Tips for Traveling with a Baby

I'm not going to pretend to be any sort of expert, and we've only been on 1 flight with our son so far, but I do have a few tips that I thought would be helpful to pass on to others. So here are my 5 tips for traveling with a baby.

#1. Wear them

Yes, you read that correctly. Wear your baby. If you have a wrap, sling, or carrier this is VERY helpful for getting through security and to your gate. I wore my Ergo 360 with him in front and forward facing. I did not have to remove him for security and we went through a separate gate (no detector) and they simply wiped my hands and checked that. It also gave me two free hands so I could be carrying my ID and boarding pass as well as a bag or two so my husband didn't have to be the Sherpa. At least for our son, he is much more content and lasts longer being carried in the carrier than just in my arms.
Here's the carrier and wrap I have:

 

#2. Borrow BIG baby items at your destination

What do I mean by this? I mean borrow a stroller, car seat, pack & play, high chair, even nursing pillow rather than taking your own. I realize this one is not always feasible due to the nature and location of your trip. But, I'd encourage you to be creative and try to find a way to make this work. Fortunately for us, we were visiting family that was expecting a third baby in another month so they had everything I mentioned above. She picked us up at the airport with the car seat and let us borrow that and the stroller when we drove to visit other friends. This was SUCH a blessing and saved us a lot of hassle checking and carrying those things on the plane. Even if the people you are visiting don't have them, they probably know someone who does. I have found that people are very willing to lend baby items that they are not currently using so don't be afraid to ask.

#3. New toys for travel

This was suggested to us by our pediatrician at the wellness appointment before our trip. I had not even though of this and it was a GREAT help so I highly recommend this tip! I searched and searched online for a fun, interactive, engaging, multi-task, yet quiet toy. I wanted it to be something that would hold his attention for a good length of time but not make noise and drive everyone in the plane bonkers. I searched high and low and found this great option:

The Oombee Cube was great! He enjoyed all the strings and shapes and colors. He pulled and chewed and shook. It made NO noise, didn't have any pieces we had to keep track of, and entertained him! 

This was not the only new toy we had for him. I wanted one toy for the travel there and one for the way back. I made the other toy which is a sensory tag blanket. My mom had all sorts of ribbons and cords and some fun fabric scraps that I was able to gather together and make into another quite, multi-task, engaging toy.

Here's a similar version you can buy however it appears that all the "tags" are the same material just different colors. This is one of the reasons I made mine because I wanted all different textures.

 #4. Don't give the toy to your baby

Wait...what??? I thought #3 was all about a toy for your baby...
Stay with me. I didn't say the baby doesn't get it, I just said don't give it to them.
Still confused?
Okay let me explain.
We have found that with our son, things we give him to play with (aka his toys) he is semi-interested in for a short time. BUT...things that are ours and we don't hand to him he is VERY interested in and wants so badly. So, while I was nursing him during take-off, my husband took the toy and put it in a spot where it was visible but not front-and-center. We paid no attention to it and let Easton totally discover it on his own. It worked! He was curious and eager, proud of himself for finding something new, and so interested.

 

#5. Don't plan too much and be flexible

Before kids, you could jam-pack every day of a trip with plans to see as many places and people as possible. I would caution you to attempt that with a young kid. You already know from everyday life at home that getting out of the house to go anywhere takes 3x longer. Well be prepared for your child to not sleep as well and be off schedule (especially if you change time zones). Your time will be much more enjoyable if you scale back and have a well-rested happy baby for the adventures you do go on.

What other tips do you have for traveling with a baby? I would love to hear them! And if you try any of mine, I'd love to know how it works out for you! Happy traveling!

Top 10 Books for a Boy's First Year

I don't know if all babies are this way...but our little guys LOVES books. From very early, just a couple weeks old, we started reading books to him. We would lay on the floor next to him and read with the book overhead so he could see the pictures. When we started a bedtime routine, my husband included reading a story to him and still does it for every nap time and bedtime to this day. 

