DIY garland for under $15

Hey y’all! So as you’ve probably realized by now, if you want the “good” Christmas decor then you have to start shopping for it at the beginning of November. I made the mistake and did not and then was unable to find garland that I like that wasn’t $30 a strand. So I decided to buy what target had- the cheap $4 garland and spruce it up myself.

Since this garland is very thin on its own I bought two and tied them together with the metal pieces that are at the end of each strand to give it a more full look. After fluffing the garland out I wrapped these lights around the garland and hung it on my mantle (I may or may not have used thumb tacks). After it was hung I went back in and added some berries (similar here) that I had used in my tree a few years ago so I decided to cut those up and add them to the garland to just give it an extra pop. I cut them longer than I needed them and just stuck them into the garland where I wanted them. From start to finish it took me 15 min which the majority of the time was spent fluffing the garland. But there you have it! 

I hope you enjoyed this short and sweet post!

xoxo

Preparing for trips

Happy Friday everyone! We are currently on the way to Atlanta because tomorrow we are going to the beach! You really don't realize how much stuff you need for a week until you have to pack it all... especially with an infant. Y'all should have seen Coreys face when I told him all the baby gear that was mandatory to bring- he thinks I'm insane haha. BUT its better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

About a 3-4 days before our trips I always make a list of what needs to be packed. I make everyone their own section and put the number of the item that I need next to it. Ex: Shirts (7). I start a few days in advance because there's so many of us and if I don't I will forget something. I remember things down to the morning of that need to be added to the list because packing for 6 is A LOT. As I pack I put a * next to the things that have already been packed instead of deleting them/ crossing them off so then I have the same list when we're packing to go back home.

Side note: I make a list for EVERYTHING. Errands for the day, trips, grocery, what I'm getting people for Christmas/ birthdays.

I'm very particular when it comes to packing suit cases. My kids will unfold every last piece of clothing in order to find something then just shove it all back into their bags *insert hand over face emoji*. So, over time I have figured out a way to eliminate that. I first lay everything out on the bed that they are going to need for the trip. Then, I pair all of the outfits together so they will know this shirt goes with these pants etc. I then put them into their bags in the order they will wear them- so the last day will go on the bottom and I work my way up. I put their socks, underwear and the girls bows in the zippered pouch so they don't accidentally get mixed in with the clothes causing their suitcases to look like a tornado came through lol.

Corey and I have separate toiletry bags but in mine I keep all the travel sized necessities such as toothpaste, shampoo & conditioner, a soap container, toothbrush containers, contact solution, body wash, lotion, razors ect. Already having the majority of the stuff we need in there is so nice because its just one less thing that I have to do.

(My little helper is so excited for her first beach trip)

I hope some of my tips help make packing for your trip easier!

xoxo

How to keep your littles busy at home during the summer

Yay for Friday! This week has just flew by and today was Jaiden’s last day of school! Since it’s now officially summer break for us, I wanted to share some of my ways of keeping my kids busy during the LONG summer days :)


Last year I was beyond nervous as summer was approaching. I had no idea how I was going to keep two very busy toddlers and a 6 year old from going stir crazy all by myself. After scouring the internet and getting advice from my mom and mother in law's I was able to come up with a plan that worked.. on most days :)

I went through their toys and separated them into plastic tubs (and freezer bags for the smaller things) and would rotate what I gave them to play with every couple of days. It's so funny how excited kids will get to play with their current toys if they haven't had access to them in a few days. I did this in order to keep things exciting. Playing with the same thing day after day can get boring. Imagine watching the same movie over and over again or reading the same book back to back. Not very interesting.

Our neighborhood has a pool but taking three kids to the pool by myself isn't ideal and honestly gives me anxiety just thinking about it. If the girls could swim without their puddle jumpers it'd be a different story. I bought a blow up pool from Walmart for around $20 and got bunch of pool toys and would also switch those out every couple of days. We also have a water table that the girls LOVE.  I would sit on the back patio as they played for HOURS at a time and when they began to get bored I would give them a popsicle. By the time they were done with their popsicle they were ready to play in the pool or water table again.

We will also play with water balloons from time to time. Corey is VERY particular about the yard and isn't a huge fan of water balloons all in the grass. The solution to this is you keep all of the water balloons in a bucket- when they pop the ones they have they have to bring back the same amount of popped balloons as they want you to give them. That way they are having fun and cleaning up after themselves at the same time.. MOM WIN!

