Nothing Else Matters

Practicing Letters

2012-01-26T15:04:00.000-05:00

We spent some time this morning practicing letters in our salt box and with some shaving cream. Fun for Eden and Judah who could still play in it, plus it made my table really clean.

Favorite Books

2012-01-24T21:47:00.000-05:00

I am a book junky. Seriously, if I am interested in certain topic I will read everything I can on the subject. I don't need to agree with everything in it, or even most of it. I love getting a varied perspective, and even if I don't agree with most of the content, usually there is something of use or value in it. That being said I have read a lot of books. I also have a whole stack I got for Christmas that I haven't even had time to look at yet (I am super excited about them though).

For anyone who doesn't want to read 25 book in order to find one great one, here are some of the best I have read recently on the two subjects I have been reading about the most recently.

Parenting:
How to Really Love Your Child - I like this book for it's simplicity and perspective. I like that is really just about loving your child in a way that connects with them. I like this book in combination with a book like the next one I listed on discipline, because it makes for a more holistic perspective.

Setting Limits - This book is pretty much our theory on discipline. It was my theory before I read it, but it sort of made it more concrete. For anyone out there who has read Love & Logic, it is a very similar approach, except I hate that book. Ok, hate is a strong word, but I really dislike it.

I also own Setting Limits in the Classroom, which is the same concept just formatted for school. I used it a lot when I was working. For those of you who know me from work, you know how much I love classroom management and problem solving behavioral issues. Pretty much why I loved what I did.

Loving the Little Years- This book is just encouraging when you feel like you are loosing your mind. Small little profound book.

Home Organization/ Homemaking:
Steady Days- This one could sort of fall under parenting as it has a lot to do with daily scheduling. It is how I figured out how to schedule our days and how to rotate toys and activities in a more logical and organized way than just pulling out what ever fell on me out of our overstuffed closet.

Organized Simplicity - this is the most recent book I read, and it changed our house, literally. I have simplified and organized and minimized and I am getting rid of stuff. It is great. I am also loving my newly organized rooms and bookshelves.

Breakfast Freezer Burritos in Progress

2012-01-24T21:05:00.001-05:00

Backspash redo

2012-01-22T14:37:00.000-05:00

I have been wanting to do this magnetic, chalkboard backsplash in my kitchen for at least 4 years. I have been putting it off because I thought it would be a big pain to do. Turns out it was much easier than I thought. I am really happy with how it turned out. Sorry the pictures stink, our kitchen has the worst lighting ever. Before:

After:

I am still considering painting the actual countertop a light blue color, but I am not sure how I feel about a solid counter color with the solid backsplash. I need opinions, how do you feel about a light blue counter?

Things making my life just a little more enjoyable

2012-01-12T22:42:00.001-05:00

1. Coke. I think coke will always be my number one. Since I don't drink it all the time, when I have it now it is even more amazing than it used to be.

2. Amazon Prime. Why go to a store when things will be delivered to my house in 2 days. Sadly, I still go to the store. Sadly, free shipping is bad for my budget. Still, so enjoyable. And Sesame Street instantly streaming for free, nice since we don't have PBS. Ironic that I can't get the Public broadcasting Station.

3. Heated Mattress Pad. No really, I am in love. Carlos is also in love. You know the amazing feeling of your whole body relaxing when you first get into a hot tub, it seriously give that same feeling every night getting into bed. Both of us still comment on how amazing it is every stinking night.

4. Spray paint. I am living up the spray paint at our house, and probably have significantly less brain cells to show for it. I painted boxes for the shelves in my playroom. I painted picture frames and a vase because I wanted a new look on my bookshelves. It is crazy what a can of spray paint can do.

5. White Collar. New season started next week on USA. Sadly, I don't have USA, but I do have amazon and I intend to subscribe to the season, because it is worth every penny. I am in love with this show. I may love it in the same capacity that I loved the Gilmore Girls and that is saying a lot.

I is for Ice Cream

2012-01-12T22:23:00.000-05:00

It's not a party without a hat

2012-01-10T22:39:00.001-05:00

While having desert after dinner, I was wearing a cardboard crown that came in one of Eden's birthday cards and every time it fell off Eden would ask me why we were not having a party anymore. Later she took off her hat and said she wasn't having a party anymore. So next time you need a little bit of party in your life, just put on a hat and the party is where you are.

Birthday Scrapbook

2012-01-10T00:57:00.000-05:00

I decided to make each of the kids a scrapbook, but realistically I don't have time to scrapbook their whole lives for each of them. Tonight I finished Eden's so far. It has their ultrasound and a picture of me looking very large, their birth story, a list of their "firsts", and all the pictures that at somepoint have hung in the frame on our wall. For each birthday I plan on putting in their picture along with a birthday interview, a picture of our whole family, and a letter from Carlos and a letter from me. 3 pages each birthday, I should be able to handle that. My favorite part of this years interview was listening to how many answers related to Judah and how much she loves him.

