It can wait.

I am gonna tell you a little story and also hope to teach you a lesson at the same time.

We all know that being a stay at home mom is by far not the easiest job in the world.

Well, last week..I got my children bundled up to walk up to the bus stop to get my daughter off to school. My son and I come back home, I put him on the living room floor to play with his toys while I go to the kitchen and put his waffles into the toaster. While his waffles are in, I thought why not get some laundry folded. I folded laundry and looked up. There is my son, standing at the baby gate saying, 'momomom' I went back to folding laundry. I got that done. I decided well I might as well put it away before it piles up in a huge mound on my dryer. My son is still standing at the gate yelling for me. 

I get that put away, and notice my bedroom needs some picking up. I do that then make my way back out to the kitchen to get my sons waffles, and I notice he is no longer standing at the gate. So what do I do? I think to myself, 'He is playing with his toys now, so I have time to get the kitchen floor swept and mopped as well as put the clean dishes away. 

I get finished, finally go to get my son's waffles. I cut them up, put them onto a plate. Put them on his high chair tray and walk into the living room to get my son. I walked into him grabbing cheese curls out of a bag that I had sitting beside the couch. He was throwing them EVERYWHERE. Stomping those into the floor. 

He must have known I went to the kitchen to get him food, which is why he was standing at the gate yelling. Then he realized I was doing other things so he took it upon his self to get something to eat. My 1 year old is smart. I got so distracted working on getting half my house cleaned while my son was making an even bigger mess in the living room. 

Moral of the story: the cleaning can wait. You will have a life time to keep a spotless home...but you children won't be small forever. Take the time, get on the floor. Play with your children. Clean when they nap and after they are in bed. They need you now more than ever. 

Fall Bucket List|For the Whole Family

Hey ya'll! Today I wanna talk fall bucket list!! In my household, Fall is definately a favorite time of the year! I love everything about it!! I put together a bucket list of fun things to do in the Fall for the whole family!

Go Apple Picking
In our small town, we have an apple orchard where you can either go buy already picked apples or you can pick your own! The children absolutely love this!

Pumpkin Carving/Painting
Now this is an obvious fall activity! We do this every year. My daughter is 5 and my son is 1. So they aren't old enough to carve their own pumpkins. My husband and I carve and hand the kids paint. They go to town and love it.

Watch Football
I personally don't like football but my husband and family are avid football fans! Every Sunday, we go to my parents' house, watch football and eat good food. It's a fall/winter tradition!

Pumpkin Patch
Every year, we go to the pumpkin patch, usually twice. The first time, to get my decorations for outside..the second time, for us all to pick out our pumpkins for carving/painting. The look on the kids' faces while they have free range to pick their own pumpkins is priceless!!

Hayride/Corn Maze
We love hayrides! One of our local farms make a corn maze and have a hayride around the farm every year in October and my family enjoys going there!

Trick-Or-Treat
Now this is an obvious one!! What kid doesn't love dressing up and getting sugary sweets?? Haha I know my kids do!

Rake/Jump in Leaves
Let their imagination soar!! We rake our leaves up to bag them and clean up but can NEVER do that without letting the kids jump and play in them first!! I mean, I might too. Haha!

Have A Camp Fire
We have a fire pit in our back yard! We love building a fire, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows and having cook outs in the summer. Although, nothing beats having a fire on a fall evening in the fresh crisp air.

Halloween Movie Night
Every year, I record Halloween movies on the DVR and we have a movie night complete with snacks, hot cocoa or apple cider and many laughs!

Mountain Ride
One of our favorite passtimes is going for a ride in the mountains. In the fall, it is so much better with the leaves changing and the crisp mountain air.

Make a Pumpkin Pie
Fall simply would not be the same without baking a pumpkin pie!! My daughter loves helping too!

Fall Picnic
Alright, yeah I REALLY enjoy spending times outdoors in the fall. Pack the kids, the husband and the food and get out there and have a picnic!

Decorate
Nothing makes a child more happy than being able to help decorate the home for fall/halloween.

Go For A Walk
My family enjoys going on a nice walk. Baby in the stroller, dog on the leash and we are ready for some family fun and ahem...excercise.

