Which means the kids have been in school for almost 2 months
already. How is this possible?
If your kids are anything like mine, the allure of the new
school year is fading fast. Now that we are coming to the end of the first quarter,
homework is picking up. Tests, projects, and papers (and papers!) are coming
home every day and I don’t blame them for being straight exhausted at the end
of the day. They do so much at school!
Add a little smile to their day
With Halloween just around the corner, I’m looking for ways to lift my kiddos spirits during their long school days. A little note or a joke in their lunch box is one of their favorite things!
These free printable Halloween lunch box jokes will bring a smile to your kid’s faces during the school day. Corny Halloween jokes are the best! Plus, then they can share with all of their friends!
Enter your email below and a link to download your free printable PDF will be emailed to you! Two sheets of 6 lunch box jokes are included and are formatted to print on 8.5×11 paper. Just print and cut apart!
Don’t forget the treats!
And for those school Halloween parties on the horizon… check out my Halloween treat bag toppers in my Etsy shop!
They are a $4 INSTANT DOWNLOAD and they are made to fit ‘snack-size’ baggies of treats. Download, print as many as you need, cut out, and staple or tape in place on the top of your baggie full of Halloween treats!
Fill the bags with popcorn, candy corn, Halloween fun-size
candies, M&Ms, or even non-candy items for a fun school treat.
These are also great for treats for extra activities: girl scouts, boy scouts, soccer teams, day care, and more!
As always, custom designs are available. Contact me with any
questions!
Grab your printable Halloween jokes below!
Happy Halloween time to you and your family!
If you are looking for more free printables check out my:
I remember making cards for my Mom for Mother’s Day every year. A random printer page (remember the ones you used to have to rip the perforated holes off the side??) full of colorful pictures and crooked block letters. Now that I am a mom of four boys, I have been blessed with some of these beautiful cards myself.
These cards are some of my most precious treasures. And this one will fit right into that category!
Handmade cards and Mother’s Day just go together! Download this free printable card that your kids can make themselves to gift on Mother’s Day. Let mom or grandma know how much they mean to you!
Print this adorable card at home, let the kids color it, and trace or use paint to make a handprint sunshine on the inside! Instantly a keepsake that Mom or Grandma will love!
Enter your email below and your free printable PDF will be emailed to you. Each card is 8.5 x 11 and has a front and back side to print on one sheet of paper. Just fold in half to create your card!
If you are looking for a beautiful, unique gift this year for mom or grandma check out this post! 7 perfect gifts in my Etsy shop to show your love on Mother’s Day.
Grab your card for Mom below! Keep scrolling to the next box for the Mother’s Day Card for Grandma!
Or grab your card for Grandma here!
Update 2021: This year, there is even more easy Mother’s Day Printables for Mom AND Grandma for you to choose from! I love these fun and adorable Mother’s Day Questionnaires for kids! It’s the perfect gift for Mom or Grandma and will be a fun and beautiful keepsake. Show her how much she is appreciated with the sweet answers from her kiddos! Just ask your child the questions and fill out their answers.
Click the photos or links below to head to my Etsy shop for these expanded choices! $3 instant download!
Every year since my oldest was born, I look forward to Mother’s Day even more than my birthday. Of course, I love spending the day with my boys and getting to relax for a minute but let’s be honest. My expectations for the day are always set too high and inevitably someone ends up throwing a fit (or 6) and it’s just a regular day. #samestoryeveryyear
Even though it goes down like that, I just love Mother’s Day. I am proud to be on this crazy motherhood journey with a whole community of women. Some of us are in the trenches of raising young children together. Others are dealing with teenage years and struggles (shudder). Some are learning how to still mother their grown children.
No matter which stage you are in, I love Mother’s Day to simply celebrate motherhood. Nothing shows love and appreciation like quality time together and a perfect, unique gift.
I have 7 different Mother’s Day gift ideas available in my Etsy Store and every single one is personalized just for you. You can pick the colors, print size, and even the text if you choose! Give your mom or grandma something unique this year that was created just for them!
