Month: April 2020

Holiday Activities

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas, Pandemic Edition

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Hey Loves!

How goes it? Really, I mean, how are you actually coping? Have you cried? Cursed? Mourned? Released? I’ve absolutely done every one of those more than once so you’re welcome to join me. Here’s thing thing- we are still breathing, still living and still have the great opportunity to embrace this new normal. We also can still celebrate! Albeit, not we like planned to or not like we traditionally have but celebrate we will. We must! 

Mother’s Day is right around the corner and most of us have been logging some serious over-time and gotten some new job titles without any increase in salary,  if you know what I mean,  and some good gifts and/or retail therapy could go a long way to stretch our patience. Am I right? Need some ideas for gifts that will be used both during and post pandemic? I’ve got you!

First up, Loungewear! I mean, we are all home and our pajamas are getting extra miles. Truthfully, it’s a conscious effort to remember I actually own makeup (applying it is a different story). We can still be comfy and cute. These Aerie leggings are the most comfortable I’ve ever worn. I have to actively remember I’m actually wearing pants they are that comfortable. A blogger friend introduced me to those and these Lou & Grey Joggers from Loft aptly known as, “butter pants”. Why? Because they are as smooth as butter!!! My legs were in shock and sent silent praises of gratitude to my brain for the softness surrounding them. If joggers aren’t you’re style, I just ordered two pairs of these wide-leg pants and I’m excited! She also introduced me to these Target joggers that are on my wishlist. 

Next, let’s talk about air quality and aromatherapy. Again, we are all home more than are accustomed to and the earth is loving it. I mean, she is rejuvenating and closing holes in ozone layers. This is great. Let’s join her by investing in some plants, herbs and/or succulents. Plants are a great way to improve the air quality in your home. Support a local florist by ordering bouquets. You can also invest in some Young Living Oils! The premium starter kit got me hooked and the welcome home kit comes with a beautiful bamboo case! These oils offer a seed-to-seal promise so you won’t ever have to worry about nasty ingredients and you can reap the benefits of essentials oils. 

Finding yourself with more free time? Been wanting to maybe get into some books? Or you are actually ore busy and have less time to read and want to get into audiobooks?Audible gift cards to the rescue!  I’ve been listening to audiobooks for about two years now and they are amazing. Hearing prose as a story allows you to experience and really dive deep into the characters and plots. While you’re at, go ahead and add some cordless blue-tooth headphones to your list so you can always listen! (Personally on my list this year.)

Last but most certainly not least, let’s get some cute gear! I’ve been crushing so hard on these Made To Mother tees and sweatshirts. They are actually both on my wishlist right along with this “Support Your Local Mother” tee that will give the net proceeds to an emergency domestic violence shelter. 

A bonus gift that keeps on giving? Time alone. I know you may be craving an MNO right now or a luxuriating spa day but time to be still, breathe, meditate and relax are very necessary and for that, the Shine App is where it’s at. Tons of good meditations, sleep stories (that work great for this insomniac), and good things to fill up with. You can also request alone time as a “gift”. Time with no interruptions to pamper yourself-break our the manicure kit, change up the polish and style your hair. 

That’s all for now. Until next time,

Love you. Mean it. 

Holiday Activities

Homebound Egg Hunt Ideas

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Hey Loves!

Spring has sprung, a pandemic is raging and Easter 2020 will look a bit different for us all. I’m sure you were looking forward to cute outfits, fun times with friends and/or family and continued or new traditions. I get it. I lament with you. We must adjust and adjust we will, together.

With “Stay In Orders” and #SocialDistancing in full effect, group egg hunts are not going down on a church lawn near you, instead, you can make them happen right in your yard or your home. Here are a few different ways how!

I’ve done an egg hunt at my house every year sine James could walk. My sons have lots of sensory needs and have issues with crowds so it was initially to “practice” and then it became a tradition. Below are some we have done and some I certainly want to try.