CHALK AND BUBBLES!!! You can never go wrong with either of these. Jaiden and Scarlett would stay outside forever if I let them but Ophelia on the other hand... well she's my little drama queen. She hates getting hot and sweaty. We usually do chalk on the driveway so I will set up a fan in the garage so when she gets hot she can sit in there by the fan to cool off.. literally and figuratively lol.

Since Jaiden is older he doesn't last long with chalk and bubbles but he always ends up getting his sisters to "race" him across the yard. All 3 of them are very competitive so not only do they race each other, they also like to beat their own times.

If you’re okay with your kitchen/ table to get really messy, Publix sells a make your own personal pizza kit in the deli section. It comes with 4 crusts and all of the ingredients needed to make them. My kids love making their own pizza and then they have lunch. It's a win win.

This one is my kids favorite- but who am I kidding... it’s my favorite too lol. I bought cookie cutters  and the writeable icing. The kids get to make the shape cookies they want then decorate them with icing and sprinkles when they're done baking and cooling off. This does tend to also get messy but it keeps them busy and happy.

If its raining out we do a movie day. I let the kids pick out the .99 boxes of candy that they want from the store and I pop some popcorn and we watch a movie that at least 2 out of 3 of them agree on (you can't always please everyone LOL). When they get tired of watching movies we will usually play a board game or pop the pig.

What are some of the things that you do to keep your kids busy and happy?

xoxo

Lactation bites

Happy Friday! In honor of meeting my 3 month breast feeding goal I wanted to share my favorite lactation recipe thus far. As I've mentioned a couple of times before I have struggled with a low milk supply in the past so this time I have been super proactive about the situation. I'm constantly researching ways to increase my supply, maintain my supply and switching up my diet in order to insure that I am successful at breastfeeding this time around. With that said, I've tried A LOT of different things but the one recipe that I've come across that works AND tastes good is the one I want to share today. I love to bake- always have but I feel that even if you aren't a "baker" this recipe is really simple and you really can't mess it up.


Prep time: 15 min
Cook time 12-14 min

Ingredients

• 1 cup of peanut butter
• 1/2 cup of softened butter
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon  of vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 1-2 ripe bananas, mashed (I use two to help offset the taste of brewers yeast)
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda (Corey was confused about this one LOL)
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 3/4 cups of old fashioned oats
• 1 cup of ground flaxseed
• 3 tablespoons if brewers yeast (I bought it at GNC)
• 1 1/2 cups of dark chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. With an electric mixer, cream the butter, peanut butter and brown sugar until smooth and creamy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Add the mashed bananas and mix just until combined.
3. Mix in the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the oats, flax and brewers yeast until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips
4. Drop large balls of dough onto greased baking sheets. Bake for 12 minutes (one of my batches took 14 because the balls were larger) until they are set and starting to brown. Let cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheets the transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Notes
With my first batch I separated the bites a good bit because the balls were large and I didn't want them to touch. The recipe originally called them cookies but I believe that is an inaccurate description of them. They only expand a tiny bit so 2 inches apart is plenty of room for them. The original recipe also said it makes 24 'cookies'... I ended up with 27 lol.


If you try this recipe please let me know what you think and/or what you did or didn't do :)


xoxo

Why I sent my toddlers to preschool at 2

Happy Friyay! Corey and I attended the girls art show this morning at their preschool. Each child had the pieces of their 'best' art and a hand print hung on the wall in the sanctuary. It's so much fun because you have to basically walk the entire room in order to find each of their artwork so naturally you look at all of the other children's as well. One of the things that I love most about the drawings at this age is their stick people lol. Ophelia now gives her people a body and fingers and toes but Scarlett's is a head with arms and legs, no body LOL. SOMETIMES, she includes eyes and a mouth but when she does the eyes are always blue like hers.

We've been blessed to have not had to send any of our children to daycare. Jaiden attended mother's morning out when he was 3 and 4 at our church in GA. Unfortunately they didn't offer a pre-k program so he attended at a daycare but they had a different building for Preschool. I felt that it was important for him to be socialized with other kids his age because he was an only child and the only other child interaction he had was with my younger sister who is 5 years older than him. He has always enjoyed school and never threw fits getting out of the car which was a HUGE blessing. My brother and I were THAT kid that screamed and cried and even faked being sick to avoiding going to school when we were in pre-k and kindergarten (sorry mom).

