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Legends from Mom’s Closet by Sasha Olsen

I received an advance copy of Legends from Mom’s Closet for my review.

About Legends from Mom’s Closet

In Legends from Mom’s Closet, 10 year old Sasha Olsen documents how she spent a rainy summer indoors using her creativity and imagination. After reading a stack of books about women like Frida Kahlo, Audrey Hepburn and Billie Holiday, Sasha’s imagination ran wild and she ended up in her mom’s closet picking through her clothes and her grandmother’s vintage pieces to dress up like all the female legends she had been reading about.

Complete with photos of the looks she created and tips for others young girls on how they, too, can emulate these iconic women, Legends from Mom’s Closet will inspire readers to delve into the lives of truly remarkable women from the past to learn a thing or two about what it means to be legendary in today’s world.

About Author Sasha Olsen

Sasha Olsen is a 10 year old author, environmental activist, ballroom dancer, bookworm, pianist, and enjoys anything artistic. She always finds new hobbies and things to do, which usually ends up in her trying to juggle everything. She lives with her family in Bal Harbour, Florida, where she also spearheads the conservation movement “I Want My Ocean Back.” Legends from Mom’s Closet is her first book.

My Thoughts

I was intrigued by this book and it’s premise. What kind of legends can we find in Mom’s closet? If you were to look in my closet, you wouldn’t find a lot of yoga pants, tshirts, and simple sunday dresses. But perhaps we can find something legendary in there?
I was hoping that while reading this book it would spark some creativity in my girls to learn about different people from history, and perhaps look through our closets for inspiration.

Unfortunately, my children didn’t seem too excited by this idea – but I think that is partly because we were reading an e-version. I think a physical copy of the book would change their perspective – perhaps a little, as this book was not easily read or looked at via a screen.

While I appreciated Sasha’s ability to get a professional photographer involved, I think it also changes the group that would enjoy this book. Middle class, and lower income kids who I think would find the premise of this book interesting, may not be able to connect with Sasha and what she is doing. Why is that? Well, the pictures are too perfect, the clothing too vintage for most kids to connect with. I’d love to see a follow-up book that’s more real, more raw, and can help kids from all backgrounds identify with.

Where to Buy?

While currently it shows out of print on Amazon, it will be in stock soon. There were some delays in the shipping. Keep your eye on Amazon for when it is back in stock.

May 19, 2020
9 Tips for Keeping Kids Rooms Clean

This post on keeping kids rooms clean is sponsored by The Good Stuff and Coupons.com.

If you’ve got a whole house to keep clean weekly, you know how just a few good tips can drastically alter your workload. With kids in the house, that cleaning task can sometimes seem insurmountable, but by utilizing these nine tips for keeping rooms clean, you’ll be relaxing with your feet kicked up in a clean house in no time.

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Along with these tips, spending a little time making some efficiency and organization changes to your home can also help shorten the time your family spends cleaning your home each week.

Get Your Kids Involved

While sometimes it may be tempting to simply clean the room as you see fit, rather than trying to cajole your junior family members, getting the kids involved from the very beginning is key. After all, it is their room, and getting buy-in from the start will only help down the road.

Giving them ownership over how their room is to be organized can help inspire them to keep the clutter at bay. If nothing else, they will know where you expect their items to be kept when not in use.

Let Them Take the Lead

Instead of trying to make decisions for your kids as far as what stays and what goes, give them the opportunity to share their vision with you. Letting them tell you about what their thoughts allows you to get a window into their world. You can then start to speak their language, giving them the sense that you are there to help.

Everything in its Place

Simply telling kids to “put something away” can imply a negative tone, and it also isn’t a definite instruction. Instead, personalize everything. Give everything in your child’s room a “home,” or place where it will live. When things are out-of-place, asking your kids to put something where it lives is a more positive and fun way of saying “clean up this mess.”

