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The Joy of Starting

Positivity

Or the agony; take your pick. Sometimes it is fun to jump into a project, while other times the initial enthusiasm is met with a crippling paralysis due to the many, many choices we are presented with any time we want to do anything new. So you want to take up yoga? How do you choose between the 25 different yoga studios (or videos) and variety of styles available? How about starting a blog? There are a seemingly infinite amount of choices in font, color, layout, images, etc. ... Read More about The Joy of Starting

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Hello

Hi! I'm Annie. Welcome to Awaken and Begin! I started this blog several years ago to share my ideas about being healthy, remaining calm and centered, getting organized, and being productive. Now that I’m a mom, I’m making my best attempt at surviving and occasionally simplifying mom life. Read More…

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Need a pick me up?

Grab a free printable of my favorite uplifting quotes!

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awakenandbegin

Happy Saturday! This made me so happy ❤️ There Happy Saturday! This made me so happy ❤️ There are so many reasons to eat berries, I can never remember them all. But I know they're good and I love them ❤️
How could I forget that I LOVE cleaning? All this How could I forget that I LOVE cleaning? All this time I thought I loved decluttering and organizing, which I do, but I truly ❤️ cleaning. Like I don't want to not clean. Like I wake up in the morning and just want to clean this house all day. You don't have to think about anything when you clean. Just enjoy the music and how good it looks when it's done. These baseboards have never sparkled so much in their entire existence💖 The girls are doing a cute thing where they say "er-er-er-er-er" while cleaning anything, acting out that it's squeaky clean 💕 Squeaky clean feels good. Do you love cleaning, but forgot too?
The blue may or may not have spilled everywhere, b The blue may or may not have spilled everywhere, but no permanent damage was done. Happy Easter 🐣
If you have an iPad and an Apple Pencil, I feel st If you have an iPad and an Apple Pencil, I feel strongly that you need to know about the @goodnotes.app 

I didn't know about this until recently and I've had my iPad for almost a year. It's a game-changer. I'm in the process of converting my paper planner to digital now that I'm aware I can write in my own handwriting 💖 Also, I've started downloading resources for my new Montessori homeschooling venture into the app. I love that I can store PDFs in the app and then make my notes on them with my Apple Pencil. I have gotten the girls Discbound notebooks that will arrive today, and will be printing out the activity sheets for them and organizing them in their notebooks. I'm kind of excited about my plans and can't wait to share more! I recently got the @livingmontessorinow spring mega bundle that's on special now. If you have kids from 3-9 and are into montessori, this is really almost too good. Normally I'm overwhelmed by where to start with this kind of stuff but now that I have a system taking shape in my head I am starting to see how it will all work out ❤️ also, swipe to see how my desk has looked all morning before i took this pic - just keepin it real! Time to get tidy for the weekend! 💖
Y is for yoga and r is for resilience. Thank you s Y is for yoga and r is for resilience. Thank you so much @livingmontessorinow ❤️ We are loving the printables 💕 •
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#momoftwogirls #momof2girls #igmama #momblogs #bloggermoms #childhoodmagic #motherhoodunplugged  #dailyparenting  #mynameismama #honestmotherhood  #writeyouonmyheart #momtogs  #teammotherly #ohheymama #mommytime #motherhoodlens  #momtog #childofig #my365 #motherhoodsimplified #simplemoments #montessoriinspired #montessoriactivity #montessoritoddler
Well now I know Gerberas are my favorite flowers 🌸
Just felt like it ☀️ Just felt like it ☀️
This was the first time we put out all 3 yoga mats This was the first time we put out all 3 yoga mats ❤️ It was so nice, even if just for 10 minutes. Check out my stories for the up and downs of our first "yoga class" all together 🤣
It makes me smile when the adults around me feel t It makes me smile when the adults around me feel the need to put baby Yoda (aka baby turtle) in cute situations ❤️ Also, apparently we are working on learning about time now.
Our montessori-ish activity of the week last week, Our montessori-ish activity of the week last week, if I can call it that. Claire wanted to "play sand" outside today. I went to grab this setup and was honestly frustrated to find that one of the wooden pencils has gone missing. We kind of can't draw in sand with one pencil because you know whoever doesn't get a pencil is going to lose their mind. 

Soooo I went for a few backup activities and when they lost their luster, I resorted to enrolling Claire in my dishwasher loading tutorial, which evolved into "wouldn't it be so fun to clean your chair with this sponge?" Hahaha! But she truly LOVED learning about loading the dishwasher, and then clearly was super into scrubbing all the specks of food and dirt off her chair ❤️ It was kind of magical for about 5 minutes. And I decided that when all else fails, I can always enlist them to help we with cleaning. 

