I love decorating my house for Christmas every year because honestly, I love how my house looks when it is decorated for Christmas!I usually start decorating at the very beginning of November, and have it 100% completed within a week.I have Christmas sprinkled through out my house, but I wanted to share some pictures of our tree, mantle, & dining room.Enjoy & Happy Holidays!
For the second year in a row, I hosted a gingerbread house making party at my house for all the kids around my oldest daughter’s age to come to. One of my fondest memories as a child, was doing the same thing every Christmas with my girl scout troop, and it was something I wanted to start doing every Christmas with my girls too!The first year, I learned a lot of what worked and what did not, so I thought I would share in hopes that it will encourage others to host something similar around the holidays with friends! The Houses – Get the Pre-Built Ones! The first year, I did not do this, and what a mistake! The kids had zero patience as us moms tried to build their houses. Oh, and constructing a gingerbread house is a lot harder and frustrating than I remembered (maybe because as a child,…
My daughter turned one recently, and I wanted a simple theme for her first birthday. I knew we would have the party at our house, and in the morning time (I prefer all birthday parties in the morning time). I like doing most of the decorations myself, and I wanted to keep the menu simple since I would be feeding parents, and older siblings and friends. So I landed on a donut theme party! Menu was Simple! I kept the menu super simple:DonutsDonut HolesPigs In a BlanketSmall Quiche BitesFruitCupcakes (per my four year old’s request Party Favors I have to admit, party favors are my least favorite thing when it comes to hosting birthday parties for my girls. I dislike all the cheap toys and candy my own kids walk away with after attending their friends birthday parties, and I have to admit, most of it goes straight into the trash. …
I have a sweet tooth! Especially in the afternoons around 3pm once my oldest is home from school. While most moms probably reach for a cup of coffee as a mid-afternoon pick me up, I , however, am not a coffee drinker, so I tend to reach for some chocolate!Recently we had Shelley Loving, the found of The Food Shift, on an episode of our podcast called Food for Thought, and I asked Shelley something she would recommend for my sweet tooth. She shared this super easy four ingredient recipe with us. I was a little hesitant to try it since I am not a big fan of dates. One afternoon after school, my daughter helped me make this treat, and I loved it!I hope you enjoy it too! Ingredients Dates (remove the pit)Dark Chocolate Baking Chips (suggested they are 55% CacaoAlmond ButterCoconut Flakes Directions Remove pit from dates and stuff…
When the temperature starts to fall…. I get excited to wear my long sleeve tunics layered with a vest, my Ugg boots, and comfort food. I also enjoy pumpkin flavored foods too!Here is an easy recipe my friend, Erin Brown, shared with me that you can use to make donuts, muffins, cake, bread…just about anything! One cool fall morning, I made the muffins. The warm muffins with some butter spread on them were delicious! Hope you enjoy them too! Ingredients 1 box of Spice Cake Mix1 can of 100% Pure Pumpkin1/2 cup of Applesauce Directions Mix all of the ingredients together and follow the baking temperature and cook time on your cake mix box.Enjoy!
Back in July, when we started recording our first few episodes of our new podcast, Bunch of MOMsense, one of our first guest that agreed to record with us was our friend Holly Bennett. After we wrapped recording a couple of episodes with her, we were chatting, as we often do with our guests, and she shared with us that she had lost a significant amount of weight after recently completing Faster Way To Fat Loss (FWTFL).I had heard of it (Jessica had not) from influencers I follow on Instagram, but I did not know anyone personally that had tried it. So of course, I asked ALL the questions!Over the years, I have slowly put on weight, and after each kid, I found it more challenging to lose the weight. Plus, I eat like a child – I love a poptart warmed in the toaster each morning with a large…
Last summer, after living in our house for four years and dreaming of putting a pool in our backyard, we decided to pull the trigger. We were excited to begin the process, and I of course, immediately started looking at Pinterest for all kinds of inspiration of what we were going to do. Surprisingly, I was drawn to all the modern pools I found on Pinterest. Pools that had symmetry to their design, clean lines, and white and gray color schemes really appealed to me. The Bidding Process We decided to get three bids from three different pool companies. We, or I should say my husband, did all the research on what pool companies had the best reviews in our area, and we started asking our neighbors and friends for recommendations. Pool Company A’s design process was unique. They wanted us to come in and have a design meeting, where…
Every few months, I like to update accessories in my house. My timing usually doesn’t coordinate with change of seasons, but mostly due to me getting tired of looking at the same things in my house, and my desire to re-arrange or start from scratch.Our house is very traditional in style and in decor, but I have been drawn to all the succulent arrangements I have seen in stores and online as I have looked for inspiration. To me, I have always felt succulents were for accenting a more modern home, but I decided, why not try some in our house.I first started with some small pre-made arrangements I picked up at Home Goods and Target and placed them in our main living area. I really liked how they looked. I even went as far to buy some live succulents at the grocery store, but only one has survived (I…
When preschool wrapped up for us back in May, I had all these “plans” to work with my four year old daughter during the summer to make sure she was ready for Pre-K next year. Well, here we are four weeks out from school starting, and we have somehow filled our days with swimming, lunches at Chick fila, and play dates with friends. So last week, I decided to make a trip to our local Dollar Tree store to look for arts and crafts, and as luck would have it, our timing was perfectly in line with them putting all their back to school supplies out! I loaded up on some great finds and items we can turn into learning activities, and I thought I would share. Enjoy! And if you are looking for more inspiration, check out my post about Sensory Toys & Accessories! Alphabet Beads & Colorful Beads…
When we bought our current house back in the Fall of 2014, my husband and I casually discussed putting a pool in the backyard at some point. I honestly didn’t think we would ever actually follow through with this idea, and that it was just something fun to discuss and dream about. But as I transitioned from working full time to being a stay at home mom, I started to revisit the conversation with my husband about putting in a pool. To be honest, me lobbying was purely for selfish reasons. Who wouldn’t prefer the convenience of stepping into their own backyard and jumping into a pool versus packing up all the pool stuff you need with young children, loading up the car, and driving to the community pool.Of course, when the time was right for us to move forward with building our pool, I had just had our second…