Boys.

Hey hey hey!  So, I get many questions about “how we do it?” You know, the whole “3 boys at a time thing” lol.  So, at our (amazing but crazy at times) home, we will have anywhere from 0 (not often) to 3 (most often) boys at a time.  We actually feel is is most fun when we have ALL 3 boys, but here are 10 things that we have learned along the way!

1. Food- These boys truly “eat us out of house and home.”  The whole “buying in bulk” thing is legit.  I mean, think about it- just for breakfast:  5-6 eggs, 3 bagels, 6 strips of bacon and a ton of fruit.  And that is only for the littles!  Our grocery bills are sort of out of control, and I am working on it, but it is somewhat inevitable!  I am actually considering a BJs or Costco membership which I never considered before on account of my lack of storage in my city home.  But, it is becoming a better option with our amazing storage in our new home and…#allthebills LOL
2. Super Hero/Star Wars Knowledge– OK, I was a Barbie playing, hair braiding, Polly Pocket toting little girl.  I knew not a THING about “boy toys.”  Well, having all boys certainly fixes this real fast!
   

   Secret: I MIGHT have had to ask the man for a brief history of the super heroes. PS:  Is that face not to die for!? SO CUTE.

3. ER- I play Dr. Mommy a LOT; the boys are rough and LOVE to rumble and tumble.  They are quite durable, however, I do feel that each day we get through with no need trips to the hospital is a win! You guys know what I mean, right!?  We get a lot of booboos but luckily “Dr. Mommy” has been able to fix them all (thus far- now go knock on wood!).
4. ALL THE TOYS-  OMG I can’t even speculate as to how many toys we actually have in our home.  Now, I am VERY good at cleaning and straightening. In fact, the kids make fun of me because “EVERYTHING HAS A PLACE!”  LOL. But I can tell you that every place I look, there you will find a toy!  Case in point below.
   

   I spy a toy car, a Mr. Potato head part and a train track.  Sweet. 

5. Clothes-  Three. Of. Everything.  Really.  So luckily, I have a 5T, 4T and 2T which makes it super easy to sort the clothing.  But truly when I buy something, I buy in 3s!  Places like Carters and Target where clothing is relatively inexpensive are my friend! Ha!  And that brings us to the whole “laundry game.”  Holy moly.  I literally feel like I do a load a day.  And it could be possible!
   

   Come rescue me!  I’m under the pile buried between Minion undies and an R2D2 tshirt!

6. Not-so-hand-me-downs. Yea, so speaking of clothing, I had big dreams of using those hand me downs and saving a ton of ca$h.  BUT, then reality set in.  Kids (esp boys) are DIRTY.  Like stain stain stain dirty…                 AND that whole “size not matching up” is also a prohibitor of the hand-me-down.
   

   Yea, so the little got an adorable NEW pair of Toms because of aforementioned hand-me-down issues 🙂

7. Bathroom Woes- Look. I grew up in a house of girls.  I truly thought the whole “put the toilet seat down” thing was a bit exaggerated and lord knows, it never affected me!  But boys, oh my.  I can’t even tell you how many “close calls” I’ve had with the bowl.  Butt, meet water.  I know, TMI.  But it really is an issue!  I would say the seat is up far more often than down!  Ahhhh and speaking of bathroom woes- The ring around the bowl!?  Any other boy moms have this issue!? I have to clean around the bowl daily for those “missing” or with poor aim.  And speaking of aim… three words: LIGHT.  SABER.  FIGHTS.  Anyone else’s boys do this?!  It is too funny but creates quite the mess!  LOL.                                                                
8. Potty talk- Geez, seems like I’m “on a roll (LOL)” with the toilet talk, and maybe this is just a 3-4 year old (sometimes 18 month old) thing not unique to boys, but we are having a TON of potty talk in our home.  The older boys just taught Gabe to say “biiiiiig butt.”  I know.  It is funny though!!!  #momoftheyear
9. So alike but so different- You know, it is funny.  The boys are definitely alike in many ways.  They all love Legos. They all love treats.  They all…I could go on and on.  BUT, they are also VERY different.  They each have their own dupe route personalities and we make sure to spend individual time with each of the boys and attempt to cater to their individual needs and personalities.  I think is is SUPER important and a huge reason that we are successful in maintaining and safe, loving and happy home. And, in case you are wondering, each boy has their favorite “toy type.”  5T= Transformers, 4T= Legos and 2T= Anything Elmo 🙂                                   
10. SO.MUCH.LOVE- This is obviously the BEST part of life with 3 boys.  And let me tell you, my heart swells MANY times daily and it is ALL worth it!  I will clean pee, do laundry, shop at wholesale clubs, etc. and smile through it all.  Because THIS is the life.  SO BLESSED.
    

