National Women’s Friendship Day is this Saturday! My friends are so important to me. I think it is important to make a little time to spend with your friends. Friends are just what we need to keep us grounded, calm and relaxed. I need my friends for an occasional girl’s day or night. Just a few hours with my friends and I am one happy lady! 🙂

My how times have changed. I really would have answered this so differently 15 years ago! Now my ideal girls’ day out would be coffee and breakfast in a cute little coffee shop, followed by some sort of spa day. We need manicures and pedicures in there too. They don’t happen nearly often enough. After that, some shopping and an early evening chick flick at the theater would be fantastic! Now who wants to go with me?

– Lindsay is the mom of 2 and author of See Mom Click. She shares great deals, Disney happenings and recipes. You can follow her on Twitter here!

My ideal GNO/GNI revolves around great food and great conversation, not necessarily in that order! It doesn’t happen often enough. Now that Sam is a little older I feel like I can take more “me” time so it’s bumped up on my priority list.

– Stephanie is the mom to Sam and the author of Spaceships and Laser Beams. If you ever need party ideas her site is the place to visit! Specializing in all things boy, it’s full of inspiration! Follow her on Twitter here!

My ideal girls night out would consist of a good chick flick, dinner at my fave spot – Texas Roadhouse, and maybe even an adult drink or two. I NEVER get those, darn it!! I’m pretty easy to please. A fun night IN with the girls would probably be spent watching a movie, some bad for us snacks and drinks and a DIY mani/pedi!

– Jenni is the mom of one and the author of Sweet Pennies From Heaven. A hearth and home website, Sweet Pennies From Heaven focuses on recipes, crafts and creating a comfortable home. Follow her on Twitter here!

Girls Night is a necessity! I am in a small group through our church called Girls Night Out (great name right?) and we meet every week. I look forward to it!! We meet for a couple hours and talk, hang out, eat dinner, sometimes do a Pinterest inspired project. I try to meet my best friend for lunch or manicures at least once a month. Sometimes we go longer. But we talk everyday! I think we need to make some time for our friends not only for them, but for ourselves too!

– Amanda is the mom to Joshua and owns It’s a Fabulous Life. If you are looking for a one stop place for all things mom, It’s a Fabulous Life is it! Full of recipes, fashion, DIY projects, recipes and parenting articles it’s the place for all of Mom’s favorites to come together! Follow her on Twitter here!

What about you? What is your ideal Girls Night Out?

It’s another Friday! Woo hoo! Which means the weekend is about to begin AND it’s another Moms Check In! Last night was the first game of football season. So we have a question for you.

So what about you? When football season begins are you more excited about the game…or the food? Be sure to follow us on Twitter! We will be tweeting your replies and some fun football themed ideas all week! (Follow us here!)

“Yeah, football is FUN but I’m totally in it for the food. I don’t watch football but I use football season as an excuse to eat all the awesome gameday foods that you see floating all over Pinterest! Go Colts!!”

– Jenni is the mom of one and the author of Sweet Pennies From Heaven. A hearth and home website, Sweet Pennies From Heaven focuses on recipes, crafts and creating a comfortable home. Follow her on Twitter here!

My favorite part of football season is the beautiful autumn weather but that wasn’t one of the choices! Between the game and the food, definitely the food. I love appetizers and lots of ‘em! I really enjoy sampling a variety of tastes. Bite-sized appetizers satisfy without filling you up too much…unless you keep sampling! I have fun creating them too. (You can find tons of football food and party ideas here!)

– Stephanie is the mom to Sam and the author of Spaceships and Laser Beams. If you ever need party ideas her site is the place to visit! Specializing in all things boy, it’s full of inspiration! Follow her on Twitter here!

Bring on football! While I love the dips, BBQ and snacks it brings out – I actually love the game! On game day you can find me decked out in team colors and saying things like “ohhh come on!” or “Even I could have caught that!” (which is a lie….) or my favorite, “TOUCH DOWN!”

– Amanda is the mom to Joshua and owns It’s a Fabulous Life. If you are looking for a one stop place for all things mom, It’s a Fabulous Life is it! Full of recipes, fashion, DIY projects, recipes and parenting articles it’s the place for all of Mom’s favorites to come together! Follow her on Twitter here!

The food! I’m not much of a football fan to be honest, but I’ll watch with the family just because it’s something we do together to wrap up the weekend. Usually you can find a big pot of chili cooking in the crockpot and some veggies and dip on the kitchen table at our house. And I may or may not use football as an excuse to pretend I’m watching TV while dozing on the couch. Shhh….

– Lindsay is the mom of 2 and author of See Mom Click. She shares great deals, Disney happenings and recipes. You can follow her on Twitter here!

