Learning How To Speak Your Partner's Love Language

When my husband and I were first married, I made the (silly) assumption that my husband should be able to read my mind.  "I shouldn't have to tell him how I feel or what I want.  He should just know."  (Cue the laughter.)  Ten and a half years into marriage and my husband and I are still learning how to better communicate with each other, but we try to take the guesswork out of it by actually telling each other what we want or need from the other.  When I was in 7th grade, I decided to take French class to learn how to speak the language.  I stuck with it for five years and by the time I made it to my junior year of high school, I could carry on a decent conversation and felt fairly confident that if I ever made it to a French speaking country that I'd be able to get by.  But just like learning a foreign language takes time and practice, so does learning how to speak your partner's love language.

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Kids Night In Box: Mind Your Manners

As a parent, teaching my kids to be thoughtful, kind and respectful of others is important to me.  Something we've worked on from a young age is manners, such as saying please and thank you, waiting their turn to talk and not chewing with their mouth open.  But sometimes it feels like the things I say go in one ear and out the other.  That's why I'm thankful for the different resources available to help me teach them.  Having the lesson come from someone (or something) other than me can create an environment where my kids are more willing to listen.

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Kids Night In Box: Camp

I never went to summer camp as a kid, but I did spend plenty of time camping with my family growing up.  Living in Utah, we have a lot of mountains nearby to explore and it's one of my favorite places to be.  So when I saw our Kids Night In box's theme for June was Camp, I knew my kids would be in for a fun group of activities.  Included in our box was a book, supplies to make a harmonica and a pair of binoculars, as well as a fun size bag of marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate.  They couldn't wait to start!

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20+ Easy Ways To Spend One On One Time With Your Kids

One of my goals this year has been to spend more one on one time with each of my kids.  This has proved to be more challenging that I thought it would be.  My oldest just finished kindergarten, my middle on is in preschool and the baby is just barely four months old, so we spend a lot of time together.  But what I've come to realize as I've made an effort to plan one on one time with them is that they don't care if it's 10 minutes or 2 hours.  They just want to have my undivided attention while we do something together.  Being a busy mom of three usually means that we're leaning more towards the 10 minutes rather than the 2 hours side of things, so I've had to become a little creative to work that time in.

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Communicating In Marriage

"If you were stuck on a deserted island, what three things would you bring with you?"  We've probably all heard this question at least a handful of times and jokingly replied with something obvious like, "a boat".  The truth is, most people aren't going to find themselves lost on an island in the middle of no where.  But if you consider the question in a slightly different light, it becomes much more relatable: "If you had to choose one person to spend the rest of your life with, who would it be?"  Hopefully, you'd choose your spouse!

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3 Tips For Creating A Mom Friendly Wardrobe

I was talking to a friend the other day about the struggle of finding every day clothes to wear that fit our lives as stay at home moms.  Often the only excuse we have to dress up is when we go to church or if we happen to have a night out with friends or the ever elusive date night.  As I thought back on this conversation later that day, I realized that my wardrobe has changed quite a bit in the last six years since my oldest was born.  The clothes I wore to work were no longer comfortable for my new routines and responsibilities and so I've shifted to pants that are easy to move and play in and tops that stay in place when I bend over.  You've probably heard the term "mom-iform" (mom uniform).  More often than not it has a negative connotation because the assumption is that if you are in clothes that are easy to move around in, they are probably low on the style scale.  But I want to share some qualities you can look for in clothes that will help you stay stylish and on budget.

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Kids Night In Box: Finance Club

The other day, my daughter had a small pad of paper and a pen and was going around the house marking different things "for sale" and putting a price tag on them: puzzle piece - $88, piece of play food - $1000, a magnet - $5 and so on.  Being 6 years old, her concept of money is still developing but she's at the point where she recognizes that everything has a price attached to it.  My son, who is 4, thinks he's rich if he has 100 pennies.  This month, we had the chance to review the Kids Night In box and learn more about money and both my kids really enjoyed it.

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3 Reasons You Should Mail Out Announcements

When was the last time you sent or received a card or letter through the mail?  How does it make you feel to get something other than an ad or a bill?  I know that it almost always brings a smile to my face.  There's a reason people still send out wedding invitations, graduation and birth announcements and Christmas cards through the mail.  There is something about having a physical piece of paper in your hands that makes it a little more special.

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Kids Night In Box: Day At The Farm

I love doing fun activities with my kids at home, but sometimes the thought of coming up with an idea or theme and then gathering all the materials together feels like more than I have time for as a busy mom of three kids.  So when I heard about the Kids Night In Box, I thought it would be a great solution and also a great opportunity for my kids to do something new and fun together as a family.

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3 Baby Products To Bring You Peace of Mind

Since having baby #3 a little over five weeks ago, it's been quite a whirlwind and life is definitely more complicated with trying to manage everyone's schedules (and the baby's non-schedule) while still getting stuff done both around the house and outside the house.  Thankfully, there are some great products out there that will allow you to be more productive, help your baby get more sleep and give you peace of mind.  A few weeks ago, I shared some items that were on my wishlist for baby #3, including the DockATot, the Binxy Baby baby hammock and a swaddle from The Ollie World.  Since coming home from the hospital, all three of these products have been so helpful as we adjust to life as a family of five.

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3 Ways My Happy Baby Wrap Makes Me A Better Mom

I'll be honest: I never thought of myself as a "baby wearing mom".  I just figured I'd hold my babies or put them in the swing or bouncer if I needed to when I was at home and keep them in the car seat, cart or stroller when we were out.  But do you know what I've learned since having my first baby over six years ago?  That I am a baby wearing mom and when I use my wrap, I am a better mom because of it.