Give Them Control of Their Domain

When clearing the clutter, you may be tempted to interject and force them to hold on to certain items. A special gift, something sentimental, etc. However, having too much stuff in their room can be positively overwhelming for kids. Imagine being asked to keep a room full of stuff you don’t want and keep it organized, and you begin to get the picture. Instead, kids need to be given the ability to say what stays and what goes.

Get On Their Level

As adults, it’s not a problem to organize things wherever we find space. However, that strategy doesn’t always work for smaller people. It’s important for them to be able to access things easily and see where they are at a moment’s glance. That’s why it’s important to start at ground level and work your way up. Having organization spaces close to floor level gives your kids easy access to their things, and it also makes it easier for them to get them put away.

Keep Things Consistent

When your kid gets to school, chances are they are being asked to store their things in their cubby. So, recreate that experience at home with their own in-room cubbies.

Mirroring what happens at school can help reinforce keeping things in their place. If you put them by the door to their room, it also helps create a drop-zone where things can be put as soon as they enter their room, before they even have a chance to clutter.

Make a Game of It

Kids love games and can turn almost anything into a competition. Try to develop a fun routine in regards to cleaning and organizing rooms. A “Clean Room Club,” or counting backwards from ten as ten items are put away can also make the experience of keeping a room clean more fun.

Create Boundaries

Your child’s room is their space inside the home, so it needs to be as functional for them as possible. If the size of their room allows it, you should strive to make separate spaces within that room. There will be a temptation when organizing to move tables to walls and open up as much floor space in the middle of the room as possible. However, that lends itself to clutter.

Show Them the Way

When it comes to finding their way in the world, often children mirror the behavior of their parents. If clutter in your home isn’t a problem confined just to your kids’ rooms, it may be helpful to look in the mirror at some of your own behaviors. Take a good look at how you choose to organize your life, and apply some of the same tips we’ve gone over here to your own space inside the home.

July 27, 2019
Summer Shorts Upgrade: Just the right length with personality

This post on summer shorts is sponsored by The Good Stuff and Coupons.com.

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Remember the days when holes in pants were considered messy and poor? When did we get the trend where pants are being bought with holes in them? It truly baffles me.

I have to admit though, as my kids wore holes in their pants, I became a little lax and let them wear them anyway. It was the trend after all.

After a General Conference address by Jeffrey R. Holland where he said “Sunday best has lost it’s meaning in our time“, I recommitted myself to pay more attention to what we wear all the time, not just on Sunday.

The holey pants had to go. Being the frugal person that I am however, I wasn’t just going to toss these otherwise perfectly good pants out! Instead, we like to upgrade our pants into shorts.

Summer Shorts How-To

Bonus here – you know how girls shorts are always way too short. I mean, WAY TOO SHORT! This simple fix gives your summer shorts that are the perfect length and fun to wear.

Here’s what you do. Take a pair of pants with holes in the knees. Cut along the hole that is up highest on one leg. This will be your guide for cutting along the other leg. Fold the pants in half, and cut off the other leg.

Ta Da! Shorts!

Being the creative fun type (hahaha…ok I do try sometimes!), I then pulled out some fun crafts to really give our summer shorts an upgrade. Why not dress them up a bit?

With fabric markers and iron-on patches, you can really turn an old pair of pants into something new. If you personally don’t feel creative, turn the project over to your kids, and let them express themselves on their shorts.

This is a great activity for when the kids are bored, and it’s raining outside, or just because you need a day to actually get stuff done around the house this summer! Iron on patches and fabric markers can be found at most fabric stores, or as always on Amazon.

I suggest a parent helps with the cutting and any iron on patches. From there though, this is a project the kids can run with. We personally went with a patriotic theme to get ready for the 4th of July this week.

We styled the shorts with a fun striped shirt before heading out for some photos. Read How to Style Summer Shorts for more tips on styling your new creations.

