My Five Top 5 of 2024

I have no idea if this is a trend or anything but I decided it would be fun to share my top 5 favorites in five different categories from 2024!

Yes, I'm well aware we are a month into 2025, but since I had a baby right at the beginning of the year, I get a free pass, okay!?!

I think it's fun to look back over an entire year and reflect upon our favorite purchases, reads, and most loved items from the past year!

MAMA TOP 5

This particular category is a smorgasboard of really random things that stood out that I really loved from this year.  I'm sure I could've added 20 more things to this list, but these are the items I got that I thought "wow, this makes my life so much _____ (better, easier, happier, etc."  So, without further ado . . .

1. Floral Stripe Sweatshirt: I got this sweatshirt for Christmas, but it is already my favorite cold-weather sweatshirt!  The color is my absolute favorite, I am always wearing floral so of course I love that, and it's very comfy and soft! 10 out of 10!
2. Pet Hair Remover: We have a LOT of hair in our house.  With 4 very hair females, a super hairy cat, and a very hairy dog, there's always a battle I'm waging against hair in our house.  This roller works SO well to get hair off things like our couch, cushions, and other furniture.  Even better- my 7 year old loves to use it!
3. Dazzle Dry System: I don't paint my nails a ton, but when I do, I want them to last.  No nail polish ever lasts unless I do things like gel or dip nails which I don't like to do.  Enter Dazzle Dry.  This system is pretty easy to use for someone like me who is awful at doing nails and it lasts at least a week if not longer without chipping which is unheard of for me!  I will say if I wear it back to back to back my nails do dry out but we also have a very dry house and my hands are prone to being very dry, so it could be a "me" issue.
4. Flawless Pedicure: Like I said, we have a dry house, and then you add in Minnesota winters and needless to say, my heels don't look so good.  I could NOT believe how well this tool works to get the dry skin off.  It truly works better than anything I've ever used and even better than when I go to get a professional pedicure!
5. Crank Grater: As a cheese lover, we rarely buy pre-shredded cheese because it's just not as good.  But I also hate spending forever grating a whole block of cheese.  This tool saves us so much time and can be used for many other types of food as well!  It's worth the little bit of extra space it takes up in our cabinets!

 

KIDS TOP 5

We try not to add too many new toys or items to our home as our kids already have more than they could ever want, but these were some of their favorites that they either received or really showed a new liking toward this year.

1. Guest Check: I watch kids before and after school, and they spent a couple months at the end of the year playing restaurant.  When I saw the same Guest Check pads I used at my first ever job at a cafe for just a few dollars, I had to buy them.  They are obsessed!
2. Magnetic Tile Roads: We've loved magnetic tiles for many years, but we added these magnetic roads and it just made the play even that much better!  Now they create whole cities!
3. Create This Book: We like to watch Moriah Elizabeth's Youtube channel as a family, so our girls asked for her Create this Book.  They now have both editions and absolutely love them. They are wonderful for any child who likes art!  Every page has a prompt for something artistic they should do on that page which opens up so much creativity and imagination!
4. Tree Swing: My parents got this swing for our kids two Christmases ago.  We put it up this past spring and now our kids and all their neighborhood friends congregate under our trees and swing for hours and hours!
5. Roller Skates: This fall, our girls all received their first roller skates.  Despite it being a learning curve, they absolutely love them and have gotten so good on them!  I wish I had gotten them sooner.

 

HOMESCHOOL TOP 5

I of course had to include our favorite homeschool items as well!  This was hard to narrow down, but I tried to stick to items we started using in 2024.

1. Calendar of Firsts: We purchased this last fall and love that we now have a place to record all of the "firsts" every year: first robin sighting, first tulip, first thunderstorm, first snowfall, etc.
2. Electronic Piano: As a very over-stimulated person when it comes to noise, I didn't think I would do well with a piano in the house with already very loud kids.  So, we compromised and got an electronic piano.  The keys are weighted just like a normal piano, but the kids can plug in headphones when the noise is just too much or when my oldest wants to practice when the littles are napping or have gone to bed.  It's a win-win!
3. Sprocket Photo Printer: This was originally purchased for me but we've used it more in our homeschool!  I use this to print labels for our Make Your Own Yoto cards and my kids use it to print photos for their own journaling purposes.  It's super handy to have and we really like it!
4. Utility Tote: Also originally purchased for myself, I've ended up using this tote a lot when brining homeschool items outside or away from the house.  For example, this fall I taught watercolor to kids at our co-op, so I filled this with all of our supplies so I could easily take it to co-op and back home.  It's super versatile and will be loved for many years.
5. Family Bible: We read out of this beautiful Bible every morning at the start of our homeschool day and absolutely love it!  I love the margins so we can write observations the kids had and hope we will fill this up over the years together!

