Back to school...back to school...

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A week from this Friday, this girl is headed back to work. I have to say I'm not completely ready to give up my summer vacation yet. It just seems like summer goes by A LOT faster than it did when I was a kid.

We've had a great summer and we've surely accomplished a lot. Our daughter "graduated from" pre-school level swim lessons. She attended Vacation Bible School for the second year. We went to WV to visit my grandparents, did a lot of swimming, and she participated in our local library's summer reading program- she read 76 books! *proud English teacher mother moment* Around the house, we painted and started working on our nursery, we finally got a dining room table, and we finally got our closets organized. No wonder I am so tired!

Now, though, comes the hard part. It's time to get back on schedule. Time to get back in routine. After examining our usual school year routine, I found that we are not only rushed and strapped for time, but we do not get enough sleep. Here is what a typical day during this school year will look like for our family: (*Note: We have church on Wednesday evenings and gymnastics on Thursday evenings, so there is a little variation on those days).

Organized and Simplified: Traveling organized

My family has traveled a lot over the years, mostly to visit family, and not necessarily on vacations. I have a lot of out of state family members and going to see them over the years has taught me a lot. Vacation or not, a well-packed and organized suitcase will make your trip so much better. I'm not an expert by any means, but I'll happily share some tricks we have learned to make our travels easier.

One of the first things my husband and I have learned is to keep a stocked bathroom bag. We keep a bathroom and toiletry bag that has small bottles of soap, shampoo, conditioner, a hairbrush, lotion,  hairspray, toothbrushes for the three of us, razors and shave cream for both me and the hubs, a small sewing kit, a small first aid kid, a small manicure set, and some medicines. The only thing we have to add in to the bag the day we leave is my makeup and flat iron. A day or two before we're set to leave, we double check the bag and determine whether any of these items are running low and need replacing. The small chevron bag always contains all these items:

We also use a checklist to make sure our suitcase is packed. We frequently forget things, so after forgetting to pack pajamas two trips in a row, I decided a checklist was in order. I laminated that thing and popped it into my suitcase.

Our checklist might look a little different, as we have a preschooler and will soon have a new baby, but this is a Word document you can download and edit to your heart's content.

Click here to download my travel checklist!


What travel tricks do you use to stay organized?

Another Christmas giveaway

Boredom + insomnia= free printables for you!

Last week, while Emorie took a nap, I got bored and created a bunch of free printable Christmas decorations for you. 

Now, it is 1:40 A.M. and the rest of my household is asleep. I am wide awake, cannot sleep, and just finished making these Christmas tags. 

I also just finished a 2016 home binder/ weekly planner and a cute advent calendar, but I will talk more about those in a later post. 

Until then, feel free  to download my tags if you want. I only ask if you are a blogger and you link these, please give me credit. Thanks! And by the way, that Christmas house tour is so close I can feel it. Watch and wait, because it is coming soon!

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A little Christmas giveaway

Everyone knows I love graphic art. I am by no means a graphic designer, but I do know how to make some neat things using Microsoft Office, some downloaded fonts and a printer :)

I love creating graphic art for my home because it's cheap, it looks neat, and it makes me feel like I have some creative talent.

On Monday, I was bored while my sick child took a nap. I whipped up these super-cute Christmas printables for my own house, but decided to be generous and share. Please print and display to your heart's content. Although, I do ask if you link these on your blog that you please give me credit since they are my creation.