Mommy Octopus

A year and a half ago, our family’s life was turned upside down when my perfectly healthy nephew, Levi, suddenly couldn’t move half of his body.  He was rushed to Piedmont Athens Regional and from there, lifeflighted to CHOA where he was in a fight for his life.  He was diagnosed with an AVM – Arteriovenous Malformation in his brain.  You can read his full story on his facebook page.

From there, he’s been in therapies multiple times a week and is completely wheelchair bound.  My brother’s family has 4 other children and with Levi’s wheelchair, they’ve had to stick to mostly being at home due to lack of room in a vehicle.  If they all go out, they have to take 2 cars, so when my brother’s at work for Gwinnett County Fire, they are stuck.

Some of my brother’s friends have created a 5K and 1 Mile Fun Run to benefit my nephew, Levi Brooks.  There will be special guests and a great time to get together for a local cause.    This is also a Peachtree Road Race qualifier event!

Please consider joining my family and coming out to Tribble Mill Park in Lawrenceville for this event.  Register by 2/15 to receive a free t-shirt!  You can see more information on the Event page on Facebook.

It’s another Chaco sale and I’m loving this deal for the kids sandals!  In addition, through 2/10, you can use code CHACO30 to save an additional 30% off Chacos!  Be sure to check out the sale section to get the most bang for your buck.

Here are a few that I wanted to point out, but there are a ton more in the Chaco sale!

KID’S ZX/1 ECOTREAD SANDALS – on sale  $32.99 (reg. $60).  Use code CHACO30 for an addtional 30% off, making the final cost only $23.09

WOMEN’S CONFLUENCE SANDALS – on sale for $54.99 (reg. $80).  Use code CHACO30 for an addtional 30% off, making the final cost $38.49

 

Time to paint!  Amazon has the Crayola Washable Kids Paint for only $3.25 when you click the 30% off coupon!

Washable Kids’ Paint in six different colors: blue, violet, green, red, yellow, orange. Crayola Washable Kids’ Paint does not drip readily from brushes & does not separate, making it freeze-thaw stable & assuring consistent performance.

With a family of 7, I would be completely lost without my Erin Condren LifePlanner. I love planning out my week, from the children’s activities to our dinners.  It’s one of my favorite things to do on Sunday evenings.

Erin Condren was so generous and let me create my 2020 LifePlanner along with a few goodies so I could show you guys how it works for our family.

 

Each planner cover is customizable with colors and names.  I adore the colors that I put together for my LifePlanner!

Since I received the fun Multi-Colored Dual Tip Markers, I decided to assign each of our 7 family members a color.  This helps in organizing our week and seeing which kid needs to be where.  The kids are involved individually in various activities and jobs, so having it all color coded helps me to stay organized.

You can see how it brightens up the calendar below and how it’s easier to tell which event corresponds with which family member.    I chose the vertical layout style so I can plan our days in little chunks of time.  The top, I use for morning stuff, middle around lunch/early afternoon, and the bottom for afternoon/evening activities.  The very bottom has some lined areas that I use to plan our dinners.  I love that Erin Condren planners can be created with my preferences and style, so no two planners have to be the same.  In the past, I’ve had a different layout, but wanted to give the vertical style a try.  I like it!

I’ve never been able to use digital calendars well.  Having the paper copy in front of my that I can write in helps me stay more organized.  Every Sunday, I can take about 20 minutes, review the week, plan out meals, and then we know exactly what the week holds.  While I plan out the meals for the week, I can be making a list of ingredients that we need using the extra notepads.  This planner has simplified my life in so many ways!

In 2020, make your goal to get more organized by taking only 20 minutes once a week to plan out your week in your Erin Condren planner.  You will be so glad you did!

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Yesterday we took off and spent the beautiful day up in the mountains riding horses.  It was the most beautiful day we’ve had here in Georgia in a long time and perfect for outdoor adventuring!  Today we are celebrating our baby girl turning 9!  It’s crazy since when I started the blog she wasn’t even born.  It’s been over 10 years of blogging.  I hope you have a fantastic week and enjoy some of the nice weather before the rain comes in.

Here’s what we are making this week.

Monday: Cajun Cream Chicken

Tuesday: Pizza

Wednesday: Sandwiches

Thursday: Lazy Lasagna

Friday: Grilled Chicken

Saturday: Grilled sausage

Sunday: Eggs, bacon

*We received a 50% discount on this product in exchange for the review, since this is something that we love and really do use.  All opinions are my own.Math has always been somewhat of a struggle for my first born, but we’ve found a program that works better for her.  I was very excited to have the opportunity to review Math-U-See Algebra 2 the past few weeks.

Math-U-See is a hands on math program that utilizes math manipulatives and has instructional videos for children and their parents to watch together.  Steve Demme has a passion for helping people understand difficult concepts and a desire to promote a lifelong love of learning.  He created Math-U-See over 20 years ago!

Math-U-See is now offering an enhanced version of their Instruction Packs online!  With the Digital Packs, you can purchase a 12 month subscription to access to streaming instruction videos and Instruction Manual PDFs, accessible through any internet browser, plus an online version of the Digital Manipulatives.  Math-U-See is perfect for on the go learning.

Other free online and downloadable resources are included with each level, as appropriate.  It’s important to note that the Digital Packs do not include workbooks.

Math-U-See Algebra 2 covers the following concepts:

• Imaginary and complex numbers
• Discriminants
• Graphing Lines
• Parabola
• Vectors
• and More!

The Digital Pack features 31 lessons and an introductory lesson where the teacher fully explains the concepts and provides sample problems.

Algebra 2 Digital Pack includes:

• 12-month access to Algebra 2 streaming instruction videos
• Instruction Manual PDF
• Lesson solutions
• 12-month access to digital manipulatives, using Chrome or Safari browsers

We’ve been Math-U-See users for my oldest since Pre-Algebra, and the program is still working wonders for her.  With the Digital Pack and the Math-U-See Manipulatives, she finally understood the why behind Algebra!  This program is wonderful for more visual or tactile learners like my daughter.  We plan to keep using it with her throughout her high school career and most likely with younger siblings, too.

This event will be so much fun!  SEC Gymnastics are coming to the Infinite Energy Arena on March 21^st.  Tickets are available for purchase starting now.

Fans attending the 2020 SEC Women’s Gymnastics Championships MUST use clear bags and should arrive early to allow time for security.

I’m definitely going to think about taking my girls to this!  I’ve always wanted to watch a gymnastics competition.

Monday!  Already!  Goodness.  This is one of those times where I need a weekend from the weekend.  I had a nice time getting away for a bit with my oldest daughter on the church ladies’ retreat.  My husband had fun with the other kids, so I’d say it was a successful weekend.  The week ahead brings school, life, and all the normal stuff.  Have a great week!

Here’s what we are making this week –

Monday: Black beans and rice

Tuesday: Chicken Pot Pie (Thanks Mom for making it for us!)

Wednesday: Grilled chicken, sweet potatoes

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Lentil Soup

Saturday: Spaghetti

Sunday: Taco Salad

WOW! This is an amazing price for this 3 piece set of O’Keeffe’s Working Hands, Healthy Feet, and Lip Repair.  Working Hands is my husband’s favorite hand cream!  He gets really dry and cracked hands and it has helped tremendously.

• Gift box includes:
• (1) Working Hands Hand Cream 3. 4oz Jar
• (1) Healthy Feet Foot Cream 3. 2oz Jar
• (1) Lip Repair Lip Balm Cooling Stick

*For comparison, just the working hands cream is $5.97 at Walmart and is a smaller container!  The Healthy feet is $6.47 and also a smaller container.