Free Printable: Summer Schedule

Summer with kids out of school. You either love it or fear it. 

My plan is to love it this year, so I've got some tools up my sleeve to help summer be smooth sailing. 

Plan #1 is simple- a 'daily theme' to give each day something to center around

Don't worry- it's not anything crazy that requires loads of planning, effort or stress. Just a basic theme for each weekday, so that the kids can look forward to a certain activity daily. 

Here's the summer schedule I came up with for our family.

It's filled with pretty low key, cheap and flexible options for each day. 

The best part is- I have 4 different versions available as a FREE download today!

Anchors                                                                                   Arrows

Scalloped Teal                                                                           Scalloped Grey



Just click on the link under the version you like to be taken to the MediaFire download!

I'll keep ya posted on how this works out for my little tribe of gals.....only 3 more days of school!


I'm also working on a daily 'timeline' of events to help our days run smoothly. 
Hopefully I'll be back with a peek into that soon.

Do me a favor and Pin or comment if you download! Thanks!

Life Lately- Spring Edition

Life this Spring has been pretty busy. But isn't it always? 

We've all had countless colds (thanks Kindergarten germs!) 

plenty of sleepless nights (thanks teething!) 

hours of yardwork to tackle

and lots of trips to the park when the wind isn't trying to blow everything away.

Here's a peek at the hightlights 

(I'll spare you all the details of the 2 costco sized

 kleenex packs we've gone through in the last month!)

Savannah's first taste of Krispy Kreme on a Sunday Morning in our jammies-

 she loved the little bit of blueberry cake doughnut she go to try!

After doughnut snuggles- these sweet sisterly moments are the best! 

Baby doesn't want to take her nap....then lets take some selfies! #whynot #shessovain

Someone has been SUPER helpful with chores lately.

(Note: I was loading the wet clothes IN the dryer at the time)

We celebrated the awesome guys big 3-5!

 It seems like yesterday I was just throwing his 30th birthday bash....

I sure am grateful for this man!

I attempted making classic tiramisu for the first time (his favorite), and it was delicious!

Tiramisu on a paper plate #classy

Recipe can be found here 

We had some warm weekend mornings before the wind and thunderstorms rolled in, so we broke out the water table and sprinkler while the girls cousins were visiting.

Savannah LOVED her first water table playtime, 

but that's no surprise since she loves all things with water!

 The kids begged for otter pops, so....another first for Miss Vanni- 

don't worry, she only got a few sips, then mommy took the rest 'away' ;o)

Kinsey had her Kindergarten Musical- it was an Under the Sea theme

(she's in the back row)

Her class was the Jellyfish, and they did a cute little song and dance to the "Jellyfish Jump", and Kinsey even got to say a fact about Jellyfish!

I cannot believe that she will be done with Kindergarten in less than 2 weeks! 

Makayla had her two week Post-Op following her Strabismus Surgery

Her vision is still 20/20, but her Dr recommended she continue to wear her glasses to hopefully correct the last little bit of crossing we are still seeing. 

He's hopeful that in 3-5 years she will outgrow the need for glasses to correct the lingering crossing. Since the RX she wears is very weak there's no real concern for her becoming dependent on the glasses either.

She got to pick some new frames since her last ones were broken and no longer available. She picked these all on her own- so adorable!

We celebrated Mother's Day with a quiet day at home,

 a BBQ lunch and mommy having a cold (boo!)

 But at least I got some pictures with these three beauties that call me mommy. 

I'm forever grateful for the blessings that I have received in these three girls.

 Motherhood is something sorta crazy, but also really beautiful.

On a final, and somber, note.

 My childhood pet, whom I adopted as a kitten in 1995, 

passed away this weekend at my parents home. 

He was just shy of 20!

Cinnamon was a wonderful cat, my first 'baby', and I will forever cherish the memory of him.

 He was so smart, I taught him as a kitten how to open the treat container with his claw

 and get one at a time out.....to his last days he loved his treats!

 Hopefully there's plenty of them to go around in Heaven,

 along with bunnies, birds and lizards to chase all day. 

