Mandi Ehman's Blog, page 70

101 Days of Christmas: Christmas Eve Traditions

source: Mandi Ehman

Christmas Eve is probably my favorite day of the entire holiday season. It’s a day we pack full with rich, meaningful & fun traditions, and despite the crazyness that inevitably comes from four little girls who are hyped up on the excitement of Christmas, it’s just lovely.

It’s only been in the last couple of years that our family has really settled into some traditions, so for those of you who are still considering what your family traditions might be, here are a few ideas from our celebration:


The morning starts out fairly calm and slow as we wake up and begin our day. And then…

Last Advent Reading & Candle

source: Mandi Ehman

Because the evening is so full, we do our last advent devotional reading and light the middle candle in the morning rather than the evening. I’m so glad we’ve added this simple tradition to our celebration because it makes us pause and focus throughout the advent season in a way that none of our others quite have!

Sibling Gift Exchange

source: Mandi Ehman

We also give the girls a small gift each week as part of our advent devotional, and Christmas Eve is when they exchange the gifts they’ve purchased/made for each other, which allows them to focus a little bit more on those simple gifts rather than letting them get tossed aside in the excitement of opening presents on Christmas morning.

Pictures in Front of the Tree

source: Mandi Ehman

Everybody gets dressed up and ready to go, and we take pictures in front of the tree. This silly picture from last year is my all-time favorite, but I usually keep a few pieces of candy on hand to bribe them for some nice pictures as well!

Family Get-Togethers

source: Mandi Ehman

And then we head out to celebrate Christmas with Sean’s mom’s side of the family. They’ve celebrated on Christmas Eve for as long as Sean and I have been together (this is our 14th Christmas!), and so it’s a staple of our holiday plans!

After celebrating, we rush back toward home for the Christmas Eve service at church, which I love. It’s my favorite service of the year, with the whole family together and lots of Christmas carols! Last year I emailed our worship pastor ahead of time to ask for the song list. He was kind enough to send it to me so I could make sure the girls knew those carols specifically and could participate more in the service, so I’ll probably do that this year as well.

New Christmas Pajamas

source: Mandi Ehman

When we get home, the girls excitedly open their new Christmas pajamas. I know some people give new pajamas at the beginning of the season, which I think is a great idea so they can wear them throughout advent, but I just can’t bring myself to change this tradition, which we’ve been doing since our oldest’s first Christmas. They do wear Christmas PJs all year long since they’re opening them at the end of the holiday season, though!

This part of our day is nowhere near as calm as these pictures make it look, but it’s special nonetheless!

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

source: Mandi Ehman

Once everybody’s warm and snuggly in their new pajamas, we drink hot chocolate or hot vanilla and read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas together. Even though our family doesn’t really do Santa we love to read this story each year; such a classic!

Matching Pajamas for Everybody

source: Mandi Ehman

Although this may change when my baby sister gets married herself, for now my parents and sister (and last year my grandma too!) spend the night at our house on Christmas Eve, and my mom gets us all matching pajamas as well. We have just a little bit of fun together!

At some point, I also throw together two quick breakfast casseroles — our favorite egg & bacon casserole and a french toast casserole — so that they’ll be ready to bake when we get up in the morning.

Stocking Letters

source: Mandi Ehman

After the girls are tucked safely in bed, we fill the stockings and add a stocking letter to each one to tell the girls how much we love them and how proud of them we are. Last year was our first year doing the letters, and I loved how they all abandoned their stockings for a few minutes while I read their individual letters to each of them; it made my heart burst that the letters meant that much to them, even our littlest!

The grownups might watch TV or start a movie at that point, and my husband waits until we’re sure the girls are all asleep before he pulls out their big shared gift (which we usually do instead of individual gifts, and then we head to bed to get as much sleep as we can before the excitement of Christmas morning!

More Christmas Eve Traditions

Those are our Christmas traditions, but here are a few others to consider as well:

Make cookies for Santa
Make a batch of reindeer food
Sleep by the Christmas tree
Roast chesnuts
Drive around to look at Christmas lights
Snuggle up to watch a Christmas movie
Serve at a community shelter

How do you celebrate on Christmas Eve?

Join us as we celebrate 101 Days of Christmas with new DIY projects, gift ideas, traditions and more every day from now through Christmas!