What about you? Are you in it for the game or the food?

Thanks everyone who joined our Twitter Party yesterday! It was so much fun! New to Moms Check In? Each week we have a different topic and all ‘check in’ with what we think. We love to hear what you have to say too! It’s a great way to get to know each other and learn from other Moms across the country! Make sure to include #MomsCheckIn with your answers and we will tweet them all week long! (Follow Moms Check In on Twitter here!)

“My kids are obsessed with Star Wars. OBSESSED. That’s all they want to read right now and my daughter actually brought home three school library books this week, all Star Wars. She has a birthday coming up this week and I ordered her the Star Wars Character Encyclopedia, guaranteed to be both of my kids’ new favorite book in the coming days. If you need to know anything about any Star Wars or Clone Wars character, you know where to find me. I’ll get your question to the little experts that live in my house and get back to you. ;)”

– Lindsay is the mom of 2 and author of See Mom Click. She shares great deals, Disney happenings and recipes. You can follow her on Twitter here!

“We have done a lot of reading this summer together – it’s been delightful. Sam’s current favorite books are from the Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems. The incredible pictures are sure to induce giggles every time we read. The books are also perfect for Sam to start reading along too. It’s awesome to see him recognizing words and helping me with the story. I’m looking to many more story times together this fall!”

– Stephanie is the mom to Sam and the author of Spaceships and Laser Beams. If you ever need party ideas her site is the place to visit! Specializing in all things boy, it’s full of inspiration! Follow her on Twitter here!

“I am so happy I have a reader. Joshua is actually a speed reader so we go through tons of books at our house! His teacher set a goal for each child to read 40 books this year at school and a week and a half into school and he’s done. He is in middle school this year and although he reads a lot on his own, I still try to read out loud to him at bedtime. Sometimes he will complain that it’s ‘baby-ish’, but he really does love it! We recently finished Treasure Hunters by James Patterson and it was really good! (And they just came out with a squeal! HOORAY!) He also loved the Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder Trilogy. Because what boy doesn’t love titles like that?

– Amanda is the mom to Joshua and owns It’s a Fabulous Life. If you are looking for a one stop place for all things mom, It’s a Fabulous Life is it! Full of recipes, fashion, DIY projects, recipes and parenting articles it’s the place for all of Mom’s favorites to come together! Follow her on Twitter here!

“Our son has always loved books, but he’s just now beginning to show an interest in reading. Before, it was always about the pictures. He loves any “character” books like Thomas the Tank Engine, Toy Story, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Frozen, you get the picture! Right now he’s reading a Clifford book he got from school.”

– Jenni is the mom of one and the author of Sweet Pennies From Heaven. A hearth and home website, Sweet Pennies From Heaven focuses on recipes, crafts and creating a comfortable home. Follow her on Twitter here!

Tell us! What book is your child loving right now?

Back to school time is here. Everywhere you turn it seems to be binders, pencils and backpacks. We want to know, what is your best tip for an organized school year. Do you have a super way to make those crazy mornings go off without a hitch? Or maybe you’ve mastered the art of sifting through and organizing all of those papers that come home. Whatever your expertise – we want to know!

Here are some of our top back to school tips!

Since Sam is just going into kindergarten, I’m a novice at this back-to-school regimen so all I can tell you is what I’ve thought about. In the last couple of weeks we’ve been inching toward what his new schedule will be. That means Sam’s getting to bed a little earlier so he’s ready to get up earlier, too. The other thing I plan to do is make sure lunch is packed and clothes are chosen at the end of each day instead of having to hustle in the mornings.

– Stephanie

Stephanie is the mom to Sam and the author of Spaceships and Laser Beams. If you ever need party ideas her site is the place to visit! Specializing in all things boy, it’s full of inspiration! Follow her on Facebook here!

Gosh is it time to go back to school already? Can’t we just start summer over? We are not morning people. Ok, I am not a morning person. On the weekends, I make extra breakfast and we freeze the leftovers. Pancakes are perfect for popping into the toaster! After our Saturday grocery trip we separate the snacks into individual serving size baggies. We also make a LOT of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to put in the freezer. Come on Monday when we need to make Josh’s lunch we just have to grab a sandwich from the freezer and a few prepped snacks and we are good to go! It only takes about 30 seconds and we are off!

– Amanda

Amanda is the mom to Joshua and owns It’s a Fabulous Life. If you are looking for a one stop place for all things mom, It’s a Fabulous Life is it! Full of recipes, fashion, DIY projects, recipes and parenting articles it’s the place for all of Mom’s favorites to come together! Follow her on Facebook here!

