Karen At Home

Chicken Stir Fry

2012-01-25T22:42:00.001-05:00

This past weekend I made my Mom’s infamous Chicken Stir Fry recipe and it was delicious! This meal is one that I remember most from my childhood and thankfully due to my pregnancy cravings lately for rice and vegetables, I came up with the idea to try to recreate this yummy dish!!!

I tried to make this meal as easy as possible since with any stir fry recipe, a lot of preparation time can go into slicing and dicing your veggies. I bought a lot of my fresh veggies already pre-packaged by our grocer to save significant preparation time. If you are in the Cleveland area, I buy most of my veggies from Heinen’s which has an amazing selection of fresh vegetables and already pre-packaged vegetables already sliced for you. Buying pre-packaged veggies saves so much time!!!

{What you Need}

2-3 Boneless Chicken Breasts
Fresh Pea Pods

Fresh Bean Sprouts
Uncle Ben's Broccoli Almondine Rice - 2 packages

1 package Bird's Eye Steam Fresh Broccoli
1 small can of Water Chestnuts, drained
1/4 Small Yellow Onion chopped
2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 Pat of Butter or Margarine
Garlic Salt to Taste
Salt to Taste

{How You Make It}

With this recipe, you may want to get a few of the ingredients going at once. I immediately started the rice cooking on the stove top and popped the Steam Fresh bag of broccoli into the microwave. This way these two items will be ready to be added to your dish when you need them. In a large skillet pan, brown the onion with the butter. Once the onion is no longer crunchy, add your raw chicken. Cook the chicken until no longer pink in the middle. Spoon the cooked chicken into a small bowl to be used for later. Add the oil to your skillet along with the Bean Sprouts, Pea Pods and Water Chestnuts. The broccoli should also be done cooking in the microwave by now and can also be added as well. Cook your veggies on low until they are soft adding a pinch of salt for taste. Once your veggies are soft, add your rice and cooked chicken to your skillet. Add more salt if necessary. Saute all ingredients together in your skillet on low heat stirring every so often for about 15 minutes. Place a lid over the skillet to keep the steam inside the skillet, this helps soften the veggies even more. **Place a lid over the skillet to keep in the steam which will help soften up the veggies.**

**Karen At Home Blog...Homemaking Made Simple Tip**

Enjoy!!!

Today I am linking up with :

Hooking Up With Hooked on Houses
Transformation Thursday at Shabby Chic Cottage
Amanda over at Serenity Now for her Weekend Reading
Cheryl over at Tidy Mom for I'm Lovin' It
Rachel at Finger Prints on the Fridge for Feature Your Self Friday
Marni at Sassy Sites for Free For All Friday
Kojo Designs for Friday Fun Finds
Stories from A to Z for Tips and Tutes Tuesday
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating for Flaunt It Friday

Life After Picnik

2012-01-24T22:52:00.002-05:00

I almost cried when I woke up Saturday morning and read an email from Picnik.com saying that they were closing up shop as of April 2012. What?!? I know I speak for all Bloggers and Photo enthusiasts everywhere when I say I am beyond shocked and disappointed by their news!! Why??? Don't they know I am about to have a baby and do not have the time to learn a new photo editing tool??? Everyone LOVED Picnik!!! It was so unique and better than any on-line photo editing website out there. I have used Picnik to design my blog, edit photos, and create all of the beautiful collages that you have seen in my posts. Most of my 'Tips to A Better Blog' posts were all Picnik.com tutorials. I loved sharing how to make blog buttons and blog headers with such a user friendly tool such as Picnik.com. I do not own Photoshop Elements or have the time to learn this tool and Picnik.com certainly got the job done in my opinion. I was actually happy paying the $4.95 a month just to enjoy all of the premium benefits that Picnik.com had to offer. I may actually be willing to pay more just to keep the website going. It was just that good!!!

So I am sure I speak for most of you that we are all now scrambling to find a photo editing website to master before April 2012. I am sure you can also agree that who has the time to find a new tool just as user-friendly as Picnik and to become an expert at it like we all were with Picnik. In the devastating email from Picnik.com, they explain that we can start using the Google+ photo editor instead. As of now, I do not have a Google+ account or really wanted to join yet ANOTHER social media website but it is looking like I may now have to just to see what their editing tool is all about.

Fortunately, I have found a few tutorials around the Blog world with the same desperate plea as myself and have even demonstrated a few tutorials of different tools around the Internet. I haven't had a chance to try any of them yet, however, I am certainly willing to try!!!

Today Censational Girl demonstrated Pixlr which has a few photo editing features that she found attractive along with iPiccy, GIMP and Splash Up. I have yet to try either of these tools but I am willing to learn. She does however mention that not one tool alone can even compare to Picnik.

Between Naps on the Porch also put together a list of 9 free alternatives of photo editing websites that I am plan on checking out as well. Fotoflexer looks especially interesting to me.

I saw on Twitter yesterday that Natalie over at Extraordinary Love had put together a Google+ tutorial which shows how to edit photos. Unfortunately she mentions that she could not find a college feature, hopefully one will be added in the future when Picnik.com shuts down.

If you are looking for a Photo editing tool that uses collage similar to Picnik.com, I found a Blog Header tutorial from over at A Charming Nest that demonstrate how to create a blog header using the collage tool in Picasa. Since I designed my blog header from the Picnik.com collage feature, this was especially interesting to me.

If you know of a photo editing website similar to Picnik.com or how you are handling this big news, I would to hear from you!!!

Tidbits & Trends Thursday

2012-01-19T07:00:00.004-05:00

Hello friends, I hope you are all having a good week!!! This week has been a very productive one for me! I have completed several projects around the house and have even started a few new ones. I hope to share a few of them with you in the near future. I have realized too that I REALLY need to do a better job at taking BEFORE pictures once I start a project because some of them really have been a significant change around here. I honestly don't think I have been this productive with home projects since before Jillian was born. This has really been pretty fun and exciting for me. My house feels more clean and organized than it has in a long time.

I am glad you are all enjoying the 'Pin It' Button tutorial that I posted about last week. I have received so many comments and emails that you are all using it for your blogs and that makes me so happy! I love making some one's life easier so please let me now if you have tried it on your blog and if you have any questions!!!
Speaking of Pinterest, it really does seem like it is all the rage lately. I woke up this morning to my radio alarm to hear Brooke from 95.5 The Fish talking about it. It made me smile how it's is really everywhere these days!! It's funny because since it is linked to your Facebook page, I really have seen an increase in actual real life friends following my Pin Boards these days in addition to my usual Blogger friends. So if you are new to my Blog through Pinterest via my personal Facebook page, please send me an email or leave me a comment saying hello! I typically do not tell too many real life friends about my blog so it's interesting to me to see who is finding my hobby via Pinterest!!

My heart has also been pretty heavy this week. My cat Bandit, and first "baby", passed away on Monday and I can't stop thinking about him. I adopted him back when I was 24, living on my own in a rented apartment, and enjoying the life of a single career woman. He was my buddy and special friend during that time. I can honestly say he was the best cat I have ever owned. Growing up, we seemed to always have cats, each one special in their own way, however he was just a REALLY good cat. He was not like other cats who are often independent and will show affection and attention on their terms. He was a pal, a buddy, and loved being around people. He was always at your side and loved to play. He had a spunky and energetic side too that was so cute. He also loved other cats too which is also unusual, unless of course it was a kitten. He did not like any cat that was younger than him because you could tell he loved being the center of attention. He always had to be "the baby." When I got married, my parents took full ownership of him because Jeff was allergic. Plus, my parents were retired and being the people cat that he was, would have been lonely living in our home all day with Jeff and I at work 40 hours+ a week. It was a great situation and will always be thankful to my parents for taking such good care of him. I feel awful for them too since he was such a big part of their lives for so long.

It's going to be so hard explaining to Jillian why Grandma and Grandpa's kitty isn't around for her to ~~harass~~ pet anymore. I know my heart is going to break when she asks me about it.

I have been trying to take better care of my skin in 2012 and bought a few items from the Oil of Olay Regenerist line at Target this week. I am really hoping for an improvement in my skin and hopefully will fight off any additional damage. I tried the Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream and Regenerist Regenerating Cream Cleanser this morning and I really love the smell which I wasn't expecting. I will let you know how it's going after a month of use.

Once again this year I am watching 'The Bachelor' which I am sure isn't all that surprising to you! I really like Ben and how he handled himself with Ashley, however, he has some crazy women vying for his attention this season!!! So far I like Kacie as a person but not really sure if she would leave her life in TN for California. I can see that being a compromise for her. And what was up with the Shawntel making a surprise appearance on this weeks episode??? I am sure there is a better explanation to why she decided to show up on Reality Steve or somewhere else on the interweb's. I really do not want to read any spoilers on this season's outcome so I decided not to Google it. If any of you have heard what that was all about, I would love to hear your take on it. I am suspecting they probably have met before since a lot of the Bachelor's/Bachlorette interact in the same social circles. I am really hoping for her sake she just didn't decide on whim to go on the show without even meeting him!!!

Jillian is really turning into a girly girl which I guess I really shouldn't be all that surprised since that is me to a T! She is truly is taking after her Mom and LOVES shopping at Target and will actually ask me to go on occasion. It's hysterical!! Yesterday, she and I went to Target on my day off and she actually started telling me what she liked and what she didn't. I was looking through the clothing racks of the Liz Lange maternity section and held up a sweater to my body when she says to me "I like this one." Then I held up another top and she shook her head 'No' and said "No like this one." I started cracking up!!! So I grabbed a few more to see what she thought of them too. She is too much!!!!!

I hope you are all having a good week!!! Tomorrow is Friday, woohoo!!!!

Jillian's 2nd Birthday Party

2012-01-17T07:00:00.004-05:00

We celebrated Jillian's 2nd Birthday last week and I am so excited on how it turned out. I was really stressing at one point because the creative ideas were just not flowing and I was feeling severe holiday burnout when the time came to plan her party. I remember the same exact thing happened to me last year and telling myself to start earlier this year but that just didn't happen. It's so easy to tell myself to plan better next time, but when the next time comes, why is it I am always find myself scrambling again?

Anyway, four days before her party I came up with a pink and green theme instead of a character theme and just went with it. Colors are so much easier to plan for a party!!! Who doesn't sell pink and green items? As you can see, this party has a similar look and style to her first party. I made the tissue paper poms again, however, I did change it up a bit and had a few new creative ideas up my sleeve.

A few hours before the guests were to arrive, I came up with the crazy idea for personalized water bottles in pink to add to the decor. It was an easy addition to the event and couldn't have done it without the easy tutorial from Sarah at Life Sweet Life Blog.

My sister helped me put together the fruit kabobs which were a huge hit and a great way to add color to your food display. If I had really been thinking, perhaps just watermelon, strawberries and green grapes would have been a fun idea and would have kept to the pink and green theme. Like I said, start early with the planning next year....ha!

The Birthday girl had a blast playing with her cousins. The older Jillian gets, the more fun and interaction she seems to have with her them. I just love seeing her have a blast with all of her cousins, it really makes holidays and birthdays so much fun in our house!!

Jillian LOVED singing happy birthday, she and I had even been practicing blowing out birthday candles for a few days already. It's so cute how she knows birthday parties involve blowing out candles!

Trying to take a picture of the birthday girl in her birthday pink outfit was another challenge in itself. Trying to crawl around the floor 30 weeks pregnant and chasing a toddler with a camera was quite entertaining to our guests I am sure. She just wouldn't sit still! There was way too much fun for to be had.

Here is the birthday girl looking all pretty in pink! Happy Birthday to my sweet girl!!

2012 Home Goals and Projects

2012-01-15T00:34:00.002-05:00

The Nester is hosting a link up this week on your 2012 Home Goals and Projects and I thought this was a wonderful idea for me to put all of my home 'to-do' lists out there to keep me motivated and hold me accountable. this year. I will be very curious to see which items on this list get crossed off in the midst of another baby being added to our home in only a few short weeks!!! Right now I have been going nuts thinking of all the little projects I want to get done around the house before our little boy arrives! I know full well once he does, this list is going to come to a screeching halt!!! Target is going to LOVE me here in the next few weeks since a lot of my projects involve shopping at my favorite happy place!

{Baby Boy Nursery}

We are in the process of turning the Guest Bedroom into the little man's nursery. Even though our little man continues to remain nameless, his nursery is starting to come together. If you follow me on Pinterest, you have probably been seeing several nursery inspiration pictures and baby boy bedding 'pin's' coming through on your 'Following' stream with my name on it.

Color scheme inspiration as of now:

Source: etsy.com via Karen At Home on Pinterest

I have not found the ideal gray chevron bedding yet, so I decided to go with a Chevron pattern as accents instead. I did find an Etsy seller who will make baby bedding sheets in a gray chevron pattern so I am also considering this as an option. The blue-green-gray paint color is just about finalized, I made several trips to Sherwin Williams this weekend trying to narrow down the perfect color without looking too girlie for Jeff!

Here is the bedding via Pottery Barn Kids. I felt this gray and white bedding would look perfect with the blue/green and chevron color scheme I am going with. Instead of the gray polka dot sheet, picture a gray chevron sheeting set.

Source: potterybarnkids.com via Karen At Home on Pinterest

Goals:

1. Finish the nursery before baby boy arrives! Hopefully that is achievable, ha!

2. Find perfect blue-green-gray paint color which doesn't look "too" girly.

3. Find Chevron pattern scrap book paper in gray to frame and hang on the wall.

4. Find the perfect gray faux silk curtains.

5. The window needs a blind!

6. Find and Order the furniture.

{Great Room Wall}

As you can see, the blank wall in our Great Room has stumped me for awhile now. I think the main thing throwing me off is the thermostat smack dab in the middle. What an eyesore!!! Not quite sure what our builder was thinking with this one and I somehow managed to miss it during the walk through as well. So now I am stuck with it and I am sure Jeff doesn't want to take the time of the money to move it so I must work with it some how. You can imagine my joy when I can across this inspirational picture on Pinterest.

Source: younghouselove.com via Karen At Home on Pinterest

These poor people have the same thermostat issue that we have and have chosen to embrace it and not hide it!!!

Source: mobile.walmart.com via Karen At Home on Pinterest

I have recently ordered this black cabinet from Walmart.com for this wall which will double as storage for all of Jillian's coloring books and puzzles. I was so excited that it arrived this weekend for Jeff to put it together, however, the top loooked like this:

So we had to take it back to Walmart and order another one. Grrr!!!

I am also in the works of designing a photo wall for above the cabinet which will hopefully "hide" the thermostat. I am also possibly thinking to finding a frame with the glass removed to put around the thermostat to really hide it.

{Master Bath}

Source: hamlettdailydose.blogspot.com via Karen At Home on Pinterest

My friend Jenna over at Hamlett's Daily Dose provided me with this inspiration for what to do over our Master Bathroom Toilet. For awhile now, the master bathroom has been a blank slate ever since we painted it 3 years ago. I wanted to do more to make it more of a spa like retreat to go with the spa like paint color.

Goals:

1. Add chocolate colored faux silk valances to both windows.
2. I bought the cherry wood floating shelves to go over the toilet at Target this week, need to install.
3. Buy more hand towels to be used as decor on the floating shelves.
4. Buy a basket and other accessories for the floating shelves.
5. Buy more bath towels to match new decor.
6. Buy a better basket for my side of the bathroom.
7. Organize under the cabinets and the linen closets!!!
8. Toss old toiletries and organize medicine.

I have so many more ideas floating around in my head but these are the biggest projects that stick out and are most likely the most achievable in 2012. I would LOVE a new dining room set, however, I just don't feel that is going to get done this year. More of a 2013 goal to work towards.........

Have you set goals for your home in 2012? Make sure you stop by The Nester to see other 2012 Home Goals and Projects!

Add a Pin It Button to Blog Posts

2012-01-12T14:33:00.033-05:00

Who isn't obsessed with Pinterest these days? It seems that I have been using it for everything lately! From planning to Jillian's 2nd birthday party to organizing my home in the new year, Pinterest was some how involved in the process. How did we ever plan anything before without Pinterest? With Pinterest gaining so much popularity I decided to add a 'Pin It' button on all of my posts to make them easier for myself, and for my readers, to Pin my ideas to their boards.

In just a few simple steps, you too can be 'Pinning' away your own blog posts in just a few minutes too!!

{How to Add a Pinterest Button to Blog Posts}

1. Go to your blogger account dashboard. Click on Settings then Formatting.

2. Scroll down to the bottom of the Formatting page to Post Template Section and Paste the HTML code that you see below. The Post Template section will repeat the HTML code that you paste in this area for every Blog Post that you publish. I also have my Google Analytics code posted in this section as well which you are not able to see here.

Here is the actual HTML code that you will need to copy from my post into your Post Template box:

3. Save your changes. The next time you publish a blog post, the Pin It Button will appear at the bottom of your post.

Edited to Add: I am so excited you are all loving my 'Pin It' Button tutorial!!! I have had several questions on the position of the button so I thought I would add some clarificaiton. I added the HTML code in the code above to position the button in the center of m posts. A few of you would like it to be Left Justified so it shows up on the left hand side of your posts. To do this, when you copy and paste the code above, either remove the two codes or change them to say . I believe either should work for you. Good luck and let me know if you are using the button in your posts, I love hearing how much you are loving it!

Happy Pinning!!!

Today I am linking up with :

Amanda over at Serenity Now for her Weekend Reading

Cheryl over at Tidy Mom for I'm Lovin' It

Rachel at Finger Prints on the Fridge for Feature Your Self Friday

Marni at Sassy Sites for Free For All Friday

Kojo Designs for Friday Fun Finds

Stories from A to Z for Tips and Tutes Tuesday

Thirty-One Gifts Spring Premiere

2012-01-11T15:16:00.002-05:00

On Saturday, for the first time ever, Thirty-One revealed its new Spring line to consultants via the Silver screen! In movie theaters across the country, consultants got to see the beautiful new products and hear lots of exciting updates. If I wasn’t already a consultant, our new kit and Start Swell program would have me signing up in a second! It was a fun experience and just makes me more excited for National Conference in Atlanta in August! Woohoo! I can’t wait! The premiere also included the “Why?” for several of our consultants and directors. I needed a box of Kleenex while listening to them with all of the crazy pregnancy hormones I have going on right now. It is great to be reminded that it isn’t about purses, it is about changing lives and helping women!! Whether it is finding the right item to organize their home, helping them find the perfect gift, or offering them an opportunity to realize their dreams, Thirty-One Gifts has the answer! I know I have shared my “Why” on here in the past and this past weekend certainly confirmed that I made the right decision by following my heart. I really feel like God intervened and is showing me the way through Thirty-One like he has with so many other women. I met up with my team at Panera for breakfast before the big reveal. It was so nice to finally meet my Director and other members of the team that I have interacted with so much these past few months. After chatting it up at Panera, we all headed over to the Valley View Cinema for the big event.

The long line of women carrying Thirty-One purses just to get into the event was impressive!!! Needless to say, we are a large group of women crazy about Thirty-One and the opportunities and rewards it brings to our lives.

It was fun sitting with my team and sharing out thoughts about what we thought was going to be revealed in the Premiere. I sat next to Gia and Sheena (who is due a day after me, crazy!) who were a blast to hang out with. I actually met Gia several years ago on TheNest.com as a newlywed and also reconnected with her through blogging. It’s crazy to think we signed up to be Thirty-One Consultants at the same time and are now on the same team. Seeing a sneak peak of Thirty-One’s Spring catalog on Saturday got me so excited for Spring! Spring is certainly in the air with Thirty-One!

