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Have you seen this kids show on PBS Kids yet? My husband happened upon it a couple of weeks ago and the boys were transfixed. I know I know, TV is not exactly something we want our children transfixed on, but this one is so perfect for Owen’s age. Between the rhyming,word association, and recognition I love them watching it. Owen has already picked up so much from it.

Read more

I have to admit it. I’m now a craigslist addict. Fortunately I’m addicted to the selling and not the shopping. I love it so much more than ebay for these reasons:

• it is not an auction.
• there is no shipping involved because it is local.
• you don’t have to have 100 or so transactions under your belt for people to trust you selling things.

So far I advertised my garage sale (FREE!) and made $400. I posted my rug and light and immediately had emails about them! Later this week I’m posting an unused baby gate and a couple other things left over from our garage sale. After that I’ll take the rest of my odd’s and ends either to Once Upon a Child, Plato’s Closet, or New Uses.

For some reason I get so much pleasure out of taking things I don’t use and making a little cash off of them. I hate clutter and this seems to be a good way to deal with it!

Monday we kicked off the day making playdoh. The boys had a blast and it gave them something new to do. I’ve decided that Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (days Owen does not have preschool), I’m going to walk them through a craft or activity that will expose them to creativity, new textures, expression, etc.

To make playdoh simply combine:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup salt
• add water gradually until you get the appropriate texture
• (optional) food coloring.

I divided the recipe into 3 and gave each of the boys a bowl and made one for myself. I showed them with mine how to do it and I as surprised how quickly they caught on. They really enjoyed stirring the dough.

EDIT: I’m a total dork, I just realized it is a brand focus for WFMW this Wednesday, but I already posted this and am tired.  I guess view it as the anti brand post considering it’s the cheap version (and way more fun version) of Playdoh. 

Recently I posted about the incredible volume of noise my 3 and 1 year old boys make.

Someone gave advise that if they come to you yelling and you respond in a really quite voice- almost a whisper they will naturally bring their volume down. I have tried it a few times now and each of those times it worked! It’s funny, my Greek heritage wants to respond with loud noise by adding LOUDER noise, but it seems doing the opposites does the trick. I’ll just have to be retrained

Submitted for Rocks in My Dryer- Works For Me Wednesday

I kept my Works For Me Wednesday submission simple today.  Chalk it up to a crazy week.  But as simple as it is, and as many of you may have already caught on to it, it is absolutely practical.

Everyone knows toddlers could care less about cleaning up after themselves.  They barely have the capacity to understand the need to clean.  Pre-schoolers have a bit more of a grasp, but it still isn’t something they prefer to do.

Because of this I practice the Pide-Piper technique.  I sing!  On noggin Laurie Burkner does a cute little song called “clean it up”… So I sing…

“Clean it upppppp, Clean it upppppp,  Put it away, Put it away, Put your things away.”

Over, and over, and over, until we’ve picked up the whole room.

The boys think I have created the best game ever.  Now when I start singing they rush into play and at the end they feel so accomplished and proud.  I love it!

This Works for me Wednesday I’m revealing my greatest paint secret. One I’m repetitively asked! I know, It’s not a huge secret, but people do often ask, and I’m more than happy to tell! I have never been one of those girls that cared if her friend shopped at her favorite shop or bought the same shoes. I see imitation as the greatest form of flattery so PLEASE everyone go paint your homes the same colors. I’ll feel great about myself

I heart the paint color Silver Sage from Restoration Hardware! Every time I would walk into the store I loved the way I felt. The quality, the warmth, it also felt relaxing, soothing. It took me a while to realize they actually sold the color in the store. One day I noticed and began obsessing on whether or not it would work in my house… then I met my neighbor across the street.

When I walked into her home I got that “Restoration Hardware” feeling. I looked around and the furniture did not look familiar.

What was it?

The paint?

Was I really seeing the paint I had been obsessing on so long?

My neighbor confirmed it.

Not much later we sold our house and moved back to my hometown. When we closed on our house the first thing I did was schedule painters. And of course I chose all restoration hardware colors.

Main Color: Silver Sage
Accents in Main Room: Dark Silver Sage
Master: Latte
Master Bathroom: Flax
Dining Room: Mixture of Silver Sage, Dark silver Sage, and Sea Green, Striped and faux finished.
O’s Room: Atmosphere Blue
Lu’s Room + Guest Room: Sycamore Green

This week’s Works for Me Wednesday Parenting Edition I decided to break it down to my solid fundamental favorite parenting verse from the Bible and explain one aspect of how I plan to exercise it.

Proverbs 22:6. Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.

