We had a seemingly never ending stomach bug at our house. The odd thing was that no matter how much I cleaned it kept showing up. But only with the kids (so odd). THANK the Lord I was able to stay healthy and take care of them. 

Well, I think today is their first day in the clear but still in an effort to be cautious I decided to keep them out of school for the rest of the week & whip up these simple  biscuits made with coconut oil & coconut milk because dairy is hard on a tummy and I imagine saltines, oyster crackers and pretzels get really boring (even for kids). 

First things first. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Make your “buttermilk” by mixing 1 C. unsweetened coconut milk + 1 tbsp of lemon juice. Set aside.

Then put the following ingredients in a bowl: 

• 2 C. Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbs baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 C. Cold/Solid Coconut Oil 

Mix well and slowly pour in 3/4 C of the milk & lemon mixture. I think I might’ve added an addiontal tsp to get a good dough. 

Sprinkle small amount of flour on a baking sheet and roll out dough into small rectangle. Cut the biscuits with a cookie cutter or upside down glass.

You should have six good size biscuits. Put these on a sheet of parchment paper (on cookie sheet). I used the rest of the “buttermilk” coconut milk to brush on top of the biscuits before placing them into oven for 12-15 min. 

Enjoy! I’m going to be honest- I prefer a milky, buttery biscuit over this one but it got the job done and was still tasty with honey (and no worries of upsetting tummies)! I really think it would be a good addition to soup as well!

*Slightly modified and retold from Cook For Your Life. Org 

The holidays are here! How did that happen? Sorry we totally missed the boat on a Black Friday and a cyber Monday post. I feel like that has to be a sin in the blogger world. Instead… I put together this little girl dress shoes guide because if you happen to live in a warm state like we do your daughter/s live in sandals during the Spring & Summer. Then as soon as temps dip below 70 we get excited and order cute little boots and booties for our fashion forward littles… completely forgetting that when they dress up those booties won’t quite work with every outfit. So, here is the round up from left to right order; top to bottom:

1. Studded Flats – Amazon (I didn’t add a link for these because there were so many to chose from providing different sizes, colors and shipping options but some of the brand names I saw were QQ & Nova) $20 & under and Here AND Ivanka Trump’s line has similar ones for little girls!! 

2. Bow Knot Princess Shoes

3. Glitter Slip On

4. Gold Strap Flats

5. Glitter Bow Flats

6. Patent Ballerina

7. Suede Sabrina Shoe

8. Chasing Fireflies Flats

9. Jelly Shoes

10. Heart Flats (These are not in the collage above nor are they holiday being light pink but for under $12 and just being adorable I felt they needed a mention). 

November is here! How is that possible?! Once November hits it seems like the holidays steamroll through and time speeds up.  It feels as if every weekend starts to fill up with holiday activities and there isn’t much downtime.  This year I want to be more intentional with our time through the holidays and absorb every moment with my mini me’s (that seem to be growing by the second – TIME SLOW DOWN!).
With November, comes my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving.  On Thanksgiving we, as most people do, focus on all of the things and people in our lives that we are thankful for.  C and I both try our best to make raising grateful children a high priority in our homes.  So for the month of November why not make gratitude the focus? Instead of making Thanksgiving Day the one day we focus on thankfulness with our kids, lets aim to do it every day this month.  I am guilty of making this intention each year and letting it fall by the wayside. To make sure it sticks all through November, I decided to try to come up with a few activities that can be done each day to keep gratitude and thankfulness at the front of our family discussions.

Below are a handful of “Thankful” ideas that you can choose to do as a family in the month of November.

• Gratitude Jar – Find a time each day or week that works for your family and ask each member of the family to write down what they are thankful for. Then place them into the jar.  (For small children you can ask them and write it for them).  On thanksgiving sit down and read what each person is thankful for!  Before my (soon to be) brother in law deployed we celebrated “Thanksmas” since he will be gone for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.  During our celebration I had given everyone a few pumpkin cutouts and each family member wrote what they were thankful for on a few pumpkins.  Then we shuffled them up and I read each one aloud.  We had fun guessing who wrote what and more often than not each one lead to the person sharing a story of why they were thankful.  We laughed a lot and it fostered a fun family conversation.  A Gratitude Jar is a must do!