We moved to NC in May of 2015 so Ophelia was 1 and Scarlett was 3 months and at that time preschool obviously wasn't needed. We found a church that we loved and one of the first things I asked about is if they offered a Mothers morning out (preschool) program. They don't which was fine but I knew I needed to keep looking for future reference. My mother in law's neighbor told her that the church that they attend has a preschool program so I looked it up and checked the reviews. The reviews were really good so I made an appointment and checked it out. I instantly knew that it was a good place for the girls to go to when the time was needed.

I'm not going to lie, one of the reasons I wanted Ophelia to go was because I needed a way to get things done. It's so hard to go grocery shopping with two toddlers or run day to day errands with them. She started in the two's class and she went 3 days a week for 3 hours each day. Ophelia is very advanced for her age, she always has been. She loves to learn and its almost like she needs it. It blows me away with how much information she is able to retain and I knew she needed to be challenged. You can tell her something once and she knows how to do it or what to do- she gets that from Corey. She's also very shy with people outside of immediate family so school has helped break her out of that shell and she's more willing to talk to people she doesn't know now.

Scarlett started preschool this past fall. She also started in the 3 day two's. She basically spoke her own language for the first two years of her life and I honestly think it was because Jaiden and Ophelia would always speak for her so she didn't really have to try in order to get her point across. Corey and I would worked with her to try to get her to pronounce things the proper way and she would say it back to us the right way in the moment but then later would say it her own way again. Preschool helped SO much with this. We can understand everything she says now and its no longer gibberish lol. This is partly because of age but I noticed a huge difference within the first month of school. She also didn't like to share- she was the baby (and still in her mind is because Blakely isn't taking her toys yet) and Jaiden and Ophelia would just give her whatever she wanted. School has helped with that as well but she still has her days lol. She has two friends at school that she constantly talks about and you can just tell that she loves them so much. She actually has to hug both of them bye every time I pick her up from school lol.

Overall I think its good for kids to have their own outlet and for them to be able to interact with kids their own age. Also to be in a routine. While you can do this on your own if you have friends with kids the same age or are in a moms play group- I think kids having to listen to other adults not just their parents is important too. It's also important for us sahm's to have a BREAK. The days that the girls have school usually go much smoother than the days that they don't.


When did y'all send your kids to preschool or why didn't you? I'd love to hear your opinions!


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Keep on keeping on: Breastfeeding

TGIF and thank goodness spring break is almost over! My kids have been going stir crazy because well let’s face it... there’s only so much you can do with 3 kids when you have a newborn.

Today I wanted to share my experiences with breastfeeding. As I had mentioned in one of my previous posts, I struggled with breastfeeding with my other children. I think one of the main issues was that I wasn’t educated. I just figured there’s a baby and there’s a boob and it just works.. um absolutely not. It was very disappointing and very discouraging so ultimately I gave up. I tried with Jaiden but with me being so young I didn’t have the slightlest clue how to take care of a baby much less breastfeed. My mom had even made me an appointment with a lactation consultant because he wouldn’t latch which made me frustrated because I didn’t understand why he wouldn’t (goes back to there’s a boob and it just works mentality) and babies can obviously feel that your frustrated and it’s just not a good combo. I EBF Ophelia for 2 1/2 months but I supplemented for Scarlett from day one. She had colic so she cried a lot as is and I was just flat out exhausted to be honest. Her and Ophelia are only 13 months apart so I just felt like my body was drained. Breastfeeding Scarlett only lasted 3 weeks but I honestly didn’t give it my all.

There was never a question in mind if I would try again with Blakely. This time I was DETERMINED. I read books, articles, other moms blogs and posts on the WTE app because I wanted to be 100% educated this time. I already knew the pain of breastfeeding the first few weeks (I would cry when I breastfed Ophelia for the firsr two weeks) so this time I started putting nipple cream on before she was even born. That really made a difference in my opinion. I told myself from the get go that it was going to be tough but like I always say- mind over matter. Ive kept a positive attitude and that’s made a world of a difference.

Blakely is a big baby so she nurses a lot and on week 4 my body was struggling with keeping up. I had pinned lactation recipes when I was pregnant because my milk supply was low with Ophelia and I just wanted to be prepared because I knew I would need them. I went to GNC and purchased fenugreek and brewers yeast. The brewers yeast was for the lactation power balls I wanted to make and the fenugreek is a capsule that I take with my prenatal vitamin everyday and then I take it again in the evening to just keep the milk flow coming lol. The fenugreek works quicker than the brewers yeast in my opinion and the brewers yeast is very bitter even if you mix it into a smoothie or milkshake.

