love

Really trying to slow down a little and enjoy time with my family. Life is so much better when we stop rushing all of the time. We have been aiming for nightly walks and tonight we caught the sun setting.

keep up

(My dream laundry room, so simple. Image found here)

I have been reading this book on how to be a more beautiful woman (in all ways, not really about looks) and part of the book spoke about how you don't leave things for later to get piled up. You keep up with things all of the time. I have put this in to practice with my laundry for the last three weeks. I don't love doing laundry mostly because I have so many little clothes and socks to sort. But, over the last three weeks I have made the laundry part of my daily/hourly routine. I am constantly putting it in and taking it out, probably 4-5 loads a day. I never leave clean clothes just folded waiting to be put back, I do it right away. I can't tell you what a huge difference it has made. I am always caught up, often washing laundry that was worn that very same day. It's like a tiny miracle for my family of five and I am never slaving away looking for something or staring at a heaping piles of clothes. No one is ever asking me where their shirt is and there are never stray clothes just lying around. It's magic and now that I have the laundry done, I have more time for other things. Funny how that works!

fav fav fav

Do you know what Dropbox is? I have decided that I am in love with it. It's a file sharing/file storage place and you can set up a free account! Sometimes I have pictures for friends but I have too many to email and they are too large to easily put on a cd. Now I can make a folder on my Dropbox (which is installed on my computer), view it online and send someone the link. Once they get to the link they can save each image or file to their own computer in it's original size. I know this is nothing new but Dropbox is so easy. After someone is done, I erase the folder and free up the storage space used. Right now I just use it for file sharing, so if you stay under a certain amount of storage it's free, or you can pay a monthly fee for more storage space. It's also great if you have a document for multiple people to work on! Easy peasy!

we found it

We have been looking for a toddler helmet for our kids for years and we finally found one. Our 18 month old son is super active and loves to pretend he is riding a scooter or bike. Usually we would buy a 3 year old helmet and put pads in it, but luckily we came across a 1 year old + helmet that was perfect and we found it at Walmart for $16.96. So happy! Helmets are so important to protect our kids. It's a Bell Infant Helmet.

sweet and simple

I posted this on My Year of Faith blog too. I have been singing this song to my daughter at bedtime and I have fallen in love with the words.

A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you're fast asleep
In dreams you lose your heartaches
Whatever you wish for, you keep

Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling thru
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
the dream that you wish will come true

You can even draw strength from a song meant for Cinderella. But let's face it, she had to go through a lot of heartache before her own dreams came true. So hang in there.

success

(photo from Inside the Kaganoff Kitchen)

I used Pinterest to find this yummy Chocolate Mint Icebox Dessert for Father's Day and it turned out great! You can get the recipe here. Thank goodness it was good because my last dessert attempt at a homemade carrot cake wasn't so successful.

hello new friend

Hello Egg White Separator, thank you for all of your help this weekend. I didn't know that we even had you, but hubby bought you awhile back. I also love that you rested on the edge of the bowl all by yourself. You are definitely worth the $2.95 we paid.

our daddy's day present

This year we made coupon books for daddy and the grandpas in our life. But I had the kids pick what they wanted to have the coupons say and then do the drawing. I loved how they turned out and they were all customized for each person. I could have shown you so many cute ones, but I loved that they picked to give their dad "extra time on the potty" and "you can buy us a toy." Others for the dad and grandpas were "a day at the beach," "free dessert," "drawings made by us." There were 12 coupon cards per booklet!

fav

My favorite part of the week? Flowers brought over from a girlfriend's yard. They smell so sweet.

new by TOMS

I love that TOMS now has eyewear. The styles look pretty classic and knowing that your purchase gives someone either medical treatment, prescription glasses or a sight-saving surgery makes it all the more fruitful. They run around $135 each. I can't wait to check them out in person.

yum

Have you tried these? A friend told me about them so I bought a big old box at Costco. They are the Brothers-All-Natural Fruit Crisps. They are basically freeze-dried fruit that has absolutely nothing added to them, no sugar or preservatives. They are actually 100% fruit! My toddler and I both love them equally. I have to say that I didn't love them at first bite, but by the second and third bite I was hooked. I have tried the Fuji Apple and the Asian Pear. So yummy!

thinking about

(my little teething monster)

Things on my mind this week:

1. What am I going to get B's teachers for an end-of-the-year gift? It has to be affordable and cute! Hmmmmmmm.

2. Father's Day is in 6 days and I need to think of something different to do for the grandpa's and dad's for their special day. I don't want to copy the Mother's Day gifts we did.

3. If you are having a hard time being able to afford groceries (or someone you know is), go to The Treasure Box website. You can get $60-$85 worth of food for $32. They are high quality, frozen foods and they are for anyone. Go to the website and search for a location near you.

4. My 18 month is teething big time........it's been rough. My sweet calm boy has turned into a teething monster. I think we might be on the upswing though, fingers crossed.

5. Grandma bought Piper this swimming suit, we are in love! We usually buy Kate Mack Swimwear but this year this one took the cake. Grandma also bought my teething monster this cute hat for summer, he's going to look handsome! I heart Baby Gap.

Wishing you a wonderful week!

thank you

To the very sneaky anonymous friend or family member who had this mug cozy sent to my house....thank you. I love it! You can get one here!

lover of

I am a lover of Netflix + Wii. We are taking a short hiatus from cable TV and I am so thankful that we kept our regular Netflix account so that we can get new releases sent to our house and also watch past episodes of tv shows and movies on our Wii. The world opens up for our kids when they need some down time.

summer practice

Yesterday I decided to practice for summer vacation and come up with a random craft to see how long it would keep my kids entertained.

This do-it-yourself little playhouse provided at least an hour of fun playtime! I also love that we can keep playing with it until it wears down. Fun with a box from Costco.

natural sweetness

I was really upset that the Clementine Cuties are out of season, well that was until I realized how many wonderful fruits are in season. We devoured this fruit salad tonight that had strawberries, kiwis, bananas and blueberries and we have been snacking on pineapple, watermelon and apples during the day. I have never loved fresh fruit more than I do right now!

sweden

Design Mom posted this blog post last week and I cannot get it out of my mind. First of all it put Sweden on the top of my travel list for the future, but mostly just seeing how important it is for kids to be outside really opened my eyes. I have to admit that since I have a toddler being outside is a lot of work, so I tend to go out for short bouts, but all three of my kids love to play outside with their friends....LOVE. This post opened my eyes to how things probably should be and how much more I want my kids to play outdoors and be more independent with their play time, even if it means that it will be harder on me. I also love that babies in Sweden nap outdoors and that Sweds enjoy their leisure time. It sounds like a beautiful way to live.

blessings

My dad bought a Blessing Bank for each of my kids and I love them. I am about to start implementing allowance in our household and since my kids are so little I want to use the Rule of Thirds and divide their allowance with one-third to savings, one-third to charity and one-third for their own spending. I love that their charity money will go into a Blessing Bank and when it is full they can give it how they choose. They even sent little bags to put their money in when they want to bless someone else. Sweetness.