Who says that women can’t join in the Halloween costume fun?

Nobody.

Here are some of the best pregnant Halloween costumes I’ve seen. Draw inspiration for putting together your own Halloween costume if you’re pregnant at the end of October.

#1 That’s No Moon Costume

Use this That’s No Moon maternity t-shirt to create one of the best pregnant Halloween costumes. You can even add little plastic space cruisers, etc., to the top. Hang a glow stick necklace around your neck. Add black maternity leggings + you are good to go.

#2 Where’s Waldo

You can finally answer the question to Where’s Waldo with this pregnant Halloween costume. Use a red + white striped maternity shirt, a Waldo hat, black-framed glasses + create a “Waldo” out of felt.

#3 Baseball

If you’re a baseball fan then dressing your baby bump up like a baseball is right up your alley. You can use a baseball maternity t-shirt or use a white maternity t-shirt and paint on your own baseball with red paint.

#4 Beach Ball

Turning a baby bump into a beach ball is one of the best pregnant Halloween costumes I have seen because I LOVE the beach. You can wear a tank top tied up, a sports bra or a bikini top. You can wear shorts, a binkini bottom or capri maternity leggings.

Then use Halloween body paint to create a beach ball design on your bump.

#5 Bun in the Oven

You can be so cliche with this Bun in the Oven Halloween costume for pregnant women. It is one of the best pregnant Halloween costumes for women that are not showing yet so you can avoid “dressing up” your bump or working it into your costume (or better yet, working your costume around it).

#6 Kool-Aid Man

Another one of the best pregnancy Halloween costumes is to turn your bump into the Kool-Aid. It’s relatively easy to do with a red maternity shirt, some felt or a black fabric marker to create the face. You could also create a broken “brick wall” that the Kool-Aid Man is breaking through.

#7 Gumball Machine

Another one of the best pregnant Halloween costumes I’ve seen is a gumball machine. It’s another easy costume that you can create on your own without a ton of materials or a lot of time or effort.

All you need to start is a red maternity skirt and a white maternity t-shirt, different color pom poms + some felt to make the $.25 sign.

Use your baby bump as part of your Halloween costume by using ideas from some of the best pregnant Halloween costumes I’ve seen.

• White Bean Dip Recipe
• Resources + Recommendations for Mommin’ + Bloggin’
• Best Pregnant Halloween Costumes
• 10 Best Books on Raising Strong Girls
• A Girl Mom + A Girl Review of When I Grow Up by Jon Hales
• A Girl Mom Review of Clever Count Photo Book
• A Girl Mom Review of Hello Fresh
• A Girl Mom Review of Imperfect Produce + Save $10
• The Likeness Book Review
• Shenandoah Discovery Museum Mom Review
• Where the Crawdads Sing Book Review
• The Hate U Give
• My MoM Group Cooking Class Experience
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
• A Girl Mom Review of 7 Diapers
• How I Get 4+ Hours of My Life Back Every Month (+ Keep My Sanity)
• My Quick + Easy Go-To Dinner for My Family
• 8 Things in My Diaper Bag I Can’t Live Without
• 7 Reasons to Say Yes to Sun Basket: Meal Prep Service Review

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We received our copy of When I Grow Up by Jon Hales. The book is about a young girl who is trying to complete a writing assignment for her favorite teacher on what she wants to be when she grows up.

It’s an imaginative tale that takes you on a journey of exploration of the mind of a young girl in trying to figure out life (to some extent).

I read it with my oldest, who is 5.5. Here’s what she + I thought of the book.

What We Loved

First + foremost, we loved, loved, loved that it rhymed. I was only a few sentences into reading the book to her when she piped up with, “It rhymes!”

She is learning to read so she can read books herself but this particular book is a little above her reading level to read on her own. A quick divert as to why I was reading it to her 🙂

Another thing I loved about the book is that the narrator + main character of the book is a girl. I think it’s important to have strong female characters in books for girls to emulate.

I think it is important for boys to see strong female characters in books, too, so that they understand that girls are strong. Girls are humans. Girls have goals, wants + needs, just like them.

The third thing we loved is the creativity. The book takes you on an imagination journey. The girl in the book has to use her imagination to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up so she can complete a writing assignment for her class.

