Sunday, September 24, 2017

Product Review: Yummi Bear Organics Complete Multi-Vitamin for Kids!

Disclaimer: I received this product for free from Moms Meet, May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms Meet blogger, I agree to use this product and post my honest opinion on my blog. The opinions posted are my own. Compensation for this post was provided and this page may contain affiliate links.

Weston, my sweet and crazy four year old, is some what of a picky eater. He loves fruit, could careless about vegetables and would love to live on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Most of the time for dinner he will entertain us and eat most of his food, usually leaving behind a few small bites of something. I often wonder if he is getting enough vitamins and nutrients to ensure healthy growth and development. But, if I'm being honest, medicine and over the counter vitamins have always worried me more.

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Product Review: Perfect Bar

Disclaimer: I received this product for free from Moms Meet, May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms Meet blogger, I agree to use this product and post my honest opinion on my blog. The opinions posted are my own. Compensation for this post was provided and this page may contain affiliate links.

It's no secret, I've been on a weight loss journey most of 2017 - if it was a secret to you, you can read a little about it here. So, when I was contacted by Moms Meet to do a review for Perfect Bars, I was stoked. As an on-the-go mom of two, I am always looking for a great snack options to fit within my health goals but also delicious enough for every one in my house to love. Lets be honest, my four year old and 18 month old are the real ones you have to win over in this house.



Sunday, September 17, 2017

Product Review: Sea-Band Mama! + Giveaway

Disclaimer: I received this product for free from Moms Meet, May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms Meet blogger, I agree to use this product and post my honest opinion on my blog. The opinions posted are my own. Compensation for this post was provided and this page may contain affiliate links.

Happy, mid-September! It's be pretty silent around here lately because, well, life. My husband had hip surgery at the end of August and has been recovering the last four weeks. I've been taking care of him, the boys, the house, and working my normal day job - meaning my days are long but there are never enough hours. He won't be back to normal until mid-November. But, I'm adjusting to our temporary new normal, so here I am.  

I've teamed back up with Moms Meet to bring you all another great review, this time of Sea-Band Mama! and a GIVEAWAY!! Who doesn't love a giveaway?

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Monthly Favorites | August 2017

I seriously cannot believe how fast August went by! I'm really going to need life to slow down a little for me, because these months flying by at the speed of light, is getting slightly ridiculous.

August was a busy month and not busy with all fun stuff, unfortunately. It started fun, but has ended a little stressful. In August, we celebrated birthdays for one of my nieces, one of my great-nieces, my father-in-law and mother-in-law (on the same day) and my birthday, H-E-L-L-O 33! It's safe to say I've had my fair share of birthday cake. In-between all the birthday cake, somehow every male in my house found a way to get injured.

If you follow me on Instagram you already know my oldest son took a nasty hit to the head the weekend before last, which landed him in the hospital for a day and earned him his first set of stitches. Two days after that, my husband had extensive hip surgery. This surgery has put him out of commission from work and home duties for the next four weeks, then light duty for another eight weeks. A day after surgery, my youngest fell face first on concrete at daycare, which left him a little beat up. Even our dog, also male, broke out in horrible allergies.

Saturday, August 26, 2017

Product Review: COOLA Sunscreen Products

Disclaimer: I received this product for free from Moms Meet, May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms Meet blogger, I agree to use this product and post my honest opinion on my blog. The opinions posted are my own. Compensation for this post was provided and this page may contain affiliate links. 

Hello, end of August and the last few weeks of summer! I know many people are sad summer is over - kids are back in school here in Indiana - that always seems to cue end of summer feelings. But, my favorite season is approaching fast: FALL!! Bring on cooler weather, sweatpants, hoodies, hot chocolate, leaves changing and all the holidays I love. 

However, I am sad to see this summer go by so quickly; we had so much fun. Now, if you follow me on Instagram you know this week hasn't been our best week, we've seen more hospitals and doctors than I would ever care to admit, but outside of this, we have had a blast. Weston took swimming lessons, we checked out awesome local parks, had picnics, cookouts, day trips and just enjoyed the outdoors as much as possible. 