In our current society, even in the church, parenting seems left to “the village”. Parents feel pressure at times, if they choose to not adapt to the village mentality and raise their children on their own. Even at the Christian private school I grew up in, I witnessed many students being sent to school to learn about God while having little dialog about it at home. I don’t want to be too judgmental… but that just isn’t the model God set for us. He gave parents the ministry of training the child.

No, this is not a post on Homeschooling (though I love that concept), or dropping your career (that is between you and God). As Christians, and as parents, I believe we have to realize that we can not depend on “the village” to do a job that we do better. When “the village” trains your child you have little control over the way “they will not depart from”. This could be an entirely separate post, and will be at some point.

Now that I have explained one of my deepest convictions in parenting, I will share of you one of the ways I am most excited to implement this.

Every morning as the kids eat breakfast or watch t.v. I do my quiet time. I read some Oswald Chambers, than the Bible, sometimes a bit of a Christian Life book, and then pray. At times Owen has taken interest. At first, it annoyed me, then I remembered the Bible my brother gave him at his baby dedication. I asked him if he wanted to read his Bible to and explained how important daily reading the Bible was. I fetched his little picture Bible, and he began his version of reading by interpreting the pictures.

Recently, Lukas got dedicated and was given a board book of Bible stories. In the near future (when I get more organized with my day and get up earlier!) I will be implementing Family Quiet times. I know they are 3 and 1.5 years old, but is it ever to young? Is Jesus irrelevant when you are young?- NO.

Regular quiet time has been a challenge a good portion of my life. In high-school I remember very few morning where I didn’t find my mother in her living room studying the Bible. Up until she became sick I’m not sure it even happened once! I always desired that dedication, that hunger for the word.

This year something changed for me. It clicked. And it has been life changing. I can’t imagine going another day starved of the word. I want my children to learn this young because of the promise God makes us above. It’s never too young to start!

This Works For Me Wednesday I’m featuring my love of label makers. I could go sickly insane labeling everything in the world if I had the time and got on a roll. I love to label. I love the idea that if we have a babysitter the will know which remote works for what. When we have family in town they will know where to put groceries. When someone is cleaning up the playroom they will know what bins get what toys. Our files look clean and professional with nicely printed labels on their tabs. There is no confusion over regular and decaffeinated coffee grinds in my house because it’s labeled!

I think it’s genetic. My dad never let us off to camp without writing our LAST NAME large on the inside collar of every shirt and every item we packed. My father and step-mother are ferociously organized. With multiple toddlers I could never keep the level of organization they do. However, I can strive and labeling is one step closer.

And yes, my husband laughs at me.

Just a few pictures (taken in less than stellar light.)

It is a little hard to see the labels in this one.

 

Other WFMW Posts:
Traveling With Small Children
Easy Cooking

I figured that for this Works for Me Wednesday it would be appropriate for me to discuss traveling with small children for 2 reasons:

1. We just returned from vacation. (you are saw most of the beginning of last weeks posts via FUTURE POST!)
2. Many of you are taking vacations as well.

Here are my must have’s for traveling with my little ones:

1. The LIST. Yes, a grand little packing list saved on my computer that reminds me of every must have to make Owen and Lukas’s lives livable while we are away. With every trip this can be easily tweaked and printed out. Never leave with out the list. The list also comes in handy for re-packing on the return home. Mother’s know it is almost impossible to go home without leaving something behind- with the list it is closer to possibility!

2. The DISTRACTION. Long, long hours on the road or in flight and baby/toddler/child must have plenty of distractions! This time is the exception to the rule. Spoil your child. Especially if you are in flight. It is more important to value the space of those around you than to teach your child the value of limited TV time.

Useful distractions (may change with age, situation, or method of travel) include but are not limited to:

breastfeeding (under cover of course), pacifiers, favorite stuffed animal or blanket, bottle, hand held toys, dvd player (headphones in flight!), dvd’s, computer, hand held video game, puzzles, magna-doodle, games, playdoh, snacks, drinks, conversation, quiet singing and rocking, books, homework (for you home schoolers out there!), guessing games, etc…

It is important in choosing the distraction that you consider your own child and situation. No need to pack too many distractions. Limit yourself to the top 3-5.

3. FOOD. Traveling is not a time to worry too much about feeding schedules or your typical snacking rules. One round trip will not be enough to create an obese child. Food provides and excellent way to keep your child content.

4. Don’t Over-pack, Don’t Under-pack. This is an art. While difficult, beginner take heart, you will get used to it. Over-packing drives me crazy. I could hardly contain myself on a plane as I watched a first time traveling mom with her 6 month old, husband, and a couple bags full of EVERYTHING YOU CAN IMAGINE YOU WOULD NEED IN 12 MONTHS WITH A CHILD! I know she was being a good mom and preparing for everything… but she was in for a long tiring trip. When her 2nd comes along I know she will chuckle when she thinks of her first time in flight with a baby.

