31 Days to Declutter Challenge Worksheet

The 31 Days to Declutter Challenge for 2021 starts in a few days!

While you don't have to come up with a plan for each day of the month ahead of time, it may help you to brainstorm some ideas now, so that it's easier to decide what to declutter each day.

Of course you can just grab a piece of lined paper & make a numbered list of your areas, but if you'd like the ease of this simple worksheet I created, here it is!

5 Benefits of Setting Goals & Writing them Down

We all know it's important to have goals, but have you thought about the benefits of setting goals by writing them down and breaking them down into smaller pieces?  Here are 5 good reasons why you should!

I find it helpful to get things simplified and organized before taking on a new project. (If you're interested, you can always go back & try the 31 Days to Declutter Challenge any time) 

Today's post focuses on 5 Benefits I've noticed from setting goals, planning them out, and organizing those plans with worksheets (I've included some free ones here on the blog) or into a daily/weekly/monthly planner.

Michael McLean Forgotten Carols DVD

We were so excited to get to see Michael McLean's Forgotten Carols DVD, new this year!

In this post I'll share our thoughts about the new theatrical version and where you can get your hands on a copy of the DVD, the music, and the ornaments.

What is The Forgotten Carols?

Rolling Stamp Wrapping Paper

When I saw these little foam shapes in a package at the store, I had the idea to use my rolling pin to create this rolling stamp wrapping paper. It turned out to be a really fun project with really cute results!
If you know us, you'll recognize that these are photos from an old project- we did this TEN years ago!

Here are the supplies needed and my tips for how to do this project:

Homemade Candy Cane Marshmallows

I first published this post about how to make candy cane marshmallows almost 4 years ago, but I wanted to share it this month because it's SUCH a delicious recipe! It makes some mess and takes some effort because making marshmallows is kind of an unusual thing for most of us, but you can totally do it and they are SO soft and delicious and your kids will never forget making these with you! :)  

So, if you've got the time to devote to the making & the clean-up, this just might be the perfect thing to put on your Christmastime bucket list!

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This post was sponsored by Wayfair

Whether they've been working hard outside shoveling the driveway, building a snow fort, making snow angels or just hiking home from the school bus stop, my kids love to come inside and warm up with a nice cup of hot chocolate. We decided to make it more fun during their winter holidays last week and make our own marshmallows! I have always loved adding candy cane to hot chocolate (there's just something so good about that hint of mint mixed in!),  so we tried coating our freshly made marshmallows in a mix of icing sugar and crushed candy cane and the result was fabulous!

I'm going to share the recipe with you because I made some alterations to the original marshmallow recipe I shared on the blog 4 years ago. That recipe was great but it made a TON of marshmallows. Today's recipe makes a smaller batch so it's just right if you're making them just for your own family.

Kids & Stocking Stuffers

I'm excited to announce part 2 of my 4th annual Holiday Gift Guide Giveaway! This year's gift guide is split into two posts. Today I'll be featuring gift ideas for kids & stockings.  You can visit the other half (for parents & families), too!

I'll share a bit about each gift idea and at the end of the post you'll have the chance to enter a giveaway for ALL the gift ideas in that day's post!   Between the 2 gift guide giveaways, I've partnered with each of the brands and will be giving away over $1800 CAD in prizes and I can't wait to see who the winners are!

2020 Holiday Gift Guide Giveaway for Parents & Families!

I'm excited to announce my 4th annual Holiday Gift Guide Giveaway! This year's gift guide is split into two posts.  Today I'll be featuring gift ideas for parents & families.  Soon I'll share gift ideas for kids & stocking stuffers.

I'll share a bit about each gift idea and at the end of the post you'll have the chance to enter a giveaway for ALL the gift ideas in that day's post!  Between the 2 gift guide giveaways, I've partnered with each of the brands and will be giving away over $1800 CAD in prizes and I can't wait to see who the winners are!

Dragonwatch: Champion of the Titan Games

The fourth book in Brandon Mull's Dragonwatch series (a stand-alone sequel series to Fablehaven) was recently released and Talia has just finished reading it. Stay tuned to the end of the post for a giveaway!

She's put together a summary of the book, her thoughts and rating of the book, and at the end of the post, you'll have a chance to win the book!

How to Find the Best Mattress for You! (Comparison Review: Endy, Douglas & Apollo Mattress from GoodMorning.com)

These days there are a lot of bed-in-a-box brands competing for our attention! What sets one apart from another and how can you possibly make a decision about which bed will be best for you?

I've had 5 different beds over the last four years (due to various unique circumstances) and learned a lot along the way about how to find the best mattress for you. I'm excited to share that with you and tell you how you can find the right mattress for yourself!

I have partnered with GoodMorning.com and was provided with a mattress and pillows in exchange for my thoughts. All opinions shared are my own. Affiliate links are provided should you decide to purchase GoodMorning.com products from my review. 

