Back To School 2018-2019!!!

The Summer is finally over!!! I know lots of moms that are so happy to have school back in session! I learned over the Summer that my boys behave the best when we are on a schedule of some sort. So our Summer week looked like this:

Something Every. Day! No wonder I didn't have any time from blogging! But it was well worth it! My boys had a great summer, we did new things and met new people and that's really all a mom could hope for. But now we are back in school mode and I am so beyond happy! My oldest needed to do something else because he was starting to get bored with everything.
Now I am NOT a last minute type of person (not that there is anything wrong with that by any means, everyone is different) heck, I already have Christmas presents in my closet! So I got pretty much everything ready for my son to go to school as soon as we got the school supply list (which we got off the Wal-Mart App! It was SO COOL!). Plus is helps so much that his birthday is at the end of the summer and he gets lots of clothes for that!
The only thing I need to do is make sure everything is in place for us in the morning because I am a very grumpy woman in the morning and anything to make it easier is a blessing, for everyone!
My Tea :

My cup with my tea and the Kettle all filled with water so all I have to do is turn it on and add sugar! 

Back-Pack:

My son's back-pack lives in the kitchen, on his chair! It only leaves once it's time to go to school and gets put right back as as soon as we get home. Makes it easier to pack and see all his school papers.

My Purse:

My beautiful Lily Jade Cailin lives at the table too! Makes it easier to pack and grab once it's time to leave!

Clothes:

My clothes for the next day, totally helps when I am half asleep!

My youngest's clothes since I tend to wait until it's time to leave to get him. It is so much better for me to not have him under foot or have the 2 of them fighting while I am doing other things around the house. Plus he is very grumpy if we wake him too early! Then I bring breakfast for him in the car.

Snacks/Lunch:

These are our lunch pails: Spider-Man for me and my youngest's snacks and space for my oldest at school

After we drop off my oldest at school, my youngest and I still follow our summer schedule of doing something everyday before nap time. And of course it helps to have a few "mommy routines" as well to help keep everything moving in the right direction:

1. I try to do 1 load of laundry (wash, dry, fold and put away) every other day so everyone has clean clothes. Last year I wasn't so on top of this and there were a few times it bit me in the rear: my oldest has long legs but a tiny waist so even though he has a lot of the next size up (because I just know he's going to grow here soon!) he still only fits in about 5 pairs of shorts right now. So keeping the laundry going is a huge help so we are not yelling in the morning that he doesn't have clean shorts.
2. I have my oldest pick out his own clothes on Sunday night and place it in this hanging divider in his closet so he can get dressed quickly.

3. I run the dishwasher at night right before I go to bed. During the day I fill it with dirty dishes so there aren't dishes piled in the sink and then unload it the next morning or after I drop off my oldest at school.
4. I have an alarm for when I need get up and one to go to bed. Sounds so funny right?! Why would I, a mom, need a reminder to go to bed? Well, when the house is finally quiet because the kids are asleep, the house is clean and everything is ready for the next day... I like to relax on the couch, watching my show (currently The Vampire Diaries!), eating those foods I don't what to share (you know what I'm talking about!) and crochet my next project in peace! Of course time would get away from me! If I didn't have my alarm, I would stay up pass 11 PM and it still takes me about 20 minutes to get ready for bed and then I don't even know how much longer it takes for my brain and body to relax enough for me to fall asleep! But I just know that with my alarm, I am in bed asleep by 10:30 PM! It helps, trust me!

Those are some of my secrets to making the week a bit less crazy during back-to-school! 

Happy Mommy-ing! 

Mommy Cards

So there's a new trend happening today among Stay At Home Moms, or SAHM, "Mommy Cards". Sounds like stationary or greeting cards but it is actually business cards for moms. Wait, I am a Stay At Home Mom... that means I have no job. These are business cards, typically used for people with jobs. So why the need for these "Mommy Cards"? What would I, as a mom, need business cards for in my life? I'm a wife and a mom with a personal blog. Not business worthy. Why invest in business cards that are probably going to get lost in my purse (link here)? 

