What's In Your Bag?...Traveling with Kids

Some of my favorite memories as a kids were when we went on a road trip.

I can not tell you the joy I felt when I knew we had one coming up. 

As an adult I still get the same joyous feeling and I enjoy taking road trips as a family with my girls. 

Though we usually only get to travel when headed to see family I still enjoy the time in the car with us 5. 

Since I have traveled from the time I was 6 month old to currently I have come to find a few essentials  that I consider a MUST in our book.
The Perfect Bag

 

Over the years I have tried a HUGE varety from back packs to tote type etc. 

I found this doll last summer in the Target dollar section for $3 and I have to say I LOVE IT! 

It doesn't close up at all which is the only down fall but it works great for easy access, and hold just the right amount of items. 

I got this one for our youngest and I am in hopes that I can find one similar to this for all 3 of them and even might go all out and personalize them all one and dedicate them for our trips!  

3DS Game Systems

 

I am NOT a huge gamer fan but I have to say that these have came in VEY handy with our kids. 

Since two of them are ADHD keeping their boredom to a minimum is a HUGE task on long trips and I love these things for that reason and that reason only.  

Road Bingo

 

Target was on point last summer with their dollar section this last summer!
I got these awesome road trip bingo boards for only $1 each.
I grabbed one in each color which also works out great seeing that there are 4 since Dakota and Alora tend to go to Alabama for the summer and they take two. Which leaves two for Aaliyah and I when we travel and when we are together there is enough for everyone but the Hubby. Since he does the driving I thought it was safer to leave him out fo the fun :) but that doesn't stop him from cheating playing eye spy.
Cell Phones

We all have our own phones and og course that means they HAVE to go.
These are great entertainment for the kids especially the teens in our lives, they love to listen to their music, chat with friends and hit up social media.

Cinnamon Gum & Pressure Point Bands

Aaliyah suffers from car-motion sickness we have found that these two products help us a TON!
I knew about the arm bands from when I was a kid since my cousin suffers from Vertigo but when I was on the search for some for her for her first plane trip to Cali I had the WORST time finding them. I actually was blessed enough to get the set from my sister's then boy friend who's parents own a pharmacy and he mailed them to me.
I hope to get about 3 more sets because to be honest I have been on the verge of a heart attack a few times when I couldn't find them or one was MIA!
I plan to sick one set in each of our vehicles, my purse, and her travel bag...
Headphones

Since all of the girsl like listening to their own music and play the DS's these are another top thing on my list. Mainly for my sanity. We used to use earbuds but they are HARD to keep up with and lets be honest headphones are more comfortable.
Coloring books, Workbooks and Games

These are a great way to get the kids out of the tech world and into the world of the arts. I usually also let them throw in a book or two and Dakota will bring like 4.... She is a HEAVY reader!
The older two have nooks and they sometimes ask for them intead.

Here are a few things I did not take images of but still are just as important.
1. Travel Pillow and Blanket
My girls all have a small pillow to travel with and I am so very thankful that they do. These are great fro naps in the car and it brings something from home that they use often with them. 

2. Extra Clothes
I always pack and extra outfit for Aaliyah since she tends to throw up

3. Snacks, Drinks, wet wipes, Snackees and papertowels
We save HUGE amounts of money by hitting the grocery store and loading up my cooler bag. We don't have to pay the gas station prices nor do we have to stop and eat. The kids love to snack and this fits us well.  Aaliyah got a snackees cup for her birthday last year and I HAVE got to get one fro the rest of us but I promise we won't be sporting Elsa from Frozen :)

Next week I will share with you all what is in my bag when I travel. :)

We are headed up north this weekend for an early Thanksgiving and we are excited!
Now I need to go finish packing :)
See ya!

Planning Our Christmas Cards

 

Since the girls were little I have always used Christmas as a reason to force myself to send our friends and family updated pictures of them. 

Last years attempt was an EPIC fail and after February rolled around I gave up and trashed it all.

SO in hopes to get my shit together in 2015 I wrote in my brain aka planner to start this Christmas Card journey in October...

Well here we are the middle of November and I have done NOTHING...

Do I hear a repeat of last year?!

Let's hope not!

Here are my major dilemma's though:

 

Weather

Mother nature has not been so kind as of lately, the days that are perfect are already jam packed with stuff and the days I can get us 5 together are rainy, wet or way to freaking cold!