Tidbits & Trends Thursday

2012-01-05T07:39:00.000-05:00

I am the type of person that has a million thoughts rolling around in my head at all times. If I don't take at least an hour at night to unwind, thoughts will be swirling around in my brain as I lay in bed and sleep will just not come. I thought I would utilize my blog as an opportunity to write some of those thoughts down once a week in hopes of capturing those runaway thoughts and to document the little projects I am always working on in my head. Today I am kicking off a new feature here at Karen At Home that I am very excited about! With that said, I introduce to you my weekly Tidbits & Trends post.

The other day I was laying in bed watching "You Got Mail" on WE when a commercial came on for a new reality show called "Texas Multi Mamas." I literally almost fell out of bed because I recognized one of the Mamas in the show. It was Suz from Steece's Pieces blog. Anyone else read this blog? Steece's Pieces was one of the first blogs I ever read. I read this blog long before I ever had a blog or thought about having children. Her blog was so compelling to me as I followed her story of Infertility to an awesome Mama of Quads. I hadn't read her blog in sometime but I recognized her adorable haircut immediately. I have watched a few episodes already and I am loving it so far!

Jillian's 2nd Birthday party is this weekend and I am so not prepared for it. Having a child's birthday around the holiday is tough! I am partied out but I so badly to give her a fun 2nd Birthday party. I am trying to keep the theme and decoration simple yet cute, hopefully it will all come together by this weekend!

Is your Christmas decor still up or down? We officially took our tree down tonight after we both got home for work. We just couldn't stand it anymore. As I mentioned in my last post, our tree was seriously mangy and needed to be put out of it's misery. I thought Jillian would take it a lot harder than she did. She LOVED the Christmas tree this year. All Christmas lights were "Santa lights" to Jillian and it was adorable having her constantly ask us to turn the "Santa lights" on. I can't believe we are going to have two kids come next Christmas!!!

I have been enjoying reading my friend Sarah's Project 365 over at Life Sweet Life set to weekly summary posts. I have heard a lot over the years about Project 365, however, the thought of remembering to take a picture and documenting it every day was a bit daunting to me. I love Sarah's weekly summary posts of all the pictures she took for the week. A weekly post is something I can handle!!! Are you doing a Project 365 or 52 this year? Project 52 it is for me! I would love to hear if you are hoping to do a Project 365, Project 52 or something similar this year. How are you organizing all of the pictures? How are you remembering to take all of your pictures? My friend Melissa over at Stafford Stories recommended an awesome iPhone app to organize your daily pictures. You can also use the App to set up a daily reminder to take your picture. Such a great idea!!!

Hope you enjoyed the first T&T Thursday! Enjoy your day!

Breakfast with Santa

2012-01-03T22:30:00.001-05:00

Happy New Years everyone! I hope you all had a blessed Christmas and a happy New Years! I just love New Years, there is really something to be said about starting fresh with a clean slate. So much to look forward too, it really does renew the spirit!!! It sounds like I am not the only one who caught the Organizing bug. I don't know if mine is due to my nesting kicking in or what but I have been obsessed lately with Organizing Blogs like you wouldn't believe! My Pinterest account is going wild with Organizing ideas!!! The next few posts I would like to capture our Christmas holiday season before those memories start to fade and the organizing and nursery planning start to take over! Are your Christmas decorations packed away just yet? We haven't started yet, we were hoping to leave everything up for Jillian's 2nd Birthday party this weekend, however, our tree is looking extremely mangy right now with each passing day. I am sure the fire department would consider our house a major fire hazard!Jillian is a very lucky girl, she got to eat Breakfast with Santa not once, but twice this year!!! We were very lucky to have been able to coordinate a Breakfast with Santa with each set of Grandparents which was such a treat for Jillian. Our first Breakfast with Santa took place at the Strongsville Recreation Center. They did an amazing job with the kids and we had so much fun too as parents watching all of them run around! My sister also was able to join us with her girls which made it extra special!The event started off with Breakfast served at each table for the families. We all ate and then participated in a raffle prize for toys. Afterwards, we anxiously awaited Santa's big arrival!!! Finally the big man showed up and every one applauded and cheered as he walked through the room, waving as he went. Afterwards, a major line formed to get a picture with the man himself which took quite some time. Over an hour, perhaps? Poor Jeff and my sister's husband waited in line for us while my sister and I tried entertaining the girls. A few of the "elves" sang songs and read books with the kids which helped distract them a bit as we waited for pictures with Santa. Jillian and my sister's daughter, Nicole, enjoyed dancing around to the songs together which was so adorable! Finally it was our turn to take a picture with Santa and Jillian was just not having it. She cried and cried so we attempted a family picture with a crying, stiff-arming toddler. I wish we had a better picture besides this side shot, I am sure her face would have been priceless. In total this year, we saw Santa three times and the final time Jillian at least didn't cry when she got near him. Jillian does love Santa, but from afar! (We were in a bit of a hurry that morning and bolted out the door without our good camera. Ugh! So Iphone pictures it is.)

Our second Breakfast with Santa this holiday season was at Lake Farm Park with Jeff's parents. It was such an adorable place!

The Farm park was fully decked out with Christmas decorations and a Santa's Workshop for the children to make a toy after breakfast. Jillian had a blast making a little wooden bear which Santa's elves helped her put it together.

Jillian was still not a fan of Santa up close but this was the one and only time this year we actually got a photo of her not crying on Santa's lap. This was also the event that I was bound and determined to get a good picture of Jillian in her Christmas dress for our Christmas card. Luckily I captured just the right shot in front of one of the Christmas trees!

The Lake Farm park is a cute little park with lots of farm animals for the kids to pet. This was our second time there, the first time was in the Fall and we had such a blast visiting with all of the animals. Jillian loved it, we can't wait to go back again this Summer.

All Things Loved in December

2012-01-02T08:00:00.006-05:00

There were so many things that I was loving this month that it was hard to narrow it down to a short list!!! I honestly think I got my “mojo” got back this month and feel less tired and more motivated to pursue my interests again. Have you all noticed that I am blogging more lately? I wrapped up my Thirty-One orders on December 12th and also around that time was prescribed a daily iron pill for my pregnancy anemia. I think the combination of both things gave me my energy back and certainly more time to blog and pursue those interests!!!! So without further ado, here is what I have been lovin’ in December!!!

{Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips}

I was reading Kelly’s Korner blog one day and she happened to mention how she and her husband were into Salt and Vinegar potato chips lately. I don’t know what happened, but something triggered that pregnancy craving feeling and all of a sudden I HAD TO HAVE Salt and Vinegar potato chips. I had mentioned in my last weekly post that I was craving salty chips and this certainly kicked that craving into overdrive!!!!

{Ocean Spray Sparkling Cranberry Juice}

I mentioned in my 15 week post that I was looking for a beverage that was sparkling, somewhat healthy, and didn’t contain any aspartame in it. Thankful for the recommendation from my cousin Amy, I picked up a pack of Ocean Spray Sparkling Cranberry Juice. All I can say is yummy!!! I also tried the Pomegranate flavor too which is just as good. I only wish they came in a larger size or an 8 pack. I could go through a pack of these in just a few days!!!

{Favorite iPhone App - Quicklytics}

Do you like to look at your blog stats? The Accountant in me loves to analyze mine from time to time. If your not careful, you can find yourself easily obsessed with them! I set up a Google Analytics account earlier this year and just recently found an app that works with Google Analytics - Quicklytics.

According to Quicklytics, I had 369 hits to http://www.karenathomeblog.com/ yesterday. How cool is that?

{Favorite Blog - Organizing Blogs}

One of my goals in 2012 is to become more organized. Organization increases productivity, decreases anxiety, and allows one to think more clearly and creatively. Organization is a time saver when you don’t waste precious minutes searching for things. It's when all your stuff is in its intended place.

I have already started buying an assortment of bins, tubs, and file folders to get me started. I have recently come across three very inspiring Organizing Blogs that I am in love with. If you are hoping to get more organized in 2012, I highly recommend checking out I Heart Organizing, The Nest Effect, and Organizing Made Fun.

The Nest Effect and Organizing Made Fun are coming out with several Organizing challenges in 2012 and I can't wait to start! My goal is have a more organized home by the time Baby Boy arrives!!!

{Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Learning Home Playset}

I bought my niece the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Learning Home Playset for her first birthday and it was a huge hit!!! My sister loves it because both her 2 year old and 1 year old like to play with it together. A toy that keep both kids entertained and are able to play with it nicely together? Win!!! Since this was a MAJOR success, I decided to buy it for my twin 18 month old nieces for Christmas. Also a hit! The twins are able to play with it together which makes my Sister-in-law very happy. So we bought one for Jillian for her first birthday and she too loves it! This toy will be perfect for Jillian and her little brother to play with together one day which will also hopefully make this Mommy very happy!!!!

{A Big Thank You to My Top Referrals in December}

5.Melissa's Heart and Home

10.Southern Hospitality

I have a section to my side bar which features my Top 10 Referrals of the Month. What is a Referral you ask? According to Google Analytics, these are the top sites that have brought me traffic throughout the month by either having my blog listed somewhere in a blog roll on their site, a linky party that I have joined on their site, or if they have featured me in one of their posts. I sincerely appreciate all of the referrals that I get and want to take a moment to thank you!!!

2011 Christmas Decor

2011-12-30T14:41:00.000-05:00

On Christmas Eve, after Santa put out the presents, I decided to take some pictures of our Christmas decor. The house was so peaceful with Jillian sound asleep in bed and Jeff passed out on the couch. Although I would have liked to have done more with our Christmas decor this year, I am pleased with how it turned out. My goal next year is to switch the colored lights for white lights and add some tulling as garland and as a tree topper.

I bought the light up Christmas presents last year at Marshall's and was so excited to break them out for this year. I think out of all my Christmas decor, these are my favorite!!!

Last year, I found a fun way to use Christmas ornaments in my Apothecary jars. They add so much Christmas color to our kitchen!

I have decorated our staircase the same way for the past three years and I like the simplicity of the garland and the lights. I am thinking of possible adding a little more pizazz to it next year but for now, it's perfect!

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our home during Christmas!!! I am linking up today to Kelly's Korner Blog, The Nester, Blue-Eyed Bride, Thirty Decor Chic, and Christmas Cheer Link Party.

Top Projects of 2011

2011-12-28T07:00:00.001-05:00

I love looking back through my blog this time of year and seeing all of the memories that were created and all of the projects that were accomplished. This is actually one of my most favorite things about writing a blog, a chance to document our lives so I can look back and read through the posts with a warm heart and a sense of accomplishment.

In 2010, I participated in Southern Hospitality's Top Projects of 2010 and I am exciting to do the same for 2011. Here are a few of my favorite projects that I accomplished this year according to me and Google Analytics:

{2011 Home Tour with A Bowl Full of Lemons}

Looking back through my blog stats, the 2011 Home Tour with A Bowl Full of Lemons Blog was by far my most popular post. I had 1200 hits that day alone!!! I had a great time participating in the Home Tour and hope to participate again in 2012!

{Tissue Paper Poms Project}

For Jillian's first birthday, I made several red, green, and white tissue paper poms to go with her birthday theme. The Pom's were quite the hit and I received several questions on how to make them. They are so easy to do, go back and check out my easy tutorial to make your very own tissue paper poms for your next celebration!

{DIY Wainscoting}

In January 2011, I talked about how we upgraded our dining room with DIY Wainscoting. It was a more of a DIY with a twist. We borrowed our builder's Amish Carpenter to cut and measure the picture frames and we did the rest. This was one part of the project that we didn't want to chance being incorrect on so we contacted the expert's, The Amish.

{Summer Pasta Salad}

My most popular recipe this year was my Summer Pasta Salad. This recipe is so easy and always has my friends and families asking for the recipe. It's always a huge hit at Summer BBQ's and Block parties!!!

{Baby #2 - It's A Boy!}

And our biggest project in 2011? Our precious Baby Boy due March 2012 which should surely be the biggest project of 2012 too!!! Stay tuned for his nursery, hopefully a name and all the other fun project ideas I have in preparation of his arrival.

I am participating in Southern Hospitality's Top Projects of 2011. Stop by Rhoda's Blog to check out all of the other amazing 2011 Projects!!!

Easy Oreo Balls

2011-12-24T12:57:00.003-05:00

Our neighborhood had a cookie exchange last weekend so I decided to try making Oreo balls. These were so easy and delicious, I have a feeling they are going to become a staple in our house!!!

{What You Need}

All you need in this recipe are THREE easy ingredients!!!

1 Package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese (8 ounces)
1 Package of Oreo Cookies (16 ounces)

2 packages of Bakers Semi-Sweet Chocolate ( 8 squares) - melted

{How to Melt Chocolate}

Place unwrapped chocolate squares in microwaveable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 2-1/2 min.

or until chocolate is completely melted, stirring every 30 sec.

{How to Make Oreo Filling}

In a food processor, dump in your cookies and cream cheese until smooth consistency. Using a cookie dough scoop, form the filling into smooth round balls. Roll in your hands for additional smoothness. On a wax paper lined cookie sheet, place your Oreo filling in even rows. **Refrigerate your Oreo balls (before dipping them into the melted chocolate) for about 30 minutes. This will help set the Oreo mixture and make them it a lot easier for dipping.** I learned this the hard way, I started dipping the Oreo filling right away into the melted chocolate and my balls completely fell apart!

**Karen At Home Blog...Homemaking Made Simple Shortcut**

{How to Easily Dip Truffles}

To easily coat truffles with the melted chocolate, add truffles, in batches, to bowl of melted chocolate. Use 2 forks to roll truffles in chocolate until evenly coated. Remove truffles with forks, letting excess chocolate drip back into bowl. Place truffles on prepared baking sheet; let stand until firm.

Enjoy!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Jillian!

2011-12-21T13:18:00.001-05:00

What a Christmas gift from God you were two years ago today!! You bring such joy into our lives and so much laughter into our home. Happy Birthday Snoozer!! Mommy loves you!

2011 Christmas Card

2011-12-20T14:33:00.000-05:00

I literally just slipped these cards into my mailbox today. I was so behind this year, basically because I was struggling with finding a picture that was "Christmas Card" worthy. Luckily, we went to 'Breakfast with Santa' yesterday at Lake FarmPark in Kirtland, Ohio, and captured a few cute shots in front of their Christmas trees.

I cropped this cute shot using Picnik.com, uploaded to a pre-made Christmas Card on Walgreens.com, and picked them up in an hour. It was that easy once I had the right picture.

Merry Christmas from the Karen At Home Family!

Today I am linking up to the Christmas Card Carousel on the 'Walk With Me By Faith' Blog.

24 Weeks - Baby #2

2011-12-16T07:00:00.001-05:00

I am at 26 weeks, however, need to catch up on my weekly pregnancy posts. Here are the exciting things I remember about the 24th week!

How far along? 24 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 20 lbs. I don't know what it is when I am pregnant, but the pounds seem to just stick to me and the girls are in constant competition with my belly. I haven't done anything differently than my last pregnancy and I am now chasing around an active toddler. Thank goodness I am tall and it "spreads" out more!!!!

Maternity clothes: I am in all maternity clothes right now, however, have been buying several non-maternity pieces in larger sizes. I am still frustrated with the maternity clothing selection lately and am still trying to be creative and play with larger sized non-maternity clothes. I continue to buy pieces from Kohl's and TJMaxx that are less expensive and won't feel badly if I don't wear them again. The top above is from the Kohl's junior section, but in an extra large!!! You just have to spend some quality time in the dressing room seeing what works and what doesn't. I am so happy that sweater tunics are in style right now because that is all I am wearing with leggings lately. My all time favorite maternity purchase so far this pregnancy is the Old Navy maternity jeggings. I am wearing them in this picture too but you can't really see much of them. I was a bit nervous purchasing jeggings even when I am not pregnant but these things are actually very flattering. They look great with flats or boots.

Stretch Marks: None right now and I never developed any with Jillian. Thank you Mom for these great genes!!

Sleep: Sleep is hit or miss. Some nights I have a good night of sleep and others I toss and turn from back pain or from Jillian waking up in the middle of the night. My back is really sore this time around and I think it's from carrying Jillian around. There was one day this week where I had to try to pick Jillian up out of her crib three separate times before I was able to do it. The pain in my back sometimes is so sharp that I have to re-adjust how I pick her up.

Best moment this week: Jeff was able to interact with our little man one night laying in bed and it was such an exciting first moment between father and son. Jeff would talk to my belly and he would respond with a kick. The more Jeff talked, the more he would move. He certainly was responding to Jeff's voice and it was so amazing!
Movement: I love when our little man is on my right side, I can feel him so much better when he isn't hiding on the left side where the placenta is. His kicks are getting stronger and I really can feel him at night. I finally felt a foot or an appendage!!! It was so cute, I had almost forgotten what it was like to feel little baby body parts in your belly. Certainly a sign that our little man is growing!

Food cravings: Nothing out of the ordinary this week, however, salty snacks like cheese and crackers and potato chips are really appealing to me right now.

Gender: BOY!!! Our little guy continues to remain nameless, we are still working on it!! As of now, our list has been narrowed down to Nicholas or Jeffrey. Both family names, we have eliminated all non family names from our list, they just didn't seem as special to us when it came down to seriously discussing it. Nicholas Robert or Nicholas Alan seems to be the front runner right now.

Labor Signs: Thankfully none so far.

Belly Button in or out: Out.

What I miss: Nothing really although the smell or beer and wine are really starting to appeal to me now and I am really missing a nice glass of wine with my girlfriends. Every time Jeff drinks a beer, I find myself just wanting to smell it. You couldn't get near me with a glass of wine or beer in my first trimester with me not wanting to run into the bathroom or gag. It's so amazing how our bodies just seem to know what to do!

What I am looking forward to: Meeting my little man!! I have really started to think about what he looks like and how life will be like with him. We are no where near ready but that doesn't make me any less excited to be the Mommy of a little boy!!!

Milestones: Feeling that little baby foot!

One thing I wanted to mention is that I am extremely Anemic this pregnancy so I am now taking daily iron supplements to help which I think is finally working. There have been so many days where I have felt like I was hit by a truck and simply couldn't shake a horribly sluggish feeling. I was initially prescribed iron supplements 4 times a week but it just wasn't helping much. I have also tried eating more red meat which I NEVER eat. I am a turkey and chicken kinda gal but that didn't seem to be doing much help either. My doctor continues to test me every few weeks so hopefully the next time around my numbers will finally start to look better.

November 2011

2011-12-15T07:00:00.007-05:00

I feel like November 2011 was even busier than October if that is possible. I had four big Thirty-One parties in November which kept me insanely busy. The pictures in this college are pretty much the last two weeks of the month so you can pretty much guess when those four parties took place!! One of these days, I am going to have someone take pictures or videos of my in action at my parties, perhaps once I am feeling more comfortable about my speaking in front of people.

{November 2011}

Week 1: November also proved to be fairly mild, however, extremely rainy. Cleveland hit their all time record in rain fall in a year this month which is absolute craziness if you think about it. I am so sick of the rain!! Please snow already!!! At least snow is pretty and exciting, not dreary and depressing!!! Anyway.........the leaves for the most part have almost completely fallen off the trees which means we can see our deer friends again! Our woods are just loaded with deer. Our personal record of the number of deer spotted in our back yard at one time still remains at 17 when we first moved here in 2007. They pretty much hide all Summer long deep in the woods, however, once the leaves fall, their food source deteriorates rapidly and they come out looking for food. Particularly our stocked bird feeder. I know it's a small picture, but you can see this beautiful buck snacking on bird seed remnants from our bird feeder.

