A Week in the Life of a Big Family {Week 2}

I can't believe we are more than halfway through the first month of 2020! Is it just me, or does time go by faster each year? I used to always think of January as a boring month, but as my kids get older and my family grows bigger, we get busier, and January is no exception!

Everyday life in a big family is already busy enough, but when we add all the extras to our schedule, life becomes chaotic. We are always on the go! We absolutely have to keep a one extracurricular sport or activity per child rule in our family, but obviously, our schedule changes throughout the year due to seasonal sports and activities.

Week two of 2020 wasn't really remarkable, but there truly is never a dull moment around here! Even when we are running from one thing to the next, I try to keep in mind just how blessed we are to have our beautiful family. Here's an ordinary week in the life of a big family...

Diapering Essentials For At Home and On The Go

I received some of the items below as a complimentary gift. As always, I only share the items I truly love!

During the first year of your baby's life, you're going to be changing a LOT of diapers! Stocking up on diapering essentials can be overwhelming at first because there are so many brands and so many types of products. There are many products you won't need, but also quite a few products that will make this messy job quick and easy to do!

I have five children, and my diapering essentials list changed with each baby. Some products were simply a waste of money, and I never bought them again. I also discovered new products over the course of 14 1/2 years of parenthood. If you have the basics - diapers and wipes - you're set, but some extras just make the job easier!

Stock your changing area with these must have diapering essentials:

Travel Trays for Kids + 10 Mess-Free On The Go Items

*I received the Nuby cups for an honest review.

With five kids, we log in a lot of travel time in the car! Although we only go on a few road trips each year, we spend hours in the car each week driving our kids to school and activities. Like most older kids, Dylan and Lexie are glued to their phone and iPod, but our little ones get bored. Keeping a well stocked travel tray in our SUV helps us avoid hearing the dreaded "I'm bored!!!" while we're driving or waiting during sports and activities!

I've always kept my car stocked with road trip activities and snacks, but I had to pack a separate bag that we could take out of the car when we arrived at our destination. We ended up with so much stuff in our car. Then I won a travel tray from Kenley Kids in a giveaway, and it was truly a game changer! I honestly wish I had taken the plunge, and bought one sooner!

Not only does a travel tray hold all of our on the go essentials, but it also stores easily in the car, opens up into a convenient lap desk for on the go play, and can be carried like a bag to and from the car! It also has elastic pockets and zipper pouches to store cups, snacks, and toys, a convenient protective holder for a tablet, and a removable storage wall. It is the best car seat accessory for kids of all ages, and my young crew loves it!

Hopefully I convinced you to make your life as a parent a bit easier, and buy one (or two or three) for your kids. But what should you put IN the travel tray? Here are 10 Mess-Free On The Go Items for kids...

Delicious Burritos with a Healthy Twist + GIVEAWAY

DISCLAIMER: I received this product for free from MomsMeet to use and post my honest opinions. Compensation for this post was provided and this page may  contain affiliate links.

Like many people, I like the new year to get off to a healthy start! I choose healthier foods, make exercise a priority, take my vitamins, and try to get enough sleep each night. But like many moms, I often struggle with eating balanced meals, because my big family is very busy and often on the go!

Lunch is my biggest struggle. It's just easier to grab a healthy snack like a piece of fruit, cut vegetables, or string cheese, but I know that meal isn't very balanced. I try to avoid frozen convenience meals, because they aren't very healthy. Now there's a delicious, fast, and HEALTHY option: Alpha Foods Burritos!


These delicious 100% plant-based burritos are great for on the go, the perfect addition to any meal, and full of healthy ingredients! Plus, I'm giving away FOUR free product vouchers, so you can try them yourself...

Five Time-Saving Tips For Busy Mornings On The Go

My kids are heading back to school this week, and life is going to get a LOT busier! I already struggle to make it out the door on time, so getting four kids out the door at three different times is going to be a lot to juggle. Taking advantage of a few time-saving tips is the only thing that will keep me sane (and on time) amidst the chaos!

Getting four kids and myself prepared for each day often feels like a full time job. There are times when I sacrifice my own needs in order to meet their needs. If I stay organized, and do most of the work the night before, getting out the door on time really can be less stressful!

