Friday, July 31, 2015

Highlights

It's been a great week at my house.  We are settling into life in Indiana and enjoying some time with our families this week.  The best parts of our week were:

1. We have a wonderful neighborhood park just a few minutes from our house and we've already visited it several times.  The park has great walking paths, lovely flowers, lakes with turtles, play grounds and lots of shade.  Olive loves the little playground so we've walk a lap around the park, stop at the playground for her to play and then walk a second lap.  It's been a nice exercise routine for us.  The temperatures have been in the 70s and 80s all week so Indiana is sure giving us a warm welcome.
 Pure playground joy.
 Twinkly eyes for her dad.
 I'm thinking Olive's shampoo has been infused with Miracle Grow lately because her hair is growing like crazy!!  It's adorable and slightly terrifies me because I'm not such a pro at braiding.  Guess I need to start watching some youtube videos stat to improve my toddler hair doing skills.

2. We ordered a pair of wing back recliners and I can't wait for them to arrive in a few weeks.  They are comfy, I love the shape of them and when we were placing the order we found out the fabric we selected was called Olive.  Our daughter, Olive, approved.  She also loved the Christmas in July sale/decorations at the store.

 3. We are enjoying lots of local (Terre Haute) restaurants as we are getting settled here.  We've eaten at Moggers and they have delicious burgers, pizza, sweet potato fries, potato skins and local beer.  Square Donuts did not disappoint with their square donuts.  I think the powdered sugar one or the cake donut with sprinkles was my favorite.

 4. We moved Kevin into his new office!  He's got great lighting, a nice view of the courtyard and it'll be a great workspace for him.  He's been busy organizing his books and teaching materials and I've been busy looking for curtains, plants and fun decor to make it more homey.  I am hoping to find a great striped curtain or fun/manly pattern to coordinate with the ISU blue wall.

5. You know you are an adult when the sight of new appliances makes you happy!  We purchased a brand new washer and dryer and they are so nice.  We are really happy with them and it's nice to do laundry in new machines.

Hope you have a great weekend :) Thanks for stopping by my blog. 

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Loving Lately

I have a variety of things to share with you today that I've been LOVING 
and only a few that I'd say to stay away from.

// 1 //
I'm LOVING these ice cream treats!
They are 90 calories and the perfect late night snack
and they are less than $4 a box.

// 2 //
Graze is all the rage.
My recent Parents magazine came with a free trial subscription so I gave it a whirl.  I did one free box and one paid box for $7.  I'm review... blah.  The snacks weren't that great.  The portions were tiny and I ended up getting spicy things that I listed as please don't send me.  The fruit snacks were fine, the nut mixes seemed kind of soft/stale and I figure I can buy tons of my favorite snacks for $7.  The idea is fun to have snacks delivered to your door, but I won't be giving this a try again.

 // 3 //
These Krusteaz (how do you even pronounce this?!?!) Wild Blueberry Muffins were on sale at Kroger this week so I thought I'd give them a try.  We all loved them and they were really easy to make.  Tons of blueberries and we ate them for several days.

 // 4 //
Chick-fil-A Frosted Lemonade.
It sounded amazing.
I love ice cream and I love lemonade,
but I wasn't a fan.
It just seemed weird to me.
Like they'd accidentally mixed my two favorite things.
I think I'll stick with the plain vanilla ice dream 
and just get a cookie on the side next time.

 // 5 //
Contigo Water Bottles
I read a blog post somewhere recently where a toddler mom recommended these Contigo water bottles for her toddlers.  She loved them and they were the perfect cup to graduate to from a sippy cup.  I picked the teal one up for Olive at Target for around $10 and I already owned the yellow one for me.  I took her a few days to get the hang of it (she kept trying to tilt it up like a sippy cup), but now she loves it.  It comes apart to be cleaned and it has yet to spill in my bag.

 // 6 //
Horizon Organic Mac & Cheese
Horizon recently sent me a box of several different varieties of their organic mac and cheese to try out.  They arrived with a personalized note, coupons for more of their products and lots of mac and cheese.  I consider myself a huge mac and cheese fan, but I did not like any of these.  They were all watery despite following the directions closely and didn't have much flavor.  I'd avoid buying them in the future and stick with your favorite mac and cheese varieties.

