What Will Toy Shopping Be Like In The Next 50 Years?

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Toy Shopping

I love holiday shopping! I am taking you along with us while we look at toys inside Farm and Fleet.

On a side note – I can’t even begin to imagine what toy shopping would be like in 50 years. Can you? I know that online shopping is extremely prevalent in today’s society and even though it is convenient and helpful in certain situations – I truly believe it is important to keep traditions alive. Going out with your family and making that extra effort to pick out something you know they will thoroughly enjoy is something that will never be replaced.

As far as getting the best deals out there for those “extra” items, I totally agree with bargain-hunting and even shopping on Amazon can be one of my favorite ways to save (amazon prime is amazing) and using the Target app to keep up on the Christmas toys and the promotions they have, is unbeatable. You can even set up reminders and alerts on the Target app which is one of my favorite things to do during the holidays.

Toy Land

We are getting ideas for Christmas toys for the kids, too. There are so many toys to choose from at Farm & Fleet Toyland that I will for sure be going back there for the kids’ gifts.

My personal favorites are the Crayola packets with color pages and crayons / markers included in the bag already. I am also interested in trying out the “color and erase mat” because it looks like it would be convenient with how much my kids like to color instead of wasting paper.

We are big fans of the mess free Crayola line because, um, no mess! Haha.

Our kids also love Lego kits, Vampirina, Disney princess dress up items like crowns, dresses, and plastic heels. My son also dresses up with them and he absolutely loves it.

One thing I want to do this year is practice using beads with my daughter, Emma. She is 5 years old and she is getting to be that age where she appreciates more time consuming projects.

My son, Liam, is all about the Hot Wheels, trucks, and ride on toys that you see here in the store (on my Vlog). He is a big fan of stuffed animals and Dragons. So we may have to get him a stuffed animal Dragon to kill two birds with one stone, if you will ;-).

Stocking Stuffers

Another fabulous non-failing item are blind bags! They are a great stocking stuffer that we always get the kids.

LOL surprise dolls and Barbies are also a must have for both of the kids. Let me know in the comments what you plan on getting your kids for Christmas and your favorite place to shop!

Click here to see our shopping trip! We were surprised at HOW MUCH we actually found there. Enjoy!!

Trick or Treating Video

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Halloween was Great

Hey everyone! It’s definitely The 30 Something Life around here with the Holidays. So much preparation and behind the scenes things to help make the best memories possible for the kids! It is really exciting and exhausting at the same time.

Watch our Trick or Treating Movie

I am practicing with a new video editor so this was more so a test run. It’s a super short, sweet and simple video but it perfectly captures Halloween from a parent’s view in my opinion.

What did your kids dress up as? Did you wear a costume? I ended up going as a football player – black eyeshadow smudges under the eye with an old Devin Hester jersey I had. Haha Love that guy!

Click This Link to Watch Our Video

Let’s go Shopping! Hobby Lobby Shopping Trip Decorating Ideas

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Decor Galore

Hey everyone! What is better than shopoing from the comfort of your own home – haha!

Hobby Lobby

For my first “shop with me” video, I took you to Hobby Lobby. It’s a nice long video so you can be sure to get a lot of decorating inspiration and ideas! They have unbeatable sales right now and it was hard to decide on what I wanted to buy. Watch this video and subscribe to my channel for more videos! Let me know where I should go next. Happy Shopping!

Let’s go Shopping

Click on the link below for the video:

Let’s go to Hobby Lobby!

Weekend Family Routine

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What’s in my Planner

It is the weekend! I am so happy I could dance. No school trips, no swim lessons, no obligations.

Our weekend Saturday routine looks like this (this is what I have in my planner):

  • Me Time
  • Laundry
  • Cartoons + Breakfast
  • Play outside
  • Snacks
  • Craft with pumpkins
  • Chores
  • Lunch
  • Gym
  • Dinner
  • Take the kids to my parents’ house
  • Go to my nephews football game
  • Home

The weekend Sunday routine will be very similar, just a heavier focus on reading with the kids. I also clean my car every Sunday.

I plan on utilizing the frozen meals I have in my freezer for this weekend to avoid cooking labor intensive recipes. I like to do that during the week.

Cabin in the Woods

I will also be looking into kitchen appliances, sinks, cabinetry, hardware and countertops for our soon-to-be new cabin in the woods šŸ‘šŸ¼

As well as building additions and remodeling the entire place himself, my husband will be making custom cabinetry for the kitchen! I just need to send him photos of what I want them to look like. I will be posting before and after pictures galore.

I can’t wait to show you all the colors and materials I am planning on using! I say “I” because I am a self proclaimed designer – haha – and my husband has no say. (just kidding) We tend to go back and forth between modern and cabin style so we will be combining those. We are also eccentric and quirky. I love to have pops of unexpected color in small details.

I am in heaven thinking about the finished home already and it isn’t even ours. It feels so good and so wrong at the same time. Only time will tell.

I’m going to enjoy these last few minutes of quiet before the kids wake up. Have a great weekend!

Rachel Hollis’ #Last90Days Challenge

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Last 90 Days Challenge

I totally fell off the bandwagon…and it isn’t going to stop and wait for me. It just keeps truckin forward. I have to run, all gallopy awkwardness and all, to try my darn hardest and GET BACK ON!

