Friday Highlights 1.30.15

Hello Friday! Happy Friday friends! This week was a busy one! A birthday, beautiful weather, park trips and we even managed to squeeze in a bit of school ;). I just had to take advantage of every moment of this beautiful weather because it's Missouri and it is supposed to snow this weekend, UGH. But I always say if it's going to be freezing, it might as well snow. Let's just hope it doesn't ruin our much needed date night Saturday. 

{ONE} Cosmic Yoga
This week I did a post on our favorite new way to exercise, cosmic yoga. It's yoga, stories and so much fun. Be sure to check it out and give it a try with your kids soon.

{TWO} Bloglovin
Okay so I know I am probably the last person who still reads blogs from the blogger feed. But I have FINALLY made the switch to Bloglovin, no looking back now. I hear that Bloglovin is a more reliable resource so you do not miss any posts. I also really love that I can make lists and mark things as read. The organizer in me is screaming Hoo-Ray!
Anyone else a Bloglovin fan? It took two whole days to make a believer out of me.
Follow along and leave me a comment with a link to your Bloglovin account so I can follow you back
{THREE} Birthday Boy
I may or may not have called the husband an old man on Instagram.... I did use " " marks though. Lucky for me he has a sense of humor.
Deep breath "old man". Today we ate, sang and celebrated our favorite guy.
We had a great time celebrating Russ' birthday on Tuesday.  Thank you so much for all of your sweet comments wishing him a Happy Birthday.
{FOUR} Flash Air
One of my favorite Christmas presents has hands down been my Flash Air card. It allows me to take photos on my real camera (AKA not my phone) and easily share them from my phone. Ever since getting my card I want to Instagram all the photos, but I am trying to show a little bit of restraint. The best part about the Flash Air card is that it doesn't have a hefty price tag and it works great!

Being able to Instagram high quality photos easily has been awesome. 

Make sure you follow us along!

(This is not an affiliate link, I just really love this product. On that note sadly Amazon does not have an affiliate program in Missouri, boo!) 
{FIVE} Pin Crazy
You know what I love most about Pinterest? Being able to tell EXACTLY what a person has on their mind. It could be exercise, chocolate cake or anything between. When someone starts searching and pinning, we all know what's up.
Follow Our Pretty Little Girls's board Homeschool Room on Pinterest.
Lately for me that has been a school room. Currently we do home school at the dining room table but I have my heart set on something a little more official and a place where everything doesn't have to be moved so we can eat. I  have been busy looking up more and more ideas all the time. We are currently in the wishing stage but will start planning things out soon, I can't wait!
What have you been pinning about lately?
Friday Linkup Parties
To see where I am linking up check out my link-up tab.
Have a great weekend!
We will see you back here on Monday.

Recent Favorites {February 2015}

It was 74 degrees today and 60 something the day before. To say I have been a bit distracted may be a slight understatement. I am an outdoor kind of gal. Give me a little warm sunshine, and a sunny place to sit and I am happy for hours. Plus it is supposed to snow here this weekend. We are going from 74 to 47 the next day, plus factor in some possible snow for the weekend. Really?! Goodness I love Missouri weather #sarcasm. 

Having said all of that... instead of writing a post for today I have been playing outside and it was lovely.

 I thought now would be the perfect chance to share a few recent posts that I enjoyed and give you a chance to connect with some blogs that I love.

Keri at Living In This Season  Keri recently shared about planning out your day and made a free daily printable. We are called to be wise managers of our time and I often fall short in this department. I am excited to try implementing this system into my routine. 

Desiree at Macke Monologues

Ever since Desiree posted this recipe for Strawberry Coffee Cake Muffins I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of good strawberries in the mid-west. I simply can not wait to try them out. 

Stephanie at Wife Mommy Me
Stephanie has put together a Toddler Bible Study series with simple verses to memorize, focus on and pray over and with you child. I simply can not say enough about how much I love her doing this series. 

