I think the biggest stay-sane measure I have taken is to get the boys to nap. Every day. At the same time. It took awhile to find our groove, but for the past 4 months or so we have had great success with our napping schedule.
Wesley sleeps for 2 hours in the morning, and in that time I spend one on one time with Judah and clean up. Then in the early afternoon both boys go back down again. Sometimes they chatter to each other for awhile, but they always fall asleep and sleep anywhere from 2-4 hours.
There are very few exceptions to their napping schedule, and we are all happier people when they are consistent with their napping. And I firmly believe the better the children nap during the day, the better they will sleep at night.
This is our dining room. It has looked like that almost since we moved in.
The day we signed for the house my brother and I ripped the carpet up.
And then it sat there, bare floored, while Paul and I debated which hardwood to purchase.
We finally decided. Or, more accurately, Paul decided. I didn't care so long as it looked pretty. It is hand scraped-something-or-other. Seriously. We spent tons of money on wood and I don't even know what it is! Oh wait. I just called the man at work. It is birch. I could just hear him rolling his eyes when I asked the question. I've asked it a million times now!
Anyways. So we decided on the wood and ordered it. And then we waited for it. And waited some more. We bought our wood from Lumber Liquidators and while they have great quality and excellent prices their customer service STINKS.
But the wood finally came and our contractor got to work putting the floor in:
He (with much help from his daddy!!) put in the entire hardwood floor - just the two of them! I'm so proud of them.
But the dining room is STILL not completed. Paul said it will be ready sometime this week for us to officially move into our dining room, though even then there will be some things left to do in there. But I am SO excited about using our dining room AT LAST!
We have been eating all of our meals on our enclosed back porch. Paul dragged our heavy table out there and we've enjoyed sitting out there and looking at all the beautiful greenery that surrounds us in the back yard.
It is peaceful and relaxing on the back porch, and we have all enjoyed eating our meals out there for the past few months. But we're ready to reclaim the back porch for our patio furniture and to get a dining room all set up! If all goes as planned I'll have pictures of the new floor up this week!
I really truly adore my children and I love that I am able to be at home with them. I feel very blessed that me being at home with our children is a priority to Paul, and that he lets me know often that he values what I am doing. I really am happy to be home with my boys.
That being said, there are things I do that I think help foster my enjoyment for being at home with the children all day and the next few days will focus on things I do to stay sane with littles in the house. =)
I have had a lot of Google searches for Freezer Meals leading people to my blog, so I thought I would repost my series from the Fall, but rather than doing it all in one week like before I think I will do one post per week for the next 5 weeks. It will be posted each Tuesday morning.
Two weekends ago I had the privilege of meeting Mimi Wilson, who has written a book entitled Once A Month Cooking. She spoke briefly on OAMC and I also spoke with her after the seminar. I took notes on everything she shared, and I have some tidbits of wisdom from her to pass on to y'all!
Freeze food in zip lock bags and lay completely flat. You can stack a tremendous amount of food this way. She recommended this method especially for those with only the small freezer over a fridge.
Organize your freezer into different sections for easy reference of what is frozen in there.
Label your food with how many it will feed and what to serve it with.
For special occasions (Thanksgiving, etc.) prepare as much ahead of time and freeze.
And the number one tip she shared with me when asked what the most important thing is when it comes to freezing your meals is;
Make sure to properly seal the food before putting it in the freezer!
100 Bible Stories 100 Bible Songs, written by Stephen Elkins and illustrated by Tim O'Conneris a delightful children's book that I would recommend for children 4 and under.
As the title suggests, this book has 100 different Bible stories or Biblical principles from both the Old and New Testament. There are 2 cds that accompany the book and there is a song that matches each story.
The layout of each Bible story is impressive. Each story is titled and gives the Biblical reference for the story. In the New Testament stories it references each of the Gospels that the story comes from. I really like this feature, more on that in a moment.
The layout also includes the title of the song that matches with the story, a colorful and detailed illustration or two and a three sentence run down of the lesson from each story.
