Homestead

Going Back to School was Surprisingly Painless this Year!

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Our big boys started back to school last week. Second grade and kindergarten! To be honest, I was anxious after a couple of bumpy years. I’ve shared that we do sort of a “modified” schooling situation, pairing long stretches of independent study with a more traditional elementary school setting. This summer took us on a new homeschool adventure, with an educational consultant and lots of fun curriculum, but we ultimately decided to continue with the part-time classroom situation for at least another year. I was nervous that the kids wouldn’t want to head back.

A Minions Oral Care Setup for your Movie-Loving Kid

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To say that we have some BIG Minions fans in our household would be an understatement. We’ve dressed up as the characters for Halloween, our third son is nicknamed “Minion”, and they’re all over our kids’ favorite jammies! So when our dentist said we needed to motivate our kids to brush their teeth more consistently, I knew exactly what approach to take. A Minions toothbrush, all the Minion-y gear I could find to go along with it, and the new augmented reality brushing experience from Colgate on the Blippar app!

Eliminating Phantom Risks at Home

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So, a few months back, Chelsea and I were perusing a blogging conference and ran in to some of the great people from Kidde. I was excited to speak with them and was stoked when they reached back out to us last month and asked if we could talk about Kidde carbon monoxide alarms. Despite the fact that we’ve been a Kidde family for…well…as long as I can remember, they still sent over a plug-in CO alarm. I’ll talk about that later, though.

How I Ditched Postpartum Acne

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My 4th baby gave me lots of joy, sleepless nights, and SERIOUS postpartum acne. It took me a lot of trial and error, but I finally ditched those blemishes for good. Here’s how.

Addressing Learning Differences at a Young Age

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I’ll never forget the day that my oldest son’s preschool called me in to talk about addressing his “learning differences.” As an involved parent and a former teacher, I was acutely aware from infancy that he processed things differently than his peers. I was just surprised to hear someone else acknowledge it. Worry wasn’t top of mind during that conversation, when they suggested we have him assessed by the county for an IEP and start making minor adjustments to his day at the learning center.

I was relieved to be getting help.

What to do when You Have Trouble Seeing Close Up

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I’m thirty-three years old. Three years ago, I had laser eye surgery to correct life-long nearsightedness. Before the surgery, I had no trouble seeing close up. Books, computers, cell phones and faces in conversation were easy. What caused me to squint were things like street signs, chalkboards and clocks across the room. The doc warned me that my vision may swing the other way after the surgery: based on my eyes and genetics, I’d likely have trouble seeing close up sooner than most people. Surgery could help me travel and navigate airports or roads, but soon I would probably find myself holding reading material and menus further away, struggling to make out words that were right in front of my face.

She was right. 

Mix-and-Match Clothes for Boys

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What to do when your ‘big boys’ and ‘little boys’ are the exact same size? There’s a four-year age gap between our oldest three kids, but they’re currently ALL wearing a size six! With a 6’4″ former NCAA football player for a dad, this isn’t shocking. Our kids tend to grow in awkward spurts. They go through husky phases and string bean phases and it all levels out in the end. It does make shopping a bit of a challenge, though. We need cool colors and graphics to make the big boys happy, and awesomely-rugged play gear to keep the little one going. How to solve this problem? Mix-and-match clothes for boys!

A Tour of our Laundry Area

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We still have that quirky outdoor laundry shed that I told you guys about a while ago, with no plans to bring the laundry machines back inside. We get emails asking us how we feel about this setup every few days, and the answer is that we love it! We’ve gone full steam ahead converting the old indoor laundry area into a master bathroom, and our whole family has easily adjusted to using the space opposite the washing machine as our new home stockpile. Since so many people have asked to see the other side of the room where the magical washing and drying stuff happens, we’re bringing you into the mix. It’s time to see how we store ALL the things. Come along and tour our laundry area!

Cat Ruining Couch? Here’s What to Do

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I mentioned in my 4th of July pet post that I adopted some more cats recently. Thanks to my friends who know we have space on the farm and like to send me notices of a nearby shelter closing down, knowing I have zero self-control! We brought in three ladies who we call Smoky, Penelope and Twinkle. Twinkle here was named in part because she likes to tinkle everywhere in the house. Particularly in our living room, she pees and poops and scratches and claws. It didn’t take long for me to realize that she would be the death of my go-to hangout spot in no time flat. This cat was ruining my couch.

How we Manage 4 Kids in 1 Room

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We fit all four of our kids in one room. True story. It’s not that we don’t have space to split them up – the kids have a dedicated playroom that could easily be converted to another bedroom. For our family, however, keeping one room dedicated to all the kids sleeping and one dedicated to all of their playing? Well, it’s worked perfectly. There have been just a few hiccups along the way, like when we transition each dude out of the crib. Not gonna lie, that part is always chaos.

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