Crystal Escobar
I recently decluttered and redecorated this little homework station in our home. Watch my YouTube video for the full before and after tour. I’ve provided links below to all the items I purchased for this space. Also be sure to watch my full Home Decor and Makeover Playlist for more videos just like this.
White Padded Seat Chairs with Solid Wood Legs
Hey my lovelies! I know we still have a month left of summer, and nobody really wants to start thinking about school just yet, buuuuut, it’s always good to plan ahead and be prepared right? Today I’d like to share with you my back to school ready list. Just a few ways to get organized and make this time of year super special and fun for you and your family.
We all want to save money right? Getting your supplies early will not only ensure you GET them, but you will also save a little cash. Prices go up as the school year gets closer, plus, I just hate ramaging through the left overs. Yes, I’ve been that mom who does the school shopping a month after school started. Which means the supplies I need are not always available and I end up having to spend more and order them online.
Teachers are always in need of Kleenex boxes and I found this great deal on Kleenex boxes at Sam’s Club. Sixteen boxes for $16!!! Pretty awesome if you ask me.
I always love buying new backpacks for the kids. There are always so many fun designs out every year. Jujube is my favorite place to get backpacks because they have the biggest selection, best quality, and they are the most organized bags you’ll ever find. There is a pocket and zipper for everything imaginable.
They have lots of fun matching mommy daughter bags too. I love their new floral print, it’s absolutely darling!!! Check out their whole selection HERE.
New water bottles are always fun. Especially these cute personalized ones from Etsy. For sure go for the stainless steel, keeps water cold for HOURS!
Last year I completely revamped my homeschool room/ homework station. Check out all the before and after pics HERE.
Studies have shown that physical clutter increases stress, overloads your senses, and impairs your creative abilities. So it’s important to take the time to get organized BEFORE school starts.
It’s a good idea to create an organized DROP ZONE! Most of the newer homes have mud rooms, but since my Draper house was built in the 80’s, I had to create a make shift one in my garage. Just hang some hooks, get a few baskets and there you go. A place for the kids to drop their shoes, coats, and backpacks in an organized fashion.
I know that after school can be a bit chaotic at times, with extra cericular activities, playdates, getting kids to practice their music, and homework. But there are also those days when nothing is going on and you’re kids will be tempted to veg out in front of an iPad. I try to encourage creativity first and use the ipad as a last resort. I came up with a creative way to recycle my empty Kleenex boxes. A simple “I’m Bored Box” to inspire creative fun instead of mindless video games.
Since reading the book The Power of Pause I have cut back dramatically on my overzealous “to do” lists and routines, but I understand that there must be some sort of structure in our home. So I put together these charts to help remind the kids what they should be doing in the mornings, after school, and at bed time. They are not the prettiest and defintiely not Pinterest worthy, but hey, it gets the job done.
Last year we had this really fun family dinner the night before the first day of school. See the short YouTube video I made. I gathered up some school supplies picked up a large sheet of school bus yellow poster paper from the party store. This way the kids could draw on the paper. This year I think it would be fun to have the kids write down some goals, and or positive affirmations next to their plate. Then we could all take turns sharing what we wrote. This could also be a fun first day of school breakfast.
You’d think that peer pressure was something that affects only teens and college age adults, but surprisingly, even us 30 something year old women experience peer pressure as well. As moms, for example, we might feel pressured to work late into the night finishing our never ending “to do” list so we can keep up with the Pinterest perfect lifestyle. Maybe you even feel pressured to do things like have all your family photos perfectly organized and printed out into books, have your house neat and tidy ALL the time, or have healthy balanced meals prepared every single day.
These are a few examples of the peer pressures I put on myself. Peer pressure can push you to do things that undermine your physical health, that threaten your mental health, or that take you away from the things that you should be pursuing. Here is a look at some key things to remember as you navigate peer pressure and comparison with others as an adult.
Comparison is the thief of joy.
Social media can be a major source of peer pressure for adults. We often compare our lives to those of the people we know, and this can lead us to experience all kinds of peer pressure—pressure to be a successful momprenuer, pressure to travel more, pressure to have more kids, etc. But remember: comparison is the thief of joy. As long as you are following your own passions and living a life that offers fulfillment for you, there is no need to compare yourself to others. Doing so will only rob you of joy that you could be experiencing in the here and now.