Elizabeth at All Kinds Of Things

Elizabeth wrote a letter to parents who let their kids play on Ipads and phones during church. I must admit this one stung a bit at first, but deep in my heart I couldn't help but agree with the truth that she spoke. 

Courtney at Shiraz In My Sippy Cup

Courtney wrote a post on why parents should make sure they have a will in place. Russ and I have talked about this countless times, but we have never followed through and finished one. This definitely is something we are going to get finished soon. 

Check them out, follow along and leave some comment love for these ladies. 
Feel free to leave a link in the comments of a post that you have loved recently.

Exercise For Kids: Cosmic Yoga

Health and fitness is very important to me. I wish I could say it always has been, but that would be a HUGE lie. Just a little over a year ago I was a couch potato. I never exercised. When I finally decided to change that I had to go buy workout clothes before I could even start (kidding, not kidding).
Before I knew it something happened, something unexpected. I started to enjoy exercising and I fell in love with running. That brought a whole lot of changes, changes for the better and all of them happened just in time... little eyes were watching. 
Setting a good example for my girls was something that I never gave any thought when I began exercising. Over a year later I look back and see how me being active has made a positive impact on my kids. My journey has positively influenced my girls. It doesn't get much better than that for this mama.
Today I want to share with you our new favorite way to exercise together inside. It is the perfect way to start a morning or for those days when you want to do something, but it's to cold to get outside and play.

Let me introduce you to Cosmic Yoga on YouTube. It's yoga, stretching, exercise, stories and most importantly it's fun! It encourages kids to exercise, gives them something new to try and sneaks in basic yoga fundamentals.
Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself!

Yoga has quickly became Marissa's favorite part of our school day. She begs to do it and when a video is over she is already asking to do another. Here are a few photos from our latest "class". 

*Please pardon Emily's crazy hair ;). Those naturally curly haired folks aren't lying when say not to mess with "the beast".

Do you exercise with your kids?
What do you enjoy doing the most?
 Linking up with Stephanie for:

Tuesday Talk: Happy Birthday To Russ

Welcome back for another week of Tuesday Talk. 
Today is a special day in the Newman house. A day of celebrating, snuggling and lots of yummy food. Today is Russ' 35th birthday. 
Happy Birthday to:
The guy I've "grown old" with
Started a family with.
Everyone's favorite roller coaster buddy.
An AMAZING girl dad...
who doesn't even flinch at a pink backpack.
A guy who goes above and beyond to make his girls happy.
My favorite mechanic/welder/car builder.
The best guy to take a joy ride with. 

Our favorite guy to play with.

My biggest cheerleader.

A guy that could build just about anything he puts his mind to.

My favorite bearded man.

The best splash buddy. 

Our favorite guy to explore with.

 My favorite selfie partner and that he still takes them with me even though he hates them.

My favorite person to laugh with.

The one who works so hard so I can be home with our girls. 

My guy.

 Happy Birthday Russell!

We love you and appreciate you more than you will ever know. Thank you for loving us well and pointing us to a Savior who loves us even more. 

XOXOXO

Your Girls

Now it's your turn! Grab the Tuesday Talk button and link-up!

We can't wait to see what you link up with this week!

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An InLinkz Link-up

Project Sunday 2015: January

I made the decision that 2015 would be a year of photos.

Maybe that explains all the recent photography talk, learning manual, making straps, finding free tutorials. More photos and hopefully that will include higher quality photos than the grainy images I had been snapping from my cell phone.

One way I am attempting to document life more is with Sunday morning photos. The girls are dressed, their hair is fixed it's the perfect time to snap a weekly picture.

January's picture were taken inside *boo*. It's just been way to cold. I can't wait until we can move outside so we can get some better shots.

Some weeks were happy, some not so much. My favorite photos are the ones that really show their personalities. Emily's morning grumpiness, Marissa's constant grinning that really irritates Emily's grumpiness.

One month down, 12 to go!
Do you have any photo plans for 2015?