February 5, 2020

Creative Valentine Idea: Seeds with a FREE Printable - You Make My Heart Bloom & I Love Watching Our Friendship Grow!





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Valentine's Day is right around the corner, which means things are getting pretty creative over in the Harmon household.




Instead of just buying a box of Valentine's, you know I had to have some fun and make things for D's little buddies. The good news is, I didn't have to spend much at all to create a SUPER UNIQUE and fun valentine for her to hand out! I got all kinds of inspiration at The Dollar Store and then made printables and attached them with pink and white twine to make them just the right amount of cute!


I also got carried away and made a ton of Valentine's, not just this cute set of Seedling inspired valentines! Don't worry, I'll be sharing them all before the holiday!




Today I wanted to share a simple and FUN Valentine you can make in minutes that will really make someone's heart grow! That's right, this fun little Valentine will be so perfect for the plant lovers in your life - and the cuteness and creativeness is bound to impress your kiddos friends at school! You can claim the rights to being a Pinterest Mom without much effort at all!





All you have to do is print this off - I've attached this FREE printable! There is 3 cards for the "You make my heart bloom" and 3 cards for the "I love watching our friendship grow" - that means you can print off like 4 sheets of these or so and have enough for the whole class. I printed using these settings in Adobe! You'll obviously switch the printer to YOUR printer, then set the page sizing to custom 2 x 3 booklet and you are good to go! Use a paper cuter like this one to get a clean cut and then attach the card with a tiny bit of twine and hot glue!



Then, just grab the seeds from the Dollar Store! These were 3 packs for $1 at our location so this Valentine craft can be done for next to nothing!





Pin for later (or maybe even next year):




January 27, 2020

18 Fun Date Night In Ideas - Date Your Spouse Without Leaving Your House!

One thing that I've heard from many couples, that we try to follow, and I also give the advice to others is that you always need to continue to date your spouse. Don't ever lose that special spark between the two of you by always kindling that fire with fun times and special moments shared.




Dating your spouse sounds great, right? But we all know finding the time and hiring a babysitter isn't always a possibility. Here's the thing, dating doesn't have to be complicated. You don't have to do anything special. It doesn't have to mean getting gussied up and going out on the town - you can date your spouse at home.




Here's 18 ways you can plan the perfect date night in:

1. Turn your living room into a cozy indoor campground and snuggle up while telling stories.

2. Create a craft night - get creative with your boo and let it flow.

3. Get boozy and have a little cocktail sampler night, trying new beverages or your old favorites.

4. Set up a picnic in the backyard during the day and spoil each other with some foods that remind ou of your first dates.

5. Have a game night and let the competition heat things up.

6. Try something new with a little taste testing of something completely new for you guys, whether that be sushi or a new take on Korean bibimbap.

7. Stargaze and make wishes on 'shooting stars' even if you don't see any.

8. Take a trip down memory lane and look at old photos or pictures.

9. 'Go to The Game' in your own home, just DVR or watch a game live and chow down on hotdogs and nachos, maybe even surprise hubs with a beer in a cup that features his favorite team if you're feeling fancy.

10. Give each other some touch therapy! Google proper massage techniques and start rubbing!

11. Let your milkshake bring your boy to the yard, make special milkshakes or smoothies and sip with your sweetie.

12. Get into some Karaoke - Sing your heart out with no judgement, just check out youtube for your favorite songs and get to groovin' to your fav tunes!

13. Have an exclusive book club meeting, grab two of the same copies of a book from the library and read it together during the week and spend your 'date night' discussing.

14. Learn more about each other, take some personality tests online and share your results.

15. Plan your next vacation together, dream up the wildest places you could visit together or actually start booking the tickets - the choice is yours, just dream big together.

16. Redo something together, whether it's painting an old piece of furniture or reorganizing the pots and pans in your cabinets - spice things up by redoing something and making it feel new.

17. Stretch it out and renew yourselves together with some Yoga fun. Whether you are seasoned yogis or you've never even attempted to stretch, be sure to give this flexibility encouraging activity a try.

18. Make it a spa night with a bath bomb, face masks, and maybe even a steam facial - pamper both of yourselves with self-care.




January 12, 2020

45 Healthy Coping Mechanisms - Teach Yourself & Your Child Healthy Ways to Cope

Life isn't always fair. I think we all grow up with this knowledge and yet, it's a hard lesson to learn for nearly everyone. No matter how perfect your life is, we've all dealt with set backs, disappointments, failures, and some of us have even suffered loss and trauma. Everyone has been through the "struggle" at some point, in differing measures, but we've all been effected. The thing is, some of us wear that stress and those failures for life and some of us have bounced back and live healthy productive lives. The choice is yours and it's all about how you COPE with the unfairness of life that makes the difference.


As you likely already know, "coping refers to the human behavioral process for dealing with demands, both internal and external, in situations that are perceived as threats" - according to the AlleyDog Psychology Glossary. Whether these threats are self-inflicted by our egos, or some troubling situation that has been imposed upon us by another - a threat is what we perceive as any form of stress, essentially.


Teaching ourselves and our children how to cope effectively will help us all to be a little less stressed and happier in our daily lives. While it's easier to talk the talk than walk the walk, I've compiled a list of 45 different ways you and your kiddos can learn to stress less and deal with the situation at hand in a positive and productive way, whatever that situation may be.




45 Healthy Coping Mechanisms





1. Ask for help

2. Go for a ride (or a walk)

3. Practice yoga

4. Create art

5. Practice gratitude

6. Blow bubbles

7. Listen to your favorite music

8. Use positive self talk

9. Journal

10. Hug a tree

11. Practice your sport of choice

12. Breathe deeply and mindfully

13. Eat a healthy snack

14. Drink water

15. Cuddle or play with your pooch

16. Be like Elsa & let it go

17. Smile and laugh out loud

18. Use essential oils

19. Bake something special

20. Use positive affirmations

21. Sing and dance

22. Take a nap

23. Take a shower or bath

24. Stretch

25. Learn something new

26. Read a book

27. Do something kind for the Earth

28. Look at old photos or take new ones

29. Garden

30. Visualize your happy place

31. Do a puzzle

32. Ask for a hug

33. Create origami

34. Clean something up

35. Jump around

36. Hang out in a hammock

37. Do something kind for a friend

38. Play a board game

39. Cry

40. Pray

41. Dance

42. Watch a movie

43. Lay in the sun

44. Plan something for the future

45. Scream