And this all evolved after I said no to the 1000th request to watch Abby Hatcher (their current Netflix obsession 🙄) because I always say yes and there's only 1 season...so we've definitely seen every episode at least a few times. I endured a few tears and we learned that even if I'm not a natural teacher, I can at least pass on the craft of "attempting to keep a tidy house" to them 💖 •
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#momoftwogirls #momof2girls #igmama #momblogs #bloggermoms #childhoodmagic #motherhoodunplugged  #dailyparenting  #mynameismama #honestmotherhood  #writeyouonmyheart #momtogs  #teammotherly #ohheymama #mommytime #motherhoodlens  #momtog #childofig #my365 #motherhoodsimplified #simplemoments #montessoritoddler #montessoriinspired
The organization of this cabinet was a Valentine's The organization of this cabinet was a Valentine's gift from my husband ❤️ I just went to grab a pan for lunch and it was so nice! I don't have a before picture, but hopefully we can find an organizing system for this other mess over here 😎
Claire LOVES this new activity. I had seen it on @ Claire LOVES this new activity. I had seen it on @hapafamilyvlog a while back and figured we would eventually get there. I noticed a few weeks ago that she has been counting EVERYTHING and remembered this "puzzle" so I got it and it has been a hit! At the moment I'm focusing on having stuff available to do with counting and numbers (although I'm not brave enough to let her have access to all these pieces anytime she wants so I watch closely because she WILL put them in her backpack for later🤣). This montessori mindset is helping me get more clear about what to put in storage for another time (they watch plenty of TV too ✅). •
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#momoftwogirls #momof2girls #igmama #momblogs #bloggermoms #childhoodmagic #motherhoodunplugged  #dailyparenting  #mynameismama #honestmotherhood  #writeyouonmyheart #momtogs  #teammotherly #ohheymama #mommytime #motherhoodlens  #momtog #childofig #my365 #motherhoodsimplified #simplemoments #montessoriinspired
Our flower arranging from earlier this week 🌸 I Our flower arranging from earlier this week 🌸 I got these at Trader Joe's and spent way too much time debating which flowers to buy. The pink ones were a bit droopy but they were just so pretty, I had to decide that they were the ones that brought me joy 💖 The girls were definitely a bit annoyed that their flowers were falling down 🤣 This is Emma's arrangement, on our dining table. Claire has taken a liking to bringing her flowers to "mommy's room" and puts the vase on the bedside table next to the bed ❤️🥰•
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#momoftwogirls #momof2girls #igmama #momblogs #bloggermoms #childhoodmagic #motherhoodunplugged  #dailyparenting  #mynameismama #honestmotherhood  #writeyouonmyheart #momtogs  #teammotherly #ohheymama #mommytime #motherhoodlens  #momtog #childofig #my365 #motherhoodsimplified #simplemoments #montessoriinspired
We did our flower arranging again earlier this wee We did our flower arranging again earlier this week 💖 I found the girls new vases to use and managed to get their trays ready when they didn't notice this time 😁

I also thought I would mention that these little pouring containers - we use almost everyday. I use them for flower arranging so they have water to pour into the vases themselves, syrup when they have pancakes or waffles, tea when they have tea ☕️ 

And I got a cute photo of Claire, then she insisted that I take a "silly" picture of her 🤣
I'm feeling inspired to arrange everything in 🌈 I'm feeling inspired to arrange everything in 🌈 order thanks to @thehomeedit ...but my life isn't all ROYGBIV perfectly neat and tidy boxes. So enjoy picture 2: the constant work in progress that is the laundry room 🧺 But I am determined to #konmari this place. I also recognize that being Kon Marie'd or Home Editted doesn't mean just a snapshot of perfection. It's more about having systems to manage the constant flow of stuff that comes and goes through the house on a very regular basis. In the words of Carrie Bradshaw, that's just a little something I'm working on 💖
I've been afraid to let the girls paint...because I've been afraid to let the girls paint...because = mess...but I found these glue stick shaped paints that dry really fast and stay contained and they love them! Also some cute smocks 💖 so this is our painting speed at the moment. The first time they used them I just gave them red, yellow, and blue. I'm feeling the minimalist mom vibe these days ❤️
I got some craft supplies last weekend and we made I got some craft supplies last weekend and we made some Valentines to mail to some people ❤️ These crafty idea posts usually stress me out to see because I feel totally not together enough or on it to make pink play dough or decorate valentines boxes in a timely manner 💖 I somehow got it together enough to buy some felt stickers and self stampers and pink cards, and am currently working on clearing all the literal and figurative junk from my life. It's a work in progress 💖
These girls truly love flower arranging. It might These girls truly love flower arranging. It might be one of my favorite Montessori-inspired activities ❤️ I think I'm getting better at managing it too. I'm letting them put more flowers in the same arrangement and they turned out so pretty this time 💖 I need to get better at cutting the flowers before they see them though. I'm feeling like making this a weekly activity - my mom gets the credit for that idea! The idea for this activity originally came from @hapafamilyvlog 💖 I'm now on the lookout for some cute little vases. Emma loved saying "smell!" and then jamming the stem with a bunch of flower buds in my face 🥰•
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#momoftwogirls #momof2girls #momblogs #bloggermoms #childhoodmagic #motherhoodunplugged  #dailyparenting  #mynameismama #honestmotherhood  #writeyouonmyheart #momtogs  #teammotherly #ohheymama #mommytime #motherhoodlens  #momtog #my365 #motherhoodsimplified #simplemoments #montessoriathome #montessoritoddler #montessoriinspired
Scandinavian elf princess 💖 @newbielovers Scandinavian elf princess 💖 @newbielovers
This was part of my bday gifts one week ago today This was part of my bday gifts one week ago today 💖 It says "luxury jewelry candle"... I thought that was just the brand 🤷‍♀️ But now I'm about 1/3 through it and this clump of shiny foil looking area on the side has started to emerge. I think there's a surprise of some kind inside 🤷‍♀️ will share updates 🥰 It smells yummy! And I'm 39...also @jodiesweetin just turned 39...I didn't know we were the same age and born so close together. That made me happy to learn 💖
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