   Now as an 11month old, Easton seeks out books on his own. He has a basket full of books on the floor in his room and another in the living room. A couple times each day you can find him by the basket, usually knocked over, pulling all the books out and then flipping through the pages of them. He will spend several minutes lost in his own little world just looking through the books. In the last month or so he has mastered flaps and is obsessed with playing peek-a-boo with his books. He knows where all the flaps are in books and will open and close them as we read each page. 

He loves books so much that he seeks out even adult books to explore. Once he realizes there are no pictures he loses interest pretty quickly but there have been some bent pages in the process. Something he as recently decided is a fun activity is to pull ALL of the books off the bottom shelf of our bookcase. It's hard to say "no" because we don't want him to think we are saying "no" to books. Definitely don't want to hinder that love.

 

When we are in the car, we always give him a book and he will be entertained the whole drive looking at the pictures, pointing, and "reading" or babbling about what he sees. He loves to sit on our laps and read books and is very interactive - pointing and turning pages and making sounds.

Easton probably has about 75 books and we have read them all multiple times. Some he likes more than others and some we like more than others. Below are our combined Top 10 favorite books from this first year. I'll share what I love about each one but the #1 thing these all have in common is that neither of us have gotten tired of any of these regardless of how many times we have read them. I know in another year or two he will become strongly attached to some book that may or may not be one that my husband and I particularly like. I hope we can continue to find awesome books like these that we all love and enjoy.

Books are something I will always buy for my kids. I love the learning, imagination and simple enjoyment that can come from them. Someday he may lose interest in books and reading but for now while I have a very eager and interested little bookworm, I am going to do everything I can to encourage and support that love. So here are some of our favorite books in no particular order. I hope you can find enjoyment in reading these with your little ones too.

Little Blue Truck

Oh this book is so adorable! I just put ALL the others from this series on his birthday wish list. When I find an author I like, I often will go after acquiring all their books and Alice Schertle has won me over with this one. Reasons I love this book: The writing is so clever and has a very good rhythm and rhyme so it's fun to read. It teaches animal sounds. The illustrations are cute - I am not in to SUPER cartoon-y looking animations. One of the biggest reasons I love this book though is because it teaches a good life-lesson. So often, kid's books are just words and fluff and low on meaningful content. Not so with this one! I can see how it will be a favorite for several years as he transitions from identifying animals and their sounds to learning about the lesson of kindness and helping others. In my opinion, this is a must-have for any kids' library.

We're Going on a Bear Hunt
This one is fun and reminds me of a camp style "song" in that it's a repetitive chant and even can be call and answer with your kid once they are older. I love to do little hand motions with Easton and make all the funny noises. It's a very fun one to get dramatic and really act everything out.

I'd Know You Anywhere, My Love

This one might be more for me than Easton, but he does love it too. I can tell because he sits through each page and points at the animals. This is another one that is so enjoyable to read aloud because of the song-like rhyme and cadence. I think that makes it fun for kids to listen to as well. The mom appears on each page and is wearing something red each time. Once when we read it, Easton was pointing at the red he saw on several pages. I hadn't even noticed it as a trend until he pointed it out! Basically if the book is cleverly written, sweet and has animals then we are both sold!



Open the Barn Door
Easton loves looking at this one by himself. He very quickly identified where all the flaps were and how to open them. When I read it to him, he even waits for the right time to open the flap and then shuts it before moving to the next page. It's a fun hide-and-seek and teaches animal sounds. Very simple but very entertaining and he often seeks this book out to "read" to himself.




Dear Zoo
Another flap book! This was the first flap book we showed him and so he didn't get it at first but now, like with the one above, he loves playing peek-a-boo with the animals. This book is short and sweet but teaches a little characteristic of each animal. Another great one for him to enjoy on his own.

Digger, Dozer, Dumper
This is the most recent book I have given him. I give him a new book on his monthly "birthdays" and so he got this when he was 11 months old. SUCH a creative book! Oh I can tell it will be a favorite for years to come. The author describes what each truck does very thoroughly in terms little kids can understand and a fun rhyme that is enjoyable to read aloud. There is a little dog that appears on each page and Easton loves to point at him and "woof". Highly recommend this one.






