Here’s a list of Easy Easter Ideas at home for our families this year! Â
April doesn’ look like anything any of us had hoped for or planned on….
I know lots of us are super bummed… I have no problem admitting that this has been hard for me. One thing I’m determined to do, is to still make Easter special for our family.
I know it won’t look the same, there won’t be new outfits and fancy church services, Family BBqs or giant egg hunts BUT there are some pretty fantastic and creative ways to still celebrate the season and remember Jesus!
One thing that hasn’t changed (maybe the only thing) is that God loved us so much that HE gave HIS only Son Jesus so that anyone who believes would have Eternal Life! AND not only did HE die for our sins, He conquered death and the grave and gave us NEW RESURRECTED LIFE when he rose from the grave!!!
And THAT will always be a reason to celebrate!!!
I thought I’d share some Easy Easter Ideas
 I’ve gathered a list, some we do every year, most are ideas I’m possibly trying this year. And most of them have been found on Pinterest. (I”ll share the original pin where I can)Â
Some of these links are a part of my affiliate with Amazon.com. Thank you for supporting Loveandscribbles by shopping through them!Â
I’ve never made my own home made liquid laundry detergent but, have always wanted to. I suppose I thought it involved a lot of steps and mess and just didn’t feel like tackling it, Until today!
And the only reason I even attempted to make home made liquid laundry detergent today, was because I found this awesome ingredients list and instructions that make it a whole lot easier than I ever thought it could be.
First let me tell you about some of the reasons why I want to have my own homemade liquid laundry detergent
Laundry detergent is one of the most toxic, chemically laden products in our homes.
The Think Dirty app lists most of them as 8 or 9 on their toxic ratings. listing problematic ingredients such as
Fragrance – possible Carcinogen, possible allergic reactions
Sodium Borate (also known as Borax) – Respiratory and sin irritation.
Alcohol Ethoxy Sulfate – skin irritation.
Diethylene Glycol – pregnant women use with precaution. this is restricted for use in cosmetics in Canada and completely banned in other countries. * a note here to say this ingredient is in Tide!! Did you know that? I sure didn’t!!
The last store bought detergent I had been using had over 30 ingredients!! With other leading brands having as many as 45 different ingredients!!!!
Now let’s look at the ingredients I’m using to make my home made liquid laundry detergent.
Washing Soda, Arm & Hammer
Baking Soda
Thieves Laundry Soap – from Young Living
Thieves Household Cleaner – from Young Living
essential Oils (optional but so great!)
Water
And that’s it! Now, not only do I know what is in my home made laundry detergent, but It’s so easy to mix together!!
Continue reading to find out how to make it or you can watch this video ( I wasn’t going to post this video, I’ve never recorded a video with my kiddos “help” and it’s not the way I wanted it to be. but hopefully it helps you see how easy it is to make this! and maybe a peak into real life over here)
I’ve been using my Once A Month Meals membership to stock our freezer for a year now!! And still absolutely LOVE it!
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I started looking into a membership when I was new to the Instant Pot and wanted to find more ways to use it, You can read my first review here!
But, you don’t even need an Instant Pot to take advantage of the amazing resources from Once A Month Meals
Here’s a list of the cook types for the cooking day and the serving day:
Now, every month I make 20-30 dinners for our freezer. Plus, some lunches and breakfasts too!
Once A Month Meals has been adding new features, tons of new recipes, and special menus so membership just keeps getting better!
You can check out all of these amazing menu options:
I know I’ve said this before, But the resources available to you as a member with Once A Month Meals are outstanding! In fact I do not hesitate to say that I would have never attempted freezer cooking for a whole month with out them!
You get these awesome customizable Menus that have been masterly crafted to consider time, effort, cost etc. (you select how many servings each meal makes too!)
You can easily swap recipes that do not appeal to you or even just build your own menu from the many recipes listed.
You get a detailed Grocery Shopping List (we are talking down to the ounces people!!)
The Prep list takes all the guessing out of what to do with all those groceries once you are home. And then the Cooking Day Instructions give you a step by step guide to stock your freezer!
Labels are at the ready for your bags or containers before you stick them in the freezer ( these labels even have the serving day instructions right on them!)
The Thaw Sheet is so handy ( I keep mine in my household planner binder) for deciding what to pull out of the freezer each night! Only have 30 minutes to get dinner on the table?? well, then grab these Enchilada Meatballs, and have dinner from freezer to table in 20 minutes!!!
And Recipe Cards for every recipe in your menu.
Seriously, Once A Month Meals has CHANGED how I do dinner! In fact I have stopped in the middle of writing this post to plop in our dinner from the freezer and in just about 1 hours time, our dinner is almost ready and I’ll pack away this computer and we can sit down to eat… just like that!
