Your morning routine needs to change You want to leave the house every morning calm and relaxed instead of rushed and harried. Imagine waking up and sauntering over to your closet. You pick out a pair of pants and a cute top. When you try them on and look in the mirror, they work perfectly together. Bam! You're done getting dressed! Can you imagine how much that would improve your day? How much more time you would have if picking out an outfit only took 30 seconds? This is what I do every morning. And no, I'm not insanely gifted at it. Quite the contrary. I used to be so self Keep Reading
121 Things You Can Throw Away or Donate This Week
I have too much stuff. There is said it. I know I have too much stuff because I finally got around to organizing my office this week, and as I looked at the pile of things I hadn't used in years, I tried to remember why I thought I ever needed them in the first place. Some things were just old items that I didn't need anymore, but a lot of it was excess. Like the 200 sheet protectors or the 6 packs of dinosaur themed thank you cards. I'm sure I had a project in mind for those sheet protectors at the time I bought them; it's just eluding me at this Keep Reading
7 Types of Exercises You Can Do While Pregnant from What to Expect®
Today I’m excited to share with you a super duper helpful pregnancy and baby resource – the What to Expect® series of books! What to Expect® When You’re Expecting was originally published in 1984. Since then, it has had 600+ record-breaking weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list….in fact, it’s the longest running book on the list! Author Heidi Murkoff wrote this book when she realized an equivalent books for expectant mothers was not available. With over 36 million books sold to date, you can sure she knows her stuff! I read What to Expect® When You’re Expecting TWO TIMES – once Keep Reading
Healthy Raspberry Cheesecake Parfait
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Yoplait®. The opinions and text are all mine. Have you ever wanted to mix things up a bit for snack time? My kids and I get tired of the same old boring snacks day after day. Today, inspired by Yoplait®, I created something new that my kids and I both loved! It's super simple, but makes snack time a ton of fun. It's my take on raspberry cheesecake - a healthy version! Healthy Raspberry Cheesecake Parfait I went to Walmart to shop for the ingredients. I was truly surprised by how many Yoplait® options were available. They Keep Reading
Simple Summer Fun ~ Mud Pie Playdate
This is a sponsored post written on behalf of Banana Boat®. All opinions are mine! Ya'll know I love a good playdate. We have playdates for all occasions around here - to celebrate holidays, to celebrate the start of a season, really for any reason! This week we had one of my very favorite summertime playdates - a MUD PIE PLAYDATE! Mud pie playdates are perfect for just about any child who still loves playing in the mud, but they are especially great for preschoolers. They're adventurous enough to get right in there and start making mud pies, but not so young you'll worry about them Keep Reading
21 Family Beach Vacation Photo Ideas
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Banana Boat® . The opinions and text are all mine. As moms, we’re always looking for great places to take pictures of our kids. My favorite place to get pictures is at the beach. On our annual beach trips, my goal is to always get at least 2 or 3 excellent shots of the kids enjoying the sand or water plus a bunch other pictures to round out our photo album. After 8 years of beach excursions with my children, I’ve collected quite a few lovely photos. I thought it would be nice to compile them into an inspirational post so other Keep Reading
Creative Pregnancy Announcement Idea
One of my very favorite things in this world are watching people receive happy news. This lady thought all she got for Christmas was a borning family video....boy, was she wrong!! This one gets me every time I watch it! Keep Reading
5 Adorable Pregnancy Announcement Ideas
I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for First Response. I received product samples as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation. All opinions are 100% my own. Finding out you’re pregnant is one of the most joyous moments in life. It’s a wonderful yet stressful experience wrapped all in one. These days, pregnancy testing is so much more advanced than it was the first time I was pregnant 8 years ago. My husband and I were actively trying to get pregnant for all three of our pregnancies, and I’ll never forget what seemed like an Keep Reading
5 Sanity-Saving Summer Road Trip Tips for Families with Little Kids
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sam’s Club for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine. Every year when June rolls around and the summer heat sets in, I get an itch to hit the road with my family. Traveling with little ones (mine are 7, 5, and 3 now) isn’t always easy, but it is totally worth it in the end. If you go into battle (let’s face it, that’s what a road trip with little ones is like!), you can survive the trip with as little drama as possible. I like to make a plan, get prepared ahead of time, and go into our road trips with every likely “traveling with kids” Keep Reading
Dinnertime Tantrums Getting You Down? This Simple Trick Will Stop Them For Good!
Every mom I know wages an age-old battle each evening. During the magical hour just before dinnertime, our children transform into crazy little beings who cry for no reason, start fights with one another, and decide the moment mommy is working with a pot of boiling water on the stove is when they MUST be picked up! Our battle always occurs as I'm trying to cook dinner. All three kids have their moments. Right now, my youngest (3 years old) is having his. Every evening around 5 p.m. he just loses it. I'm usually starting dinner because my husband comes home around 5:45/6, and we like to eat Keep Reading
ABC Throwing Game
I am always looking for creative ways to teach my kids their letters. My middle child doesn't like the traditional method of sitting down to learn (we always say that she doesn't stop moving except when she sleeps!). So we've done lots of different learning methods with her to varying degrees of success. The two best ways we've found to teach her the alphabet are letting her watch this video and reinforcing it with fun games like the one below. ABC Throwing Game - Fun Way to Practice the Alphabet It's so easy to put together the ABC throwing game,anyone can do it. Here's Keep Reading
3 Things Every Little Girl Needs to Hear Her Daddy Say
This post is for all the dads out there with little girls in their care. It's my fourth post in my 3 Words series, a series of posts full of heartfelt encouragement for moms and dads. Today as I was driving down the road, I heard a song I had heard a million times before. But for some reason I heard it a different way this time. It was John Mayer’s song, Daughters. I recently wrote a post on 3 Things Your Daughter Needs to Hear You Say OUT LOUD. It was written from my perspective as a mom. As I drove down the road listening to Daughters, this post came to me. The song goes: Fathers Keep Reading
The Complete Guide for Stay-at-Home-Moms
Today I have something wonderful to share with you all. It's a collaborative project I'm participating in called the Complete Guide for Stay-at-Home-Moms. It's an effort by over 50 SAHM bloggers to compile TONS of resources all stay-at-home-moms need to connect and find encouragement and resources. I'm proud to say I'm contributing a bunch of posts to the Living on One Income section (no surprise there!), as well as a few other areas. These are the topics included in the guide....starting at the top in order, a new section will be published every day from April 19th - May 8th, then Keep Reading
Easy Homemade Playdough Recipe
I just uncovered the oddest thing - a TON of pictures I took for a blog post that I meant to publish last fall....and then completely forgot about it! I can see why - for some reason I have a bajillion photos illustrating the process. Apparently I was delirious! Seeing as how most of my blog posts are WORD heavy. :) So, without further ado, here is a pictorial of a homemade playdough recipe I cooked with my 4-year-old daughter including a recipe card about half way down the page. It was seriously soooo easy to make and lasted a REALLY long time. I think we made this in October/November, Keep Reading
Old School Discipline Technique
A reader sent me this and I just had to share. It's an old-school discipline method that those of us in our 30s probably remember from elementary school. The good old handwriting punishment! This little girl complained about "not getting anything for Easter" when she did, in fact, receive a small basket of items in addition to a nice morning at church and time with family and friends. Hence, the punishment - to write "I will be thankful for what I have" THIRTY TIMES! I love it. :) In our current age of entitlement, bigger, better, faster...our kids need to be reminded of what really Keep Reading
