We kicked off the Pool Season today! Which means that I REALLY need to get down to business!
If you subscribe to my blog via email (which—you totally should! I make it super easy for you–see right there on the top on the right?!) You probably noticed that I was a little MIA last week.
That was because hubby got a call letting him know that he got the summer internship we were all hoping for-great news Yey! The bad part? It means he’ll be living several hours away all summer (booo—thought we were done with that nonsense after he got out of the military) so since I was soon to be with no hubby I literally dropped all but my “absolutely HAVE to do” things for the rest of the week and we just hung out BBQing, going to movies (new Star Trek–yey!), and in general just having lots of fun! (oh and we snuck in a trip to LEGO Kids Fest too to give him some alone time to pack up).
What: Lego Kids Fest
Where: Houston, TX (but there will be upcoming stops in Phoenix, AZ: July 12 – 14 • Bay Area (CA): Aug. 30 – Sept. 1 • Portland, OR: October 11 – 13 • New England (CT): Dec. 6 – 8 )
Price: Adult (Ages 18-64) $21
Child (Ages 3-17) $19
Senior (Ages 65+) $19
Children Under 3 FREE (remember to surf around for discounts on blogger sites like the one I gave out in my first Lego Kids Fest post!)
Great for: Kids who love adventures and Lego Bricks; and parents who are very in touch with their inner child and love to play!
Bad for: People who have low tolerance for crowds, thousands of kids, and lots of loud noises
The ever clever Collective Bias® gave me a heads up that I could get great deals through Scott Shared Values and Vudu and they compensated me to check it out! All clever tips, snuggling with hubbies, and silly pictures in paper towel aisles are my own.
Summer should be all about enjoying time together as a family! When you’re on a tighter budget (like our college student with a family budget, for example) it can feel a bit discouraging as you look at how much everything costs. Simply going on a movie date with your hubby will run you around $30 or more if you get snacks and a drink and skip out on dinner—and let’s not go into how much all that would be if you choose to bring along the kids!!
Because of this I’m constantly on the lookout for how I can pair up smart shopping, good savings, and score deals towards fun things for our family whether it means a fun but inexpensive date for hubby and me, or a way for the whole family to have fun together for less!
My first big score this summer was coming up with a perfect way to have a fun dinner & a movie date on a dime!
Legalese Disclosure Nonsense: To make sure I’d be super cute and fresh for the summer the lovelies over at Influentster and Iman sent me goodies to add to my summer beauty routine. All tips, tricks, and cheesy pinterest selfies are my own!
It’s mid May and here in Texas that means that summer is pretty much here and no matter where you live it’s well on it’s way! Summer is the perfect time to scale back on your makeup–no one wants droves of sweat wearing off your foundation and eye shadow and making your mascara streak! Ick! I want to share my No Makeup Makeup for Summer that I do whenever it gets super hot, I have a splash park date, or even when I am just going to be around the house all day so I want to feel and look nice without all the fuss!
The first step to a no fuss summer look is to have great skin since you won’t be able to cover up the flaws as well with this easy, five minute look.
Sooo….do you want the good news first, or the bad news?
How about both mixed in together? Sounds good to me!
Over the past couple of years hubby and I have discovered the joy of cooking together! Now as a couple we love to get into the kitchen from time to time, blast some music, and cook up some delicious food for our little family. Our favorite to make is this super delicious take on Chilli that my hubby came up with based on a recipe a friend made for him while they were deployed to GITMO together. I dubbed it Bob’s Hot Bottom Chili because if you spice it up the more you eat, the spicier it gets! Luckily though hubby usually keeps the spice down for me and Amber–so adjust it according to taste! In fact, it’s a very “throw it all in the pot, stir, and adjust” recipe (how hubby cooks, he’s a throw and stir cook, I’m a follow the recipe and measure cook, haha). It’s a big hit with the kids too!
I’m a huge lover of flowers so when I found out that my new hometown Tyler, TX had an annual celebration all about flowers, The Azalea Trail, of course we had to check it out! It was March 15-April 7th this year. There are all sorts of cool events that go along with it from horse drawn carriages to high tea in the garden events. This year as Azalea Trail novices we missed out on all of that, but did enjoy a lovely time of first visiting the Goodman-LeGrand House and then spent a few hours walking one of the most picturesque parts of the two trails!
I’ve mentioned before that I often get the comment, “Wow! You always seem like you have it so together? How do you do it all?”
I get asked this because I work 3 part time jobs; have my kids home with me full time, all the time; do preschool at home with Amber; am involved in Moms Inc every week; go to Bible studies and church; go to Storytime weekly; fit in fun adventures to the local zoo; score awesome deals by shopping sales and working the CVS game; cook dinner every night; and hang out with my mother-in-law Friday & Saturday for thrifting and shopping fun–and do all of this while my husband is back in college full time and we’re living with my in-laws.
But, Contrary To Popular Belief–I don’t “have it all together”
In fact-I’m actually a very real mom–and by real I mean lots and lots of mom fail moments kind of mom.
I think that all moms are really. Look at any mom you think does an amazing job and has it all together and you’re only seeing a wee fraction of the story. The gals behind Mompact and Flourish know this and they are running a contest for all us REAL moms! Since you’re a real mom too be sure to go and enter for a bunch of AMAZING prizes! Some will be awarded to the most real-real mom, others will be awarded randomly through Rafflecopter so there are lots of opportunities to win!
So here is why I’m actually a real mom!
Save 20% on Ellie!
It was bound to happen sooner or later, and I’m happy that it was sooner, rather than later. Last week was a complete flop for Operation Short Shorts. Both the kids and I were half sick all week long and just through a bunch of different things I felt “off” all week so OSS went out the window.
I’m happy to report that we’re all back on track this week–and I even ran a mile at 10 minutes exactly last night–another personal best AND had lemon water with pizza instead of Pepsi last night! 
So picking myself up and getting right back on the bandwagon–and hopefully next week I’ll finally be able to report some scale success for the first time since now is when I’m starting to cut into my food/sugar intake which will be the hardest, but most beneficial, part of OSS.
So the plan for this week:
Week 4 May 5-11th: 1 Pepsi every 2 Weeks (I never realized how often I do drink the sweet stuff until I tried to go without it for 40 days—which I totally failed miserably at by the way—the experience helped me to see that my “once or twice a month” was really more like “once or twice a week” and that needs to stop since I really don’t even love it all that much!)
Legalese Disclosure Nonsense: In order to help motivate me I was sent these awesome Ellie pieces! All OSS fails, sweat, crazy blurry cool pictures and lumps are my own!
Legalese Disclosure Nonsense: I was provided with a copy of the revised and updated For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn I’ve loved this book for years and all thoughts, opinions, and marriages mentioned are my own!
When I got married I wanted so much to be a godly and great wife to my hubby! What I didn’t realize was that sometimes my female brain with its ways of thinking and showing my love to him and his male brain and the way it is wired meant that sometimes there were things that I was doing, or not doing, that were causing problems I didn’t even realize were there!
Thankfully through several different women giving me books and recommending blogs I caught on early on into our marriage (probably 2 1/2 years) that there were several areas that needed work! I am so thankful that I was able to be enlightened to these things early on–and wish I had known sooner!!!! So now for every bridal shower that I attend my gift is three books: For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn; A Good Girls Guide to Great Sex by Shelia Wray Gregoire; and Created to Be His Helpmeet. I include a letter with the books explaining why and how each has shaped and changed my marriage for the better.