This book reads like a devotional book for young children. It is in no way a Children's Bible, and what I LOVE about them referencing the scripture is that it sets it up for a very easy devotional time for children.
The scripture passage can be read straight from the Bible (they only give the reference, so you need to look up the actual passage in your own Bible.)
The short story from 100 Bible Stories 100 Bible Songs reiterates in a very simple way what the scriptures said and the illustrations go along with each story really well.
Finally, there are the three simple sentences that really drive home the point of each story.
If you are super organized you could play the song that matches the story, but I am not that organized. I have played the cds to the boys and once we have learned them all I can see us singing the matching song when we read the story, but I do not ever see myself going through the effort of playing the one song from the cd when we read the story.
I'm just being honest folks! It's cute in theory, but would be too much work.
The one warning I would give with this book is that in simplifying the stories for children, the stories and lessons were sometimes too simplified. Which is another reason why I love the idea of the references being highlighted on each page - you can go straight to the scriptures and read from there first.
My only other 'complaint' is that the first cd had the wrong song titles for the song playing when I was looking through the titles in my Media Player. The songs match the index in the book and the label on the cd, it is just in the Media Player they are labeled incorrectly.
I was impressed with the book and the boys have both enjoyed listening to the stories and looking at the pictures and Judah has already started singing some new songs he has learned from the CD.
On Friday afternoon, in between rain showers, Paul and I dragged our boys and his big chair outside for a photo shoot. I dreamed this up earlier in the week and Paul made sure to make it happen for me - I love that man :)
Here are some of the shots I got of the boys. Some of their expressions make me laugh, they are such joys to live with!
We sing a lot. Real songs. Made up songs. Total nonsense songs.
We sing LOUD. We sing in whispers. We sing with silly voices, old people voices, baby voices, macho man voices, sheep voices - really, we sing like whatever strikes our fancy. Judah has his very own made up song that goes like this:
"(insert Mommy or Daddy) I miss you. (insert Mommy or Daddy) I kiss you. Aaaawwwuuuuuuuuu"
It is adorable. But beyond being melt-my-heart-adorable his singing is entertaining. Having kids is the best source for constant entertainment and laughs.
Have you ever heard a 2 year old sing "Twinkle Twinkle" with a macho man voice?
Weeks ago while we were out yard saling we happened upon this beautiful looking mirror. It was huge, and I was a bit nervous about what the asking price would be so I almost didn't ask. But I did ask and the lady asked us what we wanted to pay for it. Paul and I looked awkwardly at each other, not quite knowing what to say. The lady piped up and said "Well, how about $5?" SOLD!
LESSON: Always ask the price of something that catches your eye.
The detailing is beautiful.
Here is our dilemma - this mirror is about 25lbs and really large. We want to hang it on our dining room wall, but we aren't sure how to properly anchor it on! Any suggestions? Thanks!
We have this fabulous collection of junk behind the shed in our backyard. We likely won't get around to cleaning it up for years since you can't see it unless you walk behind the shed - and who goes snooping behind other peoples sheds?! The couple who lived here before us left this to us, and I am being totally honest!, there's some pretty cool stuff in there. Some plant stands, terracotta pots, a metal trash can. I think it will be fun to dig through it all and separate the trash from the treasures... but that will be way, way down the road. Like on a day when I have nothing else in the world to do.
The other night I was driving home and saw a sign pointing to a boat ramp. I decided to follow the signs and after some narrow and winding roads ended up here.
I couldn't come close to capturing the beauty and colors that surrounded me.
And the silence. The beautiful silence of nature. Which really isn't so silent.
The water peacefully passing by. The wind in the trees. The birds chirping about. Something bubbling in the water.
It was so peaceful and beautiful.
"Be still and consider the wondrous works of God." - Job 37:14
I stayed for about 10 minutes, but then my over active imagination got the best of me. My cell phone had no service so no one knew where I was. I could just see a crazy murderer finding me out there. So I left.
