Is your home secure? I'm sharing tips and advice for how to safely secure your home.

Tips and Advice for How to Safely Secure Your Home

One of our neighbors recently had their home broken into. This is not news that we enjoy hearing, especially since they live across the street. Another point of concern being that our neighborhood is relatively small. It could have happened to anyone. We have been incredibly fortunate in the time that we’ve lived here, but it was also an important reminder to us. Our home is already secure from a safety standpoint to combat Sweet B’s tendencies to wander. But what other steps can we take? How else can we safely secure our home? Granted, we can’t prevent everything but we can certainly do our best to be prepared. A majority of us that reside in the United States are worried about leaving home while…

June 2016 Income and Traffic Report + Goals for July

June 2016 Income and Traffic Report + Goals for July

Can you believe that it’s already July? This year is half over and while part of me feels incredibly accomplished… there’s a part of me that knows that I still have so much to do! I was never one to fully buy into the “summer slump” when it came to blogging. And though my numbers are down from last month, I’m not too concerned. That said, I’m going to follow the same format as I did last month. You can read my past income reports (though only last month’s included traffic) and I’m also going to review/recap my traffic from the beginning of the year to the end of this month. Income and Expenses for June June saw my first payment from Mediavine and payments…

How to Develop an ESY Program at Home

How to Develop an ESY Program at Home

Through her IEP, Sweet B is guaranteed to attend some form of extended school year (ESY) during the summer. When she was younger, she would attend a summer school style program at Wildwood but in the past few years; she’s attended Camp Wildwood. Services, such as speech and occupational therapy, are still provided. However, there’s a brief time period between camp ending and the school year beginning that she’s at home. And while our afterschooling program may suffice, I wanted to looking into developing an ESY program at home. With thanks to Fun and Function for providing our items and sponsoring this conversation for our program; I’m outlining a suggested plan for a two to three week time period. First, you’ll want to determine what…

How to Start Meal Planning and Prepping

How to Start Meal Planning and Prepping

While I would love to say that we’re on top of meal and menu planning… we’re not. This is an area that I want to focus on though because I think it would go a long way in terms of staying within our family budget. We do occasionally plan out our meals for the week but I think it would be really helpful to plan long-term for the month. It would also help when we go shopping and hopefully cut down on the number of trips that we make to the grocery store once we start  meal planning and prepping.  5 Overall Benefits of Meal Planning Eat Healthier Planning your family meals will cut down on your trips to your favorite fast food restaurant and…

Why it’s Important for Kids and Parents to Play

Why it’s Important for Kids and Parents to Play

The post is brought to you by Activate by Bloglovin and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. Powered By: “This post is sponsored by the Voice of Play.” Play is important. I cannot emphasize this enough. But why is it so important? And does it really make that much of a difference? Absolutely. And not only is play important for kids but it’s a pretty big deal for us adults, too. Doctors, educators, and experts in childcare believe modern changing lifestyles have a negative effect on the health and well-being of children. Children and youth spend a lot of time indoors using electronic equipment like computers, playstations, mobile phones, watching their favorite programs on TV, or playing with the numerous toys and gadgets available…

We're exploring zebras and the letter z in this mini tot school unit.

Z is for Zebra Mini Tot Pack + Activities

We’re doing another informal summer tot school with Squeaker this year. Last year’s attempt at Mommy Camp didn’t get too far. But that was also due to poor planning on my part. Lack of interest from Squeaker also contributed. This year we’re taking daily walks (weather permitting), playing outside, having plenty of indoor picnics and tea parties, building with blocks… and just enjoying the moments. Along the way, if she learns something- great. But it’s not the focal point of summer for us. Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in an A to Z of Animals series with some amazing kid bloggers. We’re up last with the focus on the letter Z and we chose the Zebra for our animal. Be sure to check…