I just bought these baggy openers from Amazon.. They are super handy!!
Here are some great tools for prepping and freezer your meals:
Products from Amazon.com
Those 64 oz containers are the perfect size to freeze meals for the Instant Pot…Â So the food fits perfectly inside the liner of your Pot.
And don’t forget to use Wal-Mart’s free grocery Pick up to get your groceries for the month! Here’s $10 off your first order and my review of the free service, we actually use it weekly!
Have you ever prepared freezer meals before? What’s the most intimidating part of the process for you?
This Post May Contain Affiliate links. Purchasing through them may result in compensation with no added cost to you.
Have you ever prepared freezer meals for your family? It’s the process of preparing and cooking up a bunch of meals all at once and then freezing for a later time. It is really nice to have meals already prepared and ready to go when you are in a rush or the day has been crazy!
I’ve done freezer meal prep in the past for a few recipes. Usually, I just pick a few meals for either the crock pot or the oven and buy all the supplies to make them. Then I would spend the day making them all and sticking them in your freezer. Â The mess and work all happens at one time and then done.
It does take some planning and it is work! But I think it can be really worth it. And you can add fun to it by inviting a friend to do it with you! I especially start thinking about this kind of prep right before a new baby arrives… since dinner time can be very unpredictable.
Recently I discovered a website calledOnce a Month Meals. They take this freezer prep/cooking idea to the max. I was instantly impressed by the organization and customization they provide.  I have signed up for meal planning help in the past and the only bummer I found in the ones I’ve tried is that you are kind of stuck with recipes your family doesn’t like.. no fun there!  With Once A Month Meals you can pick from their 6000+ recipes and substitute them into your plan And nothing else I have seen has been anywhere close to this! Read More
A quick personal note: I have not been around on this blog much recently. It has made me sad to take a break but it was needed. Pregnancy + Holidays + sickness kind of got the best of me. But here we are on the other side and I’m excited to continue this blog journey in 2017. Also, we have all taken a little much-needed break from the Kitchen Remodel, but it is nearly finished. When it is, you’ll be sure to see the whole beautiful thing! I’m hoping to post a video so you can see it in all of its glory! for now if you want to catch up on what we have done you can head over here!
I hope you’ll stick with me and even share with friends! And I pray your 2017 has started with health and excitement for the future! For now, let’s talk about What is this Instant Pot Craze?
Well, you’ve probably heard about the amazing Instant Pot! It seems to be all over the internet world. And for Christmas Ryan surprised me with one, so now I’ve joined the craziness and I have to admit, it is pretty fantastically amazing!
If you are like me, you’ve been hearing a lot about this kitchen appliance and kind of thinking everyone was a little obsessed and crazy about it. Like Come on, I’m sure it’s nice, but really?
Toys toys toys If you have young kids then you know that toys can very easily take over your life! Especially when birthdays and Christmas come around!! We love that our boys get fun new things and that they have family and friends that love on them! 🙂 But this lady quickly became overwhelmed by the mess!!
Since I know that we can’t be the only ones, I thought I’d share the method that has worked for us. It may not be what works for everyone but if you need to try something new, give it a shot!!
This Post May Contain Affiliate links. Purchasing through them may result in compensation with no added cost to you.
So, with so many toys we started with trying the fabric cubes in a bookcase idea… something similar to this.
I even made labels with pictures of the different kinds of toys. I like the idea that it would look cute, organized and still be accessible to the boys. This simply did not work for us. at all!
First of all , not all our toys fit in these cute little bins. labels were ripped off and toys still seemed to all be dumped, every. single. day. So, the chaos continued. (we now use this bookcase and bins for the boys clothes in their closet and it works really well for that!)
I will say that this method works for some people. especially if you have one child, who is still young and just now getting into toys.
So, we moved everything to big plastic tubs. This way our whole collections of trains, blocks, cars whatever will fit in the same tub and has a lid!!
Still, having them in the play room meant that there were days that every bin was emptied… even if we tried the idea ” you have to put away one before you get the other one out. ” thing. bonus points to you if you monitor your kids play time that well! 🙂
Eventually what I decided to do seemed drastic, but it works so well for us!!
ALL of the tubs of toys found a place in the garage. Every one of them!! The boys know that they get 1 or 2 tubs into the house at a time. When they are ready for something else, we pack them away and get another one from the garage! Usually it’s trains and cars that stay in the house but everyone once in a while William will remember a certain toy and will ask where it is, so we switch them out!