Location

Location, location, location!

We are having the WORST time at this. I can't decide if I want an urban, city look or a country look....

The hubby says lets do both but then I want to smack him and say I can;t get it together for one let alone two.... 

MEN!

Photo Cards vs. Photos IN Cards

I LOVE the simplicity of photo cards BUT I have also sent cards with the photo's in the for many years thinking what if they want to display these pictures year round? 

So that drives me nuts!

Clothes

 When you have three girls that are different from each other as day is to night and your really wanting a more natural personable look you really want a scheme that is NOT matchy matchy but you do want it to coordinate...

I have come up with a color that will work for all of us... I think... well hope... okay PRAYING! 

 

ANXIETY!!!

We have not had pictures done in FOREVER! 

We did manage to get one decent one at my brother in laws wedding this last August but we have not actually had family pictures done since Aaliyah was an INFANT! I mind you she will be 9 in April... We are WAY over due to say the least and I can't help but stress and I do mean STRESS about these! Plus since I am a photographer I would rather be behind the lens than in front of it so now we are in a whole new ball field! 

But what about you?

Are you an annual card/pic sender?

Do you forgo the whole idea?

I'd love to hear!

Our Weekly Forecast

Since we had a snooze-fest of a weekend this last weekend aka it was one of those weekends that are boring as shit nothing blog worthy happened, I figured it would be kind of fun to give you all a outlook on what my week has "planned" and I say planned loosely since they are more like things I NEED to REALLY do but if life allows it kind of way. 

I am not just a blogger but a mom, wife, in the process of starting revamping my own business along with the many other hats that mom's wear. 

This last week was tough on blogging since I had my youngest home sick the majority of the week and we all know when they are 8 they still WANT mommy. I LOVED being able to cuddle up and watch movies with her and just have that one on one time with her. I know all to well once they hit Middle School it is ALLLLL OOOOVVVVEEERRR!

Hints: My middle schooler is home today...

ugh!

This is the worst possible timing too, this weekend we are headed up to Omaha, Arkansas where my biological dad lives to celebrate an early Thanksgiving. So this week is cleaning house, tying up loose ends for What the Photography (my biz) and packing!

Plus due to a certain text message this weekend I will be rearranging MY ENTIRE house for something HUGE! More on this to come, and with this HUGE change it will mean more stories and my beautiful chaos will be more chaotic...BECAUSE everyone knows that is just want you NEED right before the holidays, but in all seriousness though my brain and stress has hit a WHOLE new level I am actually kind of excited for it. I am just not sure the hubby feels the same excitement. 

SO on to 

THE LIST

Today I had to go put my car in the shop and lets just say I HATE not having a car...

Then it was off to get the sick Alora, who of course thought she was dying... girls...

This afternoon I am running the neighbor kid across the street to an appointment he has for his mom and in between it is cleaning, blogging, dinner prepping and of course house rearrangement 101!

Dakota has a dr appointment in the morning  and those are my ONLY set things for now...

BUT

I NEED to...

Pack three kids and us for the weekend trip

Grab Christmas gifts for the weekend trip since we are merging them together

Plan our Christmas card photo shoot and maybe JUST maybe do it

Rearrange the house  

Get together my Christmas Card List

Pick out Christmas Cards

Square away our fur-babies sitter for the weekend

Clean House

Prep for Thanksgiving Break  next week 

and

Continue on my Website building for WtP!

That I am sure is ONLY the START! 

Our weather right now is cold wet and makes you want to lye in bed all day and sleep so that is just so VERY helpful... 

Anyways I am off to the kitchen so I can get something accomplished today... 

See you all tomorrow! 

{Hugs}

Sandra

Tatted Thursday: Featuring Ant; Part Two (After Me)

 Last week I kicked off our Tatted Thursday blog series with sharing with you guys my husbands ink work (here). I had ALL intentions on throwing them all at you at once but since he started his ink collection since he was about 13 or 14 years old,

it would have just went on for what very well may have seemed like forever!

When I was writing this I realized that Ant's tats are in NO kind of order and I ask that you  bare with me on this fact. 

He has been working on his tat collection for almost 18 years and some of the older ink's information is a little fuzzy for us old folks...

They will seem pretty random chaotic ...

SO...

I tried and categorized them as best as I can...

Before Me (Part One) and After Me (Part Two) ;)

So now we can FINALLY move on to...

