parenting Archives - Page 5 of 18

Life Update | Summer Recap

By sunshineandholly on September 4, 2019

Remember when I used to blog consistently? 😂 I didn’t mean to take the summer off from blogging, but I won’t lie and say I was upset about the break. It was some much-needed time off! I was already feeling uninspired and was in a creative rut near the end of the school year. And since our summer was so busy, I’m not going to let myself feel guilty about taking a break!

We actually had a really nice summer. The kids played well together, we spent a ton of time at the pool, I was able to prioritize working out and self-care, and I managed to NOT get sick on our beach vacation. (I tend to get sick every time we travel. More on that later…)

Here are some things we did this summer:

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How to Earn Money for Your School All Summer Long with the New Digital Box Top Program and Double Box Tops at Walmart

By sunshineandholly on July 15, 2019

This post was sponsored by General Mills, but all thoughts and opinions are my own!

It’s summer and you know what that means – my kids will be asking for a snack approximately 500 times a day! We play hard all summer long and my kids can really work up an appetite. Just yesterday, for example, Maddie rode the waves at the beach on a boogie board for almost 2 hours! Girlfriend loves the sand and the surf! And something about that summer sun makes my kids so hungry.

Luckily, I stocked up on lots of great General Mills products from Walmart so I’ll be ready. I like to keep tons of snacks on hand for all of our summer adventures. Granola bars in the pool bag, fruit snacks for the beach, and individually portioned bags of cereal are all quick and easy, and mess-free!

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What is a Fish Extender | Disney Cruise Recap

By sunshineandholly on June 14, 2019

As you’d expect from a brand like Disney, a Disney Cruise has about 6.4 billion fun things to do onboard. Shows, parties, waterslides, shopping, pools, mini-golf, tea parties, splash pads, character greetings, you name it, they’ve got it! There’s also an extra gift exchange program called the fish extender program that’s not sponsored by the Disney Cruise Line, but organized and run by passengers. We LOVED participating in the program. My kids had a blast helping pass out gifts and were so excited each time they received a gift.

What is a Fish Extender?

A fish extender (FE) is a pocket organizer that you hang on the fish hook outside of your cabin on a Disney Cruise. The hook was originally used by the cast members onboard to hang information about your cruise. Kind of like a cruise mailbox. But these days, most of the cruise information is delivered via the Disney Cruise Line app.

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family | food | motherhood | parenting | recipe

Super Simple Kid-Friendly Vegetable Side Dishes for Weeknight Dinners

By sunshineandholly on April 16, 2019

When I was a newlywed, I LOVED to meal plan. There was nothing better than going through cookbooks and magazines and searching online for yummy recipes to try. (Thank goodness Pinterest wasn’t around back then – I would have spent way too many hours pinning a million recipes!)

But the novelty of meal planning wore off, especially after having kids. I hate spending all that time picking out recipes, shopping, and cooking, only to have my kids turn up their noses at what I’ve prepared. #momlife

These days I do my best to meal plan, but there are many nights where I still stand in front of the open fridge, looking for inspiration when I haven’t prepared ahead of time. But typically I have a meat and vegetable side dish planned for each night. I like to keep the side dish simple and easy – the less chopping, cooking, or dirtying up pans, the better!

Here are a few super simple kid-friendly vegetable side dishes for weeknight dinners:

10 Reasons We Love Disney’s Bay Lake Tower

By sunshineandholly on April 11, 2019

When booking accommodations for Disney, there are lots of things to take into consideration. Price, location to the parks, and amenities for example, but there are other things that can make an otherwise average hotel stay at Disney into an exceptional one. We’ve stayed at several different hotels over the years, both on-property and off, and our favorite so far has been the Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary Resort.

Bay Lake Tower is part of the Disney Vacation Club, a timeshare program run by Disney. However, there are ways to book Bay Lake Tower rooms without being part of the club. We booked a trip through DVCrentals.com and had a great experience! (And saved $$$ too! Find out more about DVC Rentals below.)

Bay Lake Tower offers studios, 1-bedroom, and 2-bedroom villas. There’s a pool with a water slide, access to the monorail, and (by far the best part in my opinion) the resort is WALKING DISTANCE to the Magic Kingdom. You heard that right! No need to wait in the long monorail or bus lines. It’s wonderful to be able to walk back to your hotel after a long day at the parks, and not waiting in the long lines for transportation.