Best Videos of the Year - 10 Top Viewed Videos

It's time for another end of the year round up! 2017 was an interesting year for our family, and we went through a lot of changes! One thing that didn't change, was some of our most popular videos! Which ones carried over from last year? Check out our 10 Top Viewed Videos of 2016 to find out!

Here were our best videos - view wise - for 2017! And I'll try to follow up in a future blog post with my favorite videos of 2017, which may not always be the same as the highest viewed! Check out my favorites of 2016 here!

In reverse order working down to number 1... here are our top viewed videos of 2017!!

10. Magic Kingdom on Halloween (2015)

This video would probably make it into my top 25 video favorites that I've made too. From our second year going to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Walt Disney World. This is one of those neat videos that didn't make the Top 10 Viewed videos last year, and is actually an older video from a 2015 trip... but it "took off" in the middle of this year, as I call it when an older video picks up speed after being more dormant for a while and started garnering more views in the middle of the year. Especially right before Halloween. We had a great time that night! I love seeing how little the girls are too!

9. Kid's Road Trip Boredom Busters!

I love when I can make videos that people find helpful and I think this one hit that mark - Kid's Road Trip Boredom Busters - where I shared some of (many) activities that we use while traveling to entertain and this one made it into our top ten videos this year!

8. MagicBand 2.0 Review and Comparison

Ok, so this is a cool one. We did a MagicBand review on the new style MagicBand 2.0 bands that came out in 2017, with a comparison to the old style and showing both styles side by side on the girls wrists. I figured it would be a helpful video to many, and I think it was.... but, to toot my own horn for a minute - I found out from a friend that DISNEY actually was using my video internally and the developers of the MagicBands themselves were using a clip from my video at conferences... uhm, HOW COOL?!? Not just that they were using a clip from it - but that they had seen it at all!! The imagineers of the bands themselves!! Definitely a Disney geeking out moment for me!!

7. Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in the Castle Experience

This is such a fun one!! Our 2016 Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique experience, where the girls both had their hair and makeup done together for the first time! This is probably one of my favorite Disney memories too, and I'm looking forward to them doing this hopefully at least one more time together! (Before they are too cool for school and all that good stuff!)

6. American Girl Shopping Surprise! 

We took a quick trip to the American Girl store in Michigan where I surprised Natalie with the trip there, and shared it in a Shop with Us video. We used up some gift certificates and rewards certificates we had for American Girl. It become our sixth highest viewed video of the year!

5. Christmas morning 2016! 

Our Christmas videos have started becoming some of our higher viewed videos, and Christmas morning was our 5th highest viewed video for the year!

4. Walt Disney World & Disney Cruise Surprise!

Everyone loves a good surprise! Last year we surprised the girls with the news of going to Disney Social Media Moms Celebration 2017 with a big surprise box! It was a lot of fun, and also one of our higher viewed videos for the year! Since I started squealing in the car when I got the email invitation back to 2018 and they were in the car (while we were AT Walt Disney World on our October trip, none the less!) - they already knew about our upcoming trip... so no surprise box at Christmas this year. Sorry guys! I was really excited when I got that email!!

3.  Disney Dream Embarkation Day

Our very first cruise aboard the Disney Dream continues to garner views and new viewers find our videos from that trip every day!! We are especially excited to be going BACK on the Disney Dream in February 2018, for Disney Social Media Moms Celebration 2018! It is a beautiful ship, and I'm excited to have the opportunity to do and see some things that we missed on our previous trip - mainly a trip down the AquaDuck waterslide and dinner in the Enchanted Garden restaurant!

2. Natalie's 5th Birthday

The second highest viewed video of the year was Natalie's 5th birthday video! I think especially our younger viewers love seeing what the girls get for special occasions and seeing them open gifts. Our birthday videos have become quick favorites!

1. American Girl Surprise!

WOW!! Coming in again at #1 this year - American Girl Surprise! was our top viewed video for the year! Accumulating 563,683 additional views in 2017, it did slow down a bit from its previous year's view count... but for a video that I couldn't have guessed would take off THAT much, it has been a huge boost to my channel these past three years. I'm so glad that so many people enjoyed it! Will it still be #1 for 2018? Can't wait to find out!

Thanks for watching this year! And I hope you have a happy and safe new year!

** This was not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

Disney Cruise Planning: Countdown to our next cruise aboard the Disney Dream

83 days... but who's counting? Well, we are actually! We were excited to learn while we were at Walt Disney World in October 2017, that we were invited back to Disney Social Media Mom Celebration 2017. (You can check out a recap of our 2017 Disney SMMC experience HERE.) And after the initial squealing died down... the planning began!