Week 2: We took Jillian back to the allergist to get tested again for milk, eggs and peanuts. The good news is that she is no longer allergic to peanuts!!!! Woo hoo!!!! Jillian is still allergic to eggs and milk, however, her numbers in those areas have lowered as well. In celebration, Jillian and I resumed our traditional Friday afternoon lunches at Chick-Fil-A where she happily ate chicken nuggets fried in peanut oil! Jillian's allergist also recommended that she finally go off of the insanely expensive formula we have been giving her and try Silk or rice milk instead. Well, she absolutely hates both and refuses to drink either one. We have tried giving her just a splash in her sippy but she responds with a disgusted raspberry and a "no like it". We have tried giving it to her with Hershey syrup and "no like it". I even tried it, it was good! Nope! Not our picky little girl. So we continue to give her the expensive formula. We are completely at a loss on how to get this situation turned around. I would love to hear ideas on how you transitioned your child to milk. I realize she is a year older than most kids that go through this but because of her milk allergy, we had no choice and now she just flat out refuses. Ugh!!!

Week 3: Leaves have now completely fallen off the trees and it's still raining! Ahhh! But, it's the week of Thanksgiving in which we have so much to be thankful for!!! We hosted Thanksgiving for the first time at our house which was a lot of fun and a lot of work! I give my Mom a lot of credit for hosting for so many years. I now feel like a seasoned Thanksgiving hostess and feel better prepared if we do this again!!!! Here is Jeff trying to figure out how to stuff the turkey and the after!!!! For Turkey rookies, it looked pretty good! We did have to put it back into the oven to cook for another 45 after the first time we took it out but can happily say it was a success!!!! I wish I would have gotten a picture of Jillian all dressed up in her Thanksgiving outfit, but unfortunately was too busy trying to feed everyone turkey that this was the best I could do. Her hair is looking a tad bit disheveled here after her nap and running around with her cousins. That weekend since so many family members were in town, we celebrated my niece Katelyn's 1st Birthday. Katelyn is my sister's daughter and I still can not believe she is one! I feel like we just had a sprinkle for her yesterday. Jillian loved helping Katelyn celebrate her birthday, as you can see, she liked reading the birthday cards with my sister. The picture with all of the little ones are all of the cousins on my side of the family. My sister's two girls, Jillian, and my brother's twin daughters. It's very challenging trying to snap a picture of five toddler girls but I somehow managed while they were all trying to help unwrap the gifts. It was so nice to see my brother and his girl's who were in town visiting from Arkansas. My cousin Amy was also in town visiting from West Virgina and is expecting a little boy a day before me!!! Needless to say, March is going to be a busy time for our family!!!

Week 4: I ended a very busy month with my first vendor show with Thirty-One Gifts. The event was held at a local party center in celebration of a Mom's Night Out. I was so proud of how my display turned out, I would certainly buy a new purse from this nice looking table, wouldn't you???

October 2011

2011-12-13T12:57:00.002-05:00

With all of my 2011 Thirty-One Parties behind me, I am able to focus on a few other things in my life again, like Blogging!!! It's been a wonderful experience starting my new business with Thirty-One, however, I am looking forward to the break and getting back on track with other things I enjoy doing. In only a few short months, I can solely focus on Thirty-One so I know all of the hard work I am putting in now working two jobs will pay off in the long run!

I honestly think Fall passed me by in a blink of an eye! Where in the world did it go??? Although we haven't had too much snow to speak of just yet here in Cleveland, I still feel like Winter is here and Fall has been gone for awhile now. In an effort to play catch up, I am going to publish a few posts summarizing our busy October and November which will bring us to where we are today, The Christmas Season!!!

{October 2011}

Week 1: We began our October here in Cleveland with beautiful weather and mild temperatures. I had to capture our backyard trees which were adorned in beautiful shades of yellow this year. Our view from the back of our house never seems to disappoint!!! I turned 17 weeks pregnant and finally started to feel a bit more confidant about our growing little baby. In just two weeks, we were going to find out what we were having and I was beyond excited!!!

Week 2: The mild October weather continued so we ventured out one afternoon after my 18 week appointment and headed out to Patterson Fruit Farm. Jillian loved playing among all the pumpkins and helped us pick out a "winner" for us to carve later that month. We took the same family picture that we had two years prior overlooking the beautiful park.

Back then, I was 7 months pregnant with Jillian. How times have changed!!!

Week 3: On October 21st, we found out we were having a healthy little boy. I am still in shock it's a boy and can't believe how blessed we are. It just goes to show that God is listening and really does have a plan. At some point that week, we had just put Jillian to bed and our door bell rang. A neighbor had left us a fun 'Boo' package so we ran out and bought two 'Boo' packages of our own to hand out to two unsuspecting neighbors. I just love how our neighborhood has such a sense of community and does so many fun things together. The booing tradition keeps growing every year and is only going to get bigger as more homes are built. At the end of the week, we spent our Saturday evening carving pumpkins and making pumpkin seeds. I absolutely LOVE pumpkin seeds and will have to post the Pumpkin seed recipe next year. I had every intention of doing it this year, however, I don't think anyone has any pumpkin seeds readily available right now! Ha! At least I have the pictures already taken for next year.

Week 4: I celebrated my 20 week of pregnancy and snapped this picture right before I left to hang out with my friend Shannon and her adorable kids. Her daughter Quinlan is the same age as Jillian and they love to play together. Jillian went trick-or-treating for the first time and absolutely loved it. It was FREEZING that night so our little lady bug only made it to a few houses around the cul-de-sac before the poor things lips started turning blue and she was shivering. I think that was all she needed though, she certainly preferred hanging out at home passing out candy to the kids. Every time a trick-or-treater would come to our door, she would yell "More kids, more kids!" It was hilarious. She still talks about it today, I am so glad she had such a fun time. I snapped a quick picture of our front porch before heading inside for the night. I was proud of myself for even finding the time to plant mums this year and put our Fall flag out so I had to capture the proof!!

Although it feels funny to talk about Halloween as I am listening to Christmas carols, we had a great October and had to document it before the memories faded away!!!

My Reason for Lack of Blog Posts

2011-11-17T14:34:00.002-05:00

This what my front porch has been looking like lately. An endless stack of Thirty-One Gifts deliveries. Of course, I couldn't be more thrilled and can not get over the success that has become of my Thirty-One career. I am loving it and can't wait to see where Thirty-One Gifts takes me. It has such a blessing in my life and has far exceeded my expectations!!!

I hate to let my blog suffer in the mean time and have so many posts rolling around in my head, however, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!

Just thought I would check in and say hello and that all is well with me and my little man. Hope y'all are doing well too!!!

First Snowfall of the Year!

2011-11-11T07:52:00.001-05:00

This morning I woke up to the first snowfall of the year!!! It actually was a bit of a wild and windy night that brought the snow, I was woken up to what they call "thunder snow". Have you all ever heard of it? It's when it is snowing and thundering. A bit of a wild phenomenon that doesn't happen too often. I was really hoping it would 't wake up Jillian, we were all in bed earlier than usual last night and was really looking forward to a good night sleep in our house! Luckily, Jillian slept through it and I fell right back to sleep.

Winter is here!! Have you had your first snowfall yet?

20 Weeks - Baby #2

2011-11-10T07:00:00.003-05:00

How far along? 20 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 10 lbs. This may be a bit of a conservative estimate considering I had my fair share of Halloween Candy this year!! This was certainly my demise with Jillian and proved to be again this pregnancy. I plan on taking the rest of the candy to work tomorrow to get it out of our house!!!!

Maternity clothes: I am pretty much out of all of my pre-pregnancy clothes, especially the pants. A few tops I can manage but very few!!! I decided to take some time to check out Kohl's this weekend. I am not typically a Kohl's shopper, however, they have reasonably priced, stylish clothes. I have to say that my shopping trip was a complete success!!! I bought a few sweater tunics and jeggings from the "Elle" brand all in larger sizes than I normally wear. This may be the way to go for me this pregnancy. I have just been so frustrated and disappointed in the selection of maternity clothes out there. I do have a few items coming to be from Old Navy which I am excited about but they too only have so many things that I can wear!!! If you are pregnant, certainly take some time to try on a few regular in a size or two larger than your normal size and see how it goes. I was pleasantly surprised!!! I plan on showing off one of my new tops from Kohl's in my 21 week post.

Stretch Marks: None right now and I never developed any with Jillian. Thank you Mom for these great genes!!

Sleep: Sleep has been going well although I still wake up at least once, sometimes twice, a night to pee. Jillian has been getting up once or twice a week lately asking for milk which has not been fun. She has been going right back to sleep which is a blessing but for the life of me, not sure why some nights she sleeps and some nights she wakes up. Still!!!

Best moment this week: Finding new clothes that I actually like and do not feel like a pregnant frump! I also love buying my little man some clothes!!! Since he is the first boy on both sides of the family, we are literally starting from scratch with him.

Movement: I can feel the baby move now on both sides of my belly!! He is starting to take full advantage of all the room he has right now.

Food cravings: Halloween candy and rice!! I am really loving all sorts of rice right now, especially fried rice with peas in it. So random!!!

Gender: BOY!!! Our little guy continues to remain nameless, we are still working on it!! As of now, our list has pretty much stayed the same since Baby #1. We love Nicholas (named after Jeff's Grandpa, Dad, and brother), Michael, Joseph, Jeffrey (yes, we are considering a Jr!) and James. All extremely traditional names. For a middle name Robert (my Dad's Name) or Allen (My Dad's and Jeff's middle name).

Labor Signs: Thankfully none so far.

Belly Button in or out: Out.

What I miss: Not too much at this moment, I am not as strict with my diet as I was with Jillian. Everything in moderation though. I really would like to start working out more by walking on the treadmill at the gym. Once the weather cools down permanently, I will probably start doing this.

What I am looking forward to: Reaching the 24 week viability mark. I know 24 weeks is so early for our little man to come, however, I feel that once we reach the 24 week mark, he is ours!!! I am also looking forward to planning out his nursery, we started dismantling one of our two guest bedrooms and can't wait to start the planning process!!!

Milestones: Reaching the half way point!

Chicken Spaghetti

2011-11-08T15:41:00.002-05:00

Fall is here. The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer. A delicious meal of comfort food on a cold evening just really hits the spot!!

If you are on Pinterest then I am sure you have noticed all of the delicious recipes floating about. Why is it that the recipes are the one's that I always seem to pin???? Pinning the recipes are easy, finding the time to make something you found on Pinterest is another story! I was so proud of myself when I actually took the next step and committed myself to making a recipe I found on Pinterest!!!! This one is particularly yummy since it originated from the famous Pioneer Woman!!! Have y'all tried Chicken Spaghetti? If not, you must! Jeff really loved it and I did too!

{What you Need}

2 Large Boneless Chicken Breasts or
1 Large Rotisserie Chicken cut into bite size pieces**

1 lb Thin Spaghetti

2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup

Chopped Onion - To Taste

Green Pepper - To Taste

Pimentos - (I chose not to use in my recipe)
Sharp Cheddar Cheese - 2 cups

Salt and Pepper to taste

Lawry's Season Salt - To Taste
Cayenne Pepper - To Taste (I chose not to use in my recipe)

**Karen At Home Blog...Homemaking Made Simple Shortcut**

{How You Make It}

Defrost the boneless chicken breasts and cut them up into bite size pieces. In a stove top skillet, cook your chicken (using a little butter or oil if you choose) until the chicken is cooked thoroughly. While your chicken is cooking, boil your water and cook your pasta. Do not over cook the spaghetti! It will make your meal dish mushy. While your chicken and spaghetti are cooking, you have a few minutes to chop up your green pepper and onion.

In a large bowl, mix your chicken (rotisserie or cooked chicken), spaghetti, soup, green pepper, onion, pimentos and seasonings. Add only 1 of the 2 cups of cheese. Mix until thoroughly coated in soup.

Place mixture in a casserole dish. Cover with remaining 1 cup of cheese.

At this point, you can cover it well and freeze it, unbaked. Or you can cover it and refrigerate it, unbaked, for up to two days before baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes until hot & bubbly. Enjoy!!!

Today I am linking up to the following parties!!!!

A Bowl Full of Lemons - One Project At A Time

Home Stories A to Z - Tutes and Tips Tuesday

Not Just a Housewife - Show Us What You Got

Jillian's First Trick Or Treat Video

2011-11-02T07:52:00.001-04:00

Hello and Happy Halloween!!!! I hope everyone had a fabulous Halloween and hopefully getting over your candy hangover like I am! I have so many Fall and Halloween posts to write, however, thought I would share this adorable video of Jillian's first Trick Or Treat. It's so precious, I am so glad I took it.

I took the video vertically from my iphone so please excuse the size!! Hope to see you all soon!

It's A Boy!!

2011-10-21T21:48:00.005-04:00

Boy!!! We are so thrilled to announce it's a very healthy baby BOY! We couldn't be more excited, we are so blessed!

We are in love with his cute face already! He has Jillian's nose, it's so sweet.

17 Weeks - Baby #2

2011-10-14T22:56:00.002-04:00

I am finally kicking off my weekly pregnancy posts, hopefully I will become a bit better in this area as my pregnancy progresses. I am now starting to feel movement which has really given me the confidence to stop worrying and finally enjoy this pregnancy!!! In comparison to my pregnancy with Jillian, there have been two differences that seem to be standing out. The first one is that I am extremely thirsty!!! I have been searching high and low for a sparkling beverage that will quench my thirst like only Diet Pop can with me, however, haven't been able to find a healthy alternative. I did just pick up a 4-pack of Izze today at the grocery store which seems to be pretty tasty so far. Hopefully I have found my pregnancy drink!!! The second one is that I am feeling this baby a lot sooner than I did with Jillian. I have been feeling pops and flutters starting at 16 weeks, even an occasional tap or two in my lower abdomen. Now every few days when the baby is on my left side, I can really feel he or she move around which has been very reassuring!!!

I did the same pregnancy summary below that I did with Jillian, it will be fun to compare the two pregnancies!!!

How far along? 17 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 10 lbs. As I learned from my pregnancy with Jillian, I gain a lot of weight in the beginning of my pregnancies. I know some women gain a lot of weight at the end, mine seems to be in the beginning. To be honest, it's the girls!!!! I pretty much go from a B to a D over night. It's a bit comical but it's the truth!!! I have learned that is just how I am. It's so fun to now have another pregnancy to compare everything too now.

On a side note, since I was initially pregnant with twins through almost 11 weeks, I grew very big very quickly, my belly and weight gain have seemed to have plateaued a bit so I am sure that made a significant impact in my progress in the beginning.

Maternity clothes: Most of the clothes I wear are pregnancy clothes with the exception of a few pairs of pants that I can still get away with when wearing them with a Bella band. I have a pretty decent collection of maternity clothes from my pregnancy with Jillian which has made the transition to maternity clothes so much easier this time around. My sister has also graciously lent me hers as well so I am pretty set. I am lacking in long sleeve maternity tops which I will need to pick up a few more. I also need a few cute pair of maternity jeans and longer tops to wear with leggings. I love the leggings look when pregnant, and they are super comfortable.

Stretch Marks: None right now and I never developed any with Jillian. Thank you Mom for these great genes!!

Sleep: I can't complain too much about sleep right now. Jillian has had an amazing week as far as sleep goes, this has probably been her best week of sleep since birth. She has really gotten into a groove and barely fusses when we put her down for a nap or at night. She is also sleeping a consistent 11 hours and her normal sleep schedule is around 9:30pm to 8:30am. It's wonderful! So because she is sleeping, I am sleeping. I do get up at least 1-2 times a night to pee. My biggest issue lately is getting to bed at a decent hour. I have always been a night owl and normally get a second wind after Jillian goes to bed. I need to learn to fight the urge to stay up and need to be more diligent on getting to bed by 10pm. I have been going to bed after 11pm lately and I am always cursing myself in the morning for it. Hence, it's 10:50pm right now and I am staying up to blog since it's pretty much the only time I get to blog these days.

Best moment this week: Feeling the baby move more and more. The movements are becoming stronger and giving me more confidence that my baby is growing and thriving.

Movement: Yes, every few days I am starting to feel those familiar taps again. I now know how they feel and it's so great to finally be able to get some constant reassurance that everything is going well in there!

Food cravings: Sweetarts and Combos. My neighbor who is also expecting was telling me about her cravings and Combos were one of the items she listed. Ever since then, I have been wanting them myself!!! I have also found too that not a lot of grocery stores carry Combos anymore. Why is that??? Must find some!

Gender: We will find out a week from today!!!

Labor Signs: Thankfully none so far.

Belly Button in or out? Partially out.

What I miss: My Diet Dr. Pepper habit. I have had a few here and there but trying to save it for the moments when I really need one.

What I am looking forward to: finding out the sex next week! I am growing more and more anxious the closer we get to that moment!!! We have barely even discussed names, nursery ideas, things to buy, etc, until we know for sure if it's a he or a she!!! Once we do, then it's game on!

Milestones: Finally feeling consistent movement!! Have I mentioned that yet? Ha! It's just so nice to know everything is OK in there!!! It really makes everything feel more real.

Fun Things that Happened this Week: My cousin, who is due a day before me, found out she is having a BOY!!!! So thrilled for her and her family!!!

So what are you thinking it will be for us? Boy or Girl? I would love to hear your thoughts!!!

All Things Loved in September

2011-10-11T14:39:00.001-04:00

I am excited to get back into my monthly "All Things Loved" posts. I love sharing what I am into lately and these posts are a great opportunity for me to do so!!! Without further ado, here is what I was loving in September!!!

{Favorite Iphone App of the Month - Check Out Helper App}

The Checkout Helper App has been a life saver for me at my Thirty One Parties!! This little App calculates takes your base price and applies any shipping and tax percentage of your choosing. It will then itemize and total your whole order for you. Makes life it so much easier when I have to write up several orders at my Thirty One Parties.

{Target Prenatal Gummy Multivitamins}

I came across these Gummy prenatal vitamins when I was desperate to find a prenatal vitamin that didn't make me super nauseous twenty minutes after taking them. These gummy vitamins are the yummiest tasting vitamins I have ever tried and don't give you that sour stomach after feeling. One downfall I have to mention is that these vitamins do not contain ANY iron which is probably the reason WHY they do not make you nauseous. I am slightly anemic again this pregnancy so I need as much I iron as I can get. I have only used these sparingly and on the days that I was experiencing severe morning sickness. They certainly did the trick and this way I was still able to take some kind of prenatal vitamins even on the days where I didn't want to stick anything in my stomach.

{Erin Condren Daily Planner}

It seems like all I heard about on Twitter this Summer was the lastest Erin Condren Daily Planner craze. I actually think I had first heard about it from Sarah over at Life Sweet Life. I was in the market for a new and user-friendly planner with all of my Thirty One parties I had to now keep track of . This seemed to be exactly what I was looking for! Not to mention this planner is PRETTY and came in a lot of other fun patterns. I also could have it personalized however I wanted. Isn't it pretty??? I just love it!

Because there was so much chatter on Twitter about these planners, I was able to find a $50 for $25 deal on any Erin Condren purchase!!! I am excited to announce that the Erin Condren deal is back and you too can get the same deal here. I can honestly say I use this planner every day and it's been great so far in keeping me organized. I love using my iPhone calendar for alerts and appointments, however, I guess I am old school in the fact that I still need to write things down to make myself feel more organized and put together.

