Starting on February 1st, I’m going to be putting a heart on my daughter’s bedroom door with a note on each heart until Valentine’s Day. When February 14th rolls around, she will have all of these hearts on her door with all of these reasons why we love her so! She’ll be so excited to see a new heart every morning!
Here are a few examples of what I’ll be putting on my daughter’s door every day. I made these in Photoshop, and will print them out on cardstock paper, and cut them out, and then tape them to her door. There are a few different ways you could do this. One, is by getting different colored paper and handwriting a note on each heart and cutting out the heart. Or two, I’ve seen the foam hearts at the dollar store and do it that way, so you don’t have to cut anything out. Tons of different ways to do this simple easy idea for your kiddos!
I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she sees her first heart tomorrow!
Let me know if you try this idea! Tag me on Instagram @lifewithmandyjoy.
Recapping our week on the blog! Doctor’s visit, snow day, soccer, and snow tubing.
Monday January 23 I’ve been pretty consistent with my workouts, and it feels great! We had lots of snow fall, and it looked so pretty. I don’t think the weather people forecasted this one correctly haha Kevin took Huxley to the doctor because he wasn’t being himself the past few days, not eating the greatest, and more fussy than usual. Turns out he has a cut in his mouth, sort of like a canker sore, who knows where he got that from. He’s much better now. Kevin and Hadley went on their first birthday date of the year, you can read how it went here!
Tuesday January 24 After school, we went to the store to look for a Bengals shirt for Hadley for the playoff game on Sunday. We ended up getting more than just a shirt, I found snow pants and a jacket for Huxley on clearance, and a Carhart sweatshirt for Hadley.
Wednesday January 25 Hadley had a snow day! Kevin picked her up some Bengals donuts the night before, and the amount of snow that actually fell on the ground was quite comical. They called the snow day the night before, before the snow had even arrived. Oh well, she had fun being home and we love it when she’s home! Hadley worked on her giant Lego set, it’s a treehouse. For dinner, I made pizza chaffles which is just an egg, shredded cheese, and then the sauce and toppings of your choice. Very good!
Thursday January 26 Huxley eating his snacks, we’ve been trying new and different ones lately. Some days, Huxley will wake up from his second nap of the day just in enough time for me to get ready! I no longer take long long showers anymore! Huxley sitting on the bean bag, he looks so small. We still don’t have a gate for our stairs, so we started putting the bean bag at the bottom of the stairs and that seems to be helping for now. Hadley worked on her Legos again before bed, she is doing so well with it.
Friday January 27 Hadley could wear Bengals attire to school on Friday, for the big playoff game on Sunday! Huxley loves to crawl up on to the dishwasher, I know it’s not a good habit to get into, but he will literally stay put in that thing it’s so funny! After school, Hadley went straight to her Legos and started working on it again. After dinner, we headed to Hadleys indoor soccer game, Huxley did pretty good with it being during his bath time. When we got home and put Huxley to bed, we had movie night! It had been a few weeks. More to come on movie night this week on the blog.
Saturday January 28 You can’t tell from the photo, but Huxley woke up with a mild fever this morning. I personally think he’s teething, but it’s hard to open his mouth and look in the back sometimes. We were all supposed to go snow tubing with my parents, and my brother’s family, but Kevin stayed home with Huxley because his fever was still there. It was probably best anyways; he wouldn’t have been very happy not being able to crawl and being stuck inside the whole time. He’s too little to tube. It was our first time going tubing in the snow and it was so much fun. Hadley loved it!
Sunday January 29 Sunday was a good family day, Kevin was home and not tired from working the day before since he was off. Huxley was attached to his Dad the entire day, it was so cute. His fever went away the night before, and was back to his normal self today. I made mustard brown sugar pork chops for dinner, they were pretty good, the recipe I used can be found here. After dinner, we watched the playoff game with the Bengals and Chiefs and sad to say we lost. It was down to the last few minutes in the fourth quarter. So now I’m rooting for the Eagles in the Superbowl!
Happy Monday everyone, have a great week! And thanks for reading!
Hi friends! Happy Friday! Here are my favorites this week.
BENGALS T-SHIRT Recently bought this shirt for myself, but it came way too big so I gave it to my husband! I love it though. Our hometown team is doing so good, and all the apparel that is out is just awesome. I love all the small local shops that are making clothes. Shirt is from Ohio Clothing.
THE BACHELOR I’m not a huge fan of who was picked for the Bachelor this season, but I still love watching this show. Every week it’s so fun to watch this reality show, it’s like watching a *hit show weekly! You can watch The Bachelor on ABC.com.