On October 1st, 2018, I began the #last90days challenge put on by Rachel Hollis – author of Girl, Wash Your Face.

She calls the essential guidelines “5 to thrive”. The 5 things you need to do every single day.

  1. Wake up 1 hour earlier than you normally do.
  2. Drink half your weight in ounces of water.
  3. Write 10 things you are grateful for every day.
  4. Exercise for at least 30 minutes.
  5. Give up one food category you know you should not be eating.

I was doing great for the first week. And not to my surprise I am doing horrible now. Well kind of. I have stuck to my guns with #5.

Motivation

My new day doesn’t start tomorrow. It starts today. Right now. In the middle of the day. Because motivation runs amuck in my brain making random appearances and goes MIA whenever in pleases. So here it is! And I am going forward!

Where my girls at?

#last90days peeps holla at yo 30 something mama! āœŠšŸ¼ Also, go checkout my Instagram because hearing me verbalize this stuff is so much more fun!

Sleepy Day

Art by KatieSuzanWeber Copyright 2018
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Itā€™s just one of those days.

There is absolutely nothing I can do to change it at this point…except give in to the sweet cuddlies while I can. Iā€™m not complaining one bit! If My job was to lay around all day and cuddle under blankets I would be happy. A blanket tester maybe? Haha itā€™s nice to daydream.

As much as I am enjoying the laziness at the moment – I am really looking forward to getting back into our normal daily routine. I am a creature of habit and love routine. If someone asked me to write their family a routine for each day I would probably burst with excitement. I sound crazy. I know.

One minute Iā€™m enveloped in a blanket and the next Iā€™m talking about routines.

ā€˜Thatā€™s just me šŸ™‚

Today I hope to:

  • Pick-up our master bedroom
  • Do some vacuuming around the entire house
  • Finish the last little bit of dishes
  • Wash towels
  • Have the kids help me pick-up the general messes
  • Go to the GYM!
  • Listen to my audiobook – Rachel Hollis is da bomb. #last90days
  • Cook dinner

If you havenā€™t started reading Girl, Wash Your Face By Rachel Hollis – pick up a copy at the library. If you can…I mean… it is literally on backorder everywhere. I bought the audiobook copy as a last resort and it actually turned out to be the best option in my opinion. I love hearing her voice and tone narrative the book SHE wrote. It is exactly how she intends for it to be read so that is why I now prefer audio books. That and I am able to pop in a pair of ear buds (just one ear when Iā€™m at home with the kiddos doing chores so I can hear when mayhem occurs – lol) put the phone in my pocket and just go about my chores while listening to an amazing book!

It is extremely empowering and enlightening. I cried about 3 times. Good tears. Relatable tears.

If youā€™ve read the book let me know what you thought of it.

I hope you have a great day.

Hello world!

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Hello world. You are reading my first blog post! I feel as if I am writing to an imaginary friend or something silly.

Today both of the kids had school which doesnā€™t happen but 2 days per week. Itā€™s only a couple of hours so I took advantage of the alone time and scooped up Mom for a leisurely shopping trip. It was the perfect visit on a perfect sunny day. It is nice and cool out – middle of October weather which I absolutely adore. Iā€™m a freak of nature and enjoy being chilly instead of baking in the sun.

I had to get a few more ingredients for our dinner tonight. I plan on making gluten-free vegetarian goulash- I found a recipe on Pinterest that sounds amazing. I go to Aldi for most of our ingredients because it is a nicely sized store that also has nice prices. I threw a few extra things in the cart that we totally didnā€™t need. Well, more than a few. And the bill was still around $50. Which is amazing if you consider my previous shopping records at Target.

I somehow manage to spend a minimum of $100 at Target. And then feel totally guilty about it afterwards. How basic am I? Seriously. Typical. [insert eye roll here]

If we love the recipe I will share it with you. Iā€™m not looking forward to cooking it. But Iā€™ll do it anyway. Iā€™m also baking pumpkin pie tonight. Straight out of the can. Into a pre made crust. Topped with whipped cream type product sprayed from a can. Wow. Iā€™m healthy.

Right now I am looking at my planner and realizing how much I actually need to get done today. I allotted myself time slots for each task otherwise nothing will ever get done because I am an expert at procrastinating. Today I am cleaning the kidsā€™ rooms. Which are already clean ish. I just need to vacuum and make their beds and dust.

We keep the kidsā€™ toys at a minimum so that they are able to easily help pick up toys when the time comes. We usually pick up every night. I have extra toys on back stock to switch out when they start getting bored with a certain toy. It keeps stuff interesting.

I love exploring new minimalist ideas for keeping/getting our home organized and simple. Cleaning and organizing makes my adrenaline rush and it makes me happy. I could do it for hours. I love having a cleaning and laundry schedule. That way I know what to expect every single day.

Is it horrible that I turned on YouTube for my kids to leave me alone for 20 minutes while I typed this? Mom – donā€™t judge me.

Iā€™m out. OXO!

Adios amigos!

P.s. How do we feel about posts with no pictures? Ugh. Boring right? I need to get on the ball.