When Your Child Prefers One Parent

As a parent, I enjoy the feeling of being wanted and loved by my children.  When they get hurt or are scared, the little cry of "Mommy!" makes me feel that my kids know I'll help and protect them.  When they are excited about something and come grab my hand to show me their new "cave" or "store", I (usually) can't help but smile.  But to be honest, being a stay-at-home mom can be really exhausting.  Sometimes it's really hard to muster up the excitement and exclaim "wow!" for the 100th time that day or pick up their drink off the floor or sit down to eat some lunch only to have them ask for more food.

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Book Review: Disneyland On Any Budget by Jessica Sanders

Before my family and I went to Disneyland last fall, I did a TON of research on a million different website and blogs trying to learn as much as possible about lodging and food and travel and strollers and souvenirs and anything else I could think of that I might need to know about when planning a trip to Disneyland.  I learned a lot and everything I found was really helpful.  Our trip to Disneyland was a huge success and I even learned a few things that I've been able to share with others.

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Affordable Toys for Toddlers

During the next four months, we'll be celebrating Christmas and both of my kids' birthdays.  This means that we have to budget well for gifts and be selective in what we choose to bring into our home.  In addition, we want good quality toys that aren't going to break the bank.  I've always prided myself on being a bargain shopper and Christmas and birthday gifts are no exception.  Just last week I saved $15 on a present for my son by shopping around, which turned something over-budget into something affordable.  I always give myself a good pat on the back when that happens. *wink*

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What I'm Thankful For

In the last few weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, one of my most popular posts has been What I'm Thankful For which I posted last year just before Thanksgiving.  I've been surprised to see it move up my charts and is currently the 5th most popular post on my blog!  People must really want to know what I'm thankful for! *wink*

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Simplifying the Season

At the beginning of this month, we had a lesson at church about the trio of holidays--Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years--and talked at length about how they are each related to each other and why celebrating them together can actually enhance our enjoyment of the holiday season.  I hadn't really thought about it in this way before but haven't been able to get it out of my head.

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Gift Guide: Women

Last year around this time, I did a couple of pretty extensive gift guides: one for parents/grandparents and one for men.  But I didn't quite have time to put together one for women.  As a woman, you might think that I would have a pretty good idea of what women want when it comes to gifts, but to be completely honest, I usually have a really hard time telling my husband (or anyone else) what I want for Christmas or my birthday.  Am I the only one with this problem?

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DIY Elf Door

I'm always trying to think of new traditions for my family to incorporate during the holidays.  Right now, we just have a handful of Christmas traditions but I've been wanting to add another one.  In August I got an email from Jane.com with a cute little elf door.  What at fun idea! I thought to myself as I clicked on the link.  As cute as it was, I didn't want to pay $24 for the door plus the other accessories (fence, lights, etc) and then pay for shipping.  I knew I could do it for cheaper myself and starting looking around online.

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You Know You're A Mom When...

 Last week, I was making dinner, talking to my husband on the phone and trying to prevent my daughter from dragging a stool over to the stove so she could "help" when my 2.5 year old son came up and told me his tummy hurt.  I assumed he was hungry since it was close to dinner time, but almost as soon as the words "It's almost dinnertime" were out of my mouth, the poor kid emptied his stomach all over the floor.  After a hasty good-bye to my husband, I walked my little boy quickly and carefully to the bathroom where he got a bath and told me he felt much better.

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Pumpkin Cake

I am not even kidding when I say I have been waiting all year to share this recipe with you!  Pumpkin cake has been a family favorite of ours for years.  We actually stopped making pumpkin pie and make this instead every year for Thanksgiving!  Yes, it is that good.

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Book Review: The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh {Plus Book Club Discussion/Questions}

At the beginning of the summer, I put together a summer reading list and challenged myself to get all the way through the list before the official start of fall.  I'm happy to say that I made it through almost all of them, plus a few others that weren't originally on my list!  (You can find the list HERE and my reviews HERE.) The very first book I picked from my list was The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.  I hadn't heard anything about it other than the synopsis I read on Goodreads.

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My Weekend At Pinners Conference 2016

For my birthday this year, I asked for tickets to attend Pinners Conference here in Utah, which is basically a weekend long conference that is like Pinterest in real life.  Say what?!  Yes, it's true.  There are tons of booths and over 100 classes to choose from!  The classes are on food, photography, make up, time saving tips, relationships, crafts and so many other topics.  It really is like Pinterest in real life.

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Thankful, Grateful, Blessed

I have a stack of quote cards that I keep in my bathroom.  Each week or so, I move the one on top to the back of the stack and read the next one, trying to keep it in my thoughts throughout the day and coming week.  Right now, the one on top says, "How quick we are to find the rainbow before being thankful for the rain." (Dieter F. Uchtdorf)

So often, we are looking for the rainbow or the light at the end of the tunnel because we just want to get through whatever we are facing and just be done with it so we can move on to other, happier things.  And don't get me wrong.  It's not like I think we should enjoy going through hard things or that we shouldn't feel relieved when they are over.  I like feeling happy and strive for it.

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How Decluttering Helps Your Community

I feel like I am constantly decluttering: used up coloring books, old toys, clothes and shoes that have been grown out of or are no longer wanted, empty cardboard boxes... The list could go on and on.  I've always been the type of person to use something for as long as possible before I get rid of it.  But as I've grown older, I've noticed a desire to purge my belongings more often and give away things I no longer like or find useful.  I don't like stuff just lying around cluttering up my space (pun intended).  Do you feel the same?

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