Hey y'all!
We have all had those days where we just can't seem to catch a break. Between kids, chores, school, work and taking care of your spouse and home, it's easy to become overwhelmed and stressed out. And lately, that's all my life has been. From the time I get up, to the time I crawl into bed, I am constantly dealing with fighting, complaining and tears over who ate what and who drank out of who's cup. It wasn't until today when I realized that I had reached my max stress level and what I needed to do to revert back.

I was uncharacteristically myself today, I raised my voice  went straight into my Batman voice over everything, said somethings under my breath I would never dream of saying and I acted like a total brat. But the truth is, I was at that level of stress where all you can do is cry, scream or eat a 1/2 gallon of ice cream. I was that low.

When my husband arrives home, he always helps me unwind. He takes on a lot of things that I didn't get to that day, he corrects the kids and most of the time, he is starting dinner. He truly is my rock and knight in shinning armor. But today was different, I allowed my stress to over shadow all the love. When he arrived, I started off complaining about feeling neglected when I wanted his time and how he always gives me too much attention at the wrong time (such a brat I know). I had allowed myself to be so negative and so stressed that I pushed my husband and kids away. And that is something that is NOT OK!!!

Once I felt like the world had it's back toward me and I ran into another room to sob my eyes out... it hit me! The kids are fed and full, the husband is taken care of and enjoying his time of making music and watching a game, why not use that as an opportunity of "neglect" to de- stress and relax. For once, the kids were getting along flawlessly, and my husband wasn't needing something.  So I headed to my room and shut the rest of the world out. I put on my new favorite show and started brainstorming...




HOW CAN WE DEAL WITH MOM STRESS...

1. Step back and breathe- When you feel yourself becoming overwhelmed the best thing you can do is step back, relax and take a deep breath. I know it's harder than it seems but once you are able to acknowledge that you are starting to feel overwhelmed or stressed, you avoid that tipping point and the huge blow up. The last thing you want to do is go Batman over everything.

2. Pause- Whether you are doing your chores, helping with school work or whatever else you are doing that is not easing the stress, take a pause. It can wait. You need to be the best you before you can be the best mom or wife.

3. Watch something funny- Watching something funny is one of the best ways to escape the stress. I can't count how many times I had forgotten the stress of the day just by putting on a show or movie that is funny or even a favorite of mine. It also allows you to 1, breathe and 2, pause.

4. Practice self care- Taking a bubble bath, go for a walk, listen to music, hit the gym, read a book.. anything that gives the time you need to be alone and unwind is self care. Taking one day a week to really practice self care really helps with the stress and overwhelming life we have.

5. Ask for help- There is nothing wrong with asking for help. We all need help at some point and sometimes that will determine your breaking point. Having a friend or family member watch the kids for 2 or 3 hours so you can go on a date with your spouse or even yourself is a great simple way you could ask for help.

With social media, mom bloggers/ vloggers and the unrealistic reality t.v., we can start to feel inadequate with our lives. We start to feel like we are lacking in the parenting  department, our kids are not as cool as theirs and our lives are not as perfect as theirs. So we get frustrated and  we allow ourselves to try and be perfect which is only adding to our daily stress. The truth is, no matter how many times you hear it.. "no one is perfect"... you have to make yourself believe it.

In case you haven't heard it lately, YOU ARE DOING GREAT! YOU GOT THIS AND YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH!

How do you deal with mom stress? Let me know in the comments below!

Hey y'all! How is your week going?
I feel like such a tart lol. Back in May my debit card had fraud on it and I had to cancel out my card. I was so frustrated and over whelmed with the funds that were taken out without my consent and the fact that I had no idea where they came from!

In the middle of all that craziness, I for got that I had a lot of accounts that would automatically come off that number. One of the items I forgot about was my Glam Bag! needless to say I was very perplexed when I didn't receive it in June. After about the 3rd week into June, I had realized I forgot to switch my debit card listed! When I finally changed it, it was too late.

