The new year is a time for a clean slate. Fresh starts.  But as I look around my house, it’s anything but clean.  There are toys strewn about, the kitchen is full of dishes, little children’s artwork decorates the dining room table, and the hamper overflows.  This is the blessed life of a house full of children.  And I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.  I consider myself a laid back housekeeper though.  I don’t find it necessary to have perfection.  A little dust doesn’t drive me crazy, and honestly dusting makes my allergies go crazy.  Coming from the home of a mother who cleans when it looks perfect everywhere, I’ve chosen a more laid back approach to life. However, with four children and a husband who works from home, we do need to get some chores done.  And as I’ve had children I’ve learned that dealing with small amounts everyday keeps a baseline “clean” level.  It helps to be able to pick up quickly. And everyone is happier when it’s cleaner in the house.  If you aren’t doing something everyday, then you are just running around like  a chicken one day when you loudly declare “I can’t TAKE IT ANYMORE! We are all CLEANING RIGHT NOW!”

Enter Motivated Moms.  I’ve used this calendar for several years now. I have at times fallen off the motivated wagon but Motivated Moms always makes it easy to jump right back on.  Reasons why I love this calendar:

• It has a daily list of chores.  Things such as laundry, making beds, feeding pets, and emptying trash cans.  Sure this is stuff that we do everyday but it feels good to check something off the list, and it helps remind me to get the laundry going early or the dishes.  They are also chores that I can assign to a child.  My 3 year old empties the bathroom trash cans.  He can also change kitchen towels.  The girls can help make beds.  Everybody makes the mess so everybody should be accountable for cleaning up.
• It includes things that I would never think of doing regularly.  Things like dusting the dining room light fixture or washing the windows in one room.  It gives you easy tasks that you can do quickly.  Just the other day it said “clean living room glass”.  I have no mirrors so I took the opportunity to wash the three windows in the living room.  It took me 30 minutes of time and it looks so nice.  And I know that the other rooms will come up eventually.
• It reminds me to set aside time to plan ahead for birthdays the next month.  It also reminds me to do those household chores like cleaning the dryer vent and changing batteries in the smoke detector.
• And most important of all, you are never behind.  Motivated Moms was written by a homeschooling mom.  She understands that there are days where you are “grounded” on the couch nursing a baby. Or there are days when the stomach virus has turned the house upside down.  Or days when you go out and end up staying out all day.  No sweat!  Just skip that day and pick up the next.  You aren’t “behind” with this cleaning schedule.  Promise!

There are many styles of the calendar to choose from.  I choose the page per day with bible scripture.  I’m able to scribble notes on it as needed, write in appointment reminders, write in what I’m planning for dinner, and anything else I shouldn’t forget.  I don’t worry about using a page of paper per day because at the end of the day I toss it in the drawer with the coloring books and it gets used again for decorating before being recycled.  I print one page per day.  You may want the half size to fit in a Franklin style planner.

I’ve been drinking green smoothies for a while now.  Full of vitamins and low in calories, they are a great way to pack a good nutrition punch in a fun package.  My girls have been begging for a purple smoothie for a few days and I finally gave in this morning.  They called them Fairy Smoothies and have declared them awesome.  And they are good for them too!

Fairy Smoothies

1 to 2 cups of frozen berries (strawberries, rasberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc)

1 cup of plain yogurt

2 cups Silk Vanilla Almond Milk

2 handfuls of fresh baby spinach

1 banana

I layer the ingredients in my Ninja blender starting with 1 cup of berries, yogurt, spinach, and the banana.  I pour the almond milk over the top.  I start blending on speed 1 to get it going and then kick it up to 2 briefly and then 3 to really liquefy the spinach.  When it’s all blended together you’ll have a thick, creamy smoothie that you can’t even see the spinach in.  Makes about 4 cups.

It’s snowy and cold outside.  A stark contrast from the unseasonably warm weather we’ve had in Indiana lately.  The natural thing to do is to turn on the oven.  I have some chex mix in there right now and it smells delicious.  Paired with some fruit, it will make an excellent snack here in a little bit.  Since I like to live on the wild side I just threw it all together.  Melted butter in a roasting pan then added worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, and seasoning salt.  Then added pretzels, pecans, chex cereal and cheerios.  Stirred it all together.  If you don’t like to live quite as crazy as myself, I’ve added the recipe from Chex.  Enjoy!