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, and together, they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. She loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

101 Days of Christmas: Christmas Eve Traditions

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

Zubie: The Gadget for Car Lovers, New Drivers & Families Like Ours

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Zubie for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

When Sean and I first got married, we had horrible car buying habits. Between leases and cars that cost entirely too much for our budget, we spent too much money and were always looking for the next great thing rather than making wise decisions.

And then we grew up.

These days, we both agree that buying used is the way to go, and while Sean still loves pretty cars, we make our decisions based on need rather than want. In fact, for three-and-a-half years, we only had one car — an older model Toyota Sienna — but this summer we bought a Lincoln Navigator to make it easier to travel with 5 kids and for peace of mind so that no one is ever stuck at home in the boonies without a car!

While we like the cost savings of buying used and have had great experiences buying fairly high mileage vehicles, maintenance and prevention becomes even more important with older cars.

Enter Zubie.

This handy gadget is compatible with most cars manufactured after 1996 and helps you monitor your vehicles, diagnose repair problems and take the hassle out of daily driving. Simply plug this tiny device into the standard port available on most vehicles and then use the smartphone app to connect to your cars.

Zubie offers various problem alerts so you can take care of car problems before they leave you stranded:

Engine Diagnostics: Receive the problem codes reported by your engine and understand what they mean.

Check Engine Light Translation: Translate the Check Engine light into plain English so that you can know exactly why the light is on and avoid unnecessary trips to the repair shop.

Dead Battery Alerts: Track battery levels and be alerted to a dying battery before it actually dies.

Repair Cost & Insight: Know how serious a problem might be, and receive an estimate of likely repair costs before you go to the repair shop.

But that's not all! It also lets you track and improve your driving, monitor and coach teen drivers, coordinate trips with friends, track the location of family members and receive alerts and manage your driving habits to keep your car in top condition!

Zubie is sending us a key so we can test out the service for ourselves, and my husband is most excited about beingable to read those pesky engine codes without having to take it into the shop every time!

Share Zubie with the car lovers, new drivers or techies in your family this Christmas. Because Zubie makes driving and car maintenance easier and less expensive, it's the gift that keeps on giving all year long!

Order today: use code SAVE20DEC and SAVE 20% on your Zubie Key plus one year of service. Offer good through January 31, 2013. Shipping charges apply.

Get the latest news about Zubie, driving tips, car gadgets and more:

Like Zubie on Facebook

Follow @GoZubie on Twitter

Zubie: The Gadget for Car Lovers, New Drivers & Families Like Ours

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

Weekend Reading: December 21, 2013

source: Mandi Ehman

ER trips always happen when you least expect them.

I know that’s obvious — they are, after all, called emergencies for a reason — but on this particular wintry day, the girls were having the quietest afternoon quiet time they’d had in a while — the big girls were hanging out in the loft reading books while the little ones played in the kitchen — and it all seemed pretty perfect.

Until, suddenly, as I was standing in the kitchen preparing a cup of tea, I heard a crash. Only this wasn’t the typical loud crash followed by crying; it was a loud crash, followed by more loud crashing. As I raced up the steps — moving to the side so Sean, who had also jumped up with the first crash, could pass by me — the crashing continued. And the wailing began.

I just knew that somehow the Ikea wardrobe that holds toys and school supplies had come out of the wall and landed on the girls. What else could be the source of all of that crashing?

But when I got to the top, the only thing that seemed to be out of place was a ladder, which had obviously fallen (or been knocked over).

As I was trying to reconcile the crying and the crashing with what I was seeing, our oldest walked around behind our 7 year old…and gasped sharply. I looked down to see a blossoming circle of blood on her head, and we quickly ushered her downstairs to figure out what was going on.

(Somewhere in the midst of this, our four year old — who had been standing on a bucket until it tipped, causing her to grab onto the ladder and knock it over — realized that no one had yet acknowledged her role in all of this, so she began wailing at the top of her lungs from her bed, sending Sean racing once again to figure out what was the matter!)

Because Dylan has the thickest hair of any of our girls, it was really hard to figure out exactly where the source of the blood was, but we finally determined there was a gash there and she probably needed to go to the ER. I bundled up the baby, stuffed a few things in the diaper bag and then my husband drove the three of us to the top of our icy hill so I could take her to the ER. (I could have just let him take her, but ER trips are kind of my domain.)