Under-packing is an obvious danger, this is where the list comes back into play.

5. Allow Extra Time. For EVERYTHING. With children everything takes longer. Traveling is no different. If you have absolute deadlines, as with flight departures and important arrival times, plan for everything to take extra time. Better to be early than late in these cases. If you plan for extra time you are less likely to get impatient and irritated with those precious little slow-pokes.

6. Expect Constant Questions. The annoying kind. Like “are we there yet?”. You did it to your parents, now you pay penance. Anticipating this also increases your chance of maintaining a sane patience level.

7. Enlist help of Older Children- Once children are capeable of anything they love to be included in the process. It gives them great pride to feel part of “the team”. Even with my 3-year-old Owen I notice a big difference in his behavior when I include him by letting him help. While flying he can carry a small bag or item. While driving he can talk to his brother and tell him stories (he loves to tell stories). If I explain how helpful this is, he is more likely to behave. Think of ways to get your kiddos to help.

8. LAUGH! Things most likely will not go exactly as planned. Expect it and choose to laugh in advance. Make light of the exit you missed as you were stopping one from making the other scream, Make light of the poopy diaper JR decided to let go as soon as your flight reached cruising altitude. Laugh at that person next to you that hates children. Laugh that you left favorite stuffed animals back at the Cracker Barrell and have to turn around to get it. Laugh, Laugh, Laugh- after all, you are on vacation.

Related Posts:
WFMW- Easy Cooking

I have noticed a blog trend in the past week or so. Many of the Mommy blogs I routinely visit are talking cooking. A couple have posted recipes and 4 others have complained of being bored by their kitchen routines and are looking for new recipes.

I like to cook. The last few years of my life hardly reflect that. Severe pregnancy sickness, down-right lack of energy while breast-feeding, and severe dread of taking the kids to the grocery have deterred me. My dreams of being an amazing wife by cooking killer meals nightly has been just that, a dream.

As much as I would love to cook like one of my cousins, (several of them are magnificent bakers), I just haven’t been able to devote the time I need to cook the way they do. For the most part I settle for simple recipes. They need to taste good, but there is no room for getting complicated right now. I need easy to find ingredients, short prep time, and few ingredients.

I thought for this Works for Me Wednesday, (a new project I am participating in,) I would share a couple of my easy sure to please recipes.

Crockpots are a Godsend for mom’s! One of my favorite Crockpot recipes is this one.

Swiss Chicken Casserole
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I prefer smaller non hormone pumped ones myself. They taste better!)
6 slices of swiss cheese (I often throw more in because I heart cheese.)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 c. of Milk
2c. chicken stuffing mix
1/2c. melted butter

Coat the slow-cooker with cooking spray.
Arrange the chicken in the Crockpot.
Top with cheese, layering if necessary.
Combine soup with the milk and stir well.
Spoon the mixture over the cheese.
Melt butter and stir with stuffing mix.
Pour stuffing over chicken and smooth over.

Cover and cook either on
Low for 8-10 hours
OR
High for 4-6 hours.
*Varies depending on the slow-cooker and of course your time constraints!
I often serve this over rice or with potatoes.

This one is not crock-pot but just as simple. It involves little prep time (maybe 5 minutes depending on how often your child interrupts.)

Indian Style Chicken Breast- (which I prefer to call chutney chicken)
In a blender or food processor (I use blender) mix together…
8 oz jar of mango chutney (should be near the sauces, ketchup etc. in grocery)
half cup of raisins
2 T olive oil
3/4 tsp. curry powder
1 clove of garlic
1/3 c. water

Blend.

Lay chicken in a 9×13 greased baking pan.
Pour mixture over top.

Cook on 400 for 25 minutes
OR
350 for 35 minutes.

I put this with steamed Jasmine Rice (that I make in my steamer), I add to it a tsp of cinnamon and 1/2 c. raisins and mix together.

*This recipe was given to me by my sister-in-law Janis.

This week I also tried 2 new VERY easy recipes courtesy of Carmen of Little Cooks in the Kitchen (Chicken Stroganoff) and she also tipped me onto this one by Laura from I’m an Organizing Junkie (Sweet and Sour Pork). I served them to my parents-in-law and we all agreed they were delicious!

Feel free to Share your favorites in the comments or your own blog (if you do this please post a link in the comments so we all can see!). I know it will help me and the other mommies that have begged for recipes in the last week.

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