The Original Chex Party Mix

3 cups Corn Chex® cereal
3 cups Rice Chex® cereal
3 cups Wheat Chex® cereal
1 cup mixed nuts
1 cup bite-size pretzels
1 cup garlic-flavor bite-size bagel chips or regular-size bagel chips, broken into 1-inch pieces
6 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Oven Directions Heat oven to 250°F. In large bowl, mix cereals, nuts, pretzels and bagel chips; set aside. In ungreased large roasting pan, melt butter in oven. Stir in seasonings. Gradually stir in cereal mixture until evenly coated. Bake 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool, about 15 minutes. Store in airtight container.

Thanks to Pinterest I came across a checklist of books, composed by librarians, of 100 Books to Read in Kindergarten.  I don’t know about you, but I enjoy lists like this.  Sometimes the library feels incredibly overwhelming with so many books to choose from.  When I find checklists like this, I try to follow them.  It makes me feel like my children won’t miss out on really awesome books.

While there today, I also picked up Little House on the Prairie.  I’ve been encouraging our first Princess to read it, but she is not the most enthusiastic reader and the thickness of the book intimidates her.  I don’t remember reading the books when I was younger so I figured it would be a good read aloud book.  I do however remember the TV series with Michael Landon as I’m sure many of my peers do as well.  This will be an awesome book to map out the United States.  And I’m thinking a game of Oregon Trail might be in order.  :)

Tonight we read chapter one, where they pack up their little cabin and head west.  We can relate to the talk of Kansas going on forever and ever as we’ve driven through Kansas – flat land as far as the eye can see!  I stopped because Prince K was asleep and Prince S was wanting to nurse and go to sleep.  I encouraged Princess M to read chapter two to Princess C.  I figured knowing that she didn’t have to read the entire book by herself might ease her into such a long book.  She seemed apprehensive when I closed their door so we will see what happened in the morning.

This sourdough sandwich bread from Whole Foods is awesome.  Recently, they were on sale so I wanted to buy multiple loaves knowing that we had company coming over and it makes a really great sandwich or panini. The bakery case was empty so I asked the lady in the bakery if she had more coming.  She explained to me that they arrive at the store par baked and frozen.  So then the store finishes baking and puts them out in the cases.  I told her I wanted about 4 of them and she gladly retrieved them for me, packaged in tie up plastic bags.  She also commented on how smart it was to buy multiple loaves while they are on sale and throw them in the freezer.  I agree!

This is a great way to save money at Whole Foods.  It is possible to eat whole, natural, foods on a small budget!  You just have to plan plan plan ahead!

Often I’m asked, how on Earth do you homeschool when there are so many of them? First of all, there are only 4 not 24. So it could be a lot busier. But as they get older, I find that they can help out more. Better yet, they enjoy helping out. For instance, the other day I had a baby who only wanted to nurse and a 3 year old who desperately needed a bath. With supervision, my 7.5 year old jumped in readily to help the 3 year old get a well needed bath. And they both had fun in the process! It’s bonding like that I can get behind!

As each child gets older, there is an expectation of a little bit of independence in their studies. My oldest does her phonics lesson on the computer, and she can go in and start the program and knows what I expect her to accomplish each day. In fact, some days while I’m making breakfast she asks me if she can get to work on that. They know that quick, efficient work will ultimately lead to more free time to explore and play as they choose.

The other added bonus is that now the older children are helping teach the younger children. Now, I’m definitely not sending them off to cover an entire lesson, but just like Daddy can be a better science teacher than Mommy, an older sibling might have a different perspective and be able to help her sibling understand the concepts. Just this morning my oldest helped her sister with some addition problems. And of course, since my 5 year old thinks that her older sibling is the best thing since sliced bread, she was willing to listen and accept the advice her sister had. And of course, those first borns really like feeling important.

With rising gas and grocery prices, everybody has the same thing on their minds… what do I cut from my expenses so we can handle these rising costs?  For us, I’ve really tried to focus on our groceries and eating out.  Since having added our fourth child, I fell a bit lazy in the kitchen.  I’d be teaching all day and nursing the baby and all of a sudden it was 6pm and my husband was home and ready to eat.  With nothing ready, we’d just head out to the local restaurant.  And at the beginning of the day, after a long night of nursing the baby and tending to everyone’s nighttime needs, I’d be too tired to get up and make a proper breakfast.  So he’d pick breakfast on the way out the door usually Mcdonalds.   $3 for breakfast feels like a real bargain in the moment but when you step back and look at it, you can easily spend $60 on breakfast for one person every month!