June 30, 2019
A Summer Chore List Helps Teach the Family Routine

This summer chore list is sponsored by The Good Stuff from Coupons.com

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Hellooo Summer! Long days full of sunshine, and fun, and family togetherness. Or is it more like long days of kids home, begging for electronics, with toys and crafts strewn from one end of the house to the other while Mom spends all her time cooking one meal and snack after another.

I say it every summer – this is the summer I am going to stay on top of it, and keep our family and home organized.

This summer, I really mean it! After watching my sister-in-law take the reigns year after year, and seeing how well her kids respond to it – there was no way I couldn’t put together our own Summer Chore List without some hope it would work.

See, here’s what I’ve learned over the years – routine is one of many keys to a happy healthy family. It’s honestly why I love when the kids go to school, because we have a good routine with school. But when summer hits, we tend to say goodbye to routine and hello to chaos.

It’s time to stop the chaos, and just change up the routine. There are a lot of things a routine can teach us as a family, but here’s just a few I see in my home.

Responsibility

When you stick to a routine as a family, it teaches kids that they are responsible for certain things in a family. Things like making their bed, their personal hygiene, and helping keep the home clean.

Trust

I have to trust that the kids are doing their chore list, and being honest about it. The kids have to trust me to follow through with rewards and consequences. Without trust, families fall apart.

Example

Having a summer chore list is a great time to teach your kids by example. I have given myself the same list to accomplish every day just as them. This means the list is no longer something I just talk about, but they see me doing it. They say actions speak louder than words, and I truly believe that when it comes to teaching our kids. If we don’t do it, neither will they.

Priorities

Kids do not know how to prioritize. They don’t. Sometimes they might get it right, but generally they will want to do the fun things first, and procrastinate the work. By setting up a routine you are teaching them how to prioritize. This skill will be essential throughout their entire life.

If you’d like a customized copy of this printable, just shoot me an email or comment below.

So how does this summer chore list work? Well, I got the idea from my sister in law. Each child will get a printed off sheet that then gets laminated. Attach the sheet to a clipboard, and hang on the wall, or place in an area that is easily noticeable. We don’t want to forget about these after all. Each morning the kids grab their sheet, and as they go through the routine they check off each item.

You may be wondering about a few of the items on my kids list. Morning routine for example is what I call out every day when they get up, even during the school year. My kids know that it means 4 things – Make bed, brush hair, brush teeth, say prayer. Nothing else happens until these 4 items are done.

The 4 workbook pages came about, because every year my children bring home half done work books that they don’t want to get rid of. They also don’t crack them open ever again. So now we do a partial “summer school”, and keep their minds fresh for the next year by completing a few pages out of the workbooks each day.

For the spiritual study time, this looks different for each of my kids. I do ask that they read from The Book of Mormon every day. However, my 12 year old is working on a program called Personal Progress while the other girls are working on a program called Faith in God. There are different faith building activities they do to earn awards, and this is a time they can set aside to work on those. For my 7 year old, I have challenged him to read The Book of Mormon before his next birthday when he is old enough to be baptized.So together he and I read a little of that each day.

Once the chore list is done, they are allowed 1 hour of screen time. If they get on screens before their chores are through, they lose screen time the rest of that day and the next. This consequence teaches them to be responsible for their lists and their time.

My kids think 1 hour is not enough time, but I think it’s plenty. After all, I plan on taking the kids on adventures, finding new parks, going on hikes, playing new board games, and getting them together with friends. We can’t do that if we stare at a screen with all the leftover time in each day.

How do summers look at your house?

June 22, 2019
Compost: A Beginners Guide

This article on compost is sponsored by The Good Stuff and Coupons.com. All opinions are my own.

Any good gardener knows that compost will significantly benefit their garden. Whether you’re planting a large field of vegetables, or a small flower garden compost will increase the health of your plants.

