Merry Christmas and (soon to be) Happy NEW YEAR 2024!!

12 Days of Christmas (Phillips family and business version)

My true love gave to me…

Twelve big dreams to aim for

Eleven Google reviews

Ten missing tools (estimated)

Nine family members (counting the dog)

Eight years with church family

Seven Tourney’s played in

Six amazing children <3

Five Employees!!! (we love them!)

Four fun mini vaca’s (business life means extended weekend trips)

Three working vehicles (Hank the Tank, Gwinevere and Clifford the Red work truck)

Two commercial projects

And a home that is warm and cozy

After talking to another business owning friend, I’ve adopted this verse as one I try to pray over our work and projects.

Psalm 90:17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.

Thanks for being here, we appreciate you.

Trevor & Michelle Phillips

Delicious, Homemade Hot Chocolate

We are ready to embark on cold weather and all the festive holidays. Being a Midwesterner, I’ve learned to embrace the cold. If you dress appropriately, this season can be enjoyable. Some new items I added to my wardrobe this year are thermal lined skinny jeans. I know, I know. Skinny jeans are apparently, not ‘in fashion’. My goal this fall/winter is to be warm and still try to look presentable. So thermal, lined skinny jeans will do just that.

Beyond warm clothing, I’m bringing back all the soups and hot drinks. Our six kids really enjoy soup, I should share their favorites another day. Today I wanted to share a great recipe for homemade hot chocolate that we adore. There are no packets involved yet it’s incredibly easy to make. The creamy texture is just what is needed after a day out in the chilly air.

Ingredients:

4 cups of milk (preferably whole or 2%)

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate bar

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Optional whipped cream for a topping!

Instructions: Place milk, cocoa powder and sugar in a small saucepan. Heat over medium/medium low heat, stirring frequently, until warm. Add chocolate chips and whisk constantly until the chocolate chips melt and distribute evenly into the milk. Whisk in vanilla extract and serve immediately.

As always, thanks for supporting this family business!

-Michelle Phillips

Merry Christmas 2022

This family business is once again sending our Christmas card on the blog. Our clients become friends. So it only makes sense to send our Christmas greetings out this way. To our friends that sent cards and letters. We adore displaying them in our home. Please don’t ever stop sending your Christmas love.

I will tell our 2022 story by photos. This year has been one of growth and stretching. In our family and business.

Our kids played a lot of sports (soccer, baseball, basketball and flag football), they learned new instruments (saxophone and trumpet), they went on field trips, tried summer camp for the first time, swam a bunch and learned more as we homeschooled together. They performed in plays. Our kids also grew in entrepreneurship. We are thankful they enjoy working hard and seeing the fruits of their labor.

As a family, we went on a couple trips.

Phillips Tile & Stone kept busy! We installed for a new business opening in Bennington called Cup & Cone, it’s a super cute new coffee and ice cream shop, be sure to check them out! We installed and designed spaces for homeowners. Our crew learned new skills as we shifted the business a bit. We were once again humbled by your votes for Best of Omaha.

As Christmas quickly approaches and then a New Year is set to arrive, we want to take a minute and thank you for using Phillips Tile & Stone. Thank you from our family and our crew’s families. We enjoy serving you with exceptional craftsmanship and design assistance.

The Phillips Family & Phillips Tile & Stone Crew

Merry Christmas from the Phillips!

“It’s the best time of the year,” that’s what our 8 year old likes to say! Merry Christmas from the Phillips family. We hope you are enjoying all the coziness this season brings. Is anyone else in disbelief we are already in December? January will usher in a New Year. To us, it felt like 2021 went incredibly fast. Every year we realize how fast a year can pass. We hope you conquered personal goals and made 2021 the most successful it could possibly be despite everything going on. If we have learned anything, we’ve learned grit and determination and prayer go a long way during difficult times. If 2021 was a difficult year for you, we’d be honored to pray for you.

2021 brought some highlights for us as a family/company and those highlights are…

-Finding out about baby #6, we are due in March of 2022! We are excited and praying for a healthy baby.

-Moving. We are so thankful we found a house with the market as crazy as it was. Is? Who is keeping track. 🙂

-Squeezing in a few family trips before summer ended. It was crazy, especially after moving trying to make all the trips happen that had previously been scheduled, but so glad that we made that effort.

-Winning Best of Omaha for Phillips Tile & Stone, THANK YOU to all who voted!! It’s not lost on us that YOUR votes are what made it happen. We will continue to provide and install exceptional craftsmanship and value to YOU, our clients.

-We are thankful for the connections we’ve made here in Omaha. We are finding so much joy in deepening our roots in this wonderful city we’ve been planted.

Thank you for being our family friend or a friend of the company. We appreciate you all so incredibly much. Merry Christmas!

