So my oldest is now 5 years old and she has written a letter to Santa. She knows the mail takes a while to get to the North Pole and is upset that we might miss the mail lady on Monday if we don’t address the letter NOW and put it in the mailbox. :=) I thought surely we can't actually do this. But something inside of me told me to double check that Santa didn't have an actual mailing address. And guess what? He does! What is Santa Claus’ actual mailing address? I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the United States Postal Service has a program Keep Reading
How to Get Dressed in Half The Time
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
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
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
25 Easy Ways to Exercise at Home
Learn many easy ways to exercise at home to stay active and fit! When you're a new mom, your kid(s) consume your life. But at some point, you have to regain a little bit of yourself back. For me, that came when my youngest of three was 7 months old. I hit a tipping point where I knew I needed to regain control of my health, and I made a resolution to lose 50 lbs. It wasn't easy, especially when one or more kids was sick and I couldn't make it to the gym to complete my workouts, sometimes for days on end (because we all know once one kid gets it, you're looking at several sicknesses all in Keep Reading
5 Ways Mom Can Pamper Themselves
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Best Western. All opinions are 100% mine. Sometimes as moms we go, go, go for others (work, kids, husband, etc) and don’t give a thought to our own needs. Moms are used to putting themselves last, if they even put themselves on the agenda at all! It’s about time we reclaimed our identities (and sanity) with a little me-time. 5 Ways for Moms to Pamper Themselves I came up with 5 ways you can pamper yourself on a daily or weekly basis that don’t really take more than an hour or two each. Perfect for when you can steal a few minutes or Keep Reading
What Would You Do If Someone Broke Into Your Kids’ Bedroom?
I have always wondered how I would react if someone broke into my house when my husband was away on business. Well, tonight I found out. This week, I'm staying with my in-laws while my husband travels. Every evening, I get the kids down to bed and log on to the computer to grade papers and check email. My mother-in-law and father-in-law usually retire to bed around 10:30, and I'm usually awake long after everyone in the house is asleep. Around 11:30 p.m. tonight, as I was working on the computer and the kids were sound asleep, I heard a noise coming from what seemed like the Keep Reading
What Do Babies Dream About?
Instead of a serious post, I thought I'd post something super cute this Thursday evening! This is what I imagine babies dream about. :=) Keep Reading
