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Ready for the weekend and the best weekender bag ever!

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This post is sponsored by Lily Jade but as always all opinions are 100% my own.

Do you need a weekender?

I know I do. Mama needs a break! This summer has been good but the last few weeks before school starts always seem to be the most exhausting. The count down has begun for sure!

If you desire a weekender like me, you definitely could benefit from the perfect bag. Trust me on this one because I’m the gal that was always trying to shove all my belongings into my biggest purse! Honestly, it never worked because let’s face it, that’s really not the job of a handbag, is it?

However, the Lily Jade AnnMarie weekender is just perfect! And, let me tell you, I have had my eye on it for quite a while too. This weekender is a perfect size and so, so, gorgeous! My hubby calls it my Mary Poppins bag because it literally holds it all!

Working with Lily Jade has always been a favorite of mine because they make a great product and they help make mommin’ so much better!

I own several of their diaper bags and they are beautiful, functional and something you will want to continue to use even when your little one is out of diapers! The quality of the leather is so pretty and soft too.

Besides all the amazing details the variety of carrying styles is truly my favorite. Most of her bags allow you to carry like a backpack, shoulder carry, and several ways with the weekender bag.

Our wedding anniversary is coming up this month and I am really hoping to pack up this beauty to take on a little romantic weekend just the two of us! If we can swing it probably will do something like a fun staycation in town. Fingers crossed because I can surely use a little R & R after the summer break!

xx, Nicole

Legoland birthday weekend celebrating Luci turning 7!

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Do you love Lego’s?

Then, be sure to check out Legoland with your littles! We just got back from a weekend of family fun!

When we asked Luci what she wanted for her 7th birthday she told us she wanted to go on another family trip. The girls have already been to Disneyland twice and to Great Wolf Lodge over the summer (I know, must be nice, right?) so we chose someplace new, Legoland!

All three girls love Lego’s and we knew it would be a lot more manageable with three, little, kids. And, I have to say it totally is more manageable over a larger park like Disney.

We also opted to go for two days. The first day, on Luci’s birthday, we spent the entire day enjoying all the rides. For a Friday, the park was not super busy and it was pretty easy to navigate around most of the day.

Day two was all about Brick-or-Treat and it starts after regular park hours from 5 pm to 9 pm. This is extra and an add-on to your regular ticket into the park but it was fun to do. Holland took a normal nap at the resort, everyone rested up and the girls had fun collecting candy, dancing and looking for all the people dressed up in costumes. The weather in October was and still is perfect too!

Legoland California is located in San Diego and we opted to stay at Welk Resorts, about a 30-minute drive to and from the park. I am so glad we did because it is so perfect for a family of five. The girls had their own room and bathroom and so did we. There was also a full kitchen too. We definitely plan on heading back to enjoy this place over the summer!

Our little Luci had so much fun on her birthday and it was a beautiful day at the park. She was so brave and got on every ride with her big sis! Her favorite rides were all the roller coasters! Mommy and daddy had fun taking turns on rides and chasing Holland around too! Thank you sunny San Diego for a perfect family fun weekend!

xx, Nicole

 

 

 

Life made easier with my Lily and Jade bag

Leave a Comment LIFE, Motherhood

This post is sponsored by Lily and Jade, but as always all opinions are 100% my own.

If you know me, you know I love a great bag. Mom life is hard but a perfect diaper bag can make it so much easier!

As a third-time girl mom, I have had my share of different diaper bags, but my new Lily and Jade bag is my absolute favorite! I love everything from the soft leather to the beautiful shade of green to all the amazing compartments inside and outside of the bag.

Now with the girls out of school for the summer having a bag like this is essential.

Packing up for a day of fun is a cinch because there is plenty of room for everything we need. The Madeline in Magnolia can be worn as a cross body, over the shoulder, or as a backpack. Wearing it like a backpack with three girls is the easiest for me and it doesn’t wear me down, it’s perfect!

Speaking of summer and packing up for a day of fun, one of our favorite places is the library. Almost every Wednesday we head over to take Holland to baby-time. Holland loves to interact with other babies her age and Clara and Luci enjoy the computer lab.

