Slow Down and Smell the Roses – Appreciate the Beauty of Life
We often get lost in the everyday hustle and bustle. It happens often at bedtime that I realize that it feels like I haven’t seen my kids at all during the day, even though we were together all day. It makes me sad. We usually end up putting bedtime a little later so that I can cuddle with them for an hour or so. It makes me feel better and I’m sure that they appreciate the extra hour up quality time with me.
With everything moving so fast around us all the time, I think it’s important to slow down and smell the roses. Take the time to appreciate the beauty of life, our life.
Slow Down and Smell the Roses – Appreciate the Beauty of Life
I believe the best way to appreciate your family, your life, is to do things together. The word appreciate might seem strange in this context, but when you think about it… it’s easy to spend time with someone, but appreciate the time you spend with them is totally different. Appreciate the time you spend with your loved ones, create beautiful memories, smell the roses.
Crafting Brings Us Together
For us, it seems like crafting brings us together. The girls and I can spend hours together creating things. Even Sébastien takes part in our crafting sessions sometimes, he knows how to use the glue gun! As we craft, I often snap a few photos as we go… it’s fun to look back at all the fun we have together. We laugh, we accidentally glue things together that we shouldn’t have, we make messes, we have fun, and did I mention that we laugh?
Decorative Pencils – Family Crafts
Spending Time Outdoors
We’ve also found that spending time together outdoors helps us connect. Often when Sébastien comes home from work, we’ll all sit outside on our back porch and chit-chat about our day. Last night the girls talked about the new books they picked up at the book fair. We also discussed how summer vacation is coming very soon.
We also like to go for walks and bike rides. And boy do we have stories regarding our bike rides. Our bike adventures involve hitting a parked car (no damage to the car), running into bushes, etc… I’m laughing right now as I remember all of this. hehe
Often after our walks or bike rides, our evening finishes with races and a game of tag. Or we’ll take turns swinging on our swing set. Obviously our outdoor activities are very different during the winter. hehe
Discovering New Places
Vacation time and discovering new places are things that we really treasure. Seeing new things, experiencing new things together is just magical. Last year we discovered a secret beach during our vacation in Maine, just thinking about it makes me smile.
Meal Time
There’s something about sitting down together at the table that makes me happy. Even cooking together is something I treasure. We enjoy cooking together. I just wish Emanuelle would enjoy eating it! Such a picky eater! We’re also known to have food fights. I especially love throwing potatoes on Gabrielle and putting spaghetti noodles in Emanuelle’s hair. Sometimes I forget I’m an adult. hehe
Game Time
We love playing board games and cards. We’ll go through spurts where we’ll play the same game every night for a week or so. We often seem to go back to Mille Bornes, even though Emanuelle seems to win all the time. Everyone seems to especially love ganging up against me. But you know what, it’s fun anyways… I appreciate our time together, even if I’m losing.
In order to appreciate all these special moments with my family, I need to stay healthy. That’s why I appreciate Orange Naturals’ wonderful Women’s Health products, like the Women’s ND Shake that I enjoy regularly. Orange Naturals helps me feel wonderful everyday, allowing me to appreciate special moments with my family!
Check out Orange Naturals and visit them on Facebook.
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What do you do to make sure to slow down and smell the roses?
Have a GREAT day and remember to
Appreciate the Beauty of Life!
Disclosure: I am part of the Orange Naturals Mom Ambassador Program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.
I couldn’t agree with you more, family time is the best! I am so grateful for my family.
I love sitting on the front porch with my daughters taking time to talk or read together.
These are great ideas! My girls love crafting too, though I don’t do it often enough because it’s usually messy. :) We like getting outdoors as well, especially now that the weather is nice (or too nice!). Thanks for the ideas!!! :)
These are great ideas. One of my goals for 2015 is to be more present and take more time for my family. I’m glad I’m not alone in my goal — thanks for the encouragement.
Love this post. Idea overload.
I love chatting with the girls on our dock. That is where the best convos happen. :)
Our camping trips is where we tend to slow down and unwind. And, I’m pretty excited because this weekend is our first one of the year!