(Don’t miss a special coupon code only for blog readers at the very bottom of this post! )
Personalized Family Tree
One of the most popular items in my shop is these personalized family trees. I love creating these and seeing the big, beautiful families that come from two people. They are the perfect gift for mom or grandma. Available in any color of your choice!
Grandma’s House Rules
We all know that Grandma’s House has the best rules! Personalize this sweet set of Grandma’s rules with any name for Grandma (Nana, Oma, etc.). You can even add a couple of personalized rules if you choose!
Family Rules
Every family has their own set of rules that are important to them. Display this family rules print proudly as a piece of beautiful, home decor!
In This House
A different version of family rules that starts “In this house we….”. Keep the rules shown here or have me add some of your own!
Family Established Signs
Personalize these beautiful prints, frame, and gift! Choose colors that match mom or grandma’s decor!
Grandparent Trees
Every grandparent loves anything that reminds them of their beloved grandchildren. This Grandparent Tree print lets them see their sweet names all the time! Choose colors for your background, tree, and/or grandchild hearts.
Personalized Calendars
A perfect gift for all the moms out there. Frame this calendar in a glass frame, use a dry erase marker to write plans and appointments, then wipe clean at the end of each month! There are a bunch of prints and different designs to choose from in my shop.
We ship prints anywhere in the U.S. so even if you live far away from your mom or grandma, you can send a personalized print to let them know you are thinking about them on this special day!
AND a little bonus just for you blog readers.
Order a Mother’s Day print before May 10th and get 20% off your order with code MD2019!
Happy Friday! It’s been awhile since I’ve done a Friday Favorites post and how I’ve missed it! I’m linking up with Erika, NarciandAndrea for this week of favorites!
It’s been a little quiet around here while I’ve been working hard on a new direction for my blog. If you look around, you can see things are looking a little different! I was starting to feel a little stagnant about the direction I was going and instead was putting all my time into my Etsy shop. Design has always been where my passion is.
I loved this quote. And if it comes from Oprah, it has to be true. 😉
So that’s the new direction for Loving Our Messy! A place for free printables, for design tools and resources for the DIY creative, and a place for me to share my passion. I LOVE this new space and I hope you will too!
Just for the record, Friday Favorites aren’t going anywhere. These are my favorite posts to read and write. And because I need a space to share book recommendations obviously. (See Favorite #2 – some amazing ones!)
Speaking of free printables, check out my latest one from this week.
Anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of a meal train or a gift of a homemade meal, knows how much of a gift it is! This free printable is perfect to attach to those meals. Print, cut, and write out the name of your recipe, baking (or freezing!) instructions, and a quick note to your friend. #ditchthestickynote
If you are struggling to figure out what to make a family you want to bring a meal to, check out the post that inspired this printable. 10 Favorite Meal Ideas for New Moms can be found here.
Hover over the images and pin both for the next time you want to bring someone a meal!
During the past couple of months, Josh and I have been trying to watch a lot less tv. That has been amazing for many reasons but also because it gives me more time to feed my love of reading! I’ve read some amazing books lately.
I was starting to feel like I was the only one in the universe who hadn’t read this book. I’d heard some amazing things, but it starts off pretty dark you guys. I held onto it for a couple weeks before I could pick it back up.
But I’m SO glad I did. It was so good. The kind of book that makes you think and has stuck with me afterward. It was just beautifully written.
By it’s name and appearance, I assumed this one was a typical ‘chick lit’ read. I was so wonderfully surprised! I was completely sucked in to this story of a young widow who is recently engaged, and then finds out her husband isn’t actually dead.
It was thought-provoking, so well written and I flew through it because I had to know how it ends! 😉
Baseball season starts for our boys next week, so I’ve been on the hunt for more quick and easy dinner recipes. Super Mom Stir Fry from Lauren’s Latest is a new family favorite! It’s so yummy!