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When I was a kid, we kept an old ice cream bucket under the sink. After every meal we were expected to scrape certain of our scraps into this bucket. When the bucket was full, it would be someone’s job to trek it outside and into the woods where the chicken wire fence made a crudely placed compost pile.

For years we did this. It was never a favorite chore, but if it meant getting out of cleaning something else, I was happy to take the time. Often I would see wild animals enjoying our scraps, and once a beautiful white tailed deer.

There was always one question I never got answered though – what was the point? Sure it meant less garbage, but now we had this extremely stinky pile of waste out in the woods. Thankfully, it was in an area we kids never played near. Or perhaps we never played near it, because of the stench.

So while we had a compost pile and we had a garden, I don’t believe my mother ever used it in the garden. On the up side, the forest was getting lots of extra nutrients, we were feeding wildlife, and on the rare year, we would grow a watermelon or cantaloupe right out of the compost heap!

So with that experience behind me, here’s what you should know if you want to start composting.

A Beginners Guide to Compost

I’ll go over the basics here, but for a more comprehensive guide on how to compost, follow that link.

Size Matters

How big your compost heap should be, will depend on how big your garden space is. If you only have house plants, you don’t need to compost everything. In fact, a small, indoor counter-top compost bin will work very well for your needs. Amazon sells a variety of these, and they are designed to keep the smell contained as well.

If however, you have a larger outdoor garden, you will probably want a larger pile for your compost, and it will need to be outdoors. For the hobby gardener with just a few garden beds, a medium sized single bin will be your best friend. You can purchase these on amazon, or build one yourself.

For the more serious gardener, you will probably want a larger multi compartment bin. Bins like this allow you to fill one compartment with compost-able items, and then continue filling the next bins, while the first works on turning itself into usable compost. Currently my mother has a 3 bin compost my brother made her, and she finally uses it to feed her garden.

What Goes In It?

The only rule I remember as a kid when adding our scraps to the compost bin, was no meat, bones, or dairy. Everything else had better be added to that bucket or we’d risk my mothers frustration.

Turns out, there’s actually quite a bit of do’s and don’ts with composting. A good compost contains what we call green and brown materials. Green materials are your kitchen scraps, dead weeds, grass clippings, etc. Brown materials are dry leaves, newspapers (shred them for quick break down), and sawdust.

The mix of green and brown materials are adding both nitrogen and carbon to your compost. These are the chemicals needed to break down the scraps into a usable compost.

Using Your Compost

Now you have a scrap pile, what are you going to do with it? Don’t be like my mom and just pile it up, hoping to one day use it. Actually use it! Your garden will thank you. The environment will thank you.

When the compost turns dark brown, maybe even black and has a nice earthy smell to it, that is when it is ready to use. Here’s the thing, though, composting takes time. At some point you will need to stop adding to your pile, and let it turn into the usable material. Again, the size will matter on how long this process takes.

Once it is ready though, the real fun begins. Compost can be spread across your garden in 1-2 inch layers. After applying the compost, water it to help it seep into the soil faster. For indoor plants, the idea is the same, just on a smaller scale.

You can also use your compost in your lawn. Spread it out across the lawn, sprinkle some water on top, and give it a little time to seep into the lawn. Your grass will love it!

I hope this helps encourage you to start composting! Whether you’re new to gardening, or experienced but never tried composting, your garden is going to be so happy with all the added nutrients it gets this year.

June 5, 2019
Diamond Stud Earrings for Mothers Day

While most 21 years old went out and celebrated with their first drink, I went and got my ears pierced. I received these Diamond Stud Earrings from Anjolee in exchange for a review. This is my honest opinion.

As a young girl, I was obsessed with earrings. My parents even bought me a picture book called “Earrings” – all about a girl who begs her parents for earrings.

When I turned 16, my parents allowed me to pierce my ears. The problem at that point – I was a low maintenance type of person. I didn’t want to worry about caring for my ears and earrings.

