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Life with Littles
Feb. 1, 2007
I've Moved
Nov. 7, 2006
Best Friends
Nov. 6, 2006
What's Cooking?
Nov. 6, 2006
A Day in the LIfe of Us
So here it is. Our daily schedule. It is different every day depending
on what day of the week it is but this is our general schedule. We
really don't follow the clock except for nap times so I just estimated.
Some days we do everything and some days nothing gets done as planned.
Like I said before having all littles means things are better run from activity to activity and with chunks of time and not by the clock.
Grace(5 1/2), Jonah (3 1/2), Lily (14 mo)
6:45- I'm up and get ready for the day
7:00- kids up - read or listen to bible tape. I nurse Lily, read and pray.
7:15- make my bed and straighten my room. Kid's get dressed and make beds (Jonah gets help from me)
7:45- I take Grace and Lily to feed the horse and Jonah stays with Justin
8:00- breakfast and clean up
9:00- table time, Lily nap
10:00- free time
10:30-12:30- Mon- park, Tues- ride horse, Wed- park, Thurs- town, Fri- park
12:30- lunch and clean up
1:30- Lily naps, Grace and Jonah quite time
3:00- Big books with me
3:30- yogurt snack and chores
4:00- horse chores
5:00- room time and baths
6:00- house pick up
6:30- dinner
7:00- Lily to bed
7:30- bible time
7:45- bed time routine and to bed
8:00- I shower and do evening routine
9:00- Time with Justin
10:00- lights out!
If
anyone else cares to share their schedule we would all greatly
appreciate it. You can leave it in the comments and I will post it to
share with everyone.
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Nov. 6, 2006
Meal Planning
Sorry that I haven't posted for so long. I don't think Blogger understands how inconvenient it is to shut down during nap time;)
Anyways
I'd like to talk about meal planning today. I've been wanting to write
this post and then Stephanie asked me about it so I wrote it and then
it got erased. So I will give this another try.
Planning your
meals can be one of the most important things that a mother of all
littles can do for #1.) her sanity and #2.) her family's health. Let's
face it when 5:00pm roles around and we have no idea what we are
serving for dinner we go in to panic mode and feed everyone hotdogs
from Costco. On the other hand when 5:00pm comes around and we have
already been working on dinner preparations throughout the day or we
have a meal in the crockpot then we feel like things are under control
and we have an answer to "What's for dinner?".
I write out my
menu one week in advance. First,I look at the calendar to see what kind
of week we will be having. Are we going to someone's house for dinner?
Are we having guests? Do we have an extra busy day?
Second, I
have a spiral notebook in my home management folder (which I lost
yesterday by breaking the Crandall rule of not setting things on top of
the car). In this notebook I list all the things that I would like
to make for breakfast lunch and dinner for that week. I leave all the
pages in the notebook so that I can refer back to them when I am in a
meal planning rut. This is what this week looks like:
Breakfast
Fri- raisin bread and hard boiled eggs
Sat- dutch puff
Sun- bagels w/ cream cheese and smoothies
Mon-cereal and hard boiled eggs
Tues- oatmeal
Wed-hotel
Thurs- oatmeal
Lunch
Thurs-peanut butter & jelly, yogurt and apples
Fri- soy corn dogs, bananas & peas
Sat- leftovers
Sun-ham, apple squash bake,bread & bread pudding pumpkins
Mon-leftovers
Tues-pb&j
Wed- quesadillas
Dinner
Fri- italian sausage soup, apple sqaush bake & homemade bread
Sat- chicken, lima beans & zuchinni
Sun- pb&j for kids, burritos for mom and dad
Mon- roast with veggies & bread
Tues- hotel
Wed- leftovers
After
I make this list I start a list on a different piece of paper with
headings of the two stores that I shop at. I look at each meal I am
going to make and check to see if we have the ingredients and if we
don't I write it under the name of the store where I will buy it. I
also group things on my list of how the store is laid out and the
different sections like dairy or meat etc. My list really isn't
complicated I just know in my head where things are and the direction I
will shop in. It helps to go to the same stores every week so that you
get familiar with where things are and the products you like.
