Invisible Mom

That's it. That's the title.

 That's the way I was feeling on September 3rd 2015. 

It had been almost three months since we were rear ended on Hickman Road by some guy on a cell phone. All I had in my drafts was that title, "Invisible Mom". 

What happened? Pain, depression, separation 

 later on divorce... 

more pain, raising the kids ALONE!

That's what happened. AND A LOT MORE...

Have you read Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison?

Graco Comfy Cruiser Travel System in Stratus

I was recently contacted to review a Graco Click Connect Comfy Cruiser Travel System. I was super excited to say the least.  The system arrived and I couldn't have been happier. I received the Stratus style system and I really like the contrasting blues and the sky print pattern. The stroller was super easy to set up we were rolling twenty minutes out of the box.

The carseat itself is lightweight and the stroller can be folded and unfolded with one hand. The only thing that wasn't a winner for me was that the carseat insert wasn't full enough to support baby's head. There would be times when his head would tilt or bend over to the side because there was so much room in the seat without a cushion to support him sitting upright. Even still, this is an uber nice system and it's moderately priced so that you could purchase an infant head support separately. Personally I'm waiting until he is a few months older to use this system because I love the stroller too much to let it go  and I'll continue to have him in another carseat.

Diapers, diapers, diapers

While I was pregnant I seriously considered cloth diapering. I know...
It sounded amazing. First, I got excited about the idea of all natural cotton against my baby's skin and how less chemicals meant less incidence of eczema,  which my kiddos all have had at one time or another.

Then there was the cloth diaper gang...
"You'll save a ton of money" they said. Yeah, eventually. First you'll fork out a few hundred for your adorably addictive practice to begin with.
"Don't contribute to the billions of diapers in our landfills...yada, yada, ya.  I'm here for helping the environment, I'm in tune with Mother Nature.  I'd like to think we live a green lifestyle, okay pale yellow but the point is... we try. 

I researched a lot and invested a little. Finally settling on whats called the prefolds and cover method. Until the reality of life and laundry for a family o eight drop kicked me back to my senses. So we're using disposables...for now. 

Check out Honest brand diapers if you're interesred in real, natural and pronouncable  ingredients against your little ones skin.

;

30 day Green Smoothie challenge complete!

So I've completed the thirty day Green Smoothie challenge!! I'm proud to say that I didn't miss one day. Well technically one smoothie was made and consumed after midnight but I still had at least one smoothie every twenty four hours for thirty(32 technically) days. Yay! I feel great! 

I think we all do! Here's a look back at some of our favorites!

This was Spinach, Pineapple and Coconut water.

Blueberry, Cherry & Strawberry. Another favorite, sometimes I'd add Almond milk and ground flax seed as well.

Of course you just can't go wrong with Blueberry Banana. Yumm!

Back 2 School al'Ready!

This year we'll have five kiddos in some form of school. Preschool two days a week, kindergarten five, a middle schooler plus a second and fourth grader. I've been thinking and pinning some ways to make our back to school transition and our school year a little more organized. I thought about changing our backpack station in the garage and creating a "mudroom" type of area but realized the garage was as good a mudroom as any so the backpacks stay.

Then I thought about all the paper work I encounter for each child with doctors visits, schedules, permission slips etc. I mean it's not even Open House and I have five pages of supply lists and three different calendars.
*I love it all!* So there needed to be a MORE pinning and clipping room and maybe assigning each kid a pinboard would organize the chaos. So this system was purchased and hung...

And with that. ..we are almost ready, already :)

Getting Back2School Ready with Cricut

This will be my first year teaching fourth grade and I'm a little nervous. I've started my classroom prep and decided that we'd have a word wall that also includes the ASL alphabet. My Cricut Expression2 machine allowed me to cut these letters with minimal frustration.

I like that I can connect my Cricut to my computer and access all the same great images available on cartridges. Once you get used to operating the Design Suite it's actually easier than using the Cricut alone. 