But I enjoyed the few minutes in quiet reflection of God's beautiful creation, and want to take the hubby out there when we have a babysitter watching the littles.
It wouldn't be so peaceful with the littles. And no one would mess with Paul. So I could have peace and safety. And be surrounded by beauty.
The boys don’t watch any TV, and barely any movies, but we do spend a lot of time on You Tube. Animal and music videos are the most popular with the boys – they both like watching the animals or dancing to the music. I like it because I can control what they’re watching and the clips are short enough to keep their attention – and also that it’s an activity that they both enjoy doing together.
And it is hilarious to watch them so fully enamored with the videos.
Our current favorite is the Gummy Bear Song.
Last night we had a Mystery Dinner for the middle and high school age kids at church. It was SO much fun, and I think I had more fun seeing their wacky food combination plates than they did!
We had salt, pepper, butter and pitchers of water and juice on the table for them. Everything else (utensils and cups included!) they had to order from the "Mystery" Menu.
It was fine dining indeed. We offered a 5 course meal, with 3 items being served at each course. If they got a utensil, cup, toothpick or napkin they were allowed to keep it all the way through. The food, however, they had to finish off during that course. Everything was served on plates, so they didn't have to worry about ordering their own plate.
Check out some of these plates:
(on the plate being eaten) Fodder, Joker, Poker
A Lump of Dough, Search and Rescue, Beaten Cow
Inch Worms, A Poker, A Nose Hanger
A Nose Hanger, Search and Rescue and Scattered Lines
Toilet paper rolls make wonderful trumpets, shakers, binoculars and tunnels for little cars. They’re also great for being an announcer. We use them for yelling “ALL ABOARD” like a train conductor when we read their train books or when we’re playing train.
If you haven’t picked up on it already, I tend to make a big deal out of little things. The next few days will be ideas on taking the seemingly silly and insignificant and using it for fun things! I think my favorite thing to play with is cardboard boxes. We’ve made tunnels, homes, space ships, big coloring and sticker pages and vehicles from old boxes and a bit of imagination. The boys can be as rough with the cardboard creation as they’d like – as soon as it is demolished it goes straight out to recycling. The boys just love chasing each other (or their daddy!) through several boxes placed in a row. They have spent HOURS with this free entertainment, and cultivated their imaginations!
I take both boys out to pick up the mail with me and all junk mail is Judah’s mail. He gets to take it back into the house with him, and usually he sleeps with it until I sneak it out and throw it away! He cherishes his mail. He loves the pictures and wants to know what is going on in the picture. I usually read him every word on the junk mail too. Oddly enough, he’ll sit and listen to it as if it fascinates him! Ocassionally one of my family members will send him some real mail and he simply loves that - in fact, him getting "real" mail for himself is what started his addiction to wanting mail. Another thing he loves is the fliers that come in Wednesdays paper. He will pour over the grocery fliers pointing out all the foods he recognizes. Sometimes I'll sit and ask him to find certain foods on the page and he has fun searching for the food. Wezzy loves crinkling the paper and ripping it to shreds. Oh if only I were so easily entertained! ... oh wait... I am.
Paul and I both love eating foods from different countries, and if we can make the food ourselves we love it all the more! Last summer we enjoyed Falafel a lot, but then I just kind of forgot about it, and stopped making it. Since we are still without a stove I am really being pushed to the limits with making meals around here, and I remembered the Falafel we loved so much. It is really SO easy to make, and it tastes amazing! I even soaked and cooked my own chick peas instead of using them from a can. It's sad to say, but that was my first time not using them canned! For the recipe (updated with new images!) CLICK HERE.
But as good as Falafel is on its own, it becomes truly spectacular when paired with homemade pita bread. I have made homemade pita many times, but I have never paired Falafel with homemade pita, because I thought it would be too much work at the last minute preparing for dinner. I am happy to say I proved myself wrong!
I made the Falafel balls on Wednesday and the put them in the fridge. On Thursday I made the pita in the afternoon, and then just before dinner I cooked the Falafel (straight from the fridge, the cold didn't affect them) and the pita and it was a relatively effortless meal.
