This is officially the earliest we have EVER decorated for Christmas! I mean like 2 weeks BEFORE Thanksgiving! Yikes! I wish I had the right emoji for that!!!! But it was the right thing to do this year, and here's why..... My kiddos like most kiddos love Christmas and we need a full 6 weeks to enjoy those blow ups in the front yard, and twinkling lights on our tree. AND when my sweet friends at Kids Dream sent me these AMAZING dresses for the girls, we had to turn on some Christmas music and do a . . .
Simple ways to stay organized with kids
Back to school always inspires me to get it together! Does it inspire you too? You know clean out the closet. Organize the pantry. And this year back to school is totally crazy because I have 2 daughters in school, and 3 little people still home with me, two of which I am homeschooling. Needless to say I really had to up my game to stay on top of it all. Staying organized with kids has always been a challenge, but now it's a must! Here are 6 simple ways I am staying organized this fall: I make a . . .
Easy grocery shopping with Walmart’s free grocery pick up
Honestly I love to grocery shop.....when I am by myself. With 5 kids in tow? Not so much. So needless to say when I saw Walmart advertising their new free grocery pick up I had to investigate! And let me tell you friends it is LIFE CHANGING! I am serious! This is in no way a sponsored post. This is just me sharing the love with you. So here is how it works: You download the Walmart grocery app on your phone. Surprisingly the app is super easy to navigate and build your order. They have categories . . .
Living Simply in the kid’s rooms
Today I had a win! This room was a total disaster this morning....paw patrol EVERYWHERE! My son Knox just turned 3 and quite honestly the toys after the birthday party were out of control. I thought I did a good job of going through my boy's toys before his birthday, but when I walked in this morning that was clearly not the case! Basically friends, to live simply in your kiddos room you have to get rid of the toys. Not all the toys, but you have to get rid of most of them. Let's face it, they don't play . . .
Back to school must haves
I say it every summer, but I told my hub today, "this summer has flown by the FASTEST!" Maybe it's because our days are filled with babies and toddlers, or maybe it's because we went on vacation the first week of the summer, or maybe that is just how it goes. Regardless come Thursday I will have a 4th and 5th grader in school, and a 3 and 4 year old doing some homeschool preschool, oh and a 9 month old! Every year the girls pick out a new backpack and lunch box (usually the old lunch box has seen better days . . .
Hello Again
Yes the elephant in the room, let's just say it is, "you haven't bogged in 9 months!" I know! I know! So ,much life has happened in 9 months, but here we are again. Thank you for sticking with me. Thank you for finding your way here again. You might notice I changed the name of my blog to This Loud House (from Marianne's Blog). For a few reasons, one I only chose my original name because I couldn't think of anything better, and two because This Loud House truly describes the state of things around here . . .
The Pumpkin Patch
Hi friends! How I LOVE the pumpkin patch tradition we started when Mia was just a baby. Of course back then I agonized over the perfect fall pumpkin patch outfit for her, and then when Sadie came along they had to be matching. This year I threw all the rules out the window by letting them wear whatever they wanted, and guess what.........I still got great pictures I will treasure for ever :) Our cousins joined us, making it extra special, AND we actually made it there at 9:00am on a Saturday morning . . .
A Shared Room
Hi friends! I get a lot of questions about how I make our boy/girl shared room work, especially with the age difference. So, I thought I would share a little bit about that today. These are a few BEFORE pictures...... First let me say this room is still in the beginning stages. When I found out I was pregnant with #5 I immediately worked on a game plan for our home. "How in the word were we going to fit all these kids????" We have 3 bedrooms and an office with a closet we use as a 4th bedroom. It has . . .
The teal pumpkin project
We are joining FARE (Food allergy research and education) this year in their teal pumpkin project. You can help all children have a safe and fun Halloween by displaying a teal pumpkin outside signifying that you are offering candy AND non-food treats to those with food allergies. We took one of our old faux pumpkins and spray painted it teal. The boys were more interested in taking all the decorations off the porch and lining them up in the yard, but they were still good and CUTE helpers . . .
hello 11 months
Mia snapped this picture of Knox this morning on my iphone, and I love it! This sweet little man is 11 months. What a wonderful gift he is to our family. He truly loves his mommy, loves being a baby, loves the outdoors, and boy does he ever love food! I am still nursing! With each baby I set the goal to nurse for 1 year, and I have yet to make it, but I think Knox and I are going to get there. It sure hasn't been easy with 4 rounds of mastitis and a hungry baby who nursed around the clock in the . . .