Holiday Food

2012-01-06T14:44:00.000-05:00

I requested the quesitos which Carlos kindly made for me, and I made the empanadas because I wanted them. Carlos's pernil had been in the oven for a few hours now and he still has to make arroz con gandules. We are also having salad and potato salad (which seems very strange to me).

Hay for the Camels

2012-01-06T00:24:00.001-05:00

This year we decided that since the kids get so many gifts at Christmas, we would do most of our gifts on Three Kings Day. Three Kings Day is celebrated in Puerto Rico and we decided to add a little culture to our lives. Part of the tradition is putting hay or grass in your shoes or a shoe box for the wise men's camels to eat while they travel to visit Jesus. Similar to Christmas stockings, in the morning the hay is gone and it is replaced with gifts. So while the kids know there are really no kings coming to visit our house, they had a lot of fun getting their boxes ready. I will say it sure it make a big mess, only to have to clean it up and hour later when they went to bed. Gifts are in the bexes, and I am ready for bed. Tomorrow Carlos took the day off and we have a big Puerto Rician dinner. Here's to the last day of our holiday season.

H is for Horse

2012-01-06T00:06:00.001-05:00

Planning ahead

2012-01-05T14:41:00.002-05:00

I am a little bit of an organization freak. I like to plan ahead. I carry a paring knife (in a case) in my diaper bag in case I need to cut food at a restaurant that only gives me a table knife. I have an extra outfit for each kid, as well as diapers and wipes wipes in a bag in the back of our van. Then not only am I prepared for if I forget something, I don't have to take a diaper bag if I am just running to the store. The thing I most wanted for Christmas is a Leatherman (we are doing our gifts tomorrow for 3 kings day, so we will see if Carlos remembered). This also plays out into my cooking. I actually really enjoy cooking, I just don't have a lot of time to spend cooking at this point in my life. Plus, for some reason everyone in the house seems to loose their minds everyday right araound dinner time.So, my freezer is always full, with precooked meat and already made meals. I wait until boneless, skinless chicken breasts are on sale and buy at least 10 pounds. (sorry, I refuse to cook a whole chicken, it just isn't happening). I bought 10 pounds this morning, trimmed off any fat and threw all of it in the crockpot with a little water and adobo. Later I can shred it with forks and bag it in meal sized portions. I then have chicken ready for enchiladas, soup, casseroles or whatever. Makes cooking dinner so much faster, and less messy. I also bought 10 pounds of lean ground beef today which was also on sale as cheap as it will get. I will cook that this afternoon, 2 or 3 pounds I will probably season with taco seasoning while I cook it. So for less than an hour work one day, I have the meat cooked for at least 15 meals, probably more. It doesn't get much better than that. Plus, realisticly I hate cooking meat anyway, so now depending on what I am making it is already done. I also usually have the pulled pork in my freezer from the recipe I posted awhile ago, so that works for a bunch of meals too. I have a dry earse board on my fridge that lists everything in our freezer, and the looks of that list we won't be running out of things to eat for a long time. Anyone want to let me in on your best preparing ahead tips?

At Time To Plan- take 2

2012-01-02T22:12:00.000-05:00

This one is for you Kelly :)I spent Friday planning (and shopping with the help of some gift cards and birthday money). Since I was asked I will share a cliff notes version of a few of my goals for the next few months. While this not all of them or as detailed it is still a good idea of my goals. I would like to sit down for a day again this summer sometime and reevaluate. Personally: I want to start going to bed by 11pm or at least reading in bed by that point. My current practice of going to bed at 1 or 2 in the morning is crazy, and shockingly, lack of sleep makes me grumpy (as does being hot, cold, or hungry). Sleep is in my control, and I am rarely doing anything of worth late a night, I think I am just living up the freedom I have now that I don't need to get up at 4:30 every morning. I want to exercise 4 days a week, which I have been doing, but I need to stay committed to it. My doctor said he would most likely take me off at least one of my blood pressure medications at my next appointment and I would certainly like to help that along. I also want to start memorizing more scripture. For the kids: I want to focus on instructing their hearts. While I appreciate it when my kids are well behaved, that is not my overall goal. I want them to have their hearts in the right place. I want them to do it because they want to, not because they have to. I want them to learn to love and obey God. Part of my focus on this mean I need to cut things out of my schedule so that we are home most days. My goal is to do everything that needs to be done outside the house Tues & Thur. mornings most weeks so that I can focus on their interactions and their hearts. This one is not going to be easy for me. I like being busy, but I also know this is only for a short season in our lives. It means I need to be present and attentive for teachable moments during our days together. It means a lot of conversation, and training, and role playing. I am tired just thinking about it. On, the bright side, Eden & Judah love it. They love when I pretend to be one of them and they can teach me how respond if someone takes my toy. Sometimes I would rather just be cleaning the bathroom. Also, I want to work with them on responding when we say their name. Even if I am not asking them to do something, I want them to acknowledge someone is talking to them and that they hear what is being said. I also want to work on obeying, meaning they obey the first time something is asked by Carlos or I, they do it with a good attitude and they do it fully. Along with that is how to respond if they don't agree with something being asked of them. While all of this seems like a lot, it is all stuff that will take years to fully develop, plus it is mostly just work on my part. They just get to play and have fun. So that is part of where I am at now, in 6 months when none of this has happened, we will keep trying. And trust me it sounds much more complicated written out with my explanations than it does written in bullet points on my tablet.

