Special Dates

So!  Check out what I added right over in that sidebar.  -->  A quick little list of all birthdays and anniversaries, as they are hard to track!  I am missing a few anniversaries, so if you can let me know yours if it's missing that would be grand!  Also, let me know if you see any errors.  :)

-Rachel

Cleaning Items

With all my house cleaning, I've found a few items that work the best for me and which I really love.

The first one is:

My Shark Lift-away vacuum.  I've loved this for ease of use, quality of suction, price and the 5-year replacement warranty!

The second one is the Old English spray bottle.  It is so nice and easy to use, and to just spray it and wipe it up is so nice!  I haven't found another product for wood that gives as nice of a gleam and works as well.  This is also awesome for the metal balusters on your handrail.

I also love the smell (mint) and cleaning power of the Lysol toilet bowl cleaner.
 













I guess I'm a fan of Lysol because I have had great success and ease of use as well with the Lysol all-purpose cleaner for kitchen and bathroom countertops. 

For window cleaning, I've gotten it down to a science. You must, must, must use a window cleaner!  *Trust me, the first time when I just tried water, FAIL!  Because I clean a lot of windows, I buy a huge bucket, but I've also used this one and it has worked really well.

Your other essential tools are a scraper, squeegee, and washing brush.

With those tools, cleaning windows goes pretty quickly!

I just wanted to share what I've found that works for me - I've done a lot of experimentation and these have all worked out for me!

Love,

Sara

I love organizing!

Each morning this past winter in the flurry to get out the door our basket containing hats, gloves, scarves and so on was constantly dumped on the floor and left for me to clean up.  As frustrating as it was for me it was also extremely frustrating to the children who were trying desperately to just find to gloves that matched and a winter hat that fit on their head so they could run out the door.  Our laundry basket system was a dismal failure and I had no solutions … until I was talking to a friend who started telling me about her system.  She bought shoe organizers from Wal-mart that hang on the door and filled them with the above mentioned.  She also bought shoe organizers for spring/summer and fills them with umbrellas, baseball hats, goggles and other necessities for warmer weather.  She rolls up the off season organizer and stores it in her garage and then just unrolls when Mother Nature changes seasons.  As you can see I have tried this system and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  Everything has a match and a home.  No more dumping!  Give it a try sisters and let me know any other creative organizing ideas - I am in an organizing mood this month!

Garage Sale

I love to go garage sale-ing!  I have found some really awesome deals by spending my Saturday mornings going from sale to sale.  It is almost spring time, and in my opinion, garage sales are better in the spring than in the fall.  After all the holiday gifts, parents are usually ready to "spring clean" all the old toys, clothes, etc that are cluttering up closets and floors.  If you are looking for good deals, garage sales just can't be beat!  

On that note, we are getting ready to do a garage sale.  We participated in one with our neighbors Angie and Jason last October, but we were pretty conservative in what we put up for sale.  We have found that clothes we just don't wear anymore are easy to sale (Rob is really going to thin out his clothes!).  I have an attic full of things that I need to evaluate.  My new attitude is- If I haven't used it since moving here (3 1/2 years ago), then I probably am not going to use, so I need to sell it (or give it away).  I am going to try and have everything ready for the garage sale by March 22.  Wish me luck!

A Day Out of the House

I'm sure that all of you know, but Stacey and I are gone A LOT from home.  We're usually gone for most of the day as we are either running errands in the car or cleaning houses.  I know that most of you don't do this as often, so maybe a couple of tips might help on how to survive being gone all day with little ones might help....


First of all, I usually try to prep her the night before and tell her what our schedule is (or failing that the morning of so that she knows what's going on and isn't surprised.).  Some days now she'll ask if she can just stay home and sometimes if someone is going to be home she does. 


The other days she's with me, we make sure we're prepared for an extended stay away from home.  First of all, we have found that a couple of "car toys," toys that are only used in the car, are pretty effective.  Her favorite one is her magna-doodle.  It lets her draw and play around without having to worry about dropping things and then crying because she can't reach whatever she dropped.  I also make sure to have something tucked in my purse that may be a quick snack or drink.


If we're going somewhere for the day, I let her get her suitcase packed.  We got her a little soft-sided suitcase for Christmas and that works really well for us, but any kind of a bag would do.  I allow her to pack (all the way full if she wants) several kinds of toys - whatever she wants to play with that day.  The items that she packs changes depending on her mood that day and I really let her have a say in it so that she feels like it's her pack.


I also make sure to pack plenty to eat for snacks and meals while we'll be gone.  If we're gone for 5-6 hours, I'll make sure to have a couple of snacks, drinks, and a meal for her to eat.  I try to pay attention to when she's getting whiny or upset and ask if she's hungry.  I try to tell her what I'm packing for lunch so she knows what to expect for the day.


I have also found that especially while in the car for long periods of time, switching things up helps too.  I try to have time where we listen to songs, some times when I'm just talking to her with no music on, some times when she's playing - either with the car toys or my phone, and some times when we're singing songs she's learning together.  I sometimes even just tell her stories. And the best times are when we're talking and just laughing together in the car.  She likes to "scare" me by roaring and I'll play along with her.  Switching things up in the car helps keep her (and me!) from getting too bored or antsy.


And finally, I try to make sure to keep her updated as to where we are in our errands/cleaning/time frame.  If we're chasing, I'll update her as to how many stops we have before we get to go home or what's coming up next.  I find that it helps a lot when she knows what's going on and isn't just "along for the ride."


I'm not sure if this will help anyone, but hopefully it'll help in some way!


Love,


Sara

Menu Planner

Every single day, multiple times a day, I hear the infamous question, "Mom! What's for dinner?!"  And, if you are like me, you are racking your brain for an answer.  Or perhaps you are on top of your game plan already because on Mondays you have tacos, Tuesdays spaghetti, Wednesday enchiladas, etc.  Or maybe you have just finished a long day of classes and work, and you now need to attempt to whip up something from the belongings of your fridge and pantry.  While pregnant with Cooper and Brock, my appetite and energy levels drastically changed.  I found myself frantically searching my cookbooks for something appealing (and easy) that I could put together.  If I needed to run to store, I could load Max and Kate into the car and head over to Wal-Mart to grab the rest of my ingredients.  However, once we doubled the number of kids in our family, dashing off to the store and throwing a recipe together at the last minute was not possible.  I needed a game plan.  I searched online until I found something I could work with- a monthly menu planner.  I tweaked it a little bit to fit my needs.  There are three tabs at the bottom of the page titled: Menu, Main Dishes, and Side Dishes.  I went through all my different cookbooks (and had my kids do it too for things that looked good to them), and added the meals to planner.  

The Main Dishes have the following headings: Chicken, Ground Beef, Beef, Pork, Breakfast, Other, Vegetarian.  I have added the meals that my family would eat under each proper heading.

Under the Side Dishes tab you can add: Sides, Vegetables, Breads, and Desserts.  I have also added cookbook info (OBB= Our Best Bites; WCB= Ward Cookbook, 6S= Six Sisters, etc).  Admittedly, I did not really do many desserts.  I only ever make dessert on Sundays when we have people over, so I go through my cookbooks and decide, typically on the day of, what looks good.

Once your Main Dishes and Side Dishes are filled in, you go the Menu tab and select what meal you would like when from the pull down option.  You can then print out the calendar if you would like to post it.

 When I have my calendar filled in, I am able to go to the grocery store and get all the ingredients I will need for the week/month.  When I hear the question, "Mom, what's for dinner?" I am now able to give an actual answer!

If you would like me to email you the excel document, please let me know and I will happily send it your way!

-Julie