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    Motivate yourself to work out
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    Ditch the excuses. New research suggests forcing yourself to hit the gym—even when you don’t feel like it—can earn you serious perks. Need a little help getting off the couch? Here are tips to help you work out…

    • Towels don't have to take over your bathroom!

      With four people in my house, the towel situation can quickly get out of control. If everyone were to use a different towel every day, I would have to wash 28 towels a week. That's a lot of laundry. In order to keep our towel situation manageable, I have put several procedures in place. This ensures I'm devoting less time to chores and more time with my family. Here are some of my mommy tricks for keeping the towels under control.

      Assigned Towels

      I share a lot with my family. However, I don't like to share bath linens (or the germs that may be lurking on the towels). There are plenty of cute towels out there. My children both have hooded towels that they use. This makes it easy for me to find their towels when they get out of the bathtub. For older children and adults, you can purchase personalized bath sheets or monogram the towels. To keep the bathroom looking stylish, I like assigning a different, yet coordinating, towel for each family member. I keep another set of towels

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    • Plastic eggs can be used as placecards.Whether you're planning a large, formal Easter dinner, or simply celebrating each spring day with your little ones, here are some fun ways to bring color, eggs, spring flowers and Easter festivities to your family dinner table. So go grab some paper, glue, scissors - and even some plastic Easter eggs - and learn how to create easy Easter table decor, a perfect kid craft (that you'll enjoy just as much):

      1. Recycled Easter placecards       - This easy craft is a great reason to save and reuse leftover Easter cards from previous years. To make placecards for your Easter table, help your kids cut out fun, colorful shapes from past cards. Next, glue these images onto small pieces of pastel-colored cardstock, and write your guest's name on each card in permanent marker.

      2. Plastic egg placecards       - Guests will love this colorful craft, an ingenious way to display Easter placecards. Kids gather empty plastic Easter eggs, then - with adult supervision - hot glue a large, flat button onto one

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    • Photo Credit: iStockphoto/ThinkstockBecause our youngest is finally sleeping through the night, my husband and I are excited to start going out in the evenings again. Feels like we are coming out of the baby fog a little and are joining society once more. It feels like so long ago that we were able to go out on regular dates and we miss it.

      Read More: Schedule a Regular Date Night With Your Sweetie

      Although there is quite a bit of planning when it comes to leaving the kids with a sitter, it is truly worth it to get a few precious hours alone with the hubby. I tend to be very particular about what the kids eat and I want to make sure they are well-fed in our absence. I have found a few no-fail recipes that the sitter can make, the kids are guaranteed to eat, and that can be fun all at the same time.

      Read More: Fast and Frugal: 10 No-Fuss Weeknight Dinners

      Quick, Easy, and Healthy Babysitter-Friendly Dinners

      1. Pita Pizzas: Easy to make, healthy, and delicious. This is a kid favorite and is high in calcium and lycopene.

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    • Julie Scelfo


      Encourage children to help with meal prep while keeping hassles to a minimum with tips, equipment, and layout advice from designers and clever moms.

      Create a View

      An essential feature of a kid-friendly kitchen is that the adults using it have clear sight lines to watch their offspring. Meg Rogers says that when she's planning a kid-friendly kitchen, she thinks about all the different places where Mom and Dad might need to keep an eye on the children, whether in the same room or down the hall. Are you building your house from the ground up? If so, consider putting the kitchen where windows will allow you to simultaneously cook and keep an eye on kids playing in the yard.

      Make It Welcoming
      Consider decorative elements that appeal to the whole family. For a family in Manhattan with five children, Celerie Kemble wallpapered the back wall with a gigantic map of the world. "They can pin into it current-event issues or where they're traveling," she says.

      Also don't

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    • 5 ways to entertain your baby on Easter5 ways to entertain your baby on EasterEaster can be sort of a letdown for the under-20-pound club, right? Our sweet babies are not yet mobile enough to hunt and gather eggs from the back lawn, and the concept of an Easter basket surprise is mildly lost on them. Yet the good news is that there are plenty of springtime activities your baby will love if you can get creative enough! Here are a few we've been indulging in around our own home. Happy Easter, babies!:

      1. Get puzzled
      If you have older kids, chances are you already own your fair share of foam shapes and puzzles. If not, craft your own Easter egg puzzles out of colored paper and watch as your baby enjoys mixing and matching (and yes, "tasting!")!

      2. Get bubbly
      I spotted these egg-inspired bubbles around town, but any bubbles will do! Babies will marvel at the shapes and motion as they float through the air with delight.

      Related: 25 children's books to teach your kids about Easter

      3. Get messy
      Babies love the texture of Easter grass, so why not make a basket for

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    • Refresh your home's style for springBy now, you've disinfected, decluttered, and reorganized for spring. Next, it's time to refresh your style. Interior designer Shirry Dolgin joins Easy Does It host Ereka Vetrini with some tricks and tips for updating your home this season.

      Related: Décor updates that add character to your home

      Dolgin says that some of the hot color families for spring are corals and yellows, as well as seafoam blue and floral patterns. However, you don't need to feel overwhelmed or throw these colors all over a room-you can make small changes instead.

      Related: Decorate your home in spring's fun colors and trends

      "I want you to think of a room in 3-D," says Dolgin. "So what I would recommend is something like changing your area rug. That covers your floor surface." Then, she says, the walls can be updated with new drapery or by adding a small tape detail to the edge of your existing drapery. Finally, add a bold pop on your crown molding to tie it all in together. "Now you have a 3-D, full space

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