{Crockpot Recipes}

Although Fall has barely begun, I was really excited to break out my crock pot this month. Kelly over at Kelly's Korner had a Crockpotalooza link up party where everyone posted their favorite crock pot recipes. I also came across a fun facebook page called Crock Pot Girls. The popularity of this page was astounding and it grew to over 1,000,000 fans practically over night! If you own a crock pot and are looking forward to using it this Fall and Winter, I highly suggest you check out both of these sites!!!!

I kicked off my Crock Pot season by making my Mom's Beef Stew recipe. Yum!!!! It did not disappoint. I will post this recipe down the road once I make it again and take better pictures!!! For now, here is a sneak peak compliments of my iPhone.

{Favorite Blog in September - Life Sweet Life}

I haven't found any new blogs this month to mention, however, I wanted to feature my friend Sarah over at Life Sweet Life today as my favorite blog of the month. I have been following Sarah since she was around 7 months pregnant with her son Manny and her blog is always one of the first that I visit when I have a few minutes to catch up on my blog reading. Sarah's blog is one of my favorite's for so many reasons. First, she is a total sweet heart and has amazing taste! Did you see her son's first birthday party??? This girl can plan a celebration!!!! She also brings so many great ideas to the blogosphere as you can see from my Erin Condren Planner above. I am also happy to say that she announced on her blog yesterday that she is pregnant with Baby #2!!!

I am so thrilled for her and looking forward to sharing our second pregnancies together. Congratulations Sarah!!!!

{A Big Thank You to My Top Referrals in September}

1.Stafford Stories

2.Ashley's Avenue

3.Jenna's Journey

4.Melissa's Heart and Home

9.Fingerprints on the Fridge

10.Bower Power Blog

Thirty One Gifts

2011-10-04T17:36:00.004-04:00

I have been having a lot of fun lately trying to develop my new Thirty-One Gifts Business. It certainly has been keeping me busy but I wouldn't have it any other way. Being busy in the home direct sales business is a good thing!! One would think that I don't have enough time as it is to taking on anything new, however, I am trying to build a customer base now before Baby #2 arrives!!! Thank goodness I have such a supportive husband who wants me to do well and to succeed!!!! After all, he does benefit from my success too!! And, this will be a way to keep some of the financial burden off of him once the second baby comes.

I wish I had taken a few pictures of me in action at my parties, however, I will entice you with all of the beautiful products instead. Perhaps once I get into a groove, I will actually remember to take pictures and videos!!

My business had a bit of a slow start in the beginning. It seems like as soon as I received my pretty pink box filled with my start-up kit and business supplies, the morning sickness set in.

Just the sight of my pretty pink box gave me anxiety which was so frustrating. I had so many big plans and was so excited when I signed up!!! I wanted to really hit the ground running with it, however, realized that my body was just not cooperating with me and decided to hold off on scheduling any parties until I felt better and that I had the energy to give it my all.

I had my first official party at the end of August. My co-worker and friend, Rene', was gracious enough to allow me into her home and introduce Thirty-One Gifts to her friends and family. I was so nervous and prayed that I wouldn't be plagued too much by the pregnancy sickies and exhaustion. Thankfully, the party fell on one of my good days and actually felt energized going into it. I was also extremely nervous!!!!! I am not one of those people that feels comfortable doing a presentation in front of people, whether it's friends or strangers, I am a nervous wreck!! In college, I saved the mandatory Presentation 101 class for my senior year since I hated it that much!! The party ended up being a huge success and I actually felt this amazing high driving home knowing I had survived my first party. It could only get easier from there!!!

Isn't this Hanging Wall Organizer adorable? This is the first product I bought with my very first commission check. I had so many questions at my first party about it, I just had to order it!!

In September, I had four parties scheduled. Thirty-One Gifts had offered hostesses in the month of September DOUBLE the bonus rewards and I was a busy girl because of it!!! I have also signed up my first recruit this month too! My little team is growing and I can't wait to see to where Thirty-One takes me!!!

If anyone ever has any questions about Thirty-One Gifts, I am more than happy to answer them for you! Please feel free to email me at my Thirty-One Gifts account karen_31gifts@yahoo.com or visit my website at www.mythirtyone.com/77283.

Bittersweet

2011-09-22T09:51:00.002-04:00

Thanks so much for all of your sweet comments so far! It’s been fun sharing our story and such a relief to finally be able to finally be open about it! As I mentioned in my previous post, everything is going so well right now, however, this pregnancy has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster. I thought about not blogging about what I am planning on sharing with you but at the same time, it was such an amazing, shocking, and exciting time of my pregnancy, that I want to remember and document it as best as I can. I will never forget what I am about to share with you and it’s my way of honoring what happened.

My infertility specialist gives all of his patients a seven week ultra sound to check the viability of the embryo. The seven week ultra sound for me is always such a scary and stressful time. The wait and anticipation alone is so hard! I swear at every appointment I have to make at least two trips to the bathroom as we wait on the doctor to come in because I am so worked up about it. We have had two ultra sounds in the past not go well at all and I don’t think I will ever be calm before any ultra sound appointment ever again! If I could have a glass a wine before these ultra sound appointments to calm my nerves, I would! They seriously need to look into inventing “pregnancy wine” that has the same calming affects but safe for Mom and Baby!

After waiting for a good twenty minutes, my doctor finally came into the exam room. He was happy to see us and shook both of our hands in congratulations. He always asks how I am, I always reply with nervous, and then he always replies with, well lets hope we can put your mind at ease. We have been through this scenario with him several times before and it’s always the same conversation. My Infertility doctor is so nice, I can’t say that enough. We owe so much to him and certainly would not be parents today without all of his help. I am so happy with my decision to see him for the beginning of this pregnancy with all of the extra measures that he takes to ensure everything is going well. It really helped to put our mind at ease.

The ultra sound begins and I hold my breath staring intently at the screen trying to make out an embryo with a little white flicker. I think I see one and he then stops on it and confirms that there is an embryo with a beating heart. I relaxed a little bit and asked him immediately to measure it. I should be measuring 7weeks 3 days at that point and thankfully I was. A huge relief!! The doctor then starts searching around, checks my ovaries for cysts, and then out of the blue exclaims “And there are two!!!!” At that moment, I was like, what???? Are you serious? Where? And he shows another embryo with a little white flicker. I asked him to measure this one, it’s 7weeks 3 days!!! To say that Jeff and I were stunned is an understatement. We were blown away! I remember vaguely asking him over and over again, how can that be? How did this happen? After that point, everything is a bit fuzzy. I was in such a shock, I just remember Jeff and I laughing a lot and just out of my mind shocked by the whole thing. My doctor was so happy for us, he kept congratulating us and saying, these things happen! This was 100% all on our own. We were blown away. And they were both healthy!!! That for us was probably the closest thing to a miracle we have ever experienced. Our doctor told us to come back again in two weeks and to call him if I experience any problems until then.

{Our little twins at 7 weeks}

Jeff and I went to Panera for lunch afterwards and still just kept laughing about it in disbelief! It was like we were drunk! It was an absolute shock to both of us, we prayed and prayed for a healthy baby with a healthy growth rate and heart beat and never would have anticipated seeing two!!! It was crazy, neither of us got any sleep that night. I got up around 3am to use the bathroom and couldn’t fall back to sleep. I kept thinking perhaps I had dreamt the whole thing. Then Jeff asked me if I was awake which I was, and we talked more about how crazy the whole thing was. We were dying to tell someone because no one would ever believe our news in a million years. We managed to keep our secret and somehow made it the two weeks to the next ultra sound without going absolutely crazy. I was still really sick at that point and now had a better understanding to why. I had double the hormones going on!

Our nine week ultra sound was at a new Cleveland Clinic facility that had an amazing new ultra sound machine. This thing was state of the art, and had 3D and 4D capabilities. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to use them but it was really cool to see that it was available! The ultra sound machine was also connected to a huge 70 inch flat screen mounted pn the wall so I had no issues in seeing what was going on. Again, I was a bundle of nerves before the appointment, now having TWO babies to worry about. Our doctor came in again, the same old conversation took place. How am I feeling? Any spotting? My response, nervous, his response, let’s see if we can put your mind at ease. The ultra sound begins and two little embryos, a lot bigger than the last time, pop up on the big screen. Both measuring perfectly at 9 weeks 4 days, both had healthy heartbeats. We were so relieved. My doctor congratulated us again and said “I expect you to have an uneventful pregnancy” and we said our goodbye’s. We told him that would probably be the last time we ever saw him because he had released us to my regular OB going forward since everything was going so well. Jeff thanked him over and over telling him that we would forever sing his praises and how we owe him so much for Jillian and now these two. With three babies, we had our family and would more than likely not be needing an infertility doctor again.

{Our little twins at 9 weeks}

Our next appointment was with my regular OB at 10 weeks 4 days, one week immediately following our last appointment with our Infertility doctor. My OB is great, this was our first time seeing him and we had a lot to catch him up on. We told him our long pregnancy history and that we were now unexpectedly pregnant with twins. He asked a ton of questions and then examined me and ordered a few routine blood tests. He then asked us if we even wanted an ultra sound since we just had one a week ago and that everything looked good. Of course we still said yes and that any chance we got for an ultra sound we would jump on just to put our mind at ease. My doctor wheeled the ultra sound machine out and started searching for the twins. We saw Baby A with it's heart beating away. Then the worst thing that could of happened actually happened. He couldn’t find a heartbeat on Baby B. He kept searching and re-positioning the wand and then finally just said “I am sorry.” I don’t really know what else to say except that we were so upset, it’s hard for me to put it into words. It was so hard, I just cried for days for our loss. The loss of our miracle, the loss for this baby, and scared to death about what was going to happen to the other baby.

At that ultra sound appointment both babies were measuring a perfect 10 weeks 4 days. Baby B's heart had stopped only hours ago.

Looking back to that horrible day four weeks ago, we were a wreck. Today, we are in a better place and feel so much more positive about everything. Baby A is looking great and looking just as healthy as ever. Our OB has been watching Baby A very closely and performing weekly ultra sounds for us. It's still horribly sad because we always see Baby B too and the doctor has to make sure it is not interfering with Baby A. The twins were fraternal with two placentas and two sacs which is the lowest risk to Baby A. We had an NT scan on Baby A and the results came back showing 80% negative for Down's Syndrome or any other chromosomal abnormality. That is a huge relief! I will never forget those few weeks I felt being the Mommy of twins. In fact, I am still a Mommy of twins, just with one in heaven and one still here with us on Earth. Baby A has a special little angel still with him/her and hopefully it will watch over him/her as it grows.

Baby #2 - The Journey Begins

2011-09-20T14:19:00.001-04:00

Thank you for all your sweet comments on Jillian's exciting news! She just couldn't wait to tell you any longer. I also appreciate all the sweet tweets, emails, and Facebook messages too!

We are so blessed to have so much support in our lives from family, friends, and from all of you! I am so excited to be back and to share with you what has been going on with us these past two months. I hated to take such a long blogging break, however, morning sickness really gave me no choice. I was sick 24/7 and just felt it was the right thing to do. Any spare moment that I did feel good, I wanted to spend with Jeff and Jillian. And, not being able to blog was strangely stressing me out. I felt the “Gone Fishing” excuse was the best way to let everyone know I was still here but had to step away from the blogging world for a bit. I keep hearing from a few of you that “you had your suspicions” because of the bloggy break which cracks me up. You all seem to know me too well!!!

To answer a few of your questions, I am 14 weeks and due on March 19th. We will be finding out the gender to this baby too, our appointment is set for October 21st!!! It’s been a bit of a roller coaster of a pregnancy so I will probably break up my story in a few separate posts to catch you up to where we are today. I really want to document this second pregnancy as much as possible so you will have to bare with me as to how detailed I will probably be!

I received a positive pregnancy test the evening of July 11th, literally six hours after I signed up to be a Thirty One Gifts consultant. To say that God was speaking to me and showing me the way is an understatement. My intentions of signing up to be a Thirty One Gifts Consultant was to establish my own business hopefully before a Baby #2 arrived. I continue to think about the possibility of becoming a stay at home mom and apparently the timing of my decision couldn’t have been more perfect. I decided to take a pregnancy test that evening because I knew my monthly friend was due some time that day and she still hadn’t shown up yet. I happen to have a few extra tests on hand and decided why not? It was the first month we had started to try again after our last loss so I really had no clue what to expect. I was pretty much convinced that I wasn’t pregnant. After dinner, I told Jeff what I was going to do and asked him to keep an eye on Jillian who was still finishing her dinner. I am surprised on how casually I handled this test. Usually I am a hot mess in anticipation of the result but this time I just took it and set it on the counter expecting a negative result. You can imagine my surprise when I started to notice a strong double line showing up! I took the test downstairs with me with a shocked look on my face. I handed the positive test to Jeff and we were both stared at it in amazement! We were both so excited but cautiously optimistic because we had just been through this same scenario two months before.

I decided for this pregnancy to contact my Infertility Specialist right away to do the HcG Testing. We were blessed not to have done any kind of infertility drugs or treatment, however, I had met with him recently to discuss the two losses that I had after Jillian. He knows my history with infertility and recurrent losses so I wanted this pregnancy to be handled very carefully by him. My doctor ordered three HcG tests which came back at 796, 1554, and 3397 which were all very strong numbers! We were off to a good start and now had to wait a few more weeks for the 7 week ultra sound to show a heartbeat.

As you can imagine with everything we have been through, I am pretty much a ball of nerves and full of prayer every day. I pray that we get to meet our little baby in March. We feel unbelievable blessed by God every day to be pregnant again and to be this far along. I am so looking forward to enjoying this pregnancy and embracing this rare gift that God has given to us again! I know now more than ever what a rare gift every pregnancy is and can’t wait to enjoy and cherish every moment!

Jillian's Exciting News!

2011-09-19T08:00:00.007-04:00

Hi all! How is everyone doing? Wow, I can't believe it has been almost two months since I last wrote a blog post. It was a much needed break but I am glad to be back!!! I hope you are as excited about Jillian's news as I am! It's been a crazy two months but I can't wait to catch up and share our journey as we become a family of four!!!! More details to come....

Gone Fishing!

2011-07-28T12:43:00.001-04:00

Hey all! I hope you are all enjoying your Summers! Just wanted to check in and let you know that Karen At Home has "Gone Fishing" and will be taking a Bloggy Break until the end of the Summer. I hope to resume regular blogging at some point in September. I wanted to take this time to enjoy the rest of this beautiful Summer with my family. I look forward to seeing y'all back here in the Fall!

Easy Chicken Salad Sandwiches

2011-07-22T13:48:00.006-04:00

A mixture of cool celery, sweet and succulent chicken, and crunchy almonds, nothing tastes more refreshing on a hot Summer day.

It’s been so hot and humid here in Cleveland, I’ve been looking for meals that won't heat up my kitchen, so I decided to make a quick and easy chicken salad sandwich's for lunch. Delicious chicken salad topped on a fresh and flaky croissant is the perfect Summer lunch time treat for the whole family.

{What you Need}

2 Large Cans of Chicken Breasts**

1 cup of chopped Celery - Most grocery stores sell celery already chopped**

Sweet onions diced 1/2 cup (optional)

Almonds slivered ½ - ¾ cups

Chicken bases 2 tsp.

Hellman's Light Mayonnaise to taste

Salt and Pepper to taste

Package of Croissants from your Grocer's Bakery

**Karen At Home Blog...Homemaking Made Simple Shortcut**

{How You Make It}

Combine chicken, Hellmann’s Light Mayonnaise, celery, almonds, onions and chicken base in medium bowl. Season with salt and black pepper if desired. Spoon chicken salad onto croissants. Enjoy!

I am linking up to the following parties today!

TidyMom - I am Lovin' It

At The Picket Fence - Inspirational Friday

Chick on a Shoestring Decorating - Flaunt It Friday

The Shabby Nest - Frugal Friday

Serenity Now - Weekend Reading

All Things Loved in June

2011-07-19T09:30:00.004-04:00

I feel like I blinked and June was over with. What happened? How did July 4th get here already? And now July is half over with? It just can't be! Before June gets too far away from me, here is what I was loving in June!!

{Favorite Iphone App of the Month - Fisher Price Baby Animals}

The Fisher Price Apps saved me on our trip to Myrtle Beach this year. Poor, sweet Jillian was not feeling the excitement on our twelve hour drive to Myrtle. Thank goodness for this amazing app by Fisher Price. Jillian loved watching the cute animals parade across the screen and even learned that if she touched the screen herself, she could flip to the next animal. She absolutely loved it and it really seemed to make our drive to Myrtle Beach that much easier.

{Favorite Blog in June- Decor and the Dog}

I came across this adorable blog when I participated in the A Bowl Full of Lemons Parade of Homes Tour. If you haven't had a chance to look through all of the homes that participated in the tour, I highly recommend it!

Decor and the Dog is written by an adorable pharmacist named Michelle. She somehow manages to capture her wire fox terrier in all of her pictures. This little dog just cracks me up!!

I also love Michelle's DIY Headboard and the beautiful blue paint color she chose for her master bedroom.

{Hootsuite}

Hootsuite is absolutely amazing, if you love Twitter, I highly suggest using Hootsuite instead. Not to mention the little Owl icon is as cute as can be. I can post directly to my personal Facebook page, my Karen At Home fan page, and my Twitter account all with one push of the button. You can also track your stats on how many followers click on your links. You can also manage your list streams. This is especially helpful when you are mostly interested in a certain group of Tweeters at a given time. It sorts through all of the Twitter clutter for you. You can imagine my excitement when I found that Hootsuite also makes an iPhone app. It's all I use now to keep up with my Tweets. It's an amazing tool, you won't be sorry!

{NARS Lip Gloss}

I typically don't wear lipstick in the Summer months, it just feels too heavy in the heat and humidity. I recently bought a new tube of NARS lipgloss in Risky Business. It's the perfect shade of berry pink. I've used quite a few NARS' glosses and have found them all to be shiny with a nice even finish. From experience, I know that NARS glosses disguise fine lip lines. They don't overpower. I've found that when I use a NARS gloss, my lips stay well hydrated, even when involved in outdoor activities, where otherwise, they might get chapped or dried. My long hair never gets stuck in NARS' glosses, and they're definitely kissable since they're not overly sticky.

{A Big Thank You to My Top Referrals in June}

1.Stafford Stories

2.Ashley's Avenue

3.A Bowl Full of Lemons

4.Here Comes the Fun

5.Kelly's Korner

6.Imperfect

7.Total Tippins Takeover

8.Endless Crafting

9.Jenna's Journey

10.The Francis Family

My Latest Endeavor ~ Thirty One Gifts

2011-07-15T16:06:00.006-04:00

I never thought I would be so excited about a direct selling company until I attended my very first Thirty-One Gifts party last week. I had heard of Thirty-One Gifts on occasion, just never realized how big and exciting it truly was until now! I was first introduced to Thirty-One Gifts when Jillian received an adorable lunch tote for her first birthday with "Jillian" monogrammed on the front. I used it a few times to bring Jillian's lunch to daycare when she was having difficulty eating their provided lunches. When you bring anything into daycare, they want their names plastered all over it, so it was the perfect lunch tote for her!! Jillian's teachers at daycare went absolutely nuts over it and commented that it was the cutest lunch bag they had ever seen. At work, our floor shares a refrigerator where we store all of our packed lunches. I have been noticing more and more brightly colored polka dot lunch totes popping up in it and replacing the standard plastic blue grocery bags. Clearly, Thirty-One Gifts was starting to make it's way into my life.