First 100 Words
First 100 Animals
Numbers Colors Shapes
These books are so fun! We use these as our car ride books for him. He stays quite content looking at the many pictures. When my husband reads them at home, if we also own that thing he will go and point to it side by side with the book. Lots of great vocabulary and fun pictures. My only complaint, the First 100 Animals repeats several of the animals across different pages. Example: the Owl is on the Birds and Forest pages.




Dinosaur Dance
This is such a cute silly book! I like to have fun with my voice and actions when reading this one. It teaches colors, dinosaur names, actions and onomatopoeia (sound words). This is a quick read so is great for before a nap as part of our routine.




My First Colors
I saw a friend's video on Facebook of her daughter (9 months older than my son) looking through this book and pointing at things she was asked to locate. I was so impressed by how many items she could identify and it seemed like a great I-Spy type book for learning lots of words. I immediately got on Amazon that same day and purchased it. Easton was very fascinated by this book initially and has since lost a bit of interest in it. I think perhaps since there are SO many random things on each page he doesn't focus like he would a scene in a story book. He has pointed to the basketball and bananas a couple times when I've asked. We will definitely continue to revisit this as he gets a little older. It does have some pretty odd items that would not be in a kid's vocabulary for a long time, such as egg timer haha, but I do love the organization by colors and there's questions to prompt searching and word association.

I'm Going to Give You a Bear Hug

Grandma bought this book for him and it stays at her house. It is SO cute! The little boy looks just like my son with his crazy hair. Again, fun rhyme and cleverly written. I love the little bear that goes with the boy on every page.

I hope this has inspired you and provided some good recommendations of books to buy for your child or as a gift for someone else's kid. And if you have other suggestions of excellent kids' books, I would love to know! Please share in the comments. Happy Reading!

A 5-Date 5-Year Anniversary Celebration

July 14th was our 5th anniversary. The first milestone one. With a 9 month old baby we weren't able to get away and celebrate big. But that's A-OK because we came up with a plan that was just as special as any weekend trip.

Our shirts are from Emerson Grace Boutique! #momlife #dadlife

We started in late June by discussing things that define marriage to us. We individually came up with words that finished the statement "Marriage is..."

Some of our answers were: teamwork, romantic, fun, adventure, family, growth, humor, and love.

We then got creative and thought of dates that could embody each of these words. Finally, we narrowed it down to 5 and scheduled them throughout the month for a fun and festive 5-year anniversary.

Date #1 -- Marriage is Adventure

 

For this date, we chose to take a drive around the lake near where we live in our '72 Chevy Blazer.

 

It was a beautiful day but also hot. Thankfully we have automatic AC with our convertible rig.
Such beautiful scenery all around the lake.

 

This date only cost us the gas to drive for a couple hours.

 

Date #2 -- Marriage is Romantic

On our actual anniversary, we went out to dinner. We both love sushi and the first time I ever had it was on our honeymoon in Cabo. Nate read reviews and found a great place in a nearby city. We ordered 5 different rolls and it was AH-Mazing! First...it was the most beautiful sushi I've ever had and oh man it was just so good. We would try one roll and go "oh this is our favorite." Then try another and say "mmm, no this one is!" 
 

 

Definitely a fun experience and romantic dinner out since it's not something we eat often. What's more romantic than raw seafood!?

 

Our most expensive of the 5 dates, but hey, it's a our 5 year anniversary so we get to splurge a little!

 

 He likes my hair straight and I like him clean-shaven so tonight was a win-win for us both! 

 

Date #3 -- Marriage is Humor

On the same night, we went to an improve comedy show after dinner. We have gone to The Blue Door several times over the past 5 years. It's an inexpensive ($7/ticket) entertaining date night that we enjoy a lot. Tonight was no exception and we also laugh so much.

 

 

Date #4 -- Marriage is Fun

 

 Just north of where we live is the largest theme park in the Pacific Northwest. I used to go here many times during the summers growing up and Nate had been several times in the past as well. Neither of us had been in probably 10 years though so there were several new rides to try out. We realized after ride number one that we are both a lot more sensitive to motion sickness than we used to be! We didn't get sick, just queasy enough to cross a few things off our list without even going on them. Our favorites were the 2 newer waterslides that are for 4-person rafts.

 

This date was free thanks to a friend who works there. He gets several day tickets each summer and never uses them all so offered a couple to us.
 