TIME OUT CHAIR I saw this time out chair on Etsy this week, and immediately added it to my cart! Do you ever just have a cart full of things you aren’t going to buy right away? I have like 100+ items in my Amazon “save for later” cart. But anyways, I didn’t really use a time out specific chair for my daughter, she was such a good kiddo, and still is. I don’t want to anticipate using this with my son in the future, but just in case, I have it in my cart. Chair can be found on Etsy.
WALT 50TH ANNIVERSARY CASTLE FIREWORKS COLOR-CHANGING WATER BOTTLE I hope to take my kids to Disney World one day, I just love anything Disney. I don’t care how old I get, I will always love the kid Disney movies like Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, etc. I don’t care what anyone says, there is nothing wrong with being a kid at heart. I think it keeps you and your mind young! Anyways, I seem to be digressing this post but when I saw this water bottle it was so cool! On the link to the bottle, watch how it changes color as you fill it up with water. Water bottle can be found here.
THE PARENT TEST SHOW I keep seeing this show advertised on Hulu, and it looks so interesting! I’m always intrigued how other people parent their kiddos. There is no wrong or right way to parent these days, whatever way works best for you and your family is best. But I’m super interested in this one, just need to remember to watch it! Show can be found on Hulu.
Happy Friday everyone, have a great weekend! And as always, thanks for reading!
It can be hard to plan one on one time with your kiddos, so we are going to try something to ensure our daughter gets quality alone time once a month with either Mom or Dad. On Hadley’s birthday date of each month, (her birthday is the 21st, so on or around the 21st of each month), she gets to have a “date” with just Mom or Dad. Having it on the same date each month, or around that date, makes it easy to plan. Plus, it lets Hadley have something to look forward to each month that is special to her.
Hadley and her dad had her first birthday date of the year! They went out to eat at her favorite restaurant Cancun, and then ice cream afterwards. She loved every second of it! She loves to play a game during dinner when we go out, which we do not mind at all since it keeps her off the iPad. She brought the game Guess in 10, which is one of her favorites!
She loves the idea of having special one on one time with her parents each month. We are going to take turns each month so we both get a chance to have our time with her throughout the year. I’m not saying we don’t get one on one time with her; I get a lot of time with her with my husband’s work schedule, but there is something special about planning something each month with her. It can be as simple as playing board games in the basement, coloring for an hour, going to a playground and eating dinner, just simple things. The point is, to be with just her and give her our undivided attention.
I’m looking forward to the rest of this year, and to see how these birthday dates go! She is pumped!
Happy What’s Up Wednesday! On the last Wednesday of every month, Shay and Sheaffer host a link up party of what’s going on with you right now. It’s a little food, a little family, a little what we’re wearing, a little what we’re doing, a little what we’re watching and a little bit of everything else all in one post. I thought it would be fun to join along!
Football game goodies, homemade cookies by my niece, brownies, and football themed cookies! I’ve been having a chicken wrap most days for lunch. Chicken, cheese, bacon bits, and ranch dressing. We tried a new recipe last week, it was called homemade hamburger helper, it was good, the recipe can be found here, and macaroni and cheese for Huxley. He can’t get enough.
Back when Huxley was a newborn, and he wouldn’t move when you laid him down. I miss those days! Now he’s constantly on the move. Anticipate him walking any day now!
Made Huxleys first birthday invites! I just love making anything with paper.
Lots of snow, and a doctors appointment for Huxley. Turns out he has a little cut in his mouth, almost like a canker sore which is why he hasn’t been eating the best lately. Doc said he’ll be fine, just have to let it heal.
Indoor soccer season. My husband works a lot of the games this session, which doesn’t make it easy with little Huxley. He’s fine most of the time, well, more like amazing. It’s just me I guess.
Working on planning blog posts in advance. My blog site has a really cool feature where you can “schedule” posts for a certain date and time, so I’ve been trying to utilize that this year.
Planning this little guys first birthday! Love all the party planning, I could do that as a career I love it so much!
Watching Season 2 of Ginny & Georgia. I didn’t realize there was a second season. It’s good, I like it! Show can be found here on Netflix.
I think I’ve mentioned this before on the blog, but when I have the time in the car I like to listen to this podcast called Smartless. Jason, Sean, and Will are hilarious together! If you get a chance to check it out, here.
I am no means a fashion guru, I pretty much live in leggings, t-shirts, and hoodies.
Movie night, snow tubing, maybe go to the boat show, and watch the Bengals play the Chiefs on Sunday. WHO DEY!
Huxleys first birthday! Time is such a thief.
Shipping issues just seem to never end! I ordered a new drying mat for our kitchen counter, and it says delivered, but it’s not in our mailbox and wasn’t delivered to our porch. So where is it USPS?!?! Frustrating.