This has brought a ton of peace to our play room! It’s so much easier to clean up when everything goes into the same tub! And I realized the boys weren’t even able to really play when they had so many toys surrounding them! Also, right before Christmas I will put EVERYTHING in the garage so they can really enjoy the new things they get! And both our boys birthdays are soon after Christmas so we’ll probably spend a few months just exploring our presents! 🙂
I hope this helps if you haven’t found what works for your house!
I would love something like this for in the garage (as of now they are just stacked up on the side) but maybe some day 😉  (for now it will stay on the forever growing honey do-list)
This post may contain affiliate links to products and services we love. By making purchases through the links, your price remains the same but I will earn a small commission that helps to fund this site and maybe even my coffee obsession. All recommendations and opinions are always 100% my own.
Cleaning the oven…. yeah that chore is certainly one of my very least favorite household tasks! But, now that I have an awesome new oven I knew I needed to find something that can help with keeping it beautiful!
I found these handy liners on Amazon!
I wanted something to help with keeping our new oven clean and I have to say that I like the way these look and fit. Plus clean up is soooo much easier this way!
The bottom one fit exactly. And the one I wanted on the rack just needed a trim, I also cut a little bit more into where the handle on the rack is! These were easy to trip with just scissors!
This company also has a cool roll out dish drying rack, It is now on my ever growing Amazon wish list 🙂
This post may contain affiliate links to products and services we love. By making purchases through the links, your price remains the same but I will earn a small commission that helps to fund this site and maybe even my coffee obsession. All recommendations and opinions are always 100% my own.
Ahhh!
Father’s Day is this Sunday but don’t panic… we’ve got the internet on our side! 🙂
With Amazon Prime we can still get some amazing gifts in plenty of time for Dad’s big day! And spoil the men in our lives properly!
Check out some awesome gift ideas I’ve found
There are lots of deals under $100. here’s a whole page on just that
There’s a coupon for $20 off any $100 purchase of Dewalt tools for the Handy man in your life… http://amzn.to/1PXgh5K
use it on deals like these:
If your budget isn’t quite that big, don’t worry, mine isnt’ either! There are still some great deals in the tool department.
there are lots of items to browse through!
Have more of a techy man?
Umm, for the record (because my handsome husband reads my blog, thanks babe!) these links don’t actually show what I’m ordering for Father’s Day, just some general ideas for everyone! 😉  hehe
If you are looking for something specific, leave a comment and I can help you look for it!
Oh and don’t forget Target.com and Walmart.com are still great options with their order online, pick up in store features!
This post may contain affiliate links to products and services we love. By making purchases through the links, your price remains the same but I will earn a small commission that helps to fund this site and maybe even my coffee obsession. All recommendations and opinions are always 100% my own.
Do you love shopping at Target?
It’s a great place to shop for so many things! And even if you don’t want to deal with couponing and stock piling.. you can still get some great deals!
The easiest way to get a deal EVERY time you shop is with the Target RED Card. Â (either Debit or Credit) The Redcard gives you 5% off everything you buy in store or online. AND if you are shopping online at Target.com you will get free shipping every time you pay with your card! Plus you get an extra 30 days for returns on your purchases!
And did you know you don’t have to go into the store to open up a gift registry? You can create and add items to a gift registry on your computer or tablet or phone.. whatever you want!?! Pretty exciting!
This post may contain affiliate links to products and services we love. By making purchases through the links, your price remains the same but I will earn a small commission that helps to fund this site and maybe even my coffee obsession. All recommendations and opinions are always 100% my own.
It’s vacation season!! yay!
We haven’t done much vacationing as a family yet so there are some items we just need to invest in for this and  future trips..Just in case you need to upgrade some traveling “necessities” here’s a fun handy list!
sleeping bags (or I guess their new name is “slumber bags”? weird)
Suite case organization?? yes please!
Amazon.com
I just think those are so awesome!
For the kids suitcases I decided to try this idea… and I’m kind of in love with this plan!!
Each bag has a shirt, pants, and either a diaper or undies (depending on child) for the day!
then because we are talking about the children there is an “extras” bag for each.
I am really excited to try this on our next trip, I really think it will eliminate some of the unorganized frustration of living out of a suitcase for a few days! AND a big plus will be if anyone wants to help me get boys dressed during the day it will be easy for anyone to find what they need! 🙂
need suite cases? Amazon has some great options!
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
These pinterest ideas for organization are Ah-mazing!!
I just love lists!! These help me keep all my thoughts in one place as I think about all the things each person needs!
And this probably goes without saying but I’ll say it anyways 🙂 It’s always a good idea to check local weather at your destination before you pack!
And if you don’t have a vacation planned yet, Don’t forget about Groupon Getaways!
Whatever you do this summer, wherever you go, I hope you stay safe, have fun, and make memories!
If you have young kids then you know that toys can very easily take over your life!