Don’t let the frozen veggies trip you up. I’ve never been one to be able to use frozen broccoli in recipes, it just doesn’t cook or taste the same as fresh. In this recipe though, it doesn’t bother me at all. It might be the completely delicious sauce or those Asian veggies are just that good. Lauren’s recipe uses chicken but we love it with shrimp too!
I’ve posted about the planner from Michael’s that I loved before, but this year I wanted something a little different. This planner from Blessed is She is the best planner I’ve ever owned. For real.
I love that it has two pages for every week. One set lets you meal plan for the week, has a space for a running grocery list, notes, prayer intentions, goals and room for a giant weekly to-do list (which is my favorite part!). I can brain dump all the things for the week in one spot and then refer back to it to over the week for each day.
The daily schedule I love too and the space to write a few things each day from my giant week list. And there is something so satisfying about having boxes to check off!
And of course, all the Bible verses and quotes for each week are what make this planner so special. LOVE, love and worth every penny.
It’s the best time of year. Baseball is back! Opening Day was yesterday for the Cubs and everyone in my house is ready for a great season. Now that my older boys are playing little league, they are so much fun to watch games with because they are starting to get it. Mostly.
They don’t quite understand the concept of replays yet. When I leave the room, they yell to me that the Cubs just scored a run or did something else amazing. It almost always turns out though that it’s a replay from earlier in the game (or last week or last month!). #workinprogress
Those are my favorites for this week! Comment below one of your favorite things on this Friday!
I love to bring meals to families with new babies but sometimes, the thought of what to make another family is so overwhelming. I refer back to this post ALL the time because all these meals are easy and perfect to pack up and take to someone else. This post makes it so easy to be able to help out another family without stressing.
Anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of a meal train or a gift of a homemade meal, knows how much of a gift it is! After our twins were born, people we didn’t even know very well dropped off meals for us. It was such a lifesaver. I will never forget how much those acts of kindness meant to us!
Meal Train Delivery Note
So today, I’m sharing this free printable to attach to those meals. Print, cut, and write out the name of your recipe, baking (or freezing!) instructions, and a quick note to your friend. #ditchthestickynote Sometimes, it’s the little things that make a such a difference to someone in need of some meal love.
You can use these printable notes when you sign up for a meal train to bring a meal to a new mom, to a friend who just had surgery, or even on a quick batch of cookies or muffins for a neighbor.
Enter your email below and your free printable PDF will be emailed to you! Each note is approximately 5″x 4″. Your PDF comes set up with four on the page. Use a couple now and save the others for future meal trains!
Remember, even if finding time to plan and make a meal for someone else seems like just another thing to add to your long to-do list – do it anyway. Your seemingly small act of service can make a huge difference to someone’s life. It’s a simple way we can show our love for others.
You can find the original post – 10 Favorite Meals to Make for New Moms here!
Maybe it feels like we’re barely past Valentine’s Day but there is just something about St. Patrick’s Day that makes me think of SPRING. Maybe it’s all the green or maybe it’s just that the Midwest is hardcore longing for an end to our terrible winter this year. Our kids have had so many snow days that the school has had to extend their school days for the rest of the year to attempt to make them all up. #ugh
So even if Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate and bring us some warmer weather for St. Patrick’s Day, we have to brighten up the mood somehow right? There is just something about having kids that makes you want to celebrate the little things.
On St. Patrick’s Day, we’ll do green pancakes for breakfast and we may just wake up to a little bit of luck from a leprechaun. This cute free printable is a fun way for your leprechaun to leave a festive little note for your kids to wake up to.
Maybe he’ll bring some Lucky Charms for all or leave Rolos (or chocolate gold coins) because we all know leprechauns love their gold! Or maybe he’ll even turn our milk in the fridge green! Because you know leprechauns and their tricks!
And guess what?
This printable is free for you too if you need a little leprechaun luck in your house this year! Just enter your info in the box below and your free printable will be emailed to you lightning fast. (If you don’t see it within a minute or two, check your promotions tab or other folders!) If you aren’t quite in the St. Patrick’s Day mood yet, hover over one of the images above and pin it for later!