When he wakes up in his crib, and we reach for him to get out, he loves to play and fall backwards like he doesn’t want out yet. Saying NO to him every day every hour it feels like. Clothes sizes are closer to 24 months, some of his 18 months are starting to be a bit snug. Loves toast, mac and cheese, cooked apples, grapes (cut very very small), mashed potatoes, roast, green beans (in small amounts), those are the newest foods this month. Could start walking any day now, he’s taken a half a step to Hadley and walks alongside everything he can. Has 6 teeth, four on the top and two on the bottom. Still in size four diapers, but we bought a size five box when the last smaller size is gone. These monthly photos are getting very hard to take as you can tell from how blurry they all are!
Recapping our week on the blog! MLK holiday, out to dinner, homework outside, lunch duty, and more.
Monday January 16 Monday was the MLK holiday so Hadley was off school. I love it when she’s off school, and so does Huxley! For dinner, we went out to eat and Huxley did so good eating at the restaurant.
Tuesday January 17 Some mornings I try to workout before Huxleys first nap, I have more time to myself that way. When Hadley got home from school, we did homework outside. It was a little chilly, but in the sun it was fabulous. After homework was done, Hadley rode on her scooter for a little bit. She’s really getting the hang of it.
Wednesday January 18 Worked out in my pajamas this morning, sometimes I just have those days where I take Hadley to school as I wake up and that’s how this day went. Once a month I volunteer at Hadleys school for lunch duty, it had been awhile since we had been there because of holidays and early dismissals, etc. Huxley did amazingly well too!
Thursday January 19 Hadley woke up early this morning, she was already up when I went in her room to wake her up. Went out to a late lunch with my sister-in-law, it was nice to hangout and catch up with just us girls. After Hadley was out of school, we took the whole fam damily to Sams Club. The diapers are cheaper there for sure, but I put Pampers on Huxley for night time only. They are much more absorbent for overnight! After Huxley went to bed, he woke up around 10:30pm not so happy so we went to check on him and he threw up on poor Kevin! We got him all cleaned up, and he went back to sleep. He didn’t have the greatest night, but he slept.
Friday January 20 After his sort of bad night, he was his normal self today. Huxley is starting to drink out of a sippy cup with a straw now! We are slowly changing his routine at eleven months old. I really try to do some type of movement everyday for exercise and just to get the blood pumping. On Friday, I cleaned both the upstairs bathrooms and the master bedroom. Any movement counts in my book! After Huxley went to bed, we had a very chill movie night just Hadley and I. And for the record, Huxley slept so good!
Saturday January 21 Huxley woke up his normal self, then we went to Hadleys indoor soccer game. He didn’t eat the greatest there, but he seemed okay. Hadley had a play date after her soccer game, and on the way home from picking her up poor Huxley threw up again but in the car this time! So we took it easy the rest of the day, fed him toast, and crackers, that sort of thing. Huxley seemed okay again, he was playing with his sister and he seemed okay again, and slept good.
Sunday January 22 Huxley was so so today, no puking but not eating the greatest. Might make him a doctor’s appointment just to make sure everything is okay. The big kids came over and watched the Bengals game. WHO DEY! We won! We had Mississippi roast for dinner, it was pretty good. Our cousin facetimed us, they just had a brand new baby!!! So exciting. And, we won some coin again from the Bengals game! Woot woot!
Happy Monday everyone, have a great week! And thanks for reading!
*This post may contain affiliate links, which means at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through or make a purchase.
Hi friends! Happy Friday! Here are my favorites this week.
ANIMAL KINGDOM Season 6 of Animal Kingdom came out and I can’t get enough! I had to watch Season 5 over to get a refresher. This show is by any means a family friendly one, it’s more of a family crime drama. It’s very violent, and I’m not usually a fan of violent shows but this one was good. The show can be found here.
BABY SHIELD I saw this on a Facebook ad and I cracked up! Do people really buy these things? I can see dads buying this over anyone, it’s just too funny. I just had to add it to the Friday favorites. Item can be found here.
CHICK-FIL-A EARRINGS How cute are these earrings? I think I would wear the drink ones over the fries, but they are both super cute. Earrings can be found here.
ENNEAGRAM 7 I took the Enneagram test again to see what I am, and it was seven. If you are curious about what the enneagram test is, you can read more about it and take the free test here.
WORLD’S SMALLEST BLENDER I have no idea what someone would use this for, but this week I found some super cute / odd things! Maybe this tiny blender is for kids to play with? Or to use as a joke? Who knows, but it’s super tiny and cute. Blender can be found here.
Happy Friday everyone, have a great weekend! And as always, thanks for reading!
*This post may contain affiliate links, which means at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through or make a purchase.
