Kids Archives - Page 2 of 2

Kids May 17, 2019

How to organize the playroom toys

Let’s talk toys, shall we? I love listening to my kids’ creative games they come up with while playing with their toys. I love that they can take just about any little McDonald’s figurine and turn it into the most elaborate play. However, I am not a fan of the mess that comes along with it and stepping on those darn legos at 2 A.M. when I’m up to feed the baby in the dark. Yes, I understand part of that comes with the territory of having children and having kids that play. However, I have to live here too. Plus when my home is my office as well, I’ve been searching for a way to control the chaos of all the toys we have scattered all over the house without interfering with their creative play. Advice from a retired Kindergarten teacher of 25+ years With the help of my…

Birthday Parties May 12, 2019

Homemade Strawberry Lemonade recipe

This is the best homemade strawberry lemonade that you will ever taste. Sophia Araujo- Age 6 Get ready for delicious lemonade on hot days!Mariana Araujo- Age 5 Kid and hubby tested and approved, this strawberry version is a fun twist on this delicious classic homemade lemonade recipe. Simple and easy, this is sure to be a crowd pleaser whether you pair it with these yummy Brazilian cheese bread for an after-school snack, or are looking for a delicious drink full of flavor to enjoy during the various activities that summer brings! Make sure to subscribe to tidymo.com to get more yummy recipes delivered straight to your inbox! What you need: Drink pitcher- These pitchers are amazing because not only are they big, but they are perfect for storing your drinks in the fridge and keeping it tasting/smelling fresh :)Mini-prep food processorLarge SaucepanLarge spoonMetal re-usable straws- these are my favorite! Not…

Birthday Parties May 11, 2019

Homemade lemonade recipe

I don’t know about you, but with summer fast approaching I’m on the search for delicious, easy and refreshing drink recipes. I’ve had Pinterest boards for years now with the most amazing looking drinks, and yet each year, summer passes by all too quickly and I haven’t tried a single one! This year I’m going to switch it up and start actually trying all those yummy looking drink recipes I’ve pinned. So fortunately for you, I’ll be playing guinea pig and doing the testing for you 🙂 Well, in all honesty, handy hubby will be helping me out on that end 😉 I will be posting both the successes that you want to add to your “go-to” list for summer drinks and also the major flops that our testing will save you the time and money from making 🙂 So make sure to subscribe to tidymo.com so you are the…

Birthday Parties April 29, 2019

How to throw a kid’s birthday party without the stress!

Over the last six years, I’ve done it all when it comes to throwing a kids birthday party. Some, I’ve gone full out Pinterest mom and planned for months in advance. While others I’ve literally pulled out of my behind days before with the help of Target and Amazon Prime. Others are a healthy mix of the two 🙂 Through a lot of trial and error, I’ve found (what I consider to be) the perfect “recipe” for throwing a kids birthday party without the stress! My favorite tip is purchasing the main reusable items and storing them in labeled, clear plastic bins. It saves so much time and money in the long run because you can go “shopping in your garage” for what you need. It is the perfect way to reduce the stress that can surround birthday parties and instead put the emphasis on what matters, the memories and…

Birthday Parties April 25, 2019

How to throw a magical unicorn birthday

I LOVE birthdays! Twenty-some-odd years later, and I still can vividly remember my birthdays growing up. My parents did so much to make it a special day for both my sister and me. So many little details that combined, made lasting memories that I have taken to use with my kids now. I can remember walking through the doorway covered in paper streamers, into the kitchen for birthday breakfast. A fabric banner with my name that my mom made was always hung, the table set with special dishes, flowers and my favorite part, my birthday breakfast cereal. Birthday breakfast cereal tradition We never got sweet cereal. NEVER! But once a year, we got to go to the grocery store with my mom and choose any box we wanted. Our birthday morning, we would come down to the kitchen to find it there 🙂 The best part, we could have as…

Kids April 22, 2019

Top 17 items you need to survive life with a newborn

Congratulations! This single word is about to be the most common word heard in your life for the next nine….nope, make that ten months;) Now that’s great and all and it is definitely an exciting time. But with every one of my pregnancies, the one question I wanted the answer to was “how am I going to survive having a newborn?” Was I excited, yes? But I was definitely more nervous than excited. I don’t know about you, but the single thing that helps me when I’m nervous is feeling like I’ve regained control of whatever is causing the nerves. With pregnancy, and being anxious about this little human that I was making, growing and about to bring into this crazy world; that sense of control came in the form of planning and preparation. Realistically, you can’t plan for every aspect of life with a newborn. Oh, how I wish…

DIY Projects April 19, 2019

How to make a DIY chalkboard for under $10

I love chalkboards and the variety of uses they have! From providing a place to hang your kiddo’s artwork, hanging those holiday cards or creating a responsibility chart for your kids….they are a do it all item! We have been working on creating an under the stairs playhouse for our kids over the last year. Finally, we have reached the point that we are getting to decorate it with them. Apparently, we aren’t moving fast enough, because I went in the other day to hang up these awesome globe lights, and found that my four-year-old had turned the walls and ceiling into her canvas. There were marker drawings everywhere. She said it was too “boring” in there and so she “decorated” it. So I decided it was time to get something in there for them to draw on and decorate, rather than the walls 🙂 You can buy a chalkboard…

Bedroom April 5, 2019

How to update your child’s bedroom in 20 minutes!