A time to plan

2011-12-28T07:00:00.000-05:00

This Friday I am going to spend a few hours at a coffee shop or something like it, to plan and prioritize for this coming year. Thankfully, Carlos is off work Friday, so I can have whatever time I want. I plan on taking my home organization notebook, my Bible, my journal, maybe a book, and then buying a nice desert and hot drink.

Things I want to work on:

Our daily schedule: what works & what doesn't, are we meeting our goals
Our Weekly schedule: we need to be home more.
Things to focus on with the kids and goals for each of them.
Personal goals: Spiritual, health, marriage etc.
Prioritizing my responsibilities.

I have been thinking a lot about peace and the importance of peace being prominent in our home, I think as I plan the priority of a peace filled home will be play into a lot of my goals for the year.

Hair Cut

2011-12-27T22:18:00.001-05:00

Message Board

2011-12-27T22:16:00.000-05:00

I found an old frame in the attic,, bought some fabric for in it and now I have a new message board hanging in my kitchen. Love it. I also made one out of a 5x7 frame and scrapbook paper that I put in our upstairs bathroom for Carlos and I to write notes on to each other.

Pajama Thursday

2011-12-15T20:37:00.001-05:00

Today is the day Carlos is not home at all, and we decided pajama day is just not enough. So, we added a tent and some flashlights. Eden and Judah were also allowed to bring their stuffed animal downstairs. I think that may have been Eden's favorite part. Eden's goat and Judah's dog are the animals that they are super attached to, normally these animals are never allowed to leave their bedroom. Today though, Pepe and Paco went camping.

Stupid, stupid, stupid

2011-12-14T21:39:00.001-05:00

In an attempt to keep my son from climbing everything in my house, I bought a climber for $20 on Craig's list to keep in the living room through the winter. I should have gotten a clue when the lady I bought it from only had taken it half apart, and said she was having a hard time getting the other sides apart, but I figured how hard could a giant piece of plastic be to put together. Hard. Really, really hard.

Keep in mind there are only 7 pieces total and it was already half together, still really hard. An hour into me trying to finish putting it together, Eden said, "Mommy, Daddy will fix it when he gets home." Normally, I would have given up 5 minutes in, but the stupid thing just made me mad. After I realized I put the side on backwards (which is why the slide didn't fit in right), I tried for at least 20 more minutes to get the side back off to fix it. I ended up laying flat on my back next to it staring at the ceiling and taking deep breaths to stop myself from beating the stupid thing, while the kids played in the unfinished, ridiculously made climber. I might still be a little bitter. Even more annoyingly, Eden was right, 5 minutes after Carlos came home, it was put together correctly. Evidently, the key is to hit it as hard at you can, and it will finally come apart.

In this picture Eden sort of looks like how I felt. She was mad at Judah because he didn't want to come sit in the "boat" with her.

Playtime

2011-12-14T21:21:00.001-05:00

When I pull activities or toys out of the closet, sometimes I have the kids each sit on their own blanket to play with whatever it is I give them. It works well because they are not toys they play with all the time, and they know they have to keep it on the blanket. Notice in the last picture there is a climber between their blankets, trust me when I say it is so much better when they can't see what each other is doing.

Plastic eggs and an empty egg carton is the newest hot toy in our house.

This last picture is an attempt at helping Judah learn his colors. The kids jump from square to square saying the color. In Eden's case she counts them. Did it help Judah have any idea what yellow is? Not so much. It was just annoying to look at every time I pasted the hallway. Fail, I don't recommend this.

Calm down people.

2011-12-08T03:44:00.001-05:00

If you spent enough time at our house, you would realize that the phrase, "people need to caaaaaalm down," is said pretty often. In the vast scheme of life, many of the things people get so worked up about just really are not that big of a deal. I have come to the decision a little while ago that I no longer care what people think, or at least I will try really hard not to care what people think. Really, unless there is some real issue that needs addressed, most things are based on opinion. This post is for all of you that are tired of hearing other people's opinions on choices you make; if sarcasm is not your thing you may need to browse the internet elsewhere.

