It's been ages since I've done a truly random, "Here are 5 things I love right now" post, so since I know you're SO curious... Here are 5 things I love right now!

Affiliate links included - thanks for helping fund my book buying!

ONE

These seed starting trays are the easiest ever. John Paul and Cecilia helped me start seeds in them last weekend and I didn't have to touch them at all except to lift them once the two of them were done (which is so great because I find it tedious planting each row, but they were SO into it!). They come with pellets that expand when you add water, which you can transplant directly without having to pop them out of the tray like the other kits we've used (which, when kids are helping, often results in the seedling getting yanked out of the soil completely...).

2015 Top 5 Posts

I've pretty much given up on trying to write any year-in-review posts this year - those things take FOREVER for me! But I do get a kick out of finding out what a blogger's most popular posts were for a given year, so here are mine for 2015, based solely on views per post:


#5: Winter Mom Uniform: Nursing-Friendly Dresses

Seriously, I'm still wearing most of these outfits this winter and they're SO comfy, flattering, and easy to nurse in!

#4: The Romper Post

This will forever be the most awkward post I've ever written. And it continues to get daily page views from such ingenious searches as "chunky mom" and "mom in shorts" so... I guess that's flattering? But I promised I'd do it if I hit 500 "likes" on Facebook because I wanted to stick it to the man and not pay for advertisement... And I did.

#3: Stitch Fix #2

My Stitch Fix review posts get a lot of hits, period - smart shoppers google the styles that are going out for the current month to see if there's anything they want to request from their stylists. I don't think it's a particularly engaging posts, but as you can see from my #3, #4, and #5 posts, the fashion posts get a lot of traffic.

#2: That Time We Bought a Farm

In which we made a crazy, life-changing decision to become complete stereotypes: Homeschooling, homesteading Catholics. So hipster. Much chickens.

#1: My #1 Parenting Tip

One of my few posts that has actually been shared somewhat on the internet, hence the number of hits... And still a reminder I could probably use daily!

I'm going to link these up with Ashley at The Big White Farmhouse for 5 Favorites - go link up yourself, you could win a prize!

5 Easy Ways to Make Money Online

Here's the thing: I know I could do the adult thing and work my expenses (clothes and shoes) into our budget around here. But when it comes down to it, I feel guilty spending money on myself. Which is why I end up doing a lot of random stuff online to earn "fun" money that I don't feel like I have to spend on my kids (even though I end up spending it on them a lot of the time anyway...)!

Want to know my tricks? Of course you do!

--1--

Ebates

If you shop online, you can get cash back at almost every store you can think of through Ebates! All you do is click through their site before you make your purchase, and you get a certain percentage of your purchase mailed back to you as a handy dandy check!

(Ahem, you can even get cash back at ThredUP, where you're already saving money!)

--2--

Swagbucks

Similar to Ebates, you can shop through Swagbucks and get a certain amount of points, redeemable for gift cards (including Paypal gift cards, which is essentially cash). BUT there's also a lot more you can do to earn points, including taking surveys, searching for things online, playing games, and watching videos. I joined a year ago and have made maybe $50, and I do almost all of my non-Amazon shopping through Ebates so that's basically just surveys and the like!

--3--

Sell your clothes!

I don't sell via Ebay, but I know a lot of people do - it's just too much work for me. What I *do* like is selling via ThredUP, since they'll send a bag, do all the work for me, and I send them things I was just going to donate anyway! I've been taking store credit, but you can also cash out via PayPal if you don't want credit.

--4--

Who doesn't like surveys?

I'm a member of several survey sites that pay a small amount of money for surveys you fill out (like Springboard America and Inspired Opinions), which adds up over the long term. But every once in a while I'll get asked to participate in an online focus group or an online discussion, which yields much higher payouts! I was dubious about the first one I did, but then ended up getting a $75 check in the mail a few weeks later!

--5--

Sell your books, games, DVDs, CDs...

Especially if you're like me and happen to have a bunch of old college textbooks lying around... Those things can be worth a mint! You know you paid a ton for them and aren't ever going to use them again, so why not sell them now before a new edition comes out? You can go the DIY route through various websites, or you can go the easy way and do Amazon trade-in - they'll estimate how much your old books, video games, DVDs, and CDs are worth and if you think it's worth it, you send them in and they'll give you Amazon credit! Every time we do a purge around here, we send them tons of stuff and make a decent amount of money with it.

Linking up with Jenna for 5 Favorites!

For some of these programs, I earn money or credit if you sign up through my links, at no cost to you. Thank you for your help!

What We're Reading: Princesses, Ballerinas, and Fairy Tales {Five Favorites}

Cecilia's been on a princess kick lately, and has been begging me to get more "beautiful" books from the library, so I put several on hold for her and think I'm going to end up buying them, she and the twins love them so much!

Affiliate links included below:

The Starlight Princess (And Other Princess Stories) - I love books that use nontraditional means for illustration, and this one is so beautiful to look at - all the pictures are embroidery, and the stories are written in a manner that makes them pleasing to read. They're on the long side, so you won't be able to read the whole thing in one sitting, but we've been doing a story or two every day. It's out of print but there are many used copies available, and I think we'll be adding it to our library!