I’ve noticed on days when I don’t drink a lot of water that my milk flow is not as heavy. I’ve read several different contractions that say increase of water won’t help or you don’t need to drink more water than you normally do. For me that is false. I have to drink a ton of water. Plus breastfeeding makes me extremely thirsty anyways so it’s not really that big of an ‘inconvenience’. Another thing that I was prepared for is that one of my breast wouldn’t keep up with the other. Some moms call it the “dud boob” lol. While I don’t think one is a dud so to speak, I did notice that my left breast wasn’t getting as full as my right. But we fixed this by starting on the left breast for every feeding for a couple of days. On day two of doing this I could already tell the supply on that side had picked up. Now that she’s a little older and staying awake for the majority of the feeding, instead of falling asleep within 5 minutes, we switch sides halfway through to help encourage an even supply.

We’re only 6 weeks in but I’m beyond satisfied with how it’s going so far. We are taking it one day at a time but I mentally set goals. Right now my goal is to make it to 3 months and once we reach that goal it’ll be 6 months and so on.

Blakely’s Birth Story

Blakely Loren Hardy

Blakely's onesie Letter Board

Now that life has started to seem some what normal again I wanted to share Blakely’s birth story. I was induced with my other 3 children so I figured that I would need to be again with Blakely. My doctor won’t schedule induction until you reach 40 weeks so at my 40 week appointment he scheduled me to be induced the following Tuesday. At that time I was only 1 cm dilated and about 50% effaced so I wasn’t hopeful I would go into labor before hand but I REALLY wanted to go on my own.

Hawthornes Pizza

My doctor had told me about a pizza that moms swear send them into labor within 48 hrs and lucky for me the restaurant was only 20 min from my house. Corey, the kids, my mother in law, sister in law and I all went there on Wednesday and I ordered the pizza which is nicknamed “the inducer”.  It’s a chicken buffalo wing pizza and the sauce on it is what is supposed to do the trick. While it did give me a lot a heart, it didn’t send me into labor. 

Friday morning I got up and took a quick shower and got the girls ready for school. On the way back home from dropping them off I started having contractions. The weren’t strong but they were a little uncomfortable. When I got home I curled my hair and got ready for the day. When I went to the bathroom I realized I had my bloody show so I called Corey and told him not to be away from his phone because I’ve been having contractions and now this. I decided to go for a walk to see if that helped make the contractions more consistent. I walked for about 45 min just up and down my street (my neighbors prob thought I was crazy lol) until it was time to go pick up the girls. While driving the contractions did start to pick up but they weren’t painful and they stayed this way for the remainder of the day.

I made Corey finally pack his hospital bag that night because I had a feeling we weren’t going to be induced after all and I made sure I had everything ready for my mom and mother in law for when we were at the hospital. We spent our Friday evening like we usually do- dinner, change kids, feed/walk dogs and watching movies. We had tilapia rice and veggies for dinner that night and while t is my absolute favorite, I wish we would’ve had something more filling lol.

Corey and I went to bed around 11:00 pm and I woke up to a painful contraction at 1:50 am. I didn’t think too much of it but it was a little odd to me because contractions had never woke me up before. I closed my eyes and started to go back asleep. 15 min later I was woken by another one, it was about the same strength as the first one so I just laid there for a while. Another 15 min passed and I had another one so at this point I get my phone and open up one of the baby apps that I used and started timing them. By 3:00am they were 10 min apart and really starting to hurt. I tried to be quiet because I wanted Corey to be able to sleep but he heard me and would rub my back through each of them. At 5:30am I was in tears and was crying as each contraction came. I made myself get up and went and got in the shower because I was clearly in labor. I called for Corey to come into the bathroom and told him he needed to start getting ready because I was going to call my doctor when I got out.

I texted my mom and told her she needed to get ready to come to NC bc I was pretty sure I was in labor and was about to call my doctor. I called the doctors office and they asked me questions and took all of my info and said they would have the doctor call me back and to keep my phone on me. The doctor called me in about 10 min and I happened to be in the middle of having a contraction when she called. She told me to go ahead and head down to the hospital. Corey called his mom and she was at the house in about 30 min to watch the kids.

