Being a mother is one of the most beautiful and blessed experiences that happened to me. Even though sometimes it’s hard emotionally, physically, and mentally, it’s a rewarding and fulfilling job. This year will be my fifth time celebrating Mother’s Day.

My husband and I believe that spending time outdoors is healthy for us. Having kids can be exhausting, so a little activity outside the house is a good way for us to recharge. We also believe that spending time with the family doesn’t always require splurging. Since we recently decided to purchase our own home (Thank you, Lord!), we have to watch how we spend.

There are affordable, healthy, and fun ways to celebrate Mother’s Day. Here’s a little list to serve as inspiration for your and your family:

Picnic in the park or backyard

Being indoors is comfortable, but spending time in nature is just as important. There’s plenty of research that shows spending time outdoors is beneficial to our health. Take your family with you and enjoy the day, picnic style.

Make homemade breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and spending it with your family is always a good idea. It’s the time to bond and share before everyone gets busy. Gentlemen, surprise your wives or moms with a healthy homemade breakfast! It’s a great gesture to show how much you value and love them.

Relax on the beach/pool

I’m particularly fond of water. It relaxes and calms me in a way no aromatherapy can. When there’s a constant buzz coming from the streets and our phones, it can add a lot of stress and anxiety. Unwinding by the water is a good way to de-stress and to slow down.

Visit State Park

We’re very glad that we have many nature parks here in Houston. Our current favorite is Brazos Bend Park and Arman Bayou Park. It’s walkable, refreshing, and it’s family friendly. It also sparks my children’s curiosity and allows me to see things through the eyes of my children.

Whenever we go outside, I try to keep my outfit simple and fuss-free. Running after children is never easy let alone three energetic boys! I make it a point to always wear something that I’m comfortable with and will allow me to play with my kids effortlessly.

My current favorite is this tee dress from adidas. It’s the perfect dress for me since I really don’t like stressing myself on what to wear in the morning. The dress goes perfectly with my sneaks! I said bye to heels a long time ago and sneaks are my forever go-to footwear. Running around is way easier and comfier!

There are plenty of ways to celebrate Mother’s Day without splurging. More often than not, it’s the thought that counts. I hope you have a good Mother’s Day and that you find the best way to celebrate them.

In partnership with adidas.

My son recently celebrated his 5th birthday at Pump It Up of Webster. I’m so thankful that I was able to organize everything and that the kids’ actually enjoyed the party! Let’s face it. Entertaining kids is a challenge these days. With all the gadgets around, it’s quite hard to find an activity that they would really enjoy.

My son was so happy to celebrate with his friends from our church. They definitely loved climbing and sliding down the huge inflatable slides. I didn’t need to worry at all about everyone’s safety. Pump It Up’s friendly staff were always present to supervise the area and attend to the kids whenever they needed help with something.

What I love about Pump It Up though, is that they’re really clean and organized. As mothers, we don’t want our kids playing in areas with questionable sanitation. So this was a huge plus for me! This is one of the first things I’ve noticed in their facility. They keep the play areas really clean!

They also helped me with the e-vites including sending a reminder to my guests before the actual party. This really took a load off my plate and allowed me to attend to other things. It’s always nice to have a little helping hand when setting everything up is getting overwhelming. The part I super loved about all this is, I don’t have to clean up after the party! Parties are fun but the clean up after is a feat. My family and I can just have a good time without worrying about the mess we need to clean up after. It’s like having your cake and eating it too! 🙂

Since my son is into Ninjago lego 😉 He also requested for Lego cupcakes just like I did for his brother last year. “Lego Birthday Theme”. It’s easy to make and you can buy ready made fondant in grocery stores. Use a small icing stainless tip to create small rounded shapes for the brick Lego effect.

To complete the party favors, Bitsy’s sent these delicious and healthy snacks for the kids!

If you’re thinking of a kids’ party that even the adults will enjoy, I highly recommend Pump It Up. It’s simple, stress-free, and private. The Glow in the Dark, Balloon Drop and Bubble Experience are just so much fun that you surely would want you and your kids to experience. The reservations are quick and you can choose from different packages for all party sizes. You can browse their packages and play areas here. Book a date through their online calendar and you’re good to go!

Thank you to Pump It Up of Webster for this fun and cool birthday party! You made my family and friends super happy!

While cleaning and organizing sounds impossible with small kids running around almost all the time, having a guide (aka to-do list) helps me keep tasks on track. Ticking off everything from my list, of course, doesn’t happen all the time. But I still like my chores and errands where I can see them. With all the stuff I need to do, a physical reminder is a great way to keep everything in check.