You can live your own life without ruffling any feathers (for the most part).
Sometimes in making our own career, education, motherhood decisions, and other life choices, we feel this need to please other people in the back of our minds. You might, for example, choose to adopt a particular set of beliefs around how to educate your children and then constantly feel as though you are on the defensive any time the topic of education comes up. Or, you a might be following a Nutritional Cleansing Program and feel as though you need to justify it to other people any time you are hanging out with others. At these times, it’s important to remember that people are probably going to be more respectful of your personal decisions than you expect them to be. So rather than putting yourself on the defensive about your life decisions, choose to live your life with confidence. As long as you are not self-righteous or pretentious about your way of life, people will generally respect you and your lifestyle (at least for the most part).
Know how (and when) to stand up for yourself.
Even if you are someone who tends to live their own lifestyle without ruffling any feathers, you are going to meet people who question the way you live and who make you feel as though your way of living is inferior to theirs. In these situations, it’s important to know how to stand up for yourself. This article about navigating sobriety in social situations, for example, lists a number of ways that you can stand up for your decision not to drink at a party. You might choose to keep friends who understand your decision close by, for example, or you might have a response prepared beforehand, like “I’m doing it for my health.”
It isn’t always appropriate or advisable to stand up for yourself in situations where you experience negative peer pressure regarding your lifestyle. Sometimes, it may be better to simply leave the situation to avoid confrontation. Some people simply cannot be reasoned with, and in these situations you may simply have to “turn the other cheek,” so to speak.
There are positive forms of peer pressure.
Not all forms of peer pressure are inherently bad. Maybe you and your circle of friends are used to living a rather sedentary lifestyle, for example, but your circle of friends has recently developed an interest in fitness and working out. You may feel pressured to start working out yourself even though you would rather not. Yes, this is a form of peer pressure, but you can channel that pressure into a healthy desire to become more physically fit. Some other examples of positive peer pressure include pressure to go back to school, pressure to quit smoking, and pressure to seek a healthy, lasting relationship. This type of peer pressure should never make you feel negatively toward yourself, but instead it should help you reevaluate the decisions you are making for your own life as needed. And when you “give in” to these positive forms of peer pressure, you can rest assured that you will have a support system waiting to help you along the way.
Pictures taken by Hearttakethewheel.com
This is part two of the Thankful Heart Link up over on For the Joy of Life by Aleigh Joy Moore.
Today I want to share a quick and simple way to help kids practice gratitude this month. The whole process of this activity is so much fun.
Take an adventure walk with the kiddos and collect all things fall. It’s so much fun to get out in this beautiful crisp weather and enjoy all the beautiful colors and treasures there are to find. While you’re looking for leaves, also keep an eye out for a nice tree branch you can use as the base of the gratitute tree.
Spend a little time examining the leaves, learning about fall, then laminate the leaves. Also, paint your tree branch if you’d like. I used gold spray paint for ours.
After we laminated the leaves, we used a hole punch and make holes for the twine so we could create hanging ornaments for our tree. Find a nice pot, stick the painted tree branch in the pot and surround it with rocks. Then I just used some burlap to cover the rocks so that my kids wouldn’t play with the rocks, haha.
Now you can set aside a night to have a lesson about gratitude, then have everyone write all the things they are grateful for on the leaves and hang them. I tried to get them to listen to a lesson on gratitude, lasted about a minute, but hey, at least I tried right?
This time of year is my absolute favorite. So beautiful outside and the temperature is perfect! Not too hot and not too cold. So this is the time I like to get the kids out as much as possible. Today I’m going to share all my favorite activities to do in the fall with the kiddo’s.
I get so excited about all the fun fall fashion and sometimes go a little crazy buying new clothes and shoes for me and the kids. I’m loving these adorable See Kai Run shoes. They are super stylish AND made for running and playing which is important with all the things we like to do this time of year. I love taking advantage of the local seasonal attractions like pumpkin patches, apple orchards, and if you’re in Utah then I’m sure you know about the witches at Gardner Village and all the fun things to do at Cornbelly’s Corn Maze.