A few days after the Thirty-One Gifts party, I decided to do some research on the company. I couldn't stop thinking about it and thought that just maybe, I could see myself doing something like this. I absolutely loved the products and loved what Thirty-One Gifts stood for. Did you know the name Thirty-One comes from the Bible verses of Proverbs 31?

The Proverbs 31 woman is dearly loved and respected by him and her children, yet she is an individual in her own right. She manages the home and property with kindness and integrity. Her savvy business skills are partly brought about by her desire to serve others, to do good deeds and prosper.

After a serious conversation with Jeff about my interest in becoming a Thirty-One Gifts consultant, I decided to get in touch with someone from their company to ask the 800 questions I had floating around in my head. The Senior Consultant I spoke to, Leslie, was beyond helpful and extremely enthusiastic about her career so far at Thirty-One Gifts. She had only been there a year, had already been promoted, and had a wonderful career so far with the company. She actually sat on the phone with me for 45 minutes to talk about her experience and gave me a lot of advice on what to do.

The one thing that Leslie had explained to me that I was not expecting was an actual wait list to become a Thirty-One Consultant. The company is growing so quickly that they have to make sure they have enough inventory and office support to handle all of the new consultants and the orders that come with them. Knowing that there was this type of demand to become a consultant and their products completely sold me.

Coincidentally, the Thirty-One Gifts National Conference is going on this week in Columbus, Ohio and I have been keeping up with all of the action on Twitter and Facebook. Listening to all of the excitement and the hype from the National Conference has only fueled my passion to become an independent consultant even more. I am so impressed with how Thirty-One Gifts takes care of it's consultants and employees. They spared no expense in making everyone feel welcome and at home at the National Conference. Since the company is faith based, I was actually following the tweets during the fellowship and worship that began each evening event. How amazing is that? Needless to say, I am smitten and I can't wait to get started.

I have heard different rumors about the Fall catalog coming out in a few weeks and at that time, most of the individuals on the wait list will receive their invitations to become official Thirty One Gifts Consultants. So until then, I am officially a Thirty-One Gifts Independent Consultant, Lady In Waiting. I can't wait to hit the ground running and have been talking to everyone that I can about the wonderful company that Thirty-One Gifts is. I am so excited to begin my Thirty-One story!

Welcome Serenity Now Readers!

2011-07-14T13:31:00.002-04:00

Welcome Serenity Now Readers! I hope you will kick back, relax, and make yourself at "Home". I am so excited that you decided to stop by today. I can't thank Amanda enough for featuring my blog today. Serenity Now has always been such an inspiration to me. I just love Amanda's Crafty Cutter parties and Blogging Tip series. She is a very talented blogger and I am blessed to be teaming up with her!

I also hope you will be sure to enter the $25 Target Giftcard I am giving away today over at Serenity Now! It's my little way of thanking your for stopping by!!!

Looking for a fresh salsa recipe for the Summer? I just love fresh salsa in the Summer with fresh tomatoes from the garden. Try this amazing recipe that I whipped up.

Hosting a Kid's Party or Shower and want an easy way to make Tissue Paper Poms? You will love this easy DIY tutorial.

Missed that Spring Cleaning opportunity this year? Here a few quick tips on how to make your home feeling clean and fresh.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!!!

July 4th Weekend

2011-07-12T09:56:00.002-04:00

Before Summer completely passes us buy, I wanted to share with you our busy July 4th weekend. Is anyone else having trouble keeping up with their blogging this Summer? It's funny because we are so busy and I want to document it all, yet, because we are so busy, I am just not finding the time to Blog about it! Ahhh!

Anyway, Friday night was relatively low key. I made chocolate chip cookies and tried to prepare in advance for the busy weekend that lay ahead. On Saturday, we headed over to my parents house to visit with my brother and my twin nieces who was back in town again from Arkansas. The Twins are getting so big!!

After having lunch at my parents house, we headed back over to our side of town to attend our friends BBQ. The BBQ was held on the dock of our friends boat. We had a blast hanging out on the shores of Lake Erie and Jillian even liked playing in the Lake Erie sand. We are so lucky to live right along the water, it's really beautiful this time of year!

On Sunday, we had planned a backyard swimming play date with my neighbor, Courtney. Courtney is a Mom to an adorable little boy named Gavin who is only 3 months younger than Jillian. I think Jillian has a little crush on him already which is adorable!! We had a blast although I felt like it was pretty much a comedy of errors the whole time we were there. We had literally just arrived and we're chatting and catching up in the kitchen when all of a sudden I felt something dripping on my feet. Jillian had peed straight through her swim diaper!!! It was awful, aren't these things supposed to be specially made to hold in water? Ugh!I felt horrible and utterly embarrassed. Lets hope we are invited back!!!

Jillian had such a blast playing with all of Gavin's water toys even though she was missing her swim diaper and bathing suit bottoms!!! After our play date was over with, I ran to Target and cleaned out their Summer section. We are all stocked up at our house now with pools, water tables, and a blow up water ring. All ready for fun in the sun!!! Hopefully we didn't completely scare Courtney and Gavin away with the "swim diaper incident" and they will play at our house next time!

On the Fourth of July, our neighborhood planned a Fourth of July Parade for the kids. I have honestly say that I am so proud to be a part of such a great neighborhood that plans so many fun things for the kids. Over 60 kids were in attendance and I think it is obvious that a good time was had by all! The Parade was led by a Fire truck and ended with an Ambulance. Needless to say, the kids got a kick out of it. After the parade, a children's carnival was set up in one of the cul de sacs with games and even a visit from the ice cream truck! Jillian loved playing with the plastic ducks in the duck pond and would have loved to have taken them all home if she could of!

I hope you all had a Happy 4th of July Weekend too!

Guest Blogging over at Stafford Stories

2011-07-11T09:00:00.002-04:00

Good morning and happy Monday!!! I hope you all had a great weekend! I am so excited to be guest blogging today over at Stafford Stories! Melissa is hosting a Working Moms Guest Blogging Series which promises to be amazing. I enjoyed reading all of your Stay At Home Mom posts and can't wait to read about the busy lives of working Moms. Please head on over to Melissa's Blog to read my post and be sure to head back all week to catch all of the Working Mom posts!

Giving Some Sponsorship Love!

2011-07-07T07:00:00.002-04:00

Hi there!!! I wanted to take a moment to give a little love to the sponsors over here at Karen At Home, they have provided some amazing giveaways and discounts over the last several weeks, and I can't show my appreciation enough!!!

{Bibeez Baby}

First, I would like to introduce to you Bibeezbaby, our newest sponsor here at Karen At Home. Bibeez Baby is custom order, handmade baby gifts, designed and made by a mom to make things a little easier and a little more adorable! Please check out this amazing Etsy shop, you will be blown away by all of the colorful bibs, diaper clutches, and pacifier pouches.

{25 Design}

Twenty Five Designs goal is to provide you with funky, fresh and inspired accessories. Torie pride's herself in offering high quality items for you and those you love at a reasonable price. She believes that customer service is so important and would love to have you as a returning customer! Twenty Five's goal is your satisfaction! Custom orders are welcomed too!

Torie, the creator and owner of 25 Design, was one of the very first blogging friends I made after giving birth to Jillian. We both had infant girls similar in age and we just clicked. I loved reading her blog posts about her daughter Rylie, and was inspired by her personal sense of style in her 'Steppin Out' posts. I was also blown away by her adorable hair accessory shop, Twenty Five Design! What girl doesn't like trendy and beautiful hair accessories? What is most amazing to me is that Torie makes these herself!! Torie started out making baby and toddler hair products as a hobby when she realized that all women want to look and feel pretty no matter what their age. Thus, Twenty Five Design the store was created.

Torie has been kind enough to offer a 15% discount for my readers who use the code KAREN15.

You will get 15% off of your entire order! Head on over now to Twenty Five Design for some Funky, fresh and inspired accessories.

Please check out Torie's adorable shop today and pick out a treat for all of the special women in your life!!

{Sweet Tea Paper}

Sweet Tea Paper is an Etsy Shop that who specializes in full, fabulous, high quality tissue Pom Poms. Sweet Tea's Paper Poms are sure to be the statement piece at your next event. They are the perfect decor for weddings, wedding showers, baby showers, nurseries, and birthday parties!

As a busy, working Mom, I am always looking for ways to save time and money when planning a party or an event. Sweet Tea Paper can help you achieve both!! Sweet Tea Paper is giving away a set of napkin poms to one of my lucky readers. Wouldn't these look adorable at your next party this Summer?

{Sweet Bean Co ~ Simply Sweet Designs}

You'll find a little bit of everything at Sweet Bean, from invitations to full party packages, Shannon does it all! All design products can be easily customized. If you are also interested in having a Bloggy Makeover or just want to purchase a premade design template, Sweet Bean can help you with all of your blog design needs!

Sweet Bean Designs can create cards for any holiday and any occasion. Check out these adorable cards that Shannon made for our Jillian.

{Little Loves' Designs}

Little Loves' Designs is full of super adorable baby accessories that are so on trend right now. Mandy, is the owner and creator behind this fantastic shop. Little Loves Designs' carries the latest styles in baby headbands, teen headbands, adult headbands, flower headbands and hair clips. She uses high quality materials on every design she makes. Each of the flower headbands are handmade when ordered with attention to detail as her number one priority.

Thanks again to all of my lovely sponsors!! Please show them some love by stopping by their shops!!!

Interested in becoming a Karen At Home Approved Sponsor? I am now accepting applications! Please contact me at karenathomeblog@yahoo.com for more details.

What We Have Been Up To

2011-07-06T07:00:00.009-04:00

Hello! It's so great to be back blogging again after the Stay At Home Mom Guest Blogging Series. I really hope you all learned something from our amazing guest Bloggers. I was humbled by so many of their touching stories and felt so truly blessed that they would use my Blog as a creative outlet to share it all with you.

I missed you all so much and am excited to get back to regular Blogging!! Summer is in full swing around here and we have been busy busy!!! I thought I would briefly catch you all up on what we have been up to lately via my iPhone pics.

{We Went to Myrtle Beach}

We are very blessed to have family with a Condo in Myrtle Beach and to say that take advantage of this opportunity whenever we get a chance is an understatement. For those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile now, you full well know about my obsession with Myrtle Beach. It worked out that we were able to travel there twice this year which was wonderful!! Unfortunately, someone forgot to notify the germs at daycare about our vacation plans and my poor sweet girl came down with Hand Foot Mouth Disease the day before we were supposed to leave!!! We ended up delaying our trip by a few days until Jillian's fever went down, however, the poor thing had to deal with the mouth blisters the whole time we were there. The poor thing couldn't eat for a week, I felt so badly for her and so helpless not being able to help her. If she could of handed me her mouth sores so she could eat a proper meal, I would have taken them in a minute. I honestly can say that Hand Foot Mouth Disease has been my least favorite of the germs Jillian has brought home from daycare thus far. With that said, we didn't take too may pictures of my baby girl this trip, good thing I took a lot when we were visiting in April.

My little bathing beauty trying to put on a happy face even though she wasn't feeling well.

{We are Building a Deck}

The deck construction has begun and I am very excited to show you all the finished product. Here are a few pictures of the before and during process. I will probably write a separate post of the after and our plans to decorate our new outdoor space!

The lines have been drawn.

The posts have been set.

And the flooring has been placed.

I have better Before pictures but I will save them for the big After reveal post.

{The Dining Room is Being Painted}

Well, I guess you can say these three blue swatches are what has been painted so far. I will have to dedicate a separate post and gather every one's opinion because this one has been really killing me. I can't decide on a simple shade of blue gray for our dining room. I have a lot of fun inspirational pictures saved on Pinterest, so if you follow me, you will see where I am going with this.

I hope you all are doing well! That is what has been going on here with us. I am sure your Summer is flying by as fast as mine is!

Life of a SAHM Series {Day 16}: Hines - Sight Blog

2011-07-05T07:00:00.004-04:00

Hi there and welcome to Day 16 of the Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Guest Blogging Series!!! If you are just joining our Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Series, welcome! Miss a post? You can find all the entries for our series listed for you here.

I am sad to say that this our last guest blogger in our series. What an amazing group of Bloggers we had here these past two weeks! I have learned so much from these amazing Mom's and I am truly humbled that you wanted to share in this experience with me. I also want to extend a HUGE thank you for writing such honest and heartwarming posts. As Mom's, we can all agree how precious our blog writing time is and I am honored that you devoted your time towards this series.

I am so excited to introduce Leigh today from Hines-Sight Blog. Leigh is not just an amazing Blogger, but she is also a dear friend of mine. It's only been a few months since I came across her blog, however, I feel like we have known each other for years. Not only is Leigh one of the nicest bloggers I know, but she also loves Myrtle Beach!!! That is a BFF quality right there!:) Please join me in giving Leigh a warm welcome!!!!

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I’m very honored to be part of Karen At Home’s Stay-At-Home-Mom series. Karen and I discovered each other several months ago when I started blogging. Even though we’ve never met, I feel as if I’ve known her for a long time. It’s my pleasure to be able to tell you a little more about my experience as a stay-at-home mom.

I’ve been owner of the Hines-Sight Blog for just a few short months, but have been a stay-at-home mom for over five years now. I can’t believe how quickly the time has passed. It seems like yesterday that I carried a five pound-eleven ounce baby boy home from the hospital. He’s blossomed into a bright, curious, very loud and energetic boy who gets even louder if he feels his baby sister is getting all the attention.

We were blessed to add my daughter to the family 19-months ago. She’s a joy, but I do have to admit that the job of being a stay-at-home mom seems more difficult when you add another one to the mix.

Some days I’m more mentally drained than others, but when it is all said and done, I wouldn’t change a thing. Being a stay-at-home mom is one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever done, but it is also one of the most rewarding jobs I’ve ever done.

Let’s backtrack a little! I experienced the joys of motherhood a little later in life. You could translate that into meaning that I had many years with the luxury of having all the time in the world at my fingertips, but since I didn’t have children, I didn’t know I had all the time in the world. There are days where I wish I could get some of that time back. With all that time on my hands, it still took me awhile to meet Mr. Right. I didn’t marry until I was 33, and my son was born three days after I turned 37.

So, yes, we followed the Hollywood crowd and had babies after 40. Thanks to starlets like Nicole Kidman, Tina Fey, Courteney Cox, and Halle Berry, no one thinks we are the old folks on the block with young kids in tow. Well, maybe they do, but we don’t know it.

I had intentions on returning to work after having my son. I was working in the Communications field. We had our daycare selected, but I just couldn’t sign the paperwork. At the time, I was not in a job that I loved with all my heart, and I would tell my husband every night that I didn’t want to go back to “that” job and put our son in daycare.

He crunched some financial numbers, and decided that my staying home would be the best thing for our family even though we hated to lose my salary. Truthfully, it was not the most cost-efficient thing for our family as is some cases, because I still would have brought in income after daycare bills were paid. His mom stayed home with him so I think that was in my favor and frankly, we felt it was the best thing for our child. I’m so glad we took a leap of faith. It’s worked out well for us.

There was also a little silver lining in this story, too. My company decided they needed me on contract and allowed me to work about twenty hours a week for several years. That was a great deal! Unfortunately, due to budget cuts, my contract was cut shortly before becoming pregnant with my daughter. I really miss that extra income! We definitely have to budget a lot more now, especially with two children.

I have the saying that everyday is like a Monday when you are a stay-at-home mom. The days, even though you don’t have to get dressed right away or be somewhere at a certain time except when your children are in preschool, can seem sort of the same day-after-day, but not necessarily in a bad way. There’s never a day off or even a few minutes of alone time unless you lock yourself in a closet. I’m kidding, of course!

My youngest child will easily find me on the computer and pester me until I get off. It’s also hard to do anything productive with young children around. Folding laundry could be compared to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. I rarely talk to other moms on the phone and when I do, the conversation is about 30 seconds because one of us will have to stop and say, “Will you please stop it, I’m on the phone!” The noise continues on both of our ends so we just hang up.

As a parent, I don’t have to tell you that raising children is a hard job. You already know that, and staying home with them has tons of perks, but there are challenges, too. It’s probably the most mentally draining job I’ve ever encountered. I used to think my time in a TV newsroom was the most stressful phase in my life, but covering hurricanes and death penalty cases are nothing compared to the battling the wills of a toddler and preschoolers even if they are cute.

Thanks to e-mail, Facebook, and playgroups, I’ve not missed going into an office to interact with people nor have I missed office politics. However, I’m not going to lie! I have missed having a sitter for two or three hours a couple of times a week when I used to contract work. The sitter gave me a much-needed child free break even though I was working.

I jokingly say it’s great to be a stay-at-home mom because you can go out to lunch, and shop around town without having to get back to the office. Unfortunately, the last time I checked, I was paid $0 dollars a year for my job so I’m not exactly the best customer for those cute, little shops and lunch places. According to MSN Money, my stay-at-home salary would be over six figures if I did receive a paycheck. I like the sound of that! You can make that check out to Leigh Powell Hines! Hey, I think that is worth it for living with your boss 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, don’t you? Perhaps then I would have some money for a sitter so I could sneak away and devote more time to the Hines-Sight Blog.

I hope you visit me there, friend me on Facebook, and I thank you for spending some time with me today on Karen-At-Home.

Life of a SAHM Series {Day 15}: Breaking Through

2011-07-04T07:00:00.003-04:00

Hi there and welcome to Day 15 of the Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Guest Blogging Series!!! If you are just joining our Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Series, welcome! Miss a post? You can find all the entries for our series listed for you here.

I am so excited to introduce Lyryn today from Breaking Through. Lyryn and I have been reading each others blogs for some time now, I even think we met before I had Jillian!! Lyryn has an amazing story to tell about how she started her journey to becoming a Stay At Home Mom. Please give a warm welcome to Lyryn!!!

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My name is Lyryn (pronounced Leer-in) and I blog over at Breaking Through. I'm a stay at home mom of two wonderful little boys that bring so much joy to my life. First I wanted to thank Karen for choosing me to be a guest blogger today on her "Life of a Stay at Home Mom" series. I'm excited to be among such a great group of women writing for this series and I hope that you all have gotten a lot out of what she has been doing! I know I sure have!

For those who have read my blog you know that I tend to write very little about my kids and my daily life as a SAHM. Surprisingly it's much easier for me to be honest and write about the hardships in my life and in my marriage and what the Lord is teaching me through everything than it is to write about my life as a stay at home mom and my oh-so imperfect "mothering skills". I guess it's good that God was teaching me things through this whole process because that's what's going to make this easier to write. ;)

I always dreamed of being a SAHM. Being there for all the monumental moments in my kids lives and being an involved parent as much as possible. I always dreamed of being there when my kids got home from school so I could have fresh baked cookies ready for them. Dreamed of being there to help them with homework or whatever else they needed their mommy for. And I ALWAYS wanted to be that mom that could attend every single one of their sports games and be their biggest cheerleader. Something I wanted.... but for a long time denied the dream because it just didn't fit into our financial lifestyle.

After having our first child, I knew that I would be going back to work. I was blessed to work for an amazing company that chose to work with me and my desire to be at home as much as possible. I still worked 5 days a week, but my day would end at 2 leaving the rest of the afternoon being a mommy to my little man. I believed at that time that working was the best thing for me and my family and that my dreams of being a SAHM could wait.

