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*This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and The Coca-Cola Company, Kellogg Company, J.M. Smucker Company, and The HERSHEY’S Company. All opinions are mine alone. #StartSchoolLikeAChampion *#CollectiveBias

Back to School time has arrived already! Like always, we are anxiously awaiting the first day of school. But this year, there may be a few more first-day jitters than usual as the boys are starting a new school.

I’ve thought about ways we can calm their nerves (and mine too!) in this new situation. I don’t want it to be stressful for them and I’d love to share a few tips for anyone starting a new school this year.

Moving from a brand new house to an older house has been interesting, to say the least. We knew there were problems before we moved in. We made the owners buy us a home warranty and we knew we would probably be using it! Which we have – two times already!

First, the master shower leaked to the media room below. And the drain backed up and flooded our basement leaving the carpet useless. We’re guessing the main drain had never been cleaned out . . . ever. That was when we decided to upgrade the warranty. Because it sounds like they’ll probably be back!

It might come as a shock to some of my loyal readers. I mean, I know it came as a shock to me…

We recently moved to a new house.

I wrote this post in March and selling our house was basically the big change I was referring to. I just didn’t want to say it. Maybe because I thought I would jinx it and our house wouldn’t sell.

But I was wrong. We had our first offer within 48 hours of putting it on the market!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of American Heart Association / American Stroke Association. All opinions are 100% mine.

Regrets – we all have them. I know I have my share.

There are many little regrets. The chances we did or didn’t take. The choices we made or didn’t make.

As time passes, we appreciate what we learn from our regrets and challenges . But the big ones are a reminder of our opportunity and power to change.

Fourth of July is my favorite holiday! I love fireworks, BBQ’s and being with family in the summer heat. It’s going to be a great weekend, as always! Here are a few photos of our little All-American Sweetie in her new red, white & blue dress. She still loves Minnie Mouse so I knew she would love it! The boys had shirts to wear too but did not cooperate with my photo session :)

I have to admit it – I am not a planner. I never have been. In my 37 years I have never used a paper planner to keep track of anything. I’m not really sure how I’ve survived this long. But my memory was always good enough for me to remember things. Until it wasn’t.

I’ve tried to use a calendar app on my phone and until recently it had been working pretty well. I would set up reminders to pop up a day before an appointment or assignment was due. And my husband was able to put in his work schedule so I would always know where he was for that day. But for some reason the app started randomly logging me out and I was missing things right and left!

I met with my therapist this week, just as I have been doing every week for over a year now. And for the first time in a long time I ran out of things to say. She said this is the best I’ve looked and sounded since I started coming to her last May. At first I was shocked to hear those words. After all I’ve been through I never thought I would hear those words. But then I realized, no, it’s not a shock. I’ve been taking better care of myself and it has clearly paid off.

Dinnertime in our household is definitely one of the most chaotic times for us. I’ve heard this from a lot of my family and friends. When the kids get home from school and the work day ends, so begins the challenge to get dinner on the table.

I’m not going to lie – it can be a bit of a mess. Sometimes the kids are tired and there’s whining about homework. Sometimes, and let’s be real, it’s me who’s doing the whining. When tummies are growling and people are exhausted it makes sense that our moods would plummet.

We recently went for a doctor’s appointment for Sawyer.  While everything checked out fine (and she’s 32 pounds of cuteness!) I mentioned that I thought something was going on with her tummy. We weren’t quite sure what it was but there definitely seems to be some digestive issues as of late.

Our doctor mentioned getting more protein and fiber in her diet. She loves fruit and veggies but we needed an easy, healthy snacking option for her.

I’ve been a mom for almost eight years and have only just begun making exercise a priority. Why did it take me so long to make a solid attempt at getting healthy?

Because I felt guilty about it.

That’s right. I had exercise guilt.

How many times have you thought about exercising but guilt stopped you? You spend all day either working or taking care of your kids, yet you can’t bring yourself to carve out a mere thirty minutes to take care of yourself!

I just love summer, don’t you? I feel much happier and more relaxed during this season. Since the weather is warm it’s so nice to spend time outside soaking in some sun. With each new summer season I always want to spruce up our patio so we can enjoy it as an outdoor living room.

I’m sure you’ve seen photos of amazing outdoor living rooms. I drool over them daily and finally decided to bring the indoors outside where we spend so much time. Here are three things I did to create an inviting outdoor living room.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what to do with my blog. I’ve only written a handful of blog posts this year and I seriously considered shutting it down for good.

But, as I mentioned before, my husband and my best friend encouraged me to open up and to keep going. This blog is 9.5 years old and it would be a damn shame to stop something that I still love.