Five Time-Saving Tips For Busy Mornings On The Go

PREPARE EVERYTHING THE NIGHT BEFORE

Preparing everything we need for the following day on the night before is key! Here are a few things I do before we all go to bed:

• Pack all the lunches and store in the fridge.
• Empty backpacks and add in what will be needed the following day.
• Put everything that will be needed for school, work, errands, sports or activities in one spot near the door, or have a designated storage spot for each person within easy reach.
• Drape each coat over each bag or hang the coats above the bags.
• Choose clothing, shoes, underwear and accessories for the following day.
• Sit out a travel mug and prepare everything for morning coffee or tea. I like to put the tea bag and sugar in my travel mug, then put the lid back on until morning.
• Ask each member of the family what they would like to eat for breakfast and make sure they stick with it!

SHOWER IN THE EVENING

I know many people prefer to start their day with a shower, but I'm the opposite. I like to be completely clean BEFORE I crawl into bed at night. The best part is that it saves me a lot of time in the morning!

SET THE CLOCK AHEAD

Setting the clock 10 to 15 minutes ahead helps so much! When the alarm goes off at the designated wake up time, I'm already a few minutes ahead. Plus, having a few minutes before the first child wakes up is really nice!

UTILIZE A CALENDAR AND SET REMINDERS

Having an organized calendar is so important! We have a family calendar, and everything gets added to it. Project due dates, important school events, work or blogging functions, practices, games, classes, activities, birthdays, parties, play dates, appointments, etc. 

Every evening, I check our calendar for the following day so we don't miss any important dates. For extra important dates, I set reminders so an alarm will go off prior to the event. Staying organized and adding dates to our calendar immediately helps eliminate some of the stress in my life!

EAT A HEALTHY BREAKFAST ON THE GO

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but it's often missed for me. I spend so much time feeding kids and herding them out the door that I often forget to eat! I'm usually so busy that I don't even realize I missed breakfast (and often lunch) until that 3 pm headache and exhaustion hits!

Eating a small, easy, well balanced breakfast on the go is necessary for me, or else I will completely skip it. I'm not overly hungry in the morning, which is part of the problem. Plus, I need to eat on the go as I'm rushing out the door for my morning run, errands or appointments. 

A nutritious, easily portable option is Dannon Light & Fit Yogurt Drinks and Dannon Oikos Nonfat Yogurt Drinks! They are the perfect choice for breakfast on the go. I can toss one in my purse, along with a piece of fruit, and eat a healthy, well balanced breakfast as I drive the Mom Taxi to and fro!

Dannon Light & Fit Yogurt Drinks and Dannon Oikos Nonfat Yogurt Drinks are available in 4 packs, in the refrigerated section at Walmart. Both yogurt drinks pack a healthy punch by providing protein with 0% fat. Even better, they taste great!

Dannon Light & Fit Yogurt Drinks:

• 7 fl oz yogurt drink
• 9 grams of protein
• 90 calories/serving
• Nonfat
• No added sugar
• Available in mixed berry, strawberry, strawberry banana, peach mango and raspberry flavors
• MUST be refrigerated

Dannon Oikos Nonfat Yogurt Drinks:

• 7 fl oz nonfat yogurt drink
• 10 grams of protein
• 110 calories/serving
• Nonfat
• No added sugar
• No artificial sweeteners
• Available in strawberry, vanilla, mixed berry and banana creme flavors
• Not a low calorie food
• MUST be refrigerated

I keep my favorite flavors stocked in my fridge, and grab one as I dash out the door each morning. Not only are they nutritious AND delicious, but they are the perfect choice for busy moms on the go!

Try Dannon Light & Fit Yogurt Drinks and Dannon Oikos Nonfat Yogurt Drinks for your busy mornings on the go! Take advantage of THIS IBOTTA OFFER to save $1 on these yogurt drinks!

Only two days left until the back to school chaos begins! The earlier, structured schedule is going to be tough for all of us. However, with these five time-saving tips for busy mornings on the go, I'm hoping to make it out the door on time each day with the least amount of stress possible! (A mom can dream!)

TUESDAY TALK

It's time for Tuesday Talk! Grab the button, link back to your hosts and add your blog post link on the widget below!

An InLinkz Link-up

DIY $2 Chalkboard Cookie Sheet Travel Activity Tray for Road Trips

In less than 3 weeks, my family will be heading out on a road trip to Virginia Beach! Dylan, Lexie and Lily go back to school one month from today, so it will (sadly) be our grand finale for Summer Break. I'm already preparing for our trip, so I wanted to share one of our favorite road trip ideas with all of you: a DIY Chalkboard Cookie Sheet Travel Activity Tray!

