Category: Tip Jar

Look For Less – Spring Home Decor

Spring is here! Yay, I love the colors of spring decor. So refreshing and bright, that alone just puts me in the best mood! I LOVE seeing how other people decorate their houses every season and figured I would share some things spring things I place around our house!

I know I’ve mentioned this in other posts, I like to decorate around my staple decor pieces – adding seasonal touches here and there. As my decoration inventory grows year after year, I’m sure it may be a different story, but for now, this is how I decorate our house.

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What We’re Cookin’ Wednesday – Two Weeks of Dinner

I don’t know about you, but lunches and dinners have just been different around here lately. First off, the convenience of heading out to the grocery store whenever and wherever you want is no longer – therefore you are forced to map out your meals or “work with” what you have.

Second, is it me, or are the kids eating/snacking more than normal?! I think I have been more aware as I am “rationing” them given the circumstances – another factor, adding another adult to our lunch crew, that can chew up some of the goods too!

Anyway, I figured I would share a look into our dinners for the past two weeks to give you some ideas and/or provide some help during these not so normal times. If you are able to have groceries delivered or can do curbside pick up- I am hoping this can give you a sense of what you will need to have on hand (at least a broad overview!).

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Toddler Boy Room Reveal

This post has been a long time coming. We finally got my son’s bedroom “pretty much” completed. I say that because I am still searching for the perfect nightstand and table lamp. I do like exploring garage sales and flea market sales for those items, but given the uncertainty of the virus – I’m not sure how much garage-saling I will be doing this year. Nevertheless, I wanted to show you how his “industrial style airplane” room came together!

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Tip Jar Tuesday: For the “New” Stay at Home Parent…Activity Ideas

Welp, this quarantine has been something else! My husband and I were just chatting recently at how crazy it is that most people are now working at home and having to juggle that and their children.

Since not a whole lot has changed around here on my end (besides trying to keep the kids quiet during my husband’s conference calls upstairs) I figured I would share some activities/toys we have been playing to keep busy while we are forced in the house during this time.

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What I Cooked Wednesday – Switching Up Breakfast/Brunch

The past two weekends we had some brunch/breakfast get togethers. We finally got together with my best friend and her family to exchange Christmas gifts (that took wayyy to long) and we celebrated my sister-in-laws birthday at my parents.

Breakfast and brunch dates just seem to work well with everyone during this stage in life. The kids are in a better mood, we are up and coming back from church at that time, the kids are able to nap right after the festivities and on a Sunday – a dinner get together would be tough.

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What I Cooked Wednesday – Mexican Stuffed Peppers

I’m a big fan of traditional stuffed peppers (ground beef, rice, onions, tomato soup, salt and peppers) – which are so bland in my husband’s opinion! I bought a big bag of bell peppers from Costco last week and I thought – stuffed peppers on the brain for dinner.

Problem is, they couldn’t be plain old boring stuffed peppers…I had to spice these up a bit for my husband to even give it a chance! Mexican Stuffed Peppers for the win!!

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A Look At….My Favorite “Healthy” Breakfast

Breakfast is honestly my favorite meal of the day. I do not discriminate and honestly love ALL breakfast foods. While I can get caught up with sugary, carb heavy breakfast foods during the week – I like to toss this heart healthy breakfast into the mix. So many people are hit or miss when it comes to loving oatmeal, but if you doctor it up correctly, it’s GOOD (swear)! This breakfast is super easy and the flavors are just so YUM!

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Tip Jar: Infant Sleep Schedule

First off, I am NOT a baby sleep trainer professional. This is strictly based on a whole bunch of research I personally did as I was preparing to become a stay at home mom after the birth of our son two and a half years ago.

I was so so excited, but also a little nervous about becoming a stay at home Mom. For me, it was a huge transition leaving my marketing career. I truly loved the vibe of working downtown. While I valued my career, I always knew I wanted to be a stay at home Mom. I always wanted to be around/play with our kids, manage a household and have our own set routine.

