Wednesday, December 12, 2018
A Very Grinchy Birthday
Finn grew a huge love for How the grinch Stole Christmas last year and ever since Halloween of this year he’s been asking to watch it non-stop. While his birthday was approaching he initially requested a Transformers themed party, but it all changed just a week or so into November when he changed his mind to a cartoon Grinch theme.
Finn is quite the traditionalist, much like our nephew Keegan. Finnley loves to keeps things classic especially when it comes to the Grinch. His favorite is the original and he will tolerate the Jim carey version, but he really isn’t too sure about the new one currently out in theatres. Maybe we’ll try and see it over Christmas break.
With it being December and the new movie in theatres I really thought finding Grinch themed things would be easy and I was totally wrong. I had hoped to find some sort of classic agrinch figurine to use as a cake topper, but no such luck! We did find a classic plush Grinch with Max we used for part of our decor and then stuck with classic red and green with pops of lime green and pattern.
It really couldn’t have been. More perfect for his December birthday with our Christmas tree in the corner and snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. Once everything came together it just made his little party and our seem so much more festive and magical. I’m actually having a hard time taking those precious snowflakes down, but I think we’ll move them to the playroom and keep them up all winter long.
Sunday, December 9, 2018
Kid’s Christmas Gift Guide
Calling all the last minute shoppers!!!! It’s the most wonderful time of the year and I’m so excited to share our favorite items for both boys and girls in our Holiday Gift Guide!I always look forward to shopping for our littles as it’s always so much fun to see how much they’ve changed over the coarse of the year and what their interests are each Christmas season.
This year we decided to keep Christmas simple. Last year was a big year and since our kids tend to gravitate towards specific actives we thought it was best to keep a tidy budget and gifts simple. We love finding items that help spark the kids’ imagination and encourage them to pretend. We typically give some sort of building or block set, books, something to cuddle like a stuffed animal and something to do that gets them moving. On my Instagram page I shared exactly how we did everything this year and for us it’s kept everything very simple and not stressful at all.
We decided after learning what the kids really wanted for Christmas we would set a budget of $100 per child and split that budget into 5 gift categories: Something to Do, From Santa, Want, Outside Time, Read. None of our gifts were purchased from a Black Friday or Cyber Monday sale, we simple created our list on the Notes app on our phone and put each item into a Christmas list on Amazon and watched the items as they went on sale. Our budget did not include stocking stuffers, as we try to shop for small items throughout the year and get things we know they’ll need for the upcoming year such as socks, toothbrushes etc.
K’s List: Our Generation Doll, Our Generation Accessories, Roller Skates, Kids Made Modern Jewelry Jam,
O;s List: Play Makeup, Baby Doll Accessories, Melissa and Doug Modeling Dough Tools, Mrs. Peanuckle’s Tree Alphabet book, JellyCat Octopus
Kensington has had her eye on an American Girl doll for a few months, but because we’re keeping a tight budget, we going with the Our Generation collection from Target. I think this is a wise decision that Kensi has also agreed upon for such a doll. It’s a great way to gauge if she loves this type of doll and also allows her to build her clothing and accessory stash since everything fits universally. We’ve agreed if she loves her doll and still wants an American Girl we can ask for it for her birthday next summer.
Finn’s birthday is at the beginning of the month and has requested Power Rangers and anything Grinch for his birthday and Rescue Bots and dinosaurs for Christmas. He’s pretty simple and I love that he knows exactly what he wants! It makes our lives so easy!
Olivia is the hardest one to shop for this year. She’s not into the typical 2 year old stuff, because she’s constantly keeping up with Kensi and Finn. She loves dressing up, playing with baby dolls, Calico Critters and all the tiny little piece type of things because they’re ‘so cute mama!’ This year we’re definitely getting Olivia this adorable JellyCat Octopus because every week when we go grocery shopping she requests to see the octopus in the seafood counter. The Whole Foods guy knows us by now and always engages in conversation with her and points out other fish for her to see, but the octopus always steals her attention!
This idea of shopping kept everything organized and really simple for us and we love how we can adjust it year to year based on what we set as our budget along with the kids interest. We hope this can help your family keep things simple and help you avoid the drama that can come with the frenzy of unnecessary spending during the Christmas season!
Thursday, November 1, 2018
Halloween 2018
I’m a little relieved to be packing up the Halloween decor and costumes and putting them away and so ready to start pulling out the Christmas bins. I know I sound completely crazy, and we’re not totally skipping Thanksgiving, but we are ready to soak up everything Christmas has to offer and just enjoy it! Although, looking back on the whirlwind we just had the last couple months, we really had a lot of fun and a little sad to be saying goodbye to Halloween.
I will wait and do a fall recap post in a couple weeks, since we still have some Thanksgiving recipes and decor pieces to share. Last night I shared our Halloween costumes on Instagram and had a few questions regarding Kensi’s fall fairy so I’ll tell you how we made it!
We made final costume decision a few days before Halloween. The kids all chose their own and we ended up with Waldo, Spiderman, Fall Fairy, Minnie Mouse and a Witch. My costume didn’t come together this year as I was planning on Carmen Sandiago, but certain pieces didn’t match so we sent it all back! Sometimes that’s how life goes! Nonetheless, we all had a blast trick or treating in our neighborhood, collected waaaaaaay too much candy throughout the week (we’re sending most of it to the Candy Fairy!) and finished off one of our most favorite holidays watching Hocus Pocus one more time. It was our best Halloween yet and the kids had so much fun. They made it to far more houses and stayed out much later than before!