I made these simple travel activity trays for my crew a few years ago, and they were a hit! They stay in our SUV year round. I originally shared the idea on my blog two years ago, but I figured I would expand on the idea, because it was just briefly featured in my simple road trip ideas for kids post. It's still one of my most popular pins on Pinterest, and gets re-pinned daily from my travel board!

DIY $2 CHALKBOARD COOKIE SHEET 

TRAVEL ACTIVITY TRAY

These activity trays are simple and inexpensive to make, are perfect for kids ages 1-10, and can be slid under the seats for easy storage!

SUPPLIES:

• Cookie Sheet ($1 at Walmart or a dollar store)
• Chalkboard Spray Paint (1 can will easily cover 4+ cookie sheets)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Thoroughly spray one side of the cookie sheet with chalkboard spray paint. Dry 3-4 hours.
2. Thoroughly spray the other side of the cookie sheet and dry 3-4 hours. 
3. Repeat on both sides. 
4. DONE!!!

PLAY SUPPLIES:

• 1 box of chalk
• 1 box of crayons
• Travel Soap Box to hold the crayons
• Mini Chalkboard Eraser
• Coloring pages
• Magnetic clip to hold the paper in place (2 pack for $1 at the Target Dollar Spot)
• Cars
• Magnetic letters and numbers
• Storage bag to hold the letters
• Magnets

PLAY IDEAS:

{Letter Matching}

Write the uppercase letters on the travel chalkboard activity tray, and have your child place the matching lowercase magnetic letters onto the uppercase letters. This activity really helped Lily learn to recognize all of her letters, and now I'm doing the same thing with Liam!

{Counting & Number Recognition}

Draw 10 squares on the activity tray then draw counters (large dots) for each number inside each box. Have your child count the number of counters inside each square, then place the correct number on top of the box.

{Simple Chalkboard Play}

Draw a picture, play hangman or play tic tac toe!

{Magnetic Play}

Playing with magnets is fun and mess-free! (We love our Shape Mags for this! They are perfect for Liam!)

{Roads & Tracks}

Grab the chalk, draw a road and some parking spots OR train tracks, then play using toy cars and mini trains!

{Coloring}

Print out some coloring pages, clip a page to the activity tray using a magnetic clip, and color away! We love to store our crayons in travel soap boxes, because the cardboard box always gets crushed and the crayons break easier. (This is a great Back To School tip, too. Add it to your school supply list!)

A small, plastic, suction cup bath caddy suctioned to the window is perfect for holding crayons, markers and other small toys and supplies on road trips!

STORAGE:

When my kids are done playing, I simply place everything into a gallon storage bag, zip it up, clip the bag to the travel activity tray using the magnetic clip, and slide it under the seat!

These simple DIY $2 Chalkboard Cookie Sheet Travel Activity Trays get used several times a week. Not only are they perfect for road trips, but they are great for keeping my kids busy while running errands. I bought some new activity tray supplies for our upcoming family vacation, so they are already organized and ready to go!

What activities would you do with these trays?

You might also like:

The Road Trip Survival Kit Caddy for Kids

TUESDAY TALK

It's time for Tuesday Talk! Grab the button, link back to your hosts and add your blog post link on the widget below!

Beth at Our Pretty Little Girls | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Crystal at Hall Around Texas | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram 

Jessica at Sweet Little Ones | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Stefanie at Lexie Loo, Lily, Liam, & Dylan Too | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Stephanie at Wife Mommy Me | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Becky at BYBMG | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Lindsay at Lindsay's Sweet World | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Sarah at Sarah E. Frazer | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Justine at Full Hands, Full Heart

Christina at Waltzing In Beauty | Pinterest | Instagram

Meghan at The Adventure Starts Here | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Tina at Go Big or Go Home | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

                                        Whitney at Polka-Dotty Place | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

An InLinkz Link-up

The Road Trip Survival Kit Caddy for Kids

DISCLOSURE: As a Nuby Parent Blogger, I received the cups included in the kits free for review. All opinions are 100% my own.

In less than one month, we will be making the 8 hour road trip to the beach for our family vacation! We are SO excited, but keeping four kids happy in the car can sometimes be a challenging task, especially when you get stuck in traffic for 5 additional hours (been there). It's never too early to prepare, so I created a Road Trip Survival Kit Caddy for each of my kids!

Dylan, Lexie, Lily and Liam are typically very well behaved on road trips. We recently made the 4 1/2 hour drive to Michigan with Lily and Liam, and they were excellent travelers! It was the easiest road trip ever!