Give Thanks
It is simply amazing talking as a family and finding out what all your husband and kids are thankful for...even when your daughter is thankful for her door, her window and her windows! Haha.

Fair/Festival
My family also enjoys going to a good fair. Hello...fair food!! The kids and husband play games, the kids ride some rides and I go to feed my inner fat kid. 😂😘

Hot Cocoa/Apple Cider
My daughter loves apple juice but apple cider? Not so much...but she can tear up some hot cocoa. I can't choose which one I like more!

Collect Leaves
We love collecting some leaves. They are so pretty! Afterwards, my daughter likes gluing them onto paper!

Cook Thanksgiving Dinner Together
Nothing tastes better than food made with love! Let the kids help you make Thanksgiving dinner this year!! They love helping in the kitchen!!


There you have it..my families must do activities in the fall!!

What do you enjoy doing with your family during the fall?

Let them get messy!

Kids are always great at getting messy! It is almost like it's in their nature!!

There is no doubt about the fact that my kids get messy! You know what? Let them!! Getting messy is their way of exploring! 

There is nothing my kiddos love more than going outside after a good rain and running through the sopping wet grass or even playing in the mud! They have fun and me? I get a moment of silence. I watch in awe as they have so much fun! I think they have more fun with what we can find in our yard than they do with activities I spend days planning!! 

Let them get messy, let them have fun, let them explore! It's not like you don't have a bathtub! 

Another fun activity that my daughter enjoys is playing with glitter!! What girl doesn't LOVE playing in glitter? Well....she plays in glitter for 10 minutes and I keep finding glitter for 10 months but guess what? It doesn't matter because it is something my daughter loves doing!! I'm not gonna stop her. 

Then, something both my kids LOVE. Homemade finger paint that is edible!! I mean, it doesn't taste delicious or anything BUT it won't hurt if the kids get it into their mouth!! Which is perfect because I have a 1 year old and all mom's of toddlers know...they have to taste test everything! Stay tuned...I will post the edible finger paint recipe later on today! 😃

So, plan some activities with your kids, let them get messy..bath them later! It's that simple. I promise they will love getting messy! 😘

Self Care for the Exhausted Mom

Oh, finally! It's been a wonderful, uninterrupted day. The house is clean, the laundry is folded AND put away, kids are bathed and in bed by 8:00pm. Time to curl up on the couch with hubby, watch a movie and simply relax...haha! That never happens. So, how does an exhausted mom really practice self care??

It's more like plopping down on the couch for 2 seconds before having to take on the next task, do the next load of laundry or prepare dinner. It's finding time to breath after cleaning up yet another pile of cereal that the baby threw on the floor or cleaning up the stuffing the dog ripped out of the kids' stuffed animal. Self care is almost like something out of a horror movie!

So, what do we try to squeeze in, in those long seconds of relaxation? Let me break it into 4 things!

Time Alone
Have you ever locked yourself in the bathroom to get a few minutes alone? I have! Then, I hear little footsteps, then little voices. 'Mom, I'm hungry' 'Mom, can you get me a drink?' 'Mom, mom, mom!' I know someday, I won't hear those little footsteps or those little voices hurrying me, but....today is not that day!

Personal Hygiene
Before I had children, I showered everyday, shaved every other day. I did my hair, did my makeup. Well, now I have 2 children and doing my makeup has come few and far between. The mom bun has taken over a space on the top of my head.

The rare times I have time to self-care, I hop in the shower and hope I have enough hot water to get through. On really rare occasions, I will shave my legs!

Excercise
Who am I kidding? I don't need to make time for this! I get enough chasing my 1 and 5 year old around the house!

Interests
You may not know this, but I love to color, craft and bake! So..I've been making a point to do these hobbies! Even though my daughter gets slightly annoyed that I keep stealing her crayons and coloring books.

So, there it is...self care for the exhausted mom! It's really just trying to squeeze in moments of sanity and fun into the stressful job of motherhood. When your job is taking care of others, it is difficult to take care of yourself! You're not alone and remember, one day you'll have plenty of time to take long showers. Enjoy these momemts while they last!