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Staying Connected With Your Spouse After Having Kids

Adjusting to life as a couple after having a baby can be a real challenge.  So many of the things that seemed simple beforehand suddenly become more complicated and time consuming: leaving the house, taking a shower and even getting dinner on the table take more time, effort and planning.  With a new little one in the house, you will probably find yourself thinking that there is no way you can do it all.  And so you start looking at where you can compromise.  Unfortunately, one of the first things to get pushed to the back burner is your relationship with your partner.  It might be a mutual decision or an unspoken agreement, but either way it's going to take a toll on your relationship.  So you might be asking yourself, just like my husband and I have after having our first two kids: how can I stay connected with my spouse/partner after having a new baby?

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Why Christmas Cards Are Important {Plus Our Family Pictures!}

It wasn't until my husband and I got married that I sent out my first Christmas card.  Even then, it was just a picture of the two of us with the words Merry Christmas and a short note about wishing the receiver the best in the coming year.  It was nothing fancy and I felt a little silly sending it out, but the flood of Christmas cards we got in return honestly filled my heart with happiness.  There is something about going out to your mailbox and opening it up to find mail that isn't an ad, bill or junk mail that can put a smile on your face.

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3 Inexpensive Ways to Pamper Yourself

By the time I was in my junior year of college, I had three years of living on my own under my belt.  Where my money went was completely up to me.  I remember when I first started buying the foaming hand soap from Bath and Body Works. It was more than twice as expensive as the other stuff from Walmart, but I didn't care.  Why?  Because it was a small indulgence that wasn't going to break the bank, but it sure as heck brought a smile to my face.  As I was studying and had my hand under my chin trying to understand a new concept or review for an exam, the soft smell of coconut lime verbena would drift up to my nose.  You know the saying "money can't buy happiness"?  Well, I think that it should be changed to "money can't buy happiness, but it can buy back a little bit of your sanity".  Too long?  Maybe.  But still truthful don't you think?

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7 Tips for Hiking with Kids

This last week we went hiking as part of our Memorial Day activities.  We live close to the mountains and there are a lot of canyons and hiking trails to choose from, so we are always finding fun new places to explore.  My kids especially love hiking and it is one of mine and my husband's favorite activities as well so we do a lot of it.  With this being the case, I've learned a few tips along the way that have helped make hiking a more enjoyable experience for everyone.

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What I'm Reading: 3 Books in 3 Weeks

I've always been a reader.  According to my mom, I learned to read before I went into kindergarten and before that I was memorizing books so I could read them to myself.  In 7th grade, I was reading at a 12th grade level.  But it wasn't until I hit my junior and senior year of high school when I really started getting interested in books other than fantasy (like Harry Potter) or sweet and clean romance novels.  When I was in high school, I took an AP Literature and Composition class, which introduced me to different genres and I found that I actually liked a lot of them.  Since then, I've branched out and read YA fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, classic literature, sci-fi, distopic and others.  My brain gets bored if I read too much of any one genre so I try to pick up a variety of books when I stop by the library.  In the last three weeks, I've read three different books and all were about different topics.

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Book Review: The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows {Plus Book Club Discussion/Questions}

 

If you've been around my blog for long, you'll notice that most of the books I do reviews on are young adult fiction.  Most recently, I finished The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows (who also happens to be a co-author of one of my favorite books, My Lady Jane--read the review HERE.)  Books have always been one of my favorite ways to escape from the world.  My husband often teases me that when I'm reading a book that I can literally shut everything else out and not be aware of what's going on around me.  I love a book that pulls you into its world and makes you feel like the characters are real people, leaving you wondering what happened to them after the book ends.  I love finding a book that I want to read over and over again, until the book is smudged with fingerprints and can't stay all the way closed because the spine is so broken in.  These are the things I look for in a book.

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Book Review: Bucket of Awesome + A Giveaway

For many years I've used writing as a way to help me work through and remember things.  I have poems written after a challenging break-up.  A stack of diaries and journals from elementary school all the way through today detailing whatever I was/am going through at the time.  Even this blog is a way for me to put my thoughts down and organize them in a way that makes sense.  Writing helps me unlock memories and remember details in a way that nothing else can.  I wonder, how often do we take the time to think back on the experiences in our life that shaped us and made us who we are today?  Are they positive or negative?  Which would you rather focus on?

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The Best App for Organizing Kids Artwork and Schoolwork

When I was in 9th grade, my mom brought out a box of my old school papers, pictures I had drawn as a young child, lists of my first words and favorite foods to eat at different ages and so on.  She apologetically told me that she'd tried to keep as much as she could but couldn't hold onto everything and hoped I was okay with what she'd held onto.  I opened a box and it was like a walk down memory lane, except I didn't have memories of everything in the box.  I tried to organize everything by age and then school year but my mom couldn't remember all the dates and could only give me approximate time frames.  If I was lucky, I found a year or even a full date written on the back.  All those pictures and school assignments are now in a scrapbook of mine that I started on shortly after receiving this box of memories and I continued to add to it as the years progressed.  Now I have kids of my own and I find myself wanting to keep every single picture they draw or art project they make, but let's be real: there is no way I can physically hold onto everything.  So what's the solution?  I'll tell you: it's called Keepy.

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4 Ways To Style A Floral Skirt

Before I had kids, I dressed up a lot more.  I wore heels and my skirts and dresses had less spandex in them.  There were days I'd wake up and think, "I'll wear a skirt/dress today, just for fun!"  Fast forward to today and my daily wardrobe consists of jeans and a t-shirt with a cardigan thrown over the top with flats (nothing wrong with that).  Because when I'm chasing two kids around, running errands, playing on the ground or in the yard, I need to feel like what I'm wearing can keep up with my lifestyle.  At the same time, I want to look and feel put together and what I wear often affects how I feel.

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