Got worms? Or kids that love worms? My girls spend hours in the yard digging for worms. They make homes for them, name them and then beg to bring them inside for the night (we do not bring them in). It was recently time for the preschool science fair and the girls decided to create a worm habitat and bring their favorite earthworms along with them to the fair.
By: Lexie of Lexsentials
My brother works for Safely, a company that provides safety and security services for families through their mobile phones. Everything from sharing location to making sure your kids don't play Angry Birds while at school!
Another month, another meal plan. We shared a January meal plan last month & made life that much easier, so I decided to do it again. You will find some of my favorite go-to meals in the monthly menu plan, as well as some new ones to try. All the meals are kid-friendly & can be modified to please even my pickiest eater. Many of the weekday meals are simple to prepare. With a husband that works late (especially this month, thanks to the busy season of accounting), I cook most meals with all three kids underfoot during the infamous witching house so I try to keep meals quick and easy. I thought it would be fun to share the monthly meal plan with you all to help inspire & give you a full meal plan for the month. You can modify as needed based on what is in your pantry, what is on sale at the store, & what you have planned for the week but no more searching cookbooks and Pinterest every night for something to make for dinner.
Like meal planning posts? Visit this post for 31 days of Kids Dinner Ideas and this post for another meal calendar! With the warmer weather, our house has definitely been busier. Between swim practices &
School has started this month. It has been an adjustment in this house as we are saying good-bye to lazy summer mornings & are busy scrambling around the house trying to get lunches made, shoes
Can you believe it's almost time to talk summer reading? I was going to wait and do one big post but instead am going to share small lists of books over the next few months (and will also make a big round up list with all of them!).
It's hard to believe, but summer is on the horizon! One of the things that we do everyday in the summer is spend a little time reading. My boys (ages six and eight) are old enough to read independently so we are always on the lookout for some good books that keep their interest. Today, I am excited to share several of our favorite book series recommendations for boys!
I'm so excited to share my Boston Top 10: tips for visiting Boston with kids. This fall, we took the kids to Boston. Boston is a city I loved growing up and a spot my husband often visits for work. Aside from an overnight with Maggie when she was a baby, we had never taken the kids. Since it’s drivable from where we live, many families take trips there and always come back with rave reviews on how family friendly the city is and how much fun they had. So for the kids fall break, we decided to go explore Boston with the kids. Here's my list of what to see, eat, do and where to stay:
One of my goals for the year is to be much more intentional about getting healthier homemade dinners on the table for the family. I find that planning the meals out each week takes a
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
By: Caren Villareal
Got worms? Or kids that love worms? My girls spend hours in the yard digging for worms. They make homes for them, name them and then beg to bring them inside for the night (we do not bring them in). It was recently time for the preschool science fair and the girls decided to create a worm habitat and bring their favorite earthworms along with them to the fair.
By: Sarah Tucker, Sarah's blog
By: Caren Villareal
Our trip to Italy has inspired this travel book list. Today I'm sharing kids books about Italy. If you want your little ones to pick up small tidbits of information before you head to Italy
By: Courtney Byrne
With St. Patrick's Day around the corner, I wanted to spend a day sharing a little bit about one of the most beautiful places our family has ever visited: Ireland. A couple year's ago, we traveled to Ireland with Maggie and Alex. The girls were 2 and 7 months old, and it was truly a wonderful trip.
It Takes A Village Over the past few years, I've heard a major comeback of a favorite phrase of mine from sociology: it takes a village. I've heard it on the playground, seen it mentioned
By: Lexie Allman of Lexsentials
Today started our Spring Break. We didn't have big plans this year, knowing a new baby would join our family just weeks before. Still, I could tell my kids were feeling a little down about being stuck at home the whole week of Spring Break, after being home the 3 weeks before too. Also, the past week, as the virus has spread so much across our state, Tom and I have become even more nervous and I'm sure the kids can feel that (even though we try not to scare them at all!). So, I decided this weekend to try and think of some ways to make a fun spring break for the kids with a fun staycation at our house.
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
Florence Italy is very family friendly! There are so many great places to eat with kids in Florence. For our 10 favorite places, click here: https://travelwewill.com/places-to-eat-in-florence-with-kids/ 9. Gelateria La Carraia: This was our 2nd favorite and we loved trying their "specials". It's a tiny place but worth a visit for sure! Perfect spot to visit en route to Santa Croce. We'd get gelato there and then let the kids run it off in the large open space in front of Santa Croce. Piazza Nazario Sauro, 25/r 10. Festival del Gelato: a fun bright spot to try with lots of seating. Close to all the shopping, near the Duomo. Via del Corso, 75/red And if you'd like to do some cooking or snacking at home: Grocery Store: there's a Conad (a chain) Their grocery stores are inexpensive and good to stock up on waters and snacks (and wine) or to cook meals if you have a kitchen. Buon Appetito! Pin this post for later:
By: Jordan of Jordan & Co Ok, fellow book hoarders...here it is: February Book Picks! I tried to keep the list short, but I mean, come on-- books about love are the best kind,
Last week I shared a favorite post and printable: 50 Things to Put in a Lunchbox. Today I am sharing some favorites for packing lunches and lunch box essentials. All of these are our true favorites and things we use or have used. Many of them we have had for years and years! Often the stainless steel lunch box accessories are expensive but they definitely last the longest and are easiest to keep really clean. We toss all of ours in the dishwasher and they come out shiney and ready for the next day's lunch.