2018 Disney Social Media Mom Celebration

The 2018 Disney Social Media Mom Celebration will again be a land and sea adventure, with three days at Walt Disney World and three days at sea, aboard the Disney Dream! Our family was especially excited to find out we would be cruising again, as we have had such a great time on our past cruises! They are a wonderful relaxing vacation for the whole family - and the kids love it because they get to feel very independent by getting to chose how much time they want to spend in the Kid's Clubs onboard and at Castaway Cay.

Cruise Prep and Planning

This will be our third Disney cruise, and our second cruise aboard the Disney Dream! The exciting thing is, they've added a number of wonderful new things, like the Beauty and the Beast stage show (our YouTube friend Allison just got a chance to get a sneak peak of the show, you can check out her review HERE), and we will also get another chance to catch things we missed on our first voyage - like the AquaDuck, believe it or not! And eating in the Enchanted Garden restaurant. (We had reservations at Palo on the night that our rotation went to that dining room.)

I'm planning on sharing a detailed Cruise Packing List, coming up soon... with some suggested items that we always like to bring along, and also what I've seen suggested that I found we could leave at home. What does planning look like at 83 days out?

Here are the things I'm focusing on right now!

Fish Extender

This will be our first time participating in a "Fish Extender" aboard a Disney Cruise. These started out as a fun  exchange between a few people aboard an early sailing, and turned into a mass organized thing that has become somewhat tradition with veteran cruisers. On our previous cruises, I didn't sign up for a Fish Extender Group (yes, I said "sign up" - there are typically Facebook groups for each sailing on a Disney Cruise which we join and within in those, they generally host or have a link to a "Fish Extender Group" that divides and then pairs people up with whom to exchange gifts) - I felt like I wanted to just focus on the cruise itself. Which was more than enough, I promise!

Now that we've been on a few cruises, I thought it would be a fun extra thing for the girls to take part in, to bring along small gifts for fellow shipmates, and in return potentially receive surprises back in our Fish Extender. The actual Fish Extender, is the hanging bag that is left outside a hook by your stateroom and can hold mail or other fun things left for you. These are completely optional of course, but a fun thing to participate in just like decorating your stateroom door.

Fish Extender Planning

At 83 days out, my plans for the next few weeks are to get our actual fabric bag, "Fish Extender", ordered from an Etsy vendor - so that it will arrive in plenty of time before our cruise. I've also already spent time researching fish extender gifts and have started narrowing down our choices with those. So I will as begin ordering those items, so that I know those things will be here in plenty of time before we leave as well.

My goal is to leave half of a suitcase available for fish extender items, although most things that we will be bringing along won't be too big or bulky. It never hurts to have extra room for souvenirs too though!

Disney Vacation Planning - What Else Will I Buy?

Since we've been on other cruises before, I don't have too many other items that I need to purchase pre-cruise. I will stock up on Bonine and Kid's Dramamine, preventative sea sickness medicine to bring along "just in case". I'll check our suntan lotion to make sure it is all well within the expiration date, and make a little travel wellness kit, with items such as bandaids, ibuprofen, sinus medicine, and other frequently used medicinal items. I'll also start taking note of what kind of travel items we may be running low on or need to replace, like special lotions or body washes that we like to have in travel size


Clothing wise, since we live in a warmer climate now - we are pretty covered for warm weather clothing. I may pick up one or two special outfits for the conference portion, and an extra Disney shirt or two for the girls. One thing we do tend to do right before a Walt Disney World trip is buy newer tennis shoes and spend a few weeks breaking those in at home before we go, so we have newer shoes with good support - but not brand new, along with a few other specific planning items to going to Walt Disney World. I'll save the rest of those tips for a Walt Disney World planning post though.

Seeing Good Friends

Planning aside... One of the best parts about getting to go to conferences like Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, is seeing the friends we know in the social media community! Our friends from Jones Family Travels will also be at Disney SMMC again this year, and we're looking forward to meet up with our fellow YouTube buddies! They are also avid cruisers and own a travel agency, so they KNOW travel! They also are easy going and love to have a fun time, so we always have fun when we get together!

Check out some of their cruising videos here:

All in all, it will be an awesome vacation, with lots of awesome people. I'm looking forward to sharing our preparation process and experience that we have while we are there! Disney Social Media Moms Celebration is truly a unique event with lots of surprises along the way, and I can't wait to see what they have in store for us this year!

** This post was sponsored. All opinions are my own.

5 Tips for Starting a YouTube Channel!

Today I'm sharing some of my top tips for starting a YouTube Channel! A few years ago, I did a "Stay at Home Mom September" series where I talked about this same subject, and since this this topic seems to come up in the comments every few months with viewers asking for suggestions on how they can use YouTube for memory keeping and start a channel of their own - I thought I would tackle it on the blog! So whether you are interested in starting YouTube as a business (which I'll talk a little bit more about in #4 below!) or whether it will strictly be intended for memory keeping for your family, here are some tips below on how to get started!

