Moving places can be such a hassle. Prepping and packing can really drain the life out of you. On the upside, you do get the chance to experience a nostalgic montage as you rummage through old stuff. I mean, don’t you just love it when you come across a random item that makes you reminisce about old times? It’s a pretty good feeling. Even when most times, your memory won’t serve you right. ...
Family Life
Express Your Love With These Lovely Valentine Gifts
Your relationship with your boyfriend is the unique thing that happens in your life. Isn’t it? Your boyfriend is the one who promises to stand by your side no matter how the dreadful your life is. He is the one who makes you happy when you feel sad, loves and cares for you a lot. ...
5 Ways to Remove the Stress of Planning a Wedding
If you are in the throes of planning your wedding and find yourself stressed out, don't worry! I have some great tips to share with you from finding the perfect bridal gown, to making sure your mom and mother in law have the best mother of the bride dresses to even planning the ceremony itself. These tips should help put you at ease and stop the craziness that causes many brides to stress out ...
How to Organize and Stock Your Pantry (plus a free Master Pantry List Printable for You!)
Today I am showing you how to organize and stock your pantry so that you can be ready to cook amazing meals for your family. I have worked hard over the years to build a stocked pantry that I am proud of. Keeping certain things on hand makes it easy for me to create a delicious dinner on the fly for my family. But -- sometimes, it can totally get out of hand and wind up totally disorganized ...
Money Saving Tips On Homeschooling
There are many ways to save money when you homeschool. One way is to join a support group where you will come into contact with many other homeschool families. Many of these families have on hand school books their children no longer use, and are more than happy to lend or give them away to help out other homeschooling families. ...
2018 Holiday Bucket List
This year, I am making myself a Holiday Bucket List for the month of December! I love celebrating the holidays. Watching all these Christmas movies here lately has put me in the mood to possibly do something totally different this season. Of course, I will do my normal things, but I thought I would create a bucket list of things to do this holiday season! ...
Embracing the Second Half of Your Life (25 Things to do Before I turn 50)
Trekked up Clingman's Done in the Smoky Mountains I received compensation from Aleve to write this post. All opinions are entirely my own. #NeverBackDown #Aleve #CollectiveBias #advertisement My husband and I are both in our mid-forties. I just turned 44 and my husband will be 47 in December. We made a pact to each other a few years ago that we were going to start doing more things together. ...
Create Beautiful Wall Art with Bumblejax
This post has been sponsored by Bumblejax. Products or compensation were received in exchange for sharing this post. All opinions are 100% my own. We love decorating our walls at home with photos we snap -- whether it's of our animals or if we are on vacation. Normally, when I choose to create a new wall art item, I go with canvas prints. However, I was recently introduced to acrylic prints -- ...
Put Photo Memories on Canvas with Canvas Discount
This is a sponsored post with Canvas Discount and BraVoMark. All opinions are mine. I take a lot of pictures any time we are on vacation. When we come home, I flip on my DSLR and find a number in the thousands staring back at me. I used to cringe when I would see that, but now I am thankful for all those photos I take. It makes it easy to choose beautiful photos to hang on my family photo wall ...
How to Create a Family Wall of Photos
This is a sponsored post with Canvas Factory and BraVoMark. All opinions are mine. Ever since my kids were little, I have loved taking photos of them as well as family photos. I’m sure you can agree that they really bring personality to a home by displaying them all throughout your house. Over the past few months, I have been taking my photos and creating the most beautiful family wall ...
Learning All About the New LG Kitchen and Laundry Appliances at Mom 2.0
This post has been sponsored by Best Buy. I am part of the Best Buy Blogging Network. All opinions listed are 100% my own. A few weeks ago I attended the Mom 2.0 conference. If you've never been -- you need to go. You get to meet amazing brands like Best Buy and LG Appliances (among others as well). You not only get to the meet the brands, but find out about all the latest and greatest ...
Being a Mom is the Best Gift in the World
23 years ago, my son made me a mother, and just a couple of years later, along came his sister. Never in a million years did I think that this job that God gifted me with would be the best career move I ever made. Here I am - years later, and with 2 grown kids, I can honestly say that I have never been more blessed or more fulfilled in life -- than that of being a mom. ...
Passing My Love of Aprons on to My Daughter (And How I Keep Them Looking Fresh and Clean)
This shop for Member’s Mark® Ultimate Clean Fresh Clean Detergent from Sam's Club has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MembersMarkDetergent #CollectiveBias For as long as I can remember, I have loved aprons. I am not sure why to be honest with you, but I can remember when I was a little girl, standing in the kitchen with my grandma ...
Crafting a DIY Sharpie Mug Brings Out the Coffee and Meaningful Conversations
This craft for a DIY Sharpie Mug is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of The J.M. Smucker Company. The opinions and text are all mine. I’m partnering with Folgers® at Walmart through the Share A Cup & A Story campaign, to celebrate new and old holiday traditions. During the holidays, one of my all time favorite things to do is to have make and take days. I do this with my 19 ...