After too many uncomfortable nights on a mattress that wasn't a good fit for me but seemed to be fine for my husband, I finally logged onto GoodMorning.com and found The Mattress Matchmaker Quiz.

As I selected answers to questions about my current mattress, the position I sleep in, my budget, and more, I got excited about GoodMorning.com's focus on finding the right mattress for me personally- a contrast to the one-size-fits-all approach I had seen with many other mattress companies!

The First 2 Weeks of the 2020 Pandemic

Allow me to take you back into my journal for a few snippets from early March- specifically, the first 2 weeks of isolating at home, due to the pandemic of 2020!

Wednesday, March 11th

The World Health Organization declared the Coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.

Gooey Marshmallow Brownie Recipe

We're still staying in a lot and entertaining ourselves at home so it feels like the perfect time to re-share this marshmallow brownie recipe! Brownies have been a repeated treat for us over here ever since this pandemic hit! We've been making microwave mug brownies pretty often, Talia found a homemade brownies-from-scratch recipe with frosting that she has perfected, and recently we pulled out a brownie mix and added some mix-ins. I noticed this marshmallow brownie topping idea on my blog from exactly 3 years ago to the day, and thought it needed to come to the front of the blog again! ;)

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All you need are some marshmallows and chocolate chips to take your regular brownies from good to amazing! I'm impressed by how the marshmallow layer on top of these brownies stays soft even after the brownies are cool. We love adding some extra deliciousness to a simple brownie mix!

Marshmallow Brownie Recipe

First Time Beard Care - Urban Beard Review

I've got a thorough Urban Beard review for you of several different beard care products today! As a first time beard grower, Ken wanted to try a bunch of things to figure out what worked, what didn't, and even do a bit of a scientific experiment.

First Time Beard Grower

A few weeks ago I found myself typing "first time beard care" into a search engine. Our family had been in self isolation for several weeks because of the pandemic and Ken had a pretty healthy "isolation beard" growing. He was happy with its growth but finding it itchy and scratchy! The time had come to learn more about how experienced beard owners take care of their hair!

Urban Beard Products

Testing New Beard Products & Companies

Ken ordered a boar bristle brush and some beard balm online and when they arrived, we were both disappointed. The brush worked well but the balm didn't seem to do much for his beard except to make it smell terrible! It was so bad that he sent it back and I started doing research into beard brands. I came upon Urban Beard, a Canadian company based in Toronto that makes their own original, handcrafted products in-house.

We knew Ken wasn't the only dad growing his first time beard in isolation, so we got our hands on some Urban Beard products so Ken could try them and we could report back to you on his experience. This post has the details, his recommendations on products and product use, a video, and a giveaway where you could win some Urban Beard products for your own partner, as a belated Father's Day gift!

Board Games that Work Virtually

Whenever you want to visit with someone but can't get together in person, we suggest playing board games that work virtually! With a global pandemic, stay-at-home orders, social distancing, and limited social gatherings, we've been forced to find new ways to visit with friends and this is one of the best ways we've found to do it!

Today we're sharing a list of games that have worked well, and how we've tweaked them to work well over a video call.

We started by brainstorming some games we thought would work well across a video conferencing call, as long as both families had the game at home. Some of these would still work, even if only one household owns the game!

Wizard for Hire Trilogy (& Giveaway)

The third book in Obert Skye's Wizard for Hire series was recently published and Talia has just finished reading the trilogy.  She has a little teaser for you about each of the books, her thoughts on each one, and on the series overall. Then we have a giveaway- one of you will win the set!

She's put together a summary of each book, her thoughts on their pros & cons, and at the end of the post, you'll have a chance to win the triology!

2020 Powersheets Goal Planner - Review & Giveaway

To round out the recent focus on goal setting, today I want to share a product with you that really helps to put goal setting & achievement into action! I just started using the 2020 PowerSheets Goal Planner and I'm excited to share it with you!

Aside from how beautiful it is, and the quality of the book itself, I want to show you what makes this book incredibly useful and effective! Here's a flip-through of the book:

Tutorial: How to Make Sidewalk Chalk Paint

Here are some simple instructions for how to make sidewalk chalk paint at home with ingredients you already have! 

This seemed like a good time to re-post this blog post (originally published in 2016) as the weather is starting to get nicer & we're all spending a lot more time at home and as a family!

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If you're looking for fun things to do with your kids this summer, sidewalk chalk paint is extremely easy to make by yourself! It doesn't require any strange ingredients and it's simple for kids to help with. It can also create hours of creative, outdoor fun for you and your kids! Ready for a quick and simple tutorial that shows you how to make your own sidewalk chalk? Keep reading!

How to Make Sidewalk Chalk Paint

You're only going to need 3 ingredients and you probably already have them at home:

Willa and the Whale (& Giveaway)

It's time for another book review by Katrina! She recently read Willa and the Whale by Chad Morris and Shelly Brown and once again, we'll share the book with you from her perspective!