We head for the hospital and I was bawling because I was in so much pain and scared that I was either A) going to have the baby in the car or B) going to be too dilated to get an epidural LOL. Corey sped the whole way there because we live 45 min from the hospital and I think he was a little nervous that I would have her in the car too haha. We had never experienced me going into labor before so we had no idea what to expect and I didn’t know how bad I was supposed to be hurting based on how dilated I was if that makes sense. We arrived at the hospital at 8:28am and were sent to triage. The triage nurses checked me and said I was 4-5 cm and that they were going to admit me. I told her ”good because I wasn’t going anywhere anyways”  lol I was in THAT much pain and would've camped out in the hospital lobby if they had tried to send me home.

Gownie

I got up to labor and delivery and that’s where the waiting game really began. My parents were both still on the way from GA so it was just Corey and I at the hospital. At 11:40 the nurse checked me and I was at 8 cm. My dad arrived around 12 pm and my mom got stuck in traffic- of course. I was stressing out she wouldn’t make it in time- she’d been in the room for my other 3 children’s birth and I really wanted her there again. I mentally kept telling myself I could make it until she got there. She arrived at 3:20 pm.

The epidural kept wearing off on the opposite side that I was laying it which causes excruciating pain (I was 8 cm at this point) so the nurse had me turn on my other side and use a peanut ball. I had never used one before so I wasn’t convinced that it would help relieve the pressure but it did!

Qalo Rings

Around 4:30 they checked me again and said it’s time to have a baby! After several pushes and a very tired momma Blakely Loren was born at 4:48pm weighing 9lbs 9 oz and 21.5 inches long!

I still can’t believe I had a 9lb baby much less pushed her out of me. Ophelia was my biggest before her weighing 7lbs 11oz at birth. Needless to say... I ate good during pregnancy haha. But I had a good idea that she was going to be big just based on how heavy my stomach was when I would try to roll over or get out of bed and the fact that she was 6 days late didn’t help either.

Corey was so supportive through the whole thing and him being calm always helps me be calm. He was on top of everything that day and did such a great job of capturing all of the photos that I wanted captured. He's such a great partner and father and I feel beyond blessed that God chose him for me. Needless to say, we are absolutely in love with our fourth bundle of joy and we cannot imagine life without this sweet angel.

What I’ve purchased in preparation of our 4th child

Since my pregnancy is about to come to an end I figured I’d share some of the main things that I’ve purchased so far in preparation for baby Hardy. We got rid of just about all of our baby products after Scarlett because we just didn’t have the space for it and Corey was convinced we weren’t going to have anymore babies (I knew he’d come around).

I thoroughly researched everything I bought this time around because I didn’t want to buy unnecessary things and I had a pretty good idea of what I would and wouldn’t use. The first thing that I purchased (and I knew I couldn’t live without) was the 4moms mamaroo. Unfortunately I didn’t know about this product when I had Jaiden but I had one with both Ophelia and Scarlett and they LOVED it. Scarlett had acid reflux at first so being at a more upright position seemed to help the best for her. I also had to repurchase the Newborn insert because I feel like it offers more support when they are so small.

The second on my must have list was a new car seat. This was by far my most researched item. I spent hours watching videos on each one that I was interested in and reading multiple forms of reviews from baby forums, to website reviews to even blogs because I feel like it’s one of the biggest and most important safety decisions you make for your child before they are even born. I ended up going with the Nuna Pipa in the color ‘night’ to help hide stains but the other seat that came in a very close second place was the Uppababy Mesa. I truly feel that both of these car seats are excellent and either one of them would be a great choice but I ultimately decided the Pipa is the better choice for me and my baby.

Third is the Medela Breast Pump. I had a Dr. Brown one with the girls and had zero success with it. I have a hard time keeping a steady and sufficient milk supply so I really need a good pump to help me produce more and this one has the best reviews and is hospital recommended so I feel confident it will be a good fit for me. I also purchased a couple of THESE bottles because while I plan to EBF- I haven’t had a great success in the past and don’t want to be in a situation where my baby needs a bottle and I don’t have any. They are silicone which I feel is a much better alternative to using glass bottles because they are heavy and I try to keep my family’s plastic use to a bare minimum.

I can’t forgot get about my diaper bag choice. I’m not really a purse person and never really have been so what I carry now is a Tory Burch back pack purse or just my wristlet if I don’t feel like lugging that around. So it’s a no brainer that I chose a back pack diaper bag. I ended up going with the Skip hop Greenwich diaper bag in the color ‘dusty rose’. It’s VERY spacious and has several pockets that are just the right size and actually make sense. One of the main things that made me choose this bag is the color. I mean it’s so pretty and I’m so excited to start using it. It also has latches so you can attach it to your stroller handle instead of it taking up the oh so valuable basket storage.