Part Two:

After Me

PAIN:

Shop Name/Location: Forbidden Images; Dothan, Alabama

Artist Name: Jeff

Placement: Left Calf

Pain Scale: 3

Price: $140-$150

Age: 26-27ish

Meaning/Story: He says in a way it is the summary of his life, PAIN in larger letters as the red Kanji characters read Blood, Sweat, and Tears.

Dakota

Shop Name/Location: Anchor Tattoo;  Bryant Arkansas

Artist Name: Chad

Placement: Left Shoulder Blade

Pain Scale: 5 to 7 (depending on location)

Price: $100

Age: 31

Meaning/Story: Dakota is my our oldest child and VERY much into music, I designed this tattoo for Ant to represent her. Though he is not her biological father he has been with Dakota since she was about 2 years old.

Dice

Shop Name/Location: Forbidden Images; Dothan, Alabama

Artist Name: Jeff

Placement: Right Calf

Pain Scale:  3

Price: $100

Age: 26-27 ish

Meaning/Story: This tattoo was picked out by Ant's youngest brother. So in a way you can say it represents Brad :)

The Skull

Shop Name/Location: Notorious Ink; Headland Alabama

Artist Name: Billy

Placement: Left Chest

Pain Scale: 4

Price: $75

Age: 27

Meaning/Story: There is no story or meaning behind this one, the itch for ink was present and it is what he had liked at the time.

SDJ

Shop Name/Location: Screamer's Tattoo; Ozark, Alabama

Artist Name: Dragon Dave

Placement: Left Side of Neck

Pain Scale: 3

Price: $40

Age: 22

Meaning/Story: These are my initials that he got after we had been together for a year. Our families FREAKED THE FU$& OUT! ;)

Black Tribal

Shop Name/Location: Forbidden Images, Dothan Alabama

Artist Name: Jeff

Placement: Back of Left Forearm

Pain Scale: 6

Price: $120

Age: 25ish

Meaning/Story: He has always liked tribal and decided that after talking to Jeff that they would piece two pieces into this one "custom" idea tat.

Faith

Shop Name/Location: Anchor Tattoo; Bryant, Arkansas

Artist Name: Chad

Placement: Left Triceps

Pain Scale: 6

Price: $120

Age: 29

Meaning/Story: He decided on this ink work after I have bitched reminded him over and over and over again to always have faith. I am usually the think positive about EVERYTHING type of person and I have tried to rub that trait off on him in our time together... so far it has not worked but now he at least has a reminder with him at all times and I can save my breath for something else. ;)

LEANNA/ CLOUDS

LEANNA:
Shop Name/Location: Forbidden Images, Dothan, Alabama

Artist Name:  Jeff

Placement: Right

Pain Scale: 6

Price: Free
 (this tattoo was priced into the sleeve start up at a HUGE discount)

Age: 27

Meaning/Story: Ant's youngest sister gave birth to her daughter LeAnna very prematurely. LeAnna graced us with her presence for just a few short moments before she went to heaven to watch over her family. The entire family was devastated and  her uncles paid tribute to our sweet angle with her name and halo on them for us to always carry her with us. 

CLOUDS:
Shop Name/Location: Anchor Tattoo; Bryant Arkansas

Artist Name: Chad

Placement: Around LeAnna's Tribute on Right Bicep

Pain Scale: 5

Price: Priced in with sleeve hours

Age: 31

Meaning/Story: With LeAnna's name being on the arm with the sleeve Ant wanted to make her name stand out more and not get lost in the tribal shuffle... Chad and him came up with this idea after a few hours working on the sleeve.

Patience

Shop Name/Location: Anchor Tattoo; Bryant Arkansas

Artist Name: Chad

Placement: Left Wrist

Pain Scale: 7

Price: $60

Age: 29

Meaning/Story: Ant had an old family friend who him and I absolutely ADORED!
Watt was such a character and I always enjoyed going to visit with him. Watt would always tell me as I would get ready to leave from my visit to be patient with Ant. He was a good kid and he would get his shit together he just needed someone like me to make it worth it...
After Watt had passed I had told Ant about my idea or getting the word patience or a Kanji Character tattooed to me to remind me to have patience with him through out our life together... and well the sucker totally stole my idea when I was across country :)

  Family

Shop Name/Location: Anchor Tattoo; Bryant, Arkansas

Artist Name: Chad

Placement: Right Wrist

Pain Scale: 7

Price: $60

Age: 29

Meaning/Story: Ant has become a HUGE family man, his family is his motivation for everything that he does and with 4 girls in the house GOD knows sometimes you need an extra reminder on why you go about your day to day routines.