The drive to the beach is almost twice as long, and even longer if we hit traffic. Netflix, iPads, iPods and our activity trays are must haves, but with the road trip caddy, they can have entertainment AND necessities within easy reach! (And mom gets a break!)

I originally saw the use of caddies for road trips a few years ago on Pinterest. They were used to hold meals in the car, so I bought some for that purpose 2 years ago, and we never ended up using them. When I was recently perusing my favorite spot - AKA The Target Dollar Spot - I came across large shower caddies. As I filled my cart with what seemed like a million extra items, the idea for a road trip survival kit caddy was born!

The Road Trip Survival Kit Caddy for Kids

This idea is so simple, and you can tailor it to the unique needs of your child. Start with one large shower caddy, then fill it with fun, age appropriate items, and all the necessities. The caddies can be found at the dollar store, but Target currently has larger, sturdy caddies in the The Dollar Spot. They were the perfect size for our survival kits!

(I'm just sharing the caddies I created for Lily and Liam, because Lexie and Dylan's caddies aren't as exciting!  Almost every item used was found in the Target Dollar Spot, and the travel and craft sections at Target.)

Here are the items I chose for our Road Trip Survival Kit Caddies:

NECESSITIES

• Hand Sanitizing Wipes (I chose gentle ones that are safe to use on faces, too.)
• Hand Sanitizer
• Tissues
• Sandwich bags (Used to hold garbage or small items,)
• Sunglasses

CREATE

• Dry Erase Lap Boards ($1 at the Target Dollar Spot)
• Window markers (Drawing on the car windows can be extra fun!)
• Coloring Kits ($3 each at the Target Dollar Spot)
• Chalkboard Laptops ($3 each at the Target Dollar Spot)

EAT & DRINK

• Nuby Snack Cups
• GoGo Squeez pouches
• Fruit Snacks
• Granola Bars
• Nutrigrain Bars
• Goldfish
• Animal Crackers
• Nuby Thirsty Kids Flip-It Boost 12 oz water canteen

These 12 oz straw cups from Nuby are perfect for  on the go, which means they are a great choice for road trips! Created for kids over the age of 18 months, they are available in 6 different prints. Lily flipped for the flamingo print (her favorite animal at the zoo), while the print on Liam's cup is made for a beach vacation (although we hope to avoid seeing sharks)! 

The soft silicone No-Spill Straw keeps things from getting messy, and the flip top keeps the straw clean when the cup isn't in use. The Thirsty Kids Flip It Boost is made from durable Tritan plastic from Eastman, so it holds up in the hands of my Toddler Tornado. The easy grip design is great for Liam's little hands, and the fact that the cups are BPA free makes me happy!

The Nuby Thirsty Kids Flip-It Boost 12 oz water canteen is coming soon to Babies R Us!

MESS-FREE PLAY

• Modeling Clay ($1.99 at Target. It doesn't crumble like play dough, and is fun to mold.)
• Silly Putty (Same price, same idea. The Glow in the Dark formula makes it more exciting!)
• Felt play sets ($3 at the Target Dollar Spot. Folds up small for easy portability!)
• Gel Clings ($1 each at the Target Dollar Spot. My kids love to create scenes on the car windows!)
• Road Trip Bingo (I found this old school bingo game for $1 each at the Target Dollar Spot. It's fun and easy to play. No extra pieces needed!)
• Books (My kids love to read, so surprising them each with a new book usually does the trick!)

Lily and Liam got a sneak peek of what was in their caddies, and they were begging to dig in! In four short weeks, we will be on our way to Virginia Beach, and they can finally enjoy them. Here's hoping The Road Trip Survival Caddy keeps all of our kids occupied for the 8+ hour drive!

How do you keep your kids occupied on road trips?

You might also like:

Simple Road Trip Ideas for Kids

TUESDAY TALK

It's time for Tuesday Talk! Grab the button, link back to your hosts and add your blog post link on the widget below!

Beth at Our Pretty Little Girls | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Crystal at Hall Around Texas | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram 

Jessica at Sweet Little Ones | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Stefanie at Lexie Loo, Lily, Liam, & Dylan Too | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Stephanie at Wife Mommy Me | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Becky at BYBMG | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Lindsay at Lindsay's Sweet World | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Sarah at Sarah E. Frazer | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Justine at Full Hands, Full Heart

Christina at Waltzing In Beauty | Pinterest | Instagram

Meghan at The Adventure Starts Here | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Tina at Go Big or Go Home | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

                                        Whitney at Polka-Dotty Place | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

An InLinkz Link-up