February In Numbers

If January was the longest month ever, then February flew by!  Never mind that it has three less days than January, it felt so much shorter.  Warmer days are on their way and I’m so ready to get out of the cold and enjoy being outside without having to bundle up.  February was a really fun month for our family in a lot of ways and, of course, I’m sharing it with you in numbers!

2 – Walks around the neighborhood.  There were more than two nice days nice enough for being outside, but we only made it on walks around the neighborhood for a couple of them.  Being outside and smelling the fresh, clean air did us all good.  My kids pulled out their scooters and bikes and had fun racing each other (“No, I want to be first!”) up and down the trail near our house.

24 – Day in February when I hit my highest page views ever!  You guys, I’m so, so excited about this one!  Last October, I hit my three year blogiversary, but a lot of last year was spent adjusting to our third baby joining our family and learning how to juggle three kids.  The last few months I’ve really tried to kick it up a notch and get back into posting regularly and it’s been great as I’ve watched my traffic increase.  But on February 24, I had the highest day I’ve ever had on my blog in terms of page views!  (For those of you reading this who may not know what that means, it’s basically the number of visits I get on my blog from people clicking and viewing different posts.)  I was in shock (okay, not literally) and couldn’t help but do a little happy dance as I told my husband that night before going to bed.  You guys, THANK YOU for reading my blog and clicking on my recipes and tutorials and other posts.  It means so much to me!

13 – Instagram posts.  One of my business goals I set for myself this year was to be more consistent in posting to Instagram and my Instagram Stories.  I think Instagram is a great way to get to know more about who people are, what they have going on in their life, to be inspired and uplifted and encouraged when your day isn’t going so great.  In addition to sharing what I’m posting on my blog, those are the kind of things I try to share with you on my Instagram.  Another goal of mine from this year that ties into my Instagram goal is to be more intentional, which means I’m trying to be purposeful with what I share with you.  That doesn’t mean I’m only going to share the good stuff and leave out the bad or hard.  It just means that I want to be one of those people who is helping to fill your Instagram feed with positivity, encouragement and uplifting thoughts and images, as well as to let you know that you’re not alone.  So if you aren’t already, I’d love for you to hop over and follow me so we can get to know each other better!

1 – Awesome self-love dance party.  Just after Valentine’s Day, I had the chance to go to a dance party put on by Tiffany Roe that was all about showing yourself love!  One of the ways that I show myself some love is dance.  I grew up dancing and it’s been hard for me to not have as much of that in my life (besides dancing around the house with my kids, that is).  So when my friend Sarah from The Strawberry Nest asked if I wanted to go with her, I said yes!  Unfortunately, she and her family got hit with the flu that’s been going around and she wasn’t able to go.  But thankfully my friend Dani who blogs over at A Day With Dani was there so I had someone to visit with, take pictures at the photo booth with and dance with out on the floor.  It was such a fun night and let me tell you, I felt so great afterwards!  Remembering that you are worth taking time for is so important.  If this is something you are struggling with, start today and recommit to showing yourself a little bit of love: getting your nails/hair done, going shopping by yourself, making a craft, exercising–whatever it is that fills your bucket!  You can read a post I shared earlier this month, partially inspired by this dance party I went to, where I talk about protecting your self-care time.  You matter!

14 – Valentine’s Day and 2nd Annual family Valentine’s dinner.  Speaking of love, my family and I had a fun Valentine’s Day dinner on the 14th to celebrate!  My husband brought flowers home for all the girls, including the baby, and my son got a giant Reese’s heart.   We had roasted potatoes, carrots and smoked sausage, steamed asparagus, strawberry jello and whipped cream, raspberry Italian sodas and we finished off with a lemon cheesecake for dessert.  To keep the kids busy while I finished up, I set out a paper tablecloth that had pictures to color and other activities.  They loved it and we even kept it for a couple of days afterwards so they could keep coloring it.  It was a bit of a crazy day with getting the kids off to school with their Valentine’s and trying to get the house straightened up, but it ended on a good note and I’m so glad we’ve started this tradition.

6 – Blog posts.  If you’ve been around here for a while, you know I try to get up at least two new blog posts a week.  I share them on my Facebook page, Instagram and Pinterest.  I also have a newsletter that I send out the day after a post is shared on my blog.  With all the craziness of social media, you may or may not actually be seeing my posts, so the newsletter is definitely the best way to make sure you don’t miss anything!  Also, I recently created a packing list printable that you get as part of signing up for my newsletter.  It’s just my way of saying thank you!  (Plus, it’s a super helpful packing list if I do say so myself. *wink*)  You can subscribe by entering your email address in the box underneath where it says “Newsletter” and clicking ‘Subscribe’.  Or you can click HERE and scroll to the bottom and enter your email address to subscribe.

Here are the posts from February in case you missed them:

• January In Numbers
• Unicorn Themed Birthday Party
• Easy Contact Paper Heart Suncatchers
• Flower Button Magnets
• How To Protect Your Self-Care Time
• Quick and Easy Applesauce Muffins

9 – Types of chocolate tasted.  If you watch my InstaStories, you might know I went to my friend Christina’s house for a chocolate tasting at the end of last month.  It was my first time ever going to something like that, but I like chocolate so I figured it definitely wasn’t going to be a bad use of my time.  *wink*  We got to taste chocolate made from cacao beans from all over the world and it was so interesting to see how different they each tasted.  My two favorites were the Dark Chocolate Cardamom Black Pepper from Amano Chocolate and the Dark Milk Chocolate from Solstice Chocolate.  Christina is actually super knowledgeable about chocolate and it’s what you might call a “hobby” of hers.  Her Instagram is called Chocolate Lovers Club and it’s all things chocolate!  If you like chocolate of any kind, definitely go give her a follow and be prepared to see lots more chocolate in your feed.

3 – Items sold.  My husband and I are pretty good at getting rid of the things we don’t want, need or use.  Sometimes we end up donating those items.  But other times, we want to be able to get a little money back, which is when we sell them.  It’s usually nicer or bigger ticket items like furniture or small appliances that are in good shape but we don’t want to keep around.  Being able to sell our stuff online is actually something I’ve become pretty good at over the years.  I even put together a 4-part series a couple of years ago on how to sell your stuff online that goes in-depth on what I do and how I do it.  The three things we sold–an old vacuum, a dresser and our rocking chair–put an extra $110 in our wallets.  Woo-hoo!

235 – Pictures and videos taken of my kids.  Okay, this one probably isn’t 100% accurate, but it’s close!  If you’re like me, you take a lot of pictures and videos of your kids.  I’m a huge picture taker and have the hardest time getting rid of pictures and videos, unless they’re really blurry.  One thing I recommitted to doing this year is taking at least one video and/or picture each day.  I like to use an app called 1 Second Everyday where I upload either a picture or take a 1-1.5 second snippet of a video into the app.  At the end of the month, I make a video of our “seconds”.  It’s so much fun to relive the ordinary moments of each day through a simple video.  I think it’s really easy to feel like our days are the exact same thing over and over, but by being intentional about capturing mine and my family’s lives each day, it’s helped me see the variety and it also brings me happiness.

As we move into March, I know it’s going to be a crazy, busy, fun month!  Two of my kids have birthdays in March, my husband is going out of town for a business trip, St. Patrick’s Day, preparing for SNAP Conference in April, shuttling kids to school and dance class, and sneaking some time in to read the next book on my list–it’s going to fly by!