Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook {a Review}

First off, I thoroughly enjoyed the original The Trim Healthy Mama and most of what they said I could completely get behind {I just don't care for Stevia}. The Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook is exanded with tons more recipes and ideas of healthy eating! This book does work as a stand alone to the original, but if you read the original first it will greatly improve your understanding of the whole system.

The book starts with explaining, briefly, what the basics are of following their plan. Goes into what gadgets and special things you need to have and keep in mind, then follows very quickly into the recipes. I love cookbooks. I love all the pictures of food. This book has beautiful pictures all through out, with really great descriptions and directions on how to prepare the dishes.

Looking through the book every single recipe was something that sounded delicious! So much variety and possibilities for someone who is looking to lose weight, while still feeding their family food that their kids are actually going to eat! 

If you're someone who dabbled in the THMP {Trim Healthy Mama Plan} before, this might be just what you need to get back in the saddle. If you're not, it's a great place to start with healthy meals for ANY family {regardless of whether you want to lose weight or not}.


I received my copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest review: You can read my disclosure policy here.

3 Months Old

It’s here…one of the first milestone ages, in my opinion. Three months always marks the beginning of a new baby-phase….they’re out of the newborn and firmly planted on the brink of greatness! Rolling over, sitting up, teething, and grabbing things are on the horizon! Big things ahead!

There aren’t many words for this little boy…he’s incredible in every way possible.

*Weighing in at almost 15 lbs –Avie was the biggest at 13.5 lbs at 3 months {you can find the boys’ 3 month post here}
*Able to hold up his head
*Sleeps like a champ…naps on and off all day, then sleeps from 9/10pm-7/8am….incredible!
*Immediately goes to sleep during tummy time
*Starting to discover his hands
*Officially a thumb sucker…he hasn’t had a “Georgie” in 2 weeks YAY!
*Loves to “stand” in your lap
*He’s maxing out the 3 month clothes and is getting moved to the 6 month this weekend

Here’s all of my boys at 3 months {Clockwise from top left: James, Peter, Henry, Peter}

God Gave Us Sleep {a Review}

Have you ever read any of the God Gave Us... series by Lisa Tawn Bergren? If haven't, you should, they are fantastic! We have several of her books, the first that we had was God Gave Us You, which I bought after Avie was born. They are some of the kids favorite books! When I saw the chance to review a new one in the series I jumped at it!

God Gave Us Sleep, because what parent doesn't want their child to realize the blessing to be had in sleep?! I know I d0. Just the other day James was telling me that I didn't have to go to bed that night, that I could spend the night on the couch and not sleep. In his words, it was a special-treat. In my mind, it was torture!

This book leaves nothing wanting. The illustrations are adorable as always, as are the animals and the story. My favorite parts of the story were that it talked about what happens when we can’t sleep {we get grumpy the next day} and what to do when we have Scary-Bad dreams, always point little readers to God and His provisions for us!

God Gave Us Sleep is another score in our house!

*I did receive this book for free from bloggingforbooks.com; however, the opinions expressed are entirely my own. You can find my disclosure policy here.

Fair Season: What exactly is that?! {part 2}

If you didn’t read the first part about what the lead-up to fair week is you can find that post HERE.

The craziness of the weeks before the fair intensify ten-fold the week OF the fair.

What actually happens during fair-week?

We start serving food on Sunday, the fair doesn’t officially open until Monday, but it gives you a chance to work out any kinks. In the mornings Matt usually leaves the house by 7 to run errands. He goes any gets any food, drinks, etc that he may need, if he didn’t the night before. He spends all day working right alongside our staff. We start serving around 10:30am and are open until 10:30pm, sometimes earlier or later depending on what events are scheduled at the fairgrounds at night. And, of course, there is always laundry to get done.

Every day they serve a full menu: Hamburgers/Cheeseburgers, Hot Dogs, Sausage, Fried Sea Food, Local Corn on the Cob and Salt Potatoes, Fruit Salad, Fries, Onion Rings, Pizza Rolls, Fish Sandwiches, Nachos, and drinks. When I say it is a full restaurant…it is a FULL RESTAURANT. We have a complete menu.

Once they close up, all of the equipment gets cleaned, things get restocked, employees leave, then Matt runs a few errands {he doesn’t have time to do them all in the morning or after work}, comes home, showers, and then does the bookkeeping. Put on repeat, ad nauseum for all week long, for 7 days.  Matt usually doesn’t get in bed until 2 or 3am, then is back up and out the door by 7am. I think he makes up for the lack of sleep the rest of the year.

The last day of the fair is a Saturday. Sunday is spent scrubbing all the equipment, dealing with all the leftover food/drinks/etc, unassembling everything, and putting it all away until next year. Tear down goes a lot faster than setup. The following week I spend doing whatever laundry didn’t get done on a daily basis…all the tablecloths, tees, kitchen towels etc. Then there is payroll to be done, taxes, and all of the lovely bills and paperwork that need to be taken care of.

This year during fair-week my in laws asked me if I could do peaches for their stand. Their dessert item is fresh homemade peach shortcake…and it really is fresh and it really is homemade. Between everything else going on I spent time blanching and peeling peaches for shortcake. My sister and I prepared around 12 half-bushels of peaches; which meant we blanched them, peeled them, and sliced them up into a simple syrup and delivered the days peaches every morning….with 6 kids between us. I did share a bit about peaches on Instagram and Periscope {you can find the periscope videos here}.

In years past the kids and I would go over to the fairgrounds at least once a day to visit Daddy and eat. This year I just didn’t have it in me to push the quad stroller all around with a 13lb baby strapped to my chest. In the afternoon/evenings there are so many people there that it’s hard to walk around with a stroller, I much prefer the mornings. For most of the week we headed to the pool in the afternoon instead of the fairgrounds.

That’s pretty much what fair season and fair week are for us: A lot of work, a lot of stress, and it’s only by God’s goodness and grace we actually get through it. This was the first year I actually made it all the way through the whole thing without having a stressed out crying jag.

Until next year…..