Top- 1996, bottom L- 2000's, bottom R- 2013

Life Lately

Life lately is a usual, busy. I'm constantly wanting time to slow down and wishing there were more hours in the day to get everything done and while still soaking up this precious time with my babies.

Also, I put them to bed and then promptly fall asleep on the sofa most nights....zzzzzz.

They wear me out and I'm typically up several times a night 

with little Miss Insomniac (aka Savannah)

It's a good thing she's cute.

This is her after bath hair-do. 

Makayla often plays dress up while big sis is at school.

The girls are still giddy and screaming with excitement with every balloon sighting,

 even though they are near weekly occurrences. 

Makayla has started drawing people and animals- this is her and daddy!

Someone is crawling everywhere. Sometimes like this, and other times on her knees.

 Her days are currently spent working hard pulling to stand up on things 

I cut about 4 inches off my hair. 

With post partum hair loss it was looking a bit lackluster being so long.

We've been sick.....a lot. Each time it seems to drag on for weeks, one down....3 days later the next kid catches it, etc. Finally we are better for a week and then the next bug has stricken us! So ready for a healthy household, especially after this sweetie having her first ear infection.

Kinsey has been helping more around the house- her current favorite thing is peeling...potatoes, carrots, etc. She LOVES to help me cook. 

She's also been branching out and more willing to try food she had previously refused, like mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs. Makes life a little easier when your kids are less picky!

Lots of tea parties with this sweetie. 

I'm planning a post about her eyes soon,

 but she's scheduled for a surgery in late April to further correct her strabismus. 

My little fashonista. All decked out for school one day in an outfit she picked. It's getting harder and harder to chose her clothes for her! She's going great in Kindergarten, reading ahead of where she needs to be and catching on to the math concepts they teach quickly. Her current obsession is jellyfish, she loves watching you tube videos about them and then reciting facts she has learned.

So that's a little of our daily life. Between diapers, dishes, school drop of and pickup and running my design business  we plan to have a lot of fun this Spring! 

Hands Full. Heart Full.

When you have three girls it's like there's a flashing sign above your head that reads:

***Make a comment about my family***

Because these phrases are said to me on the daily:

"You trying for a boy next?"

"You sure have your hands full"

"Oh, what a beautiful baby....oh, wow....and you have two more kids!"

"You know what causes those right?"

etc.etc.etc.

I'm 100% sure moms of four or more kids get these types of comments, and moms with three boys, and moms with both boys and girls. Heck, I got the "you trying for a boy next" comment all the time when I had two kids.

Basically, people like to point out the obvious.

 Apparently they think I don't know I have my hands full 

and the drama from 3 teenage girls will age me 10 years?

Trust me, I know my hands are full. I feel the fact that I have 2 hands and 3 kids every.single.day.

But I also know that all that makes me crazy also makes me happy beyond measure.

Those three little ladies make my heart burst on the daily.

So join me in celebrating the craziness that is having your hands full with children.

 Because it's also what makes my heart the happiest.

Click here to download this free, hand drawn "Hands Full, Heart Full" 8 x 10 print

Can be printed at any size desired

P.S. This is my 100th post! Only took me 6 years of blogging very irregularly to get there.

Linking Up To:

Strawberry Mommycakes

The Chaos of It All

In the shower today I was soaking up the silence, the heat, the peacefulness of the moment. Don't get me wrong, I had about 5 minutes to get in out and move on with my day while the big girls played playdoh and the baby napped. But it was 5 minutes of relaxation in a typical day full of chaos. I closed my eyes and thought.....

                               "This is the best part of my day"

I quickly opened my eyes as my conscience reprimanded itself. Yes, it's true that this may be the most PEACEFUL part of my day- a day filled with fevers, teething babies, sisters fighting and the inevitable clean up of all that playdoh.- but it was far from the BEST part of my day.

The best part of my day could very well be the snuggles I get from that toddler with a fever, the happy giggles I get when I play peek a boo with the baby, or the sweet whispers of "you're the best mom ever!" by my kindergartner as I tuck her in tonight.