Finn wanted to be Spider-Man and he was actually fond of wearing his costume this year. He wore it to all our events leading up to the big night. We bought it from Costco and the gloves and mask were waaaaaay too small. They may have fit a baby. So we ditched the gloves and since he’s weird aboutwewringntjings on his head to begin with we planned face paint. Well, I’m true Finn fashion he fell asleep in the late afternoon and I had to wake him up to get ready for trick or treating, he was cranky! I thought for certain he was going to refuse to wear his costume and cry in our family photo for the third year in a row, but he surprised me. He refused to have his face painted so we took the mask and cut it so it would just sit on his head. He only allowed me to put it on for pictures and then took it off for the remainder of the night. Total mom and
Finn win!
Kensi changed her mind regarding her costume 12 million times between September and October. She finally came up with a Fall Fairy and wanted lots of leaves for her costume. We used an old headband and picked up some floral blooms and leaves from Hobby Lobby to create her crown and then made a cluster that was safety pinned to her tulle skirt. We added a few extra leaves all around her skirt which was also fabric skirting from hobby Lobby. It made everything so simple because it already had the elastic waistband and we only had to measure and sew one seam down to make it into a skirt.
Her fairy wings were actually Plan B. We attempted to make them from wire and cellophane for an iridescent look, but it was a Pinterest fail. I ended up running back to Hobby Lobby the morning of Halloween, grabbed a science fair poster board and an extra piece of cardboard paper to cover up the white side. Drew a fairy wing pattern on parchment paper, traced it onto the board and cut it all out. We used white acrylic paint for the design, attached elastic bands with hot glue and voila!
Olivia is our most vocal child and has been asking to be ‘Minnie for Halloweeeeeeeeeeen’ since June. Her pinafore is from Nelly Faye Designs and I love it so much because it’s adjustable by the way it ties in the back and we can totally use it again when we finally get to plan our trip to Disney.....someday hopefully soon. We paired it with a black leotard, black tights and Minnie Ears we found on Amazon. She adored it!
Now I’m off to take down the spiderwebs throughout the house, move all our pumpkins into the dining room and slowly start adding sprinkles of a Christmas joy everywhere else!!!
I will wait and do a fall recap post in a couple weeks, since we still have some Thanksgiving recipes and decor pieces to share. Last night I shared our Halloween costumes on Instagram and had a few questions regarding Kensi’s fall fairy so I’ll tell you how we made it!
We made final costume decision a few days before Halloween. The kids all chose their own and we ended up with Waldo, Spiderman, Fall Fairy, Minnie Mouse and a Witch. My costume didn’t come together this year as I was planning on Carmen Sandiago, but certain pieces didn’t match so we sent it all back! Sometimes that’s how life goes! Nonetheless, we all had a blast trick or treating in our neighborhood, collected waaaaaaay too much candy throughout the week (we’re sending most of it to the Candy Fairy!) and finished off one of our most favorite holidays watching Hocus Pocus one more time. It was our best Halloween yet and the kids had so much fun. They made it to far more houses and stayed out much later than before!
Finn wanted to be Spider-Man and he was actually fond of wearing his costume this year. He wore it to all our events leading up to the big night. We bought it from Costco and the gloves and mask were waaaaaay too small. They may have fit a baby. So we ditched the gloves and since he’s weird aboutwewringntjings on his head to begin with we planned face paint. Well, I’m true Finn fashion he fell asleep in the late afternoon and I had to wake him up to get ready for trick or treating, he was cranky! I thought for certain he was going to refuse to wear his costume and cry in our family photo for the third year in a row, but he surprised me. He refused to have his face painted so we took the mask and cut it so it would just sit on his head. He only allowed me to put it on for pictures and then took it off for the remainder of the night. Total mom and
Finn win!
Her fairy wings were actually Plan B. We attempted to make them from wire and cellophane for an iridescent look, but it was a Pinterest fail. I ended up running back to Hobby Lobby the morning of Halloween, grabbed a science fair poster board and an extra piece of cardboard paper to cover up the white side. Drew a fairy wing pattern on parchment paper, traced it onto the board and cut it all out. We used white acrylic paint for the design, attached elastic bands with hot glue and voila!
Now I’m off to take down the spiderwebs throughout the house, move all our pumpkins into the dining room and slowly start adding sprinkles of a Christmas joy everywhere else!!!
Monday, October 29, 2018
Fall Home Tour
We pretty much lost the month of September due to evacuating from Hurricane Florence and getting back into our routine and putting our house back together has been a much bigger hurdle than we ever expected. We felt as if we had moved into a new house and we were in the unpacking stages. With everything moved out of certain rooms we also decided to tackle a few small projects like painting which delayed everything even more. BUT, our house finally feels back together and we are enjoying our Halloween and fall decor even if it’s just for a few days, before we begin to transition into Christmas! Did I just say that? We are actually so ready!
We keep most decor pretty minimal with spider webs, a mix of real and faux pumpkins and bats. The kids love when we string spider webs throughout the house. We added some to the playroom this year and even though it didn’t make this post because it’s so messy, they loved having it become spooky! I also adore using the wool ball garlands. They’re a lot of fun and add just the right amount of color in all the right ways. The one pictures is from Hooray Everyday, but we also adore all the pieces from Pearl and Jane as well. So here’s how we sprinkled fall throughout our downstairs main living area for a little bit of a more festive and cozy space.