• Thankful Hands Tablecloth– You can grab a $6 drop cloth from Lowes or Home Depot for this one! (Just as we did in this post).  This is a perfect idea for a kids table, or you can use a larger tablecloth if you plan to use this on the main thanksgiving table.  Have each child put a handprint on the tablecloth, by painting their hand in a thanksgiving esq color.  Once the handprint dries, write their name and the date with a fine tip sharpie marker, along with what they are most thankful for that year. Each year you can come back to this tablecloth and add a new handprint along with the date and what they are thankful for.  This will be a family treasure that everyone will enjoy looking at and reading past “thankfuls” for thanksgivings to come!

 

 

• Thankful Postcards – I am a HUGE Fan of snail mail.  I love receiving it, but most of all I LOVE sending it.  My daughter also loves getting things in the mail, but she’s a bigger fan of sending cards (Which is why family members are constantly giving her packs of cards.  She even got a bag full as a birthday present.  She is probably the only 5 year old that would ever appreciate getting blank cards and new pens for her birthday!)  Anyway, (get back on track LO!) for the month of November you can pick a new person to write to each week or every few days. Have your child think about why they are thankful for that person and send them a card with the reasons why. Or a sweet little note explaining they are thankful.  This is an easy one to make age appropriate.  Have them draw a picture and ask them what they want to thank that person for and write it for them or if they are able have them write a nice thankful note themselves.  Everyone loves getting mail and getting a note in the mail explaining why someone is thankful for them will bring even more joy!

 

• Thankful “Turkey” Toss- A fun family game would be to make a ball into a turkey (this is optional) and sit in a circle and toss the ball around and each time you catch it you have to state something you are thankful for!  You could even add in you have to state why you are thankful for the person you throw it to before you throw it.

• Sundays Well Spent– “Sundays Well Spent Bring A Week of Content” is a motto we live by in our house.  Sundays are usually our busiest days, with church, my husbands church class and CCI Dog Training for Clifford, but I find if we focus on spending the day well we go into the week feeling happier.  Through November you can remember “Sundays Well Spent” and find an intentional activity to do as a family on Sundays.  Whether it be taking a family bike ride, sitting outside, or sitting down to eat a family meal.  During each of these family times make the focus on gratitude.  Have each person in the family talk about something or someone they are thankful for.  Have each person decide on a thankful activity they are going to accomplish for the week (donating a toy, cans to a canned food drive, completing a random act of kindness, or my daughters favorite “playing with someone who is alone on the playground”).  If you keep the saying “Sundays Well Spent” in the back of your mind, it should be an easy reminder to be grateful for Sunday as a family and complete a thankfulness activity each Sunday.

---

 

Make gratitude a focus each day in November!  Keep it simple and it can most certainly be fun!  You may even find this focus on gratitude carries over past November!

LO

I’ll make this quick. Last week I went on a one mission trip to Nordstrom Rack with the intention of finding a moto jacket. I had done some research online (see previous post) and knew exactly what I was looking for. However, I wasn’t expecting to find SO many great deals! The Fall inventory is seriously on fire. I was so excited to share my finds but A LOT of what I found isn’t on the website. I’m sorry!! I’ll share what is and hopefully you have luck like I did in your own local store.

1. Camo Parka

I have to admit I felt like a baller in this jacket. I decided against buying it since I already own a khaki version but totally vote yes if you don’t own a casual parka like this yet! 
2. Chelsea Bootie

These booties were under $50 and look like they’re worth much more than that due to all of the details.
3. Ruffled Blouse & Rust midi skirt

I loved both of these items and although they somewhat worked together I’d probably pair the Blouse tucked in with bell bottom jeans or straight leg jeans and the midi skirt with a body fitting top or a crop sweater 🙂

4. Suede Moto Jacket

I had no clue this jacket was available in SO many colors online. Now I can’t get the country song “so much cooler online” out of my head… but it’s a good buy for $65. Also, I bought the mesh Nike top I’m wearing here as well. Of course there is zero Nike online but in the store they had tons of activewear marked down including their Zella brand which I really like!