If you are a parent, you realize that now not only are people secretly opinionated about your life, suddenly your parenting decisions are okay to be openly questioned or disagreed with. In general, I am pretty mellow about stuff. I don't mind people having different opinions, but for whatever reason parenting is one thing that appears to be socially acceptable to flat-out judge people's decisions and tell them how wrong they are.

No, I am not breastfeeding my 5-month-old. I will clarify that I tend to have a lot of attitude, so someone telling me I didn't try hard enough (after two months of pumping and dumping off and on because of pain medication I was on) just makes me think they are an idiot. Ok, that sounds harsh, but it is what goes through my head (you know you think it, too, sometimes). I am taking medication for post-partum depression, and I feel better than I have since Eden was born. I prefer that to encapsulating my placenta and ingesting it. Not judge in my post about not judging, but just the thought of that makes me want to vomit. If you haven't heard of that, you totally need to look it up.

We didn't give Judah cereal when he was a baby for a long time—because of his allergies our pediatrician said to wait. I remember telling Carlos that there was a good chance I was going to punch the next person who told us his weight issues were all because of the lack of cereal…No, we don't spank, nor do I see the point…Yes, my kids know the word obey and it is important to me that they do it (who knew the word obey could cause controversy)…I want my kids to have a healthy view of food, so, no, they can't have the 6th cookie…Just because we have three kids very close together doesn't make it acceptable to say things like "whoa, Levi is 5 months old, shouldn't you be pregnant again?"…We have every intention of adopting at least one, maybe two older children someday in the distant future. A 10-year-old or older, and then I will be sure to get even more opinions from people…There is a good possibility we might homeschool, even if we opt against it, we know we won't send them to public school. We are not opposed to public school, it just isn't right for us, right now…I saved my favorite and by people's reactions, the most shocking, for last. Maybe you should sit down for this one. No, we don't do Santa. I am totally okay with my kids sitting on his lap and reading about him, but I am not telling my kids he is real.

Those are the hot topics for people around us, if you have kids you have hot topics, too. What is great is that even if you disagree with me on every one of those things, it's okay. They are not deal-breaking issues, even if they are passionately held onto. So, I say, Calm Down People.

I realize that these types of opinionated criticisms are certainly not limited to parenting—that is just one easy area to talk about. As a democrat who doesn't go to church, but still a Christian who loves Jesus with everything that I am, I am completely aware that judgement is very prevalent in all areas. Wouldn't it be interesting to ask someone why they feel a certain way? It might give people a different perspective on others. Ah, the joy of true community (oh, wait that is a whole other discussion).

So next time you are listening to someone's unsolicited "advice", walk away, take a deep breath, and say to yourself, "people just need to caaaaalm down" (I recommend dragging the word calm out when you say it, for dramatic effect). It probably isn't the end of the world, and it is a much better solution than punching them in the face :)

11:05PM: Organizing

2011-11-27T00:40:00.001-05:00

Advent Countdown for Carlos

2011-11-25T21:03:00.001-05:00

Please excuse the messy bathroom.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T22:52:00.001-05:00

We decided to go with a cheese danish thing for breakfast, fabulous. Plus it was done and in the fridge, so no work in the morning.

Somethings to be Thankful in the past year.

Need to update the look

2011-11-21T23:22:00.001-05:00

I realize my blog is a little out of date, the pictures are old, we have another kid, we have a different dog. I would love to change it, I have no idea how to do that. Carlos changed stuff around a long time ago when he put that header up for me and now I don't know how to change it without his help. Since he is currently working on 2 websites in the evenings, my blog doesn't rate very high on his priority list. It turns out the two paying clients take priority. I am pushing my luck by making him do the Christmas card I want to send.

Just to clarify, I would be perfectly happy uploading a picture to Shutterfly and ordering Christmas Cards. Evidently, Carlos thinks a Shutterfly Christmas card is beneath him, since he can design his own. If he doesn't make time for it in the near future, Shutterfly he will get. On a funny note about our Christmas card picture, we both really liked the same picture of our family, but Levi's eyes were mostly closed. When I was showing Carlos the pictures, I mentioned that it stinks his eyes were closed because everyone was actually looking at the camera (a big deal with 3 little people), Carlos's response was that he would just fix it so Levi's eyes were open. I was not aware that was a possibility. He did fix it, and now Levi's eyes are open. Nice.

This is all very random, but it is late and I just happened to look at the picture at the top of the blog and realized just how old it is.

Things I like online right now

2011-11-19T22:23:00.001-05:00

Evernote: I love having everything in one place. I can clip just parts of a web page or the whole thing, take notes, whatever. Then, I can put it all in nicely organized folders with tags so stuff is easy to find. Plus, I can access everything from my computer, i pod, or anywhere I am online.

Amazon: What's not to love. I have a wishlist, I have one for the kids, Carlos has 3 (he is just weird). Now I never need to forget what I want to buy someday. Plus, cheap books.