Today I was watching all three of them and thinking about how special it is all three have enjoyed the same library. All three have gone to the same baby-time and I think it is so special. Makes this mama heart so happy too.

I know I said computer lab but we do sign up for summer reading. The girls try to read for twenty minutes each day and thank goodness for the library because they do such a great job making it fun with prizes to earn.

Of course, any outing isn’t complete without a good snack. Every mom knows you can’t go anywhere with several in tow!

What are some of your favorite spots in the summer? Do you need more ideas or maybe a better schedule for you and your kiddos? Be sure to check out my previous post for some simple ideas.😊

 

xx, Nicole

 

 

 

 

 

Summer fun schedule + Discovering Learning

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Summer is upon us once again and we are super excited!

One thing I have learned to ensure a sweet summer for everyone is to have and keep a simple schedule. This means I have one for them and one for myself, resulting in a nice plan for all of us. Happy mom, happy kids!

Otherwise, my girls would be constantly asking to use their iPad and Nintendo along with tearing up the house, fighting, etc! No beuno for this mama and you probably feel the same way too, right?

The week before school let out I made up our simple summer schedule and since this is our first week of summer nothing is quite set in stone yet. However, my girls are eight, six, and fifteen months and this is our third summer break. For the most part, this is what works the best for us.

Each day of the week offers a little something special along with our normal routine. Of course things will come up and we may not get to all or any of it due to sickness or a vacation but for the most part, we will stick to our plan. Extras also include gymnastics camp, piano lessons, VBS, and out of town vacations.

If you notice we are starting the week with Math Mondays. Something new for us this summer, thank you to our friends at Discovering Learning. Discovering Learning is a monthly math subscription geared for elementary school ages 4 to 12. 

My girls each have their own workbooks for their level in math too.

Each workbook has forty-three pages so our goal is to do about three pages a day. Along with their workbooks, they each have a scorebook to correct their own mistakes too. I really love this approach because it is giving them the power to see and correct their mistakes rather than just me.

Discovering Learning also offers these great tools. They are always available to assist with questions or if your child tests lower than an 80% after the self-test, they can help identify the problem your child might be having.

I hope this helps inspire your summer. Please feel free to pin or print out our daily and summer fun schedules!

Happy summer!

xx, Nicole

Last days of summer and more fun with Osmo!

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Thank you Osmo for sponsoring this post! As always all opinions are honest and 100% my own.

How is your summer going? Did it just begin or is it coming to an end?

Our summer is coming to an end and then it will be the girls first day of school on Monday! These three months really flew by too! We pretty much did everything I said we would do except for going to Hawaii. The hubs and I opted out of this trip because of the baby. We both think she needs to be a little older so there’s always next summer!

Luci enjoyed piano lessons and then there was Family camp, a fun stay-cation, water parks, grandma sleep overs and even a trip to Sprinkles cupcakes because cupcake ATM’s are the coolest!

If you remember, we began our summer fun with Osmo and now with these last days and the tendency to get on each other’s nerves (only been all summer long, lol!) we are having more fun with Osmo!

The girls were given the opportunity to test out and play with Osmo’s new game, Coding jam at the beginning of summer break and lately it has been all about Osmo’s creative set. Seriously, if you have children five years and older and they love to be creative and play games on the iPad, it’s a winner!

Our summers are really hot here in Phoenix and it is a lot of indoor time when we are not enjoying our pool or playing at a local waterpark. When we are inside it’s all about creative play and that is what I love about Osmo and this creative set.

What’s in the Creative set?

The creative set comes with a dry erase board, markers, cloth for erasing and this great marker pouch that doubles as another way to erase your artwork. Remember you do need an Osmo base to play all of their games too. You can find these Osmo games on Amazon, Apple Store, and Playosmo.com

MONSTER

In this game, Mo the monster interacts with them and gives them step-by-step instructions to animate their drawings! The girls absolutely love it and they enjoy playing together. Major #momwin because most iPad time is a battle between them!