OR you can also use it as an insert in a little basket of green goodies for a neighbor or friend!
Keep scrolling for new products for 2023!
However you use it, I hope the luck of the Irish is with you this year and you have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day!
Update 2023: Here we go again! NEW St. Patrick’s Day printables are available this year too including a ‘leprechaun treasure’ scavenger hunt!
It comes with 7 clues that lead around your house to a leprechaun treasure of your choice! Think candy, green treats, gold coins, or small gifts! $3 instant download available now! Click the image or the link below!
Update 2021: This year, there is even more St. Patrick’s Day Printables for you to choose from! Click the photos or links below to head to my Etsy shop for these expanded choices!
Who else remembers the stress of school picture day growing up? Your mom would send in your envelope with a giant photo package that included an 8×10 of your face. Whether it was the worst picture of your life or not, it was going to hang on the living room wall for the next year. #somuchpressure
Probably the number one question I get constantly from people in my Etsy shop is “What size print should I get?” or “How do I choose the right size print for my space?”
Back in my school picture days, an 8×10 print seemed HUGE and for some reason that misconception is still hanging around today. But here’s the thing. Spoiler alert: An 8×10 really is not that big.
Really think about that 8×10
Have you ever noticed that no matter how beautiful it is, when people hang a small piece on a large wall it gets completely lost.
It looks like a tiny art island in a sea of wall. Look at this 8×10 compared to a 16×20. (Family wreath print available here.)
And again when compared to an 11×14. It’s amazing the difference that a large print can make!
How to choose the right size for your wall
If you want to get technical, according to Nations Photo Lab there is a mathematical formula you can use.
They recommend measuring the length and width of your wall space, not including the space covered by trim or furniture. Then, multiply the width by .57 and .75 and then the length by .57 and .75. This should give you the range of the size of artwork that you will want to hang.
OR basically you want your artwork to cover 2/3 – 3/4 of your wall.
If for you that is a large amount of space and you don’t like the look of one big print, try putting several different prints together to make up the same space.
I love the combination of a family print with family photos! Grouping prints together in odd numbers creates a natural center. You can evenly space the same size print as I did here, or use different sizes of prints and frames in a gallery wall.
Remember, everything in my shop can be personalized with colors found on my color chart. I’d love to coordinate a print with your beautiful family photos to display! (Color choices are not limited to what is shown on the chart. Contact me if another color is desired.)
Bigger is always better
If you are going to guess, bigger prints are always better. Especially if you have a print with a lot of detail like my family tree print. If it’s printed 8×10 (or smaller!) no one will be able to read the names. But a 16×20 completely changes the look.
If you are looking for a place to have your prints and photos printed, I always recommend Mpix.com (aff. link). I love the quality of their work and even though I order from them a lot, I have never had anything damaged or misprinted.
Large prints and pictures have a huge impact when you are decorating your home! I always feel like if I’m going to invest in a print/photos, then I’m going to take the time and spend the money so they look their best!
Do you need help trying to figure out what to have printed? Check out this post:
(This post contains affiliate links that may provide a small commission to me at zero extra cost to you. Click to see my full disclosure here.)
It seems like we just finished putting away our holiday decorations and already here we are only 2 weeks away from Valentine’s Day!
Chances are, your kids need Valentine’s to take to school, daycare and anywhere in between. Don’t spend time in the crowded, picked-over grocery store. I’ve got you covered right here!
This post has links to 14 of my favorite themed Valentine’s in my Etsy shop along with Amazon links to treats that go along with them. Order them both from your couch and you’re done! #Momwin
All my Valentine’s are instant downloads and all you need to do is print and cut at home. Have your child sign their name and attach one of the treats that has arrived from Amazon!
All the sports Valentines can be made in team colors if you wish – just send me a message on Etsy or email me at lovingourprints@gmail.com and I will create a custom listing for you.
Isn’t Amazon Prime the best? Happy love day!