    

Nursery on a Budget

Hellooooo!!!! Happy beautiful weekend!  Feeling EXTRA blessed lately- hope you are too!  So, as you might have surmised, we LOVE our new house.  I wrote about our bedroom here and now I wanted to share a bit about another of my favorite rooms: Gabriels’ Nursery!

The rug is from wayfair and I got a great deal on it!  The item to the left of the dresser is actually an airplane sculpture that my sister bought and we LOVE it.  I used it as a stand to hold the sound machine and it looks neat!

The whale plaque is Target ($22.99) and I LOVE it.  The texture is really neat but difficult to describe.  It almost seems like a nice painted wood.  The changing table pad is also Target ($12.99).  It was super inexpensive so I was able to grab a backup 🙂  The laundry basket is from Homegoods as is the whale bin below that holds books and the star/seahorse prints.

Awesome rocking chair and ottoman from the boys’ Grandma, G painting from a family friend.

So, one cool thing (I think) that I did was the above book storage.  I bought the below bathroom organizer from Ikea ($19.99) and nailed it into the wall.  I use it for the little board books for babies as it has the perfect sized compartments and can be reached with tiny hands.

The blanket on the chair is also from Ikea and I LOVE the sweet ruching and light material.  The white is tricky so we are careful not to stain 🙂  We also use these bins (in white) for a bunch of things (diaper supplies on changing table, shoes, etc).

Cutest part of the nursery though?  This little booger for sure!  🙂

OK, so that is a quick little nursery tour- hope you enjoyed and maybe got some ideas yourself!  Hope you have a fabulous rest of the weekend!

What I have learned from Blue Apron

Hello hello!  Long time no talk, but I promise I am back with some awesome posts, including today’s- what I learned from Blue Apron.  You see, a while back when I signed up for this awesome service, I was relatively rookie-ish in the kitchen.  AKA I didn’t know much.  I could basically make tacos, grilled cheese, scrambled eggs and the like. You know, basically what kids eat. Because isn’t that what is most important!?  For sure, but then I saw that I could do MORE!  And especially upon moving into this new house with a fabulous kitchen, I am ready to take my cooking to a new level.

And, I mean, let’s be honest, I don’t hate cooking for this handsome guy.  And somehow he LOVES my cooking!  Score!

So, without further ado, here are some quick tips I’ve learned along the way from Blue Apron:

1.  How to make a good “slaw”                                                  
2. To salt and pepper all meat or fish, on both sides, after patting dry from washing (and to do so generously!)                                                       
3. To cook fish with skin down first                                         
4. The importance of preparing food so to make the “cooking” part easier!
5. How to “zest” a lemon without a lemon zester…oh and what to do with said zest!  See above pic, bottom right 🙂
6. Add a slab of butter to anything. Just kidding. Sort of.  Well, certainly add a bit when flipping your sautéing meat!                             
7. Everything tastes better when first drudged in flour.  It is relatively few extra calories but makes a HUGE difference.  Even when I am cooking chicken to top a salad now, I like to drudge in flour first for some added crispness.
8. How to toast a bun in your pan; Ive typically only toasted in oven or toaster…so this makes things easier!                                                                 
9. How to make a fish or crab cake- seriously SO much easier than I had thought!
10. Finally, always ALWAYS, have cute sous chefs!

Montessori Method At Home: Chores

Helloooooo everyone!  I hope you are all enjoying the start of June!  I am VERY happy it is (finally) here!  April and May were a little crazier than I would have liked 🙂  Anyway, I have been wanting to write a post on how I integrate the Montessori Method into our home as it has been super successful for us.  I studied the Montessori method heavily both in undergrad and graduate school.  I am a Montessori graduate myself, which initially sparked my interest, BUT I am also a HUGE public school proponent (separate post on that for another day) so because I am not sending my littles to a Montessori school, I decided to integrate some of the facets of the Program into our home.  I think they will be useful for any little, so feel free to reach out if you have any questions, etc.!

