Raising kids with a passion for sports is a rewarding experience, but it often comes with financial challenges for families. From registration fees and travel expenses to quality gear and coaching, the costs can add up quickly. However, fostering a child’s love for sports doesn’t have to drain your wallet. With thoughtful planning, savvy shopping, and practical solutions, families can support their young athletes without sacrificing financial stability. This guide explores how to balance kids’ … [Read more...]
Milestones That Matter: Your Child’s First Five Years
The first five years of a child's life are a flurry of growth and change. One minute, you are cradling a newborn who fits in the crook of your arm, and the next, you are watching them run off to class with a backpack that looks far too big. It all goes by so quickly! Knowing what milestones to expect and finding ways to be present for them can make sure that you don't miss a thing. The First Year During the first year, everything feels new. Your baby's first real smile usually appears … [Read more...]
Car Maintenance Tips to Remember for Fall
Fall is here and that means our cars need a lot of TLC. Last winter and this summer was rough on cars, so it’s important to take the time to ensure they are running their smoothest. Check out these car maintenance tips to remember for fall.Get Your Brakes CheckedIf your brakes are starting to sound a little squeaky this fall, make sure you get them checked. Cooler weather is drawing near and you don’t want to have any issues on the side of the road because of some faulty brakes. Failure … [Read more...]
Dainty and Demure: Nursery Design Ideas for a Baby Girl’s Room
Designing a baby girl’s nursery is an opportunity to create a soft, welcoming retreat that feels magical yet tranquil. Whether you’re drawn to timeless elegance or modern whimsy, your choices in textures, colors, and decor will shape the gentle ambiance your baby needs to thrive. This essential guide shares beautiful ideas to inspire your nursery, including how to style and select the perfect wall decor for your nursery room. Choose a Serene Color Palette Start with soft, … [Read more...]
Jellyfish Paper Craft
The theme of our summer break has been crafts. We have been crafting up a storm at home and going to a lot of craft classes in the community. The trick to this being fun for the whole family (read MOM) is that the crafts are easy enough to be completed without very many instructions and easy enough for my 3 year old. Cheap crafts are always welcome, and this definitely fits in that category. Not to mention it will make a ton of them, so it's crafting for a long while.As I was thumbing … [Read more...]
Maple & Cream Baked Acorn Squash
If you are looking for a delicious and different side dish or a lighter substitute for a meat dish, acorn squash is a tasty way to go. This Maple & Cream version is filled with a rich, maple sweetened cream and baked until tender. I love to eat mine as almost a soup, scraping the “meat” out of the squash, and spooning up some of the rich cream in the center- a perfect bite! If you like a little spice you can add a pinch of cayenne to your filling to flavor it up a notch! Maple & Cream … [Read more...]
Sweet Onion Turkey Sandwich
A few years ago we lived in Kansas. During that time we were introduced to the most delicious, homemade salad dressing - a sweet onion vinaigrette. I instantly fell in love with the flavor and so I got the recipe and it made it often for my family. I would make multiple large salads every week so that we could enjoy this delicious dressing. One day my husband and I got in a sandwich mood and we experience sandwich creating magic. All the stars aligned and we created the most delicious sandwich, … [Read more...]
Loaded Pasta Salad
As the weather warms our family outings begin. This means the time is soon coming where I'll be packing lunches quite often as we venture out to different parks, activities and small road trips around the area. Instead of just packing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and calling it good, I want to include fun and different food options that are easy to take on the go. Loaded Pasta Salad is one of those things that is easy to customize based on your food likes and easy to take along. With a … [Read more...]
5 Tips to Maximize Your Summer Road Trip
Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser, Walmart Family Mobile. All opinions are mine alone. #SummerIsForSavings #CollectiveBias #WFM3This summer we spent many, many hours in the car together as a family traveling to several family vacations. Our latest road trip, and last one of the summer (sad face) ended just a couple days ago. While I had several hours to think about life in general, I got to thinking about how I could help make the most … [Read more...]
Summer Park Exploring – Tips to find a great park
This post was sponsored by Landscape Structures as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.To help fight summer boredom we have started summer park exploring. We have lived in this house for almost eight years and have become pretty familiar with the parks around us, however, we haven't really stepped much out of our little sphere of the world we live in to explore parks beyond. Here are my tips to find a great park for your … [Read more...]
4th of July Activity Printables
The 4th of July is one of my kids favorite holidays! They love the fireworks, the BBQs, the friends and food. We try to have as much as fun as can cram in. In Missouri, where fireworks are allowed for 4-5 days around the 4th of July, the celebration lasts for days. If you are planning a fun celebration here are some printable activities you can incorporate into the events. Free 4th of July Word Search To get this printable just click on the picture and download it to your computer. Then you … [Read more...]
3 Star String Art Tutorial
I love getting ready for patriotic holidays and making cute decorations for my home. Here is an intermediate tutorial for a 3 Star String Art decoration. Hang it outside on your porch or lean it indoors on your fireplace mantel. Where ever you put it, it'll be an impressive piece of decor.Materials: Embroidery Floss--1 each of red, white and blueNails with nail head. --I'm using wire nails I picked up at Wal-Mart. A 2 oz package of 3/4" nails. Tack Hammer or Regular HammerWood … [Read more...]
Flag Rice Krispie Treats
I love that there are several patriotic holidays throughout the year so that my Patriotic ideas can be used several times throughout the year. While I have a lot of patriotic craft ideas, I'm new to the patriotic recipe field. Let's dip our toes into this pool together with these Flag Rice Krispie Treats.First you'll make traditional Rice Krispie Treats. Then transform them into these adorable flags. You can even insert a lollipop stick if you want to make them Flag pops!Ingredients- 4 … [Read more...]
Patriotic Star Shirt
I love dressing my whole family for different holidays. With the 4th of July (or any patriotic holiday) it's really easy to do because anything with red, white and blue counts. Here is a simple Patriotic Star Shirt step by step tutorial. There still time to quickly make this before you set out for your 4th of July plans.Supplies:Iron-on fabric sheets, or iron on vinyl White t-shirt 1" & 2" Stars Iron Pencil Fabric scissorsDirections: 1. Iron your shirt 2. Trace your … [Read more...]
Popsicle Stick Flag Craft
This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something through these links I will receive a small commission. Thank you for your support.Finding easy crafts for my kids to make with just a little bit of help is always my goal. During summer break they like to be busy and craft so since the 4th of July happens in the middle of summer break we begin making our patriotic crafts pretty early into summer break. Making the Popsicle Stick Flag Craft only requires a few materials and a couple … [Read more...]