But, that didn't get me down and I finally received my July bag! I know it is August and I am super late on posting this. July was a crazy month in itself.

Sooo here it is! My July Ipsy Glam Bag!


The first item up is EAU Thermale Avene. It is a moisturizing toner that smells absolutely amazing. Imagine a clean, light sun screen smell and this is it! As soon as I opened the bottle, I was transported to the beach. I can't really tell how well it works since I have only used it a few times but I know I would use it simply for the smell lol.


Next up we have the Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner. Let me tell you.... I promise my inner Adele came out when I put this on! It is so precise and clean. Also it is smudge proof as well, perfect when I am in a rush.

Here is M Princess pressed eye shadow in biscuit. The color is very much my style. Light, shimmery and has a frosted tone to it. Perfect for the inner eye. While the color is beautiful, I do feel like it takes several layers to really have a decent amount on the eye.

This is definitely my second fave out of this bag! This is NudeStix lip pencil in Rose. I usually wear a color similar to this shade in lipstick, lip liner, lip gloss... you name it! I am totally obsessed with this color. The pencil is super smooth and the color is long lasting.

Finally we have Hanalei Lip Treatment in Rose. While this rose color is much brighter than the NudeStix, it makes my lips feel really smooth and moisturized. The color is not really my favorite ( think pink putty) it does smell good, feel good and my daughter loves it.

Overall this bag was about a 50/50 for me. The products weren't terrible but the ones I loved... I LOVED! Which one would you like to try? Let me know in the comments below!

Hey y'all! Hows it going?
This summer has been so eventful that I have fallen behind on pretty much everything lol. I just want to hit a time reset button and start the past few weeks over lol.




Anyway, the end of July was one of our coolest and funnest weeks! The older girls had the opportunity to attend Apple Camp at our local Apple store in Kansas City, MO. There they learned how to use different programs to practice coding and eventually, they were able to code their own Sphero robot! Not only did the girls learn neat tricks and how to code the robot, they also received a cute camp shirt, certificate and Apple bracelet. But honestly the best part about this camp was the fact that it was free lol.




The girls learned a lot from the knowledgeable and helpful staff. They offered help every step of the way while encouraging them to try new things. For their final project, the girls had to code their robot and have it tell a story. They decided to make their Sphero go on a trip around the world. Sparky (their sphero) started off in Phoenix and flew across the ocean to Thailand. Then he made is way to Italy. Due to some last minute changes, the girls had to pretty much re- code everything they worked on the day before so they missed a few things they had originally done. Over all they still did a fabulous job!

Here are a few pics from their week at Apple Camp and their final project video!
















 Another awesome thing about Apple is that they have daily (in most regions) kids hours, teacher talks and more! You can spend up to an hour and a half learning different tools, tricks and ways to use Apple products. Head over to https://www.apple.com/today/ to check your area for times and classes!

Have you ever been to Apple Camp or kids hour? Let me know in the comments below!

Hello there lovely people!

First off, let me apologize! I have been so wrapped up in one aspect of my life that I have totally neglected certain other topics! My blog is a reflection of myself and when I started (this one), there were certain things that I talked about which I have since stopped talking about! And for that, my dear readers I am sorry!

So, with that being said, I would love to share with you all our home school curriculum and how we go about keeping our kids on pace and even ahead in some cases!
As you may know our second oldest has some learning set backs, you can read al about our struggle and journey in this post I titled The Brain Game. The truth is Thailand was expected to be behind until she reached early elementary years, but we never thought it would be this hard and take this long to catch up. Seeing your child struggle to keep up with kids their own age is really tough! And while they should learn to use that setback as an opportunity to push themselves even harder, it's hard to sit on the sideline and pray that they get it.

Ever since we started home schooling, I have notice a huge difference in her fight to learn. Thailand wants to read and write more, she applies herself more in math and actually enjoys the programs we use. While she is at different levels for each subject, the curriculum we have been using keeps her on pace and will get her to where she needs to be.