We keep most decor pretty minimal with spider webs, a mix of real and faux pumpkins and bats. The kids love when we string spider webs throughout the house. We added some to the playroom this year and even though it didn’t make this post because it’s so messy, they loved having it become spooky! I also adore using the wool ball garlands. They’re a lot of fun and add just the right amount of color in all the right ways. The one pictures is from Hooray Everyday, but we also adore all the pieces from Pearl and Jane as well. So here’s how we sprinkled fall throughout our downstairs main living area for a little bit of a more festive and cozy space.
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Favorite Fall Wallpapers
Fall is such a fun season to dress everything up and make it festive. Y’all know I’m sucker for this season so it shouldn’t be any surprise I find ways to makes everything a little more festive, including my phone. Did you know there are oodles of free phone wallpapers floating around on Pinterest? I didn’t! Once I stumbled on them, I had a freakin’ hay day! This last month I’ve been sporting fall colored leaves and I’m getting ready to switch it up for something a little more spooky.
Phone wallpapers are a clever and easy way to dress up the phone for holidays and seasons, without costing a penny. Plus, they can easily be changed to sport whatever may be going on. Olivia currently thinks the brown leaves on my phone are Chewbacca as she points and says ‘CHEWY?’ Clearly we have a Star Wars fan in the house! So here are some of my favorites I’ve found. Each are labeled underneath so you can pin and grab it for your phone and make the most of fall this year!
Thursday, September 20, 2018
Kids’ Halloween Favorites
This post is brought to you by our three little monsters who thoroughly enjoyed brainstorming their favorite halloween finds from over the last couple years and a few new ones for this year!
They were so excited to share their favorites with you in hopes of helping make your Halloween season more festive!
Every year we add a new book or two to our collection. Last year we added three; Gilbert the Ghost by Guido Van Genechten, How to Make Friends with a Ghost by Rebecca Green and The Scariest Book Ever by Bob Shea. Each are uniquely different in themes, but all winners for our kids! Gilbert the Ghost reminds me of a traditional book from when I was little. The story is more in depth and but illustrates individualism. How to Make Friends with a Ghost is creative with adorable illustrations and The Scariest Book Ever is anything but; talking about forest animals planning a costume party. Each are fun and definitely good additions to any bookshelf. For more fun book options, check out our list from last year! (linked here).
Each year we also get Halloween themed pajamas. I was scouting sites for weeks and originally ordered these cute Halloween themed donuts from GapKids, but after ordering and other stores releasing their festive goods, my girls asked for this pink fall themed set from Gymboree and I couldn’t resist. I love how classic and nostalgic they are. For Finn, he chose the Halloween Mask set and I ended up sending back the donut pairs altogether. We’re still waiting for these to arrive, but hope it our nasty storm won’t delay them too much. Another halloween jam favorite are the Burt’s Bee’s Halloween Stars. We had these last year and they were festive and fun the whole season long.
A few of our favorites from year’s past include the BlaBla Monster Finger Puppets, themed melamine dishes for all the dinner picnics around the fire pit, and of course decorating the house with our favorite sequin black cat pillow and a festive wool ball garland (currently loving on this one)!
We hope you have the most festive Halloween season this year!
Monday, August 27, 2018
Olivia’s Moana Inspired Cake + 2nd Birthday
Over the weekend we celebrated Olivia’s 2nd birthday, how that’s possible I’m not sure, I never sure, but somehow another year has passed and we celebrate all she has accomplished and look forward to her next year! Olivia is very different from her siblings. She is more verbal and blows us away with how much she understands at such a young age. When I say she’s verbal, I mean she specifically asked for a Moana birthday and has not stopped asking to be Minnie Mouse for Halloween in over two months. She amazes us all the time!
Like I said, she asked for a Moana birthday which really means a cake! As per usually we kept everything simple and did a vegan cake from Whole Foods with blue and and deep green waves around the outside, inspired by the ocean and topped it with a light pink flower. The top was also coated in crushed cookies to mimic sand and it was perfect for her. All day long she asked about her cake! Where my cake? My cake? My cake! Moana and Maui cake! Even though it didn’t have Moana and Maui on the actual cake it was beautiful and she adored it.
When it came time to sing to our sweet girl she climbed up on the chair, making sure she wore Kensi’s Moana necklace and soaked up all the attention she could. After we finished singing, she opened her gifts with the help of Kensi and Finn. We gave Olivia a couple different sets of Play-Doh which they all love using! She also got her own Moana necklace and immediately took Kensi’s off and put her own on. She’s never been so proud! We watched Moana a handful of times throughout the weekend, while also listening to the soundtrack. She loved celebrating her birthday and we had so much fun stretching it out all weekend long.
Happy Birthday our sweet girl! You are constantly keeping us on our toes with your sass and sweetness. You amaze us each day with your eagerness to keep up with Kensi and Finn. You love to talk, make animal noises, sing, play with all things Minnie Mouse and dressing up like a fairy princess with your sister. You love following whatever Kensi and Finn do. You have such a sweetness and love for babies and you’re constantly telling us ‘Baby cuuuute!’ You are truly our Moana, water, beach girl as you adore the sea and show no fear to the crashing waves. We love you so much baby girl, never lose your sense of wonder, sassiness and eagerness to learn!