Actually as a mom, there are many opportunities for these "Mommy Cards". This lady's blog (link here) was very informative and gave many reasons to have these cards handy as a mom:

• Setting up kids' playdates
• To leave with the babysitter
• running into someone at the store
• at offices like the dentist and doctor

Vistaprint even has many different designs for their Parent Cards as they call them (link here). There's a place for your name and then it prints out "parent of blank". Like typical business cards, there's places for address, phone, email and company name. There is also a place to put it your kid has an allergy to something, which I thought was very helpful! 

Personally, I am now volunteering at our local YMCA and I am meeting new people every week. It is much easier to hand one of these cards out to a fellow volunteer than it is to try to exchange information well kids are running around us screaming their heads off. I almost pulled out a card while I was at the bank the other day because it's easier to show my information than it is to tell it but that might just be me. I'm hopeful when summer is over and my oldest is back in school that I'll be ready to give them out to the moms. I think it is a great idea for shy people, like myself, as an ice breaker.

HAPPY MOMMY-ING! 

New Mom Bag

I recently discovered Lily Jade bags and I really really wanted one. I spent almost $300 on a freaking diaper bag! 😮Why?! Why would I drop that much money on a diaper bag?! I soon won't have a kid in diapers anymore!!! They are very highly recommended by thousands of women. And apparently they are super high quality leather but WHY?!?!? 

I consider myself pretty low maintenance, just don't ask my husband lol! But no seriously when it comes fashion and stuff like my hair, I am low maintenance. I go for as long as I can, many times well beyond the recommended time frame for getting my roots colored to cover up my grey hairs or paint my hair as my two year old says. I will fully admit I am not fashionable dresser but I am trying not to be that housewife in sweats either.

What I do love is bags! I am a sucker when it comes to a big bag with lots of pockets. I have done many posts about my numerous Thirty One bags and how I love organizing them: Mommy Purse and my most recent In-Flight bag to name a few. I am in that toddler stage where I do not need so many things when we go around town for either of my kids. My almost six year old needs basically nothing but something to eat and drink when we leave the house. My toddler really only needs snacks and diapering items to keep him happy. Of  course every mom has those miscellaneous items like medicine and first aid that you do not need daily but need to have on hand.
After looking at countless YouTube videos and watching the site daily to see if the price would drop, I was determined to save up and buy myself one for my 30th birthday after Christmas this year. Well much to my surprise, my husband told me I didn't have to wait! I never really do anything for myself and he said to just buy it during a Memorial Day sale. I felt a mixture of pure joy and excitement and at the same time selfishness and shame for spending ALMOST $300 ON A BAG FOR MYSELF!!! My husband kind of understood, last Christmas he purchased for himself a genuine leather jacket with a price tag of over $200. He loves that jacket and looks mighty fine in it 😉. So he was very supportive in my purchase of a high quality bag. I spent days looking it over, Lily Jade has many  bags to choose from but I kept looking at this one.

I loved it! After purchasing, I panicked a little about the money but once it came - I was so happy I had bought it! It's big but not heavy. I did have issues trying to pack it using the insert that comes with it and almost returned it because I just couldn't get the insert to work for me. One of the ladies that I had been talking to on a 'Buy, Sell, Trade, Chat' page on Facebook suggested I try packing it without the insert. Thank goodness for her telling me that because I love it so much more now that it actually works for me!

This bag is big enough I can carry all my crap: make-up, my snacks, 2 wallets (regular and budget envelopes), loyal cards (tip on those), Ipod, keys, phone, sunglasses...plus all my kids crap and miscellaneous items as well!

Did I mention that this bag turns into a backpack!?!? I have my Sling Back Bag from Thirty One I normally use if I know I am going some place where I need to be hands-free like the zoo or the kids play gym. But normally I'm okay not having a backpack, until I got this bag! I absolutely love that I have long straps to wear it as a normal purse and the backpack option when I need it. We went to the zoo with this bag, I take it to the library with the kids (I normally have to wear it like a backpack when we are leaving because my youngest has a meltdown over leaving and you just can't have a screaming kid at the library), I took it to the movies for Father's Day, heck you can even see it hanging from my stroller in the picture of me above!
It is my everyday bag and I feel more put together wearing it! I am completely happy with this expensive bag! I am so glad I bought it!

Happy Mommy-ing!