Classic s’mores, one of our kids’ favorite snacks. And it doesn’t require lighting a fire outside! Even more than not being outdoors to enjoy it, I love that I can make lots for the house all at once using a very large cookie sheet in the oven. Here’s an extra tip If you want a little more than classic: Add an oreo in the middle. It makes this quick treat more tempting!
Let’s dive in:
Ingredients
4 graham crackers (broken in half)
4 large marshmallows
1 Hershey’s bar (broken into 4 equal parts)
Instructions
Place the graham crackers on a clean cookie sheet.
On half of the graham crackers, place a marshmallow.
On the other half of the graham crackers, place a portion of chocolate.
Repeat with remaining graham crackers.
Broil in the oven for 1-2 minutes. Keep an eye on them! The marshmallows will brown quickly.
After removing them from the oven, match a marshmallow top to a chocolate bottom to create the s’more sandwich.
Enjoy while warm! Let me know how your kids love this snack while at home.
While most of us supermoms don’t have a team of organizers to get our pantries into Instagram-worthy shape, it’s still achievable! With a good bit of strategy and work overtime, I’ve been able to whip my pantry into order — photo-worthy order!
Here are my tips to help you create your own:
Invest in your pantry, without breaking the bank.
I absolutely love OXO food storage containers, iDesign Lazy Susan cabinet bins, and baskets of all sizes. With so many container options out there, it can become overwhelming and expensive, fast! But don’t worry; you can absolutely create the pantry of your dreams on a budget.
Most of my organizing items can be found on Amazon, the Container Store, or at HomeGoods. I shopped at all of these locations and didn’t purchase everything at once. My pantry is an ongoing project! I encourage you to start organizing with what you have before making an investment in containers and bins. Feel free to get creative!
Create a plan, and stick to it.
I have a master shopping list of things we LOVE (which I can’t wait to share soon) that I keep on hand. This great guide I’ve created keeps our pantry stocked with the essentials, plus more. I encourage you to take some time to create your own master shopping list. How do I get mine started? Typically, I do a weekly inventory of what’s needed, preparing to have everything stocked.
Having a shopping list is great for those on a budget or anyone trying not to overbuy. It’s also an excellent way to stay organized. Once everything arrives, we unpack boxes and bags and add everything to the containers. Doing this right away keeps the pantry organized long-term and makes the process less daunting.
Involve the kids.
It’s important to get the kids involved! I like to have certain snacks that are stocked low enough for my older kids to reach if I need them to grab something for me. (They gotta earn their keep! Just kidding! lol.) They love helping Mommy tackle endless things, so I try to create systems they can help with as well. Having items at kid-level also allows my children to create their own pre-packaged snack for community day. They can get to those items without a problem.
Don’t be afraid to rearrange more than once.
Remember, your pantry is not a one and done project. As your needs (and your family’s needs) change so will your pantry’s. It’s a good idea to rearrange your pantry periodically to keep the layout fresh. Often, I play around with things in my pantry. I even consider it to be one of my favorite hobbies. I perform a trial and error test of what looks the best where, and other times, I think about accessibility, depending on what we have going on. Being a mom and achieving a photo-worthy pantry doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive! Like any good project, do it one step at a time. Finding out what works for your family is the most important part of this process, so let that (and the tiny hands grabbing for snacks) guide you as you figure it out. These tips are a great place to start!
How does our family get ready for game day Sundays? Well, we start on Saturdays! We start by laying out our jerseys and favorite game gear.
The kids and I will usually rock our favorite jerseys, custom shirts and jackets. My son loves to bring his football to throw around with some of the other players’ kids in the family area after the game. I pack a massive clear bag (*rolls eyes) to be in line with NFL policy.
Before the game starts, we facetime our favorite Saint (Daddy) and give him encouraging words! I usually send him a sweet text right before the game as well. Once the game ends, we all hang out as a family! It’s some of our fondest moments to have our entire family together to laugh and fellowship with.
Now, for away games, it’s a bit different. We either have a fun watch party with some of our close friends, or the kids and I indulge in game-day snacks, cheering Daddy on from the sofa!
Here’s what always stands true: Game days are fun, intense, emotional — the list goes on. But, we’re grateful for every opportunity and all that comes with it. We absolutely love supporting Daddy and letting fans know who we’re invested in.
More about our fits:
My girl’s tunics are custom made by my sweet friend and fellow sister Saint Makenzie Line.
Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life
By Henry Cloud and John Townsend
Having clear boundaries is essential to a healthy, balanced lifestyle. A boundary is a personal property line that marks those things for which we are responsible. In other words, boundaries define who we are and who we are not. Boundaries impact all areas of our lives: Physical boundaries help us determine who may touch us and under what circumstances. Mental boundaries give us the freedom to have our own thoughts and opinions. Emotional boundaries help us to deal with our own emotions and disengage from the harmful, manipulative emotions of others. Spiritual boundaries help us to distinguish God’s will from our own and give us renewed awe for our Creator. Often, Christians focus so much on being loving and unselfish that they forget their own limits and limitations.
Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend offer biblically-based answers to these and other tough questions in Boundaries, showing us how to set healthy boundaries with our parents, spouses, children, friends, co-workers, and even ourselves.
My Review:
I absolutely love this book! Boundaries is an answered prayer and a sanity refresher. It has given me the ultimate motivation to level up and not feel guilty about adding balance to my life.
Because I aim to live a selfless life, I often felt that by saying “no” and creating boundaries I would end up hurting others and destroying many relationships. Attempting to establish boundaries led me to feel guilty and selfish. However, this book revealed a huge myth that I’d been living with. I learned the difference between selfishness and stewardship.
In Boundaries, Henry Cloud does an exceptional job enlightening readers of the power and freedom that is gained by simply placing boundaries in specific areas of life. I loved that he relies heavily on biblical scriptures to support the book’s text. It provided clear confirmation that having boundaries does not make me selfish or non-Christian. It simply empowers me to love and live freely, responsibly and without guilt and exhaustion!
In reading this, I learned that people who cannot accept or respect some of my “no’s” are the people who I clearly don’t need in my life. Those people usually disappear or frequently become emotional when their manipulation power is no longer valid.
Although that’s a hard reality, I’ve learned to be ok with that.
Applying This Book to My Life
In applying the tools I’ve learned in the book, I simply created a list of things I value. I’ve placed that list in order of importance and wrote rules that I say no to without hesitation and things I strongly consider. I’ve also created a list of things that I typically don’t like to engage in or cause me stress. I’m an introverted extrovert (many disagree, lol), so I need my time away from outside chaos. (I have enough chaos with keeping all the little people alive and well!)
I also established some pre-typed text messages, speeches and lines that I use for recurring requests, and more, to place strong boundaries around certain things. I was once in a place where I was not the healthiest version of myself, and most of it stemmed from having minimum boundaries. Now, because of this book, I’m constantly taking control over my own life — not guiltying myself into saying “yes” to things or people who inconvenience or distract me from doing what God has called me to do first or things that are priority for The Davis’ family.
I’ve skimmed through this book over and over for the years. It’s so important to keep it fresh on my mind. After moving from city to city (one out of the 10 times), I misplaced it in the shuffle. During a time when I was significantly struggling with having “boundaries”, one of my favorite girls (@BrittBreezie 😉) got me a new one! I’m actually currently refreshing up on this one at the moment. This time around, I read it with a different approach. I’m all about my boundaries now!
Surrounding myself with people of like-minded faith has positively shaped my walk with God and how I interact with the world around me. My faith community has been instrumental in my growth, accountability, and discipleship.
These relationships with those who share my faith have exposed me to challenges and Christian models to follow and not to follow. I am constantly reminded not to become content in my walk with God because it’s an ongoing pursuit. There is no finish line in pursuing God; He’s much too big to know everything about in this lifetime. I choose to focus on seeking him more in ways that are simple and tangible for me.
There are three ways I choose to strengthen my relationship with God.
I build myself up through worship music. I feel at peace, connected to the vine (God) and in communication with Him.
I pray. Prayer is another important piece. I love being vulnerable and intimate with God. Often when I can’t put my prayers into words, I just surrender my heart, thoughts, and emotions to Him.
I read God’s word. As a busy mom of four, designating time for this is often a daily struggle. However, whether I read a scripture, full passage, or watch Superbook with my kids, I cling to the message regardless of its length or depth. These things equip me to encourage myself and others.
I’m a firm believer that your faith community should consist of someone walking above you (a spiritual mentor), next to you (an accountability partner, friend, or someone going through the same stage of life as you), and someone following you (who you are investing in or discipling who may not be a believer, or is a new believer with a ton of questions). I strive to continually grow and live accountability, while serving God and others faithfully. Having these people, who are in different stages of their faith walk, allows me to see faith in action and exercise my own faith.
By having a strong faith community, my walk with God has been changed in the best way! Even in these three little methods, I feel myself getting closer to Him daily. I know that this is a continuous journey, which is why I stress the importance of a faith community. The same way a blood related family works to build and grow, your faith community should, too.
Enjoy a space to connect, be empowered and educated to seek Jesus wholeheartedly, identify blind spots, seek growth, learn to love, forgive, laugh, cook amazing food, and understand that living the in the spotlight is not always roses & candy.