Screenshot from a recent video!

Here are 5 Tips to get started on YouTube!

1. Just Press Record!

This is my number one and really main thing that I always tell people when they ask how to start a channel on YouTube, "Just press record and start doing it!". That's how I and basically every other YouTube channel started out, we just decided to press record one day and so it began. Once you have the momentum to get started, I've found it gets more natural, video idea come to you, and you become more and more inclined to just pick up the camera and press record!

What camera do I vlog with? This is a popular sub-question asked a part of number one - and I vlog with a Canon g9x camera that was purchased on Amazon. We filmed our Spring 2016 Disney vacation, August 2016 Disney Cruise, and February 2017 Disney Land and Sea Adventure all with this camera!

2. Pick a channel name or brand that represents you...

... and will for some time. If you currently have one child and are thinking of having more, it make not make sense to select a name that projects you being a parent of only one child, and other scenarios similar to that I've seen come up a lot in YouTube groups. Also make sure that this name or brand is available across all of the social media platforms you're intending to use. For YouTube, one of the most important things about your "brand" may be that it is memorable, and people can remember how to get back to your channel through search or find you on other social media outlets.

A lot of people recently have gone to using their name and this is a growing trend within social media as well as on YouTube itself. I don't see anything wrong with using your name as your brand - it certainly makes the branding easier! However, I would say in the early days if you have a name that has a number of common spellings it may be a bit harder for people to find your channel or social media outlets.

I've chosen to stick with a "Channel name" myself, because it is my current preference and I've tied in my other social media, as well as this blog that you're reading, to go along with it - however if you've known my channel for a while, you probably also know that I am involved in a number of "side channel" venues as well, so maybe it would make sense to eventually some day go to my name as an umbrella over all of them. However my advice on this topic is simple, make it memorable, make it easy to say since you'll be saying it in vlogs over and over, and make sure it is easily searchable.

3. You don't need the "latest and greatest" equipment

Speaking to the last part of #1, you really do not NEED the latest and greatest equipment. Just press record... with whatever you have available to you!

When I started YouTube, I used a little $100 point and shoot camera that I already owned and eventually took over my husband's Nikon DSLR for sit down videos that he had purchased to take pictures of the girls when they were babies. I used what I had available to me. Nowadays, phones are such great quality that vlogging from your phone is a very real and possible solution.

Over the years, I've upgraded my equipment as my channel(s) have grown. I went from a Windows laptop to a MacBook for editing, and I purchased a slew of point of shoot cameras, mainly Canon - before I've finally been using the Canon g9x, which I love! I plan to add another Canon g9x and a waterproof likely Go Pro camera into our mix soon... but the point of this point is you don't need anything fancy to start out. Use what you have and just press record!

My current filming area in my office to film YouTube videos.

Light kit wise, I just use an inexpensive umbrella lighting kit from Amazon that I purchased a number of years ago. I have thought about getting a ring light for my camera as well, but since we film a number of "on the go" vlogs - I've opted to keep upgrading camera equipment over the basic lighting equipment that I have. Depending on the types of videos you do, other equipment may be more important to enhance your videos - however I think for most genres starting out just a regular camera or phone and regular lighting is good enough to get started!

4. Do it because you LOVE it

Okay, so regardless of your initial reasoning for starting a YouTube channel, you NEED to be doing it because you LOVE it. After being on YouTube for over 5 years, you definitely learn that there are constant ups and down within the industry. Preparing for them is the best thing you can do, but there are no guarantees in the YouTube world. You can be the hottest growing channel one minute and the next month the YouTube algorithm changes and your numbers tank. So my point is, do it because you love it... because there is no guarantee that you will make big bucks doing it. Sure, there are lots of YouTubers making a full time income from their channels, but persistence over time and consistency are worth a lot and generally are what make channels successful.

When you love doing something, that will come through in your videos and audiences are more receptive when they feel like you're being real with them. For a lot of people it doesn't happen overnight, in the beginning the growth is generally slower and then it snowballs into something more - so if you love it, stick with it and watch it blossom.

Filming on a cruise ship has definitely been a YouTube highlight for me, I poured love into every minute of that project!

5. Don't get consumed with the numbers

Ah, numbers. I have a love/hate relationship with numbers. Sure, the numbers are useful because they give you information from your audience about what videos they prefer to watch, when they like to watch them, and what they like to watch them on, however I want to make sure to impress one thing before I go any further...