We had a varity of vegetables for the Falafel Sandwich: There were peppers, olives, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms and cucumber. I also made up a sauce for it and had feta cheese to go along with it.
When Judah was just over 1 yrs old I started teaching him how to give head massages, and several times a week we do “Head Massage Time.” For a 2 year old he is pretty good at giving head rubs, and it’s a fun little thing to do together. I am working on teaching this to Wesley now. With Judah (and where I am at with Wezzy) I started with giving him a head massage. Somewhere along the line I asked for one for myself, and he started giving them to me too. He has progressively gotten better at giving them. Talk about a great middle of the day pick me up!
I have had a lot of Google searches for Freezer Meals leading people to my blog, so I thought I would repost my series from the Fall, but rather than doing it all in one week like before I think I will do one post per week for the next 5 weeks. It will be posted each Tuesday morning.
The Essentials
The SuppliesIn order to preserve the meals there are some essential items that you should keep stocked in your house. I try to keep a surplus of these supplies;
Aluminum Foil.
Plastic Wrap.
Freezer Bags.
Disposable Dishes - I don't generally use these for our own meals. I like to keep something in the freezer just in case a friend is in need, or for Paul at work. Having it in a disposable dish means the friend can just toss the dish when the meal is gone or that Paul doesn't need to worry about keeping track of dishes on the road.
You will also need a permanent marker, and labels can come in handy for writing special instructions on, but aren't necessary.When you prepare a meal you have several options to choose from for freezing and storing.
For individual items, such as cookies or a burrito, consider assembling or forming the item and freezing it on a plate or tray, not touching any of the other like items. Once the items are frozen you can transfer all the like items to a freezer bag. This makes it easy to pull out the desired amount when you are ready to cook.
If you choose to use a freezer bag make sure you get out as much air as possible from the bag.
If you use plastic wrap and/or aluminum foil make sure to press it as tightly as you can against the food. A great dish-saving idea is to line a casserole dish with foil and then plastic wrap, making sure to leave plenty hanging over the edgers. Pour your meal into the dish and then secure the plastic wrap and foil tightly around the food. Freeze the meal, and once solid remove the food from the dish. The food will go back in the freezer and your dish will be freed up for other purposes.
You will want to consider portion sizes when you prepare your meals for the freezer. Do you want to freeze in sizes just right for your family? Freeze individual portions? Or freeze enough for company too? I work with all three portion sizes on a regular basis.
When preparing anything that takes seasonings I let Judah shake the seasoning onto the dish. Both of the boys generally want to taste the seasoning too, so they each get a bit of it on a spoon. I review the names of the spices with them each time we use it, but so far Judah only knows salt and "hot stuff" (which covers a multitude of spices!)
We found a lot of NEEDS at yard sales this weekend - a spreader, an air pump, a picture frame for a big photograph we were needing to frame and some computer stuff - all things we were planning on buying anyway, but were thrilled to get them second hand for 90% or more off the regular price. But as exciting as those things are to us, they all make for rather boring pictures!
Here are two other items we picked up for a great deal:
Some bedding for our guest room. For $5 we got the quilt, the 5 pillows, a bedskirt and curtains. It's a tad bit country-ish for us, but it was the exact colors I want for our guest room, and for $5 we couldn't pass it up!
This leather book cover is one of my favorite things now. I have it covering a notebook right now, and I just love staring at it! I love the sewn edges, the leather bookmark, the torn corner and the design on the front. It's just so cute!!
When I unload the dishwasher the boys are usually thisclosetome as I unload it. Wesley can easily be entertained just by watching. For Judah I open the silverware drawer, show him where the forks and spoons go and then hand him the silverware one piece at a time. I have been doing this for a while with him and I usually still need to organize the forks and spoons a bit when he is finished, but in the time it takes him to put away the forks and spoons I have been able to unload the rest of the dishwasher without having someonewrappedaroundmyknee with each step I take.
