Subscription Boxes

I have been pondering signing up for a subscription box for MacKenzie and while looking up all the options I found so many to choose from it's overwhelming, not only that but some subscription boxes that are out there now are not even just for kids and crafting.  I have found boxes that are for teething age babies, moms with a coffee habit, and buying gently used baby clothing even! I find the biggest problem with most of the company's is you get a complete surprise (great for the kids but it's nice if mom can at least decide between a small selection than to get something sort of useless for that month). Another problem is that these companies haven't figured out a way to have a more budget friendly plan for someone who's not willing to spend $200 a year or more for two crafts a month! Now here's a cool idea though if your a grandparent this would be a wonderful gift for parents, grandchildren etc. and if you can't think of a gift for a friend or family member you could do a one month box possibly from some of these companies! Let the experts pick your present for you! I think Citrus Lane may be one of my favorites for little ones! I can't wait to try one company out here soon! Just got to decide!

Here are some of the coolest ones I've found:

Citrus Lane
Get age appropriated box of goodies for children up to three years old.  Mom approved best products. Free shipping. $21 a month.

Wittlebee
Their "how it works" statement: 

Getting Started

Fill Out Your Style Profile

Just tell us a wittle bit about yourself and how you dress your kid. 

Leave your Stylist Notes

Leave your stylists notes on your account anytime to add more detail about your preferences. 

Receive Your First Box

Your customized box of clothes arrives at your door in about two weeks. Every box contains about $100 in retail value of clothes. You'll receive a new box of clothes every month. You can pause or cancel your membership anytime.

kiwicrate

Their "how it works" statement:

Our crates are designed around fun themes and filled with all of the materials and inspiration 

for hands-on projects. Explore with arts & crafts, science activities, imaginative play, and more.
$19.95 a month. Shipping free.

Pickybunny
Their "how it works" statement: Receive a personalized monthly shipment of gently used baby clothes for just $24.99. Shipping is always FREE.

New Years Resolution...

My New Years Resolutions are to...

be extra crafty

be a great mom, wife & daughter

keep my home neat, clean and organized the best I can

be more frugal

read at least one book this year cover to cover (yes one book that is all, I am a busy mommy so I don't have alot of time for reading)

attend church more this year (if naps for the girls allow it this year...it's always tough with naps)

Make these things:


A felt Mail Set for Kenzie
New holiday hair bows for both the girls
A felt word a day calender with pockets for Kenzie (that can be used later for other things like multiplication tables etc.)
Felt Christmas Ornaments for Sydney's tree for next Christmas
A Coraline Doll for MacKenzie (I wanted to have this done before Christmas this year but didn't get around to making it)

and this cute little set of doughnuts...

Felt doughnuts for Kenzie to use in her play kitchen...

This years craftiness...

2012 was a crafty year even though it was filled with pregnancy, a two year old and a newborn baby...somehow I was still able to get some crafty stuff accomplished...

Veggie Tales (Plush Larry and Beanie Bob) 

Minnie Mouse Dress Up Area in my oldest daughters room...

Names on my kids room doors with blocks...simple and cute!

Turkey Hair Clip

Project Life

So what is this thing called Project Life? It's a new way to scrapbook! It's looks easier and cheaper than traditional scrapbooking! I think whats best it's better for young moms and other very busy people who want to still enjoy keeping all their memories tucked away in a album! It's great because it requires so little time that you can focus on journaling and picture choices that my albums normally lack because my sole focus is on the creative end of it all...it's to the point lately where I don't even want to think about attempting to put a page together I just need to gather all my pictures and stories together in one place for safe keeping...(says the busy expecting mother who already has a toddler!) I am so busy there is no way I can keep up doing the scrapbooking the traditional way. Here is a link to this wonderful new world of scrapbooking!

Click Here to read more about Project Life!

Here's an example from the website for project life of what you can do with it...it's simple but it's neat, organized, and actually pretty!  They offer different styles of pockets, different paper inserts and different binders so you get choices but no more buying stickers, ribbon, photo tape, glue or even using scissors!

The BIG move!

Loving my new kitchen, it's bigger and has tons of cabinet space. The last house we lived in had no storage at all, it was quite terrible. I also can enjoy keeping my counters pretty clear since I have so much space in my pantry to store all those things you barely use like (blender etc.) I only get them out when we use them now. Anyways its also nice to not have the galley kitchen we had last time because my two year old can run around and play in the kitchen while I am cooking and it's not a problem like before (she even has room to ride her Little Tikes Cozy Coupe around the kitchen and she pretty much does it everyday now too).