And quite the imagination she has! She comes up with some fantastic job options like Alien Hunter!

Another great thing about the book is the illustrations. At some point, my almost 4-year-old wandered over to read the book with us. Both girls were fascinated by the illustrations of the story.

My oldest enjoyed the book so much that when we reached the end she asked me to read it again (which we did two more times in a row). On the third ending, she asked if there was another book!

Finally, I also enjoyed that the main character of the book is completing an assignment for her favorite teacher. She talks about how great her teacher is + the reasons why she thinks he is a great teacher.

I think this important for a couple of different reasons. It shows kids that teachers are people, too, + that teaching style has a lot to do with how kids learn + relate to the material.

The girl speaks highly of her teacher even though his teaching style + interaction with the students is “different” from other teachers. The girl deems it important to take the assignment seriously because she wants, in a sense, to “please” her teacher by providing him with the answer to what it is she wants to be when she grows up.

She learns from the teacher that it is OK to not have everything in life figured out yet. That he too doesn’t always have all the answers. This is a great lesson for people of ALL ages.

What We Didn’t Love

I don’t see any bad or negative things to say about the book. If I had anything to say about it, I would say that I wish my daughter could read it on her own but that has nothing to do with the author or the book.

She’s getting there. She’s just not there yet.

Like I said before, my girls really enjoyed the book from the story itself to the illustrations + wanted to read it over + over again.

Maybe, there will be a sequel 🙂

Grade

We definitely give When I Grow Up by Jon Hales an A+. It allows the kids to explore with their imaginations + creativity. It really takes you on a journey through the mind of a young girl who is trying to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up. And it takes you on this journey with a creative storyline + amazing illustrations.

• White Bean Dip Recipe
• Resources + Recommendations for Mommin’ + Bloggin’
• Best Pregnant Halloween Costumes
• 10 Best Books on Raising Strong Girls
• A Girl Mom + A Girl Review of When I Grow Up by Jon Hales
• A Girl Mom Review of Clever Count Photo Book
• A Girl Mom Review of Hello Fresh
• A Girl Mom Review of Imperfect Produce + Save $10
• The Likeness Book Review
• Shenandoah Discovery Museum Mom Review
• Where the Crawdads Sing Book Review
• The Hate U Give
• My MoM Group Cooking Class Experience
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
• A Girl Mom Review of 7 Diapers
• How I Get 4+ Hours of My Life Back Every Month (+ Keep My Sanity)
• My Quick + Easy Go-To Dinner for My Family
• 8 Things in My Diaper Bag I Can’t Live Without
• 7 Reasons to Say Yes to Sun Basket: Meal Prep Service Review

Let’s get social

Our copy of Clever Count Photo Book from Clever Publishing landed in our mailbox yesterday. I opened it this morning to share with my girls before my oldest went off to school.

There is so much to love about this book that I am not even sure where to begin! I will admit, though, that my first impression was that the pages are way too busy with pictures, but…wait for it…

Teaches Numbers + Colors

While the main focus of the book is to teach numbers + counting, secondary, it teaches colors. Each page is dedicated to counting + to a color.

So, Page 1 is red. They count from 1-10. Both pages are full with items that are red.

Scavenger Hunt

The count from 1-10 also associates with the objects on the page so it’s like a scavenger hunt for counting.

Find the 1 red drum.

Find the 2 red planes.

Find the 3 red roses.

And the counting goes up from there to 10.

If your kids receive Highlights Magazine (my kids do + they LOVE it) then it is a little like those pages where they have to find 14 balloons (or whatever) in the picture.

My girls spent all morning going through the pages of the book.

Size

The size of the book is perfect for smaller kids, ages 0-3. It’s larger than a standard book but is not as small as a lot of toddler books. The size helps them hold onto it in their laps while they work through the pages.

Plus, the large pages make it possible to see the objects, numbers + the color words that are on the pages.

Soft Cover

While it is a board book on the outside, it has a bit of a cushy cover. This is a nice feature in a toddler book because, well, let’s face it, they throw it, use it to hit their sister + when they swing it around + hit themselves with it, it doesn’t hurt.