Baltimore has really developed as well. He has always been a little advanced, but he is now reading independently, adding and he even has mastered his 1st grade sight words already. I know that he is thriving and is definitely on pace to be ahead!

Italy loves to do her "work", she loves putting her books and binder in her backpack and heading to the library. Often, to avoid the home school slump at home, we head to our media room at our loft or we go to the library. They have great space, plenty of computers, it's out of the house and for me.. IT'S QUIET! lol I really love the peace and stillness at the library!

So, enough blabbing about my kids lol, here is what we use for our curriculum!





1. First we start over at what has truly been a blessing, Easy Peasy All In One Home School. This is a completely FREE curriculum ( can purchase some items) and it has lifted a huge weight off of my shoulders! We started our journey with Moby Max, which is great, I just needed a more formal schedule to help me keep on track and make sure that they are learning the correct things. Easy Peasy is fully designed out for all grades (k-hs). I am able to take it day by day, lesson by lesson and know that they are doing appropriate lessons. Plus, she has also included Bible studies which helps me talk about the Bible with my kiddos. It breaks it down in short versus where they can understand.



2. AdaptedMind- We recently just added this program to our curriculum for math and reading. While Easy Peasy has worksheets, games and videos, we wanted something a little more to add to it. This program is fairly cheap, I believe $10 a month and it gives you updates constantly about their progress. What they missed, how many they completed and what level they are on. There is also a "tutor" that breaks down the problems when they continue to answer it incorrectly. This program has definitely helped take a lot of the frustration out of our math and reading work.



3. ABCmouse- This is still one of our kids favorites. WE mostly use it for Italy now since this is her second year of Pre-K. She has learned so much from it! She can write her name, count past 20 and even knows how to make new colors when mixing them. Plus it is a fun program to use! I believe for us, it costs around $12 or $13 a month. We added a parent tracker option which took it up from $7.95. We took Thailand off of it because we felt it didn't really push her hard enough.



4.Times Tales- This program was actually gifted to me and my family for a review and this is my honest opinion.Now Thailand has always struggled with numbers and even something simple as addition has played tricks on her mind and forced her to shut down. Times Tales is perfect for her! The dvd has animated problems that allow her to understand what is going on while having orthographic processing. Much like Word World" when Thai sees the letters or numbers put together in a picture, she is able to retain it much better. Also we received the Zone Cleaning set as well. That has made cleaning so much easier for all the kiddos. While we don't use the basket system for their room, they are able to still follow each step to make sure their room is organized and clean. Now just to get them to do it everyday lol. I really enjoy using Times Tales and so does Thai.

Our Library

5. Extra Stuff- We do a lot of extra stuff throughout the week to add to our school time. (1)On Tuesdays, the two older girls head to a new group at the library called Graphic Novel Book Club. It is for ages 7-15 and they talk about GN they have read, check out new ones and spend the time creating their own comics and imitating drawing styles from GN authors. (2)Every third Friday, we head back to the library for home school group. The group focuses on STEAM projects using Legos and other items to create all types of stuff. (3)Kaleidoscope is our favorite because it is a free art session. They open their doors all day for 45 minute sessions where kids can use recycled materials, melted crayons, paint, stickers and everything in between to create their own masterpiece. We also attend random "home school days" at our local attractions as well, water parks, museums, science centers, movies and more.

All of these programs have been wonderful not only for the kids, but for me as well. I feel a lot more confident as a homeschooling mom and a lot of doubt has lifted. Sure I still have my days where I feel like what I am doing is not good enough and where I feel like I am failing them. But thanks to my amazing husband that reassures me I am doing great, my kids showing great growth and these amazing resources, I know they will keep thriving!

What do you use for your curriculum? Have you used any of these before? Let me know in the comments below!

Also, if you are interest in learning more about Times Tales and what all they offer, click HERE!