So, I resorted to wearing clip-ons, and even had a beautiful pair of pearl clips that I wore at my wedding! Since getting them pierced at 21, I still rarely wear earrings, except for special occasions – church and date night usually.

When Anjolee Diamonds offered to send me a pair of their tulip inspired Diamond Studs though, I decided I couldn’t resist. They were pretty, but also a simple design that I could enjoy. Just because I’m low maintenance, doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a beautiful pair when I see one.

These Diamond Stud Earrings are truly gorgeous! It took me a bit to put them in because of the screw backing, but I felt so much more secure knowing I wouldn’t accidentally lose an earring. When you have small children who love to tug on hair and ears, and especially shiny earrings, the screw back is insurance!

So why do I love these Anjolee Diamond Earrings? Well, for one because they are fully customizable. From the type of metal, diamond size and quality, and even the length of the full piece are your choice. You’ll get exactly what you want from Anjolee.

These particular studs I chose are the Flower Petal Diamond Stud Earrings in Silver. The setting from the side looks like beautiful tulips which are one of my favorite flowers. The Tulip Poplar also happens to be the state flower for Indiana. It’s the little things like this that draw me to certain pieces of jewelry.

Anjolee earrings come packed in a it’s own display box with an LED light to put the spotlight on those beautiful studs. It’s the little things like this extra design in the box that make me feel special.

As a mother, it’s really all the little things combined that bring us joy, isn’t it? The first time we hold our little ones, feel their little toes, examine the little fingers, and getting excited over the first little smile.

Anjolee gets that.

That’s why this Mothers Day, I can’t recommend Anjolee Diamonds enough. Pair a set with some flowers, and Mom will be set! If she’s anything like me, wearing these will make her feel like a million bucks.

Need more Mothers Day Gift ideas? Check out these 7 gifts she’s sure to love!

May 6, 2019
Meditation: How to do it and Why it helps

I received a trial run of BrainTap Pro for mobile. All thoughts on meditation are my own.

When I went to a counselor for my post pardum depression, after a few sessions of just talking, we tried some guided meditation. As the counselor walked me through my mind, I came across a “door”. Behind this door I found myself – the girl I used to be before mental illness clouded everything.

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Since then I have been searching for some kind of meditation to help keep me grounded when things are going awry. These are a few of the meditation tools I’ve used over the year. We can all benefit from a little deep breathing and mind clearing once in awhile.

Ways to Meditate

Study the Scriptures. As a religious person, I find much comfort in studying the words of the Lord. This year I have been reading from The Book of Mormon and The New Testament. Often finding time to quietly read and ponder how these words can change my life, can be difficult. I’ve found the best way to get this time in, is to get up 30 minutes earlier then my kids. The time is spent focusing on something that helps me grow in knowledge, and focus on something that I feel makes me a better person.

Do Yoga. I’ve always loved the idea of yoga, but spent many days telling myself I couldn’t do it because I had no flexibility. Well, the thing about flexibility is that the more you push against the resistance, the more flexible you can become. Yoga focuses a lot on slow deep breathing. As you do this, you become more aware of your body and mind. You can even get your kids involved with my favorite youtube series – Cosmic Kids Yoga.

Guided Meditation. While I’ve found many helpful ways to meditate through finding time alone to study and then focusing through yoga, the best meditation I have found for me, has been Guided Meditation. Recently I tried out BrainTap Pro for mobile, and can’t get enough of it. BrainTap focuses on balancing your brainwaves for optimal mental health. Every session I’ve used has helped me feel re-energized, or get into a deep sleep. Every session of BrainTap is focused on helping you relax, reboot, and revitalize.
One night my 8 year old was really struggling to fall asleep, so we turned on some deep sleep BrainTap, and before we could blink she and me were both sound asleep. Now I get frequent requests for that “mind sleeping thing”.

Why Meditation?

To meditate means to engage in mental exercise for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness, or to focus on one’s thoughts. So why do we want to meditate? Is focusing on our own thoughts something we really want to do?