Even I thought, oh, it feels so nice + soft on the outside.

Grade

Overall, I give the Clever Count book an A. My girls absolutely love it. The 1 + 3-year-olds wanted me to read it to them. Then, the 3-year-old went through it several times on her own (She doesn’t read yet, but she can identify colors, objects + some of her numbers + letters.).

It’s a nice big, bright, colorful book that is a great tool for teaching colors, numbers, counting + objects to your toddlers.

• White Bean Dip Recipe
• Resources + Recommendations for Mommin’ + Bloggin’
• Best Pregnant Halloween Costumes
• 10 Best Books on Raising Strong Girls
• A Girl Mom + A Girl Review of When I Grow Up by Jon Hales
• A Girl Mom Review of Clever Count Photo Book
• A Girl Mom Review of Hello Fresh
• A Girl Mom Review of Imperfect Produce + Save $10
• The Likeness Book Review
• Shenandoah Discovery Museum Mom Review
• Where the Crawdads Sing Book Review
• The Hate U Give
• My MoM Group Cooking Class Experience
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
• A Girl Mom Review of 7 Diapers
• How I Get 4+ Hours of My Life Back Every Month (+ Keep My Sanity)
• My Quick + Easy Go-To Dinner for My Family
• 8 Things in My Diaper Bag I Can’t Live Without
• 7 Reasons to Say Yes to Sun Basket: Meal Prep Service Review

Let’s get social

I’m all about making my life easier. It’s why I use Instacart for Aldi for my weekly grocery shipping, Honest Co. diaper + wipes subscription, Kids on 45th for girls’ clothing, Amazon Prime subscription for overnight pull-ups + Amazon Prime in general.

If it can’t be delivered to my door, I’m pretty convinced that I don’t want it or need it. I mean, dragging three small kids through any store is not my idea of a good time.

I love to cook (or at least I did prior to doing it while three kiddos hang from me, climb me + whine at me while I’m doing it) + we mostly eat at home.

We tried Sun Basket in the past so I thought that I would give Hello Fresh a shot. I received my first box + cooked my first meals.

Here is what I thought.

What I Loved

The menu choices are amazing. So amazing that I had a hard time choosing the two meals I wanted for the week!

(I ended up with a Tuscan Chicken Spaghetti + Cheesy Chicken Fajitas.)

We’re going away for Spring Break so I knew ahead of time that I would want to skip that week. I LOVE, LOVE. LOVE that Hello Fresh allows you to skip weeks ahead of time so you don’t have to wait to the week before to skip your box.

Ditto on choosing your menu. You can choose your menu options weeks ahead of time so that you don’t have to wait until the week before to decide. I’m a planner at heart so I like knowing far advance rather than choosing just a few days before my box ships.

(You always have the option of making changes, though.)

The food is delicious. Every single member (all 5 of us) ate it (with minimal complaining from the 3-year-old). The ingredients themselves were nice (the lemons, the fresh basil, etc.).

I thought the pricing was pretty good, too. I had a coupon so I ended up with $80 off of four weeks worth of meals (+ I opted for two meals per week). For two meals per week, the cost was about $40 dollars so cheaper than eating out even one time.

Without the coupon, the pricing would have been roughly $60 for the two meals so still cheaper than us eating out one time.

What I Didn’t Love

The delivery driver left the box in the middle of our driveway. I’m not sure if the drivers are contracted or actually work for Hello Fresh but I didn’t know the box had arrived until I walked out to get my oldest daughter from the bus + it was sitting in the middle of our driveway.

The chicken (4 packets) comes sealed in bags. The bags leaked all over the bottom shelf of the fridge, including all over the bottom of the paper bags that held all of the ingredients for the recipes.

Ewwwwww…so with a baby in one arm I had to clean up the ewwwwwy-gooey mess that chicken juice makes. The meat we received from Sun Basket was sealed in similar bags but never leaked so I wasn’t prepared for this.

I wasn’t in love with the packaging in general. The individual packaging of the Sun Basket ingredients was more recyclable than that of Hello Fresh. The outside packaging + cooler packs, however, were similar in being recyclable.