I
have a master list for Costco and when we run out of something I just
highlight it on my master list. I am working on one of these for Trader
Joes and Sprouts as well. I think this will save me a lot of time.
I
try to stick to my dinner schedule the best that I can but breakfast
and lunch are really just suggestions for me. I make a check mark next
to each dinner that we eat even if it wasn't on the right day. This way
I know that I used up the ingredients that I bought for that meal and I
can't use them for anything else.
We eat a lot of oatmeal and a
lot of peanut butter and jelly around here. The great thing is that my
kiddos will eat the same thing every day.
We usually have
homemade pizza every Friday night and then I plan the leftovers for
Saturday's lunch since Justin is home and pb&j isn't quite enough
for him. The past few weeks I have done pancakes on Monday night and
then leftover pancakes for breakfast on Wednesday. I have a great whole
wheat recipe for these. I serve them with smoothies and real maple
syrup so it makes quite a healthy dinner. The only problem is that our
family is getting too big to have leftovers.
Every time I cook I
try to make a double batch and put the rest in the freezer. This
doesn't take much extra time and it saves me money and time later.
I'd like to post some of my easy recipes soon so keep checking here. I would also love any one else to share their easy recipes.
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Nov. 6, 2006
How to Make Bubble Blowing Solution
Let's face it bubbles are a necessity in ever house with lots of
littles. If your kids are anything like mine they go through the bubble
solution quite quickly and tend to spill it quite often. Here is a
great recipe for bubbles that Rubio's has in the kids' meals right now.
Combine -1/2 cup water, 2 tbsp dish soap and 2 tbsp salad oil or glycerin and pour into bubble blowers.
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Nov. 6, 2006
Less Stressful Cooking
Getting dinner on the table can be quite the challenge with a house
full of littles. I try my best to have a healthy dinner for my family
every night and that has it's challenges. Here are a few things that I
have discovered while trying to make cooking for my family quicker and
less stressful.
1.) I try to start dinner at nap time. This has become a routine for me and makes things so much less stressful.
2.)
The big littles have room time while I cook. This keeps them separated
and out of trouble so that I don't have as many interruptions.
3.)
The baby goes in her high chair and snacks while I cook. We eat dinner
pretty late and trying to have her wait is just too much. Sometimes she
is even in bed while we eat.
4.) I have a pull out drawer full of
tupperware that Lily(1) is allowed to dig through and play with. She
knows that this is the only cabinet door that she is allowed to open.
5.)
I do lots of crockpot meals. These are great because I can get it going
at nap time and have all my stuff put away and dishes washed so that my
kitchen clean up is not overwhelming after dinner. I hope to share some
of my favorite healthy crockpot recipes on my recipe blog soon. For now
you can go here to get good recipes.
6.) I double recipes as much as possible and freeze the leftovers.
7.) If boiling pasta I add my veggies to the water to cook.
8.) If steaming rice I set my steaming basket full of veggies on top of the rice and cover.
9.) If my dishwasher is full I use paper plates.
10.)
Lower your expectations. With only littles you don't have any real help
in the kitchen so things are going to be more simple for a while. My
most basic meals are usually my family's favorites.
I have
lowered my expectations a lot over the past year. My good friend
Stephanie once told me "Your kids would be better off eating McDonald's
and having a nice Mommy than eating a home cooked organic meal and
having a stressed out mean Mommy."
I had to step back and
reevaluate some things. What are my motives in cooking? Am I cooking
with love or just out of duty? I have a little sign I made and posted
it in my kitchen that says: Keep it simple...Remember your priorities
and Don't mess with chocolate chip cookies.(This is a command from my
very patient husband who has eaten too many chocolate chip cookies that
I have tried to make more healthy).
I hope that these few ideas
will help you in your quest in feeding your family. Feel free to share
your tips or simple recipes in the comment section. You don't have to
be signed up with blocker to comment.