MASTERPIECE

Ok, I love all three of their games but this one is my favorite! Clara really enjoys this one the most too. There are several different images your child can pick to draw and it allows you to trace any selected image even a photo. Clara loves to take pictures so this is really fun for her to draw one of her photos! Plus it will create a video of your creations to share too.

NEWTON

This game involves drawing and physics! Ya, I know I was like, huh myself but the girl’s dove right into it and Luci really had fun! Think old fashioned video game meets new technology and drawing. So cool and so fun!

As our summer comes to an end, this is where you will find us, playing and spending quality time together. I am really excited to see what the new school year brings and for seasons to change once again too.

xx, Nicole

Summer reading list

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I kinda think it’s funny I am writing a post about my summer reading list because I am not the most avid reader!

However, my two oldest daughters are in school now and they are required to read over the summer so, I thought I better get to it myself, lol!

Do you have a summer reading list?

Well, if not, and if you are a bit curious perhaps? Here are a few of my favorite books this summer.

SUMMER READING LIST

This first book is one I am reading in my women’s bible study and I’m loving it! I’m loving it because one, it’s about women and two, it’s about some of the most amazing, epic, women in the Bible! The author, John MacArthur does such a great job explaining their background and their character too.

The second book I am reading (yes, I am reading two books at the same time, lol!) I was actually gifted this book by a dear friend of mine. I wish I could say I love this book too, but it is a lot harder to read. The reason being, it really speaks to that part of me that just doesn’t want to hear it! Even the title is intimidating and I’m not talking about the part about Satan, rather the “bait” part! Even though this book is a hard read for me, I know it is working on those areas of my heart that have been hardened for various reasons. Most of all, this book is helping with my areas of unforgiveness. After all, I am all about gaining more peace in my life and letting go of unforgiveness is a must!

Then last, but not least on my summer reading list is a book I have yet to open.

We are headed to Family Camp with our church next week so I’m hoping I can read this on the beach in California. I mentioned receiving this book from our church just before Holland was dedicated to the Lord and I have heard all good things about it!

The title says it all for me and I am all about receiving more grace from the good Lord so that I can pass that on to my husband, my children and to others.

If I can finish my goal to read all three of these books this summer, I plan on also reading, Present of perfect too!

Happy summer loves and let me know if you have a summer reading list. I would love to hear about it!

xx, Nicole

Summer plans + playing with Osmo!

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School’s out for the summer!

Gosh, the only reason I would want to be a kid again is to get to experience the pure joy of summer break! Remember the excitement of the last day of school and how nice it was to sleep in?

Oh, how I miss sleeping in! But, in a way, I do get to experience it all again with my kids! Maybe not the sleeping in part, haha, but I do get to share in their excitement.

So, we are on day five already of summer vacation and the girls are already sleeping in (yes, thank you Jesus) living in their jammies and enjoying their first week of summer. I think their biggest worry at the moment is what’s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, lol!

Do you have any summer plans yet? Normally, Kevin and I are super last minute about making summer plans like vacations and such, but we are getting better at that. The girls are at a great age now to go on trips to Hawaii! Yep, we are considering another trip to Oahu again later this summer (keeping my fingers crossed). Before we head back to the island we will be attending the annual family camp with our church beginning of July. We get to spend three days in Costa Mesa, California playing on the beach with other families and overall get time to unplug, relax and spend quality time together.

Besides planning a couple of trips we also have VBS, birthday parties to attend, play dates at splash pads and music lessons to look forward to. And, as much as I love planning and going on trips lets be honest there is still a lot of summer in between! Talking about those days much like today and this first week where we are laying around in jammies without a plan.

On days like this, my girls normally want to do two things, swim and play on their iPad!

When I was a kid it was pretty much these same two things too except it was more like swim then watch TV! My girls love playing games on the iPad so when Osmo came in the mail that was it! My oldest, Clara could not even wait for me to read the instructions and before I knew it she had it setup and was happily coding and making music with their new game, “Coding Jam”.