While I found the prep to be faster + easier than Sun Basket, I did not find the prep to be fast + easy. The prep time said something like 5 minutes + it took me a lot longer than 5 minutes to prep.

Finally, Hello Fresh offers family meals, which end up costing you more ($5.99 per person) so you have to be careful about choosing those price wise. While $5.99 for one person doesn’t equate to a lot of money, when it’s for a family of 5, it’s almost $30 extra for one meal!

Grade

Say yes to Hello Fresh! Overall, I give it an A. I think all of the positives of Hello Fresh definitely outweigh the negatives.

If you use my link to try out Hello Fresh, you save $40 + I get $20.

• White Bean Dip Recipe
• Resources + Recommendations for Mommin’ + Bloggin’
• Best Pregnant Halloween Costumes
• 10 Best Books on Raising Strong Girls
• A Girl Mom + A Girl Review of When I Grow Up by Jon Hales
• A Girl Mom Review of Clever Count Photo Book
• A Girl Mom Review of Hello Fresh
• A Girl Mom Review of Imperfect Produce + Save $10
• The Likeness Book Review
• Shenandoah Discovery Museum Mom Review
• Where the Crawdads Sing Book Review
• The Hate U Give
• My MoM Group Cooking Class Experience
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
• A Girl Mom Review of 7 Diapers
• How I Get 4+ Hours of My Life Back Every Month (+ Keep My Sanity)
• My Quick + Easy Go-To Dinner for My Family
• 8 Things in My Diaper Bag I Can’t Live Without
• 7 Reasons to Say Yes to Sun Basket: Meal Prep Service Review

Let’s get social

e have been using Imperfect Produce for a couple of months now. My husband thinks it is the “bees knees.” I’m going to tell you what I think of it but first let me give you an overview of what Imperfect Produce is, in case you’re not familiar with it.

What is Imperfect Produce

I think of Imperfect Produce as an advocate for the different, ugly + otherwise tossed away fruits + veggies of the world combined as a subscription box (+ I have to say that I LOVE subscriptions!).

You can choose the size + type of subscription box you want to receive. Once a week, you customize the box + each Friday the box lands on your doorstep.

Now that we have that out of the way, this is what I think about Imperfect Produce.

What I Love

I love that I am able to receive + use fruits + veggies that would normally become part of the landfill just because they are a little bog or a little small or not the right shape to make it into the produce section of a store.

I adore that I can customize it for the week. It allows me to pick + choose what I can use + what my family is likely to eat. It helps me to plan my menu for the week.

It also makes me happy that it arrives on my doorstep + I don’t have to step foot in a store. (Although, to be totally transparent, I don’t step foot in a grocery store for my weekly groceries, either. I use Instacart for Aldi.)

The taste of the fruits + veggies is so much better than what we buy in the store. I am not sure what it is but it’s true.

We are also able to get our hot little hands on stuff that I don’t always see in the grocery store, like purple potatoes (yum-my).

Finally, the pricing is pretty good. We mostly choose organic for our box, which can be pretty expensive in the stores. I find that the pricing with
Imperfect Produce is comparable or less expensive than most grocery stores.

What I Don’t Love

My kids + I had expectations of funny shaped fruits + veggies. Heart shapes. Veggies twisted like pretzels. You get the idea. To our dismay, we have not received one funny shaped fruit or veggie yet.

This may change as the seasons change but I also wish the fruit variety choices were a bit more, at least for the fruits we eat. We’ve been able to get blueberries but no strawberries or raspberries or blackberries. The veggie choices seem to be abundant but I don’t feel like the fruit choices are.

Grade

I give Imperfect Produce an A-. The positives definitely outweigh the things we don’t love about Imperfect Produce so we will definitely continue to use it as a way to conveniently receive delicious tasting fruits + veggies.