But we all like eating out.  And everyone loves a good egg mcmuffin now and then, so I tried to recreate them at home.  The problem turned out to be the egg.  How do you get the perfect shaped egg to sit on top of your english muffin?  So I bought a tiny skillet like this. For years I would see those in the store and say “who buys those silly little kitchen gadgets?”  Well, as it turns out… me.  And the funny thing is, I LOVE this skillet!  It’s the perfect size for lots of things like melting butter to go on top of popcorn. And it makes the perfect size egg to go on top of your english muffin.

Recently, I’ve been frustrated with the amount of food that my children were consuming in between meals.  More than that there was a lot of waste associated with this snacking.  Whole loaves of bread, entire packages of cheese, and big bags of apples disappearing in 24 hours.  While snacking is fine, uncontrollable snacking is just not an option in our budget.  Especially if they want to eat meals!  Not to mention I’d go in to make a meal I had planned for only to find that they had eaten all the cheese making it impossible to make mac n’ cheese and leaving me without a dinner plan.  Not good.

So after talking with my husband who said that we just needed to expect it and maybe I should shop for meals daily (ack!  not only does that make me shudder at the thought of going to the grocery store everyday with all of our children, it is most definitely not budget friendly!)  I came up with the idea of the snack basket.  Each morning I put out a new basket full of snacks on the dining room table.  They are welcome to eat anything in the snack basket that they desire during the day, but when the basket it’s empty – that’s it.  No more snacks.  So far I haven’t had anybody whining at 3pm because they’ve eaten all the snacks.  Somehow knowing how much they all have keeps them from binging.  Also they have been pretty good about making sure not to eat everything of one thing except the cookies.  My son has a cookie problem.   The contents of the basket are subject to change.  There is healthy in there was well as “treat” foods.  Currently in this basket there are 3 PB&J oatmeal cookies (found at the bread thrift store for an excellent price!), 3 apples, 6 individual portions of peanut butter, 3 individually packaged pieces of 9 grain bread, 3 individually packaged slices of cranberry cinnamon swirl bread, & 3 portions of colby jack cheese, and 3 little baggies of stick pretzels.  Now some might think “she’s leaving CHEESE on the table all day?” I reassure you that these were gone first thing.  Also, included in the basket is 3 IKEA kids knives and 3 IKEA kids spoons.  The reason is that you need a little knife for the PB to put on the bread.  And you also need spoons to eat the PB out of the little cups (a trick my husband taught them).  The “re-user” in me does cringe a bit at the packaging waste, but I thought it the best way to keep everything fresh (no hard bread) as well as making them realize how much one portion is.  And the cost of the baggies/cups still make it a savings over the entire fridge binging they were doing.  I also set out 3 IKEA cups on the table and they can fill those with water from the fridge door as often as they please.

And so far it has worked!  I think their snacking has actually been cut down a bit which is good because to much snacking is just not good.  They have control over what they are snacking on and when they are snacking.  I have a bit more control over the contents of the kitchen and freedom to meal plan again.  It’s something we all feel good about and they eagerly look forward to what is in the basket each morning.

If you are like me, you are still shopping for Christmas (though I think I only have one more gift! Yay me!) Anyway, I stumbled across this site which has lots of fun learning sets that are both great for gifts and homeschooling.  Bonus in my book!    If you have a minute, go on over and find something that will tickle your fancy.  And remember- Amazon Prime is your friend!

In an ongoing effort to show how I homeschool with a wild and crazy toddler running around, I thought I’d post about magazines this morning.  Prince Charming’s aunt buys all of our kids a magazine subscription.  I’m told that she did that for Erich and his brothers when they were little.  It started with Magdalena many years ago, a Highlights magazine started to arrive routinely on our doorstep.  The delight in having her own mail was contagious.  Soon Carmina was old enough to notice and soon after that Highlights High Five started to arrive.  They both love their magazines and can’t wait to tear into the packaging and get going on the coloring, reading, perusing, and begging me to cook the recipes.  They even love to tear out the little subscription cards inside and “fill them out” 

About a week ago, a new magazine showed up.  This time National Geographic Kids.  And this time it had Kevin’s name on it.  We were up early one morning starting our school work and Kevin was asking for something to do. So I dug out his magazine and he sat for a good 10 minutes (which is like an hour or more in Kevin-time) looking through the pictures, “reading”, and telling me all the sounds the animals make.  Definitely a hit!

So recently we are in the girls’ room cleaning things up.  This is when I notice yellow marker on the wall! So I ask, “who colored on the wall?”  6 year old: “The 4 year old did.”   Me to 4 year old: “Why did you color on your wall?”  Putting her hands up in a shrug ” Because I didn’t have any paper!”  Me to Erich: “Daddy, did you hear this?”  Erich:  “Yeah, makes sense to me.”