 // 7 //
Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
Shay from Mix and Match Mama mentioned that she regularly rinses her hair with apple cider vinegar to remove any product residue from her scalp.  I had noticed some build up on my hair/scalp so for $5 I figured it was worth a try.  I got my hair wet, poured ACV over it, let it sit on my hair for a few minutes and then shampooed my hair twice to wash out the smell.  My scalp felt much cleaner and I loved this inexpensive cleanse!  I know it sounds weird, but give it a try.

// 8 //
Jesus Calling for Little Ones
by Sarah Young
I really enjoy Jesus Calling for adults so I was thrilled to be able to review Jesus Calling for Little Ones.  We have really enjoyed the book.  The passages are short, to the point and are easy for kids of all ages to understand.  There's scripture tied to every passage so older children could easily look up the verse for a more in depth experience.  My toddler loves the pictures, points out the people and carries the book all over the house.  She asks to read it often and I'm happy to share Jesus with her.  I'd highly recommend getting this book for your little ones.
*I was gifted this book in exchange for an honest review of it.

So what products are you loving these days???

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Welcome to the County Fair

The county fair happened to be going on the week we moved to Indiana so we figured we should go and check it out.  We looked at the weather for the week to figure out which night would be the coolest to go.  We headed to the fair in the late afternoon, ate lots of snacks, saw tons of animals and left when things were starting to get busy for dinner.

We didn't spend a fortune because...
We paid $5 to park, no admission fees and shared our snacks.
I brought a cup and snack for Olive
and we went home for dinner.
No one felt like we missed out on anything.

The barns were Olive's favorite.
Most animals were interested and she made all the animal noises she knew.
If she didn't know what sound the animal made, she mooooooo'd at them :)

 The Bunny Barn was bursting with adorable bunnies down at her level.
She giggled her way through the place.
 There were some HUGE bunnies on display.

 Another barn with farm animals:

 We shared a funnel cake (my favorite)
got a Lemonade shake up and a coke.


 Kevin (AKA The Fun Parent) thought Olive would love to play a game.
I said she was too young.
He was right and I was wrong.
She LOVED the duck pond.
Good thing Olive has a fun parent.
 There were two frogs in the pond and she scooped them out first.
She was supposed to get five things out,
but she was the only kid playing so they let her keep going.


 We found a new, bigger bunny to take home with us.
She was thrilled.

 Our first of many county fairs in our new city.
Olive was too busy stealing a giant slurp of my lemonade shake up to take a picture with me.  
Sneaky little thing :)

Do you go to the county fairs in your city?
We are hoping to make it to the Indiana State Fair next month :)

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Tuesday Talk: 12 Tips for Moving Your Family

We have now moved our family FIVE different times.  Most were giant, cross country kind of moves.  We've definitely gotten better at moving, more organized and the process doesn't seem too daunting now.  Our last move was by far our easiest move for lots of reasons.  We had great help, had a great game plan and we were really organized.  I thought I'd share my tips with you today so that you could file them away for the next time you have to move.


1. Call around to rental truck companies and get quotes.  Start doing this early and be prepared to negotiate.  We've found that Penske trucks have been the best deals for us.  Uhaul is always enticing because their trucks sit so low to the ground.  Penske trucks are high up and have a long ramp.  Keep those things in mind when you pick the best truck for you.  I usually leave this job up to my husband.

2. Accept free moving supplies - newspaper, boxes, packing paper, etc.  These supplies add up quickly so it's nice to take any free things that come your way.  The boxes at Home Depot are better than Lowes.  Their heavy duty ones are much sturdier and will hold up really well.  The price is similar so go with Home Depot if you can.  Also, buy SCOTCH packing tape and don't skimp with off brand tape.  We bought some of both and the cheap tape was not sticky enough.  It kept peeling off and boxes assembled with the cheap tape busted open.  The more packing supplies you buy, the better your things will travel.