For a baby carrier I went with the Lillebaby 6 in 1 child carrier. I had a cheap one with Ophelia so I used it only a handful of times because it was SO uncomfortable for me. After doing research I realized that what I previously used did not offer the support for me or for baby that wasn’t needed for it to be a useful baby product. With having 3 other young kids I feel like I’m going to need this more than ever to have my hands free and I really liked the fact that there was 6 different ways to wear this including on the hip. They offer multiple different patterns and while I did want a really cute feminine one, I decided to go with the ‘mist’ color so Corey would feel comfortable using it too.


What are some of the baby products that you actually use/used? I love hearing about what other moms do to make life easier!

Sandwich-less peanut free kids lunch

Hey y'all! In honor of school starting back I wanted to share a few of the lunches that I make for Jaiden. Sandwiches are boring and half the time he told me he didn't even eat them *insert eye roll emoji*. I like to pack his lunch instead of him purchasing the school lunch- unless it's pizza day, he loves the school pizza and really any pizza so on those days I do let him buy lunch. He can be very picky and decides he doesn't like something anymore out of the blue so I do struggle with making him lunches that I know he will love but not being repetitive either.

I pack all of his lunches in THESE instead of using snack and sandwich baggies. I plan to buy some stainless steel ones but I knew I needed several right away so I just went with the plastic ones for now. I make his lunches the night before because mornings are hectic and my husband actually takes Jaiden to school so it's easiest for everyone if everything is already ready.

Bento Boxes

Turkey Pinwheels

These are so easy to make and Jaiden loves them. These are our summer go to snack for the pool/lake and he always loves them so I knew they'd be perfect for lunch. I put turkey, muenster cheese, mayo and mustard on his.

Turkey, Cheese and Pretzels

I don't have a real name for these lol. But it's turkey rolled up and a square of cheese with a pretzel in the middle. Jaiden wasn't crazy about these but the girls loved them so I thought I'd include them anyways. These can't be made the night before though because the pretzel will become soggy.

Wholly Guacamole

Jaiden LOVES guacamole and nachos but with it still being in the mid 90's I wanted to still send a cold lunch so I decided to go with guacamole. The next day when I picked him up from school he couldn't stop talking about how much he loved his lunch. So this one is definitely a keeper.

Lunchables made from love

All 3 of my kids love lunchables and if I'm being 100% honest my husband and I do too haha. I had saw another mom make homemade lunchables so I wanted to give it a shot myself. Jaiden actually prefers muenster cheese over the American cheese that comes with the turkey store bought lunchables but did say he wishes these came with the piece of candy. I didn't have a cookie cutter to make the circles so I found a lid from one of the girls old dr brown bottles and it was the perfect size circle.

If any of you have sandwich-less lunch options I'd love to hear them!

xoxo

Tula Skin Care review

Happy Monday everyone! Today's post is going to be about some of Tula's skin care products. Over the past couple of months my skin has completely changed. I normally have oily- sensitive skin and I use Philosophy Purity face wash to help keep that to a minimum.  Now, I have several dry patches on my face and it's driving me insane. I knew I had to buy some new products so I read several online reviews of different products and quickly came to the conclusion that I was going to need to go with a higher end product. I always like to try something before paying full price just in case it doesn't work for me. Tula actually has several kits that are affordable that include the main things you would want to try. I decided to get the Discovery Kit because it had 4 of the main products that I wanted to try for only $54.

What's in the Discovery Kit:

1. Purifying Face Cleanser

I used this first thing this morning and I really liked the way it lathered on and left my skin feeling but I am not crazy about the smell. It's not a strong smell so as long as it doesn't break my face out I will continue to use it. 

2. Illuminating Face Serum

On Tula's website it says to use a dime sized amount and apply to your face in a circular motion. In order to get a dime sized amount I did 3 pumps- this was way too much for me. I think a pump and a half would have been plenty. I didn't mind the smell of this but I do think it's a little more oily than I like.

3. Hydrating Day and Night Cream

After using the face cleanser and face serum I applied this cream. You only need a pee sized amount on each of your focal points- I didn't even have to dip into the jar itself I just dabbed my pinky on the lid. I really liked the smell of this and it's consistency was perfect. I will definitely be purchasing the full size of this.

