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. …

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…

No mother to be ever imagines that their newborn will need to stay in the NICU. We all dream of the perfect pregnancy with no issues. We expect to go into labor, be admitted to the hospital, deliver our sweet bundle of joy, and head home within a day or three. But what happens when you are having that not so normal pregnancy? What happens when you have a great chance of delivering early and may need that NICU stay. Here is my story. And if you haven’t read our story of learning we were expecting triplets, click here to read my blog post. Preparing Yourself Mentally When you are expecting multiples- conversations with physicians are probably much different than if pregnant with a singleton. You start seeing a high risk pregnancy physician in addition to your regular OB. You start having discussions about the due date we “hope” to…

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…

Recently my husband came across an online article of an Irish island, Arranmore, that is looking for residents from America and Australia to move to their island. This farming and fishing community’s population has been slowing decreasing because residents are leaving to pursue other careers in more modern cities. They are hoping to interest those that are able to work remotely. I have to admit, I was intrigued. And after seeing the pictures of the gorgeous landscape of the island, I started to daydream how different our day to day life would be but also what a great experience for us as a family it would be. Any House Hunters International fans out there? I am one of those individuals that has watched numerous episodes of House Hunters International, and thought about what it would be like to move to a different country and start a new life. I see…