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My Simple Wild

a motherhood & simple living blog

cleaning

November 28, 2017 / Home

Simple and Effective Ways to Distribute Household Chores Among the Family

Guest post written by Nicole Gardiner. Nicole is passionate about topics related to home improvement, cleaning and organizing and owns a small cleaning company based in London. As ridiculous as it may sound, when people are having trouble with distributing the chores around their home, it ...

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August 24, 2017 / Home, lifestyle

The Kitchen Mess – 8 Fast and Money Saving Ways to Clean It

Guest post by Natasha Ramsay. Natasha Ramsaу is a mother of two little girls  - Kristin (6) and Skye (2). She knows that keeping a home clean and tidy when you have kids is no an easy task. She is a writer and loves to share her experience related to cleaning and organizing. Do you wonder ...

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I make a double batch of this hot cocoa mix every I make a double batch of this hot cocoa mix every Winter and keep it in a big glass jar on my counter. It’s affordable, only 4 ingredients, and you there’s no extra ingredients you can’t pronounce. Stovetop hot cocoa is still my favorite, but for a quick hot sweet drink after being outside in the cold, this is nice to have. 
 I find it easier to just work in one batch at a time for the blender to blend the mix evenly. 
 The whipped cream makes this so perfectly creamy and I love adding in a candy cane,too. We do try to limit red dye 40 as much as possible in our home, anyone know of a candy cane brand that doesn’t have it ?? 

Hot cocoa mix 
DIY hot cocoa mix 
4 ingredient hot cocoa mix
The Barnett boys are getting very excited for Chri The Barnett boys are getting very excited for Christmas! This is such a magical season, I just love it. 
🎄❄️🎅☃️🛷
Happy Saint Nicholas day! Liam and Theo left their Happy Saint Nicholas day! Liam and Theo left their shoes on the front porch last night to find an orange, a candy cane, chocolate gold coins, a chocolate santa, and a prayer card. 
One of our favorite traditions! 
Also, Christmas schooling is just my favorite!😍 
This year we are doing the three week advent Connected Christmas from @treehouse_schoolhouse because we’ve been using the same advent study for the last few years and I wanted to switch it up. It’s been really fun so far and Liam has been loving the surprise of a new book and coordinating activity each day. 
It’s been very cozy and we haven’t even made it downstairs to our homeschool room this week because we are either cuddled up on the sofa, or around the kitchen table, eating and drinking hot cocoa or tea. We have been doing lots of reading and partying and singing. I am so incredibly grateful that we can homeschool so that we can enjoy these moments together.
Do you celebrate St. Nicholas Day ? If so, what are your traditions?
This has been the fastest year of my life. Time se This has been the fastest year of my life. Time seems to be flying by at an astonishing speed. Anyone else ? 
I keep thinking we just moved here and realized it’s been almost a year in VA ! How on earth is that even possible? 
At the same time, it feels like it has been years since we’ve been in Montana and a lifetime since Denver. I feel like Theo was just born but also I feel like baby Ben has been here with us for ages. Time is weird. I remember as a child, I would roll my eyes to adults talking about how fast I was growing and how time was flying. To me, time moved at a snails pace and I just couldn’t wait for the next big thing. To be double digits old, to be a teenager, to be out of high school… even when I became a mama with my first, I was always looking forward to his next milestone. It will be easier once he sits up, when he starts to crawl, when he talks, when I can send him to school. As a young first time, mom, with no real support system or family around, I think I was in survival mode for a long time. I wish I could go back and savor each and every moment, and not always be looking ahead. Now in this season of my life, it can be hard for me to look ahead at all. I can’t even imagine Ben and Theo older. Or my almost 11 year old as a high schooler. 
I miss the days when the time between breakfast and dinner seemed like an eternity. When I was a child bored sitting outside in my backyard creating and imagining magical worlds and completely unaware what time it was. 
Anyone relate?
We spent Thanksgiving down in NC with my family an We spent Thanksgiving down in NC with my family and had such a good time. We did a lot in just a few days, but Liam’s favorite part was catching lizards with his cousin. Look at that grin ! 
My favorite part was going through our old family slides and getting in a quick kayak trip with my sisters. It was fun to be all together for meals and seeing the kids hang out. Liam has never grown up around any cousins because we’ve always lived in a different state. It made me sad for what he may be missing out on. When I was a child, my dad’s side of the family got together for Christmas and the house was full with kids running around. I have some really great memories in that house. We do try to see my immediate family for Christmas at least every other year, and this year we combined Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was a chaotic but special time. I was really missing my sisters and wish they lived down here. But I’m actually closer to Illinois than I have ever been. And I’m only 5 hours from my folks now. It’s been 12 years this December since we left home to move out West. (Feels longer) 
Holidays are usually the hardest for me, and I get so homesick. Now I have a weird feeling of missing my sisters in Illinois but also crazy homesick for Montana. These past few weeks my heart has ached for home there. I never missed Colorado like I miss Montana. My entire family misses it there and sometimes I wish we never had to leave. If only it wasn’t a 36 hour drive from my parents in NC ! 😩 And I do cherish all this time I’ve been able to spend with my parents here. 
Do you live away from your home state ? Do the holidays make you homesick too?

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