Aaliyah

Old English 

  Shop Name/Location: Screamer's Tattoo; Ozark, Alabama

Artist Name: Dragon Dave

Placement: Backside of Right Forearm

Pain Scale: 5.5

Price: $100

Age: 23

Meaning/Story: Aaliyah is the name of our youngest daughter. After she was born he pretty much made a be-line to the tattoo shop to get his baby girl's tribute tattoo inked to him.

 Sleeve

Work in progress

Two different states, shops and artists

PART ONE- THE START- 2012
Shop Name/Location: Forbidden Images; Dothan, Alabama

Artist Name: Jeff

Placement: Right Arm Sleeve

Pain Scale: 1-10 depending on area being worked on

Price: $ 425 start up cost

Age: 27

Meaning/Story: When we left the hospital from loosing our niece LeAnna, Ant decided he would replace one pain with another and decided to start on sleeve-ing his arm after all the years of talking about it. The first initial start up of his arm was 12 different tribal pieces placed and lied out around his already existing tats and almost 6 hours in the chair.

Part Two: PROGRESS and ADDITIONS - 2013 to ONGOING
Shop Name/Location: Anchor Tattoo; Bryant Arkansas

Artist Name: Chad

Placement: SLEEVE CONTINUED

Pain Scale: 1-10 depending on area being worked on

Price: $100hr up to 6 to 7 additional hours

Age: 31 and counting....

Meaning/Story: Chad has been kind enough to help Ant bring his sleeved arm to a reality. These two have brainstormed and have added on new anchor points to the sleeve and ways to make everything "work" after it being an ongoing process..
We are all so VERY excited to see it "finished" but there are still several more hours to go...
Plus side?
I never run out of gift ideas for my so very hard to shop for hubby!

Do you want to have your ink featured?

Here's how!

*DISCLAIMER Pain scales depend on the individual getting the tattoo. These are not in anyway a guarantee  on how much a tattoo in a particular area will or will not hurt YOU.
The pain scale is based on a 1-10 scale (10 being the worst) and is just used to give you the reader an EXAMPLE. The pain scale is that of the featured person and their personal opinion on how much it hurt THEM.

** DISCLAIMER  tattoo pricing usually is charged by the hour. Depending on the location, size, detail, colors etc. will depend on the price of your tattoo. These prices listed are just to give you an idea of what some ink work could cost you. We are also DEDICATED tattoo enthusiast and are VERY LOYAL to our artist. SOME artists will show appreciation for your dedication and charge their repeat clients  with a discounted rate... This may or may not be typical in your area. Also me and my hubby always TIP our artist some pricing may or may not include the tip that we gave them... we can't remember :(

Why I Went From Chore Charts To A Cleaning Schedule

As a parent we ALL know that as kids get older there are things that we as the parent have to teach them. Responsibility is one of them.
Not only does things like chores help with this process but it also helps us get things done.
I can not tell you HOW MANY times I have tired chore charts and they have been a HUGE FAIL in our house.
I always felt that these things ended up giving me more work in the end. Checking up on them, coming up with them, punishment for not doing them etc.

 

This go around I had noticed a TON of cleaning schedules on Pinterest and I WAS HOOKED! 

I couldn't believe that this was not something I personally came up with with how many times I had failed at the whole chore chart idea.

We run a pretty hectic life and since the weekends are usually the only days of the week we don't have dad at work I wanted it to be chore free so it gave us the opportunity to have time for family. 

I looked over several ideas on pinetrest and revamped them to fit our needs.
Now each of the girls still have a daily morning task list and an afternoon task list but the major cleaning is now divided between Monday thru Friday.

Since this is a new idea I can go ahead and tell you it is a rough start but I will be sure to give you the scoop on how things go for us very soon!
Plus I will share with you guys how I broke it all down, and once it works I plan on making my list prettier on the eyes :)

Are you pro schedule or pro chores?

Weekend Recap

 

It is so hard to believe that we are WELL on our way into November and before we know it we will be in FULL swing holiday mode! 