Cricut has a brand new machine out now, the Cricut Explore. If you're interested there's a link to the right. Meanwhile, check out there awesome machines, tools and crafting technology with the link below.

 

Where To for a Large Family

With summer travel in full swing I've been getting a lot of questions about "where to stay?" Especially where to stay for larger families. We are a family of seven and most hotels cannot accommodate our family size without asking "if we want two adjoining rooms???". No! With five children under the age of twelve we never want to pile all the kids in a room alone and ummmm, it's not a vacation if my husband and I can't share a room(we'd might as well be at home) lol!

Our go to place when traveling(outside of Disney that is) is Marriott's Residence Inn. Residence Inn offers one and two bedroom 'residences' equipt with all the amenities families need. Kitchens with apartment sized stove, refrigerator and dish washers; of course microwave, iron and great television channel selections. Most importantly they offer excellent breakfast buffets and awesome pools. Here are some photos of our most recent stay.
 

Green Smoothie Challenge

My aunt recently invited me to try a 30 day Green smoothie challenge. We'd been talking about juicing, smoothies and overall just trying harder to eat and live well so I was so excited to start. 

To prep I simply added a few extras to our usual weekly grocery list. I wouldn't want to pulverize all of our green veggies into smoothies. Then what would the kids have to go with their pizza. 

I washed, cut and sorted out a few days of fruit and veggies for the smoothies. There are a ton of recipes out there and each combination contributes to our mental and physical health in various ways. To keep it simple I'm starting with fresh spinach, fresh cubed pear, 1/4 water and two ice cubes. 

We have a Ninja mixing system but any blender will do. Just be sure to cut and core your veggies according to your systems capabilities. Before we got this  one I worked the crap out of a Rival. 

This combination is said to give energy, help detoxify as well as aid digestion and manage weight. I'm getting everyone on board. Hubby likes the spinach and pear too. I think it's a great 'gateway' smoothie. Wait till he gets a load of the Kale and Swish Chard :) * blends.

 >insert awkward wicked laugh< 

The kids have always loved smoothies. But they like the berry banana yogurty yummy ones. As do I. It's the "green" smoothies that are a hard sell. Apparently they all love this apple and carrot combination. 

I'm hoping to continue my green smoothies beyond the thirty days; you know they say once you do something for 21 days it becomes a habit. Well....Cheers to day one!

Best Shoes 4 Summer Travel

Every year around this time I'm either shopping around or being asked 'where to find good traveling shoes'. This year it's been both. So that got me to thinking maybe I should write a blog post on the shoes that I think are best for summer fun and travel.

First up...for the little ones:

These are 'Trekkers' from LandsEnd. I love this for travel because these closed toes sandals protect kids feet very well. I also like that they come in a great array of colors for both boys and girls and NO LACES! No one wants to be stopping the fun to tie laces...especially not when your at any kind of park. Hopefully of the amusement or water variety! :)

There are quite a few companies who make variations of this shoe. My kids have also had the Jumping Beans brand available at Kohl's.

Now don't get me wrong gym or tennis shoes and socks are fine if you don't mind being hot and sweaty and stuffy on the foot all day. I also like the flip flops you can find around town for as little as 99 cents. They're great for the pool or splashing around but if you can find a Good closed toed sandal that protects the foot, let's them breath and is no hassle...Go for it!

For Mom and Dad: 

The boat shoe.

These Sebago leather shoes are nice but obviously if you invest in leather...just fly in them. The boat shoe is great for flying in because it slips on and off easily and if you've broken them in enough they're extremely comfortable.

Again, there are tons of options when it comes to the boat shoe. There are designers such as Prada and Sebago. Brands like Sperry and Polo as well as companies who make this style available at every price point. I found an awesome pair at Target a few ago.

These leopard print shoes are available at SperryTopsider.com. 