“My top tip is to get done what you can the night before to prepare for the next day. The morning rush is no fun when you’re trying to hustle kids out the door. So we’ll lay out clothes, make sure backpacks are packed, and decide what we’re packing for lunch before we go to bed. My other big tip? Get labels with your kids’ names on everything. Losing a lunch bag or backpack can be a painful (and expensive) loss. I speak from experience!”

– Lindsay

Lindsay is the mom of 2 and author of See Mom Click. She shares great deals, Disney happenings and recipes. You can follow her on Facebook here!

The first thing to get us back into the swing of things is to get back in our routine of going to bed early. Just so I’m not running ragged in the mornings, I always lay his clothes out and make sure his backpack is ready to go too. Bath-time the night before also, that always saves a ton of time!

– Jenni

Jenni is the mom of one and the author of Sweet Pennies From Heaven. A hearth and home website, Sweet Pennies From Heaven focuses on recipes, crafts and creating a comfortable home. Follow her on Facebook here!

So now it’s your turn! Tell us! What is your best tip for an organized school year? Make sure to follow all of the moms on social media and Moms Check In on Twitter! We will be tweeting your responses all week!

Friday is quickly becoming my favorite day because I get to post another Moms Check In post! It’s been so much fun getting to know everyone and learning about their households! This week’s topic is all about Mom Confessions. What do you have to confess? Want to know what we confessed to? Keep reading! But first, who is doing the confessing?

Amanda is the mom of one boy and owns It’s a Fabulous Life, which is a one stop place for all things ‘Mom’. You can find recipes, DIY projects, frugal living, parenting and more. (Follow her on Facebook here!)

Jenni is the mom of one boy and writes at Sweet Pennies From Haven. Sweet Pennies From Heaven is a hearth and home website that focuses on recipes, crafts and creating a comfortable home. (Follow her on Facebook here!)

Lindsay is the mom of two great kids and owner of See Mom Click. She shares great deals, Disney happenings and recipes. (Follow her on Facebook here!)

Stephanie is the mom of one son and owns Spaceships and Laser Beams. Spaceships and Laser Beams is a great site full of party ideas, crafts and more all with boys in mind! (Follow her on Facebook here!)

This week our guest host is Mary from Mission: To Save. Mission: To Save is full of coupons, deals and freebies! Not to mention fun DIY projects and recipes! (Follow her on Facebook here!)

You will want to make sure to check out all of our moms on Facebook!

And don’t forget to follow along with Moms Check In on Twitter! We will be tweeting your responses all week!

Alright. Let’s confess. This is a no judgement zone right? My child is SO picky. We are talking the only fruit he will eat is a banana and he has MAYBE tried 3 or 4 veggies in his life. He will eat ‘leaves’ (salad) with a gallon of Ranch on them, but that’s it. He’s never even had corn or potatoes! So my confession is…I let my child eat PB&J. For breakfast. Lunch. And dinner. Obviously not every night, but there have for sure been a few times where he eats it for multiple meals in a day. I swear, we go through more peanut butter in a week at our house than most people go through in a year.

And before you send me angry emails, I do make him take vitamins and drink shakes to get some vitamins and minerals that he is otherwise lacking… 🙂 Tips for picky eaters? Bring them on!!

Oh geez. Secret is out I guess. Bedtime is my weakness. We stay up late sometimes and so we let my son stay up too. It’s been worse over the summer, but now that school is getting back in session I need to work on getting back on a schedule. It also doesn’t help that it doesn’t get dark until a little after 9:00 PM!

Why are you making me confess this? I sometimes hide my favorite food from the kids. I love having a little treat after they go to bed and know that if they see my goodies (like a jar of Cookie Butter – I have issues with it) then they’ll help themselves. I can’t have that. So I hide it! Now never tell my kids or I’ll be forced to find new hiding spots.

I’m more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants person. I like being spontaneous. I think some of my creativity bubbles up out of that part of my personality. However, as a mom I recognize that kids need to have at least some structure and order. Sometimes I think I need to get more organized so things move along smoothly…but I’m also pretty laid back in temperament so the entire life organization thing eludes me. And I mostly don’t care!

I must confess…My house is usually a mess. Sure I can make it look good for company or when we are leaving for vacation (because who wants to come home to laundry and a dirty floor), but on any given day- my house looks very “lived in”. I tend to be a bit of a pack-rat (NOT a hoarder!) so I often have piles of things here and there. I like to call it organized chaos. Sure I would “like” to be more organized (that’s why I have a whole Pinterest Board devoted to it) but right now, it’s not the priority. For now, hanging with my fam, creating good food to sit down together to eat and building my business/blog mean more to me than the dust on that shelf.

What about you? What is your Mom confession? Let us know and be entered to win an Amazon gift card!

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