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Mar 31, 2023Liked by Stephanie Jucar Cooley

 How do I love thee?

 Let me count the ways.

By taking care of myself,

With meals together,

writing recording, and storytelling. Showing gratitude for each miracle

By resting, exhaling

moving, playing, breathing

By reading together and kissing good night.

Golden, simple and solid

 Habits passed down from generation to generation, we create roots, touch the ground, and anchor!

Stephanie I love this!

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You are a poet, did you know it?! I'm serious though, love your response :)

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May 2, 2023Liked by Stephanie Jucar Cooley

I love this - going to have a careful think about my own anchors. Think I could do with a few more regular ones really! Really enjoyed reading about yours, thank you!

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Do what feels natural to you! I also acquired these rituals over many years. Some are new too! Thanks for reading Rebecca!

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Apr 1, 2023Liked by Stephanie Jucar Cooley

I love this! It's great to acknowledge these things as we may go through our days not even realising what does, or is, anchoring us. For me, my morning journalling plus some kind of movement is key :)

I also love that your family spends meal time together and instead of being distracted by technology, you have actual conversations!

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What’s interesting to me is that I’ve gotten so many comments on us sitting together as a family and that’s all I’ve known my whole life and I forget that’s not how it is in other households. Not to say it’s right or wrong because there’s no one way to raise a family. But because that’s all I’ve really known, I wonder what it’s like otherwise. I’d be interested to see what other families do outside of sitting together to eat that works for them.

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Apr 1, 2023Liked by Stephanie Jucar Cooley

Excellent post, Stephanie. Love your routines and traditions. I asked Jared tonight what he was grateful for and I’m going to try to incorporate that into our meal time too. ❤️Thanks for the tips and glad you’re doing what you need to do to stay anchored.

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I hope you try it! I find even saying I’m thankful to even be sitting here is good enough. It’s a cool practice to realize, oh dang, I have a lot I could say right now, not just one thing!

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Mar 31, 2023Liked by Stephanie Jucar Cooley

Love all of these and do a lot of them as well. Today, I specifically love your #5, nap time or house rest. That one hour can be so restorative <3

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Yes! My kids and I went on vacation last month to Seattle and each day around 1-2 all three of us craved that rest time. We went back to our rental and took a rest/nap. Then we were so much happier the rest of the day and had the energy to explore more!

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Mar 31, 2023Liked by Stephanie Jucar Cooley

Thank you, I may be a writer without the accomplished education! Lol

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I love that you all eat at the table and talk, such a nice thing to do 😊

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It is! We are always go go go and it's the one time of day I can pretty much rely on feeling settled, even if my kids are cracking crazy jokes with each other like last night.

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Mar 31, 2023Liked by Stephanie Jucar Cooley

I love that you chat with your husband about what to write about and have an ice breaker book in your family! Such a good way to get into random and joyful conversation!

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Hi Jess! What's interesting is that my husband and I don't talk about my writing all that much but when I do bring it up with him, he always has such good things to say or feedback to give. I value it! We love the ice breaker book. Sometimes topics inappropriate for the table come up (you can guess with this age group that farts and poops come up way too often haha) and picking up with ice breaker book helps. It's also good to have when any of us are in a bad mood.

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Sounds lovely!

Haha. I can imagine it working really well to change the mood!

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Mar 31, 2023Liked by Stephanie Jucar Cooley

Great post @Stephanie. Definitely agree that family dinner time is very important. Will check that table talk book. We've added Friday night Game Night. Catan Junior is a blast for our two girls 10 and 8. It teaches them strategy. Jenga and the Game of Life are also in the game cabinet.

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When I was writing this, I saw there are other ice breaker books to choose from. Ours is pretty worn looking and I love that it shows how much we use it. I think game night will be a good one for us too when our youngest is older. Weird fact: I don't really enjoy games (I know, this is odd!) but maybe I will playing with my family.

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