In the two years before becoming a SAHM however, the Lord would be quite clear on several occasions about how He wanted me to transition into becoming a SAHM and fulfilling the desire of my heart to raise my children. Several nights I would wrestle with God in my quiet time because I knew He was calling me to stay home, but I just didn't trust it was the right time and would make excuse after excuse.

There was even an opportunity that made it possible for me to work from home for a friends company! Man... if that's not God just wrapping it up in a bow for me, I don't know what is? However, the pay was significantly less so I made that my excuse and chose to stay where I was even though I was becoming more and more unhappy working instead of being home, raising my son. As I grew more unsatisfied with my day to day work and the fact that I was there instead of at home with my baby, I payed less attention to what I needed to do and did whatever I wanted to do (that would even include blogging).

Though I officially "resigned," in September of 2009 they unfortunately forced me to make that decision. I'm not proud of it and I'm embarrassed to even write about it; ashamed really, but it's the truth and I wanted to be completely honest about it. All the years I did work for them I always gave them 110% of me, so leaving this way was never something I thought would happen, nor was it the way I wanted it.

However, it was the best thing that could have happened. The place I worked was the same place that my husband's affair had started, so every day was a reminder of what I had gone through just the year before. It was time for me to go and though I am not happy with how I left, it would become the best thing for my family and me.

At first it was it was hard for me to adapt to being home ALL-THE-TIME, though it was something I wanted. I didn't know what to do with myself and I felt very isolated and alone. I didn't know many SAHM's at the time and being the introvert that I am it was going to be very hard to find them. I went through spouts of being depression and CRAVING adult interaction. Now I realize that this doesn't happen to everyone, but for me it was hard to adjust to this new way of living.

I was no longer verbally validated by a superior judging my work and telling me when I was doing a good job. I was now validated by the way my child acted and how I responded to him. Thankfully I also had a loving and supportive husband who came home daily and reminded me that I was a good mom and I was doing a fantastic job. That helped... in a million ways!

After 6 months of being pretty miserable (lets not discount that fact that I was also hormonal and six months pregnant), I realized that the only way I was going to be completely satisfied was if I made more of an effort to find other moms like myself to be a support system. Coming to this revelation was SO IMPORTANT! To me at least. The only way I was going to get that, was to lay down my insecurities and my pride and just ask someone, "Hey, want to have a play date?" To my surprise... most of the mommy's were just like me and just never asked because it was all new to them, too.

Who would have thunk?!

I slowly started getting the hang of this whole being at home thing and now we wouldn't have it any other way. I'm living my dream and I'm so thankful to have such a supportive husband who wants this for us too. Not only have I learned to be a better mom, but I also have learned to trust God that much more. Not only has God provided for our family, He is providing above and beyond our needs. He even threw this amazing job into my husband's lap without even really interviewing for it. AMAZING! HE always provides!!!!

It's true what Psalm 37:4 says "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Unfortunately, we sometimes don't like to trust that God actually has our back so we continue in the way WE think is best for us and not what Jesus is calling us to do. I learned this this lesson the hard way. I'm thankful for His mercy and sticking with me even though I can be so stubborn at times. I'm living my dream because of Him.

He is listening.... Are you?

Life of a SAHM Series {Day 14}: A Life in Progress

2011-07-03T07:00:00.004-04:00

Hi there and welcome to Day 14 of the Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Guest Blogging Series!!! If you are just joining our Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Series, welcome! Miss a post? You can find all the entries for our series listed for you here.

I am so excited to introduce Gia today from A Life in Progress. Gia and I are long time friends and actually met on The Nest! I used to love hanging out on the Decorating and Renovating Board (are you shocked?) where I used to get all sorts of home decorating inspiration. I also met a lot of inspiring women, several of them who still read my blog. Gia and I found each other because I discovered that she now lives in the same Cleveland suburb that I grew up in. That was just the start of what we had in common and we have been friends ever since!!! Please give a warm welcome to Gia!!!

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My name is Gia and I write over at A Life in Progress. I am so excited to be a part of a guest blogging series about being a stay at home mom, and even though I work full time for 9 months of the year as a high school English teacher, I volunteered so I could talk about my life as a working AND SAHM during the summer months. My husband and I are lucky to have full custody of both of my stepdaughters, Jamie who is going into the 9th grade and Alexys who is going into 8th. We also welcomed a baby boy, Logan, into our family in December.

I think the biggest reward of being home during the summer is that I get to spend extra time with my little man and our girls. During the school year, we get home and it is often frantically filled with getting ready for the next day, bottles, bath and bedtime, homework help, driving one of the girls somewhere, with cooking dinner somewhere in between. During the summer months, little man and I get to spend SO MUCH MORE quality time together. His sisters spend half the summer with their mom, so it is often just the two of us. Story time at the library? Yes! Lunches with friends? Yes! Play dates? Yes! SO many more opportunities when I am home for the summer.

Since I still receive a paycheck throughout the summer, there is not a financial challenge. BUT, I will admit, I often feel that ALL I DO is cook/clean/whatnot because I am home, so that is my job. And it gets annoying to hear "I'm bored" from my teenage stepdaughters. And sometimes I feel that we run out of things to do (or money to do them) and we are left sitting and staring at one another. This summer, I have really focused on activities and getting out of the house and not letting J and A sit in front of the computer or TV all day (seriously girls, HOW MUCH TIME can you spend on Facebook?).

Before I was married, I used to work a part-time retail job during the summer, then I was taking graduate classes. Once I graduated with my Masters, I decided to just enjoy my summers. I often have to spend time working on lesson plans and preparing for the next school year. As for crafts, I am using my time to work on Logan's scrapbook to be caught up so I can start getting ready for Jamie's high school scrapbook. I am not crafty nor clever enough to sell anything on Etsy, lol.

In regards to missing my work, at the end of the summer, I get really, REALLY antsy. I don't think I could NOT work, at least part-time. I miss adult conversation during the vacation and just getting a time-out. I love my girls and my little man, but sometimes I feel overwhelmed with C at work all the time and when he works late. I think this is because we are such a team during the school year that I depend on his help in the evenings.

I truly have the best of both worlds as a teacher. I am able to work and have adult-time and be home in time for the kids to get home from school and to have dinner on the table. I have weekends, all holidays, vacations and the summer off with my kids. One of the reasons I love being a teacher is because it allows me these freedoms. Besides having a love for teaching, this time off is a true benefit.

One of Karen's questions for her Mommy Guest Bloggers is Do you plan on going back to work in the same profession or have different career goals? I have my masters' degree in school administration and several times, the opportunity has arisen for me to apply for assistant principal positions. I have decided that at this point in my life, I do not want to move up the ladder, so to speak, because it would eat up SO much of my free time. I DO want to eventually work part-time, and be home earlier. It is definitely possible as a teacher, and I would love to be home before the little man gets out of school.

I will wrap this up by saying that being at home during the summer with a little one and two tween girls has really given me perspective on JUST HOW DARN HARD SAHMs work. My husband was out of town last weekend for 5 days for work and let me tell you...I was exhausted. Thanks for taking the time to read about my life as a (Part-Time) SAHM!

Life of a SAHM Series {Day 13}: Kimberly's Korner

2011-07-02T07:00:00.018-04:00

Hi there and welcome to Day 13 of the Life of a Stay At Home Mom Guest Blogging Series!!! If you are just joining our Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Series, welcome! Miss a post? You can find all the entries for our series listed for you here.

Today we are meeting up with Kim from Kimberly's Korner. Kim is a SAHM of two beautiful girls, Ashley and Lindsey!! I am so excited to have Kim with us today to give her perspective on life as a stay at home mom!!

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Hi, I am Kim from Kimberly's Korner. I am excited today to participate in Karen's Stay-At-Home Mom series. Thanks for letting me blog a little bit about being a stay at home Mom. I am blessed that I have been able to stay at home with my daughters for the past 21 years! I know that sounds like a long time. I have a daughter who will be a SENIOR in college this year and a younger daughter who will be a JUNIOR in high school. I have been married to Kevin for 23 years.

1. Biggest reward of being a SAHM?

Raising my children and being there for them 100%. I never missed any school activity or sporting event they had. I think it was important when they were little but also they need me now even though they are older. I also have driven my kids to school/made their lunches/picked them up from school and had a snack waiting every day. I am panicking a bit since my youngest will be driving herself to school come this year. That will be an adjustment for me. It is a simple thing taking and picking up from school and its something I will miss. My husband has said "our girls are who they are because of you" - and I take that has a wonderful compliment.

2. Biggest for you or your family having you as a SAHM? I "know" my kids liked me home even though they might not admit it. They liked that when they got home from school I was always there. Dinner is/was always at 5pm. I believe children like "routine".

3. Do you work from home now or have a side business or craft? I worked for about 2 years at a dentist office as an insurance coordinator. I quit when my Mom got cancer and I have never gone back. It didn't really effect my kids cause I worked just 9 - 1, 3 days a week.

4. What do you miss about not working, if at all? sometimes I miss the friendships that are formed at work but I still hear of "cattiness" at the work place and I certainly don't miss that. I sometimes miss getting dressed cause I feel you feel better when you are "dressed" and take some time getting "pretty". Other than that: NOTHING. I am very content being home.

5. Was it a hard decision to leave the working world or was it the obvious choice all along? it was an obvious choice all along. Things were tight at the beginning and my husband worked side jobs which Ashley was little. It was something we never spoken about really when we decided to have kids: "we knew" - I would be home with them.

6. Do you plan on going back to work in the same profession or have different career goals? that's a good question. I am almost an empty nester with Lindsey entering school as a Junior come September. I can't imagine having a boss or having to be at work at a certain time, I am being honest with that. I have been "on my own" for sooooo many years. I am thankful I have a husband who doesn't want me to work and has never asked me to. He is happy with me at home cause that makes me happy. I hope to travel a bit more when I have some more time with him and I am starting to do more things with my girlfriends.

Thank you, Karen - its been fun! If you have time stop by my blog and say "hi"!

Life of a SAHM Series {Day 12}: Measuring My Life

2011-07-01T07:00:00.003-04:00

Hi there and welcome to Day 12 of the Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Guest Blogging Series!!! If you are just joining our Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Series, welcome! Miss a post? You can find all the entries for our series listed for you here.

I am so excited to introduce Kat today from Measuring My Life. Kat has two adorable baby girls and is expecting her third in late September. Such a beautiful family, I really appreciate Kat joining us today to share her story! Please give a warm welcome to Kat!!!

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Hello Everyone! First, I’d like to thank Karen for letting me guest post in her SAHM series. I have enjoyed reading all of the other guest blogger’s responses. Second, a little about me – I blog over at Measuring My Life, about house projects, DIY/Crafts, recipes, and my kids. I have been a SAHM since my oldest was born Sept 2006. I feel so blessed that this is an option that works for our family. In total, I have 2 daughters and we are expecting out 3rd little girl this September.

1. Biggest reward?
- The fact that I get to spend everyday all day with my kiddo’s. Not saying it’s all peaches and cream all the time, but even at the end of those rough days it feels good that I am able to be here.

2. Biggest challenge?
- Getting into a schedule. Making sure that the girls’ and I are not just lounging around in our PJ’s everyday.
- Learning to not listen to other people’s stereotypes of SAHM’s, it really bugs me that some people think it’s not work.
- Also, it was a very rough past 2 1/2 years with my husbands work. He worked a grand total of 9 months over that time period, so adjusting.

3. Side job or business?
- From Sept 2006 – June 2009, I did work part-time out of the home. At one point I was working 3 part-time jobs, during this time we had decided to put our oldest (only child at the time) in daycare, it was one of the worse experiences ever. She was so incredibly ill for the 4 months she was in daycare that I decided it wasn’t worth it to put her through all of that or myself emotionally. I then stopped all 3 of those jobs and moved to a data entry position for a year before finding out we were pregnant with our 2nd. After, 3 miscarriages after my oldest was born I wanted to just take it easy with that pregnancy.
- Currently, I do babysit part-time, but that’ll be ending in August.
- In a couple years when my middle and youngest to be baby are older I would love to start a side business doing one of the few crafty things I love.

4. What do I miss about working?
- Honestly, the only thing I miss is the other adult interaction. Otherwise I do not miss any of it.

5. Hard decision to stop working?
- Not at all and thankfully I have a very supportive husband who loves that I’m able to be here for our kids as well.

6. Plan to return to work?
- My husband always jokes that I won’t be re-entering the work field for another 20 years. Ideally, the side business would bring in enough extra that I won’t have to.
- I want to put my kids on the school bus and pick them up from the bus stop after school. I want to be active in their schools and after school activities.
- As of now, there are no set plans…

Life of a SAHM Series {Day 11}: All in A Day

2011-06-30T07:00:00.004-04:00

Hi there and welcome to Day 11 of the Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Guest Blogging Series!!! If you are just joining our Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Series, welcome! Miss a post? You can find all the entries for our series listed for you here.

I am so excited to introduce Amy today from All In A Day. Amy is such a sweetheart AND shares my obsession for Pinterest!!! Amy is a former teacher and has an adorable baby girl named, Emily. She is so precious, I just love reading about all of her daily antics. Please give a warm welcome to Amy!!!

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Hey there Karen At Home readers!! Let me start by saying I am soooooo stinkin’ excited to be here today! A huge thank you to Karen for hosting such an awesome series and allowing me to be a part of it! My name is Amy Waller and I attempt to blog over at All In A Day! I am a stay at home mama to my beautiful baby girl, Emily. Emily is just a few days away from being 8 months! I am also a wife to my fantastic husband, Scott.

Isn’t that hat to die for!?!

There is absolutely no doubt that having a child is one of the greatest of life’s rewards. The way that baby looks at you, the way she coos, the smile she gets on her face when she sees you – it’s indescribable. However, being a mom also comes with its challenges and difficulties (can I get an “amen” from all the mamas??).

I am so blessed to be able to stay at home with my baby girl, Emily. Each day is a new adventure. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world!

One of the greatest rewards of being a SAHM is the opportunity to be with my child literally every single minute of our day. Ok, that, and I get to watch The Ellen Show everyday!! But seriously, I love spending time with her. She is at the age now where we can play together and it is so much fun! I get to see most of her firsts. She recently started saying “mama” and I didn’t have to miss that. She is also starting to crawl and I get to be there for that! It truly is such a blessing to watch my baby grow each and every day.

She crawled clear across the room to get to that basket of magazines!

Although I really don’t think I would trade being a SAHM for anything in the world, I do miss the work place sometimes. I was a first grade teacher before taking extended leave to be home with Emily {so I guess I still am sort of a first grade teacher since I didn’t “quit” my job}. And you know what? I was really good at my job. I don’t often brag on myself {in fact, I am quite insecure}, but I really kind of was thebomb.com at teaching. I enjoyed my job and the kids. I really do miss being admired, appreciated, and needed. I know Emily needs me, but it’s obviously just different. In my classroom, I felt safe and “in charge”. It was my class and I was the boss. I really do kind of miss that.

For my husband and I, me staying at home was kind of a given. Let’s face it, I’m a teacher and I do NOT make that much money! By the time we paid for daycare, my paycheck was practically gone! There might have been enough leftover for a couple trips to the grocery store. So, for us, it was a no-brainer. If I was a baller and making a ton of moo-lah, it might have been different. But, I was just a poor teacher so it worked out for us.

So, being a SAHM is pretty amazing. As amazing as it is, it definitely has it’s challenges as well. Financial challenges. I really have to watch my wallet. Scott is a very hard worker and has a great job that allows me to be at home. We aren’t eating Ramen Noodles every night for dinner or anything. But, I do feel guilty if I buy a shirt, or new shoes, or anything else that isn’t necessary. It’s a definite intrinsic, self induced guilt. It’s just there and I can’t get rid of it. There are also personal challenges like finding gumption and time to work out and eat right. I also have had a hard time “finding myself” as a mom. I haven’t participated in any play groups or anything like that yet. I just need to put myself out there, but that is hard for me.

My numero uno job is being the best mama I can be to Emily. She is my main focus every day. I have danced around with the idea of starting some types of online business or doing something to work from home, but I have just been unsuccessful so far. However, my girlfriend and I have started a blog that is just for mamas! She is also a stay at home mama (her daughter and Emily are only 2 weeks apart and they live on the same street as us! Score!!) and we have just found so many wonderful products and resources for our babes that we just want to share them with everyone else! We also want to talk about our struggles and joys as stay at home mamas! We are working on the design and details of our new blog as we speak. We hope to have it up and running within a couple weeks so stay tuned to my blog for updates!

As of right now, I am taking another year off from teaching. I actually went and cleaned out my classroom a couple of weeks ago (sad face), and now you can’t even walk through my garage because of all the boxes of my teaching stuff! If I did go back, I’m not 100% sure it would be to the classroom. I love the kids and I love teaching. But, it really is A LOT of work. I know a lot of people think teachers are so lucky because we get off at 3:00 and have the Summer off. The only time I ever left at 3:00 was for a doctor’s appointment, which I came back to work afterwards. During the Summer you are taking multiple workshops to try to keep your certification up, as well as preparing for the next school year. I used to come home around 6:00 after working all day and continue to work (grading papers, building lessons on the computer, writing lesson plans, etc) until about 10:00 when I would go to bed. And I would be back up at 6am to do it all over again! I’m not complaining. Again, I LOVED my job! I guess things have just been put in perspective now. Now that I have Emily, I just want to be able to come home from work (if/when I go back) and spend time with her. I don’t want to have to bring work home. With that being said, the thought of a career change has crossed my mind. I am thinking about going back to school. It will either be for a masters in something education related, or for something completely different. I’m not sure yet. I have a lot of thinking and praying to do before I can make that decision.

At the end of the day, I have the best job on the planet! I get to hang out with my baby girl everyday and teach her and watch her learn and grow! I am so, so, so, so blessed and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world!

Thank you so much again, Karen, for allowing me to be here today! And thank you all for reading!! Hopefully I didn’t bore you too much! Want to hear more and/or keep up with my crazy life and my sweet baby girl? Hop on over to my blog, say hi, and follow along!!

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xoxo,

Amy

Life of a SAHM Series {Day 10} Here Comes the Fun

2011-06-29T08:11:00.010-04:00

Hi there and welcome to Day 10 of the Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Guest Blogging Series!!! If you are just joining our Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Series, welcome! Miss a post? You can find all the entries for our series listed for you here.

I am so excited to introduce Chasity today from Here Comes the Fun. Chasity has an adorable newborn baby girl named Georgia AND was the most recent winner in my Target Gift Card Giveaway! Please give a warm welcome to Chasity!!!

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Hello bloggers! I am really new to staying at home, my daughter is not even six weeks old! I got a good taste of staying at home, although not mommying, when I was home for medical reasons the last six weeks of my pregnancy. Those six weeks were all fun and no work, and I used the time to prepare for the arrival of our baby by finishing the nursery, stocking our freezer and trying to figure out a homekeeping schedule. Little did I know that homekeeping would be the least of my duties with a newborn in the house!

The biggest reward for me as a SAHM is getting to experience every single day with my daughter. She is growing and changing so much and so quickly! I am incredibly fortunate to be able to enjoy each second with her, whether it be seeing her sweet smile when she wakes up, taking a walk or changing a dirty diaper. I just love being with her, and I know it will only get more fun as she grows and is able to interact with me.