And in case you were worried, I do keep a close eye on him to make sure the spoons and forks don't go in his mouth prior to the drawer. But should you happen to be at our house for dinner and think the dinner is especially flavorful, keep in mind I may have missed a fork or two.
If you were told that rightnowthissecond you had to decide which picture from your own collection you'd pick to have blown up into a Poster Print- would you be able to?
I wouldn't.
In fact, I have been going through all of my pictures and thinking about it for a full day now, and I can't decide which print I would pick! Right now I have it narrowed down to these two, but give me a couple hours and I'll probably have two totally different ones narrowed down!
Wezzy being terrorized by an alligator (or is that one a crocodile? I can never remember!)
Or a Judah original, depicting how mothers should be?
I think these would look fabulous framed in the boys room. I have weeded out (literally... the pictures of my weeds were some I debated!) pictures that could have graced the walls of our dining room, living room or kitchen. The options to hang such large pictures are truly endless - and really makes the deciding factor a tough one!
Thankfully I don't have to pick rightnowthissecond, and neither do you! But you do have to pick soon! As in, sometime before 6 pm EST on Friday, June 12.
Thanks to a generous offer from Online Poster Printing two winners will be selected to win a 16 x 20 inch High Gloss Poster Print. How cool is that?!
Online Poster Printing offers a fine selection of printing products including Poster Prints in various sizes with the option of rolled or mounted and Canvas Prints in various sizes with the option of a rolled or stretched canvas.
All you need to do to enter is leave a comment describing to me which picture you would chose to print if you were to win this contest - a picture of your children? Of you and your hubby? Maybe your pets? Or your artsy looking weeds? I am so into weeds lately.
For a second entry blog about this contest on your own blog and leave a second commenting let me know you have done so. Please note: you do not need a blog to enter this contest. Please make sure to leave contact information if you do not have a blog.
This contest is open to both American and Canadian residents, so get those ideas flowing folks and let me know what you would do with a 16x20 Poster Print.
As stated earlier, the contest will close on June 12 at 6pm. The two winners will be selected using random.org and will be announced sometime Friday evening on my blog.
Ever since Judah has been stable walking on his feet I have had him carry in groceries from the car to the kitchen. I give him a bag or two that is heavy enough to challenge him – bags of flour or sugar for example. He is so proud of himself for carrying in the heavy bags, and he is doing something very useful for me.
(I do make sure he isn’t carrying anything delicate just in case he drops the bag!)
There are other opportunities we give him to use his strength (or build his strength!), help us out and teach him to complete a task.
Things like letting him push -or pull - his brother in a stroller or wagon.
Or carrying small piles of laundry up and down the stairs.
Or moving smaller pieces of furniture from point A to point B.
Asking Judah to pitch in and help with some physical work is sometimes a lot more work than help, but walking at his pace as he swerves his brother from side to side in the stroller or having to refold the pile of laundry he carries is a small sacrifice for the lessons he is learning and the pride he has when he does something himself.
Several weeks ago one of my bloggy friends asked if I would do a post with ideas of things to do with Littles. I have been thinking about the request almost every day since she asked. The question had me stumped for a bit because I really don’t go out of my way to DO things or go places for my kids. My boys will probably be the only ones in the world who don’t know what an official “play date” is or what “Reading Time” at the Library or local bookstore is.
The more I thought about the question, or more specifically, my reponse to the question, I really started looking at my day with the boys and what we do day in and day out. We do almost everything together - from chores to play- and so I thought I would turn my response into a 30 Days with Littles series. Each day for the next 30 days I’ll post an idea that has worked for us in keeping the little ones busy, stimulated and safe throughout the day.
Tomorrow morning will start the 30 Days with Littles, I hope you’ll follow along and jump in with your own ideas from time to time!
I think the biggest stay-sane measure I have taken is to get the boys to nap. Every day. At the same time. It took awhile to find our groove, but for the past 4 months or so we have had great success with our napping schedule.
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