In this post, she'll share a brief summary of the story, what she liked about it, and where you can get the book if you (or your child) would like to read it, and a chance for one of you to win a copy!

SMART Goals for Kids & Families

With a focus on the importance of goal setting for kids, this post explains the SMART Goals acronym. There's also a free SMART Goals for Kids & Families printable worksheet at the end of the post that you can print out for your family members (adults too!) to work through each of your goals.

free printable simple goal setting worksheet pdf for Kids

Goal Setting for Kids

Choosing and writing down goals is important, but don't stop there! Once you've decided on the goals you want to focus on, you'll want to break each goal down into smaller steps or goals, so you have a clear idea of what is required of you, to get closer to achieving that final goal.

SMART Goals for Kids & Families

SMART Goals for Kids & Families

A great way to break your goals down is by using the SMART Goals acronym! 

SMART stands for:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable/Achievable
Realistic/Relevant
Time Bound

You can take a goal and ask yourself how to answer whether it is each of those things, and if not- how can you tweak it, to make it a "smarter" goal. Here are some ideas of how you can take your goal and transform it into a SMART goal:

Best Moon Palace Restaurants

Let's talk about the best Moon Palace Restaurants!

I recently posted about our return to Moon Palace Cancun, in Cancun, Mexico with our kids. In that post, I shared photos of our room and the pools but today I want to share one of our favourite things about the resort: the food! The resort is very large and includes more restaurants than you could attend during a week-long stay, but here are the ones we visited and loved! (Some of which, we remembered from our first visit to Mexico, 6 years ago!

Best Moon Palace Restaurants

The resort is all-inclusive, so all food (including room service) is included with the price you pay to visit. This is one of our favourite things because it eliminates so much stress from making the decision of what to eat each day, and how much to spend! It's especially great with kids, to be able to say yes to lots of things without worrying about an extra cost!

Potion Masters Trilogy (& Giveaway)

Last month I published a tween book review by Katrina and now it's time for Talia to get in on the book reviewing fun on the blog! She recently read the Potion Masters trilogy (including the newly released third book, The Seeking Serum), by Frank L. Cole and she did a school project on the books and has gathered all of her thoughts into this blog post to share with you!

She's put together a summary of each book, her thoughts on their pros & cons, and at the end of the post, you'll have a chance to win the triology!

Paper Hand Flowers

Please enjoy this tutorial: How to Make a Paper Lily Flower (easy 3D flowers out of paper)!

I'll tell you what you need to make paper hand flowers, how to make them, and some fun things to do with them when you're finished! 

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Prepare to celebrate Spring early! (you know we're all ready for it.. at least those of us who are experiencing cold weather ;)

To get started, all you need is some coloured paper, straws, and scissors! Then you can use these cute flowers for decoration, for fun, or a colourful surprise for friends, family, or neighbours!

The Wish and the Peacock (& Giveaway)

It's time for a book review by Katrina! She recently read The Wish and the Peacock by Wendy S. Swore and I thought the best way to share the book with you would be from her perspective!

In this post, she'll share a brief summary of the story, what she liked about it, and where you can get the book if you (or your child) would like to read it, and a chance for one of you to win a copy!

Disney's Animal Kingdom - Our Top 10

Animal Kingdom is one of 4 parks that make up Disney World in Florida. I'm sharing our top 10 things to do at Disney's Animal Kingdom Park in Florida, to help you plan your own trip someday!

Animal Kingdom is where you'll see real animals and celebrate life on this planet (and others!). We really enjoyed this park the first time we visited but it is even better now that you can pay a visit to Pandora!

We've put together our 10 favorite things about Animal Kingdom in this post. If you'd like to see our top 10 parts of the other Disney World parks, you can find links to those posts at the end of this one. If you have any questions about any of it, please feel free to ask me in the comments!

Our Family Trip to Moon Palace Cancun

We surprised our kids with an early Christmas this year and told them we'd be going to Mexico for a week in December, with some of their aunts, uncles, & cousins! We had a great trip and I have been looking forward to sharing photos with you here, and filling you in on the resort we visited. There have been quite a few questions about Moon Palace since I started sharing our trip in my Instagram stories!

Ken & I went to Mexico 6 years ago, for our 10th anniversary and we loved the resort we stayed at in Cancun. We dreamed of going back to Mexico someday with our kids, but weren't sure how we would make it happen. Then a year ago, Ken's sister & her husband went to Mexico for their anniversary and ended up becoming members of the Palace Vacation Club (which meant that they had a certain number of discounted weeks at Palace resorts) and they offered the discount to us and some other family members. We were so excited to be able to make this trip happen, and to do it with some of Ken's family and our kids' cousins! We also partnered with Palace Resorts who upgraded our room to a Family Suite so we could show you all of the special features available at the resort for families with kids, and I can't wait to show you!