Homemade Hair Bow Holder

The girls hair bows were overflowing and I although we had a make shift holder, it just wasn't holding up. So I decided to make one from some stuff we had. The sign is a Melissa and Doug sign, which Melina got for her birthday. She had been itching to out her name on it and out it up, but we were not sure of the right spot. So she and I put the letters on it and decorated it with a couple of additional heart stickers that we had. Then I hot glued 2 pieces of ribbon to the back and viola…a very cute hair bow holder. 

And we have the perfect spot now…right next to the girl’s dressing table!

Counting my blessings

I spent my morning water color painting with Kindergarteners. 

And I feel completely blessed to be able to say that.

Is life always a breeze as a stay at home mom?  NO.

Do my kids sometimes drive me insane? YES.

Will my husband jokingly ask me how much money I made for doing X, Y & Z, and my answer is always none. YES.

But I would have it no other way.  Yes, sacrifices are made. But the memories can not be replaced.

Everything is worth it when my Kindergartener is so excited to tell my class that I am her mom. And she gets off the bus and run to me and gives me a big hug and thanks for for coming to school today.

And my 2nd grader is not embarrassed to wave Hi when I see him at school and tell his teacher that that is his mom.

And my preschooler tells me how proud of me she is when I pick her up from moms morning out today.

I am overjoyed that I can volunteer in school and be a homeroom mom and a Cub Scout leader and a playgroup organizer. That I can be there for my kids to play games after school (we currently have a 3 day monopoly game in session) and to make them dinner and drive them to soccer and dance.

Yes, life is crazy and hectic and sometimes overwhelming, but I can honestly say, I could see it no other way.


Linking up to Real Life Wednesday at Picklebums.comhttp://picklebums.com/

Organizing Arts and Craft Supplies

I am still on an organizing kick. I have been meaning to get the Arts and Craft supplies more organized for some time now; so the past couple of days Melina and I have worked on this project. We got $1 bins that all match and sorted all of the supplies out. Then we labeled. It is not anything super fancy; I just printed labels from the computer and taped them on. But everything is organized, and I am hoping it will make everything easier to find and easier to clean up. Maybe the kids won't take everything out at once….maybe.

The view of the whole art supply shelf in the playroom

A few of the bins

This shelf is behind the art supplies shelf,
behind the wall in the storage room.
It holds lots of craft kits and extra supplies.

And yes, I am that mom who has a bin of stuff…
just in case!

Life in Full Swing

This was our first full week where we had 

EVERYTHING on our calendar. 

All of the 3 biggest kids went to their respective schools on their respective days.

We started Moms Morning Out at a local church and Carson got to go to "school" too….he was THRILLED to have a bag and a lunch and he did great!!

Both girls had dance class

Melina and Logan had soccer games

We hosted playgroup at our house this week

I had a Jr. League Meeting, a Halloween Party Planning Meeting and my Zumba class

We signed Melina up for Girl Scouts this week too (thanks Julie for getting the info at the meeting!!), because we didn't have enough to do ;)

The only thing that was NOT on our calendar this week was Boy Scouts, since that is every other week.

And it all came together; we had a great week! Now its Friday and its time to relax and play!

Meeka right before her first dance class!
After class she came bounding out saying, "I did GREAT!"

Meeka had Yellow Day at school.
She took Lemon Meringue for yellow day.

For our playdate Logan and I filled the water table with shaving cream.
My kids LOVE playing with shaving cream. It can keep them occupied in a bathtub for a hour!!

I froze paint into a lego guy mold, so as the paint melted they could paint with it.
Mason enjoyed painting!

Carson enjoyed the shaving cream!
 

Melina painted and played with the shaving cream.

All the kids got in the trampoline and it was a fun mess!
Then they got out the hose, which played triple duty: cleaned them off, cleaned the trampoline out, and of course fun with water!

We had picnics at the soccer fields

Logan played a GREAT game this week!

And we had success in school too!
Logan did great in his first tests and he is #1 in his class at First in Math, which means he gets to wear a special necklace all day- he LOVES that. It is great motivation for him! 