I am not sure where 2015 went!

Friday and Saturday we hosted a yard sale. I usually only do this once a year but since I had had the chance to really clean out the house I wanted to try and get rid of it all sooner rather than later. 

This was actually one of the most successful yard sales I have hosted even though the weather was cold, damp and rainy most of the time.

Saturday evening we ran across the street to celebrate my daughters BFF's 12th birthday!

Her poor mamma was up til 2 am baking away for the party in between bouncing back and forth over here while we ran the yard sale. 

Sunday we spent the day relaxing and as a family. 

When your lives are so hectic ti is a nice change in pace to spend the day with no visitors, and just us five.

Surviving Our First 9 Weeks

I have come to find out that the older you get the faster time seems to fly past you. 

It is SO HARD to believe that 2015 is thisclose to being over and not to mention we have already SURVIVED our first 9 weeks of school! 

Going into the 2015-2016 school year I was a ball of emotions ranging from nervous, scared, overwhelmed and so many more! 

This school year was a HUGE change over for us all. 

Not ONLY was I still working overnight; which meant that our girls were on their own in the mornings...EEK, but it was also the very FIRST time all of the girls would be separated and in a school of their own.

Here is the scoops

Dakota:

Dakota was headed off to 8th grade which here in Central Arkansas means Junior High.

I in which freaked out on this transition but I promise it was only on the inside... maybe :)

This school year she decided to drop band after playing the clarinet  for two years in Middle School and to say that my heart didn't break just a little would be a lil white lie... kids...

When we went to her open house she was super thrilled with her class line up and managed to get EVERY class she had wanted!

Here is her 2015-2016 work load: 

1st period: Honors Pre Alegbra (all 4 semesters)
2nd Period: Career Development (1st & 2nd semester)
2nd period: Art (3rd semester)
2nd period: Art (4th semester)
3rd period: GT (1st & 2nd semester)
3rd period: FCSI (3rd & 4th semester)
4th period Social Studies (1st & 2nd Semester)
4th period: Arkansas History (3rd & 4th semester)
5th period: PE (1st semester)
5th period: Health (2nd semester)
5th period: Computer Tech (3rd & 4th semester)
6th period: Pre AP English (all 4 semesters)
7th: Science (all 4 semesters)

Dakota so far has a pretty calm start to the year.
We did come to the decision early on in the school year though to have her retested and reevaluated for ADHD, when we made this decision her doctors decided to take her off ALL her meds and this was a HUGE change for us all. Especially her since she has been on meds since she was 5.
THANK GOD though her grades have stayed pretty decent considering...
Dakota decided that this was the year to start the dating scene and found her a sweet boy to help ease mommy into this transition.

These two have gone to the movies, ice skating, and roller skating TWICE!

Alora:

It is so hard to believe that this girl is already in 6th grade and in Middle School!

I have come to the conclusion though that when my kids hit this stage in life they become DRAMA queens and the brain that they DID have goes on vacation...

I can honestly say that I do not think that there has been one week that we did not have some sort of drama out of this kid... 

GIRLS! 

Here is her 2015-2016 work load:

1st period: Science

2nd period: Band 

3rd period: Social Studies

4th period: Advisory

5th period: PE, Music, PE, Art and then PE

6th period: Math

7th period: Social Studies

8th period: Language

Since I am a mean mom I require the girls to do one year in band and one with a foreign language  of their choice. Alora chose to play the flute (just like her mamma ;) ) this year in band. I had figured she would have loved this and I had HOPED she would love it... 

and so far we are at a bust...

I hope as time goes on she will learn to love it.

Her grades are not the greatest but I am helping her get it done. 

Since the school year has started she has joined softball, gone to her first dance, turned 12 and got braces! 

This girl is ALWAYS busy!

Aaliyah: 

Our sweet baby is in 3rd grade and it is hard to get over for this mamma!
She is lovin' the "independence" from her sisters!
Her grades are on point and she is ready for spring to make this mamma a soccer mom again.
She's gotten to enjoy her book fair and fall festival. She is super excited about her up coming Christmas performance at school.

This has been an interesting first 9 weeks but to say that I am relived that we have already gotten through it.

All three of the girls have just finished celebrating Red Ribbon Week at school and are looking forward to the holiday and snow day season!

Next week I will be sharing lots of tips and things that we do to try and at least keep up with these three!