Putting Together The Autism Binder
So my seven year old is autistic, and when she was going through the process of being diagnosed, a family member recommended that I start putting everything together in a file. The file included her evaluation, anything I was concerned about, her IEP, etc. and that turned into this binder. Each year I add to the binder, and it's time to do that now. I need to add the stuff from this year into the binder, also get a new binder. So while I'm reworking the whole thing I figured that I could show you everything that goes into this as well as all of the supplies that you need, including the $5 download that I created that makes putting it together a breeze.
Prepping Our House to Be Gone for 6 Months
My family is going to Argentina for six months for my husband's job. While we are gone, we are going to have some family friends house sit for us. That means that I need to get my house ready for us to be gone for six months because it's a whole different ballgame than moving or just going on vacation. So I'm gonna walk you through some of the things I did to prep for those six months away!
What I am Taking to Argentina
My family is going to Buenos Aires, Argentina for six months. We leave at the beginning of June and come back the middle of December. Up until now I've been wrapping up my DIY projects and prepping my house for another family to stay in it for six months. I'm finally at the point where I can start packing. I started by throwing everything I knew that I wanted to bring on the guest bed on the third floor. It's a lot so I will do an extra post on that. So I'm going to do a separate post on packing, suitcases and all of that. Today I want to talk about the stuff that I'm actually taking. Obviously this is not going to be an extensive list, but I want to talk about some important things and why I'm taking them.
Summer Tile Mat Ideas
The seasons are changing, it's getting warmer, and the cicadas are coming out here in Tennessee which means it's time for new tile mat designs. I have this tile mat from Letterfolk that I love to create designs for and share them with all of you. I typically like to share a lot of really elaborate designs when I share different seasonal and holiday designs. This summer, though, I'm going a little bit more simple with the designs.
Closing Out the School Year Using the Forever File Box
If you're anything like me, you probably have a stack of papers from throughout your child's school year that you don't know what you're going to do with. You also probably need to figure out what you're going to do with all of those papers. I'm going to show you the Forever File Box, which is something that my team and I created that makes it super easy to keep track of everything for your kids throughout their childhood. For our family the general rule is if it doesn't fit in the box, it doesn't get kept. This makes it easy to consolidate what's being kept each year.
Selling Secondhand Items Online
I'm selling a bunch of stuff to free up some room before we head to Argentina so I wanted to give you some tips on the best ways to sell your secondhand items online. Whether it's clothes, bags, accessories or shoes, I'm going to help you get as much as you can for your items.
Rolling TV Stand Review
You know that rolling TV stand that you've seen all over the internet recently? Well, my mom decided to get one and asked me to put it together for her. So, I just wanted to walk you through how to build one of these and the pros and cons to having it in your home.
What We Are Doing During Our Daughter’s Break From Occupational Therapy
So as you all know by now we are moving to Argentina for six months. Conveniently our move happened to also coincide with Jackie's occupational therapist of 2 years going on maternity leave. She's been in occupational therapy every week for almost three years, but we decided that it would just be a good time to have a natural break instead establishing a relationship with a whole new therapist. However, occupational therapy has been really great for Jackie and it's also been great for me because when I'm struggling to help her work through something, I can run it past her therapist and she helps me brainstorm ideas. I knew that we needed to figure out something to do while we are having our break from OT, so let's talk about it!
DIY Entry Bench
I found this beautiful piece of cedar at a local lumberyard. I didn't need to use the whole thing, so I cut it down and decided that I was going to make an entryway bench for my mom to put in the small area she has when you come in from her garage. Since this space is so tight, I'm keeping this bench pretty narrow. This bench will serve dual purpose and be used as a bench for her table when we have big family gatherings.
Packing Polish Pottery
One of the many things that I'm doing before we leave for Argentina is packing up all of my dishes. If you've been around a little while, you know that I have a pretty good collection of Polish pottery because my mom is the Polish pottery queen. She has been to Poland multiple times, has come back with Polish pottery every time. So we are experts at packing and moving Polish pottery and all other fragile items at this point to make sure they can be moved without any issues. In 2010 I worked at Epcot as party of the Disney college program. I worked at Epcot in Art of Disney and I learned how to properly package art and other fragile materials. So I've used that knowledge to help with packing Polish pottery. I'll walk you through how to do it too. It's actually super simple!
Finding the Best Suitcase
Traveling to visit my grandparents in Germany when I was a kid turned into working with my parents being able to travel the world together. We've been doing it since I was five. My mom is in the market for a new suitcase. So she bought 10 off of Amazon and we're going to put them through a rigorous testing process to actually find out which Amazon suitcase is really the best. We've ranked them 1-10 and given you the pros and cons of each.
Snack Boards and ARFID
I know every single content creator out there has some version of a snack board they make for their kids, but since my daughter has ARFID I wanted to share ours because it is actually a really big deal for our family.