"Your numbers on social media DO NOT define you as a person." Do not get bogged down in the thought that numbers some how reflect how likable or good of a person you are - because they don't. The truth is, numbers of social media can be affected by a number of variances, both within our control and out of our control. All you can do is put forth your best effort every day and give your genuine self to the audience, try to stay on top of trends and changes with the YouTube algorithm - but a down turn in numbers does not mean that you're suddenly bad in some way.

Use the numbers to gain insight into what your audience likes, where they are located, what time of day they prefer to be online on YouTube, and where they are finding your videos from. All of this information can help you figure out what types of videos you should be focusing on and when you should set them to upload. Social media outlets like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, etc - are great ways to connect with your audience and build report, but may not necessarily have a one to one increase in your viewership on YouTube, so you should use those social media outlets as an audience outreach tool and "reminder" that you're around, so to speak.

The Wrap Up

I hope that these tips above have been helpful to help you just "press record" and get started doing YouTube! It is a great hobby that can turn into the best profession, but above all is a wonderful industry that you can meet lots of great people while doing it. I've enjoyed my time on YouTube immensely and connecting with my audience 5 days a week in videos is something I look forward to doing every week!

Check out those old videos from Stay at Home Mom September on the "Getting Started on YouTube" playlist below, because a lot of those tips are still great ones as well!

Let me know if you have any questions... and I'll see you on YouTube!

** This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

Weekly Meal Plan #2 + Grocery Haul!

It's time again for another grocery haul and weekly meal plan on the blog! We're trying this out over the next few weeks, instead of a weekly grocery haul and meal plan on YouTube, I'm moving that content over to the blog to be able to go more in-depth and also because it seems like it is working out better for everyone!

This week's grocery haul was a rather large one... it came out to $175 (ouch!) - but did include ingredients for a number of crock pot meals that will be reusable, and also some items for a test run of some items upcoming themed meal that I'm planning for a video. (Spoiler Alert: Beauty and the Beast, yay, yay, yay, yay!!) So those items did drive up the price a bit, and will be reused for that movie release meal.

Here's what came home with us for breakfast, lunch, dinners, and snacks this week for our family of four!

Grocery Haul - Week of 2/26/17 through 3/4/17

My girls are 5 & 6, but don't let their ages fool you - they are big eaters! I actually told a lady working at the grocery store today that I felt like I was buying food for five kids!! Alas, it's only two... but they do eat, A LOT.

The grocery haul contains some of our staple items we get every week, the CarbMaster yogurts that have the absolute best consistency, in our family's opinion, my husband's ginger ale and snack cakes, my CoffeeMate French Vanilla creamer. (Coffee in the mornings around here is a MUST.)

I took a separate picture for the Beauty and the Beast meal project items... This will I will be testing out trying to make some "Grey Stuff" and "LeFou's Brew" at home! Fingers crossed that it works, because those are two of my favorites when we visit Walt Disney World!

Items to make some special "Beauty and the Beast" meal items!

Our meal plan for the week includes a number of crock pot meals, I have three currently planned for the week. Our Italian Beef, that I believe I have shared in a video and I will try to share also in a separate blog post because I get asked about that one a lot. Mongolian Beef with a side of Teriyaki Rice, which will be a new one for me this week - so I'll let you know how that goes!! And then a Crock Pot Beef Stew, since it is supposed to be a bit chillier this week!

This was my anticipated meal plan for the week when I went to the grocery store, I did already make one slight change to it based on the expiration dates of the meats - which you don't know until you purchase them... I am switching around the Chicken Enchiladas and the Pork Chops nights, otherwise the meal plan will remain the same.

Here's this week's Meal Plan (2/26/17 - 3/4/17):

Sunday: Caesar Salad Appetizer, Spaghetti
Monday: Crock Pot Italian Beef
Tuesday: Pork Chops with veggie side
Wednesday: Crock Pot Mongolian Beef with rice
Thursday: Tacos
Friday: Crock Pot Beef Stew
Saturday: Chicken Enchiladas with beans

Hopefully you've enjoyed checking out our weekly meal plan! So far, this is working out great for me to put it in one easy to read blog post. And I think once our regular videos start back up on YouTube, this will be an easy way to share meals that I may talk about in our vlogs and our meals without taking up entire video spots for a grocery haul or meal plan. 

** This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

How Being Successful in Social Media, Can Make You Feel Like a Failure

A Success = Failure?

I use the term "successful" loosely here, because everyone's definition of success is different. For some, it may be in terms of views, for others it may the monthly amount of revenue your social media outlets are bringing, and ultimately - for those that have it figured out, perhaps it is just the amount of joy it is bringing you. However you define your terms of success as a social media influencer, digital publisher, YouTuber, blogger, or whatever terms you prefer to call yourself, I've found the more goals that I achieve or higher amounts of "success" that I achieve, the more it can make you feel like a failure.

With each climb upwards, it makes you wonder how you possibly sustain that? Where do you go from there?