I divided my to-do list in three sections: daily, weekly, and monthly.

Daily is for stuff that needs to be done every single day like making the bed, wiping countertops, and so on. For weekly, I try to focus on vacuuming and mopping our kitchen floor every monday. Tuesday is for organizing and decluttering our closet. Wednesday is for bathroom cleaning. Thursday is for changing and washing towels and bedsheets, the rest of the laundry will be friday. Saturday is for checking my “monthly” to-do list and Sunday is just for church and family day.

Monthly is for the rest of the things I can do that doesn’t require immediate follow ups like cleaning and organizing the garage, washing my children’s stuffed toys, and maybe cleaning up my photo gallery 😉

I love it when our home is extra neat. It gives us positive vibes – emotionally and mentally.

You can download and print this DIY to-do list if you’re having trouble remembering which tasks you should do first. You can also laminate them and use a dry erase marker so you can use it again.

There’s nothing quite as satisfying as checking an item off your to-do list after a hard day’s work. To-do lists are great for tracking your progress and boosting your confidence in your ability to complete important tasks everyday.

Are you a fan of to-do lists too?

I decided to do a little decluttering at home starting with my kids’ room. I switched the playroom to be their room since I can easily check up on them from the kitchen. The most challenging part is sorting all of their toys and puzzles. I honestly think they have more stuff than me! There’s a tee-pee, toddler table, chairs, and a play kitchen that needed to be places strategically in their room. Not to mention the countless Lego we have at home!

Since I became a mother, I’ve been more inclined to use more colors when it comes to styling our house. I think having colorful and vivid stuff around kids can make them more feel imaginative and cheerful. I mix wooden toys and shelves for a bit of balance. I used an Ikea cube bookshelf to sort my kid’s clothes and since I also have the same furniture in their playroom. I put it on top of the other shelf to make more space in our living room. I decided to remove the sliding door as well of the closet to make it more roomy. Here’s what it looks like:

The sofa bed from Simpli Home added the final touch to the room. We now have an area where we can sit and relax while reading to the kids. Our playroom doubles as a guest room so the sofa is really a great addition that our guests can enjoy, too! A friend of mine mentioned that I should use a hanging rack container to sort the puzzles of my kids and it worked perfectly! Problem solved for the little pieces that always end up missing.

When I do a makeover, I try not to spend so much. It’s more fun creating your own. There are plenty of DIY project online that can easily be done at home. I did the bin cube storages for bookshelves so not everything is exposed. I did an abstract painting and a pillow cover with one of my favorite Bible verse for a finishing touch.

(alphabet wooden puzzle / shelving unit / wooden train from etsy)

(Kidkraft play kitchen gifted from my mother-in-law / Tee Pee / Washable and Kid-Friendly Rug / Toddler Table and Chairs)

(Psalms of Praise Children’s Book)

Although it can oftentimes seem frustrating and challenging, to redecorate a room, planning can be fun. With the right DIYs and technique, you can turn your snug room into a dreamy retreat. 🙂

Thanks to Simpli Home for sending the spencer sofa bed to help us complete our kid’s playroom!

Today, I like to share our to-do list chart for my eldest boys and for myself as a mom of three children. This chart  helps me especially my kids with our daily routine. My eldest boys are in pre-school and they are already in the stage where they can do things on their own and even in doing household chores from time to time (putting away clean silverware from dishwasher, making their bed etc.). Also, I decided to create this chart to remind them of other things they need to learn like leading the prayer and memorize Bible verses to name a few.

I believe that being responsible starts at home. They learn not only about cleaning or organizing but also they learn the value of doing things together as a family. I’ve mentioned before that my husband is a child psychologist. He said that charts are also a great way to teach our kids and make them excited to do activities. It also helps me because I don’t need to remind the kids time and again what needs to be done 🙂

You are free to do any style you want and to decorate  each chart. Here are the FREE printable icons that you can use for your chart. I hope this helps you and your kids enjoy do things at home.

Materials:

Magnetic sheet ( $2)

Metal Board with rope to hang (Walmart)

Construction paper

Magnetic Alphabets (optional)

Pom poms (optional)

Twine (optional

Laminate (optional)

STEP 1 Print customized icons in 8.5 x 11 paper.

STEP 2 Cut and glue construction paper to add a pop of color. I designated color each of my kids.

STEP 3 If you can, laminate so it won’t get dirty easily. It makes the paper stable to hold as well. If you’ve noticed, I’ve included some blank rounds on the FREE printable file, this way, you can add your own drawing for your kid’s chart.

