I think the whole body art thing is still lingering from Canada. And honestly, my tip for you is you just gotta go with it sometimes in order to keep both the peace and your sanity.

It all began with drawing pictures to hide an ugly temporary wall…..

But then Addie happened.

I absolutely LOVE when I can make 1 dinner count for 2 meals!  Such a time saver, not to mention budget friendly…

Crock Pot Chicken Bowls are one of my favorite meal staples.  If I don’t make this once a week, then at least every other week. (Sad I know, but like I said, EASY).

This past week I threw everything into the crock pot, and by “everything” I mean, all that I’ve listed as an ingredient, plus any leftover chicken or beef that I found in the fridge. (We had grilled…

Now I don’t necessarily think that what I do is any more unique or special than any other mom.

Truly, I think we are all remarkable for being moms and that ANY mom will admit, that she had no idea the job she was taking on until she became a mom!

All that being said, I’m often asked in emails if I would post what my daily schedule with the Littles looks like.  And although I would love to do this, it’s just…

It’s been a little while since I’ve shared a new FAVORITE, so I thought it might be fun to throw one out there… (plus it’s been awhile for a GIVEAWAY! Be sure to scroll to the end!)

Now we are not starting preschool this fall, but do you really need to go to school to love a backpack???

I tend to obsess about things sometimes (who me?! what???).  So I kinda went nutty looking for just the right backpack for the girls.

I wanted it to be small…

HOLY MOLY has it been a bit crazy since we returned from our trip.

Truly, I’m surprised we are all still breathing around here…it feels like we have been running circles inside a tornado.  But I suppose that’s to be expected with most families.  Come on Shanna, get with the program!

It gets me in the gut though when I get so swamped that I can’t post something, like when you have that feeling you’ve forgotten something.  You count all the heads of your kids…

As I’ve said, we’ve just returned from my parents cabin in Canada where we’ve been on vacation for the week. When you have a cabin by a lake in the woods, the surroundings give you LOTS to do.  But it helps when you can “help” your Littles jump start that fun.  Because my parents drove up, I sent up a bag of “goodies” to pull out with the kids throughout the week.

Washable paint was one of those good times!

The girls and I went on a walk one…

I’ve mentioned it before. My favorite place.  The cabin on the lake where we spent our childhood summers.

It was and is an amazing place.

It’s in the middle of NO WHERE (which I say with all affection, no where is a PERFECT place for the cabin to be).

Addie & Hay visited with me last May, but this was the first time to take all 3 kids and to be there together with the other kids we grew up with…

It’s rough.

As you can see, Piper is a tough baby.  Pretty much always unhappy

If only we could get this kid to smile.

Let me know if you have any advice.

Thanks for your help!

I’ve said it before, that I love using Google Reader as it pulls the RSS Feeds from all my favorite blogs to one nice neat place.  This made is easy for me to read in the middle of the night from bed while I was giving Piper her bottle, and now read when I wake up and can’t for some unknown horrid reason, go back to sleep.  But when I look down the list of feeds that have been pulled for each blog, I’m always a little overwhelmed by

As I’m working on getting the family packed up for the next big adventure, thought I would point out a couple travel ESSENTIAL favorites!! I don’t think I could ever travel without either of these.

Aquaphor is a booty saver! The first time we traveled with Addie in a car, we drove to and from Tahoe, that’s 9 hours each way.  She was 9 months old and she got the worst…

And love this kid.

That’s all I have to say about that.

Thank you.

Continuing the playing catch up with my huge list of “to do” items (and lack of daylight hours), here is another archived posts that some of you may not have read.  This past spring I was asked to be a contributing writer at the SV Moms Group, Orange County Moms Blog.  The Group was an amazing group of Mom writers from all parts of the US and Canada, and I was honored to be a part of it.  The original post can be found…

I had such a fun date night with my 2 year old little last week!  We went to see the Greatest Show on Earth, Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey’s, “Barnum’s FUNundrum” last Wednesday. (If you missed the details, check this post out). My girlfriend and I took our older kids (Older!! Ha!! They are 2 and 3!!) and had a ball! The girls were in awe and amazement!  (And we liked the fact we could actually strap them both down in car seats and were…

While I play catch up with my huge list of posts that need to get written, I thought I would share a few archived posts that some of you may not have read.  This past spring I was asked to be a contributing writer at the SV Moms Group, Orange County Moms Blog.  The Group was an amazing group of Mom writers from all parts of the US and Canada, and I was honored to be a part of it.  The…

…be pregnant.

Ok, NOT.NOT.NOT.NOT.NOT!!  That was just a bad joke.  But I had to do it.

Now even though my sister says I don’t need to do this, when I’ve been MIA for more than a few days, I DO think an explanation is in order.

You see, there are these 3 kids, and life, and well….

Yeah, I don’t think that’s really an excuse either.

So let’s try this “dog ate my homework” route…

We may or may not be in the middle of a playroom project.