5 on Friday

Hi friends! Someone recently asked me if anything had changed in my life since getting back on social media after my year’s hiatus, and if this little website is any indication the answer is it was way too easy to slip back into scrolling, not writing. It is embarrassing how quickly those old habits surfaced after what was a beautiful year away from the Facebooks and the Instagrams of life. I thought I’d bring back the 5 on Friday series for the summer months because it is a great accountability to keep me writing not just scrolling when I know I have a post that needs to be done each week.

For those who are new around here, hi! Five on Friday was a series I started literally years ago when my kids were smaller and I desperately needed a creative outlet besides washing endless dishes and watching Daniel Tiger. It has come and gone over the years, but I love the way writing these posts makes me pay closer attention to the little things in life that make our days easier, richer, more delicious. I simply write each week about 5 random things I want to share. In one week I may share a book recommendation, thoughts on the atonement, a recipe everyone needs to try, a new musical artist we found and a housekeeping hack I discovered. Super random, anything goes, just five things making life a little better over here. Thanks for reading along! Today’s 5 things are: a quote from a musical I can’t quit thinking about as we head into America’s 250th birthday, a reading challenge I’m doing this year that is SO fun, a recipe that earned me a “BRUH!” from the teenager (that’s a good thing for those who aren’t speaking middle school boy these days), a new to me artist I’m playing a lot on my Alexa, and the way I’m trying to approach screens in our house this summer (a constant thing on every mom’s mind as we head into the hot months here!). Grab an iced coffee friends, and lets dive in!

**ONE**

Last Saturday the four of us went to see the musical 1776 at our local dinner theater. It was a show I had seen probably 20 years ago, and I’ve seen the movie a few times and knew that my American history loving kids would enjoy it. They did, even if it was a little long. I found myself watching this time around and getting teary multiple times, which surprised me a bit. It’s not a sad show, there’s lots of humor, but some of the lines just hit differently here in 2026 than they did when I was a teenager and saw it. At the very end, when the delegates are all signing the Declaration of Independence, after spending the past two hours showing us how tumultuous of a process it was getting to that point, knowing they’re essentially declaring war on England with the signing of this document, John Hancock says “Gentlemen we are about to brave a storm in a skiff made of nothing but paper. And lets hope to God she holds.” Those words have reverberated around my mind all weekend and I could tear up just thinking about them. Because she’s held. These words written so long ago by flawed and imperfect men have held. There have been many seasons of our history where something or someone has tested them to some extreme degrees, but they’ve held. I think it feels a bit like we’re living through one of those testing seasons now, and as I read the news each day I can find myself growing anxious about what the future of our democracy might look like, but I keep coming back to the fact that we’ve lived through some excruciating seasons of history as a nation and these words have held. I have to continue hoping the same will be true as we head into the future.

**TWO**

The words above, about living through many difficult seasons as a nation, are the perfect segue into our second thing here which is the really fun reading challenge I’ve been doing this year! I realized a couple of years ago that my reading life is always richer and more enjoyable when I’m participating in a reading challenge of some kind. Many of you followed along two years ago as I read my way through the 50 states (I read a novel set in each of the 50 states one year, which was SO fun! The list of what I read and recap of that reading challenge can be found here). Last year I didn’t have a specific challenge I was doing, and while I read a lot of books, I felt like something was missing. I think I like the process of researching a prompt, finding titles that would work and then selecting something, often a book I wouldn’t normally pick up on my own that ends up being a lovely surprise.

The week between Christmas and New Years is when I like to sit down and start dreaming about my reading life for the next year, and this past winter I realized we were coming up on America’s 250th birthday. Historical fiction is my very favorite genre of novel to pick up, so I decided to read my way through our 250 years utilizing historical fiction. It has been SO FUN. I have read some incredible books I wouldn’t have otherwise picked up and here is the number one take away I’ve had so far (I’m up to WW1). The people of this nation have lived through some incredibly hard times. Truly. Our history isn’t one that’s full of ease or comfort. After the first few novels I read I said to a friend “well I would have been an awful early settler. I don’t think I’d have gotten off the boat. Just send me back to England, I’d be done.” Life was SO HARD. They committed unimaginable atrocities on the Native Americans who were already here, I’m not trying to gloss over that fact, and also, the pioneers themselves endured hardships we can’t even imagine. The weather, the sickness, the difficulty of just living life from food and water and shelter to the the fact that everything we know today had to be built from nothing, it’s mind blowing to think about.

Every novel I’ve chosen has centered around women whose stories are often left out of history books, and goodness they are inspiring. From reading about Elizabeth Winthrop who constantly battled her uncle, governor John Winthrop who was the first puritan governor of Massachusetts Bay colony in the late 1600s to the women who literally walked across this country following a wagon of their belongings in the westward expansion era I have been so in awe and so inspired by their strength, courage and determination to survive. I’ve created a page where I’ve listed each era I’m reading a novel from as well as the specific books I’ve chosen and you can find that page here. I’ll continue updating it as I keep reading!