She was complaining of a bad headache (not surprisingly considering a ladder fell on her head), so the doctor ordered a CT scan, which thankfully was clear. Once he ruled out any serious brain injury, we were able to focus on fixing the 1″ gash on her head. He offered her the choice of getting the two staples with or without numbing the area first (which would have required two shots anyway) so we went without. Although it was painful, it was over in less than 30 seconds, and I think she’s pretty proud of the shiny staples she’s sporting in her head!

All in all, it was an exciting start to our week and hopefully our last ER trip of 2013!

Here are some of my favorite posts from this week. As always, check out what I’m reading and what I’m pinning to see the other posts that make me stop and think (or, you know, drool…). You’ll find new posts all week long!

Christmas {A Few Last-Minute Reminders}

You Can Stop Shopping Now | The Minimalist Mom


Why Putting Christ in Christmas is Ridiculous | A Wife Loved Like The Church


7 Simple Ways to Make the Most Important People in Your Life Feel Important | The Art of Simple

Family {Married with Children}

The Important Thing About Yelling | Hands Free Mama


Nearly 25 Years of Fathering — and All I’ve Got Are These 3 Lousy Tips | Jim Higley


One Thing That Changes Every Marriage | Refine Us

Life {On Love, Disagreeing & Getting Along}

Where Is the Love? | NYTimes.com


Gut Check: Lessons in Lockstep | Breit Bart


8 Photos You Didn’t See From Obama’s Trip to South Africa | PolicyMic

Have a great weekend!

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, and together, they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. She loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Weekend Reading: December 21, 2013

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

    Related StoriesWeekend Reading: December 14, 2013Weekend Reading: December 7, 2013Weekend Reading: November 30, 2013

101 Days of Christmas: Poor Man’s Toffee

source: Mandi Ehman

I started seeing a lot of different versions of this “poor man’s toffee” last Christmas, and this year I decided to see what the hype was all about. In short, this is one of those super easy last-minute treats to throw together, and the great thing about it is you can really customize it however you want. Although most of the recipes I saw called for a salty cracker as the base — saltines, club crackers, Cheez-Its — I decided to go with a graham cracker crust and save the saltiness for the top, and I love this flavor combination!

source: Mandi Ehman

Ingredients:

16 whole graham crackers
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup pecans, chopped and toasted
kosher sea salt

Directions: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lay out the graham crackers in a single layer on a baking pan. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add brown sugar and stir until the sugar is melted and incorporated and it comes to a rapid boil. Pour the mixture over crackers, using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula to cover all of the crackers. Bake for 5 minutes and then sprinkle with chocolate chips. Leave in the oven for 30-60 seconds until the chocolate chips begin to melt. Remove from oven and use spoon or spatula to spread the chocolate evenly over the first two layers. Sprinkle with sea salt and pecans, pressing down gently with your hand to be sure the nuts stick. Let cool and harden and then break into individual pieces. Click here to add this recipe to your Plan to Eat account. Related Projects:

Oreo Bark
Spicy Candied Walnuts
Chocolate-Peanut Pretzel Treats

Join us as we celebrate 101 Days of Christmas with new DIY projects, gift ideas, traditions and more every day from now through Christmas!

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, and together, they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. She loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

101 Days of Christmas: Poor Man’s Toffee

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

Buy 3 Suave Products and Save $5 Off Your Utility Bill

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Buy 3 Suave Products and Save $5 Off Your Utility Bill

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

What I Wish I Knew the First Time I Picked Up My DSLR

The following post is from Krystal of Krystal Griffin Photography:

source: Krystal

A little over four years ago I picked up my first DSLR.

I owned a few SLR and point and shoot cameras, but it hadn’t occurred to me that I needed to learn how to use them in order to improve my photos.  I was happy with what they produced – and then I starting looking at more photos on the internet.

That changed everything.

I saw beautiful, amazing images.  And I’m not talking about scenes from the tropics or European cities.  What I saw was so close to what I was viewing every day, with my own eyes, in my own home.  These were images of everyday life, capturing the beauty that I saw but didn’t know how to create with a camera.  That experience filled me with a hunger to learn how to capture these fleeting moments for myself.

