What's For Dinner?

The all-time Mommy dilemma...what's for dinner?  There are many solutions to help solve the problem such as weekly menus, freezer meals, dinner groups, etc.  but no matter what you do to help you out the question is always looming...what are we eating for dinner?!  So, here's my answer, this is what we are having for dinner tonight:

 

It is a Southwestern Chicken medley that is so easy and soooooooo good!  You dump frozen corn, frozen chicken breasts, black beans, and a jar of salsa into the crockpot and let it cook to perfection all day!  It is yummy by itself, on rice, or in tortillas. If you would like the exact recipe, click here.  Another tip: when you cook in the crockpot use Reynolds Crockpot Liners!!  They make clean-up a breeze, I rarely use my crockpot without them!  And for more delicious recipes, check under the heading "What's for dinner?" on the right side of the blog.  I have listed some of my all time favorite food blogs that will hopefully help you out with any dinner dilemma!

Valentine's Day Sacks

I debated posting this because Valentine's Day is over, but finally thought it was still the month of love so why not.  If anything, you can file the idea away for next year or take it and change it to match another holiday.  This year to help us get into the Valentine spirit we decorated Valentine sacks to hang on our doors.

They were super easy to make!  We started with a regular paper sack (I had some white ones I picked up a while ago from the dollar section at Target, but brown sacks would work fine) and added to it hearts cut from construction paper, bling, ribbon, poms, flower cut outs, googly eyes, etc.  Basically any odds and ends that were lying around the house.  (I often pick up random craft supplies from the dollar store or dollar section at Target when I see it and then keep them on hand for activities like this and then my three year old can have plenty of variety).  We glued everything on with Elmer's school glue.  I put some in a cup and gave my son a Q-tip to spread the glue where he wanted it and he did a pretty good job!   

After we were finished decorating, we let the glue dry a bit and then stapled a strip of construction paper across the top to use as a door hanger.  We made sure we had a sack for everyone in the family, including Dad, and then we hung them on all the doors.   Our hallway looked pretty festive when we were all through!

I like to do the 14 days of Valentine's each year, so the sacks worked perfect as the place to leave everyone's daily treat.  The treats I do are just little, and if I feel really ambitious I add a little cheesy note like "You are the best Valentine, bar none" on a granola bar or "Valentine, you make my heart pop" with a bag of microwave popcorn.  Zach, my three year old, loved finding his treat everyday and so did my husband.  On Valentine's Day this year I left a clue, instead of a treat, that led my son on a Valentine's treasure hunt to find a special Valentine present.  We really had a good time and we were definitely into the Valentine spirit!   

Chores

I've read a lot of articles and watched a few experts say that assigning responsibilities to children in the home can build self esteem, it prevents "spoiling" and it makes them, in general, more responsible people.  I've also had a few moms tell me it helps their children feel important and needed, and that it is never too young to start.   So, needless to say, one of the things I've been wanting to do with my three year old is assign him some "chores" to do to help around the house.  He loves to sort things and I hate laundry, so I decided that having him help me put his clean clothes away was a great place to start.  I began by taking pictures of a few items of his clothes in each drawer.  Then I inserted those pictures into a word document and made little labels to put on the front of each drawer where the corresponding clothing items are kept. Finally, I cut them out and taped them to the front of the drawers so my son would know where the correct place to put everything was, and voila, I was ready to give my son his first chore.

It worked so well!!  I would fold the clothes and he would put them away.  He loves to sort things, so this was the perfect first job.  He loves to help mom and he feels super proud when he puts everything in the right place.  He even sorted his colored socks from his white ones without me telling him to, which was amazing.  I get part of my laundry done a little faster so I'm happy too.  And one other bonus I didn't count on was that it helps him get dressed in the morning because he knows where to find everything...and dad knows too so he can't get out of a job by playing dumb.  If this is something you want to try, but you don't want to make your own labels, click here and you will be taken to Hannah Keeley's website where you can print off some cute drawer labels complete and ready to be downloaded and printed off.  Hannah Keeley is a professional organizer (with her own show called Hannah Help Me) and her website is full of good ideas!  I do have one word of advice...I taped on my labels, which could mean damage to my dresser fronts one day.  If this is a problem for you, find an alternative way to put on the labels, like the sticky tac that teachers use or some other non-damaging substance.  Even if sorting laundry is not something you want your toddler doing, I still suggest finding a household job for your little ones to do!  My sister does more simple things like "it is your job to take the empty milk jugs out to the cooler when they are empty" or "it is your job to pick up all the shoes around the house before you go to bed."  Though simple, her girls just love their "chores" and take them very seriously.  It really does make children feel important when you give them a job and it eliminates something off the busy mom's to-do list.  It's definitely a win-win!