Anyone who knows me, knows me and my fair skin don't love the sun as much as we love the outdoors. I burn just walking to my car some days. Ok, that's a little drastic, but you get the picture. When I was younger, I would just lather myself up with the highest SPF I could find. Back in the 90's, my parents weren't concerned with the ingredients that were in our sunscreen. They were looking more into what fit into their budget and my Mom wanted to get lobster red, she lived by the pool laying out in the sun!

Monday, August 21, 2017

Family Vacation 2017: Gatlinburg, TN - Part 1

I have been taking my sweet time going through all of my pictures from our trip to Gatlinburg, TN in July 2017. I have so many pictures and so much to share that this will most likely be broken down into three parts, to cover each day.

We loaded up and headed out of Indiana around 9:00 AM on July 5. This marked our first trip as a family of four! The best thing about this trip for me, outside of the desperate need for a change of scenery, was that we were meeting my brother and his family for a joint family vacation. Now, mind you - when I say vacation this was a very short trip unfortunately, but we enjoy our much needed family time.

For those who don't know, I'm from Virginia. All of my family lives there still, including my brother, his wife and my two nieces. From where we currently live and my hometown, it's roughly 11 hours so we don't get to visit as much as we would like. We look forward to any time we get to see them. This trip also marked the first time they were going to met my youngest, Lennox!

Leading up to the trip I was so anxious about the drive. It was a little over six hours for us, which would be Lennox's longest trip ever. He barely last the 45 minutes to Costco so I didn't think for one second he would last the entire trip without a ton of breaks.

Monday, July 31, 2017

Monthly Favorites | July 2017

Oh, was July a month to remember! We packed it full of everything summer is made of - swimming lessons, family gatherings, fireworks, cookouts and a family vacation to Gatlinburg, TN. I'm seriously exhausted just thinking about it.

With July ending and August on the horizon, I thought I would do something new. I've been blogging on and off since 2012, one thing I love reading from other bloggers is a monthly recap. Some recap their favorite projects, books they have read, things they have done or their empties (products they have emptied). I've always loved reading these, so I decided to bring that fun over here to Twenty63!



Thursday, July 13, 2017

Product Review: Survival Hax Tactical Pen Review

How is it the middle of July already? Life has been having a way of getting away from me lately, we have been dealing with some family issues and we took a much needed break from life and enjoyed the Smokey Mountains for a few days last week (more on that in another post). However, before family issues and before a short vacation, I was giving the opportunity from Survival Hax to test and review their Tactical LED Pen with Glassbreaker. As soon as I looked into the Tactical Pen, I knew I wanted to get my hands on it for multiple reasons.

I know many of you may think a review of a Tactical LED Pen is super strange over here on Twenty63, but it 100% fits into our life. I love doing product reviews but only for products that are authentic products my family would use and what I think would be a great product to share with you all. So, let's discuss first why I was so interested in learning more about the Tactical LED Pen.

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Product Review & Recipe: Flavor Your Life Campaign | Apple Cinnamon Granola with Olive Oil

Disclaimer: I received this product for free from Moms Meet (momsmeet.com), May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms Meet blogger, I agree to use this product and post my honest opinion on my blog. The opinions posted are my own. Compensation for this post was provided and this page may contain affiliate links.


Hey y'all! Today, I am bringing you two great things - one amazing granola recipe and some great information to help you understand authentic extra virgin olive oil from Europe! 

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Liebster Award

Back in the end of May, I was excited to learn I had been nominated for the Liebster Award from Leila at Experiencing Parenthood! If you have never heard of Experiencing Parenthood you should head over there and check Leila out. She is an Arizona-based Momma to three little humans and she blogs about parenting, family, raising a child with special needs and awesome things to do around Arizona.


Friday, May 26, 2017

Product Review: NOW Women’s Probiotic 20 Billion + Giveaway

Disclaimer: I received this product for free from Moms Meet (momsmeet.com), May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms Meet blogger, I agree to use this product and post my honest opinion on my blog. The opinions posted are my own. Compensation for this post was provided. 

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. 

Being a Mom of two boys is wonderfully exhausting and if I am being honest, in the past four years that I have become a Mother, I some how lost sight of myself and focused all of my energy on my children. For 2017, one of my biggest goals was to invest more time into ME.  Find my passions, get healthy, enjoy some free time with my girl friends, and just learn to love me again.