Somewhere in this time span I bought a Nikon D60 (entry level DSLR) and stumbled around trying to figure out how to make it produce something wonderful.  I hit a period of frustration in trying to learn.  I say “trying to learn” because I couldn’t seem to find a great source to learn from.  Sure there were books, but I had no idea what I was looking at or what to buy.   In four years things have exploded in the area of photography education for free or to buy.

There are some things I wish I knew back then.  Some books, blogs and other bits of advice that would have been wonderful.  If you are brand new with your DSLR, and feeling frustrated, take heart!  The most difficult part is getting started!

Here are 8 things that I wish I had known when I started out with a DSLR:

1. My Three Boybarians 31 Days Series

During that beginning stage of learning I stumbled on a blog called My Three Boybarians.  Darcy, the author, held link ups once a week, and I would participate in my effort to grow and learn.

About the time everything started to click and I had a good grasp on the basics, Darcy started her first 31 Days Series.  It covers the basics step by step and I found myself thinking “Oh, what I wouldn’t have given to have this months ago!”  The series is broken down into easily digestible chunks, and she does a wonderful job teaching the concepts.

She thebcame out with a second series that built on the first.  Those 62 posts are the first place I send people when they tell me they want to learn.

2. You don’t know what you know until you know it.

As I was trying to absorb the concepts related to exposure in manual mode, I thought I was having a mental block.  I would go over the information repeatedly and from new sources, thinking that I didn’t understand it at all.  After looking at one source that spoke to my learning style, it all clicked and everything I had been studying suddenly made sense.  Here I thought I was totally lost, but it took some time for all the information to stick and then make sense in an applicable way.

3. Digital Photography School

While I was busy Googling my many questions, I spent a lot of time on Darren Rowse’s Digital Photography School.  It took me a little time to get past the basic design of the site (it’s since been updated), but I soon realized it was the place I most often found my answers.  It wasn’t long before I searched there before I turned to Google.

4. The manual, the manual, the manual!

Yes, I know your camera manual seems to speak a totally different language, but it is truly your best friend.  I wish I had spent more time struggling through each section of the manual, getting to know my camera better.  It’s a basic foundation to learning your camera, and learning your camera is the foundation for creating great images.

5. Buying more stuff will not help your images.

I was very tempted to buy a nicer camera body early in my learning.  My budget conscious husband kept me in check, for which I am very thankful.  The average user doesn’t need more than they have, they just need to know how to use it.  I think the eye opener for me was seeing an amazing photo that someone took with my same camera model.  Then I knew that it was the user, not the camera.  Learn from my mistake and put your energy into learning to use what you have, not pining over equipment you don’t have.

6.Two Solid Books

Brian Peterson is a photographer and author who has written a number of books teaching the basics of photography.  I asked around for book recommendations and couldn’t find any answers.  If I were asking myself this question today I would recommend two of Mr. Peterson’s books to start with, though I have read many of his other titles and learned a lot from all of them.  The two to start with are Understanding Exposure and Learning to See Creatively.

7. Infographics

Oh, how I wish I had seen infographics when I was starting to learn.  You see, I am a visual learner and all the textbook studying in the world wasn’t going to be enough.  I looked at a book that diagrammed one aspect of exposure and I finally got it.  Right now you can find dozens of infographics on most any aspect of photography, especially exposure, a key concept to understand.

8.You CAN do it!

There was a phase that I wondered “What am I doing? Maybe this is too much for me?  I’m not a photographer!”

I had it stuck in my head that there were professionals who took amazing images, and then there were normal people (like me) who took mediocre snap shots and occasionally got lucky with a beautiful photo.  But I’m stubborn, and I wanted my family photos to be amazing; I was going to learn this. 

If you are thinking some of the same things I was or maybe just feeling overwhelmed, I want you to know that you can do it!  You can learn how to use your camera and take amazing images.  You don’t have to be a professional.  Do not be intimidated, just get started!

What photography question do you wish you could get an answer for?  Or have you found to be your best resource to learn?

Krystal is a stay-at-home mom of four children, ages 4-9, whom she homeschools. She is acutely aware of how fast her children are changing and is passionate about keeping family memories alive through photographs. Now and then she gets to help other families’ bottle up their own memories at Krystal Griffin Photography.

