Family
Family and toddler life
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Ways to Make a Child’s Birthday Special during Covid
Half decades are big birthdays to celebrate and we had a blast celebrating my son’s 5th birthday! Since we are living in a pandemic and couldn’t have a “real” birthday party, we did a couple outside the box things to make Reid’s birthday extra special. He had a blast and I think felt really loved (which is the whole point!). Ways to make your child’s birthday special: School Pick Up Decorated Car: Y’all this was so much fun! Luckily, it was a gorgeous day to celebrate his birthday so I was able to hang posters on the side of my car, have balloons and blare happy birthday music to pick…
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Most Adorable Valentines Day Cards that Toddlers will Love
Let me first say, you cannot go wrong with whatever Valentines Day cards your preschooler delivers to school. I think sometimes Pinterest can make us feel inferior and like we aren’t being the best moms if we don’t send our child in with a creative Valentines. Trust me, a couple years ago, I was overwhelmed when I opened my son’s Valentines Day box to find super cute and creative Valentines from all his classmates. I didn’t know this was a “thing” so I had sent him in with the classic lollypop attached to a folded card from the dollar store. There is no right or wrong choice and you aren’t…
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Reflections on Dry January and Refresh for the New Year
The end of dry January is in sight and this girl is ready to celebrate...with a glass of wine!
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Reasons to ‘Redshirt’ or Hold Back from Kindergarten for a Year
Parenting is about letting go of our expectations and doing what is best for each individual child.
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Polar Express 2020 and Getaway to the Grove Park Inn
We just got back from a wonderful extra long weekend getaway. We started this holiday season off with a trip to western North Carolina to visit my in-laws, experience holiday magic riding on the Polar Express, see Santa and finished our getaway with a parents’ only trip to the Grove Park Inn in Asheville. It was a great time all the way around and now we are slowly easing back into reality! The boys are at such exciting ages and for Reid, who is 4, Christmas magic is in full swing. It brought tears to my eyes seeing him see Santa from a distance while we were at the Polar…
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Most Played With and Favorite Toys for Toddler Boys
As promised, here is a list of my boys (ages 2 and 4) FAVORITE toys of all time. Every child is different, but these are toys that their friends enjoy too and I believe are great buys! Best Toys for Toddler Boys: Rainbow Playground: OK, this is a huge purchase, but it is hands down the best purchase we have ever made for the boys! I was nervous that our 2 year old was going to be too young or that they would grow tired of it quickly, but y’all this has been the most played with and best purchase ever. A few tips: these bad boys are pricey so…
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Christmas Presents for Four Year Old and Two Year Old Boys
‘Tis the time of year of holiday shopping. Admittedly, I am trying to get ALL of my shopping done before December 1st. With the craziness in the world, I don’t want to be out in public more than necessary and really want to focus on the true meaning of Christmas this year rather than the materiality of it. Therefore, I have been doing my best to pre-purchase all of our family’s Christmas presents (with sales starting earlier this year, it has been a lot easier to accomplish). Please keep in mind that every kid is different, but rather than doing a list of “suggested” presents for two and four year…
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Halloween Weekend 2020: 35 Hours without Power and Family Police Costumes
We just had a wonderful and much different Halloween weekend. Covid has caused life to look a little different, and while Halloween wasn’t completely normal–we made the best of it and made it as normal as possible (while being cautious). Reid’s preschool was set to have a trunk or treat on Thursday for all the kids. We were setting up a Paw Patrol table, however, Thursday morning around 4:30 am, we lost power. The preschool lost power as well, so school/trunk or treating was canceled. They say “you plan, God laughs,” well, I planned for the days leading up to Halloween–and no power threw all my plans for a loop.…
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Five Tips on How to Enjoy Hiking with Toddlers
2020 is the year of our family’s new hobby–hiking! I am not much of a “nature” girl, but I love this new hobby of ours. My husband, an Eagle Scout, loves nature and exploring the outdoors (candidly, I am still petrified of snakes and get nervous every time we go on a hike). The boys have become quite the mini-explorers and love going for rides on our backs while exploring the outdoors. We live in suburban Atlanta and I never would have imagined how many trails we have within a 10 minute drive of our house–it is truly amazing! When we have zero plans for the weekend, which happens more…
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Simple Semi-Homemade Halloween Costumes For Families with Boy Toddlers
Halloween is such a magical time for children. Growing up, my mom was a Pinterest mom before Pinterest was a thing. She literally sewed and made all of our Halloween costumes, and I will add she did some quality work as they are still in good condition to this day! While my mom is a creative genius, I am more of a semi-homemade type gal. So for Halloween, I purchase the cheap costumes and then add some homemade touches like ironed on shirts and painting on cardboard. Unwrapping candy every year, Reid tells us exactly what he wants to be the following year and much to my surprise he sticks…