 

 

MOM BOOKS TOP 5

I of course had to include books on this list!  Admittedly, having a very rough pregnancy in 2024 with debilitating nausea, getting pneumonia that took me out for many weeks, and then the end of my pregnancy being during Christmas, I didn't get nearly as much reading done as I would've liked.  However, I still have some great books I loved to share!

 

1. Hard is Not the Same Thing as Bad: I finally got around to reading this book.  I follow the author Abbie Halberstadt on Instagram and love this title and the sentiment behind it.  I definitely don't have the "easiest" of kids so this made me feel less alone and gave me some good biblical encouragement I could take with me and use practically in my everyday life as a mom.
2. The Great Alone: I read very little fiction last year, but I listened to the audiobook of this Kristin Hannah book on the drive out to one of our camping trips and I was completely captivated by the setting.  Set in the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska in the 1970's, this book follows a family through many struggles and challenges - with one another, with the land and weather, with their neighbors, and so much more.  The last Kristin Hannah book I read (The Four Winds) upset me so much that I was afraid to read any more, but I absolutely LOVED this one and highly recommend it.
3. Beyond Mere Motherhood: I read this with my homeschool mom book club friends last summer and I can't think of a much cozier or beautiful read for moms!  The book lists are fantastic and Cindy Rollins is absolutely a delightful writer for moms.  I recommend this to any mom who wants to make her life more well-rounded and beautiful!
4. The Hiding Place: I have put off reading Corrie ten Boom's autobiography for many years because I knew it would be an emotionally hard read.  I had to take some breaks while reading this because my pregnant heart had a hard time during some of the parts, but overall, I'm so glad I read it.  What a legacy and a life for other Christians to learn from.  Her love for others, her devotion to her family and faith, and her willingness to air her insecurity and doubts made this such a worthwhile read I know I will come back to again.
5. The Living Page: This book, while a bit overwhelming at times, was a very interesting and helpful read as a Charlotte Mason homeschool mom.  Laurie Bestvater walks readers through all the different ways Charlotte Mason recommends we use notebooks as we teach children.  I definitely won't be implementing every way, but I loved this guide and will be revisiting it often.

 

KID BOOKS TOP 5

We read a lot of great books last year as a family and in our homeschool!  I narrowed this down to books mainly read during our last full school year and by my 9 year old who devours tons of chapter books constantly now.  We read tons of great picture books as well but I have a hard time remembering those!

 

1. Little Pilgrim's Progress: This was a wonderful addition to our homeschool last year! I loved the short readings so we could easily fit in one a day and have a lot to discuss and think about.  The illustrations are simply divine and of course the story is such a great allegory for all Christians to ponder and reflect upon.
   
2. The Vanderbeekers Series: We read the first book a couple years ago as a Christmas read aloud, but my 9 year old has devoured the entire series this fall and winter.  She absolutely loves stories of family life, and these are great ones!
3. The Book of Virtues: We've been working our way through many of the stories in this book as part of our Daily Riches curriculum this year and have LOVED it!  Whenever it's the day to read it and I pull it out, my girls get so excited!  A lot of the stories are funny but they also have such great lessons and are wonderful stories to refer back to in conversation and daily life.
4. Little House Series: We read through most of this series during our last school year and were so blessed by the books.  I had never read them all as a kid, so it was equally a joy for me!  We are very lucky to live so close to many of the areas the Ingalls lived, so we made sure to check out a few of them last summer!
5. The Moffats Series: My oldest also fell in love with the Moffat family and has since read the entire series as well.  It's another great book about family life, kid antics, and the types of things kids go through and overcome.  I love having wholesome books like these for my kids to read!

 

I'm excited to do this next year and see all the books we loved and how many new helpful tools and things we can add to our list!  I hope you enjoyed!