What I Wish I Knew the First Time I Picked Up My DSLR

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

101 Days of Christmas: Honey Baklava

The following post is from Shaina of Food for My Family and Olmanson Photography:

source: Shaina Olmanson | FoodforMyFamily.com

Still looking to round out your Christmas cookie offerings for the year? Baklava is a wonderful way to make several cookies in one fell swoop. Plus, they’re pretty impressive hanging out in pretty little Christmas-colored muffin wrappers.

My favorite part of Christmas dinner is the mingling. We get together with extended families and sit around sipping cider and snacking for hours, catching up and enjoying being together. There are always a variety of finger foods available, and halfway through our evening the cookies are revealed. There are sugar cookies sprinkled with green and red, tiny crescents filled with jams and dusted with powdered sugar, and plenty of chocolate truffles.

This year, in addition to all the traditional treats, I’ve added baklava to my baking list. While dealing with phyllo dough is a bit of an art form and takes patience, the payoff here is huge: crisp, flaky layers of gooey honey sweetness and crunchy nuts that satisfy any sweet tooth. Have you made baklava for Christmas before?

source: Shaina Olmanson | FoodforMyFamily.com

Ingredients:

16 ounces (1 pkg) phyllo sheets
1 cup melted butter
3 cups finely chopped walnuts or pecans (or a mix of both)
1/2 cup palm sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup honey
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Thaw the phyllo sheets in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours before you are ready to make these cookies. Once they are thawed, remove the sheets from the package, cover in plastic wrap and then with a damp towel. Keep them covered while working, removing only the sheets you immediately need to use.

Preheat the oven to 400º F. Butter a 15x10x1-inch jelly roll pan using a pastry brush and some of the melted butter.

Mix together the nuts, sugar, and the cinnamon and set aside.

Place a sheet of phyllo in the pan, brush with melted butter, and then add another sheet of phyllo. Continue, buttering the top of each sheet, until you have a stack of 10 sheets.

Spread the nut and sugar mixture evenly over the top of the phyllo sheets in the pan. Cover with a sheet of phyllo. Brush the top with melted butter and continue adding phyllo sheets and brushing with butter until all of the sheets have been used.

Brush the top sheet with butter.

Cut the pastry into triangles or diamonds. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown and crisp.

While the baklava is baking, combine the honey, lemon juice, and vanilla in a medium saucepan along with 2/3 cup water. Cook over medium high heat until thick and syrupy, about 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

Remove the baklava from the oven and drizzle half of the honey over the top. Allow the honey to soak in for a minute before drizzling on the rest. Cool the baklava before cutting along the triangle pattern and serving.

Place individual pieces of baklava in doubled mini muffin cups before packaging with other cookies or setting out to help create a barrier from the honey-coated bottom.

Related Projects:

Rosemary Honey Pecan Pie Tarts
Rosemary Honey Roasted Nuts
Honey Roasted Almond Mix

Join us as we celebrate 101 Days of Christmas with new DIY projects, gift ideas, traditions and more every day from now through Christmas!

Shaina Olmanson is the home cook and photographer behind Food for My Family and the author of Desserts in Jars: 50 Sweet Treats that Shine. She is a contributor to Babble.com’s Family Kitchen Blog and the food channel on Lifetime Moms. Shaina can usually be found cooking, at the computer or behind the camera.

101 Days of Christmas: Honey Baklava

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

101 Days of Christmas: Wrapping Paper Bows

source: Mandi Ehman

Who needs store-bought bows with so many handmade bows to choose from?

I first heard of making wrapping paper bows when Amanda from OhAmanda.com posted her gift wrap bows tutorial a few years ago, but it wasn’t until this year that I got around to trying them for myself. I’m not sure why I waited so long because these are so fun!

The great thing about these is you can make them in any size or color you want. Use the same wrapping paper that you wrap each gift in or add contrast with a coordinating paper. Make ‘em big. Make ‘em little. There really are so many options once you have the basic method down.Supplies:

wrapping paper
tape
scissors

Directions:

Cut a wide strip of wrapping paper off your roll and cut that strip into three individual pieces — a large one for the bow itself, a small one to wrap around the middle and a medium one to form the “tails” of the bow. Err on the side of making it too long rather than too short because you can always cut off the excess as you go.

Fold both ends of the big piece in toward the middle, wrong sides together, to make a loop. Use your hand and squeeze the middle of that loop together to form the loops of the bow.

Wrap the small piece of paper around the middle tightly several times. Trim off any excess paper and tape in place.