Pondering where you even go from here?

Don't Compare

Very early on in your YouTube career, you learn not to compare yourself to others. Our numbers are very "out in the open", on each video, channel page, and easily searched on Social Blade. There are numbers everywhere you turn. There will always be someone that is "bigger" than you, growing faster, or that grows overnight. Your channel and your social media outlets are on their own trajectory.

Up to this point, I have stuck with letting my social media outlets grow organically. Relying on the YouTube algorithm and search function to help people find my videos, and using additional social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, to stay engaged with my audience and remind them when my videos are posted. Along the way, you realize that it is extremely easy to get "caught up in the numbers" of it all and it can consume you, for some this is too overwhelming and they decide that working in social media is not for them, for others you persevere and keep moving forwards only looking at your own gains and losses for comparison sake... Comparison is still comparison though, even if it is with yourself.

When you lose comparing against yourself

Comparison can still be a thief of joy, even if it is just comparing against yourself. I'm coming off of one of my biggest months in recent months. January can be a down time for many publishers, but for me - it tends to be a higher viewed month with my Christmas videos being highly searched out. Add to that a few additional videos that drove views even higher during January 2017, a Disney World and Disney Cruise reveal video that added over 65,000 views, and a few videos that were done to test the algorithm (which worked, by the way - more on that in a future post) - including a wrapping prank video that brought in a higher than average 15,000 views. It added up to be one of my best Januarys yet, with 745,000+ videos on Being Mommy with Style and over 1.1 million views on all of my channels... A significant percent higher than my average monthly views of 500,000 on Being Mommy with Style and 700,000-800,000 views overall across all channels.

...Yet, come the end of February, I will feel like a failure.

I will feel like a failure, because I know February's numbers will not match January's. Due to either circumstances of Christmas searches starting to drop off, that I was traveling for part of the month so my channel had to be on "auto-pilot" for that time with scheduled videos with limited intervention from me, or the fact that February only has 28 days - February's numbers will undoubtedly not match nor top January's numbers. And then you feel set up to try to "chase" the higher numbers of the previous month, which really - that's not what I started all of this and it doesn't have to be about.

Christmas videos are some of my most highly searched videos in January!

When these thoughts start to creep in and I start to have self-doubt about what this is all about, why I'm doing this, and whether I'm really achieving anything at all, I have to remind myself that I started this to help people, to build that connection. And whether it is 5 people or 100 people, if I can bring some brightness to their day, help them in some way, or entertain them while they are stuck in the house with sick children or nursing their baby in the middle of the night, then that makes it all worth it.

So I would implore you, if you're feeling this way... you feel yourself starting to feel like you've failed even after you've met goals you've set for yourself, consider how far you've come. Consider the positive impact that we are making to help people make informed purchasing decisions, deciding where to vacation, or giving them a bit of company when they need it... We can bring positivity into the world through social media and THAT is what I want my ultimate goal to be. Not to meet last month's numbers, but to bring joy to people however I can.

If we focus on that joy, and let our social media outlets continue to be organic and authentic, then really we are all successful. In the true sense of the word.

** This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

Weekly Meal Plan + Grocery Haul!

If you've been following along on YouTube for a while, you'll notice that a video that used to come standard on my channel has been missing since the beginning of the year. At the beginning of 2017, I announced that I was going to be doing "More of This, Less of That" - with part of the less being grocery hauls, which previous to that I had frequently released each Monday of a haul purchased on Sunday.

Grocery Haul items from COSTCO - These will last a few weeks.

I had a number of reasons for discontinuing these videos (or at least doing them LESS)... personal reasons of they just weren't personally my favorite videos to watch or edit. Fun Fact - grocery hauls are literally the ONLY type of video of mine I've fallen ASLEEP trying to edit. Fallen asleep, people. It isn't a type of video that I watch from other creators, and although I understand the appeal (ideas! chit chat! mom life!)... it just hasn't been my favorite.

Top that off with the business decision to lessen them because grocery hauls are the top of video on YouTube that have a cult following, they quickly gain views - mine usually went to 3000-4000 views within the first day - but for me anyways... after that initial audience. They fall flat. They plateau. They are not a highly searchable video for me, nor are they a video that people had been finding my channel according to my channel analytics in 2016. I made the business decision that since they weren't some of my favorite videos anyways, and some of my favorites WERE highly searchable videos that were getting their initial views and then growing immensely in months to follow. (Check out this American Girl video if you don't believe me, initial views were at 4000, it is currently around 16,000 views at the time of writing this post. Or this Target Come Shop with Me video, that also started out around 4000 and is currently at around 25,000 views.) I planned to lessen the amount of the "plateau videos" on my channel to be able to focus more on the ones that create more growth.