Osmo knows their demographic well (children 5 to 12 years old) and they know that most children can take this out of the box and put it together all by themselves. As a busy mom of three, I love this!

So what is Osmo?

Osmo is an award-winning game system that will change the way your child interacts with the iPad by opening it up to hands-on play. –Osmo

They have 8 different games and once you have the base and a game you can combine blocks to play other games. We love Coding Jam because it combines what both girls like to do. Clara loves to problem solve along with creating and Luci enjoys making and listening to music. As you can see she also loves puzzles and magnets too. The blocks connect together magnetically so she was in seventh heaven right here!

Our little Holland is enjoying the fun too! She is just shy of 5 months old and already she is watching her too big sisters and grabbing for the blocks. Honestly, just one more thing to love because I can hold her, give her one or two of the big blocks and watch my other two play. And, when we are all done everything wipes down very easily. I’m telling you, Osmo knows and they have us mom’s and dad’s in mind too!

To learn more about Osmo go to playosmo.com and they are also available for purchase on Amazon and Apple stores.

We received this product, Osmo base and Coding Jam game in exchange for our honest review. All opinions are 100% our own! Thank you, Osmo!

Happy Summer!

xx, Nicole

 

 

 

 

Dressing the bump & Nordstrom sale picks

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Dressing the bump…

I just reached my second trimester and feeling so much better than my first. My belly popped out faster than my two previous pregnancies, but it is only really noticeable unless I wear tighter clothing. I love my little bump and I am all about showing it off!dressing the bump

Some of my current favorite outfits for dressing my bump are things like dresses because they have more room than you think and bump there it is! This dress is just a regular dress and one of my favorites because it is fitted. The dress has stretch and stays in place and it was perfect during my 1st trimester.Gap outlet joggers

Also I am all about jogger style pants that have a drawstring so comfortable yet stylish all at the same time. I found mine at the Gap outlet on sale, but I also love the pair I linked below too. I went up a size in these to allow for plenty of room later in my pregnancy and they are amazingly comfortable!

Since Nordstroms is gearing up for their big anniversary sale I thought I would share a couple of my favorite picks for piecing comfortable outfits together. The sale starts in two days, July 14th and you can head on over here for more info and to shop the sale.

I have noticed a lot of confusion with this sale, myself included..don’t ya hate that? The items I have linked below are my favorites for maternity wear, but are not currently on sale. However I think all these items are reasonably priced. The sale Nordstroms is offering involves early access to select sale items when you apply for a Nordstroms card. Another words if you apply for their card you get the sale price they are offering both online and in store. I added a few more items like this below!

Dressing the bump

black skinnies

Black maternity skinnies

striped long dress

Striped stretchy dress

chambray joggers

Chambray joggers

lace up suede sandals

Suede lace up sandals

gray dress long

Long stretchy dress

green one piece

Tropical one piece

 

xo, Nicole

dog days of summer

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How is everyone’s summer going? We had such a low-key fun 4th of July and then Tuesday hit, which totally felt like a Monday by the way! I guess it’s no surprise I am quickly finding myself smack dab in the middle of the dog days of summer. School will be starting again for us soon and we are still itching for our one and only summer family vacation.

One of the things we did recently to break up these long dog days of summer is buying a family season pass to the Science center. Several of our local museums in Arizona offer a better deal to buy season passes rather than buying a single or a one time admission. I am so glad we did too! The other perk with buying an annual pass is we get several free passes to use to bring grandparents and friends.

We had so much fun as a family and the cool thing is there is still plenty to see and do on our next visit. We learned a lot and not to mention it got us out of the miserable heat for a few hours. My hubby and I were super excited that there was also a planetarium because we both remember our childhood field trips visiting exciting places like this.

First I have to share this adorable video from 4th of july. If you haven’t had fun playing around with Boomerang yet you must check it out. The app is free and fairly easy to use!

Here are a few pics of our time at the Science center…IMG_8380dog days of summer: Science museumScience museum- bug exhibitScience museum-bug exhibit

 

xo, Nicole