Planning Ahead: Lessons Learned from a Cake I have pretty good self confidence, but there have always been things about me that have caused me to feel self conscious - I'm too annoying, I'm too loud, I take too many photos, etc. Lately I have been trying to lean in to who I am. By this I mean be okay and happy with what these so called negative or weird aspects of me are. I might think I'm annoying by planning a family reunion two years in advance, sending out "save the dates" 18 months in advance, and booking the accommodations 13 months out, but if these things didn't get done, we might miss out on the perfect spot for...
Reminiscing on Warmer Days With Superbowl Sunday just a little over a week away, it had me reminiscing on the time we threw this little tailgate party with my parents when Nellie was much smaller. I grew up in Missouri, but my family never watched football. We didn't pay for cable and I never even learned the rules of football until I went to college in Utah. I didn't even ever watch the superbowl until I met my husband, Bryan. So since Bryan's family has lived in Massachusetts for over 100 years, I married into a die hard Patriots family and became a Pats fan. We watch every game and I have learned to especially love the Superbowl because it...
The Benefits of Reading to your Children My aunt works with teenagers and helps prepare them for the ACT. She also works at an elementary school. She has seen many children progress through school and she told me that she made a realization. She discovered that the number one predictor of students who will excel in school and in the ACT, are those children who have learned to love books. So how do you teach your children to love books? The very best way to do so is by reading to them and reading to them often. As I was scrolling on social media (as I do far too often), I found a post from a local facebook group a couple...
Budgeting and Meal Prep Recently my husband switched jobs and we now make $40,000 less a year. Though this switch was definitely the right decision for our family, it does mean that we have been trying to budget more and eat out less. I recently saw the below post on the Kids Eat in Color Instagram page and it got me thinking that though with these crazy grocery prices it may seem cheaper to eat out, it truly is cheaper and healthier to make food at home and to use clever ways to save the excess. Cooking at home does take time and planning, but with the right tools, it can go by quickly and if everyone pitches in, cleanup...
Our First Priority At Christmas my mom plans nice meals for every night; she makes the breakfasts, lunches, and dinners; she cleans up everything after dinner; she prepared everything for a Bob Ross paint night; she spent months planning and executing a Harry Potter escape room; she buys all of our presents; she wakes up super early to get her work done so that she can take my sister's dog out for her, then she comes back in and changes my daughter Nellie's diaper and helps me get breakfast for her; and this year she did all of this year all while exhausted because a week prior to Christmas, she was in Utah with me and Nellie and we stayed...