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Tip Jar: Home Cleaning Schedule

My, my, my…what a crazy end of the year it was. I am so happy to start “fresh” in this new year! Routines have been out of wack for the the last quarter of 2019 and I am ready to roll up my sleeves and get things back in order around the house!

My main goals around the house this year: maintain a clean kitchen EVERY DAY, keep up with the house in terms of de-cluttering and reorganization and stick to my cleaning checklist. At the beginning of last year – I pulled together multiple cleaning checklists and used them to put together a thorough home maintenance schedule that worked!

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Toddler Travel Activity Bin

Thanksgiving and the holidays are fast approaching and so is all the TRAVEL associated with this time of the year. We happen to be driving 5+ hours to our holiday destination and while the drive is somewhat manageable, there will be a need to keep the two bigger kiddos occupied during our trip. I’m already foreshadowing our daughter asking “are we there yet” 5 minutes into our drive for hours on end…

This year the kids are big enough where they might not be sleeping as much during the drive, so I decided to pack a “travel activities bin” for them both to look forward to! They have already been asking if they can start playing with some of the toys and I keep hyping up the trip, telling them they have to wait – which is key! These items have to be new and something they are looking forward to!

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Fall Activity for Toddlers – Hike, Leaf Hunting and Sorting

It’s that time of year where we start to transition inside as the cooler temps and snow start to make their way into our every day lives. Weeks before becoming a SAHM about two years ago, I was searching all sorts of blogs to find inspiration of what to do with my kids during cold fall/winter days. Honestly, that was one of my main concerns prior to being at home with the kids. I made thorough lists and pinned all sorts of activities on Pinterest, only to find that I dropped the ball on doing many of those things. What I did find, is that I needed to be creative and start using my own imagination in terms of how to teach and play with my kids!

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What I – Do When My Kids Are Sick – Wednesday: My Essentials

Tis’ the season for sickness – it is just inevitable. After dealing with two kiddos under the weather for the past week, I thought now would be the perfect time to share some things I do when the kids are sick to make them feel better, make it easier for myself and get them back at it as soon as possible!

Emotionally, I am never prepared for this, I hate when the kids are sick! Vomiting, yea, no thank you – not good with that at all, but nevertheless as Moms we find ourselves stepping up to the plate to handle the sickies! Over the past couple years – experiencing all sorts of interesting illness – I have made it an effort to ALWAYS have these items stocked and ready to go in case the kiddos are under the weather.

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How to Plan and Plant a Cutting Flower Garden: Part II – Flower Selection and Mapping

I’m continuing to share the details of how I planned my cut flower garden – in case you missed Part I – Planning and Preparing your Cut Flower Garden, feel free to check that out!

In today’s post, I am sharing the flowers I selected and why. There are so many flower varieties out there, but my main “must-haves” were easy maintenance, stems that were long enough, continual blooming and LOTS of vibrant colors!

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Tip Jar: Go-to “Baby Station” Products

As I mentioned previously in my Postpartum expectations post – setting up all types of “baby stations” around the house has been so helpful for me. This way if I have an emergency or need to get something with the two bigs, I can put baby down right near us!

I’ve had several people ask which ones to put on their registry and I will share the main ones that were either gifted to myself or recommended by other Mom friends!

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My Top Book Recommendations – Mystery/Thriller: October 2019

I was NEVER one who was into reading. Growing up, spark notes were my life to make it out of English class alive…It was when I was going to join my husband on a work trip about a year and a half ago that I had the thought, what should I do with my spare time? I would have a lot of time to myself on my flight and at the hotel, so I decided why not read a book. I had seen a review on The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware, which sounded like it was right up my alley and BOOM, I have been reading books of all kinds ever since.

I figured I would share some SUSPENSE/THRILLER books I have read recently that would be perfect for this month with Halloween right around the corner!

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