Lessons Learned As I Embrace Writing
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BornToShred #ShredTheDay #CollectiveBias It has taken me so many months to get to the place that I call myself a writer, but I have finally owned that title. Oh yeah — I blog, but that’s different. Honestly though — it’s not. I have been writing for years, but just recently decided I ...
How to Embrace the Second Phase of Your Life
This shop has been compensated by Schwarzkopf. #CareWithKeratin #sponsored As I write this, I am beginning to look at myself with new eyes. No longer am I a homeschool mom filled with days of schoolbooks and lesson plans. No longer am I this stay at home mom devoted to her children's welfare. No -- I am in the second phase of my life -- the empty nest phase. For a long time I struggled with ...
Created to Create 2 – {+ Learning to Be Confident in Who God Made You To Be}
This post contains affiliate links to Dayspring -- one of my all time favorite sites for all things Bible Journaling -- like this new kit -- Created to Create 2 from Illustrated Faith. This year, I have truly found myself. I've been a Christian since September of 1999, but this year -- my confidence level has went from zero to 100+ and I think it all has to do with knowing who I am in Jesus ...
How I Enjoy Some Me Time in the Summer
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of PEOPLE®, Real Simple®, and Southern Living®. The opinions and text are all mine. Summer is always a very busy time for us. Not only am I food and travel blogger (who goes on TONS of trips during the summer months), but my husband and I are also youth leaders at our church. To say that my summer is full and bustling is ...
5 Picnic Essentials You Cannot Live Without
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions about the product and the best picnic essentials are mine alone. #JifSummerSnacking #CollectiveBias One thing I decided to do this year is spend more down time with my family. Life has been really hectic the last couple of years, and work and taking care of people have literally taken over my life. One ...
Spring Clean Your Kitchen in 3 Easy Steps
This post is sponsored by BabbleBoxx.com on behalf of Single Edition Media. Y'all know I have been on the WAR PATH cleaning up my kitchen. A couple of weeks ago, I started purging all the stuff I had collected, and 19 garbage bags later, I am finally starting to see the light. However, if I want to be honest, cleaning my kitchen is going to take more than just purging the cabinets -- so today I ...
How to Make Cinnamon Dough Ornaments
The holidays are always so much fun around our home. Kayla, now that she is older, finds all kinds of creative ideas to do together-- like making cinnamon dough ornaments. ...
Christmas at the Sikora House (and How I Decorated My Table)
Christmas has come and gone and I have to say that this year has been the best year yet. Why do you ask? Because this year, we were able to get the kids everything they asked for and a little more. ...
3 Ways to Spruce Up Your Table for the Holiday
A tradition that we have had every year is allowing our daughter to spruce up the holiday table. Since she was little, she has taken the time to make our Thanksgiving and Christmas tables special. From cut out name tags to complete settings, she really makes it look amazing. ...
5 Gifts Every Coffee Lover Needs This Christmas (Plus a Giveaway Just For You!)
Y'all know me and my love for coffee, so you should have expected that I would write a post about all the amazing gifts every coffee lover needs this Christmas. I have found SO many cool ones this year that I have added to MY list -- and if I know my family, all will be under the tree! ...
5 Amazing Kitchen Products That Will Make the Perfect Christmas Gift
This post has been sponsored by uncommon Goods. All opinions listed are 100% my own. If you visit my home and walk around my kitchen there is one thing you will notice about me -- I am all about the servingware and kitchen products. In fact, the cuter they are, the better. ...
5 Ways to Have a Stress Free Holiday Season
This post has been compensted by Poise through the Acorn Influence Platform. All opinions listed are 100% my own. My family and I love when November arrives. It is during this time that the holiday festivities begin. This year though, I am having a stress free holiday season. Last year, I overwhelmed myself with SO many things, but this year I am letting go and allowing a few things to happen ...
5 Quick Tips to Organize Your Laundry Room
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser Honeywell. All opinions are mine alone. #ConnectYourHome #CollectiveBias I don't know about you, but laundry room becomes the catch all for everything in the summer time. Between the kids, the husband, and our youth camp stuff, there are always piles everywhere. What's worse than that is when you go to straighten it up ...
How to Set a Romantic Tablescape for Valentine’s Day
Compensation was provided by Hershey via MomTrends. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions of Hershey or Momtrends. I love entertaining. It is one of my favorite things to do and honestly, I am pretty good at it. I am an all around people person, I cook great food, and I love to invite friends and family over for dinner. Of course, I ...
Entertaining Tips for Small Budgets and Small Homes
This post about entertaining tips was sponsored by Libbey as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. I received complimentary products to facilitate my review. I love entertaining and having parties, but several years ago, I was embarrassed by the size of my home and how it looked, so I refused to host any get togethers at my house. I live in a very small home, around 1000 ...
How to Create an Anniversary Scavenger Hunt
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SlimJimYourHoliday #CollectiveBias Today is my 22nd wedding anniversary. I still cannot believe that I have been married to Stephen for that many years. We dated for 3 years before we got married, so this year is special for us. Because of that, I wanted to do something a little different, ...