However, one thing I have always tried to do on my channel is listen to my audience. Your requests and feedback... and some people really didn't like that I had stopped doing the grocery hauls and weekly meal plans... I mean, REALLY didn't like it!

After giving it some thought, I think I've come up with a plan that *may* (Key word, may) work for all of us!

I posted an abbreviated grocery haul on Instagram Stories today! No editing for me, you still get to see food from me. I've been trying to use IG Stories more lately, so make sure to follow me on my Instagram if you don't already. It's my favorite social media platform besides YouTube!

Then, here on the blog - which I've made a goal this year to create more content, richer content, and some content that differs from what is going on my YouTube channel - I can give you a quick write up of our meal plan for the week, share our grocery haul, and if you want to see any meals that I make I can follow those up in a future post. (And possibly a video if needed.)

I feel like this solution may work out well for everyone... so let's give it a go! I'll try this for the next few weeks and then get your feedback to see what you think!

Here's this week's Meal Plan (2/19/17 - 2/25/17):

Sunday: Caesar Salad Appetizer, Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes Entree
Monday: Pulled Pork Sandwiches with beans as a side
Tuesday: Sloppy Joe Sandwiches with green beans as a side
Wednesday: Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
Thursday: Ham Steaks with vegetable salad
Friday: Pizza (A Friday night staple, as you know if you've followed our meal plans previously)
Saturday: Saturdays are commonly what I like to consider or call, "Kid's Choice Night!" - we frequently eat "kid's food" this night like chicken nuggets, mac'n'cheese, and the like.

As always, I run my meal plans from Sunday to Saturday since that is how I write them on our meal planning board in our kitchen and my grocery shopping day is Sunday.

Here's this week's grocery haul!

A few of the meals I have planned for this week are crock pot meals, and I also picked up items for lunches and snacks. The Kroger brand Carbmaster yogurts is one of our staple items, we prefer the taste and consistency of this particular type of yogurt and the kids and I love the "Cinnamon Roll" flavor! My husband's favorite is strawberry!

Here are a number of items I'm planning to use in crock pot meals! I can some of our meals throughout the week as well if you guys would like to see those.

Overall, I feel like this might be a workable solution for us all! I'm sitting here writing this blog post in-between unloading the groceries and getting dinner started, and I feel like other than seeing my bright, shining face (lol!) the information you get should be relatively the same.

I will check in a few weeks to see what you think!

** This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

Disney Social Media Moms 2017

We are headed to Disney Social Media Moms Celebration 2017!!

Thanks to Gayle, from DisneyGals for the awesome badge! Check out her post on Tips from the Disney Social Media Moms!

This is my first time attending the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration and I'm excited to find out what's in store for our family! The first part of the conference is on land at Walt Disney World, where we will take part in special dinners, behind the scenes events, and get to meet with different companies to talk about our respective blogs/vlogs. Then, we head out to sea on the Disney Wonder with Disney Cruise Line for a full conference day and three full days of fun!!

I'm looking forward to sharing our adventure in vlogs on Being Mommy with Style when we return! In the mean time, make sure you're following me on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook - where I will be posting real time pictures and live video from the conference!

** I was invited to attend the 2017 Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. We will be receiving complimentary items and experiences that are included as a part of the conference experience. All opinions are my own.

15 Million Views on YouTube

YouTube. It's very hard to put this into words what YouTube has become in my life, our lives... but it most definitely transformed us, enhanced us, grown with us. I started YouTube as a coincidence, many years ago on Bags4Bubbles. Uploading videos to be posted to a handbag forum, not thinking much about the video platform side of things. I kept getting comments, then video requests, then more video requests... from there I had my first child and decided I enjoyed YouTube and would like to start doing "Mommy Topic" videos - so Being Mommy with Style was born.

My first video on beingmommywithstyle!

I didn't know what to expect in the beginning. I only had recently realized that YouTube was made up of "communities" when I started Being Mommy with Style. I hadn't really watched "Mommy Vlogs" prior to that, but I knew I wanted to talk family and mommy things, which didn't fit on my handbag channel... so I was going to give it a go. From there, it took off! I found I loved the daily vlogging aspect of it during daily vlog months (April, August, October, and Vlogmas)... and I enjoyed receiving video requests and fulfilling those.

Over the years, we've done day in the life style videos, reviews, hauls, chat sessions, tags, and more... I enjoy a little part of each type of video - but I think that day in the life and reviews may be my favorites. I enjoy reviews because I feel like they may be helpful in some way, and day in the life style videos are fantastic to have that piece of history documented, to be able to look back and see my girls at 9 months, 2 years, 3 years... watching the grow all over again through the videos.

