This post is sponsored by 3M. All opinions are my own. Back to school time can seem overwhelming and not-so-much-fun at a glance, but in our house we celebrate this yearly occasion with school shopping, a fun family party, and this year - a movie thanks to Post-it® and Scotch™ products! Staying organized when things are about to get super busy is my biggest priority during back to school time. Not only do we have all of our regular activities that continued throughout the summer - gymnastics, piano lessons - but we'll start adding school choir, homework, and more to the list! It's important for me to keep all of that on track and I do just that with a command center in our kitchen. We recently did a huge renovation and turned our dated kitchen and dining room into a farmhouse kitchen so I DIY-ed my calendar and command center to … [Read more...]
5 Tips for a Better Snack Station for Kids + Stock Up at Publix for Back to School
This post may contain affiliate links where I earn a small commission from your purchase. See full disclosure for details.
This post is sponsored by General Mills. All opinions are my own. It's my favorite part of back to school, but can also be one of the most stressful parts of back to school... packing lunches and snacks. While we saw our share of lunches and snack times during summer, back to school lunches and snacks are just different, right? Getting anything together on school mornings adds a level of frustration and stress, so the better prepared you are for it all, the smoother school mornings go. This definitely includes snacks and school lunches so today I'm sharing my top 5 tips with you to build a better snack station for kids. Keep your snack cabinet organized. Organization, especially in the kitchen, just makes my heart and eyes happy. It's one room in the house where I like things to be kept up and clean. It's much … [Read more...]
That Time My Kids Were in a Dollywood Commercial [and Met Dolly!]
This post may contain affiliate links where I earn a small commission from your purchase. See full disclosure for details.
Ever wonder what it's like to be in a Dollywood commercial or even meet Dolly herself? My girls did BOTH on a rainy Saturday in May and here's what happened! If you know me at all, you know my heart was bursting with pride when I got an email asking if my girls would be interested in being extras in a commercial to be filmed at Dollywood. Believe it or not, I DID ask them if they wanted to do it before I replied "YES YES YES!" You see, I've been a Dollywood super fan since I was a little girl. My family has always grown up going to Dollywood, I've been a Dollywood season passholder since I can remember, and my girls love it as much as I do. In fact, ask any of the 3 of us girls in the family where our favorite place in the world is and you'll likely hear the same response "the beach and Dollywood"! So, when the girls were asked … [Read more...]
DIY Daily Shower Spray for No Scrub Cleaning!
This post may contain affiliate links where I earn a small commission from your purchase. See full disclosure for details.
If you loathe cleaning showers as much as I do, you're going to love this DIY daily cleaning spray. Keep your shower clean with a daily spray and no scrubbing. The best part, you can make it yourself with no dangerous chemicals and just a few dollars! This post is in partnership with NOW®. All opinions are my own. Can I share a dirty secret with you? My shower. There, I said it. I know my shower isn't clean. How do I know? Well, I look at it and look at others, like at hotels, and yes, I know it's not as clean as it should be. Now, don't get me wrong. It's not filthy and gross, but there's a problem there for sure, but perhaps it isn't all my fault. It turns out we have hard water and I had no idea. But build-up is definitely there if I don't regularly clean the shower. And remember that dirty secret? It doesn't … [Read more...]
Have Young Children? Don’t Miss These Hidden Hazards in Your Home
This post may contain affiliate links where I earn a small commission from your purchase. See full disclosure for details.
This post was sponsored by Window Covering Safety Council as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own. Did you know that June is National Safety Month? It's a great time to go through your house and be sure everything in your home is working well and safe for your entire family. When I became pregnant, like most new parents, safety was at the forefront of my mind. It's amazing how priorities shift when you have children and safety tops that list. I remember Rob and I went around and "baby-proofed" the house before Sophia could even crawl because we were so concerned with keeping her safe! While we went around our home and looked for obvious dangers and corrected them, I also did a lot of research in case there were items and risks that I might … [Read more...]
Everything You Need to Know About Wildwood Grove – Dollywood’s Biggest Expansion Ever
This post may contain affiliate links where I earn a small commission from your purchase. See full disclosure for details.
Have you visited Dollywood lately? If you have, you've likely seen my new favorite part of the park AND the biggest expansion in Dollywood history... Wildwood Grove! Here I'm breaking down all the rides, things to do, foods to eat, and fun to be had in this amazing, new area of the amusement park! A few weeks ago, I had the amazing experience to see the brand new addition to Dollywood, Wildwood Grove on the day it opened to the public. This area of the park is the biggest expansion in Dollywood history. In fact, the 6 acre 2019 expansion cost more than the original purchase of Dollywood back in 1986! Want to learn more about Dollywood? Visit here to get all the details! Actually, this wasn't my very first time walking around Wildwood Grove. I was there back in mid-March and the area was, well, let's just say a little less colorful … [Read more...]
Everything You Want to Know About Lottie Dolls + Lottie Dolls Review
This post may contain affiliate links where I earn a small commission from your purchase. See full disclosure for details.