Swagbucks: Love that I earn gift cards just for using their search engine. I signed up a little over a year ago and have gotten $65 in amazon gift cards. Carlos has had it that long as well and he has only gotten like $5, because he never uses it. For free gift cards, I am all in. Who needs Google anyway?

Google Reader: I guess I still do need Google. I read way to many blogs, 62 to be exact. That just makes me look pathetic, but I can only do it because of Google reader. All I have to do is go to one site that keeps track of everything I read. The vast majority of those are kids stuff, cooking or decorating and I can just skim through in a few minutes and just stop if something catches my interest. There is no way I would be able to go to all those sites on my own.

Pintrest: I already professed my love for pintrest in another post, but just in case you missed that. I find great joy in it. I have no idea what the invitation thing is about, but if you would like me to I can invite you (or you can just go to the site and ask them to send you an invite). If anyone understands the reason for that, can you explain it to me?

I think it all boils down to the fact that I like getting ideas from other people, hence all the blogs and pintrest, and then I need sites to organize it all.

Lullabies

2011-11-16T22:24:00.001-05:00

I was responding to someones facebook post about a lullaby CD, and I just realized I really needed to share my favorite CD here. For all of you with kids who are looking for something to play, I can not recommend this enough. Actually, sometimes it is playing over the monitor when the kids are going to bed, and I think about how I should really play it for myself. It is called Hidden In My Heart, their site says it is a lullaby journey through scripture. All I know is that it is amazing. No really, AMAZING. Something about having my kids fall asleep while listening to truth is great, but they fact that it isn't crappy kids music is even better. (I am not judging all kids music, we own a lot of it and listen to it frequently. But you know there is a type of kids music that will make anyone nuts).

Eden had always taken a super long time to fall asleep, she never complains about it, it just takes her a long time. Soon after we moved her to a twin bed, we were trying to give her ways to wind down and relax while she tried to fall asleep (otherwise we would wake up to all the clothing out of her closet and strewn around the room). So the the work of a sticker chart and a grand prize of going to Chocolate World, she learned to stay in bed (Give that girl incentive and she will do anything, I am pretty sure I won't move Judah out a crib until he is 16). I still felt bad it took her a long time to fall asleep, so she is allowed to take 3 books to bed every night and she has a CD she listens to. I literally spent hours listening to samples of bedtime CD's, I pretty much gave up finding anything I actually liked and wanted her to listen to every night, and then I found this. I don't even know how I found it, but I love it. Months and months later I still love it.

Sometimes when I can't sleep because I watched to much Criminal Minds and I am just sure some serial killer is going to break into our house, I think maybe I should really just play it for myself (and never watch that show again).

If you check out their site here, you can listen to samples of all the songs if you click through them. Best money I have spent on a CD in a long time. Just sharing, because I love a good suggestion that I know worked for someone else.

Book Review

2011-11-15T22:42:00.001-05:00

The Harvest of Grace- Cindy Woodsmall

The Harvest of Grace tells the story of Sylvia, an AmishWoman, who while dealing with a huge betrayal, makes a decision to take a job ata farm working far from her family. While working at her new job she meets Aaron, who recently out of rehab,is home trying to convince his parents to sell their farm. Sylvia and Aaron deal with their own painfulpasts while fighting about the future of the farm.

When I started reading The Harvest of Grace, I was lookingforward to relaxing and getting lost in a light fiction read. It fulfilled that and more. While predictable in the romance thatoccurred, the stories of the characters pasts and how they learned to extendgrace to others, as well learn to embrace grace in their own lives added adepth that I wasn’t expecting.

One struggle I had while reading was that this is the thirdbook in the Ada’s House Series,which I didn’t realize until after I started reading. While there was areference list of characters in the back of the book, it definitely took me longerto get connected to the characters because I was trying to catch up on thingsthat had happened in the previous books. I would definitely recommend starting at the beginning of the series. Hearing bits and pieces of the othercharacters, made me wish I had heard their stories from the beginning.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for my honest review.

Interested in reviewing books?

2011-11-15T22:35:00.001-05:00

This summer I signed up to review books as part of WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Groups, Blogging for Books program. Basically, if you have a blog and would like get some free books in exchange for writing a review all you need to do is sign up. All of that being said, when I have a post with the title "book review" that is what I am doing. I had all these visions of reading lot of books, turns out I am not quite that motivated and I have only read 2 since I signed-up. If you are interested, they are looking for more people to sign-up and start reviewing books. It really is a great opportunity to read some books I wouldn't have read otherwise.

