Monday’s Maven

Full Name: Laura (Lolli)

Location: Maryland, outside of Washington DC

kids: (their candy-themed blog names) KitKat (13 1/2). Necco (11), Twizzler (9), Reese (7), and AJ (Almond Joy) (5)

One Word that Describes You: My husband says, “Hot!” but I would probably go for something more along the lines of “calm” or “even”

What makes you smile? The way that my youngest son says “Mom? I LOVE you!” multiple times a day.

What is one of your dreams you hope to accomplish soon? I hope to be able to say very soon that my husband and I have created and grown a very successful business. We’re close but we’re still working on the “successful” part.

One of Your favorite motherhood moments? I adored the moments late at night or early in the morning when the only people awake were the baby and me. Luckily, I don’t have anybody keeping me up at night anymore, but I definitely treasured those little moments of pure peace when I could gaze at my babies with no other distractions.

What is your guilty pleasure? Eating out. Despite the fact that I am a relatively proficient cook, I love to eat food that I haven’t had to make myself.

What do you love most about you? I love that I can get along with lots of different types of people

Favorite Hobby? Photography for sure! I just wish I could always do the “fun” part of photography (ie, the pictures of flowers that I find on walks or the candid shots of my kids) and not have to feel the stress of taking it up as a business

Who is your hero? My Grandma Betty. She was always working and serving, serving and working, from the time she got out of bed in the wee hours of the morning til she played her bed time song on the piano. She was full of stories, and she “told it like it was.” She was the master thrift store shopper that I modeled my own bargain hunting skills after.

Your advice to other moms that are expanding their family, how do you make “better in bulk” (a large family) work well, any tips? I have always loved the word “capable” and have always treated my kids as if they were capable of much more than most people would expect. Watching other kids, I’ve noticed that often parents don’t give kids the opportunities to learn to do things that they are fully capable of handling. My kids learned how to cut their own food and handle a butter knife properly at 3, they have all been able to unload the dishwasher at 5, and now my 3 oldest each have a night to cook dinner for the family every week. My two oldest girls share laundry duty with me. Not only do things like that make my life as a mother to a big crew easier, but I am teaching my kids skills that they will take with them when they eventually leave. Plus, I really don’t want to have to spend their senior year of high school teaching them how to cook and clean. “Teach them while they are young” is my ideal.

Laura & I gave a presentation together to the sold out (400 women!) Casual Bloggers Conference this past weekend. I am so glad blogging brought us together, it was such fun to meet her in real life! Thanks Laura!

Tags: betterinbulk.net, monday maven

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