The biggest challenge for me as a SAHM is trying to juggle all of my responsibilities. My first priority is taking care of my daughter, but I do put pressure on myself to keep our home presentable if not immaculate. I'd also love to have dinner on the table for my husband every evening and to have breakfast with him before he leaves for work. However, I know I will have time for that once the crazy newborn phase is over. Along with these pressures, I find that I have to remind myself to slow down and savor each moment with my baby and not try to do too much...there will always be chores to be done and dinners to be made, but I won't always have a tiny baby!

It's still early, but I don't miss anything about not working. I thought I would miss being around people all day, but my social circle has never revolved around work or co-workers and I have plenty of friends to socialize with as a SAHM. I am a CPA and I have some interests outside of my current industry, so maybe in the future I will put the two together and utilize my skills for something fun - I have some ideas in my head, but no time to implement them. Right now, though, I am just focusing on pleasing my little nine pound boss!

Thanks for allowing me to share, and you can follow me and my family at Here Comes the Sun.

Life of a Stay At Home Mom Series {Day 9}: The Hawvers

2011-06-28T07:00:00.005-04:00

Hi there and welcome to Day 9 of the Life of a Stay At Home Mom Guest Blogging Series!!! If you are just joining our Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Series, welcome! Miss a post? You can find all the entries for our series listed for you here.

I hope you are all enjoying a glimpse into all of our Stay At Home Mom's lives! It is so inspiring and heart warming to read how wonderful it is being a Stay At Home Mom. You are all wonderful and all of your children are so lucky to have you as Mommy's! I have had several Mom's ask me if I am also going to do a Guest Blogging Series on Working Moms and the answer is YES!!! I think it would be fun to see both worlds. I am thinking of doing this towards the end of the Summer so stay tuned!!!

Today we are meeting up with Catie from The Hawvers - Tales of a Real Housewife. Catie is a SAHM of an adorable little boy named Gus. I am so excited to have Catie with us today to give her perspective on life as a stay at home mom!!

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Hello Blog World! My name is Catie, and I am a stay-at-home mom. I live in a very small town in West Texas. It is 70 miles to a Target and 30 miles to a Wal-Mart, but we have a SONIC!  Two blocks away from our house is the open prairie with cows. I would like to share my story with you. As I know some of the other moms have said, I feel like I am living my dream. If you look at my growing-up book in first grade, I wanted to be a mom when I grew up. There was never a time in my life when I wanted to work full-time outside the home. After high school, I went to college and felt God lead me to go to pharmacy school. This was not my initial choice because it is a lot of education and work, and all I really wanted was to be a wife and mom. However, at that point in my life I was single and seeking to follow where the Lord would lead me. In pharmacy school I met the love of my life, Josh. We started out as friends (for 2 and ½ years) and then began dating. Less than a year after we started dating we got married. Not a day passes where I do not thank God for putting this wonderful man in my life.

We discussed my staying at home after we had kids and planned for this all along. Our first son was born in March of this year. I have worked a few half-days since our son was born, but all those days Josh stayed home with him.

As for the questions about being a stay-at-home mom:

1. Biggest reward: I love watching my son learn and grow. I never want to miss anything in his childhood, and I want to be the one raising him on a daily basis. I also love keeping house, cooking, and caring for my husband.

2. Challenges: So far we have not encountered too many challenges yet. We planned for me to stay home even before we were married. We did have a cut financially, but we know there will be other rewards that are even more important.

3. Working: One of the great things about being a pharmacist is I can work occasionally when I need to. I also can start working again when my children are grown.

4. Missing work: I will probably work a little on days when my husband Josh or other family can stay with Gus. I want to work some just so I do not forget all the information I learned in school. However, I do not miss working. I would much rather spend my days at home cooking and taking care of my son.

5. Leaving work: As I said before, I always planned to stay at home. Some people may think I am wasting my doctoral degree, but I do not agree. I do plan to work some after my kids are grown. I also plan to homeschool my children, and my education will further help me be a good teacher for them.

6. Going back to work: I do plan to work some (on Saturdays maybe) while my kids are young and also after they are grown. I do not have aspirations for another career. I did play the piano for 13 years and have considered teaching lessons which would be easy to do with children.

I fill my days with cooking, laundry, changing diapers, playing with my son, playing with our dogs, cleaning house, and blogging about what happens. I just started blogging a little less than a year ago. I enjoy reading about what other moms are doing. I thank Karen for this opportunity to share and welcome anyone to visit my blog to read about our life. I believe one of the greatest gifts any mom can give her child is time and attention!

Life of a Stay At Home Mom Series {Day 8}: Ducks in a Row

2011-06-27T09:00:00.007-04:00

Hi there and welcome to Day 8 of the Life of a Stay At Home Mom Guest Blogging Series!!! If you are just joining our Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Series, welcome! Miss a post? You can find all the entries for our series listed for you here.

Today we are meeting up with Laurel from Ducks In A Row. Laurel is a SAHM of three adorable kids, such a sweet and adorable family!!! I am so excited to have Laurel with us today to give her perspective on life as a stay at home mom!!

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Hello friends - what a great series this is! My name is Laurel and I write a blog called Ducks in a Row. This is a great place to be and a great subject to talk about!

I have been a stay at home mom since my oldest was born, about 9 years ago. I graduated college with a degree in elementary education and taught kindergarten and first grade for several years before I started having babies. I loved teaching - I still do. AND, I think I was pretty good at it! BUT, the whole time I was teaching, I just wanted to be on the mommy side! That is where my heart is!

Biggest reward of being a SAHM?

You know when your child is trying something new and they get it? There is a split second when they glance at you to see if you are watching. Catching those glances is a huge reward! Sometimes, when I am downstairs making breakfast in the kitchen, I can hear footsteps coming down the stairs. Knowing exactly which child that is without seeing them is a reward. I'm not sure I can label the biggest reward! Simply put, it's knowing who my child is and being able to be with them!

Biggest reward for you or your family having you as a SAHM?

I think the biggest reward is the security and confidence it gives my children. They know I am around and have chosen to be with them over anything else! They know I used to teach school and gave it up to be with them! They also know that there is no other place I'd rather be. How reassuring would that be to know there is someone out there who loves you so much that she didn't want to miss part of your life?!

Do you work from home now or have a side business or craft?

I do - I teach about 12 piano students a week out of my home. My students know, however, that I am a mommy first and will most likely be holding a child, or answering their questions during the lesson. I have been teaching piano for about 12 years and my children don't really know any different. They usually just play during the lessons.

What do you miss about not working, if at all?

I miss the students! I still have several that I receive Christmas cards from!

Was it a hard decision to leave the working world or was it the obvious choice all along?

For our family, it was kind of a given that I would stay home. My husband and I had several talks before we were even married about our future. It has always been part of my plan. There have been many sacrifices made in order for us to do this. I'm blessed with a hard working husband who has a fantastic job, but there are still monetary cuts that we have to make and that we choose to make.

One of my favorite quotes from Harold B. Lee says "Today I feel that women are becoming victims of the speed of modern living. It is in building their motherly intuition and that marvelous closeness with their children that they are enabled to tune in upon the wavelengths of their children and to pick up the first signs of difficulty, of danger and distress, which if caught in time would save them from disaster. To the sisters, this means they must make a career of motherhood. They must let nothing supersede that career!" I do feel that there is a difference between just being at home with your children and making a career of motherhood! I know our family has been blessed in countless ways from our choice to stay at home!

Life of a Stay At Home Mom Series {Day 7}: Aspenberg Family

2011-06-26T14:14:00.003-04:00

Hi there and welcome to Day 7 of the Life of a Stay At Home Mom Guest Blogging Series!!! If you are just joining our Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Series, welcome! Miss a post? You can find all the entries for our series listed for you here.

I apologize for the late post today!! We just arrived back home from a 12 hour drive from Myrtle Beach. I didn't have any computer access along the way so hence the delay!! We had a great week in Myrtle Beach, however, poor Jillian had Hand Foot Mouth for most of trip. I will write more about this later but I can honestly say this was the worst illness Jillian has ever had. It was horrible and I never felt so helpless as a Mom.

I hope you are enjoying all of our amazing SAHM Bloggers so far!!! We have another great week of guest bloggers this week and promise that they will not disappoint!! I feel like I have learned so much already from all of our Mom's. Today we are meeting up with Stacey from Just Another Day - Aspenberg Family. I am so excited to have her with us today to give her perspective on life as a stay at home mom!!

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Hi Everyone from Karen ~at~ Home! I am so excited to be guest blogging with you all today! My name is Stacey from Just Another Day - Aspenberg Family and I am a wife to the Love of my life Jayson and together we have 3 amazing crazy kids! Our oldest Madyson is 6 1/2 our son Bryson will be 4 in a week and our littlest Meya Hope is 18 months! Here is a picture of the 3 of them from last Sept. when we went to Disney!

I do love being at home with them but my days are busy and some days seem longer than others but, I am so thankful that God lead me to this role! Some days I am so weary, but through Him I find my strength and make it through! I have to tell you all honestly that this year 2011 Has been our toughest and most challenging year thus far since I have been home. So much has happened in such a short amount of time that sometimes I am still wondering what God's plan is for Our family and where he will take us but trying to rest in him. On February 6th, in the early morning hours my dad passed away after a long 4 years fight with stage 4 prostate cancer! I am so thankful for the man God gave me as a daddy and miss him more words than ever express you can read more on this here. Just 2 short weeks later my husband was let go of his job of 5 years and I didn't think things could get any crazier than we got that news and it was almost to much to bear. But through those crazy times I have to tell you I feel as though my role as a Stay at home wife and Mom was completely redefined and never felt so needed , yet didn't feel like I had much to give and the Grace God gave me to get through and the Way he poured out his Love was just so powerful and Moving! I must say the biggest reward with being home is I'm there for my husband and kids and I get to be the very first one who watches them talk for the first time, take their first steps , smile for the first time and those moments are far more precious than anything else and I wouldn't trade those things for anything in the world!

I know you all don't know this but my husband does suffer from depression and it has also been such a blessing to be home and be there for him when he needs me also. Between him and the children the best reason to have me home is I am able to be there for them and all that they may need. I am a Hairdresser turned stay at home Momma, and I am fortunate that I still do a ton of hair out of my home and it makes for a nice side income and always seems to be there when we need it most. When we were dating and engaged my husband and I had a ton of long talks and we decided way back then that when we had children that I was going to be home with them. My husband was more for it than most since his mother was a stay at home mom of 4 and grew up wanting that for his family as well. So when we found out that we were expecting our 1st I went out on Maternity leave and never came back. Also for me and my profession it did not pay me to go back to work especially with the cost of Day care that we new that what I made wouldn't cover the cost. I don't really think I miss anything about working because for me I have the best of both worlds. I do hair when and if I want and I am able to plan it for during Nap and rest time or when my husband is home in the evening and I can make it to school for parties and whatnot. One thing I love is for the 2nd year I was our church's MOPS (Mothers of Preschooler's) co-coordinator. It was so awesome to see so many lives changed by God! If you are contemplating staying home the one thing I would offer as far as advice is get connected with other Mom's ! That is a must you need your girlfriends to help you get through the crazy times the happy times and the most trying times and days! There is nothing like your friends and you need to surround yourself with them! Look at your church or local church some may offer MOPS groups there or bible studies or Play groups any of the above! Its a great way to meet friends and get out there it will make the days go by shorter!

Here is a picture from a few months back (above) There are my husbands 3 sisters and their husbands! They are truly some of my closest friends and we try to sneak out every few months just us to have fun without the kids! between the 4 siblings there are 9 soon to be in a few weeks 10 cousins and it makes for some crazy fun times! Its so nice to be able to have a close family and have cousins to grow up with for our kids!

Here is just 1 picture of only a small group of us form our annual MOPS spring tea! These ladies helped me get through this some of the toughest times! Especially my friend Lauren to the right of me! I am so thankful for her friendship and the long talks and tears shared on the phone she is gem and I don't know what I would do without her! As far as career goals or going back to work goes, as of now I am not planning on returning anytime soon, I thing the choice we made for our family was the right one for sure!
If I am getting long winded I am so sorry but before I close I really want to share a few things with you if you are considering staying at home or even returning to work: I would tell you to Pray about it. For us its not about the money at all. we struggle at times but you get creative on ways to save money and one way or another we somehow make things work (Usually by God's grace) you get creative with meals, coupons, and whatnot! Also I would say Get Connected! Its the one thing that is so important! Get connect with the Ladies around you, you need friends! And Lastly don't just look at the financial aspect of staying home look all all areas because it goes so much further than money! I just want to Thank Karen so much for giving me this opportunity to share with you all and thanks for taking the time to read my long winded post! Please come visit me over at Aspenberg Family or you can email me at aspenbergfam@gmail.com and would love to get to know more fellow bloggers out there!!
Blessings,
Stacey!

Life of a Stay At Home Mom Series {Day 6}: Designs By A Rose

2011-06-25T07:00:00.025-04:00

Hi there and welcome to Day 6 of the Life of a Stay At Home Mom Guest Blogging Series!!! If you are just joining our Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Series, welcome! Miss a post? You can find all the entries for our series listed for you here.

I hope you are enjoying all of our amazing SAHM Bloggers so far!!! Today we are meeting up with Annette from Designs by a Rose. This girl is crafty and can sew like nobody's business. I am so excited to have her with us today to give her perspective on life as a stay at home mom!!

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Hello Karen at Home readers. I am very excited to be guest posting on Karen's blog!

My name is Annette and I blog over at Designs By A Rose.

I also create many beautiful items for sale. Check them out in my Etsy shop.

You can find me on Facebook and Twitter.

Karen asked me to answer a few questions, so here goes:

1. What is the biggest reward of being a stay at home mom?

It's being able to see my sweet daughter every morning when she wakes up. Not when I get her up to rush her out of the house, but when she wakes up all bubbly, bedhead and all. It's the sweet moments when we get to do a craft together or just watch tv side by side. It's the moments when we have girls days and she looks at me lovingly telling me how happy she is that I'm her mom. It's a lot of things, but hard to choose just one.

2. What is the biggest reward for your or your family having you as a stay at home mom?

Being here when my daughter gets home from school. Cooking breakfast and dinner for the family everyday. Just being there for them.When I was working outside of the home, I had to rush out every morning at 7:00 and didn't get home until 6:30 or 7:00 every night. I was constantly grumpy and constantly stressed, because it never seemed like I had time to do anything. Being at home, I'm much calmer and can do pretty much everything and anything I want to do.

3. Do you work from home or have a side business or craft?

Yes. You can check out my beautiful items by visiting my blog or Etsy page. It's always been my dream to have my own crafty business. I've literally dreamed about it for years. Now I finally have a chance to make that dream a reality!

4. What do you miss about not working, if at all?

I miss seeing my coworker friends every day. Of course, Facebook and Twitter keep me talking to all my friends regularly. I guess I miss the income too. I made a pretty decent living doing Real Estate Closings. I actually brought home more than my hubby, so cutting that out was a huge adjustment. However, the pay from being home with your kids is definitely worth more than money.

5. Was it a hard decision to leave the working world or was it the obvious choice all along?

I have wanted to be a stay at home mom/work at home mom for years. When I became pregnant with our 2nd child, after trying for over 10 years, it seemed like it was the obvious choice. I have had horrible morning sickness this entire pregnancy. Being home has definitely been a blessing in that department! I'm very excited at the chance to be home with our daughter, due to arrive at the end of August, as well!

6. Do you plan on going back to work in the same profession or have different career goals?

I haven't decided the answer to this question yet. I think this will depend on how things go over the next few months. I plan on staying home for at least 3 months after little Scarlett is born. If my crafty biz takes off, I will definitely stay home. If not, I'll go back to doing closings. I loved my job in the "real world", but being a stay at home/work at home mom definitely has it's perks!

You can check out some of my recent projects here:

Pottery Barn knockoff rosette lamp

Bassinet skirt

Zebra print chair make over

Hope you'll click over and visit. Thanks for reading my post and thanks to Karen for having me!
Have a great day!!!!

Annette

Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Series {Day 5}: Live.Laugh.Love...and Libbi!

2011-06-24T07:00:00.003-04:00

Hi there and welcome to Day 5 of the Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Guest Blogging Series!!! If you are just joining our Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Series, welcome! Miss a post? You can find all the entries for our series listed for you here.

I am so excited to introduce Amy today from Live, Laugh Love...and Libbi. I started reading Amy's Blog when I was on maternity leave last Spring. Amy is such a sweetheart and I immediately was drawn into her endearing stories about Libbi. Libbi and Jillian are only six months apart. It was amazing to me to read about what Libbi was up to knowing that in just a few months Jillian would be doing the same thing. Amy also just gave birth to her second daughter, Laney, who looks like a mini-Libbi in my opinion!!! I am so thrilled to have Amy with us today. I know you will love her as much as I do!

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Hi Karen {At} Home readers! I am so excited to be guest posting with Karen today. When she mentioned her blog series featuring stay at home moms, I jumped at the chance to participate. I write the blog, Live.Laugh.Love...and Libbi which will soon be getting a (mini) makeover because we have recently added to our family! I am the blessed Momma of Libbi (2 years old as of Wednesday!!) and Laney (6 weeks old as of Wednesday!!) and the proud wife of Jeffrey.

To say I am living my dream would be an understatement. When I was little, if someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would proudly say, "a momma!" I was always playing "babies" or mothering my little sister (whether she wanted me to or not). My mom stayed home with us when we were little, so I just always thought I would do the same with my own children. At the time, I was too young to know the sacrifices my parents made for my mom to be home with us. I didn't know all it entailed, I just assumed that being a stay at home mom was as easy as she made it look.

In my mind, I would get married, work for a year, have a baby and then stay home - easy as that. ha! Little did I know, it didn't quite work that way. When I got pregnant with Libbi, I was in my fourth year of teaching. More than anything, I wanted to stay home with her, but realistically it just wasn't feasible for our family at the time. She was born in June and I was blessed to be able to stay at home with her until the middle of October before I returned to teaching. It was extremely difficult. Not only because I was leaving my baby, but also because I was starting my school year in October when every kindergartner in my class had started theirs in August. I wrote about our first day back at school (work) on my blog - you can read about it HERE if you want.

I do have to admit that when I did return to work, I had the best of both worlds. We had childcare in our school for teacher's kids, so Libbi was able to come to school with me. She was right down the hall so I could still nurse her every day or go check on her during my planning period. If she couldn't be with me, at least she could be in the same location as me. When the school year came to a close, after much prayer and consideration, we decided that I would not be returning the following year. Funny enough, it was a difficult decision to make. Even though all I have ever wanted to do is stay home with my babies, to actually make that leap from two incomes to one was a BIG deal. We prayed about it and I truly believed that if we would take that step of faith, the Lord would provide what we needed.

And provide, He has! Not only financially, but emotionally and relationally as well. I'm not gonna lie, it was a difficult transition at first. Difficult in the sense that I had to "learn" how to be a stay at home mom. I had a new role in life and I had to adjust accordingly. When I was teaching, there were obvious rewards. I could literally see my hard work pay off. I could see the children that learned how to read because of what I had taught them. I could witness learning taking place before my eyes and feel a sense of accomplishment knowing that I played a part in it. That's one of the only things I miss about working. That, and all the friends I had at school.

There is a different sense of accomplishment that comes along with being a stay at home mom. Some days, I feel accomplished when I can just get through the day without losing my mind! :) In all honesty, even on our toughest days, there is no where else I would rather be. Being a mother is such an enormous gift, but it also comes with a lot of responsibility. I read in a bible study once (Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed) the following quote and it has really resonated with me: "Mothering is not the ultimate goal of being a mom, revealing Christ to the children is." Whether I am staying at home or working outside the home - I'm still a mom and my most important role does not change.