Cut the remaining strip in half and add angled cuts at the bottom (make sure they angle in opposite directions!). Trim to size and tape to the back of the bow.

Add to a present or use them to decorate your tree!

Related Projects:

Easy Magazine Bows
Burlap & Button Bows
DIY Felt Bows

Join us as we celebrate 101 Days of Christmas with new DIY projects, gift ideas, traditions and more every day from now through Christmas!

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, and together, they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. She loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

101 Days of Christmas: Wrapping Paper Bows

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

How Important Is It, Anyway?

The following post is from Amy of Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free:

source: iStock Photo

For those of us with certain dietary restrictions, gathering at the holiday table can be stressful. Or worse, it can leave us feeling on the outside of the celebration. We can feel as if the holiday spirit is lost on us. I’ve felt that way more times than I can count.

There is a certain magic that happens when people sit down a break bread together. There is laughter, conversation and bonding. As we nourish our bodies, our souls are nourished through the fellowship that takes place as the meal is shared.

When you can’t share in the meal, or certain parts of it, it’s so easy to feel left out, alone, not cared about. It’s easy to let the fact that your plate is quite empty leave your soul feeling empty too.

And, when traveling for the holidays, it can be nearly impossible to make time to cook food you can eat due to flight times and travel conditions. I’ve been in this place many times. Today, I find it even more difficult as my son has dietary restrictions. It can quickly become overwhelming.

For me personally, I learned to let go of what I wasn’t eating and to focus on being of service. I learned to add to the celebration by sharing in the conversation, helping the hostess serve food and  with clean up (even if she didn’t set aside any mashed potatoes before adding milk and butter). Yes, serving the food that I couldn’t eat always helped me to focus on being a part of the celebration because I was focused on what I was giving, not what I was getting.

I have had to accept that, on the instances when I can’t share in most of the meal, it’s just not that important. What is important are the people in front of me and the comradery that takes place.

If my son’s food intolerances persist, I will teach him the same thing. Sometimes you just can’t have a piece of pie and it’s ok. Yes, there can be situational joy while eating the pie. But the pie doesn’t define your happiness. I will teach him to define and be responsible for his own happiness. And I’ll start with helping him learn to focus on giving of himself. That’s what the holidays are about.

When you are not feeling the holiday spirit, how do you recapture your joy?

A stay-at-home mom, wife, and passionate cook, Amy strives to make each meal healthy and delicious. When she’s not doing laundry, dishes, or caring for her son, she plays around with food in the kitchen developing new recipes, which she shares at Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free. Amy also publishes The Balanced Platter and authored the book Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free: 180 Easy & Delicious Recipes You Can Make in 20 Minutes or Less.

How Important Is It, Anyway?

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

AppSocial: The Easy Way to Find Apps for Your Nokia Lumia

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a lot of time these days to go searching for the latest and greatest apps for my phone. In fact, I pretty much only use the apps I already have on my phone unless someone I know mentions another app they love or I go searching for an app to solve a specific problem.

Sometimes that makes me feel like I’m living under a rock when I discover an app that’s apparently the latest and greatest thing that I’ve never heard of!

Because app recommendations from someone we trust are the best kind, Nokia has created the first ever social app store, AppSocial, where you can share your favorite apps with other people and follow their app recommendations as well. Because, well, you shouldn’t take apps from strangers (ha!):

Nokia asked me to create a list of my favorite apps, and I actually had a lot of fun setting aside work time to search through the app store and test apps.

I created three lists to start: Educational, Games for the Family, and (of course!) Organize Me.

But the really fun part was not creating my own lists; it was following other users — like the official NokiaUS account or top users like JennyJenJen, VinceBelpiede and Samcswong. Through these users, I discovered lots of fun new apps for those times when we’re waiting somewhere and the phone is a handy distraction for antsy girls — like Tetris Blitz and Drawtopia — as well as apps for managing my time and to-do lists — like Effectual and Track My Life.

AppSocial is a great way to discover the best apps as well as lesser known apps, and it’s easy to download the apps right from other people’s lists!

Download AppSocial today!

This is a sponsored post on behalf of Nokia; however all opinions are 100% mine.

What types of apps are your favorite — social, organizing, educational, or…?

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, and together, they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. She loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

AppSocial: The Easy Way to Find Apps for Your Nokia Lumia

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved