Statement Tees

  

My usually mom "uniform" consists of stretchy, comfy pants, and tees that make a statement! Thread Tank makes the best shirts! They have hilarious tees about being a motherhood, inspirational phrases, being an animal lover and tees about my favorite shows (Gilmore Girls and FRIENDS)! They create each tee to be a wearable, colorful story! 

I love this sweet shirt! Reminds me of the little things that truly matter in life: mainly my littles! But, also the sweet little flowers they pick for me, watching amazing little creatures on the ground, and finding time to appreciate all the moments in life! 

And this tee... accurately depicts so many aspects of my life! Not sure if I should laugh or cry!

I love Thread tank tees! You can find them on their website or Instagram

Tiny Tummy Tales

Our dinner table has been plagued with "just one more bite," or "no dessert until you eat this," for far too long. I am so tired of negotiating with my children! No one wins, and our precious time as a family became the most dreaded time of the day.

I had visions of a happy family dinner table, where we truly came together to enjoy one another and reconnect! Thankfully Kendra has written a story about Flint the Dragon eating healthy green smoothies. All of the other dragons can fly, but Flint keeps crashing. Thanks to his "Super Dragon Rocket Fuel," he's able to fly with the other dragons!

My children rarely listen when I lecture them about something. After reading a story, they identify with the characters and storyline and understand the concepts I'm trying to lecture about much better! This is my favorite way to teach!



The "Picky Eaters 'Healthy Main' Kit" comes with the book, Flint the Dragon Learns to Fly, an activity pack, 5 kid-approved green smoothie recipe cards, and a sticker chart to keep track of their healthy eating!

Obviously, eating anything with an awesome name is way better than eating something with a boring name! I love Kendra's creativity! 

These recipes are delicious! My boys are happy to help make them, and even happier to eat them! 

The sticker chart is a great way to reward and encourage healthy eating! 

The activity pack is perfect for reinforcing healthy eating!

You can find Flint at http://www.tinytummytales.com/ or on  Instagram

Happy Healthy Eating! 

Favorite Books: June 2018

These boys love to read! We check out as many books as we can from the library, and the kids still cry on our way out because we can't bring ALL the books home! We use our library extensively, we typically only buy a book if we've checked it out from the library and loved it enough to make it part of our home library. These are the books we've wanted to read over, and over again this month!

Screenshot from the Goodreads App 

We observed our caterpillars become butterflies this month, so this book was, of course, a staple in our home! My 2-year-old loves this book so much because he can recite it! Simple words, a predictable pattern, great pictures! Perfect for every age. 

 Screenshot from the Goodreads App

My 5-year-old is obsessed with the Magic Tree House series. We have yet to find a book in the series that we didn't enjoy. They are beginner chapter books that still include illustrations every few pages. The stories are intriguing and educational. Camden especially loved this one because he's been to Pompeii and seen Mt. Vesuvius. 

Screenshot from the Goodreads App 

This will accurately tell what my boys have been struggling with this month! They don't always listen to me when I try to teach them to share, or be respectful. Reading is a great way to teach a lesson without lecturing. If they're fighting about something, all I have to do is start reciting a few lines from the book. It immediately makes them laugh, and then they remember what happened to Fuzzy Llama when the friends weren't sharing nicely. 

Screenshot from the Goodreads App 

Little Blue Truck is the best! The sweet little truck teaches an incredible lesson about treating everyone around you with respect and kindness. Animal friends, and a little humor thrown in. We LOVE this book!

Screenshot from the Goodreads App 

Richard Scarry is an incredible author! Mr. Rabbit isn't looking where he's going, and gets stuck in the cement. The townspeople come up with some very clever ways to get him unstuck! Even as an adult, I was belly laughing the first time we read this book together. It is perfect for those beginning readers!

Screenshot from the Goodreads App 

Mr. Popper and his penguins are so entertaining! Mr. Popper is infatuated with the Arctic, and is very surprised when a penguin shows up on his front door! 

Screenshot from the Goodreads App 

Sometimes I forget that the classics I've read a million times are brand new to my children! The Little Red Hen is a great book to encourage children to help each other!

Screenshot from the Goodreads App 

We love all the National Geographic Kids readers! This Butterfly one was perfect to read while we observed our real-life butterflies. The level 1 readers are a bit more difficult than the level 1 readers form other brands, but the pre-reader level is great for those emergent readers! These books are packed full of information and interesting facts!

Screenshot from the Goodreads App

This book has a musical quality to it when you read it. I find myself reading it in a hushed, soft tone. It's all about the animals that come to life when night falls. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful! 

Screen from the Goodreads App

Once you've read this book, you'll look at water differently. It simultaneously follows the stories of Salva, and Nya in South Sudan. Salva was forced from his country as a young boy, and spent many years in refugee camps or walking in the desert. Nya spends every single day walking to the water hole to supply her family with water. Their stories are incredibly humbling! This is the kind of book that will change you! 

Wash. It. Later.

"The only solution for soaking clothing on the go!"

Matt always teases me for packing so much gear for vacations, day trips, or when we go on a walk around the neighborhood. But, when the kids spilled red gatorade on his shirt while we were boating, he was very happy I brought along the soak & save bags from Wash. It. Later. These bags are perfect for any outing - big or small! 

When you're out and about and someone spills a hard-to-remove substance, the bags can immediately get to work on those pesky stains. If you're on a day trip and a garment gets dirty, add the clothing to a 'soak & save bag' so you won't have to worry about treating it as soon as you get home. Or, bring these bags along on vacation so a stain doesn't set in before you can return home and treat it.  