Thinking Christmas

2011-11-13T21:41:00.001-05:00

Since I have recently become a stay-at-home mom, I feel like all the planning I used to do for the kids at work, I should now do for my kids. Of course since no one is paying me, and no one is checking to see if I am doing it, I am not as motivated as I was while working. I am been thinking a lot about Christmas and what I want to do with them and traditions we want to have, as this is the first year Eden really gets what Christmas is and is excited about it. My goal for the evening was to sit down and plan out some ideas and organize them a little, but I am putting it off by writing about it instead. Maybe it will help me think. Here are some things we want to do this year.

For breakfast on Thanksgiving we are going to have cinnamon rolls and I am planning on getting a table cloth that we will use every year for Thanksgiving breakfast. Every year everyone will write 3 things they are thankful for on the table cloth. I think it will be awesome to look back a few years from now and see that Eden was thankful for stinkbugs, doors and feet (those are somethings she is thankful for right now in her prayers).

The day after Christmas we get our tree and decorate it. It is also the day we start our theme for the year. This year Carlos is going with something simple that the kids will be able to really get, baby Jesus. So we have an ornament that goes along with that theme they will open and put on the tree, and we bought a super simple book that tells they Christmas story they will open as well. Some other ideas Carlos has planned will be looking at the kids' baby pictures, going to a live nativity and having a birthday party for Jesus. I'm not sure what else he is thinking, we try to do one thing a week that focuses on the theme and that is all his deal to plan.

I am trying to think of things to put in our wooden advent calendar. There will be candy, but I was thinking I could put in an paper with an activity at least some days, bake cookies, go look at lights, etc. If anyone has any ideas for me, I can certainly use them. I also found something to print that has a verse about the Christmas story for each day. Here is the link if anyone else is interested.

What are your traditions or plans for the holidays?

Pajama Party

2011-11-04T22:22:00.000-04:00

On the nights that Carlos volunteers at the pregnancy center he doesn't get home until after 9pm. I always dread those long days, but this week I decided I needed to do something different and so we had a pajama party. We changed into our PJ's right after nap time, we had pancakes for supper. I wasn't really sure the kids would get it, but they we super excited. Quite honestly one of the reasons I chose to do this was because it would save me from having to change them at bed time, and for whatever reason it seemed to make my evening less complicated (at least in my head). Evidently it was a hit, when Carlos got home he went to say goodnight (since the kids were still up talking to each other) and he came down to tell me that Eden told him all about having a pajama party and eating pancakes. I may have to make this a regular thing for you evenings along. Oh, and I figured out how to use the timer on my camera, nice.

confessions

2011-11-02T22:33:00.000-04:00

I order pizza for dinner at least once a week on the spur of the moment, because I don't feel like eating what I planned on making, or because I just don't want to make it (I have been getting better at this, I think I have it down to once every week and a half).

Eden & Judah's bedroom looks like an explosion occurred. I just don't care if the books and toys get put away. The kids are really good at cleaning up in every other room in the house, but I just never ask them to clean up the bedroom. Maybe once every 2 weeks when I can't walk without injuring myself we suck it up and put everything away.

We eat lunch on paper plates everyday, because I don't have the motivation to clean dishes. So bad for the environment, I need to work on that.

When I feed Levi, I use that time to surf the internet on my i pod.

There is glass from a vase I broke laying at the bottom of the closet in the playroom; it has been there for 2 weeks and I don't foresee it getting cleaned up today.

I ate 6 fun size snickers bars today.

There is often a trash bag (or two?) laying by our side door because I don't feel like walking it around the house to the trash can.

My kids' baby books are 50% empty. I would love to write down the date of the first time Levi laughed, if only I knew when that happened.

The stairs to the attic have piles of things on them that I just never get around to actually taking up there.

The spinals on our staircase are painted a beautiful white, only up to the landing where they turn and you can no longer see them from the 1st floor. Every few months I think about finishing them, and then decide that just doesn't seem like much fun.

Everyday at nap time I sit on the couch. That is it. I might watch TV, read or play on the computer, but I refuse to do anything that involves getting off the couch and is not relaxing. Just thinking about all the ways I could use that time productively wears me out, so I don't even try.

Home Organization Notebook

2011-11-02T21:51:00.001-04:00

I found this idea on a few blogs and found it to be really helpful, evidently it is a pretty common idea. Basically, it is just a 3-ring binder that has all the things in it you need to manage your house. I put our daily schedule in the front of mine. I then have a tab for calendars, meal planning, cleaning, planning activities for the kids, inspirational things I print or cut out, hospitality ideas, family (which includes a vision for our family Carlos and I wrote as well as general goals I am working on with the kids, family activity ideas and pretty much anything else that I need), Carlos (which has date night ideas, ideas on how I can help him etc), and Holidays which right now has ideas for Christmas, lists for gifts etc. I love that I can find everything in one place and it is organized, plus I also know where I can write down ideas or random thoughts.

I also found this weekly planning sheet that I love and keep in front of the calendar pages. Here is a link the the weekly sheet.

