mom

Life as a mom of 4

  • mom

    Marietta Farmers Market outing

    Last Saturday, our family took a quick drive to the Marietta Farmers Market. After our fun experience in France visiting a village outdoor market, I wanted to capture a little of that feeling (nothing can compare to a French outdoor market in my opinion but you can get close!). Our little town’s market is tiny and I heard good things about the Marietta’s market so away we went. Since summer in Georgia is always hot and humid I wore my breezy floral skirt with a tank top. It was perfect for the outing and even matched my bouquet! The skirt is on clearance for $14 at the time I am…

  • budgeting,  mom

    Vacationing with extended family

    While I do not typically consider visiting family a real vacation, going on vacation with some extended family can have many advantages. Our vacations typically only include ourselves and our children, but over the past last year or so, we have taken a couple of vacations with some extended family and I have changed my mind about not liking to spend my husband and our vacation time with others. I thought it would be interesting to look at the pros and cons of going on vacation with other members of your family. Pros: budget: sharing the cost of the rent and the food might allow you to afford a vacation…

  • mom

    What self care looks like for this mom of 4

    I love my children but in order to stay sane and have the patience required to be a good mom, I need to take care of myself. My 3 oldest go to school during the day and my youngest at 18 month old stays home with me. My husband travels out of town usually 4 days a week and my mom in law lives with us. So the way I take care of myself and recharge is by having some me time! Exercising At the beginning of the year, my husband visited several gyms in town and choose a membership to one close by. It is about a 5 minute…

  • mom

    Summer Bucket List

    With 2 months of summer time ahead of us the boys and I sat down to make a list of ideas of activities/places they would like to do. Of course, they came up with a list that could be quite hard on the budget so we will not do everything on their list but will try to hit one activity for each child. To save money we will use the Atlanta City pass because the zoo and the GA aquarium are included in it and we can visit the World of Coca Cola and maybe one more thing to get our money’s worth out of the pass. Our summer bucket…

  • mom

    Blog update

    So I have been writing this blog for 2 and 1/2 months now and wanted to share what I have learned and experienced so far. Writing I have truly enjoyed the writing process and coming up with post topics to share with my readers. I do like writing about our travels the most but we are not always on the go since we do have to save up for these trips. So I am learning to enjoy writing about other topics too. Fashion is probably the easiest to share about because I have always enjoyed clothes and buying them so taking pictures of what I typically wear or finding new…

  • mom

    Spring and summer decor

    About a month ago, my husband received a giftcard from a customer and I put that giftcard right to work. I headed to Ross and updated my non existent Spring decor. The first thing I wanted were some new throw pillows for the couch. I selected two gray ones that will  work for other seasons and chose a large yellow throw pillow too. I had found another smaller yellow pillow on clearance at Walmart earlier that week so it was perfect! Next I needed a few things to add to the mantle and table behind the couch: I like the sunshiny color of these fake tulips and the little sign…

  • budgeting,  mom

    How to make budgeting work for you

    Different families have different circumstances, budgets and priorities. While my husband works full time, my main job right now is to makes our household run smoothly, take care of our 4 children and stay on budget. In the past 10+ years since working full time, I have helped bring income in by working part time as a preschool teacher, babysat my old coworker and friend’s children and neighbor’s child and tutored Spanish. With a 18 month old, my focus has been to get him on a schedule and I will probably return to tutoring in the evenings this fall. While the following tips and ideas are not by any means…

  • mom

    April Sentence a Day

    4/1 We went shopping downtown (I found a scarf and two purses), had lunch then went hiking with my sister in law and her 2 children. 4/2 We planted some sunflower seeds, a couple tomato plants and some zinnias. 4/3 Had fun at Lakepoint station with the boys. 4/4 and 4/5 Sleepover at one of my best friend’s house. My oldest son has been friends with her son since they were 4. We went on a mural hunt in Athens, GA. 4/6 Nearing the end of our spring break. We walked around downtown for our little town’s BBQ and Brews festival. The boys had Kona Ice and their faces painted.…

  • mom

    Our Pascha basket

    As Orthodox christians the date for Easter (or Pascha) sometimes coincides with western Easter but sometimes it is a week or so later. The date for Pascha is determined as the Sunday following the paschal full moon, which is the full moon that falls on or after the spring equinox. This was established in 325 A.D.,  by the Council of Nicaea. This year Pascha or Orthodox Easter falls on April 28. We usually have our Pascha baskets blessed after the night liturgy. This is our Pascha basket this year. Traditionnally, you will place items that you fasted from through lent such as cheese, meats and special sweets. This time, I…

  • mom

    Literacy magnet letters center

    I remember a parent asking me one year at the beginning of the school year how many years I had taught and how many children I had. I guess she was concerned about my youth and wanted to make sure I was the right teacher for her son. While I have not been in the classroom for years now, I do have 6 years of experience in at the elementary level and also taught at the preschool level. I used the following literacy center with my third graders but also with 4 year old too, just using it for different activities. Storage Storage is important: you want your child to…