I learned a lot of these goals surrounded the fact that I wasn't loving the skin I'm currently in. It's no surprise that pregnancy and parenting has taken it's toll on me, especially my pregnancies. Since having my first child, my gall bladder decided it was going to hate me and needed to be removed, my thyroid decided it was going to stop working properly, my energy level has been non-existence and my weight - oh, my weight has been a struggle.

Monday, May 1, 2017

DIY: Kid's Table & Chair Makeover

My favorite DIY to date: this kid's table and chairs makeover on a budget!


This year one of our biggest goals is to update our outside living space. We have a small screened in porch connected to a patio and a small deck. We have lived in our house almost seven years and our outside living space has been riding the struggle bus for most of those years, if any of my neighbors are reading this, we know - we are getting our act together!

Monday, April 3, 2017

Product Review: ClearPop Earache Relief + Giveaway

One of the worst things about being a parent, especially a parent to littles, is watching them while they are sick and in pain. You feel helpless when you want to be able to do anything and everything to help them. Soon after I became a parent for the first time, I experienced this helpless feeling. My oldest son has had chronic ear infections since he was 3 months old, he is now almost 4 years old.

Between 3 months old and 15 months old, he had over 10 ear infections. Every time we took him to the Doctor they prescribed him an antibiotic. By the time he was 15 months old, he had already been on several different kinds of antibiotics including amoxicillin, augmentin, cephalexin and several ear drop solutions. Finally, when he was 15 months old we opted to have tubes put in his ears.

This is a happy Weston less than an hour after his surgery eating breakfast. He was so little! 

Monday, March 27, 2017

My Last First Birthday

How did this baby turn a year old on Saturday? Seriously, how did that happen? This little chunky-chunk is my second son, Lennox Ray. I would like to warn you if you don't want to see a picture loaded post, then skip this entirely!


Lennox's birthday has been a bittersweet build up for me. I simply can't believe a year has flown by as quickly as it did and on top of that, this is my last first birthday! It's weird to say this is my last first birthday because I never thought I would have the privilege of celebrating one first birthday. However, we have been blessed to celebrate two now! Lennox was our super surprise baby and from the moment I learned I was pregnant with him, life has seem to just fly by at lighting speed! 

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Free Weight Loss Tracking Printable

It seems like every January most people plan to start the journey of weight loss. Some stay on track all year, others fall off once girl scouts starting selling cookies. Why do they have to start selling those delicious resolution killers in January? It's a set up!

I'm not really starting over this January, I'm just pressing play in a journey I started back in June of 2016 and may or may not have fallen off track around the holidays! In March of 2016, I gave birth to our second son. By the time I gave birth to him on March 25th I was at my highest weight EVER!! A number a never thought I would see under my feet. I was determined once I was cleared that I would kick butt and lose all the weight. And when I say all the weight, I mean every ounce of baby weight I have ever gained (plus some). My end goal - a weight I haven't seen since the second year of my marriage! How was I going to do this? Weight Watchers!!

I've been on Weight Watchers before, you know when I thought I was fat but I wasn't really fat. I love the new program and smart points. Since having my son in March, I am down a total of 34 lbs! I am completely happy with that number but I acknowledge that the number would be more if I worked the plan harder, that's a goal in 2017. I still have roughly 65 lbs until my end goal, so my journey isn't even half way over.

Thursday, January 5, 2017

Happy New Year {Plus, Free Printable}

Hello, 2017!

It's been two years since I posted anything, two years to the day. Life has been crazy, but I'm sure every one can say that. Right? Where does the time go, seriously? In the past few years, We've welcomed our first son, adjusted from a family of two to a family of three, I've attempted to start blogging again in 2015, then was beyond shocked with a super surprise second pregnancy, 2016 we welcomed our second son, and we have spent all of 2016 adjusting from a family of three to a family of four. To say over the years our life has changed would be an understatement.

This year, I am determined to get back to hobbies and things that give me a little individual down time - this blog is numero uno. I have a ton of ideas and a million and one projects that need to be completed to get our home and life in order.

January I am focusing on getting us organized for a great year! I thought the best way to do that would be to update my printables. I no longer use my family binder, that I started to share here back in 2012. I now use a disc bound system that I LOVE! My main planner is a Create 365 Happy Planner.