One day, I would like to go back to teaching. It was a very rewarding profession and one that caters nicely to momma's (hello, summertime!) For now, I try to daily remind myself that "....my intention is not the task, but that He might be more clearly seen..." because it is so easy to get caught up in all the busy-ness of life or in the superficial things. It does not matter if my babies are dressed to the nines or if my house is spotless. Ultimately, It does not even matter if I work at home, work outside the home, or stay at home. What matters most to me is that my girls know that I love them, their Daddy loves them, and Jesus loves them.

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think."

Ephesians 3:20

Thanks again to Karen for the opportunity to post and join in on the stay at home mom series. I can't wait to read more from the other mommas!

Life of a Stay At Home Mom Series {Day 4}: Building A New Hive

2011-06-23T07:30:00.001-04:00

Hi there and welcome to Day 4 of the Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Guest Blogging Series!!! If you are just joining our Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Series, welcome! Miss a post? You can find all the entries for our series listed for you here.

I am so excited to introduce Cristal today from Building A New Hive. I started reading Cristal's Blog when it was called The 8'oclock hour. Our daughters are only a few months apart and I loved reading about her daily life with Jaelyn. I was very sad to see Cristal eventually taking a break from the blogging world and assumed it was due to the daily grind of being a working Mom and raising a Toddler. Needless to say, I am so thrilled that she is back to blogging again and sharing her inspiring story with us.

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Hi my name is Cristal and I am from Building a New Hive. My blog used to be called The8oclockhour, BUT when I became a SAHM I changed the name because, well… my life changed. MY road to becoming a SAHM was not the best but the end result ROCKS! Here we go.... My daughter Jaelyn was born May 2009 and my husband and I were so in love with her. Our marriage was a little rough but we were:: waiting :: for it to pass. After Jaelyn turned one my marriage took a turn for the worst, I moved out, went from working part time to working full time (HORRIBLE was in understatement) all in the name of …. (Gulp) DIVORCE! During my “blog break”, you know the time where you stop blogging because the world is ending, well yea during that I remember thinking; I used to be so happy. What happened?! A lot of people would come up to me and tell me they read my blog and thought my life looked so perfect. One night lying in bed in my small apartment I went back and read my old blog posts. I remember crying nonstop because my life did seem perfect, when in all reality it was falling apart. I had always wanted to be a stay at home mom, from DAY ONE! I had a stay at home mom so for me there was no other choice, for my husband, my working part time was “the life”. I hated every min I was away from Jaelyn. I hated to work, I hated everything I missed and in return resented him for “making” me work, this is that part where my marriage crumbled. After I planned to move out and told Tommy that was my plan and he begged me to stay he got on his hands and knees and said the words I had been waiting for … “I’ll do whatever you want, I want to make your dream come true, I want you to be a stay at home mom” Well by this point I was so mad at “life” that I didn’t believe him and I moved out. After 3 months I filled for divorce and he was served with papers on our 4 year wedding anniversary. The thing is , Tommy was in a place where I couldn’t even touch, He was so close to God and KNEW our marriage couldn’t end and wouldn’t with God’s help. As for me and my sorry little self, I was not there, I was mean and hateful and I disgusted myself! After a visit from a friend and a LONG talk my mind started to change. Tommy filled for the divorce process to be stopped and to try counseling. This coming from a man that sat in counseling with me for the LAST 4 YEARS! I knew it wouldn’t work (AGAIN!) but I gave it a shot. I moved back in on Halloween and we took our daughter trick or treating together … I will never forget the smile on Jaelyns face. She had both her parents under one roof once again. BUT it wasn’t over; I still was working too many hours to even begin to focus on my family and marriage. December 1st was my last day of work; we went out for pizza that night to celebrate! My blog name changed to Building a New Hive. It is the story of Our I DO re-do and life as a SAHM. This blog is not FLUFF this blog is honest and brutal. It’s happy and it’s sad. We have called my daughter baby bee since she was born so that is where the whole hive thing comes in. Being a mom is work no matter if you are a SAHM or a Working mom. I have done it all, mothering as a part time working mom, a fulltime over time working mom and now as a stay at home mom. I must say that it is my favorite. I am extremely happy. My biggest reward is when my daughter hugs me with her left arm and my hubby with her right. SHE is the reason I am the mom that I am. She is my world. As far as my marriage is concerned well, Tommy and I have been to HELL … SERIOUSLY … and back. We are SO VERY happy now. We still fight about stupid stuff (marriage is not roses) but the biggest issues in our marriage are resolved. He would do anything for me and Jaelyn (even work a 2nd job, which he does) and I would do anything for him. I have a sassy attitude that tends to come out and that is the biggest deal right now, I have been praying out it nonstop for months now and we are seeing changes, it will take time, but with God anything is possible. God is now the center of our home where he should have been all along. It was an obvious choice for me to be a SAHM, I am now able to devote all of my time to God, Tommy and Jaelyn. I don’t plan on working again until Jaelyn is in school. Tommy is a teacher so I hope to get a job in the school system with him so that we will be on the same schedule (better for family vacations and fun times in the summer) I don’t care what I have to do, I don’t care if I am an office worker or a lunch lady as long as God is first and Family is second, we are in good shape.

Thank you so much Karen for allowing me to participate in your SAHM blog series. If you all would like to follow my personal blog you may and I welcome you to http://buildinganewhive.blogspot.com/

Happy Reading!

Life of a Stay At Home Mom Series {Day 3}: MyGotFam

2011-06-22T07:30:00.002-04:00

Hi there and welcome to Day 3 of the Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Guest Blogging Series!!! If you are just joining our Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Series, welcome! Miss a post? You can find all the entries for our series listed for you here.

I honestly have to say I am blown away so far by all of our amazing Mommy Bloggers. I am starting to get emotional reading all of your posts!!! The love and sincerity for what you do is so telling in the words that you write and I can't thank you enough for taking the time out of your busy lives to write about it. I am truly honored to be a part of this and I hope all of you are enjoying this series as much as I am!

I am so excited to introduce Chrissy today from MyGotFam. Chrissy is a fellow Cleveland Mommy Blogger and one that I have gotten to know very well recently. Our daughters are only a few months apart so I can certainly relate to a lot of what she blogs about!!! I had a chance to meet Chrissy in real life recently at the Legacy Village Blogger event. She and I had a blast checking out all of the beautiful accessories at Charming Charlies. I am so happy to have Chrissy with us today and really appreciate her taking the time to give us a glimpse into her life as a stay at home Mom.

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Hi all!

First, a huge Thank You to Karen for hosting this guest blogging series.

Second, a quick introduction to myself:

I am a stay at home mom (SAHM) of two adorable children. My son is 2.5 years old and his name is Carter.

My daughter just turned 1 and her name is Avery.

I live in a suburb outside of Cleveland Ohio with my husband, two children, and two pets. Itʼs chaos (but mostly the good kind), and I blog about it at http://www.mygotfam.com./

When Karen mentioned that she was looking for some guest posts on “Being a Stay At Home Mom,” I was interested right away. Not because being a SAHM is always perfect and shiny, but because itʼs a topic that I have thought about quite a bit in the last few years.

At first, this was a touchy subject for me. I spent half of my time during the first year as a SAHM loudly defending my choice and feeling judged for deciding to stay home. Iʼm not sure why I felt this way. Looking back, I donʼt think that anyone was necessarily judging me. A few minor comments were made (mostly likely as jokes) by friends of my husband about SAHMʼs sitting on the cough eating bon bons ... and suddenly I felt like my new job had no validity.

Luckily, Iʼm done with that feeling now. I just had to wake up and decide to own my decision. And now I feel very lucky to be able to have made this choice.

And, trust me when I say, it wasnʼt an easy decision to make. In fact, it may have been one of the most difficult decisions my husband and I have made.

When my husband and I first discussed children, we were always on the fence about whether or not I would stay home with the kids or continue to work. I had a great career as an art director, a ton of career upward movement potential (for lack of a better term), and made a fabulous living. But after a lot of long talks, we made the decision that I would stay home with kids. This decision works for us. But all families are different.

The dynamics of no two families are the same, so trust me when I say ...every family has to decide what is best for them ...and own their decision.

And what kind of SAHM you decide to be is up to you too. Some moms (and dads) probably intuitively know how they are/will be with kids. Not me. It took me some time to “come into myself” as a SAHM, since I had always been a career girl. When my son was born, I had no idea what to do every day. I wasnʼt sure what activities would be fun for him, if I could bring him grocery shopping or on errands with me. It was a huge learning curve for me. And so I signed him up for every baby and me class I could find. We went to music class, reading time at the library, baby gyms, you name it. And slowly... I got the hang of the whole SAHM thing. And then when my daughter wasborn, there was another learning curve on how to be a SAHM to two children. How to get out of the house with two kids (this is MUCH more difficult than it sounds). How to stay busy and not let myself just do the easy things.

Now, I love it. I love coming up with fun/learning activities for my kids (one of the many rewards of being a stay at home is that you get to spend so much time with your kids, but also can guide their education, love of life and love of learning from the start...every single day). I love adventures with them and try to come up with something new for them almost everyday. We cook together, we sing together, we hike, we play, we have a blast. But being a SAHM isnʼt always puppies and clouds. There are insane days when I want to rip my hair out and scream. I certainly have my “grass is greener” moments. You know, the days when Iʼd love to go to work... just to dress up, or stayclean for longer than 20 minutes, or make it through an entire day without someoneelseʼs poop or vomit on me...you know...stuff like that. But those are few and far between...and easily laughed off in the long run.

My husband often calls during the day to say hi and I answer mid-laugh because of something that one of the kids just did. We have a good laugh about it...and he goes on about his day knowing that his kids are having fun, learning and loving life. This is (in his opinion) one of the biggest rewards of me being at home with the kids.

I do still work on the side on occasion. Freelance design work here or there, and I do think I would like to involve myself in social media more and more as the kids get older - so that I can keep my resume somewhat active (thus maybe be employable again (one of my biggest concerns)).

But for now, itʼs one fun day at a time. Some stinky-poo-covered days...but fun none the less!

Life of a Stay At Home Mom Series {Day 2}: Flip Flops & Pearls

2011-06-21T12:15:00.000-04:00

Hi there and welcome to Day 2 of the Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Guest Blogging Series!!! If you are just joining our Life of a Stay {At} Home Mom Series, welcome! Miss a post? You can find all the entries for our series listed conveniently for you here.
I am so excited to introduce Daphne today from Flip Flops and Pearls. Daphne is probably one of the happiest and funnest Bloggers I know. She hosts two Linky Parties, Home Tour Tuesdays and Let's Eat! If you are ever looking for a fun and upbeat blog to read, I highly suggest you follow Flip Flops and Pearls!!! I am so happy to have Daphne with us today and really appreciate her taking the time to give us a glimpse into her life as a stay at home Mom.

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Hey Y'all! I am Daphne author of Flip Flops and Pearls. I am so excited to be able share a little glimpse into my personal life. My public blog revolves around shopping, cooking & decorating. I have a private family blog. One talks about decorating bathrooms while the other talks about cleaning bathrooms :)

I am so blessed as I have been a stay at home mom for the past 19 years! I have a son that will be a senior this year and my daughter is a freshman. I have been married to my best friend for 18 years!

1. Biggest reward of being a SHAM-

WOW, this is a hard one to wrap into a short answer. (nothing about me is short but me height!)

Time: I'd start with being able to spend ALL of my time with my children. Before long they will be grown and I will not be able to get back that time. You only have one chance to be Mom & train them in the way you want them to be. I feel that being at work or a 24/7 socialite, doesn't give you the opportunity to do so. (I know some ppl have to work but I know many who "choose" career b/c they enjoy their lifestyle).

No money can replace time. After homeschooling for 4 years, I thought I'd die when they went back into the school system. I love my kids and I love spending time with them. We traveled the world over with my husband. These are memories that I hold so dear to my heart.

2. Biggest reward for your family having you as a SHAM-

A few major rewards that pop into my head:

knowing that when my kids drive up from school, I am home. They know this. I have the entire day for "me". They are home, it's "our" time.

Dinner is usually going, (they won't eat school food) unless it's Mexican Thursday.

My kids always know that if they need anything while at school, friends, etc., all they have to do is call me and I can meet their needs. I don't have to "ask off", I just "take off!"

My kids know that there is always their favorite foods in the fridge that their favorite jeans are clean.

I feel that a great reward of being a SHAM was in that I was able to homeschool them. The lessons they learned at a young age are something that if they were in school & I was working, may not have been instilled into them. (also, they is not many greater rewards than teaching your child to read!)

We are also a very very close family. I feel this has to do with my husbands & my involvement with our children. Homeschooling & living in Marriots w/a cat will do that! Now on the weekends, I have a senior who would rather hang out with his family than at parties. (this makes my heart happy)

3. Do you work from home now or have a side business or craft?

No. No. and No:)

I tried to work out of the house about 2 years ago. I have a friend who opened a high end clothing store. I went to help run the store til it got up and going. I was gone 4 days a week as it was about 4 hours away. I made it 6 months. It about killed my family. I cried every time I left. My kids would call me crying. If my sweet husband called me once a day, he called me 101 times a day. It was a great experience going from ground up but thank Jesus that is o-vah!

I also still dab in photography. I had a business when I lived a the beach. I did beach photography and some commercial. It started out as a hobby & something I loved. Later, it was more work. So, I had to say good-bye. Now I have my passion back and it's just for me!

4. What do you miss about working, if anything?

Seriously, nothing. I am so happy being at home with my family. Maybe getting dressed up! But then, that's what date night is for so..... I am good on that end. Honestly, there is nothing outside of my home that makes me happier than what is inside my home. My husband supplies all my needs (and way over) than any reward from a job.

5. Was it a hard decision to leave the working world?

Absolutely not. It was only 6 months. It was really to help a friend & see what the working world was all about. I'm a very social person but when I have extra time, I'd rather spend it with my husband. It's easy when your best friends. I get sad when I hear my friends talk about their kids/husbands. They want school to last all summer and the men to take business trips. I don't get it. (if I'm wrong, I don't want to be be right!)

6. Do you plan on going back to work or have different career goals?

Happy to say no, this is it. This is my career, being a full time mom & wife. I just had this conversation over the weekend with my Mr. I was thanking him for all his hard work and he said, "You don't have to because you have me". Our plans as of now is that when they kids leave for college, we are going to live on a boat. (preferably an 82' Viking, but who's thinking that far ahead?)

I am so thank that God has blessed me with a husband that doesn't want me to work & wants me with him all the time. It has blessed our family in ways that I can't count and in ways that you can't put a price on. I am so thankful that I am here to share each & every day with my family. When I was growing up, I didn't have this. My mother wasn't fortunate enough to be able to be there for my brother and I, they way I am for mine. It breaks my heart to look/think back. I never had a mom for the field trip or at the school party. Now, I am the mom that drives my kids nuts cause I always want to volunteer!

Thank you Karen, for giving me the opportunity to share my experiences as a SHAM. It's nice to sit back and reflect. This my friends, is the most rewarding job God has ever given a title to, Mom. If you have time, please stop in and say hello!

Be Blessed!

Daph

Life of a Stay At Home Mom Series {Day 1}: BeVelle Boulevard

2011-06-20T07:00:00.003-04:00

Hi there and welcome to Day 1 of the Life of a Stay At Home Mom Guest Blogging Series!!! I am so excited to kick off our series with Kodi from BeVelle Boulevard. I believe I first met Kodi on Twitter, she is one of the most supportive Mom's out there. You will have to read her Blog post on the "Working vs SAHM Mom debate". Kodi has experienced both sides and her perspective was so refreshing to read. I am so happy to have Kodi with us today and really appreciate her taking the time to give us a glimpse into her life as a stay at home Mom.

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Hi Karen at Home readers! I'm Kodi BeVelle and I blog over at BeVelle Boulevard. I am a stay-at-home mom to my two little guys- Manning (19 months) and Deacon (4 months) and wife to Nathan.

This is still the only picture I have of all four of us- perk of always being behind the camera.

I have only been a stay-at-home mom since Deacon's birth, so I have known both the sides of being a working mom and a stay-at-home mom. The biggest reward of being a stay-at-home mom is the time I'm able to spend with my boys. Duh. haha But seriously, when I was working I commuted to my job, so I would get home from work around 6 PM and Manning went to bed around 7 PM. One hour in the evening was the only time I spent with him, and in that one hour we had to eat dinner, take a bath, read a book, say our prayers and off to bed. It wasn't quality time and it was breaking my heart.

For our family as a whole, the biggest challenge of me staying home is the financial burden. My husband is in the military and he's in the process of changing from the National Guard to the full-time Army. Some things happened and while we were counting on his pay increasing as soon as I was staying home, it still hasn't happened. He will be full time as of June 30 though, so that's a huge relief!

Personally, my biggest challenge is feeling a sense of accomplishment. Some days staying home feels like Groundhog Day. With two children under the age of two, even the simplest tasks are difficult, so many days it's easier to stay home than go anywhere. It becomes really easy to stay home in pajamas, lay around all day, and do it all again the next day. I'm still learning that I need to keep a schedule as though I were working a typical job. I try to leave the house at least three days a week, which means we have to get dressed! :) Some days we just go to Target or Chick-Fil-A, and others we have actual plans! With real live people!

While I consider my #1 job to be mama, I do have a few things I do on the side. I have an etsy shop, kodimade, but I haven't had the time I'd like to devote to it. I am now a thirty-one consultant, which I'm SUPER excited about. I can "work" while Nathan is home with the boys, and I can be a full-time stay-at-home mom. Plus, the job is perfect for me. I get awesome products for free or huge discounts, and I get to hang out with a bunch of ladies and have adult conversation, while I get PAID for it! Here's a little secret that I haven't mentioned to anyone yet- I plan on a little thirty-one giveaway on my blog SOON so follow to be one of the first to know!

You might be wondering if there's anything I miss about working. No judgies- but as silly as it sounds- I miss dressing up for work. I always had fun wearing cute outfits and accessories. Now, even if I dress up in a cute outfit, a lot of times no one even sees me! Or it's just my husband who thinks I'm sexiest in sweats and no make-up anyway! I've contemplated linking up with the Pleated Poppy's What I Wore Wednesday where she challenges SAHM's to dress cute daily and share their pics weekly on a blog link-up!

For my husband and I it was kind of a given once we found out about our *surprise* Deacon that I would stay home. The daycare rate for two children under two, combined with the commute I was facing and the fact that Nathan is military so I'm sometimes a single parent, it just wasn't feasible for me to even consider going back to the job I was currently in. I also just finished my MBA in May, so I knew being a student with two children was enough to keep me busy!

I never thought I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, until I had a baby. I've always dreamt of having an important job outside of the home. Nathan and I even talked when we were first married about me supporting the family and him being a stay-at-home dad someday, but as soon as I had Manning, my heart flipped. I shed so many tears about the fact that I wasn't going to be able to stay home with him. Thankfully, through our church, we learned about a young stay-at-home mom who was looking to babysit one child in her home. Nathan and I met with her one evening, and it was immediately clear that she was an answered prayer.

All in all, I feel very blessed to be a stay-at-home mom. It is a challenging and rewarding job.

I recently blogged about the contest between working moms and stay-at-home moms, and I'd love to hear what y'all think about it as well!

Thank you so much for inviting me to guest post Karen, and thank you for reading!

Happy Monday!