Date #5 -- Marriage is Family

 

Our final date included our son. We had professional family pictures taken for the first time. We haven't gotten them back yet so this is all I could post for a picture...my arranging several different outfit combos to decide which looked best. This is the one I went with by the way.

It was a lot of fun but I'm not very confident that we will get several frame-worthy pictures. For no fault of the photographer...she was awesome! No...it our kid. He is Mr. Serious around new people. He wasn't grouchy or whiny or shy. He just was stone faced and refused to smile in the slightest. So you have him on the one extreme and then Nate and I were over-smiling to try and get him to smile! So I'm sure the dichotomy is hilarious. But that's okay because that's what real life is like right now and we captured it and will love looking back someday saying, "Oh Easton you used to be so stoic in a new situation and dad and I were big goofballs trying to crack you." And yes, I will still pick one to frame and put somewhere in our house. It just may not be a 20x30 canvas on the mantle! haha
 

 

This date was also free. The photographer is the mom of one of Nate's former basketball players from the last 7 years. She offered to take family pictures for us once Easton came along and insisted that our money was no good with her because of all that Nate had done for her son. So sweet of her and I cannot wait to see them!

 

 

So that's a wrap on our 5-year anniversary celebration. I had a lot of fun with the plan we came up with and think it was a great way to enjoy multiple things that encompass our relationship. Here's to the next 5!!!

 

What fun anniversary dates have you had? What has been the most memorable? Any great recommendations of cheap or free dates?

An Anniversary and Five Favorites

Today is my 5 year wedding anniversary! Each year goes faster but it also seems more full and even better than the year before. A lot has happened in five years - international trips, buying a house, job changes, state championships, new car, a baby and of course a million ordinary but wonderful things.

 

As I write this, I'm sitting in my new bedroom chair which is opposite the gallery wall in our bedroom. I see 10 pictures from our wedding day and it brings back so many memories. We were chatting this morning about a few funny and random things from that day such as these five:
~how it was raining when we woke up in the morning but it didn't rain a drop and was HOT all day!
~the guys having to go buy socks because we had totally forgotten about socks!
~the groomsmen and bridesmaids swirling the water in the centerpiece jars to aerate the water so the goldfish wouldn't die.
~the "10" scorecards that the wedding party held up during "you may kiss the bride" and I didn't know about it until we got our wedding pictures back!
~how delicious our white chocolate berry cake was.

We're going to go out and celebrate later tonight with dinner and one of our favorite date nights: comedy improv at the Blue Door. I've been thinking of a "favorites" post a lot lately and had some free time today so it just felt right to share 5 of my current favorite things on a day I'm already celebrating the number 5. So here you go.

Number 1:

Our latest finished house project - our pipe bookshelves.

They took a lot of planning and work but we are so happy with the result and it's a great addition to our loft room. I love books and have waited a while to be able to display them in a beautiful and usable way. I hope to share some tips and tricks on how we built it later on.

 

 

Number 2:

The Ombré Pink Drink from Starbucks! It's just so refreshing and ahhhh. I have convinced three people they need to try it and they have all fallen in love. They've texted me a few days later saying they were hooked and had got it again a few times. See...I won't steer you wrong! Note: I customize my order by doubling the lime slices and light ice, it's still cold enough and more lime is always a good thing.

 

 

Number 3:

Boom Chicka Pop kettle corn! I grabbed this (and another bag) during a BOGO Free sale at Costco. It's my new go-to snack. Got just the perfect hint of salty and sweet to satisfy both cravings. Easton loves it too...smashing and hearing the crinkly sound of the bag when he explores the pantry that is. 

 

 

Number 4:

"Merci" fine fragrance mist from Bath & Body Works. The scent is rosé champagne. It smells just so perfect. I smelled it when they were previewing before it came out and I knew immediately I was going back to buy it. I won't mention that when I went in to buy THAT and THAT ALONE, I added like 5 other things to my bag. Oh that store is my weakness. If you are wanting a fun summery scent, I highly recommend checking this out.

 

 

Number 5:

The song, "God, Your Mama And Me" by Florida Georgia Line and the Backstreet Boys. Every time it comes on the radio I have to turn it up and jam along. I finally bought it on iTunes today and it's been on repeat while I sit here and write. SO good. If you haven't heard it (or even if you have) go take a listen right now.