STEP 4 Cut magnetic sheet in small pieces that will fit the rounded icon.

(no, this chart it’s not for this little fella 🙂 )

I used a jute rope to create two columns. The left side that says “TO DO” are the icons that I want my kids to try to do. You can add other icons as you go along. I try to feature 4 to 6 icons and once they’re done, they can get 4 to 6 minute of screen time play (they love PBS Kids like Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and Wild Kratts) or anything that tickles their fancy in that moment. They are into marbles recently, so I also use that as rewards when they finish a task.

For this chart, I also have a space where it will remind myself and my children to read the Bible and lead a prayer during mealtime. I also included a verse for the month as well.

So this is my chart as a mom of three kids. I’m a visual person and this chart helps me to track what I need to do on a daily basis. This is super easy and fun to do.  I don’t have the printable to-do list since each of us have different things that we want to accomplish on a day. Here are mine:

• One on one with big bro
• One on one with mid bro
• One on one with little bro
• 8 glasses of water (I’m so bad at this)
• Hug husband (because I’m not a hugging person that’s why I include this on my to-do list)
• Read Bible
• Self-care (hobbies for myself like putting a simple makeup, needlepointing, painting etc.)
• Walk and exercise (does chasing kids count?)

Once I’m done with all of my tasks, the phrase “good work” will appear. You can print the “good work” here (simply shaded the back using pencil and trace in as your guide. Fill in with marker). You can also use image if you’d like.

If you like this post, don’t forget to pin it on Pinterest. Also, let me know if you’ll be trying this chart! Tag me on Instagram @helloislandmama so I can see your work. Can’t wait!

Sweet moments this month of December.

3 Shepherds…. surprise performance to Grandma and Grandpa 😉 They sang “Joy to the world” in toddler way…you know what I mean. Wardrobe was provided by their thrifty parents.

Motherhood Ornament

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Thank you for being part of our adventure and supporting this little blog! May the Lord bless you all! See you next year! 🙂

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

Finding the right car seat for kids can be confusing. There are plenty to choose from but picking the best one is always a challenge. As a mother, the safety of our kids is always the number one priority. Knowing they’re tucked in well and good when we’re traveling gives me peace of mind.

My family and I have been using Diono even before I partnered with them. We trust Diono because of the quality and the attention to detail they have for their products. We used to buy new carseat whenever our kids couldn’t fit in them anymore. Brent, my husband, actually discovered Diono. We were looking for a car seat that we could use for a longer period of time.

This holiday season, most of you with small kids might be doing a lot of driving to visit families or friends. It’s important to have the best carseat like Diono. It’s safe and comfortable for the kids with its plush heads and support cushions. The cover is absorbent, easy to move, and machine washable for easy cleaning. It’s also easy and quick to install in the car because of its SuperLATCH™ system. It’s designed for newborn and infants as well. The best part is, Diono carseat allow us to fit 3-cross in our vehicle with no fuss.

My youngest son’s car seat is still rear-facing. In the photo above, we tried placing the 3 car seats next to each other and they fit perfectly!

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends children should remain in rear-facing car seats until they outgrow their seat or at least up to 4-years-old. It’s safer for the kids and is less prone to injury should anything happen.

Just remember to buy car seats that suit your child’s age, height, and weight. This is to ensure that your kids are safe and comfortable on the road. What car seat are you using lately or what are you planning to buy?

In partnership with Diono. All opinions are my own.

Our Halloween Family Costume 2018 is easy peasy, a perfect costume for busy parents like us and especially perfect for someone I know who isn’t fond of wearing costumes.. Hmm can you guess who? (Hint: someone who just came home from work this evening 😉 )

Materials for the wheelchair and props:

Big cardboards for the wheels

Velcro

Acrylic Paint and Paint Brush

Glue Stick and Glue Gun

Secure-Flex Wrap

Stick

Empty Soda Plastic

Masking Tape

IV Tubing (I got it from Amazon but you can just use white clothesline)

Stroller (We’re using Diono Quantum Stroller. We love it and it’s on sale!)

For my eldest kids:

Medical Kit Toys (Thanks Grandma Kelly!)

Toddler Scrubs

My ID from my Bible group

Clipboard

Here are some of the behind the scene and quick video on how I created this wheelchair.

Anyone you know who wears scrubs to work? 🙂

Happy Halloween!

P.S Special thanks to our nurse friend, Lesley for my pink scrubs <3