Wash. It. Later. was created by Hannah, her husband, and her sister-in-law. Hannah is a mom of two and created the Soak & Save bags because she's been there... too many times! Kids are messy, dirty, and sticky, but now there's a way to prevent messy clothes from ruining an outing. Kids or no kids, these bags are great for treating stains away from home!

 Each box contains 3 'soak & save bags' that couldn't be easier to use! I love that the bags are fully recyclable and each contain 1 hypoallergenic soaking pod. They're about the same size as a grocery bag, and will take up hardly any room in your purse or diaper bag.  I am very impressed with how strong the adhesive is; you won't have to worry about them leaking at all!

You can find the Soak & Save bags on their website and follow their story on their instagram page @washitlater!   These will be a staple in our summer adventure bag! 

Traveling With Toddlers!

Forced family fun in Ephesus, Turkey

We're gearing up for our first international trip with both kids! We've traveled to Europe, and Asia with Camden, but Brayden has never been out of the country. Some may say not to travel with toddlers because they won't remember the trip or appreciate the experience as much as they should. True. They probably won't remember the trip. But, guess who will remember the trip? ME! And, I like having my kids with me. 

As I was getting ready to make my packing list, and gather packing essentials, I remembered some of the mistakes me made traveling overseas with Camden, and some of the things that worked really well!

Filling a water bottle with rocks and sand in Rhodes, Greece

Slow Down:

 This is probably the #1 thing to remember when traveling with kids: slow down! Go with the flow, chill out, and don't over book yourself! If your kids are really interested in something, follow suit! It will be a much more enjoyable vacation if you aren't spending the whole time trying to hurry the kids along. They might even notice and appreciate all the things you walked right passed. It can be frustrating, but sometimes you can't expect your kids to do everything on your itineraries. Keep them in mind while planning your vacation! 

Sleeping in his stroller in Athens, Greece

Don't Mess with Sleep:
Nothing is more miserable than an overly-tired, cranky toddler! It's wonderful if your child will nap in a baby carrier or stroller! Mine will nap on the go, but only if they're exhausted. The naps are never quite as long, or quite as peaceful, though. If that afternoon nap really interferes with your itinerary for the day and the nap on-the-go didn't work out as planned, make sure you get your little ones to bed earlier at night. You can't expect them to miss naps, get to bed late, wake up early to get going, and still be perfectly happy. It doesn't work at home, it definitely won't work traveling! Provide time for them to make up for lost sleep or take advantage of the early risers, and plan your activities in the morning!



Bring On the Screens:
We try very hard to limit screen time at home! My boys know when they have screen time built into their schedule, and we rarely veer from that. When we're traveling, we encourage the kids to still play and explore, but when we're on a long plane flight, we'll do anything just to get through it as smoothly as possible. Don't feel bad if your kids play on a tablet for hours, the other passengers will be very happy! We love our Amazon Fire Kids tablets because we can download tons and tons of books to read together! That way, they aren't solely watching shows on the tablets.  


Eating spaghetti in Rome, Italy

Full Tummy, Happy Toddler:  
Eating out, and buying snacks gets really expensive really quickly! I can't stress this enough: order food your kids will eat! If they won't eat spinach at home, they aren't going to eat it on a vacation. It's more important for them to have full, happy tummies than to engage in a power battle over food. 

 I like to pack snacks in plastic containers, because it isn't going to go over well if their goldfish crackers are smashed to smithereens.  The food containers may take up some precious packing space, but they'll stack up nicely for the return flight home. You can't typically carry fresh produce into another country, but you can bring a lot of other snacks! Some of my toddlers favorite travel snacks are: gold fish, pretzels, plain bread, mandarin orange cups, applesauce pouches, fruit snacks, fruit leather, beef jerky, granola bars, Teddy Grahams, olive cups, and dried fruit. 

Cuddle & Connect: 
Traveling can be really overwhelming for adults and kids! It can be difficult when everything feels so different: eating new food, sleeping in a new place, etc. If you can keep some of the routines that you have at home, that can be really comforting. If you always bathe the kids, and read them a special book before bed, make sure to do that while traveling too! Connecting with your kids through the crazy can help them feel much more settled!

Your Secret Weapons:
When my kids have lost it, and nothing I do seems to help, I like to pull out the big guns. The secret stash of special snacks or brand new toys that will eradicate any memory of why they're so upset. Lolly pops, M&M's, chocolate covered raisins, new Hot Wheels cars still in their packaging... all the good stuff!


Happy as can be in Rome, Italy

Don't Say Cheese:
I know you want the perfect family picture to remember the vacation, but you don't need 10,000 pictures. A few posed pictures is plenty! I am so guilty of pulling out my phone every time I'm enjoying something. I urge you to live in the moment, put your camera down, and enjoy what you're doing instead! Or, at least take pictures of your family enjoying the moment instead of forcing them to smile at the camera!

Good luck, & Happy Traveling!

Mom-Friendly Dresses

When I pick my outfit in the morning, I'm mainly concerned about whether or not I can "mom" in it. Can I get easily get down on the floor to play with legos? Is it comfy enough for our book reading cuddle sessions on the couch? Can I stay modest while trying to pick up my wiggly toddler? 

These Cleo Madison dresses are perfect for "momming!" They're modest with sleeves, high necks, and long enough to reach the bottom of my knee. The owners, Elizabeth and Adam, feel very passionately about keeping the prices as low as possible!  They're beautiful, comfortable, budget friendly and many of them are even nursing friendly! 

These dresses are perfect for church on Sunday, or around the house! I even fell asleep in one of these dresses the other day, and continued to wear it the next day. No shame. Besides being practical, these dresses are absolutely gorgeous! There are so many beautiful floral patterns that I can't get enough of! I love that these dresses make me feel cute and stylish! 

You can find them at www.cleomadison.com or @cleo.madison on Instagram! 

Happy Mommin'!