• White Bean Dip Recipe
• Resources + Recommendations for Mommin’ + Bloggin’
• Best Pregnant Halloween Costumes
• 10 Best Books on Raising Strong Girls
• A Girl Mom + A Girl Review of When I Grow Up by Jon Hales
• A Girl Mom Review of Clever Count Photo Book
• A Girl Mom Review of Hello Fresh
• A Girl Mom Review of Imperfect Produce + Save $10
• The Likeness Book Review
• Shenandoah Discovery Museum Mom Review
• Where the Crawdads Sing Book Review
• The Hate U Give
• My MoM Group Cooking Class Experience
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
• A Girl Mom Review of 7 Diapers
• How I Get 4+ Hours of My Life Back Every Month (+ Keep My Sanity)
• My Quick + Easy Go-To Dinner for My Family
• 8 Things in My Diaper Bag I Can’t Live Without
• 7 Reasons to Say Yes to Sun Basket: Meal Prep Service Review

Let’s get social

My cousin’s daughter recently had her 7th Birthday Party at the Shenandoah Discovery Museum. We live about an hour and a half from there but we usually go out for birthday parties for the kids + to visit.

What I Loved

My first impression of the museum from the outside was, “What a neat place!” It looks like it’s an old fire station that was converted into a museum. It is the end unit of a building with more than one business now but there is a large window garage door that makes up almost the entire front lobby of the museum.

On the side of the building is a painted mural. It gives off a fun, vibrant + artsy vibe.

It’s location, in the middle of downtown Winchester, is a special treat. There is plenty to do in the historic area. Pubs, restaurants, museums, historic homes + more are within walking distance to the museum. Bonus points because you can walk the area easily.

The inside of the museum is a kid wonderland. It is three floors of activities. The second floor also has two or three party rooms dispersed throughout the activities.

My girls (5, 3, and 1) really seemed to enjoy the activities. They had indoor climbing structures, an ambulance, a hut that you can crawl through + sit inside of + arts + crafts + so much more!

They also had a small soft-play area for younger kids.

In the lobby is a huge maze-like structure. There is likely a better name for this but it’s not coming to me at the moment. It’s not a maze that you can walk through but it has different moving parts that my girls really enjoyed watching on the way out.

What I Didn’t Love

I wish there was more activities for the 1-year-old. She enjoyed the soft-play area for some time but it did not entertain her for the entire time we were there. She’s also not walking yet so she wanted to crawl around on the floor, which made her a target for kids + adults that were walking/running around to the various activities.

The climbing structure/maze on the first floor was hard for my tall 3-year-old (almost 4-year-old) to climb up into. Even with her older sister + two other girls who were climbing trying to help her, she could not get past the first climb-through hole.

I noticed that many children were having a hard time climbing it so it wasn’t just one of my kids.

Parking was also a HUGE challenge. Street parking is free on the weekends so we eventually found street parking at a meter that was approximately one block from the museum. There is a parking lot adjacent to the museum but it was small + full.

We used the stroller to get two of the kids from the street parking to the museum but the museum is not really set up for strollers so my husband ended up returning the stroller to the car while we were there. We carried the baby back to the truck when we left + the two older girls walked.

Of course, there is a small shop right when you are entering + exiting the museum so my girls wanted to go through it + buy everything when we we arrived + when were leaving. It took some effort to keep them out of it because we don’t need any more trinkets (aka crap) at our house.

Grade

I give the museum an A. It’s definitely a unique place in a great location. Kids of all ages enjoy it + you can grab a nice lunch or enjoy other activities within walking distance from the museum.

• White Bean Dip Recipe
• Resources + Recommendations for Mommin’ + Bloggin’
• Best Pregnant Halloween Costumes
• 10 Best Books on Raising Strong Girls
• A Girl Mom + A Girl Review of When I Grow Up by Jon Hales
• A Girl Mom Review of Clever Count Photo Book
• A Girl Mom Review of Hello Fresh
• A Girl Mom Review of Imperfect Produce + Save $10
• The Likeness Book Review
• Shenandoah Discovery Museum Mom Review
• Where the Crawdads Sing Book Review
• The Hate U Give
• My MoM Group Cooking Class Experience
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
• A Girl Mom Review of 7 Diapers
• How I Get 4+ Hours of My Life Back Every Month (+ Keep My Sanity)
• My Quick + Easy Go-To Dinner for My Family
• 8 Things in My Diaper Bag I Can’t Live Without
• 7 Reasons to Say Yes to Sun Basket: Meal Prep Service Review

Let’s get social