Easy Farfalle, Sausage & Broccoli
Two weeks until St. Patrick's Day! As an Irish family, this is a holiday that we get a wee bit excited about. Also, we traveled to Ireland when the girls were tiny and while they
Exercise. Yes, we know. It's no easy thing to exercise when you are a mom. The kids wake up before the sun rises. There are dishes to be done. Laundry to be washed. Errands to run. Work to be done. Books to be read. And so much more. Most moms are so worn out by the end of the day, they can't imagine fitting in working out into their schedule. I get it. I have three kids with me all day and a husband who works a very busy schedule. I nurse a baby (still in the night) so there is no way I am getting up at the crack of dawn to run through the dark streets. My husband arrives home right when the kids are heading to bed and I have exhausted almost every energy out of my body. My two boys go to afternoon preschool and there is no way that I am using my only two hours of "much needed" quiet time to exercise while the baby takes a nap.
The Show featured looks from Stride Rite, Sperry Top-Sider Kids, Keds Kids and Saucony Kids. There were bright, bold colors & so many fun styles. I was a kid with super narrow feet & lived in Keds. I used to paint mine, because all I ever got was plain white. I would have been thrilled with the amazing colors Keds has to offer now!
Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #TrustinGentle #ChooseGentle #CollectiveBias
In honor of the new iPhone 7 hitting stores today, I thought it would be fun to share a few favorite apps for moms. Honestly, I am not an expert at this so I decided to turn to people who could help me out with this post: other moms. I reached out to a few different moms' networks that I was in & just asked "Tell me your favorite or must-have apps for moms and/or families". Below, I am sharing some of the ones that came highly recommended as favorite apps for moms!
By: Courtney Byrne
Having three little ones close together is lots of fun, but it is a lot of chaos as well. About every day, we have our share of wild moments starting from the moment that they wake up until the moment that they go to bed. Having a large family also takes quite a cut into your income & I have tried hard to stick to our budget & invest in things that I believe are truly beneficial to our family. Today, I am sharing some 10 of our favorite things to splurge on & 8 things to save on!
School has started this month. It has been an adjustment in this house as we are saying good-bye to lazy summer mornings & are busy scrambling around the house trying to get lunches made, shoes
Back in January, Julie and I decided that one thing we wanted to focus on this year, was sharing ways to teach kids about kindness. Children are never too young to learn about kindness, but
Summer is on the horizon with just two more weeks of school left before summer begins! I have been spending this week getting myself organized & prepared for a full summer with all four kids at home. Since we have a sweet baby that joined our family this winter, I am trying to keep our plans low-key and allow for lots of time to just "be" around the house while the baby naps. As a former teacher, there is one thing that is a must in our schedule each day: summer reading. This scheduled time is a great reminder to drop everything & read, amidst the busy (or sometimes, lazy) days of summer! Today, we wanted to share summer book lists for kids of all ages. There are books for babies, toddlers & preschoolers, & even school age children.
I've noticed something very interesting during this, my 3rd pregnancy. If I'm out in public alone, I get a lot of this: "Oh how far along are you?" from smiling faces. They almost always follow up with "How exciting! Is this your first?" When I am out with my kids, it's very different. I have 2 girls who are 4 and almost 3. The top comment "you had to try for a boy, huh?" or "whoa 3 kids?!" or my personal favorite "What are you going to do if it's another girl?"
Recently, a few people have asked me questions about traveling abroad with a baby, so I thought I'd put together a post about traveling to Italy with a baby. I wrote another list of travel tips after our trip to Ireland last year. Check that out for more tips!
We have a whole family of milk drinkers in our house. From the babies to adults, we all really enjoy milk. Sometimes with all the fun of running around outdoors in the summertime, I find
Pancakes are a staple in our house. We eat them for breakfast. We eat them for lunch. And we eat them for dinner. If Daddy is working late, pancakes and bacon are an easy fix
We are excited to bring you one of our favorite posts to share: 14 More Books to Read in 2014. These book picks are based on friends & family recommendations, input from our readers, & reviews that are found online. We hope you enjoy our list & would love to hear what books that you would add to your must-read list!
The kids are really interested in camping all of a sudden. With a few weeks left of summer vacation, I wasn't quite prepared to take a 3 year old, 5 year old and baby camping, but I did come up with some fun ways to "camp" during the day in our backyard. Here are a few fun camping activities, books and gear we have been enjoying:
We introduced you to Bella Bliss back in the fall, with their comfortable classics for Back to School. We're excited to have them back on the blog with their beautiful Spring line. Bella Bliss truly
“This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and KuKee, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #KuKeeapp https://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO.” If you're looking for a fun gift for girls, check
I've noticed something very interesting during this, my 3rd pregnancy. If I'm out in public alone, I get a lot of this: "Oh how far along are you?" from smiling faces. They almost always follow up with "How exciting! Is this your first?" When I am out with my kids, it's very different. I have 2 girls who are 4 and almost 3. The top comment "you had to try for a boy, huh?" or "whoa 3 kids?!" or my personal favorite "What are you going to do if it's another girl?"
We're so happy to have our friends from It Takes A Village Baby Consultants back on the blog today. Just in time for Father's Day, they are sharing some quick tips for new dads. For more information on It Takes A Village, visit their website & read last month's post all about how they got started.
We are enjoying the festive last week before Christmas!
Like meal planning posts? Visit this post for 31 days of Kids Dinner Ideas and this post for another meal calendar! With the warmer weather, our house has definitely been busier. Between swim practices &