I say YES! When we can focus on our own thoughts, we can gain a deeper understanding of what drives us, who we are, and where we would like to go in life.

Life is very much a balancing act. Talk to any mother and you’ll hear them asking each other how they balance their lives. We seem to all be searching for the magic formula. Well, meditation can be that formula.

We can clear out all that noise. Life will still be there, along with everything we do, but with a clear mind we can see better what needs to be done and when. In other words, it’s a lot simpler to prioritize and move through life without feeling burdened if we have opened our minds to better understanding or “heightened spiritual state.”

How do you meditate? What is your favorite tool for clearing your mind.

February 19, 2019
Tips for Choosing Gifts for Your Husband

This post on choosing gifts for your husband is sponsored by The Good Stuff by Coupons.com. Opinions are all my own.

Valentines Day is right around the corner, and so is my husbands birthday. The time for choosing gifts is at hand! Here’s a little secret though, I’m not very good at picking out gifts.

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I really struggle with this. Not because I don’t like giving gifts, but finding the perfect one is always hard. We want to find our spouse something they will love, will use, and tells them how much we love them. That’s a whole lot to be asking for though!

Perhaps you struggle with this too? I can only assume you do, which is why you ended up here. Our problem is our passion. We love so much, and want that adequately expressed when choosing gifts. So step one for us all, is to let go of perfection.

Let Go of Perfection

If we get hung up on finding the “perfect” gift, we will never get a gift. We may find ourselves so frustrated that we end up buying something just to buy something that has no sentimental attachment at all. So now that we can let go of finding the perfect gift, let’s figure out how to find a perfect gift without the expectation.

Listen

Part of choosing a gift for someone is actually knowing that person. In a marriage with children, it’s really easy to get into a day to day routine. He gets up and showers, and goes to work. You get up send kids off to school, and clean house, work, and make meals. He comes home, you eat, play a family game, or watch a movie. Then you all go to bed. Before you need to choose a gift again, take time to really listen to your spouse. Not just their words, but their body language and daily routine. Listen to what excites them, and brings them joy in their daily routine.

Write a Dream List

If you are still struggling to choose a gift after listening to your spouse, invite them to write a dream list. I’ve been writing a list of 100 things I would like to do, see, accomplish in my life. The more things that are added the more I’ve realized what a perfect gift list this also is. If anyone wanted to gift me something that meant something, they would just have to read through that list. Having your husband write a list serves two-fold – you get a list of potential perfect gifts, and he gets to dream some.

Give Them Time

If all else fails and you just can’t find the right gift, just give them your time. From my experience, a day or night where you give all your attention to your husband, will mean the world to them. Grab a babysitter for the kids, and if you can finagle it, make it an overnight sitter. Spend the whole day letting your husband choose what you do, where you eat, and then end the night either out at a hotel, or back home if the kids are elsewhere. Trust me, your husband will love this.

When it comes down to it, as long as you choose a gift for your husband with love and the desire to see him happy, any gift you choose is going to be the perfect gift. Of course there is always just asking your husband what he wants as well – open communication and all that.

January 30, 2019
How to Dress Kids for Cold Weather
How to Dress Kids for Cold Weather is sponsored by The Good Stuff by Coupons.com and all opinions are my own.

Related: Bundle Up In Style with These Winter Layering Tips

Ah the cold. I love it. I decided I can’t live anywhere that it doesn’t get cold for at least part of the year. Actually, let me amend that. I love the snow. Watching a beautiful white blanket cover the earth is truly breathtaking. The cold just means more days cuddled under a blanket without feeling guilty for not going out.

When you have kids though, going out in it becomes a must. This past weekend we were supposed to get 6-8 inches of the white stuff. Instead it rained for a day, then froze, then snowed about 2 inches on top.