**THREE**

I don’t know about you, but I am always looking for easy, crowd pleasing recipes to get food in people’s bellies! I am an old school, analog girl at heart, so I still print all my recipes I find online and put them in my recipe binder under the various categories I have. Last week as summer started I had each of my kids go through my binder and write down ten recipes they wanted me to make this summer either for lunch or dinner and Aidan picked BBQ Chicken Totchos for me to try. They were so easy and so delicious all four of us loved them. I threw a frozen chicken breast in the crockpot with a cup of BBQ sauce earlier in the day to cook for shredding. Then when it was time to make dinner you bake the bag of tater tots on a cookie sheet for 20 minutes, pull them out, top them with shredded bbq chicken, red onion, crumbled bacon and shredded cheese. Back in the oven for 20 minutes and then feel free to top with sour cream, chopped tomatoes, any other toppings that sound good. Serve with a side of fruit and dinner is done!

**FOUR**

Recently on one of my favorite podcasts the ladies were talking about things they are looking forward to enjoying this summer, and one of them was talking about all the music that she’s been loving lately. One of the artists she mentioned was Cody Fry, who I hadn’t ever heard of. She said he had this almost symphony/Gaelic sounding album that was really short but absolutely lovely. You can listen to the entire symphony right here. One night Asher and I were at the table both working on our diamond art projects and I decided to turn it on and check it out. It might be my new favorite background music now. It’s called The Unlikely Mariner and I really really love it. Other music I’m finding myself asking Alexa to play frequently these days are Olivia Deane, Noah Kahn, Neil Diamond (I’ll always be a fan), and of course, my beloved Broadway playlist.

**FIVE**

Ahh summer screen time. If you’ve read this blog for years you know that every year I go into the summer with some systems and regulations and rules in place. I have time limits. Chore charts. Designated hours of the day when screens are available. You name it, I’ve tried it in summers past. Sometimes those things worked, but here is what I have found. When I have some complicated system in place, screen time and earning it and asking about it always ends up being the focus of every summer day. I never meant for that to happen, but it somehow did. And every year I would find myself feeling stressed out, guilty, you name it, if it is a negative emotion surrounding screens I have felt it. Mostly guilt. The mom guilt is truly real and a very heavy weight to carry all the time. The reality is here in Florida this time of year gets so hot that “just sending the kids out to enjoy the afternoon” is like a punishment for them. I can do that in January. Not June.

So this year, I decided to try something new. You ready? I decided trying to not make rules around screen time. I know. Me, the lover of all charts and rules and such just deciding not to stress about it—who am I?? I have no color coded chart in my kitchen this year. And I’ll tell you, a couple weeks into vacation now, I am far happier than I’ve been when I’ve spent the summer stressed out about electronic device usage, that’s for sure! Here’s the thing. My kids are now old enough to know screens are super fun, and also they need to be well rounded human beings. They know there are things I expect them to do each day to improve on their own skills and contribute to our household. Aidan has to walk the dog at 8 am and 4 pm. Asher needs to unload the dishwasher any time it’s full. They both have to help me check the yard for weeds whenever I ask, they need to help tidy up our living spaces whenever I say we need a 10 minute tidy. They take care of trash and recycling, wipe down bathrooms when I ask and they mostly do their own laundry now. I expect Asher to practice his piano and do his push ups and pull ups each day (he’s working on earning his black belt in karate and these are the two standards that are the hardest for him). I expect Aidan to read each day (Asher reads non stop and Aidan exercises all the time, so I don’t need to even think about those things for them). They play chess together all the time. And we almost always have something outside the house we’re doing, a camp, errands, a trip to the beach with friends etc. Beyond that, I’m just not worrying about how much time they spend on a device. I’ll ask if they’ve done all their daily things when I see them picking up an ipad, but otherwise I have decided not to police the time they’re online. And a couple weeks in, here’s what I have found. We are all enjoying our summer more. There’s just a more casual approach to our time together. I’m finding that often, they’ll play something like Minecraft or Fortnite together, they still both enjoy screens more when there is a social component to them, so rather than isolating and retreating to their own spaces they’ll be at the kitchen table together. Aidan especially will self-police himself if I don’t put any limits on his time. He’ll play for awhile and then usually he’ll wander out and be like “okay I’m done, I’m going to go do something else now.” They know there’s a natural end to their time when dinner is ready or our family is transitioning to the next thing.

Are there days when the “experts” would tell me I’m being too lax and should instill time limits better? Yup. But I’m done spending all my summers just living with this guilt that I would imagine I’m not the only mom who walks around with. I do think when kids are smaller having more boundaries in place is helpful, they’re just so concrete when they’re tiny! But I want my kids at the ages they are now to learn that self-regulation (with help) when it comes to electronics and media. Aidan will be the first to say “yeah I don’t feel great when I’m on for too long, it stops being fun, I need to go outside or take a nap or read a book.” We’re all doing our best walking through these long hot days here, I’m leaning hard into letting go of the guilt, shame and inner critic that likes to tell me I’m somehow not a good enough mom. I hope where ever you are in your parenting journey you also can find something you feel chronically guilty about and release that this summer. You are doing great, your kids are so lucky to have you, and they really will grow into the people God created them to be.

Thanks for reading along today friends! I’ll be back next Friday with five more things.