 

 
Are any of these a favorite of yours too? What are some of your current faves that I should know about?
Happy weekend!!!

My (Reality) Dream Living Room

I don't know about you...but I LOVE the show Fixer Upper. It makes me laugh, it makes me smile, it inspires me, and is the perfect me-time TV show to snuggle up on my couch, eat ice cream, and enjoy some peaceful relaxation in my seasonally-decorated living room. 

After reading "The Magnolia Story", I love the show even more. It was so great to learn their story and how they've gotten to where they are now with the successful business and TV show. I feel like I know them and if I saw them walking down the street we could chat for the first time ever but feel like old friends. They are just so endearing to me and I love what they do and how they live. I also...like everyone else who watches the show...am so in love with the homes and designs they create. Talk about dream homes and dream rooms! I told my mom recently that the next time I move its going to be to Waco so I can get a Fixer Upper home.

All decorated for spring on my piano "mantel". I love my new felt ball garland. It makes me so happy to sit on my couch and see this happy and colorful little space.

But that's truly just a dream, that's not reality. I won't be moving to Texas and I won't be getting a Chip and Joanna Gaines home. So for me, to "dream" about a house - or even just a room - like that will only cause me to feel envious, mopey, and discontent with the home and rooms I am blessed to have. From what I've read and seen, I know Joanna would agree and not want me to live that way. She would say I need to find the charm and character in what I already have and then use some creativity, resourcefulness, and effort to enhance it even more.

Always fun to fill each nook with a cute little something. Shelf from Target

And so, while I could easily make a blog post about my DREAM living room that I will never have, I'm instead choosing to enjoy what I love about my living room the way it currently is, and find a few ways that I can realistically make it the best room it can truly be.

I used Olioboard to create my first room style board. It was a lot of fun and will be useful to show my husband my overall vision for the room so he can help me make it happen. Some items were in the Olioboard library already, some are from Amazon, and the clock and built-ins are from Pinterest but I could not find a source.
Sources: Benjamin Moore Paint Color / Ladder / Striped Throw / Window Mirror / Plant / Candle / Coffee Table / Sofa / Striped Rug / Compass Pillow / Home Sweet Home Pillow / Globe / Wire Basket / Rifle Paper Co. Books / Lamp

If my living room were a bit bigger, I would love to include a cozy armchair like this one from Arhaus. It looks so comfy and inviting. They have a great selection of chair and sectionals including this option which is very similar to the one shown above.

I already own a very similar couch, a globe, and the Rifle Paper Co. books. I plan to make a blanket ladder as well as a similar rustic coffee table.This year, we are planning to make "built-in" shelves just like the ones in my mood board. Cupboards below to hide toys, movies, games, etc. and then open shelves on the sides and above the TV for pretty decor, books, and pictures. I would love to use that paint color on one of the walls adjacent to where the shelves will be to help break up all of the "white". I have aspirations to use that same paint color in two other places in our home as well.

I love farmhouse, rustic style but can't accept only neutral colors. I need pops of color to brighten and liven things up. All shades of aqua-y blue-greens (from teal to mint) and coral are my current favorites!

My original inspiration to make the built-in shelving unit was from a crafter I follow on Instagram - Katie @justaddsunshineinc. She is a huge lover of color and her feed is so bright and cheerful! She redecorates the little shelves and posts about them regularly. I'm a big fan of all her globes, mason jars, and colorful books!

Another Instagram account that I follow is Kara @kailochic. She also has a great built-in with lots of cute decor and happy colors. For our family, we will need to build something more like this one with the TV spot and cupboards below. I love the different sizes of her shelves but not sure that I can convince my husband to do this as he is already apprehensive about such a big project. 

Another super fun option for "built-in" shelves is this beautiful, rustic, barn-door style unit from Arhaus. I love that you can hide the TV when not in use. Although I don't think I could bring myself to hide all my pretty decor while watching TV so I think I'll save the barn door concept for somewhere else in my home. But I've never seen this before in all my built-in shelving searching so definitely a unique and fun idea.