Chosen! We have drawn three winners from the contest entries. Thank you all so much for following. We’ll have another giveaway soon 😉 

The moto jacket is big this Fall and lucky for us Floridians it’s a trend we can wear well through winter. Due to the suede and leather look of the moto jacket many of them are priced in the hundreds. I found a few affordable options for those of you that like to jump on the trend train without it burning a hole in your wallet! The versatility of this jacket makes it worth adding to your casual cold weather collection.

Throw it on over your workout gear like Nicole Richie did:

Or just with jeans and a tee:

Below are some affordable options where you can buy a Moto to add into your wardrobe:

In left to right order (top to bottom):

1. LC Lauren Conrad Collection $72

2. Caravan Moto Jacket $69

3. Calvin Klein Moto $75 with extra 20% off right now (CODE:BDAY)

4. Silence + Noise $99

5. BNCI Blanc Noir Jacket $69 (I bought this one in the store in black!)

6. Express Genuine Suede $173 *Note: This one is no longer on sale and back at the original $248.00 price however Express runs sales often so if you can’t get this one off your mind keep checking the site for markdowns

-CO

 

Yesterday we wandered into Natural Life to take some pictures and videos in preparation of the incredible giveaway we’re starting today.

The shopping experience in the store is always so positive and fun. If you have never been we highly recommend checking out the Flagship store at the St. Johns Town Center.  WE guarantee you will leave with a little treasure and in a much happier mood.  The positive vibe in infectious from the moment you walk in the store.

Lo brought her little E who is about to turn two, and between coloring at the table and playing with little pony figurines she had just as good of a time as we did! (One of the staff members was even sweet enough to sit and play with her while we looked around!)

The store is seriously a treasure trove of goodies for perfect for gift giving (and keeping for yourself 😉 ). Great for any occasion, they are sure to have something in your price range.  It is the perfect place to find a gift for someone when you are looking for something unique or just completely stumped on what to get (I’m thinking this is going to be my go to for teacher gifts!).

On our last Friday Files we each picked our five favorite things to buy from this company and guess what?!? We are giving away ALL of them!!! Because there is so much goodness to go around we decided there should be multiple winners.

(We were pleasantly surprised when we saw that the camera strap makes a really cute wrap!)

The contest rules are similar to our last giveaway. But, if you’re new to the game here is what you need to do:

1. Follow us (LoandCoFiles) on IG

2. Follow Natural Life on IG

3. Write your favorite item from Natural Life in the comment

4. Tag a friend that has been an inspiration in your life. Each additional friend you tag in your comment on our collage post labeled “It’s contest time!” adds an another entry for you.

We appreciate all of you following & hope you win!!!

Contest open 10/20-10/23 at midnight Eastern time. We will be counting votes on Monday 10/24 and announce winner within a few days! 🙂

-LO + CO

I’ll admit it usually takes me mistreating or losing something expensive, like a designer pair of Burberry specs, at least one time before I REALLY learn the cautionary measures of caring for it the right way. I just really want to test the product’s limits is all… so next time I know it’s  boundaries. 

In this case, my current three year old, bent and scratched glasses taught me that the sturdy case they came with really needs to be used every time you put your glasses back in your purse or you’ll be squinting through scratches while you try to read what deli meat is on sale this week. 

Lesson learned. 

I felt like my eyes had gotten worse also. The optometrist confirmed that my children have continued to give me degenerating eyes and grey hair (my eyes are now twice as bad as my original prescription). Parenthood is awesome. 

I needed a new, AFFORDABLE option this time since I am now a stay at home mom with zero vision insurance as opposed to the full time mortgage industry with baller vision insurance present during my first eyewear purchase. 