When it came time to sing to our sweet girl she climbed up on the chair, making sure she wore Kensi’s Moana necklace and soaked up all the attention she could. After we finished singing, she opened her gifts with the help of Kensi and Finn. We gave Olivia a couple different sets of Play-Doh which they all love using! She also got her own Moana necklace and immediately took Kensi’s off and put her own on. She’s never been so proud! We watched Moana a handful of times throughout the weekend, while also listening to the soundtrack. She loved celebrating her birthday and we had so much fun stretching it out all weekend long.
Happy Birthday our sweet girl! You are constantly keeping us on our toes with your sass and sweetness. You amaze us each day with your eagerness to keep up with Kensi and Finn. You love to talk, make animal noises, sing, play with all things Minnie Mouse and dressing up like a fairy princess with your sister. You love following whatever Kensi and Finn do. You have such a sweetness and love for babies and you’re constantly telling us ‘Baby cuuuute!’ You are truly our Moana, water, beach girl as you adore the sea and show no fear to the crashing waves. We love you so much baby girl, never lose your sense of wonder, sassiness and eagerness to learn!
Monday, August 20, 2018
Back to School
It’s one of my favorites times of the year, Back to School! Even before the kids were in school I would get excited about this because we would pick out new supplies for our playroom and restock certain things such as paintbrushes, paper, crayons and all those fun things for the next year. This year is a little different because Kensi is going into kindergarten and Finn is starting preschool. Both of them are so excited to get back in to a routine of school and I am too!
Last year was our first official go around for school and we went through all the fun shenanigans of getting our backpack and lunch box and all the accessories to go with them. We ended up using this bento style lunch box from Pottery Barn Kids for Kensi last year and it worked pretty well. The one problem we came across was we couldn’t put anything with a liquid in any container because it would leak into the next section both underneath and on top since the sections weren’t completely sealed off from each other and the lid wasn’t necessarily tight against the top. This year we’re trying this Bentgo Box. It’s inexpensive and plastic rather than metal, but the reviews are good and several customers have said it doesn’t leak, so fingers crossed this will fit in the current lunch boxes we have and we don’t have to replace them, if we do we’ll have a couple extras on hand! I really love Bento style boxes for the simple fact it keeps everything organized and it’s much more appealing and the kids are excited to eat. Long gone are the days of stuffing a sandwich inside a plastic baggie and filling the rest of the space with other baggies of carrot sticks and Little Debbie Bars. Bento Boxes make it easy to portion food correctly and to choose healthier options in my opinion. There’s a space for everything and instead of feeling like their lunch is packed full of snacks or carbs, which sometime during the year it eventually will happen, but it’s easier to see what’s going inside because it’s so organized and it eliminates oodles amounts of trash.
As for the rest of back to school shopping, we did most of ours a few weeks ago and Kensi and Finn picked out a few fun items to keep in their backpacks since their supplies get distributed into their classrooms throughout the year. Kensi picked out this unicorn pencil pouch and Finn chose this cute shark pouch which he’ll probably keep legos and few extra snacks hidden! We also picked out these cute and fun cold packs for their lunch boxes. Most of our shopping really revolves around finding shoes and clothes to last them through a good part of the year. Here are a few of our favorites!
Last year was our first official go around for school and we went through all the fun shenanigans of getting our backpack and lunch box and all the accessories to go with them. We ended up using this bento style lunch box from Pottery Barn Kids for Kensi last year and it worked pretty well. The one problem we came across was we couldn’t put anything with a liquid in any container because it would leak into the next section both underneath and on top since the sections weren’t completely sealed off from each other and the lid wasn’t necessarily tight against the top. This year we’re trying this Bentgo Box. It’s inexpensive and plastic rather than metal, but the reviews are good and several customers have said it doesn’t leak, so fingers crossed this will fit in the current lunch boxes we have and we don’t have to replace them, if we do we’ll have a couple extras on hand! I really love Bento style boxes for the simple fact it keeps everything organized and it’s much more appealing and the kids are excited to eat. Long gone are the days of stuffing a sandwich inside a plastic baggie and filling the rest of the space with other baggies of carrot sticks and Little Debbie Bars. Bento Boxes make it easy to portion food correctly and to choose healthier options in my opinion. There’s a space for everything and instead of feeling like their lunch is packed full of snacks or carbs, which sometime during the year it eventually will happen, but it’s easier to see what’s going inside because it’s so organized and it eliminates oodles amounts of trash.
As for the rest of back to school shopping, we did most of ours a few weeks ago and Kensi and Finn picked out a few fun items to keep in their backpacks since their supplies get distributed into their classrooms throughout the year. Kensi picked out this unicorn pencil pouch and Finn chose this cute shark pouch which he’ll probably keep legos and few extra snacks hidden! We also picked out these cute and fun cold packs for their lunch boxes. Most of our shopping really revolves around finding shoes and clothes to last them through a good part of the year. Here are a few of our favorites!
A few extra tips...
Shoes: Shoes are always kept simple. Each of the kids have a pair of sandals, rain boots, dressier closed toe shoe and athletic shoe for play.
Tops: Choose 5-7 different tops that can be interchangeable with pants, shorts and/or skirts (for the girls)
Bottoms: Choose 5-7 different bottoms that include a mix of shorts and pants. This also include comfy bottoms like a pair of sweats.
Dresses: Our girls love dresses and rompers and typically wear these often. Choose 4 dresses that can be mixed and matched with an array of tights and leggings.
I love finding several neutral pieces and a few fun pieces that can constantly be mixed and matched. Having several neutral pieces that can be worn throughout the year really helps staying on a budget and avoids feeling like a new wardrobe needs to be purchased every season change. This allows us to pick a few fun items for each new season and holiday without breaking the bank!