I am looking forward to taking on this big DIY project with my husband this year to turn my living room into a space I love even more. Adding some sweat-equity to the great inspiration we already have is sure to create a very happy view for me when I relax to watch future seasons of Fixer Upper and smile as other people receive their dream living rooms too.

2017 Goals

Hello again! After a couple years where blogging took a backseat, I'm finally back! I am now a stay-at-home mom with a three and half month old baby boy. Life is so different than when I last posted, but it is wonderful.

We are just a couple hours away from being done with the first month of 2017 already! How does time do that? That time-flying-by thing seems to have sped up ever since I've become a mom, which everyone warns it will. He's growing and changing so fast and I'm taking dozens of pictures and videos and writing down moments and memories as quick as I can.

I'm so excited for the next 11 months of 2017. I'm excited for all the development my little man will go through and all the fun family memories we will create. I always feel like a new year is a blank slate, with so much potential for creativity, serving, relationships, growth, and experiences. During the last couple days of December, I sat down to really think about how I wanted to spend my time this year, what I wanted to work on, to strive for. Here are the goals I came up with for 2017.


Monthly Goals: Here are the things I hope to accomplish each month:

• memorize a verse/small passage of Scripture
• read a book
• go on a baby-free date with my husband
• visit Easton's great-aunt and/or great-grandma
• call 2 different friends
• invite another couple/family over to our home
• write at least one blog post
• do one craft project
• deep clean one part of my house
• re-organize one part of my house
• make a new dinner recipe
• make a new dessert recipe
• take Easton's monthly milestone pictures
• weigh and measure Easton
• send an email to Easton for the future 

This month, I accomplished all of those goals! This blog post is just barely making it into January and was the final thing to check off. I'll write another post next week sharing what I did for some of those and what my plans are for them in February.

Weekly Goals:

• email with pictures to Easton's grandparents
• phone call to my brother
• me-time
• take Easton's weekly milestone picture
• exercise 3 times (yaaa....that hasn't been happening yet this year)

Then I also have tried to designate each day of the week with a different focus. I've tried cleaning schedules where you do one task each day, but that just doesn't work for me. I'm either in full-on cleaning mode or I'm not. So this new approach helps me to have one main focus for the day and know that if other things get accomplished too that's great, and if they don't it's okay too.


Mondays - Errand Day (grocery shopping, library, post office, etc. I try to save up errands for this day so I don't waste lots of time throughout the week going out to multiple stores)

Tuesdays - Sewing Day (go to my mom's house and sew for at least 2 hours--working on a quilt right now!)

Wednesdays - Cleaning Day (I alternate every other week with what I clean and add in portions of my deep cleaning and organizing projects for the month)

Thursdays - Project Life Day (devote at least 2 hours to working on my scrapbook albums. Unfortunately, I was only able to do this 2 of the 4 weeks this month)

Fridays - Creative Day (this was meant to be more open-ended to work on whatever I felt like whether it was my monthly craft, or more Project Life, planning, cooking, baking, etc. So far, this day has been filled with my part-time job and basketball. Hoping to be able to re-focus this day for more of a relaxed day)

Saturdays - Monthly Day (work on those monthly goals)

Sundays - Family Day (church, watching football, spending time chilling together, going out to dinner with my parents, getting ready for the next week by meal planning and figuring out our schedules.)


Daily Tasks
Each day I strive to:

• do my Bible reading and a devotion
• take a picture of something from my day
• take a picture of Easton
• take my vitamins
• read for 20 minutes
• drink 8 cups of water
• do my Bing rewards (if you're curious, ask me! It takes me 5 minutes each day to earn points and I can redeem $10 in Amazon gift cards in one month).

To keep organized with all this as well as meal plans, meetings, appointments, to-do lists, reminders, basketball, etc. I use an Erin Condren Life Planner.