That didn’t stop the kids from waking up and declaring it an outside day. On the contrary, I believe it encouraged their desire for outside play. So off to the closet of winter coats we went first thing in the morning. Ask any mother, and they will tell you that getting kids dressed to go out in the cold takes more time then the actual playing in the snow.

Here’s some tips to help you get those kiddos out and enjoying the winter weather that will help keep them out longer, and make that time spent bundling up worth it.

But First! Watch this stop-motion video of my toddler getting bundled up!

How To Dress Kids for Cold Weather
1. Start by laying everything out.
  By laying everything out before doing anything else you know what you have, and what you still need to find. This eliminates having a half dressed kid and finding a boot is missing. It only prolongs the madness by skipping this step.
2. Have your kid use the bathroom.
  Once you know you have everything, send your child to use the restroom. Nothing is more frustrating then a fully bundled kid who needs to go pee. Even worse when they haven’t even stepped outside yet. Don’t skip this step, whatever you do! It’s important that it comes second. If you do this first, then gather their clothes – they will inevitably need to pee again before making it out the door.
3. Bundle them up in layers.
  Finally, the last step before the fun – bundle them up! Be on hand to help with stuck zippers, untied laces, and gloves that struggle to go on. Helping your kids bundle up, even if they are old enough to do it themselves, speeds the process and gets them outside sooner – maximizing the time they spend outdoors.
Cold Weather Layers

So just what should you layer your kids in before braving the cold outdoors? For the especially cold days, the more layers the better. Here’s my suggestions.

Get a good set of thermals for the kids. They fit snugly, and don’t tend to bunch up under their normal clothes. Put long sleeve shirt and pants on top of the thermals.

Next, layer on the outer gear. Bibbed snow pants are fantastic at keeping the snow from finding it’s way inside. Follow that with a good thick coat.

For the extremities, 2 layers of socks (3 isn’t a bad way to go either) can really help keep the toes warm and toasty. A high top pair of water proof boots is absolutely necessary for cold weather play. If you are worried about the water proof capabilities, add a plastic bag layer over the socks before inserting their foot. They may complain (as the childhood me did), but they will thank you later (thank you Nana!). When putting the boots on, make sure the inside lining of the snow pants are tucked inside the boot, while the outside lining, is pulled over the top.

It’s not a bad idea to layer on the gloves too, especially on little hands. If they don’t plan on touching snow, mittens will work nicely. However, for playing in it – which they will do – you’ll want a pair of cold weather gloves. Go ahead and stick on the fingered mittens, and then slide into the gloves if you really want some warm fingers. If you plan on doing this though, you’ll want to get a size bigger on the water proof gloves. Make sure to pull the shirt sleeve into the glove, and then layer the coat sleeve on top of the glove.

Last, but definitely not least is the hat! My kids balk at this, claiming their coat hood to be good enough. It’s not. Grab a nice soft winter cap to cover those ears, and then pull the coat hood over the top.

Finally you’re kids are ready to go outside and play in the snow. And you’re probably ready to take a long winters nap. Just make sure you lay out some towels and clear a space by the floor heater first. When the kids come in 5 minutes later complaining of the cold, you’ll want a clear path for them to peel off all the layers without strewing them across the whole house.
January 25, 2019
Spring Clean Your Carpet
I received Carbona Carpet Cleaner in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions here are my own.

Carpets, whether you love them or hate them, most homes have at least one room with carpet. We have exactly one room in our home, and it happens to be the room we hang out in the most.

Since so much time is spent in our living room, the wear on the carpet is almost always visible – unless we cover it up with toys, which is frequent. I’ve been pretty decent at vacuuming it weekly, but let’s be honest, with 5 kids and plenty of visitors in and out – a vacuum isn’t the only thing I should be doing on a weekly basis.

From drink spills to muddy shoes, there are spot all over my carpet that make me not love it. So it’s time to spring clean it, and then put better habits into place to keep it cleaner. I brainstormed with my sister-in-law Renee, and this is what we came up with. I hope some of the advice helps you out!

