Top Five Friday!

5. Southern Living's Classic Baked Macaroni & Cheese {HERE}
Our entire family is a fan of the good ole blue box of Kraft mac & cheese, but we've been trying out a few recipes here & there to see if there's anything we like enough to start making on a regular basis. We really liked this one!

4. Roomba
I can't remember if I've mentioned this on the blog before or not, but even if I have it certainly warrants repeating! The Roomba was part of our gifts to each other this past Christmas, and we still love it just as much today as we did when we first got it. I loathe vacumming, and this thing is a life-saver!!! Seriously worth every penny.

3. Nordstrom Anniversary Sale!!!
I don't think I've ever paid one bit of attention to the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale before, but I LOVE following the Pinterest Told Me To blog {HERE} and she is as loyal to Nordstrom as they come! Anyhow, the sale is going on now, and it's been the perfect way to start knocking out some Christmas shopping! I love trying to shop early, it takes all the fun out of the shopping if I'm stressed doing it at the last minute! I've already purchased 3 gifts and one item for myself from the sale. I'm thinking about getting a couple more things for myself before the sale is over--I love that they have free returns & free shipping, so there's no risk if the items don't work for me.

2. The Beginning of the End of Sippy Cups!
I had been thinking for a while that Hadley was more than ready to start drinking out of an open cup, and we finally gave it a whirl this week & haven't looked back! No spills...yet ;)

We're mainly using the open cups at meal time, and then we still use straw sippy cups for in the car or when the girls ask for a drink while watching TV for example. So we're definitely not completely done with sippy cups (and certainly not done with sippy cups altogether if/when Baby #3 comes along), but I'm excited that the end is in sight for now. ;)  I do not enjoy washing all of those little parts!! 

1. Rotating Toys
I certainly don't do this all the time, but when I do I'm always so glad! Rotating kids' toys is genius! When there's less stuff out, that means less clutter and they'll actually play better with what they have as opposed to just pulling every.single.toy out. I tucked the girls' dollhouse out of sight a few months ago and finally brought it back out yesterday, and the girls haven't been able to tear themselves away from it. Mind you, before I "hid" the dollhouse, it was sitting out in Shelby's room barely ever getting played with! They're loving it now, but I'll plan to tuck it away again soon and bring something else out of hiding!

It's been such a delight to hear the girls actually playing with the dollhouse together. Their favorite things to do are to have the family members take turns sleeping and making trips to the bathroom. ;)  Every time I see them playing with the dollhouse alongside each other, I think of all the summers my sister & I spent holed up in our bedrooms together playing Barbies. I love that Shelby & Hadley will get to have that special sister bond, too!!

HAPPY FRIDAY, EVERYONE!! :)