Owen’s beanie is from www.rocknoxx.com, Brooklyn’s shirt is from Prickly Pear Rags, and her bow is from Bow Sweet.
My outfit details:
Shirt from Fridayapparel.com
Purse from 11ththread.com
Pants from Rubberbandstretch.com
Thanks so Pinterest I have a whole list of ideas here for you. By the way, anyone going to the Pinners Conference?
This is one of my favoite things to do. Taking ordinary food and making it fun and different. Last week we made these cute candy corn fruit parfaits using pineapple, mandarine oranges and topped it with my favorite vegan coconut whip cream.
BONES, using pretzels, marshmellows and white chocolate. (Their little outfits are from Paradise Kids Boutique, my tassel bracelet is from The Uban Hare, and Brooklyn’s bow is from Valley Gal Designs.)
Graveyard cake! My oldest daugher Lily’s birthday is in October, so we have a lot of fun on her birthday coming up with new cake and treat ideas.
Jack O’ Lantern grilled cheese sandwiches.
Mummy hot dogs…
Brain jello… we found this jello mold at the dollar store one year and the kids have loved using it every year.
Caramel apples of course!!!
We love painting over here, one fun way to make Halloween painting a little unique and super cheap is to paint hard boiled eggs.
Finger painting is always fun too…
We made these cute little witch broom candy bags, they were a hit at Lily’s bday party.
You can get creative with your pumpkins.
Face painting is always fun!!!
About 6 years ago I branded myself as The Wannabe Balanced Mom. This blog has been a way for me to share my messy imbalanced life and my attempts to clean it up. Like most women, I crave productivity. I like getting things done and checking things off my to-do list. But often times that triggers major imbalance in my life. Balance seems like one of those things you can’t quite grasp. It’s like trying to be perfect. We all know it’s impossible to achieve, but we continue to strive for it each day.
Blogging has filled a need for me and has been a great asset to our business. My husband and I are proffessional network marketers, and I say proffessional because it is our bread and butter income. It’s all we’ve done our entire marriage and it is our legitimate profession. It’s not just something we do on the side. We put in full time hours in the beginning and have now reached a level where we could actually retire. We choose not to because we simply love what we do. We have created the FREEDOM though. The financial freedom and time freedom to do what we want when we want. Like spend 3 weeks in Hawaii without it affecting our income at all. One of the beauties of residual income.
In our line of work it’s all about relationships. We call it relationship marketing. We’re creating friendships and building trust. We don’t sell a product necessarily, we are selling ourselves. And the only way to do that is by being genuine and real.
So today I want to talk to you about the importance of being vulnerable and open. Vulnerability breeds true connections.
What holds us back from putting ourselves out there in a real, raw, uncut way?
FEAR!
We are afraid of what people will think of us. How we will be percieved.
When I first started homeschooling I was so excited and passionate about it. So of course I blogged about it and loved talking about all the reasons why I thought homeschooling was so great. Then after a few years and 2 more kids later, I realized I was at my breaking point. I no longer felt I had what it took to homeschool my children. I was completely overwhelmed. So instead of coming out and blogging about my decision to put my kids in public school, I kinda just quit blogging. I was afraid to admit that I had quit. But finally when I DID get real and blog about it, I had an incredible response. People were messaging me like crazy saying, “thank you for being real”. So this experience taught me the importance of sharing my real life and how it can help others and create a stronger connection with my friends/audience.
But it’s importanct to understand that social media shouldn’t be a place of complaining. It’s funny how people are always saying that everyone posts their best selves on social media, like it’s a bad thing. Let’s be honest, do we really want to get online and read about everyones sad stories and problems. Not really right? There’s a difference between complaining and being real. The difference is that you take your MESS and turn it into your MESSAGE!
A few weeks ago I was dealing with feelings of jealousy. What I didn’t do, was get on social media and vomit all my negative emotions.
I WAITED…
I PRAYED…
I STUDIED…
THEN I SHARED…
I needed to give myself time to find answers and feel at peace with what I was experiencing. I wanted to turn my negative feelings into a positive message, for myself and for my friends on social media. I realized that by sharing these real life experiences in a positive way is how we create real life connections with people. Social media is a great platform for business builders, but even more importantly it can be in incredible place to build long lasting friendships and to leave our positive footprint in the world.
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