YouTube became a secondary source of income for our family. Don't get me wrong, we are not becoming millionaires from our videos - but it is a respectable amount for the time that I put into doing something that I enjoy and it is appreciated. We have taken vacations funded by earnings with YouTube, I've paid for furniture and other things around the house, and I feel a sense of pride that I am also able to contribute to our household.

YouTube has given my family a number of opportunities... I've attended conferences and media events. I've traveled out of the country for the first time ever and we took our first (and soon second!!) cruise all because of YouTube. I'm grateful for the experiences we've had that I know wouldn't have been possible if I hadn't decided to pick up the camera and start vlogging all those many years ago.

Most of all those, I'm thankful for YOU. The connections I've made on YouTube over the years. The comments from names I recognize from years ago, comments from people that say they've watched for years but only just worked up the courage to comment, emails from people saying that I've helped them in some way. You've helped shape me, grown with us as we've grown, and been there for me during good and bad times. I'm appreciative of all of the love and support we've gotten from YOU on YouTube over the years.

It's an amazing thing, and I can't wait to see where it takes us next! We already have some exciting things to look forward to coming up in 2017 and I'm excited to be able to share those with you!

In a simple way to say "Thank you", I wanted to do a video looking back at some of our memorable moments over the years. 15 million views. Something I never imagined I would be saying, but here we here! Here's to all that's yet to come!

** This is not a sponsored video. All opinions are my own.

Christmas Tablescape and Home Decor Tour

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around our house! I took some time to share our Christmas tables cape for our dining room table and also a home decor tour of all of our favorite Christmas decor items! A lot of my decor I find at stores like Target, At Home, HomeGoods, Marshall's, Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and more! It's my favorite time of year to decorate the house, and I tend to decorate with a traditional style with a bit of fun, whimsy flair thrown in!

I set our Christmas dining room table early, for a video celebrating 15 million views on YouTube (yay!) and thought I would do a dedicated video on our Christmas tablescape this year while it was already set!

In our full home decor tour, I share our living room tree which is decorated in champagne, silver, and bird accents; our family room tree, which is decorated in red, silver, gingerbread, and snowman accents; a mini Disney tree; and the girls' bedroom trees!

Even our cat Yoda got in on the festive mood... kind of. ;) He's sitting next to a "Merry" pillow anyways!

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is one of my favorite Christmas songs and quotes, and you can find it on decor throughout our house.

I enjoy making the house a warm and cozy place during this time of year!

In a future post, I will share some of our holiday "Polar Express" party ideas, as we did another Polar Express as a part of a collaboration this year! It was a fun video and I enjoyed seeing the different ideas that all of the collaborators had to make their parties come together!

Here's a sneak peek!

I hope you enjoy taking a look at some of my favorite Christmas decor, and I mention in the video where most things are from - but as always don't hesitate to ask in the comments if you have any questions!

Merry Christmas!

** This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

December to Remember American Girl Giveaway

I've teamed up with some awesome Bloggers to bring you one EPIC giveaway!! It's the December to Remember giveaway by The Hopping Bloggers!

Each individual blog is hosting their own giveaway that you can enter to win, and there is also one Grand Prize that you can enter to win below! So be sure to check out the Grand Prize Giveaway after you enter to win in my giveaway here on Being Mommy with Style!

As a part of the December to Remember Giveaway Hop... I'm giving away an awesome AMERICAN GIRL PET PRIZE PACK!! If you watch our American Girl videos, you know my girls LOVE the pets - and we wanted to share the pet love!

We are giving away an American Girl Terrier Puppy and Our Generation Pet Love Grooming Kit to one lucky viewer! Enter to win through Rafflecopter below! One winner will be chosen at random, see official rules to enter. Both giveaways end on December 20th! Be sure to check back and enter daily through Rafflecopter for the American Girl Pet Prize Pack!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And here's the Grand Prize!!

Welcome to the December to Remember Giveaway Hop brought to you by The Hopping Bloggers!

Hosted By: Mama Smith's and Women and Their Pretties

Co-Hosted By: Mystery Shopping Teacher & Everyday Life

Sponsored By: EatSmart

CLICK ON THE IMAGE ABOVE TO ENTER TO WIN THE GRAND PRIZE

GRAND PRIZE: EatSmart Bathroom Scale The EatSmart Precision Digital Body Analyzer is not your ordinary bathroom scale because it quickly and easily measures weight, body fat, body water, body muscle and bone mass using electrode technology. This scale is perfect for individuals who are serious about taking control of their health. The Precision Digital Body Analyzer Scale stores up to 8 different users' personal profiles and will be able to recognize these users as soon as they step onto the scale. This auto recognition software makes it simple to operate, since all you have to do is stand on the platform barefoot and it identifies who you are based on past weight. Not having to select a user gives it the same functionality as a basic bathroom scale with added benefit of % body fat, % body muscle, % body water and bone mass. Let's not forget about its universal EatSmart features! The Precision Digital Body Analyzer uses "Step-On" technology which means no more tapping to turn on your scale. It measures up to 400lbs and will display an accurate readout to the nearest .2 lbs. on the oversized 3.7" LCD display. Its sleek design and slim profile fits perfectly into any surrounding. Purchase here.