Quick and Easy Dinners

With our scheduling being CraZy this fall, I went in search of more make ahead and crock pot meals. Last week I made fajitas in the crock pot and they turned out great (except for Michael telling me he didn't think the soup was that great, until I told him it wasn't soup it was fajitas…then he went back for 2nds and agreed the FAJITAS were good!) I will share the recipe with you sometime in the near future. 

This week I made 40 clove garlic chicken (yes, that's right, 40 cloves of garlic!) in the crock pot on Tuesday. It was SUPER EASY! 

40 Clove Garlic Chicken

• 1 roaster chicken
• celery
• seasoning
• 40 cloves of garlic

1. Place celery on the bottom of the crock pot. 
2. Season your chicken to your liking both inside and out and then place it on top of celery
3. place 40 cloves of UNPEELED garlic around your chicken
4. cook of low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours

Above is the cooked chicken in the crock pot.

As it cooks it roasts the garlic, so you can spread it on fresh bread, or do as I did and throw it on top of a baked potato.

The garlic does not overpower the chicken, I promise.

The next day I used the leftover chicken and made them into Enchiladas. I made them earlier in the day and then I just had to bake them for 15 min and dinner was ready!

Chicken Enchiladas

• leftover chicken, shredded

• mexican or cheddar cheese

• tortillas

• enchilada sauce

1. Preheat oven to 400

1. Warm the tortillas slightly

1. Pour a small about of sauce on the bottom of the pan, just enough to cover it.

1. place approx 2 T of chicken in the tortilla and spindle with cheese and then fold in both ends and roll. 

1. Place tortillas seam side down in pan

1. Cover with Enchilada sauce and spindle with cheese

1. Bake for 15 min.

I served this with baked Okra and Tomatoes from our garden. They baked in the oven along with the tortillas. If you have never tried Okra, I urge you to try it. It is a unique southern vegetable and it is great baked or fried. I just cut off the tops, sprinkles with a garlic olive oil and salt and pepper ad roasted it.

If anyone has any brilliant, healthy and easy recipes, please do share!!

Hall Closet Organization

I have been itching to organize something…I know, I know, I think its a sickness too, but I am learning to live with it. The the hall closet has been on my short list, so today while at the dollar store I picked up a couple of bins and in 20 min this afternoon I knocked this off my list.

Check it out, simple, effective and inexpensive.

The whole picture

Top Shelves

Middle Shelves

Bottom Shelves

Organizing Life

I get a lot of questions about how we keep ourselves organized. And we don't always have it all together, but I try. I like organized. In fact I thrive on organization. So with the craziness this school year is bringing, here is how we are attempting to organize our family.

Our Calendar 

We keep this monthly family calendar in the kitchen for quick reference. It is color coded per family member.

Then we have the COZI App. Haven't heard of it? If you have a busy family (or  husband who needs a little help organizing) this is for you!!! You can have multiple people access and add things to this app. Is is meant to help family communicate and organize. It has shopping lists, to do lists and a calendar. This eliminates the phone calls that go like this:  "Hey, What do we have going on tonight? What time do I need to be home?" or "What soccer field are we on?" Now all that info is at his fingertips as well!

I can see the big picture of what are life looks like for a couple of months on one screen on the computer. It is very helpful! How did I live without this?

We also have a bulletin board in the kitchen where we stick pertinent info like birthday invitations, recital info, etc.

Keeping the Kids Responsible and Organized

I try to teach the kids to be responsible for themselves. It doesn't always work, but I can try. 

Each child has a hook for their backpack, umbrella, etc.

And hanging by these hooks is a list of their special and things to remember.

                                   

We also have an After School Checklist. This eliminates the "I will just do it later's" Logan has this list down pat, Melina is still working on it. She is not as neat and organized as Logan is, so the contents her lunchbox and backpack can end up all over the house without our coaxing right now. She'll get it though, I'm confident. 

The kids paperwork all goes into this box; they each have a slot. That way they can show daddy later. 

Keeping Me Organized

Then then for me, I keep a box for each kid and each kid has a folder for school and one for every activity they are involved in. That way I have all the info for everything stored in a place that is easy to find.

And yet, with all the technology, I still find the easiest way for me to keep my to-do is good old fashion pen and paper.