As for trekking across large parks, sporting around and the overall length of your stay I also recommend something similar to my kids pick. A shoe that you can walk, run and spend all day in comfortably. A shoe with the right support technology. 

These Keens are perfect for that purpose. They're available at a number of retailers including Scheels & DSW.

As are many shoes from the J-41 brand. I like to be able see my pedicure and I need some arch support. 

So whatever shoes you choose for your family's summer and travel needs I hope this blog post helped in some way. Thank you.

Still Sewing

In case you missed it, I've started sewing. I'll link that post here: http://lotsofloveandlaughs.blogspot.com/2014/06/sew-sew.html?m=1

We've decided to add it(sewing) to our 'Must Do on Summer Vacay' list. 

I've started out simple...with pillowcases. I found a great tutorial on YouTube, I'll link it here: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MrYWCma9wgM

I've learned to press all the fabric before I sew so that the finished product comes out smoother.

I've also made some in satin.

:) I know right! 

Excuse my pie.

New Music from David Gray

I was contacted by One2One Network to review music from Grammy Nominated artist David Gray.

I was initially somewhat hesitant to review this album because I'm fairly new to the Folk Rock genre. After listening to some of Grays past work including 'Babylon' and 'This Year's Love' I was extremely intrigued by his incredible songwriting. Grays tenth studio album is set to release tomorrow June 17th and music lovers are in for another array of incredible lyrics fused with beautiful melodies.



My favorites on the album are 'Beautiful Agony' and 'Girl Like You'. Mutineers is available for pre-order on iTunes: http://bit.ly/DavidGrayMutineersiTunes and Amazon: http://bit.ly/DGMutineersAmazon  .
I am honored to have been given a sneak peak at the 'Mutineers' album and have fast become a fan. If you get the chance check out the British singer songwriter sensation that is David Gray.

 http://www.davidgray.com/
 https://www.facebook.com/davidgray
 https://twitter.com/DavidGray
 https://www.youtube.com/user/TheRealDavidGray
 http://instagram.com/davidgray

Although I received a free download of the album to review from One2One Network all opinions are my own, Thank you.

Sew Sew

I've decided this is the summer I learn to sew. I can sew by hand but if it's more than a few buttons or a hem my hand cramps up. So I'm investing in learning to use a sewing maching and the first things on my list are...(drumroll please)....pillowcases. I want to make a bunch for the family. I figured my Dad could use some more in the coming weeks and the kids love any kind of craft, so they've been the perfect place to start.

Once I've stocked everyone with enough I plan to move on to decorative pillows, pencil skirts and maxi dresses. Wish me luck :)

Moms' Wedding

Hello my beautiful blog readers. I've been super busy with the last couple of weeks with the end of the school year, preparing to go home for my Moms wedding and just everyday life responsibilities. We had a great time in Chicago even though our stay was uber brief. The wedding turned out beautiful and if I do say so myself my Mom was an absolutely gorgeous bride. The three oldest were in the wedding and our gruesome twosome were Honorary flower girl and ring bearer as well. We really enjoyed being with family. 

Our Weekend

This weekend our oldest daughter turned ten years old. Since it was her "golden" birthday we just had to make it special with what else but a party. Being the inquisitive creation that she is we thought the Science Center was most fitting. Here are some snapshots from the party.

Everyone was uber excited that GrandDadde came in town!

Baby Girl wasn't too fond of the animal exhibits.

Most memorable gift "Mr.Crabs" given by our family friends. Thanks again you guys!

Well as you can see a good time was had by all. 

A Good Buy

I want to start sharing things that I think are "good buys". The first item I 'd like to share as a "good buy" is this bean bag toss game I picked up at Bed Bath and Beyond. 

This game came in its own carrying case with two sets of bean bags (4 blue/ 4red) and two wooden goal nets to toss the bags into.

This set was 39.99 and of course I had 20% off coupon (Sign up for postal mailings, email and/or text alerts). 