Looking for some free printables for kids? Check out:
My goodness has this seemed like a long week. Iowa got hit with a blizzard on Sunday and our kids were pretty pumped to have a snow day on Monday. Who wouldn’t enjoy an unexpected 6-day Thanksgiving break? So basically, any chance they have gotten to be doing this:
they have been. And there are forever tiny puddles of snow everywhere in my house. Which I then step in when I’m wearing socks.
Love that.
Wet socks aside, I’m here today linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea for a really good batch of favorites!
Officially, Advent starts this Sunday and we are more than ready for it in my house. If you are looking for a way to keep your Christmas preparation Christ centered with your family, check out this new addition to my Etsy shop.
I’m all about a good Santa focused Christmas movie or story, but it’s so important to me that our children understand and live the true meaning of our Christmas prep and celebration. My Nativity Advent Calendar Cards have 25 days of Scripture verses from December 1 through Christmas Day that tell the story of Jesus’ birth. Each card has an adorable Nativity character and a verse for the day. It comes with an optional file to print the verses on the back or you can choose to list daily activities or something else of your choice on the back.
It’s a $5 instant download in my shop. Ready to print and cut at home!
And – if you are looking for a great Advent Devotional, I loved this one last year. The reflections are short and they list optional readings you can do if you are looking for a little more each day.
I chose this one for this year. I love Max Lucado and am hoping I love this one too!
A few months ago while experiencing a lack of judgment, I promised my best friend that I would train for and run a 7 mile race this summer with her. Before babies, I loved to run and would run 7 miles on a Saturday for a good time. That was 4 children ago. But I love her. So I will run (or at least attempt to).
I’ve started running low mileages on the treadmill but needed something to help me get back into shape on my off days. One of my friends told me about fitnessblender.com and I LOVE it. They have a ton of free workouts on their website that you can filter by time, intensity, etc. and have everything from strength training to kickboxing to yoga. I’m obsessed. If you’ve been looking for an easy way to exercise in these winter months, this is an amazing option!
This was one of my favorites last year at this time and it still is! A few years ago, I found this amazing free gift app called Santa’s Bag. We typically buy for our families, teachers, etc. every year plus our older boys have birthdays right around Christmas. I struggle to keep track of what gives we have yet to plan and purchase.
This app lets you enter a budget and divide it among the people you are buying for. I even include everything for the season like birthday and Christmas gifts, Christmas cards, stocking stuffers, gifts for charities at the boy’s school, etc. You add in the gifts, cost, and what stores you plan to purchase at so you can sort your master list by any of those categories. You can even mark the status of each gift: need to buy, purchase, and wrapped and sort that by list too! The app is free (with an optional choice to upgrade to save all gifts from year to year) and I have not found a better way to track gifts! I just love it!
This weekend during our snowstorm, I was trying to encourage our second grader to spend some time reading. He sat down with his book and I grabbed One Beautiful Dream off my waiting to read stack to sit with him. We read for 20 minutes and then I could not stop. I haven’t finished a book in only two days since the last Harry Potter book way back in the day. (That brings you back doesn’t it?) It was amazing. You know those books that just speak to your soul? This one did for me. Hands down the best book I have read this year.
I highly recommend for those of you who are trying to balance motherhood and all the rest you dream about for yourself- especially if it doesn’t look the way you thought it would. It was SO SO good. Anyone else a Jennifer Fulwiler fan?
Finally, Josh and I watched the newest Netflix Christmas movie this weekend and loved it. It had really cute story and Kurt Russell as Santa was perfect! If you haven’t seen it yet, you should!
Full disclosure: you may want to preview it yourself before watching with young kids. We started watching it with the boys and I ended up stopping it after a few minutes and choosing another movie. There was a bunch of Santa belief talk at the beginning (and some slight language throughout) that our kids weren’t ready for. It probably depends on the age/nature of your kiddos!