Saturday, August 11, 2018
An Exciting Twist In Our Story
This summer was a whirlwind. After completing Whole 30 in May Mike and I had never felt better, I mean aside from the dislocated jaw and sprained shoulder fiasco. The first few days in June I felt sluggish and thought it was just from dealing with the last week and just having visitors. Mike and I joked about the possibility of being pregnant, but more than anything it was really just joking. In fact Olivia was giving us a ride through tantrums and starting the terrible two’s early while also teething some of her most difficult teeth. Being seriously pregnant was pretty far from our minds and we didn’t even know how it would have been possible based on certain details, but God can be funny and throw things at us we just never expect. It is in fact all in His timing, not ours.
So to put all the assumptions to rest or maybe even surprise some people we are in fact expecting our sweet #4 early next year! After the initial shock, we are crazy excited and the kids have known since the beginning of June and are truly the best secret keepers! We were able to keep our precious surprise to ourselves for quite a long time, since we decided to really lay low and allow me to rest as much as possible. I also didn’t start showing until this week which is nearly 4 months along. I know our parents have been dying to share the news and they have been such great sports about letting us share on our time.
So here we go with another incredible, crazy, life changing adventure and we couldn’t be more thrilled! The kids have been the absolute best! All three of them love snuggling on my barely showing belly, giving kisses to my belly button that has been popped for a few weeks and coming up with the most unique baby names! We really can’t wait for this little joy to join our crew early next year!
So to put all the assumptions to rest or maybe even surprise some people we are in fact expecting our sweet #4 early next year! After the initial shock, we are crazy excited and the kids have known since the beginning of June and are truly the best secret keepers! We were able to keep our precious surprise to ourselves for quite a long time, since we decided to really lay low and allow me to rest as much as possible. I also didn’t start showing until this week which is nearly 4 months along. I know our parents have been dying to share the news and they have been such great sports about letting us share on our time.
So here we go with another incredible, crazy, life changing adventure and we couldn’t be more thrilled! The kids have been the absolute best! All three of them love snuggling on my barely showing belly, giving kisses to my belly button that has been popped for a few weeks and coming up with the most unique baby names! We really can’t wait for this little joy to join our crew early next year!
Sunday, August 5, 2018
End of Summer
I’ve pretty much taken a good break from the blog this summer and it was much needed. It’s really nice to be able to escape from something, even if it’s just a short while and really focus on self love, family and good old mental and emotional health. I would never classify myself as a stressful person, but this year I realized I became very stressed and it actually affected me physically. At the beginning of summer my jaw began to pop frequently and became very sore. Eating was painful and because I knew my jaw was irritated I began clenching at night. After a visit to my dentist I learned I had in fact dislocated it and since it wasn’t a direct result of an injury such as taking a soccer ball to the face like I did in high school, it’s then stress induced. Say whaaaaat? I had no idea stress could cause me to actually dislocate my jaw. And since the jaw isn’t like other joints like say a shoulder that can be popped back into place, the muscles of the jaw have to become relaxed enough to naturally move back into place which can take some time and medications. I’ll be honest, talking to my dentist about three different medications he wanted me to take sent me into a panic attack in his chair. It was absolutely embarrassing and it was very clear just how stressed I had become. I refused the medications other than a muscle relaxer and applied our Panaway essential oil down my jaw bone. About a week later I had to eliminate the muscle relaxer, but that’s another twist in this whole story that will just have to wait a little bit!
Today I can happily say, I have removed the things in my life that were causing me ample amounts of stress, I took a break from nearly everything I do and spent the summer taking care of myself with much needed rest. By the way if you happen to go through a similar experience with your jaw talk to your dentist about an Aqualizer, it worked wonders! On top of my jaw incident, a few days later Mike thought it was a great idea to sprain his shoulder by falling off our dining table bench. Okay, okay, he did sprain his shoulder and yes he did do it falling backwards off the bench, but he also completely protected and saved Olivia from falling and hitting the back of her head on the floor which would have been so much worse. We are so very thankful it was Mike who was injured and even more thankful it was just a severe sprain.
Today, even though it’s August, I felt like I spent most of July throwing spaghetti at the wall so I’m jumpstarting into fall. Mostly because I’ve been ready for it for awhile, but I just need a fresh new season. We’ve spent the last few weeks stuck inside with constant rain and we finally had some sunshine this weekend to make life enjoyable again. We’ve also spent our summer weeks celebrating the 4th of July in Southport, traveling to Maryland and Raleigh to visit friends, chasing butterflies, catching fireworks at the beach and taking trips to the pool, beach and splash pad as long as we had breaks in what seemed to have been non-stop rain. We’re getting ready for Kensi to start kindergarten and Finn preschool which just seems crazy. Having a few days with just Olivia this year will be a new routine I”m excited to learn.
I hope your summer was packed full of fun and you were able to get some much needed R&R as well. I have so many fun things to share in the next few weeks and I hope you’ll join me and our fam as we get back into the swing of things here on the blog!
xoxo
Today I can happily say, I have removed the things in my life that were causing me ample amounts of stress, I took a break from nearly everything I do and spent the summer taking care of myself with much needed rest. By the way if you happen to go through a similar experience with your jaw talk to your dentist about an Aqualizer, it worked wonders! On top of my jaw incident, a few days later Mike thought it was a great idea to sprain his shoulder by falling off our dining table bench. Okay, okay, he did sprain his shoulder and yes he did do it falling backwards off the bench, but he also completely protected and saved Olivia from falling and hitting the back of her head on the floor which would have been so much worse. We are so very thankful it was Mike who was injured and even more thankful it was just a severe sprain.