Quick Fixes

If you love quick and easy tips to help you clean or fix things around your home then click here to watch a video clip from the Today show.  It features an online editor from This Old House showing some really good tricks of the trade and it is fabulous! I tried to embed it into the post, but it didn't want to play today.  I guarantee it's worth the extra click to see it!   There is a solution to kid doodles on your kitchen tables, patching nail holes in your wall, cleaning stains out of your stainless steel sink, and cleaning your wooden cutting board!  There is also a fantastic idea on how to fix those annoying cupboard doors that just won't close. I'm actually going out today to buy magnet fasteners.  It is going to revolutionize my kitchen!  If you like the ideas in this video, check out the magazine Real Simple (or visit their website), they always have good ideas like the ones shown in the clip.  I actually learned the salt/lemon juice for cleaning my cutting board from reading Real Simple.  I use it all the time and it works great!  Hope you enjoy the video clip and happy fixing!

Car Dilemas

Riding in the car with kids can sometimes be, well, less than desirable to put it nicely. We are always looking for things to make long car trips a little more pleasant for both us and the little ones. If you are at all like me, here are two ideas to add to your list:

God bless portable DVD players!! Sometimes I wonder how parents ever survived without them. But if you ever feel the guilty twinge of putting yet another mindless video on for your kids (or spending even more mindless hours playing portable video games) here is another idea. Put together a video slideshow of past family vacations, events, etc. with fun, upbeat music and play that instead. It will get their memories churning, stimulate conversation in the car, and generate lots of laughter! Though I've never tried this in the car (I read the suggestion in a magazine but I plan to try it soon), I often use the slideshow feature on our Mac at home and Zach, my three year old, will spend half-an-hour or more looking at old pictures. He loves it! I also put on home videos of him as a baby and he loves watching those as well. If you have access to an ipod touch or ipad, you can put slideshows on those too and you have instant, portable entertainment at the doctor's office or while shopping for furniture or any other place that kids tend to pull out the monsters!

We often listen to children's CDs in the car such as favorite Disney movies or the Wiggles. But there are days I just can't listen to one more silly song, so I started checking out books from the library that have accompanying audio CDs. And though Zach is only three, he loves listening to the stories! I can also hand him the book, and even though he doesn't understand how to follow the pages exactly, he enjoys looking at the pictures at random as he listens to the story. His recent favorite, due to the fact that he is obsessed with witches and ghosts, is Piggie Pie. It is a darling book about Gritch the Witch's desire for a delicious piggie pie. When she discovers she has no piggies on hand, she flies to Old McDonald's Farm to get some. When the pigs see her coming they dress up as the other animals on the farm and the Witch searches for the little pigs in vain! It is very funny and it is read very well on the audio CD. Zach asks for it every time we get in the car. My sister has downloaded some stories onto her ipod and listens to those in her car. Her daughter loves them too! If you have older kids you can check out favorite novels such as Harry Potter or Charlie Bone and I'm sure they'll listen eagerly and quietly! And you, the driver, may be entertained as well...which means a more pleasant drive for everyone!

Pantry Blues?

Do you have a pantry that you don't even want to look inside to see what to make for dinner? Do you put things away after a grocery trip only to find they have disappeared into the abyss of your cupboards? Do you reach for an item and realize it is way past the due date and you feel guilt for having to throw it away unused? I definitely struggle with all of these problems, and so when I watched this on Studio 5 today I was truly inspired! If you have been looking for ideas to tackle your pantry then this is the clip to watch! You'll be amazed at the transformation and the good ideas that are offered, and even if you aren't ready to tackle the pantry organization job yet, you can at least know it is possible to do it someday! You can also click here to read some of Kelly Pratt's (the professional organizer in the clip) pantry organizing tips! I hope you enjoy!!

Celebrating Mothers

Even if you think your kids aren't listening, I'm sure they are more tuned in that you think! Who knows the lessons they learn from the daily things you say? Here is a link to some lessons you may be teaching your child without even knowing it, plus it will make you laugh, all moms need to laugh to help them survive! http://bertc.com/subfour/truth/mothertaughtme.htm

Free time?

My three-year-old has never been a great self-entertainer. I've always found it hard to get anything done during the day because he is constantly wanting to play with me. I remember the first time he finally sat through 20 minutes of a movie...I almost cried. So I am always on the look-out for things he can do by himself with me nearby giving him lots of praise and encouragement so he feels like he is not alone. One of my most recent finds, and one that has proven to be pretty much gold, is Crayola's window crayons!