**bangs head on wall**

6 year old: “Now.  I’m going to tell you about safety.  Are you listening? I learned this in girl scouts.”

4 year old: ” uh huh”

6 year old: “First you NEVER go outside without a parent.”

4 year old: “But what about when we go outside in our yard?”

6 year old: “Well…. it’s okay if you ask and they say yes.  But they have to say yes.”

“Now.  Never go near a tree that’s falling, it could smash you.”

4 year old: “You should also stay away from it if it’s on FIRE!”

6 year old: “Yeah that would be bad.”

4 year old:  “When I grow up, I’m not going to turn like a Mommy.”

6 year old: “Oh yeah?”

4 year old: “Yeah I want to just be a princess”

6 year old: “I want to be a princess too!  I’m gonna live on an island though.”

4 year old: “wow.”

6 year old: “yeah.   You’ll only be able to get there by a plane.  And their won’t be any mosquitoes there.”

4 year old: “I hate mosquitos.”

6 year old: “I know!”  “Mommy?  How do we rid the world of mosquitos?”

Nobody *needs* this much candy.  Seriously.  The load of candy that has just entered my house is really appalling.  When you have one kid, it seems like a lot to fill up a bucket.  Imagine coming home with THREE buckets.  This year we went to Prince Charming’s place of work.  They do TOT’ing around the cubicles.  And we came home with a LOT of candy.  We also went out TOT’ing this evening around town.  There wasn’t much to be had, a bit to cold, non motivated parents, and a lot of unlit porch lights.  We probably came home with the equivalent of one more bucketful.

They’ve all had their fair share of candy.  A few pieces is enough to satisfy most people.  So a few years back I decided to start calling the Sugar Fairy.  She needs the candy.  And the story has grown from there every year.  The girls have concluded that the Sugar Fairy *must* be the sister of the Tooth Fairy.   The Sugar Fairy comes over the evening of Halloween while you are sleeping.  She leaves a tooth brush, toothpaste, and some goodies in exchange for your candy.  She needs that candy to survive the cold, long winter that is approaching.

Everybody has been thrilled to leave the candy for the Sugar Fairy.  And I’m thrilled to not be dishing out candy once a day and hearing the whining and crying that goes along with hearing “no more candy today.”  I’m sure Prince Charming’s co-workers will LOVE all the candy he brings back.   <3

It’s official… and finally sinking in.  Prince Charming and I are expecting another baby!  This will make number four.  We are super excited to be on this journey again and are anxiously anticipating February and all the blessings it will bring!

As grocery prices go up, I know Erich and I have looked for ways to make sure we plan to make our meals healthy, nutritious, and budget friendly.  We’ve learned that planning our menus accomplishes that. Having the menu prepped ahead of time all answers the age old question: “what’s for dinner?”

I know though that meal planning can be tedious.  It takes a lot of thought to plan so that we aren’t eating the same things over and over each week. Plus, the same old stuff bores me and loses my interest to cook.  And as we our activities like homeschooling, tumbling, and art lessons start to take up more and more time, having a plan already made is priceless.  I recently found E-Mealz.  Recommended by Dave Ramsey, they call themselves your “mental maid”.  E-Mealz appealed to me because unlike other meal planning services, the meals are simple family friendly dinners.  Nothing gourmet and not a lot of time consuming meals.  The categorized shopping list also easily references what ingredients go with each meal, so it’s easy to cross off a meal that our family won’t enjoy. (Okay okay, I’m the picky eater in this family!) They also list the staples you’ll need for each meal such as flour, honey, or ketchup- so you don’t find yourself buying a new bottle every week. Each weeks menu involves different prep methods such as meals you make the night before and crockpot meals.  While some meals will repeat a few times in 6 months, each week is packed with a brand new plan so you are sure to have plenty of variety making meal time fun again.

And again, the recipe are delicious!  Tonight I made a simple grilled garlic ham and cheese sandwich and Magdalena declared it “better than Subway!” That’s what I call two thumbs up!  They have a variety of different meal plans including low fat, 2 person menu, points menu, and the standard family menu that serves 4-6.   They also have menus based on the sales ads of Kroger, Walmart, and Aldi.  I choose the “any store” menu since I like to shop at different stores for different things.

And last but not least, it’s affordable!  $1.25 a week and you don’t have to think about “what’s for dinner?” Please use my link to the right and go find your very own mental maid – you’ll be glad you did!