Today, even though it’s August, I felt like I spent most of July throwing spaghetti at the wall so I’m jumpstarting into fall. Mostly because I’ve been ready for it for awhile, but I just need a fresh new season. We’ve spent the last few weeks stuck inside with constant rain and we finally had some sunshine this weekend to make life enjoyable again. We’ve also spent our summer weeks celebrating the 4th of July in Southport, traveling to Maryland and Raleigh to visit friends, chasing butterflies, catching fireworks at the beach and taking trips to the pool, beach and splash pad as long as we had breaks in what seemed to have been non-stop rain. We’re getting ready for Kensi to start kindergarten and Finn preschool which just seems crazy. Having a few days with just Olivia this year will be a new routine I”m excited to learn.
I hope your summer was packed full of fun and you were able to get some much needed R&R as well. I have so many fun things to share in the next few weeks and I hope you’ll join me and our fam as we get back into the swing of things here on the blog!
xoxo
Monday, June 18, 2018
Kensi’s Mermaid Inspired 6th Birthday
Over the weekend we celebrated Kensi’s sweet sixth birthday with a mermaid themed party. She’s been planning her birthday for months and actually stuck with her theme this year. We can’t believe she’s already six. Time really is a thief, but we do love watching her grown into the beautiful little girl that she is. Parenthood is so bittersweet, but we cherish these sweet memories we get to make with our kids.
We wanted to keep the party very simple with lots of balloons for most of the decor. We did a variety of ocean blue colored latex balloons and left them float in the dining room to give it an under the sea vibe. We also added in clear balloons which we filled with confetti and finished our balloon decor with a few silver dazzler stars. For the table decor we purchased three yards of shimmery metallic fabric to use as the tablecloth and topped it with basic colored paper products.
Food was kept to a minimum with delivered pizza, homemade cupcakes, custom donuts and salt water taffy candies. Our party was low key and low matience which kept the stress levels low and it helped to have some of our favorite oils going in our diffuser along with some mermaid music playing in the background! The best part was gifting each of Kensi’s friends with a bundle of balloons to take home with their party favors. They were excited to have their own bouquet and we were happy because it left us less to clean up! Pure genius.
We wanted to keep the party very simple with lots of balloons for most of the decor. We did a variety of ocean blue colored latex balloons and left them float in the dining room to give it an under the sea vibe. We also added in clear balloons which we filled with confetti and finished our balloon decor with a few silver dazzler stars. For the table decor we purchased three yards of shimmery metallic fabric to use as the tablecloth and topped it with basic colored paper products.
Food was kept to a minimum with delivered pizza, homemade cupcakes, custom donuts and salt water taffy candies. Our party was low key and low matience which kept the stress levels low and it helped to have some of our favorite oils going in our diffuser along with some mermaid music playing in the background! The best part was gifting each of Kensi’s friends with a bundle of balloons to take home with their party favors. They were excited to have their own bouquet and we were happy because it left us less to clean up! Pure genius.
Source List
Colored Latex Balloons \ Shop Sweet Lulu
Mylar Star Balloons \ Shop Sweet Lulu
Mermaid Confetti \ Shop Sweet Lulu
Metallic Paper Straws | Shop Sweet Lulu
Seashell Napkins \ Shop Sweet Lulu
Colored Paper Products \ Hobby Lobby
Donuts \ Duck Donuts
Friday, June 8, 2018
Whole30 & How We Changed
Mike and I have toyed with the idea of committing to the Whole30 plan for almost a year and we finally decided to give it a whirl after feeling a little crappy and in a major recipe rut. Honest...we’ve been ordering out more than we’d like, we typically keep it to once a week tops, and we’ve felt quite lazy and tired. Aside from eating out, our eating habits are pretty good. We eat a lot of produce, but we do like crunchy snacks such as pretzels, tortilla chips and crackers with hummus and pasta is always an easy choice for dinner when we’re feeling uninspired. We wanted to feel better which made us decide to take on Whole30 for the month of May.
When we started reading what we would be cutting out (dairy, grains, alcohol, legumes and sugar) we were surprised how much added sugar is in our food. Condiments are a biggie and we’re saucy people! But we knew the journey was short and if we didn’t gain better health at the end, then we wouldn’t do it again, but we were only kidding ourselves by saying that out loud because we both knew this challenge was definitely for the better and it needed to be done. It just made us feel better to allow ourselves that type of thinking, it was safe but not at all realistic.
Getting started, we decided now or never and May was our next full month. We built in a cheat day for Mother’s Day and discussed possibly cutting our month short since we would have visitors at the end of the month, but we had every intention to carry this through the end of the month as closely as possible. If you follow me on Instagram I shared what I ate each day following with a dinner photo and sometimes a recipe. There are some Whole30 cookbooks out there to purchase, but I didn’t want to overwhelm Mike or myself by feeling like we were creating everything new. If we wanted this to be a lifestyle change, in the sense of working in healthier options we knew we needed to set ourselves up for success. So instead of finding all new Whole30 recipes, we tried our best to keep our normal meals in place and alter them to meet Whole30 guidelines. That more or less meant instead of using flour, we used almond flour, soy sauce was swapped out for coconut aminos, we omitted cheese, worked in almond milk which we keep on hand anyways because of Olivia, and changed up our normal coffee routine.
