“We received this product in collaboration with MomSelect. All opinions are my own and not influenced by the company.” Thanks to a collaboration with Mom Select, we were introduced to a new, generational based, trivia board game called Mind the Gap from Solid Roots. We invited our extended family over to give the game a whirl and the result were laughs, groans, and family bonding. Mind The Gap SolidRoots Buy on Amazon This would be a great board game to have on hand as the holidays near and small groups of families come together. For a lot of us, family members are the only people we are in ..read more

“This product was sent to our family free of charge but all opinions are my own and not influenced by the company itself.” If you know anything about me, you know I love a smoothie! I always say that my taste buds never grew into adults because I can’t stand the taste of beer, alcohol, tea, coffee (unless it has a ton of chocolate and sugar in it). Me enjoying my morning smoothie. (Jk, it’s my my MINI me) So most days if you see me enjoying a delicious beverage, it’s probably a smoothie. To that end, do you think this post is about all the glorious smoothie recipes I make every morning? Well ..read more

Off we go! (All helmets were placed on after this picture) Okay, here is some background information on my love for this bike. I first discovered this beautiful bike when my oldest two were toddlers. I entered every contest they had just dreaming I would win. I think it’s been about six years that I have longed for and dreamed about this bike. I even researched other styles of cargo bikes looking to see if there were any others I liked better. The result? Absolutely not. This design is the best cargo bike out there both in style and ease of ride. I was convinced of that before our purchase a ..read more

We’ve really hit our stride with the schedule for the day. No it’s not a color coded chart with specific times. I don’t care what time we get our day started, I don’t care what time we do each item on the “agenda.” I only care that Ollie gets down for his nap around 1 pm and that they get ready for bedtime at 7 pm. The last few days have just shown that we have fallen into a routine of our own making without forcing it too much. The kids are usually up before me so they are already watching cartoons when I get up. Depending on what time I get up I’ll just lazily lay around with them until some ..read more

At this point it’s all getting a little repetitive right? You get the gist, we wake up, eat breakfast, try and limit screen time by getting a few hours in of books and / or e-learning. Netflix, Netflix, again, more Netflix. Dinner, bedtime, repeat. Sometimes we squeeze in a fun adventure to get some fresh air and exercise. (Safely) Day 7 Charlotte learned a little cooking by helping with breakfast. Had some quiet reading time and finished up the Week 1 matrix of their e-learning. Actually managed to get the boys clothes folded and put away in their room. Will work on the girls piles eventually ..read more

“I spent all day thinking I was taking pictures with my phone, only to find I had no SD card in my camera :( So this will be a mostly image less post. ” Day 5 7:30 AM: Ignored the incessant banging from Oliver in his bedroom for as long as I could until I finally got up. 8:00 AM: He has all of a sudden become a picky eater and refuses to eat almost anything. Fruit is a pretty safe bet but he barely touched the bowl. This is not the time to waste food Ollie-Bear! Doesn’t he get it? The rest of the kids claim they don’t want breakfast because they are in the basement watching a sho ..read more

Welcome to Day 4 of quarantine. I managed to sleep in until 8:30 AM. A full breakfast was actually had, shocking. Got the kids dressed and ready to go on a mural hunt (from the car, calm down people) around Chicago. Unfortunately, right before I thought I would be able to manage a shower for myself ..read more

After a day of slacking we were ready to be a bit more productive today! Breakfast and the morning was a blur so I can’t really comment on that but by around 10 am we were ready to get some e-learning done and printed out some more of the free daily learning printables from Legacy Learning Academy. You can see from the pictures that everyone was still rocking their St. Paddy’s day gear and enjoying their goodies from Grandmom and leftover treats from me ..read more

8:30 AM: Arrive home after working all night. Make the (difficult) decision to drop off the younger 2 kids at my mother’s house for a few hours so I can get some sleep. I know technically we shouldn’t be around other people, especially over the age of 50 or 60, but falling asleep a couple times on the drive home from work told me that something worse than a coronavirus could happen if I didn’t at least get a nap in. Come home to find Charlie eating chips and salsa for breakfast. Of course ..read more

We are in unprecedented times. And as such, I thought it would be interesting to keep a diary of sorts to document our days and for the children to be able to read later when they are older. Per usual, I will primarily document through pictures with text for explanation. I’ve seen the colorful charts floating around on Facebook on how to schedule out the day now that children are out of school indefinitely. That’s not me. But I definitely must have been influenced because normally on a 3 day weekend or break, I wouldn’t be so concerned about planning out activities for the kids. But if this is ..read more