Those are my favorites this week! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
I heard a lot of hype about the Royal We before I read it and it had been on my ‘to read’ list forever! Even if you look at the Amazon reviews, you can see that some people call it their favorite book of all time. So I went into this one with huge expectations! But you know how they say ‘expectation leads to disappointment’ and maybe that was my problem with The Royal We. I just expected too much! I enjoyed it but I didn’t looovee it like I thought I would.
Overall the storyline was the perfect book for me. It’s about an American girl that goes to college at Oxford in England. In fairytale fashion, she meets and falls in love with the future King of England. It had a clear ‘Will and Kate’ vibe (complete with a Prince Harry character!) and all of that I loved. The story follows their relationship over several years and the difficulties of having a private relationship in the public eye. There were parts that I just really loved about the book and flew through. And then there were parts of this 496-page book that were much slower and difficult to get through. There were a lot of characters introduced as their friends that were difficult to keep straight and truthfully, I just didn’t care enough about their side stories.
I loved the American becoming a princess story and I loved all the parts about their relationship. It was clear that the authors did a ton of research into royal life and British customs. That part was super interesting to read about! It was a cute book and the last quarter of the book brought quite a twist that I did not see coming. It’s worth a read if you are a fan of the royals like I am, but just keep your expectations in check. 😉
Truthfully, I chose this book by accident but it was the best accident! We had stopped at the library to grab some books for the kids to read in the car on a road trip and I was looking for a different one for myself that happened to be checked out. I was running out of time so I grabbed the first one on the shelf that caught my eye. I was super lucky because The Cinderella Pact was a light, fun read that I absolutely enjoyed.
The story is about a fashion magazine editor struggling with her weight and generally unhappy with her life. She’s single, her little sister is getting married, and her job is tedious and boring. She makes a ‘Cinderella Pact’ with two of her friends with similar struggles to finally lose weight and transform their lives. When she is unable to get promoted at her job because of assumed weight discrimination, she decides to pose as a British writer from London to write an advice column for her magazine. She uses a little Photoshop on an old high school photo, a fake British accent and a lot of little white lies to secretly land the job and earn a second income. As you can imagine, the lie takes on a life of its own and snowballs into a big complicated, hysterical mess when she is asked to appear in person to meet with the magazine’s owner.
I thought this book was adorable and written in a way that was completely relatable and full of humor! I wanted a book that wasn’t super serious and this was just that. Fun, cute and I would absolutely recommend.
Hands down, the best book I read this month. This was my first Nancy Thayer book and no way will it be my last. I absolutely loved it.
It told 3 separate stories of women from different generations from the same family. It follows Charlotte, a single woman in her twenties looking for her own path, her mother (who is struggling in her marriage and finding her way now that her kids are grown) and Charlotte’s 90-year-old grandmother looking back on the life she has lived. They all belong to a giant family that has always spent their summers together at the family home in Nantucket. As always when you get a bunch of family together, their summer is full of secrets, miscommunications, and lots of complicated family issues.
I loved this book! At first, I thought it was going to be a predictable story but I was happily surprised! As the author switched between the stories of the 3 women, I kept getting wrapped up and wanting more of each! It’s a cute, quick read that was totally worth it!
I should say that I went into this book thinking that it was about how to create/change habits in a step-by-step kind of way. I thought it was going to tell me why my habits were bad and give clear instructions on how to change them. That was not exactly what this book was about even though I ended up really enjoying it.
The book was written more like a textbook – citing studies and examining data to explain how habits are formed and the golden rule of how they can be changed. They used real-life examples like Starbucks, Target, Tony Dungy (coach of the Indianapolis Colts) and Michael Phelps which I found completely fascinating. It was easy to read and I really did learn so much about habits which has made me look at everything differently. The book explains the basic idea of how habits need to be changed and it’s up to you to examine your own life and see if you can dissect your own habits and apply these things to change them.
If you haven’t read it – I definitely recommend it. It has changed the way I look at my routines and daily life!
These 4 books on the bottom are in my ‘waiting to read’ stack and I’m excited to dive in!
What are you reading right now? What books do I need to add to my list?