Well we've moved from Hawaii all the way to Florida (hence the BIG move!). It's been a journey that is for sure from moving to the island pregnant with my first baby and moving away from the island pregnant with my second and bringing a child back to the mainland that we didn't have before we moved there. It's interesting how fast a family can grow and how much a family can change in such a short period of time! I will say being pregnant and in your third trimester and moving into a new house was one of the hardest things I have ever done especially since I had a toddler to look after at the same time! Well we made it and we've got a beautiful home that is well organized and pretty much ready for our new edition to the family coming this August! I have done some major cleaning out in our house (gotten rid of TONS of things), I am operating under the "Less is More" theme for now whew I am tired of having TOO MUCH STUFF. We've reorganized EVERYTHING in our home since we moved to and I gotta say it's all working alot better for us. I keep my house cleaner and clean it up faster than ever before which is GREAT since a new baby is coming home soon!

Spring Cleaning Underway!

Here are some ways I have organized some of my 2 year old daughters things:

Great way to organize headbands, I can see them all easily. Just find a small narrow basket about the size of the headbands, I actually had this one lying around.

Organized her train set into a few small containers like this, makes it easy for her to put away and get out plus all the pieces stay in one place!

It's almost spring, let's get organized!

Click here for source of graphic above.

Here is a link for free printable checklist:

Free Checklist Must Haves

Here's a link below for Spring Cleaning Checklist:

Spring Cleaning Checklist

These are great because you can just print all these sheets out and write your own individual plan and then cross them off as you finish them, by the end you'll feel very accomplished!

Click on link below for a useful Calendar Template:

Calendar Template's

These calendar's are awesome you can type in the month and year and it can auto fill popular holidays but leave plenty of blank space for you to add your plans in every box, you can change font and size of letters. It's basically the same as using Word but it saves alot of work and thought behind what day is Thanksgiving falling on this year and wondering is this year going to be a Leap Year?

Great tips for organizing children's toys:

-Keep stuffed animals not being used in a closet to keep dust off them, use large open bin for easy access for small children.
-Keep sets of toys in small containers that are clear such as: small blocks, Mr. Potato Head and his parts, Little People toys (by Fisher Price), art supplies.
-Keep like items all together so that they are easy to find not only for child but for you.
-Keep toys in same spot always so the child learns where to put them back.

Moving again soon...

We've spent a lovely three years here in Hawaii as of March 18th, 2012 but soon we'll be making a move to Pensacola, Florida. We'll be stationed there for just six weeks then after that we'll be stationed at Whiting Field just down the road about 30 minutes or so. So for the next year we'll be in Florida again! We lived in Florida before Hawaii so I am excited about going to a state I am at least familiar with.

So for those of you wondering how Hawaii has treated us well here goes:

The state itself is beautiful we had time to take two vacations on two of the other islands (Big Island, Kauai). The locals are rather nice and have a lovely culture that enjoyed very much. My daughter was born here and learned her numbers in Hawaiian and to her Mahalo (Hawaiian word for thank you) is a common word just like anything else...also she likes to use the word Aloha! As for the military side of it all, the biggest difference for us here was that we lived on base. The cost of living here is so expensive it just makes more sense to live on base. With that being said base life is very different than living out in town and making military friends and non military friends and having locals as neighbors, versus all neighbors being military and from all over not to mention new neighbors come and go often. Anyhow another new element for me here was becoming a mother so I made friends with moms who had children in similar if not same age of my child, this added a different element to my experience here as well. My criteria for making friends was very different from my norm.  I have made friends that will last a lifetime since living here but also I have friendships that didn't last but will forever change my outlook on people in general and life. I had friendships go sour and had no clue why, at times this made it difficult to like living here because at first I made the connection between the soured friendships and here tie together but really it was dumb luck a combination of bad elements all together including friendship triangles that were doomed from the beginning. I am not sour about these friendships that went wrong instead I value their lesson they taught me and I value the good times I had with these people before things went well down hill. I have never been one to be involved with drama and needless to say you get a bunch of girls together who have alot of common friends and live all around each other add the stress of husbands being deployed and well you get drama and even if you try to stay away from it and don't involve yourself you will be effected by others who can't seem to live without drama. So my end point is Hawaii lovely in itself but to find the beautiful people here (the ones beautiful on the inside) look further than your next door neighbor its not always the best choice for a close friendship just because it's convenient.

How to make money on Blogging...

No I don't do it as of now but here are ways to make money while doing what you love to do (BLOG):

-Money Widgets

-In-Text Ads

-Parked Domains

-Feed Ads

-Pop-up Ads ( I would never do this, this would annoy your readers)

-Audio Ads

-Sponsored Reviews

and these are just of few of the MANY ways you can earn from blogging!