There is a lot of information out there about this kind of notebook, but this one is the most helpful blogs I read about it. It also has a bunch of printable you can add. So, while totally not my idea, I highly recommend this if you are feeling disorganized or just need help keeping everything flowing. You can find mine on my kitchen counter leaning against the coffee maker.

Pintrest

2011-11-02T21:26:00.001-04:00

I am officially obsessed with Pintrest, I have found the coolest things to do on there. I love organization and kids activities, Pintrest rocks my world. This is my coffee table this afternoon as I was working on all the projects I just found and had to do right away. I even made cheap 3-ring binders from walmart pretty, for my new filing system.

I have always loved boxes or bags that have an activity in them that the kids are able to do on their own. I have a whole stack of thin plastic bins on my shelf that has these kind of activities in them, hours of entertainment all in a little box. These are some new ones I just had to make. A clothes line made with clothes pins and clothes I cut out of felt. To hard for Judah, but Eden LOVED it!

I also made a felt Christmas tree and pieces to decorate it, and a bag filled with pony beads and pipe cleaners. The beads and pipe cleaners was great with both kids. Eden made a necklace and Jude practiced pulling them on and off.

All of these activities and a few more (I told you I was obsessed) are in individual ziplock bags I can hand to one of the kids. Something I do find really helpful when I do activities like these is to have each kids on their own blanket. My kids each have their own blanket and they know if they have a box or bag activity none of the pieces can leave the blanket. It keeps things was more contained, plus if it has small pieces like rice I can just lift the blanket so it all ends up on a pile in the middle for easy clean up. In the case of more than one kid it also keeps them away from each other so they can't steal each others pieces.

Going Out

2011-11-01T15:00:00.000-04:00

I don't know if this is how most people feel, but getting out of the house on a regular basis keeps me sane. Specifically during the day with the kids. Every now and then people look at me like I am weird when I am walking with across the parking lot with all of them, evidently getting the 3 of them ready and doing things seems overwhelming to some people. I think it is seriously stress relieving. Everyone is happier to be doing something, and the majority of the time the kids are better behaved out than at home. (Eden say on a regular basis "I want to see the people").I used to grocery shop for the most part once a month, now we go every Monday. They people at Giant know us, and oddly enough I feel like it is a break in my day. They only downfall on that outing is when the lady at the deli counter doesn't offer them cheese, Seriously, they need to do it all the time or not at all. All it does it cause tension when we get close and the kids start talking about the cheese they are going to get and then they don't get any. There have been many tears cried over those cheese slices. Today, we went to the coveted pet store. The excitement that occurred when I said we were going to go to Pet Smart was amazing. Checking out the birds, rodents, snakes and cats is a free way to earn some cool mom points. We did buy Stanley and new bone during our trip today, and it appears I need to add the pet toy isle to the list of things we look at while we are there. Eden pretended to eat all kinds of squeaky toys shaped like food, while Judah laughed at her.The library which I mentioned in my last post is always a popular outing. As is pretty much anywhere I normally run errands. Today we were at AAA to get Carlos an EZ Pass thing for the turnpike, we went to the pet store to check out the animals, then went to Khols and TJ Max looking for trousers for Carlos (He is obsessed with trousers as the moment). The hour and a half before lunch was filled and everyone was happy. So if you are going crazy at home, Eden would say "Lets go dooooo something."

The Library

2011-10-31T23:20:00.000-04:00

I have always used the library off and on, but quite honestly it is not that easy to browse or even just look something up and go find it when I have 3 kids with me (especially when 2 of those kids think playing with the foam blocks they have in the kids area is the reason we go). So, here comes my big tip...get on online user password. Then you can sit in the comfort of your own home and search all the libraries in the county and when you find something you want you can place a request. It is delivered to the library of your choice in one or two days, and some nice person will call and tell you to pick up your stuff. Wait it gets better, my next tip is to every now and then go through your amazon wish list (mine is huge) and search for the books and music on it. I do this every few months, heck 5 minutes ago I placed a request for 6 books that were on my wish list for me or the kids and a CD I have been wanting to check out. So, on Wednesday or Thursday all I have to do is run in tell them they have books on reserve for me. In and out in 5 min or less with books I really want to read (or music or movies). That being said, I do sometimes suck it up and go let the kids play with the blocks, oh wait, I meant browse the kids books. Maybe someday the books will take priority over the blocks.

Dry Erase Notebooks

2011-10-10T22:23:00.001-04:00

I found this idea on a blog I read the other day and decided I needed to try it even though my kids are a little young for writing. Basically, you just put lined paper in page protectors and into a 3 ring binder and then you can use dry erase markers just like you would on a white board. I put one page of lined paper, white paper, and a page from a coloring book in them, as well as a little zipper pouch that goes into the binder to hold the markers and some paper towels. It is made with all stuff we had sitting around and it entertained the kids for a long time (Judah loved erasing things). I think this would be nice entertainment at a restaurant, not that I have any desire to take 3 kids out to eat. (Notice Judah's green headband?)