This is my second year owning and using one and IT IS MY FAVORITE! No this, is not a sponsored post, but I love this planner a lot. So if you are searching for a great do-it-all planner, check this one out! I will do another post with more details about my planner and how I use it. Everyone has different styles of how they like to plan and it took me a couple months last year to figure out my system. But it helps me stay so organized, plus its super pretty and fun with all the stickers! Oh, and yes even therapeutic, but that may just be me. 😃


You may think that seems like a lot! Too much to try to accomplish for a new mom. And to be honest, some days it is. Some days, I get us fed and dressed and that's about it. And I'm learning to be OK with that. After this first month, I did pretty well on accomplishing it all. I wasn't able to get to Project Life a couple weeks and totally didn't read at all one week, but other than that I was able to catch up on things here and there. All the snuggles, books read, and play time that happened in place of it was so wonderful. Each day, week, and month will be different as he grows and his needs change. His nap times will fluctuate and his independence will progress. But I'm the kind of person who needs goals in place so that when I do have those free moments I know exactly what I want to do. If I didn't write all those things out in my planner each week, I would waste a lot more time watching TV or browsing social media.

So yes, maybe its' too much sometimes, and maybe it's a bit backwards to plan for all these things I may never realistically have time for, but it works for me and it helps me to stay creative. (And to my brother, if there's any chance in a blue moon that you are even reading this, yes I know you are rolling your eyes and laughing at my OCDness with being organized and goal-oriented.) But to anyone else who chose to stay with me for this long post about my desired plans for this year, I hope that maybe some of my goals sparked some ideas and inspired you to try and work towards something new. My method may not work for you, that's okay. Find what works for you and find ways to enjoy the little and big moments of 2017!

Whew, and now I'm off to bed. So goodnight to January and hello February!

Scavenger Hunt Housewarming Party

Last June, we moved into our new home. It's crazy to think it's already been over a year that we have lived here now. Little by little we are working on projects to make it more personalized and exactly how we want it.

After we moved in and got settled, I wanted to have a Housewarming Party so our friends could see our new place. As I was still new to the area, our circle of friend was pretty small and didn't know each other well. I didn't want just an awkward gathering of people all standing in one room staring at each other. So I turned to Pinterest for some fun ideas for a housewarming gathering.

Sadly, I found only a handful of ideas and none of them really interested me. So I came up with my own idea! We decided rather than lead each group of people through the house and show them every room, we would let them explore for themselves while on a fun mission. My husband and I created a scavenger hunt and it turned out really fun! It also cost us just a few dollars to put together.

Here's what you will need:

• paint chips, a different color for each couple/person x 2 (one for guest, one for gift)
• random, cheap White Elephant-type gifts that you already have around the house or go to the Dollar Store. We had a mug, candle, picture frame, SPAM, magic towel, photo coasters, mini package of coffee, and a few others I can't remember.
• wrapping paper

We had two of each color of paint chip. One of each pair was used as the postcard to invite our friends. In a sad moment of blogger failure, I forgot to take any pictures. It was a basic invitation written on the 3 tones of paint colors saying When, Where, and to bring their invitation with them as the bottom color on their paint chip was their clue for a game.

We wrapped each random item, cut the bottom hues of each second paint chip and taped it on the gifts as a tag. Then my husband had a lot of fun hiding the gifts throughout the entire house. They were all visible without having to open any cupboards, drawers, etc. When our guests arrived, we explained the game. They would give themselves a tour of our home while searching for a wrapped present with a paint chip tag matching the bottom paint chip of their invitation. They were all so excited and immediately started exploring.

Once all the gifts were found (we had to help with a few of them), the fun continued with a White Elephant gift exchange. All the wrapped gifts were placed on the table. Going around the room, each person got to choose to open a new gift or steal someone's gift. We went around the circle two times and allowed multiple steals. Everyone enjoyed it and I think it was a really fun way for friends to see our new home without the awkward "and here is the other bedroom" tour.

And of course, what is a party without some good food? Well just plain boring that's what! I made Butterfinger Cookies, Pink Lemonade Cupcakes and Berry Ka-bobs.

I found these adorable striped straws and couldn't resist adding them to the cupcakes to look like little cups of lemonade!

Fresh berries are always a hit in the summertime.

This party was the first time I got to use my water canister. I love it and definitely need to have more parties so it can come out of the closet more often!

The whole spread, complete with a chalkboard menu.

Have you ever thrown a housewarming party? What fun things did you do?
Or have you ever been to a fun housewarming party and what did they do?