendar for this year. I have slowly collected things as I have seen them in stores, so we are pretty much good to go. I also collect ornaments when we travel so little man gets 2 for his tree this year! Of course, I will probably change around the days and activities as it gets closer to December! I would love to know if you decide to do something similar with your family!

What traditions do you have with your family during this time of year?

Blessings,

Jaclyn

I am entering my second year of staying home with our son, and it has been the best learning process! I have had to create some sort of schedule/routine to keep me accountable and foster his learning/development. I thought I would share our general daily schedule as well as the pros and cons to staying home. I have shared his morning and night time routine (Toddler AM Routine & Toddler PM Routine) as well as my morning routine (Morning Routine ). I would love to know if you have a daily schedule or structure in place and what that looks like!

Daily Schedule 

4:30-6:30: Teach

6:45: Start Our Day

7:00: Breakfast (unload/load dishwasher)

7:15-8:00: Independent Play (coffee, gratitude, devotional)

8:00: Dressed

8:15-9:15: Walk & Park (morning prayer/affirmations)

9:15: Morning Snack

9:20-11:00: Out of House (library, play date, activity, errands, etc)

11:15: Nap Routine

11:30-1:00: Nap (workout/house chores/listen to professional development/write)

1:00: Lunch (prep husbands lunch/snacks for next day)

1:30-3:00: Play, Read, Learning Activities

3:00-5:00: Family Time (husband gets home) & TV Episode

5:00: Dinner

5:45: Clean Up (room and living room)

5:50: IPAD Songs

6:15: Bedtime Routine

I will share my personal night time routine in another post that I generally do from 7-9pm! I will say I absolutely  LOVE being home with our son and have really enjoyed this precious time together. Like any other job, there are some pros and cons to staying home full time….

Pros

• Primary caretaker
• Foster what you want your child to be exposed to
• Quality time and experiences
• Present for milestones
• Model choices, words, conversations, etc…
• FUN!

Cons

• Never “leave” your job
• Can be taxing mentally/emotionally, especially during leaps, spurts, teething, etc.
• No day to day adult interaction/conversation (if you chose to not participate in groups/activities)

 

Of course, not every family wants a structured day or routine, and that is perfectly okay! I like chunking our day and staying consistent because he knows what to expect. I would love to know if your family does anything particular!

Blessings,

Jaclyn

 

 

 

Last week I shared five financial lessons we have learned in our marriage and twenties. You can read the first five here: Financial Lessons We Learned In Our Twenties. Today I wanted to share the remainder!

Disclaimer: I am not a professional! These are things I have learned in my twenties that have been beneficial for our family. If you are serious about changing your finances, please seek a professional. They are amazing at what they do!

6. Consider Additional Accounts

Consider having multiple accounts or investment opportunities aside from your standard checking and savings account. Some things to consider are a high interest savings account, mutual funds, stock, college funds/ accounts for children, etc. This is something we have been diligent about since we got married and continue to make a priority.

7. Have a Mutual Understanding of Spending/Budget 

My husband and I are not “spenders” by nature, however we have an understanding of prices or things that need to be discussed before purchasing. I would suggest having an amount that calls for a conversation, or setting aside “fun” money for each individual to use to their pleasing. Be on the same page as a family, and do what works best for you!

8. Create Yearly Goals

This will help so much with sustaining current goals and making sure your family is on track. We like to re-asses every year and see what changes we have made and what we want to make happen moving forward. Our goal this past year was to purchase my car and pay majority/all cash.

9. Hire/Meet With a Professional

If you are able to, meet with a third party who has an outside perspective and can facilitate important conversations. We have been meeting with our advisor for 4 years, and can’t imagine not having his help and guidance!

10. Track!

This is hard to keep up with, but so important to see your progress/goals AND for you to be aware of your spending/savings. I keep an excel sheet where I track accounts monthly just to have a visual for us to look at.

 

What are some of your financial musts? I would love to know!

Blessings,

Jaclyn