The first day was easy, just as anything is in the beginning. I felt empowered, in control and motivated. The second day I woke up with a headache, dreaded drinking almond milk in my coffee because of the flavor change. My headache lasted most of the day. I rolled peppermint essential oil on my temples multiple times and really wanted to eat something sweet. I was cranky, tired and not motivated to eat what I knew I needed to eat. On this day Mike was feeling good which made me even more irritated because it was my bright idea to start what was now a painful journey and I wanted it to be a breeze and it wasn’t. I finished the day taking ibuprofen and went to bed praying I would feel better in the morning.
When Day 3 rolled around I felt so much better. The day before had to be my body detoxing and angry for not giving it what it craved: sugar. I felt like a new person and I was excited to keep this thing going. Mike on the other hand was me 24 hours later. He felt like pure crap. He was cranky for two full days and I was at the point of giving into something he wanted to eat just to cool him down, but he insisted he was working through it. Thank goodness Day 5 came and Mike was finally back to himself, but better. We made it to our one week mark and this journey felt as if it has lasted a lifetime. However, we were both feeling lighter and less bloated, and finding ourselves staying fuller longer throughout the day.
We continued into week 2 with no problems. Mother’s Day was quickly approaching and we were over the moon excited to have a cheat day! It’s so silly, but a lot of our conversations that week revolved around what we wanted to eat on Sunday. Pasta was #1 on our list along with wine. However, the day before we worked outside in the heat and I didn’t fuel my body with enough food and developed another massive headache. Mike offered to make dinner and we planned to have spaghetti squash with homemade meatballs (altering our go to recipe to meet Whole30). It was late and we finally got the kids to bed when I laid down on the couch and asked him if he has started the spaghetti squash. He had no idea how to prep it so we decided to just make some whole wheat pasta.
We ate maybe, MAYBE 1/2 cup of pasta and literally couldn’t/didn’t want to eat anymore. We were SO FULL!
While we woke up Sunday morning to our much anticipated cheat day, we were feeling a little off from our pasta the night before. We moved forward with our planned breakfast, Mike made me one of my favorites, cinnamon french toast. It was absolutely delicious, but shortly afterward we finished we were both starving! We had only fed our bodies forms of sugar and they were begging for whole foods. Throughout the day we found ourselves making healthier food choices where we were choosing items with minimal carbs and tons of veggies. We did indulge in some wine, chocolate and popcorn by the end of the night, but our cheat day was different than we thought it would be. We literally couldn’t eat the foods we thought we could anymore, or at least not to the extent of qualities and that’s where moderation comes in. We learned a big lesson. Where we always thought we ate in really good moderation is now nowhere near how we define moderation today. Of course that could change again over time if we slowly allow ourselves to fall back into our old habits. Not that they were necessarily bad habits, just different as everyone’s body reacts and functions slightly differently. That’s the beauty we’ve found doing Whole30, we were able to detox our body and learn what foods really fueled it, made it function and made us feel better.
I’m proud to share we finished our month out strong! The last two weeks (and a few days) went quickly because we were enjoying our new routine. My mom came to visit and she asked us to not change a thing, except maybe have some wine with her as she wanted to go back home with the habits started. Mike and I feel so much better, better than we thought we could feel. Does that make sense? We realize we were living our lives constantly feeling heavy, tired and unmotivated. We have changed so much in the last 30 days physically, mentally and emotionally. We feel lighter, our bodies are more toned, we’re not bloated and my face has cleared up in spots I’ve been struggling with for months! We’re exercising more and going to bed earlier. We are genuinely happier. We’re excited to start each day and what it has in store. We’re not stressing out over different things like we use to, we’re accomplishing more, using our essential oils regularly and managing our time better. I’m not saying Whole30 made all things happen to us, I’m saying by making healthier lifestyle choices it spurs us to make even more healthier choices. It’s addictive. And it’s well worth working on it for 30 days to gain a better perspective on our health and our life.
Our Whole 30 challenge may be over, but it doesn’t mean the habits are gone. Due to how good we feel, we both want to keep it going and work it into the kids’ meal routine. Of course we’ll still make our favorite cookie recipes and celebrate our birthdays with desserts, but it’s all in moderation and special occasions. Our goal is to keep up these eating habits and continue the Whole 30 and branching into Paleo the first 10 days of every month to keep us on track and to help us detox if needed.
Below are several of the recipes we used and will continue to use in our weekly meal plans. You can also see my daily menu on my Instagram Story bubble for Whole30 (@rachbraden). I hope our experience with Whole30 inspires you to try it and see what changes come from it!
Getting started, we decided now or never and May was our next full month. We built in a cheat day for Mother’s Day and discussed possibly cutting our month short since we would have visitors at the end of the month, but we had every intention to carry this through the end of the month as closely as possible. If you follow me on Instagram I shared what I ate each day following with a dinner photo and sometimes a recipe. There are some Whole30 cookbooks out there to purchase, but I didn’t want to overwhelm Mike or myself by feeling like we were creating everything new. If we wanted this to be a lifestyle change, in the sense of working in healthier options we knew we needed to set ourselves up for success. So instead of finding all new Whole30 recipes, we tried our best to keep our normal meals in place and alter them to meet Whole30 guidelines. That more or less meant instead of using flour, we used almond flour, soy sauce was swapped out for coconut aminos, we omitted cheese, worked in almond milk which we keep on hand anyways because of Olivia, and changed up our normal coffee routine.