Traditional Egg Hunt

Listen, times are hard. Emotions are raging and your house, well if it is anything like mines, is being cleaned one minute and destroyed the next. Buy eggs, fill with candy, hide all over your house. If the sugar rush is too much, let them run, six feet from other people of course. 

Scavenger Egg Hunt

We are going to try a Scavenger Egg Hunt this year for the kids to find their Easter Baskets (a video on Easter Basket ideas for you here). I found this free printable, (we also used her verse cards as a Lent Count down) and I knew it was perfect. We traditionally go to church on Saturdays but I wanted Easter morning to be filled with Resurrection Joy. Now, it still can be!

Glow-In-The-Dark Egg Hunt

This was one of my all-time favorites. Again, my kids have lots of sensory needs, so very low lighting soothes both of them. You will need to buy mini- glow sticks to fit in traditional size plastic eggs. We did this indoor as my boys are younger and already had to stay up a little later so it could be dark (Thank you, time change.) but this would be great outside in a contained space as well. If you’re concerned about a “one-time-use” of the glow sticks, don’t be. We then used them for sensory baths, pattern practice and did the glow in the dark egg hunt about 3 times.

Magnetic Egg Hunt

James loves science. He really should be the STEAM poster child. He was gifted this magnetic fishing set about 2 years ago and used them to “experiment” (his word, not mine), with everything in my house to see if it could be “magnetized”. He experimented with items that included but aren’t limited to: Everything in my lower kitchen cabinets, combs, brushes, hangers and bras. So, I decided to put to those blasted fishing poles to good use. I had these magnets on hand from making their chore charts (inspiration from that is linked here ) and put them in plastic eggs. Because I didn’t participate in James’ above research, I had to learn the hard way you must not put these close together because they attract like love bugs. I also put non-magnetic things in eggs for a little more science fun. This hunt did take a little longer because they had to “attract” the fishing pole to the egg and James had to use the fishing pole to put in it in his Easter Basket, not his hands, insert eye roll emoji right here, friends. No magnetic fishing poles around your place? No problem! Get two of those magnets linked above and glue them to a popsicle stick, Let em dry and BOOM!

Themed Egg Hunt 

Dinosaurs, princess, legos, Oh My! Fill the eggs with a theme of choice, and hide. (Note* you can put things they already have in the eggs.) The great thing about this is you can truly tailor it to your child(ren)’s interest and likes. One year, a friend and I split a package of 50 dinosaur eggs. They “hatched” baby dinosaurs that we still play with today. The sky is really the limit here. If you have multiple themes, separate them by giving each theme a specific color egg because your sanity matters!

Coupon Egg Hunt

I will be adding these to our Easter Baskets. COVID-19 really threw us a “fun activity out of the house” curveball. Things I actually planned and promised my kids we would do, we can’t. While they are understanding, it still hurts them a bit so I will be adding coupons for fun activities they can cash in as soon as this pandemic goes bye-bye. Some will be free, some will be things we were going to do anyway, some will be low-costs and one will be a big family fun day. The coupons also include some fun activities we can do in our house that are VERY rare (special dessert, late bedtime, etc.). You can also tie this in with the scavenger egg-hunt if you like.

Non-Candy Egg Hunt

This is my jam. If we just met, here’s the deal: I am very picky about what goes in and on our bodies and sadly, the candy joy of my childhood, my kids have not experienced. I have found some ahhhhhmazing candy choices that my kids get on birthdays and I may add to Easter baskets, but 24 eggs of candy is a hard pass. This is where you can also get creative. Erasers, stickers, bouncy balls, pretend jewelry mini figurines, you name it! Put those dollar spot finds in eggs, hide and let joy ensue. You can also make this a theme and put each kid’s items in a specific color egg, something I may try this year.

Did I miss anything? Tell me! I want in!

Also, happy Easter. (If you want more Easter Fun ideas, follow me on IG where I share all the deets.)

Love you. Mean it.