Weekend Sale

I used to love to hit up the malls the weekend of Easter and catch all the awesome sales. It was like the kick off to my Spring shopping. Now a days, I tend to shop either just for Joey when I go to the mall or for myself at Target while out running errands. It's difficult to take an almost one year old to the mall for a period of time, let alone keep him occupied while trying stuff on. So these days, I tend to stick to shopping online for myself. Luckily, most retailers offer the same great sales as in store so us mom's can shop in the comfort of our own home, in comfortable clothing while your little one is playing!
I've rounded up some of the great sales going on this weekend and some of the things I either have in my carts or may be purchasing this weekend!

Jumpsuit Henley Tee Striped Dress Bow Slides Love Seat

Abercrombie & Fitch | 50% off entire store & site

American Eagle | 25-60% off & BOGO 50% Jeans & Shorts J Crew | 40% off regular price items with code SPRINGTOIT LOFT | 40% off everything with code HELLO H&M | 20% off of $75 Ann Taylor | 50% off with code YESPLEASE White House Black Market | 25 % off purchase with code 71666 Gap | 50% off entire purchase with code SPRING Old Navy | 30% off online order with code ENJOY Children's Place | 50-60% off entire store  Anthropologie | 20% off with code BRAND Pottery Barn | 25% off one item (includes furniture) with code BLOOM Bauble Bar | free gift with $50 spend Macy's | Extra 20% off select items with code SALE
When shopping online, don't forget to sign up or use your Ebates! You basically are getting free money while you are already shopping!
Be sure you and your family take some time out of your weekend and really reflect on why we celebrate this holiday. Say a prayer, go to church and be thankful Jesus died for our sins. 

Easter Basket Ideas

This year we will be celebrating Joey's second Easter, before his first birthday! Crazy how the calendar works with lent!

It was a lot more fun buying things for his Easter basket this year since we obviously know his personality and what he likes a lot more. Of course I had to get him some things I liked too.. hint hint the Hunter Rain boots! I always like to get a little something for Joe every Easter and I can't forget my first baby.. Charger!

Joey:

Basket & Liner | Pottery Barn

Rain Boots | Hunter

Art Folio, Book, Bubbles, Ears 

& Bowling Set | Target

Joe:

Basket | Target (old)

Treats | Trader Joe's 

Charger:

Basket | Target (last year)

Toys & Treats | Bark Box

DIY | Party Hats

Continuing on with getting ready for our little boys first birthday party, we made these adorable DIY cow print birthday prints!

Could I have bought some on say amazon or another bulk party site? Probably, but I enjoy making things homemade, plus I wanted to share with all you! I linked the free printable so you can make your own as well!

There are so many options you can make with these! We chose to make cow print on ours to go with our farm theme. If you follow my Shop on instagram, I did a story and saved it to highlights showing how to make them! 

Get your Free Template HERE!

some other options you can make

+ Glitter dots

+ add pom pom to top

+ other animals

+ add jewels for a crown

there are SO many options!

Joseph Michael | Eleven Month Update

One more month! Holy moly only one more month til our Baby is no longer an infant but a ... TODDLER! Whoa! 

Eleven Months: March 8, 2018
Weight: 23lbs Height:  inches
Diet:  formula, solid foods
Sleeping:  about 12 hours at night.
Clothing Size: 18-24 months or 2t's
Diaper Size: size 4's
Teeth: 2 on the bottom and two (and a half- it's still coming through) on the top 

Happy ELEVEN months Joseph Michael! I love to throw my hands over my head and do ‘how big’s Joey’, I play pat a cake, and wave hi and bye! 👋🏼 I love giving big open mouth kisses and have stood on my own without holding on! I don’t like to sit still at all hence the bribing of the cookies for this picture!

Toy Story Party Favors DIY

It's no shocker that I love every part of a party. The invites, the favors, the decor.. it's all so fun to me. So when a friend asked me for help putting together a favor for her son's birthday party I jumped to the occasion. His theme was Toy Story, so staying within budget and simple, we put together a little favor for under $3.00!

The party was for a 3 year old, so we wanted items that they would be able to use now and no choking hazards. Even though the stamper is small, we figured it would be used with parents supervision. I added some additional items you can add to your favors if you are having older children at the party!

We made the favors based on 20 kids, but I'm sure with a little research you can get items in bulk or lesser amounts as needed!

Labels | Ash's Party Accents Cello Bags | Hobby Lobby Chocolate Coins | Amazon Stamps | Amazon
Additional Items: Sheriff Badge Green Army Men Mini Etch A Sketch

Bunny Mix with Free Printable

We are digging out from a foot of snow here in PA and I can not wait til it all melts. I want tulips and dandelions and the smell of grass and birds chirping again! This snow non sense just needs to go away. It is officially Spring after all!
While the snow was falling outside, Joey and I made a batch of bunny mix in the nice warm kitchen. I also put out some Spring decor in hopes mother nature would get the hint!

Ingredients: 9 Cups of Rice Chex cereal (whole box of regular size) 2 Cups (whole bag) White chocolate chips 1 Cup of Nutella 1/2 Cup Butter 1 Tbsp Vanilla extract 1 Cup Powdered Sugar 1 Cup of M&M's (seasonal)

Directions:
Place Rice Chex in large bowl and set aside. Place chocolate chips, nutella, and butter in a microwaveable bowl. Heat for one minute and remove to stir. Heat on increments of  20 seconds until the mixture is completely melted together. Mix in vanilla once melted and pour over rice chex. Gently mix it around until completely coated. There will be some chunks of mixture.. but that's ok! Put your cereal mixture into a large Ziploc bag with the powdered sugar. Toss to coat.  Line a baking sheet and pour out mixture to sit for about 30 minutes. Mix in M&M's before serving!