7 Tales by Hans Christian Andersen (Illustrated by Maurice Sendak) - This is one from my childhood that I loved back then, and the illustrations by Maurice Sendak make me love it even more! Again, some pretty long stories, but there are plenty of pictures to keep everyone's attention. The language is engaging enough that I enjoy reading it aloud, which is always a plus! Also out of print, but easy to find used.

Ella Bella Ballerina (Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Cinderella, and The Nutcracker - a new one is coming out in October, also!) - we spotted these at a friend's house and Cecilia immediately asked if we could get them, too. They're fairly new (the first was written in 2008), and go through abbreviated versions of the accompanying fairy tales. They also have a page at the back explaining who the composer of the actual ballet was, and I think we'll be watching some YouTube videos and listening to the music to go along with the books - you can't go wrong with Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, and others!

Beauty and the Beast - Really any Jan Brett is going to be wonderful, no matter what. The illustrations beautiful and detailed as always, and everyone loved pointing out specific details in the pictures. This is one that the girls are happy to look at quietly for long periods of time, and they also love having it read to them. My mom read it to them several times on her recent visit, and it's NOT short! But it's another that's written well enough that it's enjoyable to read aloud. And did you know that you can get free coloring pages on her website?

The Princess and the Goblin - I'm really not sure what the best edition of this book would be to buy... Ours isn't illustrated, and I wish it were! This is the one I'm currently reading aloud with John Paul and Cecilia and they LOVE it. Not all of the books we read have strong male and female characters, but this one is so perfect for them - Curdie is a very strong but skeptical boy and Irene is sweet and compliant but fiery at the same time (remind you of anyone?). George MacDonald was one of C.S. Lewis's favorite authors, and didn't write this specifically for children but for ALL to enjoy, which is apparent from the rather lofty vocabulary. I'm finding myself having to explain a lot of tricky words to the kids, and sometimes the sentence structure is complex enough that I have to go back to make sure I've put the proper emphasis on things... But it's so beautifully written and engaging that I don't mind!

Linking up with Jenna for Five Favorites and Jessica for What We're Reading!

Father's Day Gift Ideas {Five Favorites}

Father's Day is in a week and a half! What are YOU getting your guy this year?

1. Rustic Bottle Opener with cap catcher - perfect for mounting right near his favorite spot to pop open a cold one!

2. Dadasaurus-Babysaurus Shirts - comes in different colors and sizes, too!

3. Father-Son Nerd Shirts - because seriously. Amazing (sizes baby through big kids!)

4. St. Joseph Icon - because who would be a better role model?

5. Reef Bottle Opener Sandal - there's a bottle opener on the bottom. Always be prepared.

So what did I *actually* get Andrew? Well, I'll tell you right now because he already knows... This book just came in the mail and I'm planning on letting him pick out some cocktails for us to make together soon!

Linking up with the lovely Jenna for Five Favorites.

Five Favorites: Toys, Gardening, Recipes, and Books

Some recent favorites...

These dress-up skirts - a friend gave these to the girls months ago and they wear them every. single. day (sometimes at night, too...) - they're holding up REALLY well despite being washed many times, and they're easy for the twins to put on by themselves which is a HUGE plus!

I bought this tomato fertilizer two years ago and have definitely seen a big difference in our tomatoes since I started using it - the bag is still more than half full, so it lasts a while! I follow up the fertilizer application with this fish emulsion fertilizer (it smells VILE but seems to work really well on all our plants) and am probably going to need to buy a new bottle soon, but again it lasted for ages and is a nice organic way to provide more nutrients to your plants.

I've linked to this waffle recipe before, but I just want to reiterate how deliciously amazing yeasted waffles are! You make the batter the night before, so it takes almost no extra time in the morning. Waffle Wednesdays are the best!

And last, here's one of our current favorite books, which comes in a sturdy board book version and is fun to read! We've checked it out so many times from the library that it's probably time to buy our own copy!

Linking up with Jenna for Five Favorites, because I like her!

Buying through my affiliate links helps me be able to purchase really cool things like reusable straws and CDs that monks recorded!

Eyeliner, A Book, Candy, A Toy, and Bread {Five Favorites}

Jenna's hosting Five Favorites now!  So fun!  Here's what I'm loving this week:

--1--

This eyeliner



I've tried a lot of different liquid eyeliners and had problems with them - my hand isn't steady enough to make a clean line on the first try, and then it's so permanent that I can't smudge it to cover up the mistake!  I love this stuff - I got it as a free sample with some mascara a while back, and it's perfect for a liquid eyeliner novice like me.

The brush is a little flexible, so it's easy to get a nice even line that's close to the lashline without pulling at the skin.  And it smudges easily in the first few minutes if you need to cover up any mistakes.  It helps me feel SUPER put-together especially when it's my (number omitted) day without showering and I'm looking less-than-fresh.

Love it!  It's definitely coming in the hospital bag with me.