The first day was easy, just as anything is in the beginning. I felt empowered, in control and motivated. The second day I woke up with a headache, dreaded drinking almond milk in my coffee because of the flavor change. My headache lasted most of the day. I rolled peppermint essential oil on my temples multiple times and really wanted to eat something sweet. I was cranky, tired and not motivated to eat what I knew I needed to eat. On this day Mike was feeling good which made me even more irritated because it was my bright idea to start what was now a painful journey and I wanted it to be a breeze and it wasn’t. I finished the day taking ibuprofen and went to bed praying I would feel better in the morning.
When Day 3 rolled around I felt so much better. The day before had to be my body detoxing and angry for not giving it what it craved: sugar. I felt like a new person and I was excited to keep this thing going. Mike on the other hand was me 24 hours later. He felt like pure crap. He was cranky for two full days and I was at the point of giving into something he wanted to eat just to cool him down, but he insisted he was working through it. Thank goodness Day 5 came and Mike was finally back to himself, but better. We made it to our one week mark and this journey felt as if it has lasted a lifetime. However, we were both feeling lighter and less bloated, and finding ourselves staying fuller longer throughout the day.
We continued into week 2 with no problems. Mother’s Day was quickly approaching and we were over the moon excited to have a cheat day! It’s so silly, but a lot of our conversations that week revolved around what we wanted to eat on Sunday. Pasta was #1 on our list along with wine. However, the day before we worked outside in the heat and I didn’t fuel my body with enough food and developed another massive headache. Mike offered to make dinner and we planned to have spaghetti squash with homemade meatballs (altering our go to recipe to meet Whole30). It was late and we finally got the kids to bed when I laid down on the couch and asked him if he has started the spaghetti squash. He had no idea how to prep it so we decided to just make some whole wheat pasta.
We ate maybe, MAYBE 1/2 cup of pasta and literally couldn’t/didn’t want to eat anymore. We were SO FULL!
While we woke up Sunday morning to our much anticipated cheat day, we were feeling a little off from our pasta the night before. We moved forward with our planned breakfast, Mike made me one of my favorites, cinnamon french toast. It was absolutely delicious, but shortly afterward we finished we were both starving! We had only fed our bodies forms of sugar and they were begging for whole foods. Throughout the day we found ourselves making healthier food choices where we were choosing items with minimal carbs and tons of veggies. We did indulge in some wine, chocolate and popcorn by the end of the night, but our cheat day was different than we thought it would be. We literally couldn’t eat the foods we thought we could anymore, or at least not to the extent of qualities and that’s where moderation comes in. We learned a big lesson. Where we always thought we ate in really good moderation is now nowhere near how we define moderation today. Of course that could change again over time if we slowly allow ourselves to fall back into our old habits. Not that they were necessarily bad habits, just different as everyone’s body reacts and functions slightly differently. That’s the beauty we’ve found doing Whole30, we were able to detox our body and learn what foods really fueled it, made it function and made us feel better.
I’m proud to share we finished our month out strong! The last two weeks (and a few days) went quickly because we were enjoying our new routine. My mom came to visit and she asked us to not change a thing, except maybe have some wine with her as she wanted to go back home with the habits started. Mike and I feel so much better, better than we thought we could feel. Does that make sense? We realize we were living our lives constantly feeling heavy, tired and unmotivated. We have changed so much in the last 30 days physically, mentally and emotionally. We feel lighter, our bodies are more toned, we’re not bloated and my face has cleared up in spots I’ve been struggling with for months! We’re exercising more and going to bed earlier. We are genuinely happier. We’re excited to start each day and what it has in store. We’re not stressing out over different things like we use to, we’re accomplishing more, using our essential oils regularly and managing our time better. I’m not saying Whole30 made all things happen to us, I’m saying by making healthier lifestyle choices it spurs us to make even more healthier choices. It’s addictive. And it’s well worth working on it for 30 days to gain a better perspective on our health and our life.
Photos on the left were taken April 2018. Photos on the right were taken May 26, 2018.
Our Whole 30 challenge may be over, but it doesn’t mean the habits are gone. Due to how good we feel, we both want to keep it going and work it into the kids’ meal routine. Of course we’ll still make our favorite cookie recipes and celebrate our birthdays with desserts, but it’s all in moderation and special occasions. Our goal is to keep up these eating habits and continue the Whole 30 and branching into Paleo the first 10 days of every month to keep us on track and to help us detox if needed.
Below are several of the recipes we used and will continue to use in our weekly meal plans. You can also see my daily menu on my Instagram Story bubble for Whole30 (@rachbraden). I hope our experience with Whole30 inspires you to try it and see what changes come from it!
Fruit Bowls: 2-3 different fruits topped with sliced almonds, sprinkled with cinnamon.
Tomatoes + Eggs: 2lbs tomatoes (roughly chopped), olive oil and 3 garlic cloves. Simmer 15 minutes. Season with salt, pepper + red pepper flakes. Add six whole eggs, cover & cook 4 minutes. Serve with fresh basil.
Kale + Eggs: Sautéed kale with garlic. Top with one over easy egg.
Grapefruit + Scrambled Eggs with Ghee.
Mushroom Chicken Burger: 1lb ground chicken, 5 baby bella mushrooms, 2 tablespoons parsley minced, salt & pepper. Drizzle olive oil. Mix with hands, form into 4 patties. Grill on medium heat, 5 minutes each side.
Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Beef Carnitas with Lettuce Wraps
Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Beef Carnitas with Lettuce Wraps
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