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Nov. 6, 2006
Being Proactive
Stephanie had a question about my last post so I thought I would share my advice.
Steph says:
Sounds great. Can you tell me what that looks like? Do you set up a scenario and require them to share or make the right choice...I'm not sure if my question makes sense to you, but I'd like to hear more about what you do with them. We need some proactive over here :-)
My Reply:
What I do is sit close to them and play with them. Then eventually someone grabs something from someone else and I correct them and then tell them what they should have done instead. After the correction I make them do it the right way.
In our house the children are not allowed to take anything from one another or ask to have a toy if the other child is playing with it. They must find a different toy to play with until the other child sets the toy down and is not playing with it anymore. Then they must say "Are you done with this?" or "May I have this now?" before they take that toy.
This is especially helpful for the little ones because they get very defensive about the toys when the big ones are always taking what they have.
Remember that you are training character here and not just sharing. You are teaching kindness, gentleness, patience, meekness, humbleness, love and so on. Using these training times is not just to help them play nicely, it will overflow into their daily interaction with others.
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Nov. 6, 2006
Instructive Playtime
Now that my littlest little is over 1 year she really enjoys playing with her big sister and brother. I had almost forgotten about all the work that it takes to train little ones in sharing and playing nicely but the Lord kindly showed me that my job is never done. So instead of being frustrated with my children because they struggle in this area I decided to be more proactive. I strive to have an instructive playtime with them every day. I sit on the floor in the midst of their toys and play with them and train them on how to share with each other and love one another. Now I am able to demonstrate the proper attitudes and actions that I want them to have instead of letting things escalate in to hostile wars between them.
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Nov. 6, 2006
Organizing Recipes
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| To organize my many recipes I use a photo album similar to this one. I payed $3.00 for it on clearance and I love it. I seldom write out recipes. All I do is cut it down to 4"x6" and slip it in. This works for me because I just don't have the time to sit down and copy all of my recipes into a nice pretty book or file. The album also works great because it is acid free so the paper will last longer.
*sorry about the format of this one but I don't have time to mess with it right now.
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Nov. 6, 2006
How to Clean Bath Toys
Regular cleaning-
When I have room in the dishwasher I have the kids bring me a few bath toys and I run them through the cycle with the rest of the dishes.
Disinfecting-
I fill the bath tub with hot water, add a few cups of bleach, let them soak for a little bit while I clean up the bathroom. (NEVER leave water in the tub when kids are around because it is a serious drowning hazard and too tempting for a pre-schooler to jump in with his clothes on). Then I drain it and wash it out with hot water from the shower.
This not only disinfects the toys but it disinfects your tub as well.
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Nov. 6, 2006
A Vacation Summary
I am writing this post while stuffed in a Suburban with my family, my
in-laws, and Zak (my sister-in-law's chihuahua Yep all 9 of us are
cruising down the 99 through beautiful central California. I think we
are getting close to Fresno now (oh Boy!)
We left Paradise, California this morning and are headed home after a wonderful week visiting family.
As
our family grows and our lives get busier I tend to forget all the
little things about our trips after we get home so I devised a way to
summarize our trip and keep those memories fresh. I kept a list going
of the funny things people did and the things that made me feel good.
Here's a quick list of our trip "up north".
-leaving at 3am from Murrietta and having only 1 hour of sleep in 24 hours.
-singing familiar hymns while my mother-in-law played the piano.
-singing hymns while Jonah played the piano.
-falling asleep to Justin's Grandma reading the bible.
-Jonah playing golf with his great grandpa's cane. "I need your stick".
-do do do do Dora.
-"What did you think of Jesus?"
-playing Apples to Apples.
-Lily's first birthday party with her cousins and Grandma and Grandpa Edstrom.
-Justin swimming and kids playing in Truckee river.
- My sister losing her wedding ring only to find it in the Wal-mart parking lot.
-laughing massages your liver?
-getting lost coming back from Reno and driving 7 hours instead of 3 to Paradise.
-getting car sick while writing this post.
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Nov. 3, 2006
Life with Littles Blog
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