It truthfully is all of those things and so many more. The small moments of beauty, love, and happiness- after all isn't that what we are all doing this game of life for?

When I look back at this time in my life 10 years from now- when I don't have a baby under foot and all my kids are rushed to school every morning. I know I won't remember that 5 minute shower and how good it felt to my body, that shower will still be there as part of my day. It's true that we all need those peaceful moments to be a better mom, wife, friend, etc. But sometimes it's the moments in between the peace, the real life bumps and quirks, that really become the best part of our days.

I will definitely remember those moments of beauty in the chaos that is parenting.

I'll miss helping them tie their shoes and zip their coats a million times a day.

The baby cuddles at midnight will be long in the past, but a tiny part of my heart will pang to cherish them just one more time.

I'll miss cutting their food into little pieces, even the pizza and pancakes. I'll miss the spills and piles of dirty clothes waiting to be washed.

The sisters will still fight, but it will likely be over ipads, clothes or who gets to ride shotgun, not who can run faster or who gets to be which ninja turtle.

So this day, filled with chaos....I'm going to soak it ALL up. The BEST part of my day will always be watching my children grow. No matter how crazy they make me.

Updating the Laundry Room

Since moving into our house in late September, we have been knee deep in need-to do's, want-to-do's, dream-to do's, and everything in between! 

Some things have been as simple as buying and installing cellular shades for privacy, while others are more time consuming yet boring, like sanding and staining weathered wood on all the surfaces of our home's exterior. Other projects have been more rewarding- like taking out the ugly and falling over mailbox and building a new one to match the style of our house. 

Still, there is loads of work to be done! We've got a large property, measuring just under 1.25 acres, and it's allllllllllll dirt, and tumbleweeds, with a few yuccas for variety. 

tumbleweed pile #5

The tumbleweeds on the majority of our property got the axe about a month ago. That was a very prickly process! But even as I sit here in the breakfast nook typing, a random tumbleweed rolling by will often catch my eye. 

Welcome to the wild west, southern gal. 

You have long sense traded green grass and lightening bugs for tumbleweeds and scorpions.

 I'm not sure I like that trade. 

Anyhow. Back to the subject of today's post. The laundry room. It's a bit of a pass-through room, with a door to the side of the house, and another door to the kitchen. We mostly leave the kitchen door open to let the light in, so it's a place visitors can clearly see when they come to our home. It was looking a bit blah, and with the decline of our old dryer it was also time to purchase a more efficient washer/dryer set. We got these lovely granite colored laundry wizards through my husbands handy work discount program (a perk of working for a company that owns a lot of brands!) 

I was hesitant to jump onto the front loading washer bandwagon. I'd always heard they were finicky, needed to be left open to 'air out' and could have issues with too much soap/suds. Well, this model does all the soap dispensing for me (thank goodness I can't screw it up!) and I figure in our dry as bones climate, the door will only need a little 'open time' after a wash and won't stick out too much. 

Truth be told, I was mostly on board with the idea of a front loader so we could do this.

Add a much desired countertop for spot treating, flat drying, folding, etc. 

My awesomely handy husband took on the task of turning an empty space into a custom fitted laundry haven, and I have to say  he did a fantastic job!

I now have a countertop, new base cabinet, and the washer and dryer switched places to be more comfortable in the load switching process. He also built a false wall that is easily removable to cover the washer hookups that, due to code, were higher than the units and clearly visible. 

The countertop we chose matches the existing vanities in all the bathrooms, leading to an 'original to the house' and cohesive look. 

All it needed after all his handywork was a little 'dressing up'- so I picked up a cute little pot and cermanic owl at Michael's, filled a jar with as many clothepins and I could scrounge up

 (note to self: buy more clothespins for decorative purposes only), 

stuck a plant in the pot and called the countertop decorated! 

I also created this simple print that I'm sharing as a FREE download. 

You can click on the link under the image to download through mediafire, and if you download, make sure you share the love pin the image....pretty please!

download 8 x 10" print here

The other print shown is a free download from A Pop of Pretty  that I found on pinterest!