If your kids love pretend play, they're going to love Lottie Dolls. A line of pretend play dolls that are the perfect size for little hands and inspire leadership, invention, adventure, and creativity! Check out this Lottie Dolls review to learn more. When Lottie Dolls recently contacted the girls and I about experiencing their dolls and products recently, I was honestly intrigued. I actually hadn't heard of Lottie Dolls until that email came and quickly went to Google to look up Lottie Dolls reviews. I quickly learned that these dolls weren't just any dolls, they were characters that inspired adventure and creativity so I immediately said yes. The girls were each able to pick out which doll they wanted. I wasn't surprised at all by their choices. My adventure, dinosaur loving Sophia quickly chose Lottie Doll Fossil Hunter and … [Read more...]
Ditch the Plastic Bottles, Live Sustainable and Cool with Brita this Summer
This post may contain affiliate links where I earn a small commission from your purchase. See full disclosure for details.
This post is sponsored by Brita but the content and opinions expressed here are my own. If you've been around this blog any time, you know that I'm all about easy, small steps to a better life. Why? Because when you take small steps to a more eco-friendly lifestyle, you're more likely to sustain those steps. If you try to go totally waste-free in every room of your house when you are used to having 2 cans of trash a week... you're probably not going to be successful. But if you try to go waste-free in one room at a time, with an end goal of total waste-free in one year, you're more likely to hit those goals. That's why when people ask me what's my number 1 tip for going green, they are almost always underwhelmed. But then I explain that reasoning - small steps make big changes in the future - and they get it. And one of the … [Read more...]
5 Tips for Better Summer Snacking + GOOD THiNS
This post may contain affiliate links where I earn a small commission from your purchase. See full disclosure for details.
This post was sponsored by GOOD THiNS as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own. Summer is right around the corner. In fact, here in East Tennessee we'll be hitting 90 degrees almost every day this week so I think it's safe to say that summer is already here! I'm so thankful for the warm, gorgeous weather because it gets us outside working and playing. With all that working and playing comes big appetites and lots of snack requests. While it's tempting to buy pre-portioned snacks to have on-hand during the warmer months, they are usually not the healthiest of options. Buying pre-portioned snacks can also add up. I've found that prepping our own snacks, after buying in larger quantities, is not only healthier, but also more affordable. That doesn't … [Read more...]
Ready to Upgrade Your Patio This Summer? Here’s How!
This post may contain affiliate links where I earn a small commission from your purchase. See full disclosure for details.
This post has been sponsored by Best Buy. All opinions are my own. My family's favorite place to hang out at home is outside. We enjoy the outdoors wherever we are, it seems. Whether it's camping, at the beach, or even at home. On our most recent beach trip we were so excited to find an outdoor sitting area in our beach rental with a television and the girls fell in love with it - and I have to admit, so did I! I started wondering if it would be possible to create such an outdoor space like that at home and it turns out - it's way easier, and more affordable, than I originally thought. After a little digging, I found these great options at Best Buy. The SunBriteTV Veranda series is a family of weatherproof televisions designed for full-shade applications: Full Shade (Veranda), Partial Sun (Signature), and Full Sun (Pro). It … [Read more...]
DIY Yogurt Parfait Bar for an Easy Family Breakfast
This post may contain affiliate links where I earn a small commission from your purchase. See full disclosure for details.
This post is sponsored by Greek Gods but the content and opinions expressed here are my own. Breakfast is hard, y'all. Does anyone else struggle with making one of the most important meals of the day with time to spare on weekday mornings? I love make ahead breakfast ideas, and sometimes I totally succeed at them, but other mornings are rushed and I just come up empty handed. But one thing we always have in the refrigerator is fresh fruit. My girls are fruit-obsessed and easily go through a container of strawberries and blueberries a day! So I always have some on hand, which had me thinking how I could serve fruit more in the mornings. On my most recent shopping trip to Walmart, I found a new-to-me brand of yogurt that I couldn't wait to try. I found Greek Gods® Greek-Style Yogurt in the lower, refrigerated bottom well of the … [Read more...]
Drive Safer with Uniden R7 Radar at Best Buy
This post may contain affiliate links where I earn a small commission from your purchase. See full disclosure for details.
There's nothing more important to me than my family's safety. I'm sure you can agree with that statement too, especially if you're a parent! And there's nowhere that I feel the need to be more safe than in the car. I think I've always had a bit of car anxiety. It's not that I'm a bad driver or my husband is, but it's my worry about all the other cars on the road. I have to give up that control and hope that they're paying attention and driving safely. So my anxiety levels when I'm in the car are always a bit high. With that said, that's one reason why I can see the great value in this Uniden R7 Radar. While I really am a safe driver [not trying to jinx myself here] with a great record, I get distracted and most of the time it's from my anxiety of worrying about being safe... ironic, no?! The Uniden R7 radar tracks up … [Read more...]