4. Revitalizing Eye Cream

I generally don't use eye creams because personally I haven't had the need to but after reading the reviews I decided I wanted to try this as well. I applied it under my eyes and on my eye bone and I can tell a difference. My under eye is brighter and I look more "awake". I used just a tiny bit of product and it went a long a way.

There is one more product that I will end up purchasing that wasn't included in this particular kit. It's the Exfoliating Treatment Mask. I've always loved facial masks whether it's the creams, peels or sheets I'm always willing to try a new one. The fact that it's exfoliating as well makes me REALLY want it since I have these oh so lovely dry patches :) This review is based off of one use so I will keep you updated with how I like it in a couple of weeks!

xoxo

Nsale Purchases

Hey loves! I'm sure you're beyond over the Nsale and all of the posts that came along with it but one more never hurt, right? I'm going to share with you my favorite purchases from the sale. I was able to find something for everyone but the kid selection wasn't my favorite and Corey is SO picky when it comes to clothes and shoes.

1. BLANKNYC Moto Jacket

This was the first thing I added to my cart. I obsess over moto jackets every year and finally decided to make the purchase. I ordered it in a size small and it fits perfectly! There is a couple of sizes left and it's only $64.90!!

2. Topshop Ripped Denim Jacket THIS is similar

I absolutely LOVE distressed denim so it's no surprise this ended up in my closet. It is a boyfriend jacket so it's meant to be on the loose side- I purchased a 6 (us 2-4). The one I purchased is out of stock but I linked a similar one and I actually like how distressed the back is more than the one I bought.

3. Zella Live In Leggings

I cannot say enough good things about these leggings. In my opinion, their quality is just as good as lululemon but for a fraction of the price. They're also very versatile. You can wear them to the gym, to lounge around the house or you can dress them up with a sweater and boots! They come in multiple different styles such as high waisted, regular waist, cropped and they even have them in a moto style! I prefer the high waisted ones but if high waisted isn't your thing go with the regular waist. 

4. BP. Leopard Print Scarf

Okay so I might be a little leopard crazy lol. I have always loved leopard print- in fact I had a leopard phone case on my Motorola razor (holy throwback). This scarf is extremely soft and you can't even tell it's only $11.90! I already have a leopard scarf but this one was so soft that I just couldn't resist.

5.Halogen Loafers

I take it back.. I'm definitely leopard obsessed! I've actually never owned a pair of loafers but these are so cute that I couldn't resist. I haven't actually received these yet because they are on back order but I'm hoping to get them sooner than expected. My mom ordered the same pair and hers shipped 2 months before her expected ship date... so there's hope :)

6. Patagonia Synchilla Snap-T

This was the only thing Corey was interested in from the Nsale. He got it in XL because he doesn't like his jackets "snug". He tried it on as soon as he arrived and said he definitely wasn't going to be cold this winter (he gets hot really easily) lol.

7.The North Face Glacier Full Zip

I actually got this for both of my girls. I have always loved north face jackets and since they were only $25 I felt better about the fact they would probably only get one year out of them. The blue color is so pretty and since both Ophelia and Scarlett have blue eyes I just know they're going to look SO good in them.

8.Nike Dri-Fit Hoodie

When I saw this color I just had to get it for Jaiden. He has an olive complexion and dark hair so I knew it was going to look great on him. It's thin and that's what I was going for since I mainly wanted it for football season. He plays through November so this extra layer for practice will be perfect. 

9.Nike Dry ELITE Basketball shorts

Jaiden wears basketball shorts all the time. Whether its to lounge around the house, play outside or sleep in so an extra pair never hurts. I was actually impressed by the quality of these. They aren't the super thin ones that you find at target but they also aren't the thick and heavy ones either. He loved them so much he couldn't even wait for me to wash them before wearing them the first time. Boys will be boys lol! 

xoxo

I'm in Miami... you know the rest

Hey, everyone! Yesterday Corey and I got back from a quick couples trip to Miami, FL. We drove to Atlanta on Wednesday to drop the kids off at my moms then flew out on Thursday morning. We decided to fly into Fort Lauderdale instead of flying directly to Miami because it was about $200 cheaper round trip. This was our first kid-less trip since Ophelia was born so needless to say it was MUCH needed. I was nervous about leaving them for 4 days because Scarlett has only spent the night away from me once and she's a total mama's girl. We were able to make it a little easier on her (and me) by face timing multiple times a day. When we got back into town yesterday Jaiden actually cried because he didn't want to leave Lala (my mom)- so sweet.