OK, so to start with a basic understanding, we can turn to Wiki for some help 🙂  Montessori education is an educational approach developed by Italian physician and educator Maria Montessoribased on her extensive research with “phrenasthenic” or “special needs” children and characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child’s natural psychological, physical, and social development.

So, one of the important tenants of Montessori is autonomy in children fostered by chores.  For instance, children can help prepare their own snacks and food, etc.  Here are 10 ways that we incorporate this into our lives:

1.  Food/Meal prep–  I will have the littles help with preparation:  spreading, counting, measuring, stirring, crushing ingredients (a favorite)…
2. 
3. Unloading the dishwasher- When we moved, I purposefully put the kid’s meal supply drawer (decided on a drawer for ease of storage) at a level that they could reach and organized in a manner they could understand. It also is right near the dishwasher.  So, I will have the littles unload their dishes and put them away.  Don’t worry- our utensils are washed in a drawer in the dishwasher that they can’t reach.   
4. Closing the refrigerator door- Our fridge is tricky to shut properly and hence a little alarm sounds a lot. When a little hears it, they go and close the door.  They love doing it and say they love “being a helper.”                                
5. Taking shoes off once they come in the house- I have the littles take off then store their shoes in the shoe bin at the door.        
6. Taking their clothing off and putting in the hamper- That last part is important- they often forget said hamper 😉
7. Putting their diapers in the trash- my littles still sleep with diapers so when they get taken off, the little has to put it in the trash (obviously if it isn’t soiled).
8. Carrying– When we go to the grocery store, I will make a very light bag for the little(s) and have them carry it.  They love feeling like they are helping and it gives autonomy.  I will let him carry a bag with “his yogurt” etc.
9. Putting clothing in their drawers- Sometimes (when I have a lot of patience, lol)- I have the boys put their clothing in the right drawer.  Their drawers are super organized (type A), so it is good for their sorting skills.  For instance, I will give them a set of pjs and say “OK, put it in the PJ drawer- the one on the top.”
10. Cleaning up– I have them help clean up the messes they made before they move onto the next room.  It really helps to try to stick to this even though it is super hard!
11. Practice “please and thank you” (in this case when asking the littles to do something)– I really try to enforce the use of this for many reasons.  I think it is easy to forget these simple manners (I know I do!), so we try to do this at home to show by example.

 

How to make your bedroom into a hotel oasis

Guys.  I love sleeping. I love my bed.  And now…I LOVE my bedroom.  When we moved into the new house, one of my primary goals was to make our bedroom a serene oasis for us that resembled hotel living.  I like hotels.  Like a lot.  The simplicity of the decor, the cleanliness and the smells are extremely calming for me.  So, here are some tips for making your bedroom more of a hotel haven.

• Less is better.  Do NOT clutter the bedroom with stuff.  When you are in your bedroom, especially to sleep, the clearer your mind is, the better.  And in my experience, the more simple and less cluttered a room is, the more conducive it is to that.
• All white linens.  When I switched to ALL white linens upon moving to the new house, I noticed an immediate change in the appearance of the room as well as the feel.  There is NOTHING like crisp clean white linens.  This duvet cover and set is actually cheaper than the one I have so it would be a great choice if you so desire.  
• Pillows. The more the merrier.  Seriously, go buy yourself some of these pillows and thank me later 🙂  This set of two is less than $25  and you can NEVER have enough pillows.
• Neutral colors.  Beige, grey and white are our colors and while I sometimes can’t resist a pop of colors in other rooms, I like to keep it to these neutral colors to create a calming effect.
• Scent.  I have this candle burning almost constantly. And I LOVE it.  It gives the bedroom a spa-like smell and feel and it cannot be beat.  This candle is EVERYTHING.  They have a small size one here, but I burned through that one oh so quickly so I bought the large one here.
• Sound Machine- I used to think these were only for babies and toddlers, but when I started using one myself…holyyyyyyyy gooooood sleeeeeeeep.  My favorite is one that makes a strong wind noise like this one.  It has exponentially increased my sleep quality and we have one on each bedside table.  
• OMG coffee.  Seriously though, don’t talk to me until I have at least one sip.  🙂  Really though, with the size of our bedroom and the layout, we thought it would be really need to include a coffee station.  Because we merged two households we had an extra Keurig that will now reside in our bedroom.  Seriously, though, how hotel is THAT?!

OK, well I hope you enjoyed these tips!  A good night sleep is worth anything