Before we even closed on our current house, I had compiled a variety of ideas from Pinterest, to a board with ideas for kids bedrooms. With four kiddos, and just a three bedroom home, we’ve had to get creative with room sharing that not only was functional but looked just right 🙂 Lucky I have a handy hubby that can fullfill my Pinterest wish list 🙂 Classic + timeless style I’ve always loved kids bedrooms that are cute, and fun, but not Paw Patrol or Barbie. I love a classic kids bedroom….think Pottery Barn style; that can grow with them as they get bigger with minor updates as they age and their interests change. So along these lines, I knew that I wanted to paint the rooms the same color as the rest of our house to create a easy flow. With small bedrooms, I wanted a color that was…

Kids March 7, 2019

5 tips for flying and traveling with an infant

So you’re doing it! You’re taking that first big step and flying with an infant! Congratulations!!! You’ve done the hardest part already which is committing to this adventure and buying that ticket. Luckily for you…..I’ve done a fair amount of travel with my kids since they were infants, both domestically and internationally, and was in the same place you are now: researching ; ) So here are my top 5 suggestions to make traveling with your infant just a little easier. I’m pretty sure most parents can agree that a blowout at 39,000 ft is less than ideal and to be avoided by all means necessary. While unfortunately, the majority of this depends on your mini you….there is something you can do to lessen the impact if you do find yourself in this situation 🙂 Step 1 / Size it up and go with overnight diapers Overnight diapers tend to…

Kids March 7, 2019

How to keep your floor clear of toys and other items!

“I will never do this when I grow up” If you think back to your childhood growing up. Can you remember certain aspects that you vowed you would NEVER EVER DO when you were an adult? And goodness forbid you would NEVER EVER make your own kids do it. I certainly do. Now 20 years later….I’m eating my own words. As a mom of 4, our house tends to get messy quickly. I clean, and literally minutes afterwards, it looks like a tornato has swept through my house. When I say “clean,” I should clarify that. I mean pick up. I spend so much time picking up after my family, that it constantly feels as if I never get to the actual cleaning part. My goal is to eliminate most of the pick up part of “cleaning”. So instead, that time is spent actually cleaning and then moving on to…

Kids March 7, 2019

10 Tips to survive flying (alone) with kids

You’re doing what? “Glaucio isn’t going?” If I had a dollar for every time I heard that question when I told people I was traveling ALONE to Brazil, with 3 kids, from Montana…..well lets just say, I wouldn’t have to travel in the economy class next time 😉 No fairy dust, no benadryl and I certainly am not super mom 🙂 I admit, we all had our moments with delayed planes, all the way to our overseas flight being canceled at 2 am: 2 hours after being boarded and kids sleeping, and of course everything in between. But these 10 tips helped me keep my sanity, my kids happy, and helped us make it from the snowy town of Bozeman, Montana, to the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. If I can do it, you certainly can too. And through my trials and errors, hopefully your adventure, whether traveling alone…

DIY Projects March 7, 2019

Make your own DIY Glass marble magnets

If you are looking for a quick and easy DIY project with your kids, a fun gift, or a way to spruce up your magnetic board….then then you need to give these magnets a try! A project that can be whipped out quickly is always a win in my book. Growing up with a mom that was a kindergarten teacher….and a great one may I add….we had an entire closet dedicated to art supplies and crafts. This small closet was set up with a kids table and little chairs pushed up against the back wall. The entire wall above the table held shelves full of endless craft possibilities and every possible craft supply you could imagine. Underneath that very bottom shelf was a light so those nights we couldn’t sleep, we could get up and get busy in that closet. On the inside of the closet door hung a shoe…

Kids March 7, 2019

Canceled overseas flight at 2 am while traveling alone with 3 kids

My goal is to become a resource and share tips and tricks I’ve learned from both my own personal research, advice shared with me, as well as personal experience. In an effort of transparency, I’ve mentioned I’ll share the tips, as well as the major fails….well this was a little bit of a major fail 🙂 Even with all the planning in the world, all it took was one canceled flight, three young kids, a crap ton of baggage and all my plans went out the window; with the exception of one thing 🙂 Flying to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil In December, I flew to Rio de Janeiro Brazil, alone with 3 kids from Bozeman, Montana. My way there, I followed my top tips for surviving travel with kids that you can read more about here, and it honestly went really well. So well in fact, that I joked with…

DIY Projects March 7, 2019

How to get your kids to listen using a responsibility chart

For the 1,000,000.00th time…..I asked you to go brush your teeth. Ever feel like you are asking your kids multiple times to do tasks that get completed every single day and shouldn’t need a reminder? The daily tasks such as brush teeth, comb hair, make your bed and all the others? That combined, after asking multiple times for each, you feel like you are about to pull your hair out? This responsibility chart has helped simplify and organize our daily routines and make the days more relaxed.I realized I was asking my kids the exact same things, all day, every day. It was exhausting, and we all were frustrated. I knew I wanted to do some sort of responsibility chart for them, not a chore chart. For our family, we felt that these jobs were daily responsibilities as being apart of our family, not chores. We wanted to place the…