LO mentioned Warby Parker for their realistic, up front prices and the Free Home Try On service.  

I choose five styles online and they were at my door five or six days later. I ended up shipping them back 10 days later and I called to explain I had planned on shipping them back the previous week but we had evacuated for a hurricane. The girl was so sweet & understanding. She said if I needed more days to keep them and make a decision I could. After the call I received an email asking about the customer service with a simple five point rating system and if I thought she deserved a free coffee, lunch, or a credit towards their products. No wonder everyone there is so nice! 

I imagine they at least get a free coffee or lunch every day. 

Now…. how do you get $10 off a pair of $95 prescription glasses?

The answer is: Raise.com

You can buy legitimate gift cards that people are selling at discounted rates. Guaranteed until 100 days after purchase and you get $5 off your first purchase of $25+

Another money saver: WP offers free shipping both ways. Always. And, for every pair you buy they donate a pair to someone in need. To submit your vision prescription you can simply upload a picture of it or have them call your doctor if you want to. 

Easy as that! 

-CO

Ann Taylor is having a 40% off everything sale and it’s worth looking at. When I tell you it’s worth looking at I survived shopping it with a five and two year old in tow and still managed to find some really great pieces.

The above Geo Blouse is on sale for $35.00 and is so versatile. I love a top that you can tuck in, leave out, wear with boots, sandals, or wedges. Seriously so many options to dress this one up or down. 

The above Bell Sleeve Top is on sale for $32.00. The cut of the top is very fashion forward and because of that I feel it is a Big Bang for the Buck. You would think this top comes from a large fashion house and definitely not under $50.00. I’m already thinking about tucking it in next time with this double belt.

This Lou & Grey sweater is amazingly stylish and cozy. I bought it at 40% off in the Ann Taylor store however I couldn’t find it on their site for some reason (only on Lou + Grey’s site). Trust me it will be worth your trip in! 

The above dress is not showing online either. Sorry guys, another reason to make a trip up the store. This gem at $24.00, along with many others, are waiting for you on the sale rack.  

Also- I wanted to add these last two items to the post because while I didn’t notice them in the store I am eyeing them online. 

1. Double Buckle Belt

2. Striped Fringe Skirt

Lo and I recently got on the topic of how we struggle with graciously accepting compliments.

If multiple comedians have written skits about it then I’m assuming it’s not just us. Far too often women downplay compliments with some type of self inflicted criticism. We discussed how this must reflect on our children and how it might (definitely) portray a lack of confidence in their mothers. We were taught this behavior somewhere along the way because it’s cute, right? It doesn’t come across as being self absorbed and I read somewhere that quite simply women are taught to be confident but not too confident. To add to this, we find ourselves acting this way while talking about our own children. Yikes.

This is so silly when you think about it. Accepting a compliment is not you walking around talking yourself up or telling the other person that they don’t possess the same level of qualities or abilities that you do. Yet somehow just saying “thank you” without adding a quick comment to downplay yourself almost makes you feel icky like that. We all know full and well that everyone has their own God given gifts similar or unique to your own.

So can’t we just celebrate them?

Lo and I both have two different personalities in our children with our youngest being our firecrackers. We realized that on certain days if someone says “they’re so cute” we respond with a “good thing he/she is cute because he/she is a handful”… Or “look how great he/she is doing! We’ll respond with a … “Yeah right NOW but don’t hold your breath…”

I don’t even want to think about the psychology that goes into how this must negatively affect our children. If we don’t have the motivation to change for ourselves we must make a conscious effort to squash this habit for the sake of our children.

When my daughter receives a compliment if she just smiles I often lean over and whisper “say thank you.” I don’t whisper… Tell them you aren’t always this patient or that the dress is from the $5.00 sale rack. So why not follow the same simple words of advice for ourselves? Accept the compliment for what it was: a flattering comment of praise or admiration. You go girl.

-CO + LO