These really are so cool!! They go on any window surface so nicely, including mirrors, and show up brightly. The box says they clean up easy...and they do clean up easy just not necessarily quickly. It takes a little elbow grease and some Windex but eventually you get your shiny glass back again. My son loves to color all over his mirrored closet doors (which we almost replaced, thank goodness we didn't) and while he does I can put laundry away or vacuum or other little chores nearby. It is also a fun activity we can do together...did you know coloring reduces stress...and I can sit there for a long time with my baby on my lap coloring with my Zach. It definitely takes the monster out of him! It also is a great thing to proudly show Daddy when he comes home from work or Grandma and Grandpa when they come over to visit. And he is such a good little artist, who wouldn't be proud! (Please excuse the mess in the mirror, I'm trying to survive, not be perfect!)If you aren't lucky enough to have mirrored closet doors, they work great on bathroom mirrors while you are cleaning the bathroom. Or sliding glass doors while you are trying to get dinner on. It would be fun to let your children decorate the front room windows for each holiday or birthday. Or let them decorate car windows for birthdays or big events, which would help teach them to celebrate and support each other. You could write love notes to your children or spouse in the morning, or reminders. Or you could have the kids write nice notes to each other. You could even write a family goal or motto or positive saying on the mirror each month to help remind everyone what to be thinking about or working on. One of my neighbors, who told me about the crayons, drew a big tree on her window in November. Each day during the month her children would take three leaves (made from paper) and write something they were grateful for on each leaf, then hang it on the tree. If they couldn't write, they could ask someone to write it for them or draw a picture. By the end of the month she had a colorful tree full of thankful things and a family who was a little more aware of their blessings. Honestly, who doesn't want to go out and buy a set of these right now?! Of course, Crayola isn't paying me for this post, but they don't need to. I get all the payment I need from the few minutes of free time the crayons allow me each day we use them.

Snowman Inside

Last week while I was trying to coach basketball, my sweet little monster insisted on throwing the basketball at his 3-month old little sister. After hitting her in the face for the third time in a row, resulting in her screaming and me wanting to string him up to the nearest basket, I dragged him out to the car and took several long, deep breaths. When I went back to the gym (no I didn't leave him in the car, but believe me I wanted to) I spent a few minutes shooting baskets with "just him" before I went back to practicing with the girls. I wish I could say that tamed the monster and he was perfect the rest of the day, but it didn't. The one-on-one play time did help a little though and I resolved to squeeze in a little more one-on-one time with him at home to help ease the "give me attention" moments we have when I am distracted. I decided art was a great thing for us to do together and this is the first project we did as part of my resolve! It was too cold to take my baby out to play in the snow, so we built a snowman inside instead.

We started by tearing scrap pieces of white paper into little pieces...what three-year-old doesn't like destroying things? Then I drew three circles on a piece of construction paper as a guide, grabbed the glue, and let my son build his snowman!I simply put a whole bunch of glue in the circles and let him place the paper at his own will. To make sure the glue didn't dry up while he was placing his paper, we did one circle at a time. After the base of the snowman was built, we added the accessories: a hat, eyes, a carrot nose, a mouth, and some arms. I put the dots of glue down and he placed the pieces, but if you wanted a more Picasso-like snowman or if you have older kids, they could do this part themselves. We also added a few snowflakes made from a paper punch. You could also add a scarf, shoes, jewelry, etc. The sky's the limit...or at least your child's attention span is. My Zach doesn't have great fine motor skills, so this was a great activity to help him use his fingers...though it did cause for some frustration at times. In the end though, we had a snowman that anyone would be proud of...and I had a little boy who was happy having a fun "Zach-only" project!

Operation Surviving Monsters

A few days ago, as I sat watching my three-year-old throw a full-on kicking, screaming tantrum on the floor at Super Target because I wouldn't buy him a Starburst, I thought to myself "Wow, he has turned into a little monster!" On the drive home I thought about all the monster-like things that have been cropping up lately, such as screaming at the exact moment his baby sister drops off to sleep so that she wakes right back up again or coloring all over the computer screen at IKEA while mom wasn't looking. I guess I should mention that he isn't a monster all the time, sometimes he is the sweetest, cutest, smartest boy around...but lately the "Mr. Hyde" of his personality is definitely taking over. As the hopelessness of raising a monster started to sink in I began to think about the days I used to teach math to teenagers. Why could I get a class of 30 fourteen year olds to do the dreaded subject of math, and even like it, and I couldn't get one three year old to put on his shoes when it was time to leave? Something definitely needed to change. What I needed, besides a rich piece of chocolate, was a plan...a good, old fashioned plan filled with all the mommy and teaching tricks I could drum up to help me bring back the sweet three-year-old I once knew and survive the unavoidable monster moments he was capable of...and voila Operation Surviving Monsters was born. Mostly, this blog is reassurance for me that I'm trying even if I see no visible changes in my little angel. It is also a way to catalogue my ideas for the inevitable day my baby girl turns into a monster herself. And third, I hope this blog may provide ideas and solutions, or maybe just comfort, to those of you who are surviving monsters of your own. I claim to be no expert, just a mom in distress trying to survive the mommy-world one monster at a time.