Best thrift store purchase yet

2011-10-10T22:07:00.000-04:00

I bought a learning tower for $20 at a thrift store last week, They are normally $200 just for the tower and extra for the playhouse kit, which just happened to come with my $20 version. The whole point of it is to have something safe to stand on to help in the kitchen or whatever. Totally not a necessity, but we have the space and for $20 I am loving it.

Sensory Boxes

2011-10-10T21:57:00.000-04:00

I discovered (or maybe rediscovered) my love for the dollar store. I love that they sell a mass amount of plastic containers. So today the kids and I hit the dollar store with the goal to find things to make some sensory boxes to play with. I am super happy with how they turned out, plus the tubs are stackable which makes it even better. The dinosaur one is my favorite, but I am pretty happy with the fall one as well.

Date Night

2011-09-26T21:50:00.000-04:00

Saturday night after the kids go to bed is our at home date night. Realistically, it is the only way a date night is happening on an even remotely regular basis. The theory is that we will alternate each week who is in charge of planning, realistically we often don't remember until it is Saturday night. This weekend in an attempt to add some more creativity, we went bowling. I bought nachos and soft pretzels since that is our usual bowling food and borrowed my bowling set from work. It turned out to be rather fun, although Carlos kept getting all worked up about the spacing of the pins. I learned how scoring is actually done in bowling, seriously I had no idea how a spare or strike was calculated. The only real problem was trying to keep the dog out of the bowling lane, evidently rolling a ball down the hallway means playtime.
Looking down the bowling lane

Oh and I won!

Anyone have an future date night suggestions?

A cowboy cat

2011-09-23T19:00:00.000-04:00

Beans and the Letter B

2011-09-23T15:10:00.000-04:00

Crockpot Pulled Pork

2011-09-22T15:33:00.001-04:00

I don't remember how I found this recipe, but I love it. Seriously, love it. Carlos is weird about eating sandwiches with sauce already on it, so the fact that this meat is just seasoned and you add whatever sauce you want later works really well for us (We are fans of Jack Daniels BBQ sauce). Realistically, I don't buy a pork shoulder with the bone in it, I just buy 2 pork roasts. I also don't do the whole rub the meat and then refrigerate it thing. I did the first time I made it, but the second time I didn't have time so I just threw everything in and it ended up tasting exactly the same. I like making as much as will fit in my crockpot because then what we don't eat I can freeze. Last week we used some I had frozen for pork fajitas and they were amazing. Guacamole, lime flavored rice, seasoned pork, lettuce, sour cream, cheese, grilled onions and peppers; I felt like we were at Chipotle. So check out the blog I got it from. Pulled pork

Most fought over toys

2011-09-22T15:10:00.001-04:00

Storage

2011-09-14T14:21:00.000-04:00

We have a real problem in our house with hats, sunglasses, sunscreen; and in the winter more hats, scarves and gloves. I have been keeping all this in a basket by the door, which is in our laundry room. It just looks messy and I can never find what I want when I am in a hurry. Not anymore though, I bought a cheap back of the door shoe rack and now I can find everything and I don't have to look at it because it is behind a door that is always open. Love it. (Don't mind the chewed up trim on the doorway, Stanley had a fight with it.

Apple Trees and Emotions

2011-09-12T21:00:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in my last post, we started following a schedule I made. Turns out we actually do a lot more when we have a plan. We talked about emotions today, not sure why it just sort of happened. We made faces, talked about what makes us feel certain things, and made faces out of our snack. On the schedule for Monday afternoon, we get the big wooden blocks out of the closet. Since they are not out all the time, the kids are content to play with them and I got to dust and vacuum in peace. Also, on my schedule for Monday evening is painting. 5pm really goes downhill for me, and if I didn't have to do something I would just sit on the couch, so I deliberately planned something I needed to be involved in. Today we painted finger print apple trees. Before you think I am totally OCD, I should mention that if we find something better to do we ditch the schedule. It just makes things run much smoother through some really long days, with 3 kids two and a half and under. Structure is a key to survival.

This is Judah post painting, a little messy.

New Schedule

2011-09-08T13:25:00.004-04:00

With the new school year starting, I also started a new routine at home. Our days during the school year are much longer since I work in the morning and Carlos only gets home close to 7pm so I am trying to structure our time. The new schedule helps me make sure we are doing things that I want to be doing with the kids and not just crashing when I get home from work. If you actually saw the schedule, you would probably think I am a little OCD, but it makes for super easy days with little thought from me. It helps me rotate the toys and keeps the kids from being bored. I took some pictures of what we did today, mainly because Eden wanted to show Daddy what she did today.

We spent sometime sorting beans and counting them.