Many bloggers have come together to bring you some amazing prizes! Each prize is worth a minimum of $15, but some are worth much more. There is no limit to how many you can win – so enter them all! GOOD LUCK!

The Hopping Bloggers and participating bloggers are not responsible for the delivery of prizes.

Are you a blogger looking to connect with brands? Join The Hopping Bloggers database and get started today! Are you a brand looking to connect with a network of over 1,000 professional bloggers? Click here to see all that we have to offer and get your personalized quote!

** This is a collaborative giveaway with other bloggers. Some prizes may be sponsored. All opinions are our own. Please see official rules on how to enter.

Playfoam Challenge + Giveaway!

We partnered with Educational Insights to take the Playfoam Challenge!!

Educational Insights sent us a Playfoam Class Pack to build whatever our imagination could create and we decided to go festive with it!

We took different shades of green and layered them together to make a Christmas tree, then the girls made garland and ornaments out of different Playfoam colors. We used a bit of the sparkly yellow Playfoam to make a star for the top and it was a great project to do together to get in the holiday spirit!

After we made our tree, Natalie made an "ice castle" for her Elsa doll, and Bella made a dog and snake made our Playfoam! It was super fun and we're going to do some sensory bins coming up, some holiday themed and some general themed, because the girls love molding and shaping with Playfoam!

You can enter to WIN your own Playfoam Pack from Educational Insights! Enter through the Rafflecopter link below by 11:59pm on November 17, 2016!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck and don't forget to enter to retweet daily to gain more entries!

** This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Educational Insights. All opinions are my own. Giveaway begins November 11, 2016 and ends November 17, 2016. Winner selected via Rafflecopter, prize pack will be shipped directly from Educational Insights. 

Get ready to SET SAIL! Our DISNEY DREAM CRUISE Experience!

I'm so excited to bring you our most recent vacation video series, of our FIRST CRUISE experience - which also happened to be a Disney Cruise!! (Hooray!) We set sail on the Disney Dream during the second week of August and it was our very first cruise experience for the entire family. The girls truly had no idea what to expect since they had never seen a cruise ship in real life before, and their reaction to seeing the cruise ship for the first time was just as magical as I anticipated it would be!

Thank you to Disney Cruise Lines for inviting us to be a part of a media event aboard the ship! We received complimentary airfare, stateroom, and activities as a part of the event. All opinions are my own!

The Disney Dream on August 12, 2016 before leaving Port Canaveral.

As always with my vacation video series, I will bring you a planning and prep series on YouTube prior to our vacation vlogs, a full set of "day in the life" style videos of our trip while we are sailing, and a series of wrap up & review videos at the end talking about our favorite parts of the trip, shopping haul, cruising with preschoolers, things to do aboard the ship just for adults, and answering questions you have about the Disney cruise experience!

The girls loved helping pick out their Pirate Night outfits!

The cruise was a 4 day/3 night voyage that took us to Nassau, Bahamas and Disney's private island Castaway Cay, also in the Bahamas.

Sneak peek from our Castaway Cay day... it was just as amazing as it looks!!

It included all of the Disney magic you would expect from a Disney vacation experience, great themed dining, fun pool areas, and character interactions - as well as a number of great opportunities to relax and unwind... as a family - and for adults only! The girls loved the supervised children's activity areas on the ship, Oceaneer Club and Lab, and Scuttle's Cove on Castaway Cay! This gave my husband and I an opportunity to explore the ship, take in shows, eat dinner, and go snorkeling - while the kids enjoyed programs specifically designed for them in the secure and supervised activity centers with the Disney Youth Team! This really provided a unique element to our vacation that we hadn't had before!

After our vacation vlogs run, I will be sure to check in with a trip recap, shopping haul, and specific reviews of different areas on the ship! This post is just a little sneak peek of all of the fun that is to come on my channel! Be sure to check the playlists to watch new Disney Cruise videos as they are added!

Playlist will update as new videos are added daily!
Disney Dream Cruise Packing & Prep Videos Playlist:

COMING NEXT WEEK on Being Mommy with Style... Disney Dream Cruise Vacation Vlogs!


I'm looking forward to sharing all of the fun we had while aboard the Disney Dream Cruise! It was truly a fantastic experience like no other!

** We cruised with Disney as a part of a media event. We received complimentary airfare, cruise stateroom and activities as a part of the event. All opinions are my own.