Spring Clean your Carpets

When you initially decide to do a spring cleaning of the carpets, it’s going to be a deep clean. Start by
1. Remove everything that doesn’t belong, and get as much off the carpet as you can. If possible, move big furniture into another room temporarily.
2. Once everything is moved out that can be, give it a good vacuum. I like my Eureka! vacuum both for the price and the good job it does.
3. With a surface cleaning done, it’s time to pull out the heavy duty tools. Years ago we purchased a heavy duty carpet cleaner, and it has been worth every penny. But if you don’t have one, lots of places will rent one out for a day or so at a time.
You May Also Enjoy: 5 Places You Wouldn’t Expect to be Vacuuming.

Prevention Tips to Keep Your Carpets Clean

I’ve decided we can save ourselves a lot of work in life, if we work on preventing certain things. We have well-visits with our doctor, eat healthy, and exercise all in effort to prevent ourselves from getting sick.

Similarly if we do certain things, we can prevent our carpets from needing that deep cleaning too frequently. Try implementing some of these in your home, and see what happens.
1. When entering your home, take your shoes off. Ask guests to do the same. Have a nice bench to sit on, and/or to store the shoes in to make it easier and prettier. Or create a sign requesting shoes be removed before entering. This is common practice in other countries and can lead to a cleaner home for you – not just the carpets!
2. Keep food and drink in the kitchen, or designated eating areas. I’m really bad at this, as the whole family enjoys snacking while watching our favorite movies together. However, it can make a world of difference when little kids aren’t wiping their pizza sauce hands all over that light colored carpet.
3. Similar to food, try and keep arts and crafts to the kitchen/dining areas. Hot glue, glitter, and paint all have a tendency to get spilled at some point. They are much easier to clean off a hard floor then from your carpet.
4. If you have girls who love doing nail polish, encourage them to keep it in the bathroom or on the kitchen table. Lay out a towel for their hands, and keep the bottle of polish on it as well. Nail polish is the bane of my cleaning existence.
5. If you have pets, try to choose one that is hypoallergenic. Or if you only have a few areas of carpet, keep the animals out of those rooms. Also, be a responsible pet owner, and make sure you know how to potty train your pet, and get them outside for frequent bathroom breaks.
6. Of course if you’re really keen on keeping your carpets impeccably clean, we suggest not having a husband or kids. However, I would choose my husband and kids over a clean carpet any day. So instead try your best to get them on board!
Spot Cleaning Your Carpet

OK, so things happen. A kids going to forget to take their shoes off, your muddy dog is going to run through the house, and you may just want to relax with that pizza in front of the TV one night.

So when the spills and messes do happen, the best way to keep your carpet clean, is to not put off cleaning up the mess. You can either take 5 minutes right then, or spend a whole day letting it build up.

Carbona’s has a great spot cleaner for the carpets that I’ve begun using. With a brush applicator attached, the only extra thing you’ll need is a wet rag to rinse the soap out after it removes the stains.

I’m not ready to spend a whole day deep cleaning my carpet, even though it needs it, so instead I’ve been going around getting the larger spots with Carbona. The solution works great, and from a quick glance, you probably won’t notice that it needs a deeper clean one of these days.The one thing I would change about Carbona is the shape of the bottle. It’s not terribly ergonomic for your hands to apply and brush, but it’s not horribly uncomfortable either.

The sooner you get to the stains with Carbona, the better it works, but as you can see with my very old (who knows when this occurred) spot, it still works. Just needs a little extra elbow grease.

It’s probably pretty obvious why you should clean your carpets. No one likes walking across dirt, and the dirty it gets, the more chance of inviting unwanted guests into your home. We have one child with a dust mite allergy, so it has been increasingly important to me for his sake to have clean floors that he can play on safely.
January 15, 2019