--2--

Babies

Well, not actual babies.  Not that they're not great too...  But this was one of my favorite books when I was a kid (I remember teaching myself to read with it) and the kids all adore it, too.  I heard the girls giggling about what the "Mary Claire baby" and the "Elizabeth baby" were doing yesterday, and I found Cecilia "reading" to them from one of my all-time favorites.  I love Gyo Fujikawa!

Out-of-focus children?  Check!  Focused mess?  Check!  Way to go.

Oh and there's a Baby Animals book too???  Totally getting it for the twins for birthday/Christmas!

--3--

Peanut Butter Cups



I was SERIOUSLY craving these the other day and then Andrew's awesome co-worker sent him home with a bag of Reese's pieces and then the next day with a bag of the unwrapped minis.  YUM!

So then on Saturday when I was home alone with Mary Claire (Andrew took the other 3 hiking and I was like, "I can totally do that!!!" and then remembered that I can barely cross a parking lot without having contractions...) I decided to get ambitious and walk to the drugstore for eyeshadow and candy.  So classy, right here.  And so worth it.

I kind of love that these are individually wrapped because it keeps me from eating too many.  They're currently residing in my underwear drawer so that the kids don't notice them (except that Cecilia insists on picking out my underwear most days and has already asked about them...  "Oh, that's the bag my eyeshadow was in!" Which is not a lie because my eyeshadow WAS in that grocery bag, too!)

--4--
Fisher-Price Little People City Skyway



I got this free to review from Bzzagent a few weeks ago and have been waiting to see if it lasts in the house - the kids adore it!  It's HUGE (taller than both the twins) and very plastic, so it will probably make its way to the basement once it loses its luster...  But none of the kids are "car lovers" and they all love playing with this ramp!  It came with two cars, so they've had to practice sharing a LOT.  And the characters are named Kobe and Tessa, so Elizabeth immediately christened Kobe "Kobe Jack Cheese" and it makes me laugh every. time.

--5--

This bread

Theresa posted a bunch of her favorite fall recipes yesterday which helped me a LOT with the fact that I had nothing planned for dinner!  I ended up making potato corn chowder (no recipe because I wing it, sorry!) and figured I'd try a new bread recipe and see if it ended up crusty enough for my liking.

It did!  Hurrah!  Normally I get the Costco baguettes and freeze them in dinner-sized portions so we always have fresh-ish bread to go with soup.  But this is a LOT cheaper, with similar results, and so easy that John Paul could probably do it on his own if I were willing to let him consume flour by the cup...

You might need to tweak the flour amounts - I did the 1/3 recipe last night and had to add 1/4 cup water, and then I made a full batch this morning and needed to add 1/2 cup flour.  Just eyeball it and pay attention to the pictures in the original post!

What's on your favorites list right now?  Go link up with Jenna!

What We've Been Reading {FF}

I have some real blog posts in the works, I promise, with pictures and all!  But it's been crazy around here - Andrew and I were at our very first homeschool convention this past weekend, today was my LAST DAY OF WORK EVER (!), we had our ultrasound yesterday, etc...  I promise, all the updates soon!  But for now, since I'm stealing a little time during naps, here are some awesome books we've been reading lately:

The Seven Silly Eaters - We all love this book - after we renewed it 4 times from the library, I knew it was time to actually buy it...  So when we saw it from a vendor at the homeschool conference, I grabbed it immediately!  The kids all adore it, and it's one that's actually really enjoyable to read aloud because the rhyme scheme is great.  I was concerned that they might decide that they wanted to be picky eaters because the kids in the book are, but not even close - the lesson they took from the book is that they would like to have 7 kids in the family and they would all like to sleep in the same room.  So yeah, I think it probably goes without saying that this family is very likely Catholic ;)



Reckless - Young Adult Fiction!  Yay!  I downloaded a library copy out of desperation because I wanted *something* that was available immediately, and I remembered liking Cornelia Funke when I read some of her books a while back.  This was terrific!  The main character, Jacob, spends much of his life in another world that he enters through the mirror.  This most recent time, his brother follows him and ends up being attacked, which leads to his transformation into another terrifying species.  Jacob and his brother are on a quest to reverse the transformation throughout this book.  Fairies, shape shifters, magic galore...  It's my kind of book!



Fearless - So of course I immediately got the sequel.  Also awesome, definitely worth reading!  But I wish they hadn't been written so many years apart, because it doesn't give me a lot of hope that another book in the series will be written any time soon...


An Alphabet of Catholic Saints - Also a convention buy - I love the illustrations, the kids love the saints.  Not the best editing, since they forgot to fix one of the "Blesseds" on Kateri Tekakwitha's page, so in one place she's a Saint and in another she isn't yet...  But overall, a really nice book for Catholic kids!



  Prima Latina - I know, I know...  Don't start Latin until they're in 4th or 5th or whatever grade.  But...  John Paul!  I mean, last night he slept with a French-English dictionary.  So yeah, he just about peed his pants when we brought this home from the homeschool convention.  And is now greeting everyone with "Salve!"

Okay, I hear John Paul hollering from upstairs, so blogging time is over!  Linking this up with Heather at Mama Knows, Honeychild for my 5 Favorites this week...  And maybe linking up with Jessica at Housewifespice, buuuuut my money is on her being in labor because she doesn't have a post up today!

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