On Thursday when we arrived we went and checked in to our Airbnb then immediately got ready and headed to North Beach. We parked near an amazing burger and shake place so naturally we just had to try it out! It's actually called Burgers & Shakes and if you're ever in the area I highly recommend it! Their outside seating has fans hanging from above that spray mist to help keep you cool and it was actually cooler outside than it was inside the restaurant. Their strawberry milk shake was TO.DIE.FOR! After that we headed to the beach to get our feet in the sand and take a quick swim. The water was amazing! I had never been to Miami before so I wasn't sure what to expect when it came to the beach itself but it didn't disappoint.

Prior to the trip we booked a 4 hour deep sea fishing experience for Friday. I've fished in the lake but never the ocean before so I was so excited about it. I had heard horror stories about being sea sick so Brittany recommended us all taking Dramamine which is to help prevent motion sickness or atleast ease the symptoms. It worked like a charm. The ocean was very choppy and it was windy out so we didn't get many bites by the experience itself was so much fun.

After the fishing trip we all went back to the townhouse and got ready because we had all decided we wanted to go out for a nice dinner at least one night. After reading an abundance of reviews , we decided to go to Casablanca. It was on the water and absolutely beautiful. I chose the shrimp fettuccine alfredo pans Corey went with the Mahi-Mahi which came with the BEST potatoes. The shrimp in my dish were very big and when I say the alfredo sauce is the best I've ever I had- I mean it. Alfredo is my go to sauce for any pasta so I've tried a lot of different kinds of alfredo sauces. We opted out for dessert at the restaurant to head back to North Beach to get some yummy rolled ice cream. Rolled ice cream is literally the best and if you haven't tried it yet, you HAVE to! We went to the ice cream shop called BRRRR!

We made Saturday our all day beach day. We packed a cooler and brought an umbrella then ubered down to South Beach.  We laid out all day and took so many pictures. I only see Brittany and Marisol once a year since we all 3 live in a different state so it was so good to do absolutely nothing and just catch up while relaxing! Corey and I love to people watch- we literally do it all the time (we're basically the same person) and south beach was the best people watching scene thus far.

Before we headed back to our airbnb we went to find some shirts to bring back to the kids. We all love t-shirts. Whenever our parents go anywhere they know to bring us back t-shirts because that's hands down the best souvenir ever haha.

The entire trip was very refreshing and it made me so happy to spend time with my friends and meet their significant others. It went by so quickly and we all agreed we needed an extra day so our next trip will be a little longer- hopefully :)

xoxo

Hello Blogging World

Hey, everyone! I'm so excited to FINALLY write my first post. I've been back and forth with the idea of creating my own blog for some time now and just decided to finally take the plunge and do it. I still have so much to learn but I think I've got the basics down. Now for an introduction.

My name is Shea and I'm a stay at home mom of 3 in North Carolina. My husband, kids and I have lived here for a little over 2 years and we made the move here from Georgia. I was born and raised in GA and my husband was born there but moved a couple of times throughout his childhood before making it back to GA. We have one son, Jaiden, who's 6 and two daughters, Ophelia age 3 and Scarlett age 2. We also have 3 fur babies all of which are pitties but don't worry they don't bite ;)

Random facts about me:
-I love everything chocolate
-I avoid spicy foods at all cost (except wings- all flats please!)
-Greys anatomy is my all time favorite show
-My favorite color is pink although I tend to wear a lot of black and gray clothes
-I only like Hawaiian pizza
-I want to have two more kids
-Fall is my favorite season
-All 5 of us are New England Patriot fans

When I'm not chasing around my littles (or cleaning up their never ending messes), I love to shop for home decor, clothes and shoes online... ESPECIALLY shoes HA. My husband and I have a silent competition about whose "shoe game" is the best. I'm a die hard online shopper and I call myself the queen at finding amazing deals. If there's a price difference of something or a coupon out there you can bet that I will find it. 98% of everything that I buy is online, even my groceries (thanks grocery pick up and delivery). I loathe having to go to stores to buy anything and I think the main thing that definitely puts it on my no no list is.. have you ever taken 3 young kids to a store by yourself *insert hand over face emoji* it's close to impossible.  But as well all know some things you just can't buy online.. like a new brand of jeans that you've never tried before lol.

xoxo