The husband and I are leaving for our first “REAL” vacation in 6 years and our first big one with no kids, TONIGHT, Monday, October 31st!!!  The craziest part is we are leaving the country and headed to sunny, beachy Mexico. While the excitement is brewing and the anticipation is overwhelming, so is the anxiety.  The hardest part is not picking [...]

As every mom knows, having children is very expensive and saving money on big purchases, as well as daily purchases, goes a long way.  Anyone who knows me is aware of my love for finding good deals.  My husband jokingly refers to me as his ‘slick dealer’ and patiently plays the ‘guess how much this [...]

I shouldn’t complain that my kids gave me an extra 30 minutes to sleep this morning. First solids! My house is only clean for company. (taken by Evie)  Sweetest picture ever. Why do I bother to buy toys?! Fall is here!

I remember when I was little, my cousin Elyse and I used to pack up our “babies” and our bags and pretend to go on a trip. Oh, if only it were that easy now…and if only our moms were still picking up after us when the trip was over! Instead, when we become real [...]

We are lovin’ this Fall weather!  We spend just about every morning outside and my kids love to ride their bikes.  Evie inherited a Balance Bike from her cousin and has been learning lots of new “moves” this year. The theory of a Balance Bike is that by learning to balance while riding, the child [...]

Stepmother. I never gave much thought to the weight that word carried until I became one. In fact, the only experience I ever had with blended families came from watching The Brady Bunch or reading about Cinderella’s evil stepmother. Let’s face it, neither of those sets a very good example. When I met my husband [...]

Have you ever thought about using fresh pumpkins for all of your holiday baking?  For those adventurous pumpkin lovers, here’s a simple way to cook your own pumpkin, instead of using canned pumpkin.  Make sure you ask the “pumpkin people” which pumpkins to buy for baking.  There are several different pumpkins you can choose from. [...]

I stayed pretty active after college by going on a walk several days a week (except of course in the winter when I usually gained a few pounds).  My first pregnancy was a breeze- I didn’t gain very much weight and bounced back to my “normal” body pretty quick.  My second pregnancy was very different.  [...]

    My son, Brody, recently turned one.  He’s now officially a “toddler” (although he’s not “toddling” around on his own quite yet).   I still feel like he is my baby.  I wasn’t ready for him to grow up…if I had it my way I would have kept him a baby forever.  Of course, we don’t get to [...]

I dislike waking up on a cold winter morning and having to walk across the cold kitchen floor to find something for breakfast (although I don’t enjoy it in the summer either).  It is definitely that time of year for oatmeal!  My children love eating it and it’s such an easy breakfast!  Plus I know [...]