This is a quick and easy alternative for breakfast. There are so many things you could add to these to make them a family favorite. They are also really easy for little hands that might have trouble with a regular pancake. These are great for freezer meals too! Continue reading “Pancake Poppers”
Can I tell you a secret? I didn’t clean my house last week or even this week yet. We didn’t have school last week and probably won’t this week either. Sometimes we all just need a break, a time to do nothing, a time to just enjoy life.
Ok, so maybe I did clean a little bit. We kept up with our basic routines and I did declutter the playroom but no other ‘real’ cleaning took place. We took down our Christmas decor and carried it out to the building for next year too.
By the ‘basics’ I mean that the dishes and laundry were washed and put away everyday. The bathrooms were wiped down with a cleaning wipe every morning. The table and counters were wiped down after each meal and the floors were swept. We also made our beds and the kids picked up theirs toys.
We didn’t vacuum the carpets other than the playroom. We didn’t mop and so far no one has stuck to the floor. We also didn’t dust or polish and yes, you probably can write your name on the mantel.
We didn’t have any ‘formal’ lessons or structured learning. However the kids did take it upon themselves to work in their workbooks. They also did some ABC mouse on the tablets and computers.
You know what happened? We survived and the house doesn’t look like a complete disaster.
The kids also learned a lot about sharing and working independently. They got to be kids and that’s important too.
Our routines kept us together and kept our house running smoothly. So when someone is sick, out of town, or just plain tired the house can keep going as normal.
What routines do you have? Make them as simple as you can so they can keep your house running when you need a break.
I hope you all enjoyed the holidays as much as we did here. We’ve already taken down our tree and put away all the decorations. A little bit of a cleaning bug hit me and I decided we needed to declutter our playroom a bit more than we had before Christmas.
My kids, as you can read in Remember The Reason For The Season and So Much More Than A Basketball, were doubly blessed with gifts this year. That doesn’t include the gifts they received from their older siblings and their father. So when they were instructed to ‘put away’ their toys it became apparent that we had not gotten rid of enough things before Christmas. The following are some picks of what we had going on:
The book cases were overflowing, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but we couldn’t fit any more books on the shelves. The toys piling up in front of the chalkboard were a problem though. As well as the other toys and baskets being piled on top of things and hidden inside of cabinets. Then there was there problem of not being able to find their new favorite toys because of all the clutter.
It was stressful for me just to walk in there, not too mention trying to clean around everything. It was such a chore to pick up this to vacuum, then pick up something else and hope you didn’t knock something else down. Trying to dust was almost impossible and there were so many little things getting vacuumed up I was afraid I was going to kill the vacuum.
I grabbed a couple of trash bags, a laundry basket, and a tote. Big sister and I started in one corner of the room and went around it in a full circle. Every area was taken apart, dumped out, and sorted through. If there was an item that didn’t belong in that area it was placed into the laundry basket so it could be put away properly.
Some of the items that were seasonal, like some sensory bins and activities for Fall, were placed into the tote. Broken toys were thrown away and toys that they had outgrown or no longer played with were put into another bag to donate.
When we finished we had several small bags of books to donate and two trash bags of toys to bless others with. There was a bag of broken toys and other items to be thrown away. Then the seasonal items were put away for later in the upcoming year. Some of the toys and books were passed along to their little cousin. The TV that had been in the cabinet was passed along to big brother and the cabinet now holds the laptops and chargers plus a couple of items for younger kids to play with when we have visitors.
Below are some pictures of the results:
The kids are much happier now that they have the toys organized. There are also some empty bins for new things that Momma may pull out of the closets later on. We were able to set up some individual areas for magnet/dry erase play, dinosaurs and legos, and an area for the kitchen and food play. They have their dinosaur skeleton on display and they can easily look at it. There is also a space where they can play with the Spielgaben set and/or the light panel that we have.
The bookshelves are so much better looking now and they actually have an area where they can sit and read. The storage table now holds their dress up and the new race car sets that they got for Christmas. The top of the table turns over and has a flat surface that they can set the race tracks up on so it works out great.
So far the only downside was that I moved the storage bench out and now I can’t reach the calendar to change out the month or days. Sigh, the constant struggles of being short. Luckily I have a kitchen stool that works just fine and I did get the calendar switched out.
My kids were happy to pass along some blessings to other kids that may not have gotten quite as much for Christmas. There were actually a couple of new toys that I passed along as well as I knew the kids would not play with them. This is something that we do every couple of months and sometimes they will actually bring me something that they no longer play with and ask me to pass it along to someone else.
I am slowly trying to pare down our belongings as the more stuff you have, the more clutter you have, and ultimately the more stress you have from keeping up with it and cleaning it. In the end it frees up some of my time also by not having to clean it, move it, or take care of it. Do you have something that you aren’t using? Why don’t you pass it along to someone who can use it. You’ll feel so much better.
I had never been a big fan of black-eyed peas. When I was trying to come up with a semi-traditional New Year’s meal a few years ago I decided that they should be included as we need all the good luck we can get. Right?
Well, I can’t guarantee that these will bring you good luck but they will fill your tummy. This recipe was a big hit at our house and so easy to make. We actually eat it a few times a year just because we like it. Continue reading “Black Eyed Peas”
We like eggs no matter how they are cooked. I love them in salads, deviled, and even pickled. All of these recipes call for boiled eggs though. That elusive boiled egg that seems like it should be so easy but can make even the calmest cook lose patience when the eggs refuse to give up those shells without making a mess of the egg beneath.
One of my fondest memories revolves around my mom-mom, my mom, and me in the kitchen trying to peel eggs. My mom-mom had her way to do it and my mom had her way. Me, I hadn’t a clue and we laughed so much at each of our attempts. It was a wonder that we managed to have enough eggs to make the deviled eggs that day!
There are a million and one, at least, ways to make a boiled egg. We can make them on the stove, in the microwave, in the oven, and I think there are gadgets to make the perfect boiled egg. I don’t know about all the other methods but this is the tried and true method we use here.
I recently found an even easier way to boil eggs using my Power Cooker. Check out this method HERE. Continue reading “Boiled Eggs”
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