3. Hire help.  We found our truck loaders on Craigslist for our move from Utah and our move from Mississippi.  The ones in Utah were terrible and the ones in MS were amazing.  Check references, pay attention to how professional they are (do they have a website, wear uniforms, have knowledge about loading a truck, bring their own equipment to load with, etc.)  If they have great reviews and seem really professional, they are worth the investment!!  We hired loaders to load our truck and had family help us unload.  Money very well spent!

4. Start packing early and don't leave everything to do at the last minute.  Kitchens take forever to pack and so do closets.  Work on packing boxes for several hours each day and then you'll be ready when moving day comes.

5. Come up with a game plan for packing up your house.  We did a room a day and then divided up tasks.  We were very fortunate to have my parents come down to help so we factored their help into our plan.  Do the outside things in the morning when it's the coolest and then move inside when it gets too hot.

6. Stop using your kitchen 5-7 days before you move.  Switch everything to paper plates and disposable things so that you can pack up your kitchen and not be doing dishes.  I should have done this sooner and was running a load of dirty dishes the day before we left.

7. Be VERY DETAILED when labeling your boxes.  List the room they came from, exactly what is inside and you will thank me later.  On one of our early moves, I think I ended up labeling every box "decorations" and had a horrible time finding anything when I went to unpack.  Lesson learned.  This move was much easier because of the detailed labeling.

8.  Plan to say goodbye to your favorite spots around town the week before you move and same goes with your friends.  It's hard to get in goodbyes when you are sweating and trying to get work done.  Our move was so fast that I was saying sweaty goodbyes the day we left MS.

9. Have a garage sale or donate items you no longer want or need.  We did both this move and it was SO helpful!  We had a really successful garage sale and donated 25+ garbage bags of things to charity.  It was a big relief knowing we were only packing our must have items and weren't moving junk to our next house.

10. Pets.  If you can take them somewhere else while you are packing up your house that is probably best.  We moved our cats to IN to live with my parents about 6 weeks before our move.  It was hard to say goodbye, but it was what was best for them.  If you have to keep the pets at your house (we have done this 4 of our last 5 moves), close them off somewhere safe where they won't get stepped on and they have their favorite things.  A bathroom usually works well for this and be sure to post a sign on the door reminding people not to let the pets escape.

11. If you have toddlers/children when you are moving, God bless you!!  
It's hard, but it's doable.
Don't pack up their toys in front of them.  Wait until they are napping or in bed and slowly decrease the amount of toys you leave out for them.
Give them jobs and let them help.  Olive is two and she loved coloring with crayons on our boxes.  She even liked sitting in a box and coloring the insides.  
Leave their room or their space in tact as long as possible.
Be sure to set up their new space (toys & bedroom) first thing when you arrive at your new house.  If they feel comfortable surrounded by familiar things, your life will go much smoother.
Ask for help on moving day.  My parents came down so that Olive could have one adult's attention at all times.  She was never left to entertain herself and she was happy 99% of the time with this arrangement.
Leave your TV set up so they can watch cartoons or movies while everyone works around them.
Keep their snacks, favorite cups, etc. handy so that their routines can stay similar to their usual ones.

12. Make lists and lots of them.  Utilities to turn off, things to do around town, moving details/confirmation numbers, etc.  The easiest way to change your address with your bills is to have your mail forwarded to your new address.  When you next bill comes, fill out the form on the back of your bill to change your address.  No waiting on hold forever for each company.  Then keep track of the places you've changed your address to.

Hope those tips help you have an easier time moving!!
 I'm certain that our move with easier because of their help :)

 Watching the movers at a safe distance
 It's so hard to say goodbye...

Goodbye first house!
We LOVED you :)

These were fun packing and unpacking activities

I've missed our Tuesday Talk link up and am happy to be joining them this week.
Linking up with my favorite ladies today!!
ANYONE can join us with their favorite blog post of the week :)
(Starting from the upper left:)
Beth - Our Pretty Little Girls ~ Michelle - Grammie Time
Keri - Living In This Season  ~ Christina - Waltzing In Beauty
Tara - Mrs. Coach Sims ~ Lauren - Simply Free
Jess and Katie - Sweet Little Ones ~ Whitney - Polka Dotty Place
Becky - BYBMG ~ Elizabeth - All Kinds Of Things
Polka-Dotty Place