The kids helped me break the game in this weekend , although I think Coby thought it was a bean bag drop.

He loves shouting " hooray! for himself.

Bed Bath and Beyond has become one of my "must shop stops". I look forward to their mailings and can pretty much always find a few things that we must have. 

Easter's coming

If you follow me on Twitter @Momme2Five you may have seen me post about these awesome felt Easter baskets I found at Aldi. If you know me personally you know I love to shop and I always try to shop around for the best quality item for our dollar. I've seen other baskets as high as 7 dollars each, which I guess is an alright price for someone with less children or a longer Easter basket budget. Honestly these baskets were the best quality I'd seen and they were only a dollar eighty nine. I couldn't MAKE these baskets for a buck 89. 

It's been a tradition for me since I've had children to make their Easter baskets; the way my Granma made ours for years and years. I think I was still getting a homemade Easter basket from her well into my college years. So the tradition lives on. It's fun! It's healthier than those store bought ones packed with dyed candies and sugar coated high fructose corn syrup. And...it's just what I do. So what are some of your Easter traditions? Please share in the comments section. Thank you...

Sing Into Spring

 

You all Know our family are BIG Disney fans. We love Disney Movies, Music and most of all Disney Parks. The Disney Sing into Spring contest combines all three. Enter to win Disney Park tickets for four by submiting a thirty second video of you or your family member singing a song from your favorite Disney movie.

Submit your entry on One2One Networks Facebook page...here.

 

You can find a list of songs here.

 

How easy is that?

 

I'm off to get out entries ready...I promise I'll post or link them on the blog.

 

By the way Instagram users can submit a video via Instagram if it's tagged #DisneySingIntoSpring

Back in Business

Uppercase Living is a vinyl expression company that produces high quality inspirational, humorous, whimsical, and thoughtful expressions. UL also gives their customers the opportunity to create their own expressions using the MyDesign Suite tool.  

 

 

 

 

I've been an Uppercase Living demonstrator in the past but once we relocated I let it go for awhile. Now, I'm back and I'm SO excited about what they have going on now...please visit my page at RachelRenee.uppercaseliving.net to check it out.

 

Valentines Day prep

The kids and I have been getting ready for Valentine's Day. Which is not only a big deal in our family but is also a pretty big deal at school. Every year we make Valentines for their classmates and teachers and a Valentine box for them to collect their love notes and tokens in. We used boxes of various sizes, construction paper, card stock, the Cricut Expressions2 machine, various knick knack pieces and a hot glue gun to create the Valentines boxes.

Our Kindergardener wanted a Monster box.

Our second grader wanted a puppy box. 

Here's her "Val-mation".

And our fourth grader wanted an Owl Valentine box. 

She even came up with some cute owl themed sayings for her Valentines, like "You're Owl-some" and "Owl be your Valentine". 

Now if I could shake this flu enough to finish them and the thousand other things on my to-do-list. Thanks for reading and feel free to comment below. 

What's up Wednesday

I thought I'd bring the blog up to speed with what's been up with our family the last few weeks.

First, it's cold! Very cold. When it hasn't been cold, it's been snowing. This hasn't been a bunch of light snowing either, it's been snow-nado, blizzard conditions...snowing! This has been a winter for the weather record books because our temperatures in the MidWest have gone so low(40 below) that they have cancelled school several times; even some churches have cancelled Sunday services. 

Next, I've been working weekends which has been awesome since the kids are on hiatus from sports and activities during the winter. Now that their seasons are approaching it's going to take some serious juggling. I like to work, hence the fab five; and hubby likes the extra money. 

Of course these two situations (the subzero snow days and me working weekends) has lead to what I've coined as 'FamilyFratHouse'. Simply put, our place is a bit of a mess. To top it off BabyGirls "nose is melting" and when she catches a  cold she loves to cling to Momme. So today I'll be cleaning and rearranging and organizing in hopes that Spring will soon be upon us. Thanks for reading, take care.