The Phillips Family and Phillips Tile & Stone Team

Merry Christmas from Phillips Tile & Stone and the Phillips family.

Resurrection Rolls & an Easter Invite

Hello Friends!

Easter is my very favorite holiday, so I am preparing to celebrate Easter in my house come rain or shine! I’m determined, with a little bit of planning ahead, we can make this an enjoyable Easter. We’ve already dyed the Easter eggs. My husband came home to glitter all over the kitchen table. He said something about never using glitter again…we’ll see about that, but I’m in agreement with him. The glitter was probably a bad idea that seemed great at the time. It’s too bad I didn’t grab a picture of the glorious art and science projects our kids were doing while coloring eggs.

Come Sunday, you have two options as I see it. You can do away with the fancy dress clothes. Or wear them! You do you! I’m excited to dress my kids and I in our very BEST and comfiest clothes and Sunday morning we’re having cinnamon rolls. I’m actually really excited for this slow Easter morning. In Easter’s past, we have been involved in some sort of an Easter program. Which would mean we’d be up before the sun rose and tired after church. This Sunday, let’s all enjoy the slow morning. I’ll make cinnamon rolls and scrambled cheesy eggs for my family while I brew myself some coffee. Our church is having a wonderful service online. We’d love to have you “join us” in attending the service!

We’ll have an Easter egg hunt in our backyard and wave at the neighbors. We’ll have the crockpot simmering as we plan on enjoying each other’s company. It will be an Easter I’ll never forget.

If you’ve never had resurrection rolls, these are an easy treat that I’ve been making since childhood. They are gooey, easy and so good. Just grab marshmallows, butter, sugar, cinnamon and crescent roll dough at your weekly store grocery shopping trip.

Resurrection Rolls Recipe– I guarantee your whole family will enjoy making and eating these.

Enjoy the rest of your week, friends. We are thankful for you. We are thankful for a Risen Savior!

Happy Easter,

-Michelle Phillips

FREE Home-School Resources

Our world is under different circumstances with the closings of schools and businesses due to the Corona Virus. If you find yourself suddenly quarantined at home with your kiddos and have no clue what to do, keep reading. My hope is to provide you some resources from a work from home, homeschooling mama. Our kids ages are 8, 6, 4, 2 and a newborn. Here are some easy, cheap or free activities that my kids truly enjoy. I’m hoping they add some sanity to your new homeschooling life as well. It really is a privilege to be at home with your kids!

3-5 years old

Our 4 year old is constantly on the move, but he will sit to do school! He loves it. Here are some free handwriting printables. All you need is the free worksheet, a pencil and crayons. http://www.handsonhomeschooling.com/free_pages/Aa_to_Mm.pdf http://www.handsonhomeschooling.com/free_pages/Nn_to_Zz.pdf

Music

I use these music cards all the time and they are free to print. https://thefameschoolblog.com/2012/06/06/first-piano-lesson-activity-piano-keyboard-pattern-cards/

I like to play Sing Spell Read and Write music that I find on YouTube while my budding readers are playing. Here is that link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBs2y-XJitQ&list=PLrtE5C373xWbqIvqbhaPhIaNIQYSqsqJp

Art

My kids LOVE art! We use https://www.artforkidshub.com/ often. Your kids will be making masterpieces in no time.

Coloring is great for all ages, here are free topical coloring pages. https://www.coloring.ws/coloring.html

Typing

My oldest uses this to learn typing. I’ve been told this is what some schools use as well. https://www.typing.com/

Math

Free math worksheets for grades k-6th https://www.k5learning.com/free-math-worksheets

This next math suggestion isn’t free but it’s worth every single penny. My kids love it! https://www.ctcmath.com/

Gym

It’s cold outside and our kids need to burn off energy! YouTube to the rescue again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_A_HjHZxfI&t=705s https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga

Simple Quick Bread Recipe

Kids love to eat, so teach them how to cook and bake! This recipe is so easy and SO good. You probably have all these ingredients in your home, so what are you waiting for? Just be sure to include your kids while making it. http://www.redflycreations.com/2012/10/the-amazing-amish-cinnamon-bread.html

Free Home Fun

-Make a blanket fort

-Make a painter’s tape maze for hot wheels cars

-Do home chores together

-Play with legos

-Read books together

-Side-Walk Chalk Art

-Play a board game

-Make play dough, we love this recipe!

*Here’s one more giant freebie list http://lifeaslanhams.com/free-printables/

The thing about homeschooling your kids, is you are simply passing along the information you know, to your kids.

I don’t want to overwhelm you with suggestions so hopefully this gets you started in a good direction. These are all REAL suggestions our kids enjoy. I hope it helps you as you make the most of this extra time together! No, it’s not always easy. However, it’s always worth it and your kids will never forget this extra time with you.

From the business owning, homeschooling family that thinks YOU CAN do this!