If we left it all home, we knew we would snack and eat it all, so instead we bagged it up and decided to give it away to family and friends!

Download the FREE Printable HERE You can print it on card stock and cut it square, zig zag or with a circular hole punch like I did. I also was able to print it on sticker paper like this.

Farm Animal Party Favor DIY

I can not believe that we are just a few weeks away from Joey's big first birthday! Wow did that fly by. Someone once told me the quote "The days are short, but the years are long" and I thought they were crazy. But after spending that last year getting to know Joey and his sweet yet stubborn personality, it literally flew by. It feels like forever ago I was pregnant with him so scared as what was to come. 

But enough of that sappy talk.. the fun thing about a first birthday? The first birthday party of course! We chose the theme of Farm Animals since Joey definitely has a love for them. After the party I will be sure to do a full recap for you, but today I'm showing you one of the first things we put together. This is the favor we will be handing out to our kid guests. 

I started purchasing everything back in January once we decided on the theme. I knew I wanted something cute but not over the top for favors for the kids. 

If you follow my Shop on instagram, I did a story and saved it to highlights going over everything we put in it! We plan on giving these to all the kids attending Joey's party, even the babies. It will be something fun for when they get older!

I was able to score the favor tins at Target on clearance for only $.30 each. I also linked similar ones below. The cow bells I found out Hobby Lobby and had to buy before I even had a use for them! These never go on sale aka 50% off, so it's good to use your 40% off coupon to save a few cents.  

You can really fill the tins with whatever, but I like activity items instead of toys. The stampers, crayons, bubbles and play-doh are perfect for that and the cow tails are just a little extra treat. 

Metal Tins | Target or Amazon

Cow Bells | Hobby Lobby (smaller option)

Stamps | Amazon

Bubbles | Amazon

Crayons | Amazon

Play Doh Mini's | Amazon

Cow Tails | Amazon

Bandannas | Hobby Lobby (use 40% off Coupon!)

The final touch we have to add is a little thank you label which we will attached to the string the cow bell is on! And there you have it, a multi use farm animal favor for under $5.00!

What I’m Feeding Joey to Help him Grow Strong

At Joey's six month check up our doctor confirmed we could start feeding Joey baby cereal. Right after the appointment we be-lined for Target and picked up Gerber Single Grain Oatmeal. I was so excited to start feeding Joey and single-grain infant cereals are an ideal first solid food to check for food sensitivities and help develop baby's eating skills. 

Right now, your little one needs iron to help support healthy brain development! I felt so comfortable giving Joey this new food and he loves it!  Just two servings of Gerber infant cereal meet 90% of your baby's daily iron needs.  

Gerber cereal has essential nutrients such as Iron, Zinc, Calcium, Vitamin C, E and six B Vitamins for healthy development.  There are no artificial colors or flavors which is perfect for my little guy.

Don't hesitate, check out Gerber Cereals today with this coupon!

Essentials With Joey in the First Six Months

When I found out I was pregnant, I was terrified. Not at the thought of stretch marks, labor pains, or pregnancy related sickness, but at the thought of I will be solely responsible for this new human being. They will rely on me for everything and I have to be the best mother I can be. Making sure baby has the best ability to have a healthy life everyday.   That to me is such a struggle. Even with Joey now being almost a year, I still am constantly battling mom guilt and if I am doing a good job as a parent or not. 
You can read more about his birth story here.

One thing I learned is parenting is so much easier if you have the right essentials. Today I've rounded up five of the musts we used during our first few months with our Joey!

1. Graco - Click Connect Series is in my opinion the best bang for your buck when it comes to strollers, car seats and bases! This made taking baby out of the car and into the house, store, etc. so much easier. The bases made it convenient for Joe and I to both be able to use the same car seat and not have to switch cars. 

2. Diaper Pail, I can't  tell you how much your nose will thank you! We received ours for our baby shower and have used it every day since Joey arrived! Even though we change the carbon refills weekly, the stench when we open it is sometimes so bad, it makes your eyes water. I read an article about trying some drops of essential oils so I thought I would give it a try! I placed a coffee filter on the bottom of the pail and added 1/2 cup baking soda and 10 drops of lavender EO's. It not only cuts the smells, but lavender is a relaxing scent for babies! Since giving Joey probiotics to regulate his gut, we have been putting the pail to good use even more!

3. Probiotics.. whether you are breast feeding or formula feeding, it is so important in the first six months of baby's life for autoimmune and metabolic development. Your baby can create bad bacteria in the gut which is linked to a higher risk of autoimmune and metabolic issues like colic, eczema, allergies, diabetes, and obesity later in life. When more good bacteria is present in the gut, it creates a strong, protective wall and crowds out the bad bacteria. I struggled with breast feeding when Joey was born due to not producing enough milk and him then not latching. It was so hard on me and would never want to wish that on anyone! Thankfully, now I know my baby doesn't have to worry about autoimmune and metabolic development thanks to Evivo!  

The first and only baby probiotic of its kind, Evivo is clinically proven to restore a healthy gut in your baby A daily probiotic powder, Evivo mixed with breast milk and fed to babies helps release nutrients in breast milk to create a protective internal environment in baby’s gut. It also helps develop baby’s metabolism and immune system and builds the foundation for good health that can last a lifetime.

4. Meal Delivery Service - When Joey was born my company gave us one of the best gifts.. a meal service. It helped so much because everything was already purchased, measured, and ready for us to cook. We didn't have to take the time away from baby to run to the store! 

5. Help- Whether it's just your spouse or partner, mom, sisters or friends; everybody needs it! Don't be afraid to take it or ask for help. I still 'feel bad' when I'm away from Joey more then a few hours and others watch him, but it's okay. I'm allowed to do things for myself.. and that's something I'm working on!