Category: Tip Jar

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!

Continue reading →

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!

Continue reading →

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.

Continue reading →

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!

more

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!

more

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!

more

Tip Jar: Postpartum Expectations

I cannot believe it has been nearly six weeks since the birth of our baby boy! First off, you forget just how teeny tiny those little babes are and how dependent they are of you. I’m not going to lie, these times are tiring and can be all kinds of different for everyone out there, but I figured I would share some things I have experienced postpartum this time around and some tips and tricks I have found useful over the past month and even after my other pregnancies.

I want to note – by no means am I an expert or saying that these pieces of advice are the end all be all! These are just things that have worked and helped me manage postpartum. After having our daughter, I had no clue what to expect so after dealing with this once again, I feel third time is (somewhat) the charm!

more

Thrifty Tricks: Birthday Party Hacks

We celebrated my daughter’s 4th birthday with family a couple weekends ago and I am now starting to plan my son’s 2nd birthday party, so I figured why not share some tips and thrifty tricks I use for every party/celebration. These are things I do pretty much every party we have and they have helped me keep things cute yet very budget friendly because seriously you could drop quite a bit of dough on throwing a kids party!

more

What I Cooked Wednesday – Taco Tuesday – Ground Turkey Taco Salads

Today I am sharing our healthier take on taco Tuesday. We ditched the ground beef and tortillas and opted for ground turkey and put that on a bed of lettuce instead! This is one of our favorites.

As I mentioned in my previous posts – when I use ground turkey, I like to make sure it is seasoned right. Taco seasoning allows you to do just that and I can’t even taste the difference between turkey and ground beef.

This recipe takes 15 minutes and from a budgeting perspective cost no more than $8 to make!

Continue reading →

Tip Jar: Savings Challenge – The Final Verdict: Success or Fail?

Life Lately: Savings Challenge – The Verdict: Success or Fail?

So… I am so far behind with all of this – now remembering why it is super hard to get anything done with a newborn… I am so used to getting up early and taking care of as much as I can before the kids get up. I now find myself sleeping in until like 7:30am – 8:00am when the baby decides to wake up!

I wanted to share with you all the results of our Savings Challenge in August. For those of you who are new here, my husband and I took out $800 in an envelope to use solely for food and grocery. We were honestly spending well over $1,000 on food over the previous months and we could not believe it, so we decided to challenge ourselves to try and save $100 from that envelope every month. You can read more about it here.

more

What I Cooked Wednesday – Recipe Share: Spinach Feta Turkey Burgers

It’s hump day, and if you are looking for a light, yet flavorful burger to throw on the grill, this recipe is for you! My family loves these burgers – they are so fresh, light and inexpensive to make! I generally have these on the menu around the time I decide to stock up on a major ground turkey sale at our local grocery store. I am able to get 2 – 1lb packs of ground turkey for $2.50, I mean what—that is just a steal! So needless to say I like to take advantage of that sale and have the meat available for these or even as a ground beef substitute in recipes.

Continue reading →

Life Lately: What’s In My Hospital Bag

First off, I’m back! As I mentioned in my first blog post – I will try to post 3-4 days a week – it will most likely turn into 3 days a week when baby arrives.

…WHEN BABY ARRIVES, oh.my.gosh…that is approaching so fast which leads to my next post I wanted to share with you all:

Okay, so I actually can’t even believe the arrival of our third baby is going to be here before we know it! Those “First Kid, Second Kid” commercials by Luvs are totally relatable and get me every time! While I haven’t brought out the essential items needed around the house when baby comes home just yet, I was thinking I should at the very least get my bag ready to roll for the hospital—which is why today I am sharing with you what I packed my hospital bag!

Continue reading →

Tip Jar: 7 Tips for Designing and Planting a Successful Garden Bed

In case you missed my first post yesterday, click through and check it out to learn a little more about me and the purpose of my blog. To those of you who shared all the kind words and likes, thank you for your support and welcome back!

Today, we jump right in to a recent project my husband and I have been working on at our house! If you consider yourself a diy gardener, here is a post for you – by no means am I a gardening expert, but I would like to think I know a little more than the average person.

Continue reading →