My 2011 Goals...or just a start

I wanted to sort out all the thoughts I have in my head as to what I want to accomplish this year in making my home more enjoyable and less.....chaotic/disorganized.

So here they are, in no particular order, my thoughts/goals.

1. Create a Family Binder/ Home Management Binder

Here are some links that might help me..or you out if you perhaps have this same goal!

ErinCondren.com is where you can order one if you don't feel like making one!

Organizing Bit by Bit...shows you how she made her Binder.

Homemaking Organized- has a bunch of links on there to get free printables.

Wanting What You Have- A How to for making your own Home Management Guide

Live Lovely- Just another mom who has a great Home Management Binder:)

2. Organize my pantry..especially my spices with one of these:

How to make a magnetic spice rack...love this one!

3. Tear down the nasty wallpaper in our guest/girls bathroom and paint the walls

How to Remove Wallpaper- My husband thinks I'm crazy for wanting to do this..he's a contractor, and hates wallpaper....especially removing it! Perhaps I'll have him do it..ha ha ha

Well, how about we just stick with those three and see how I do? Hopefully successfully completed posts to come!

Thanks!

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Final Thursday Thoughts of 2009

Pretty pathetic that I've only had about 4 Thursday Thoughts
for all of 2009,
but why not finish it off with a bang!

I was driving in my car this morning, thinking about my life and where I wanted it to go...yup, I'm the driver for MY life
(or so I think I am)...

Anyway, I was thinking about how my life had changed since I woke up to the reality
that we don't have endless amounts of fake money through credit cards.

That was a year ago..almost exactly. In some ways,
life seemed easier then because I was blissfully ignorant.

But in NEW ways, life is WAY more sweet.
I have had to change my perspective on life, and learn
(yes, I said learn)
to cherish my family and spending time together.

I did not grow up in a family that spent that much time together, but when we did, I truly enjoyed it. I want those treasured memories for my children...
but it does not come naturally for me. I REALLY have to work at "creating" quality, family time.
That's why my New Year's Resolution is to invoke a Weekly Family Night.

Brian, my husband, remembers having them
growing up and they are some of his favorite childhood memories.

I have learned to accept the fact that I am not a "natural" family person, but when I do settle into that role, there is nothing sweeter...

Have an amazing blessed New Year and resolve to cherish your family every day of your life...

Thanks

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I'm Back ! With Some Thursday Thoughts For You :)

We just got back from our vacation to NY, Maine and NH to see family, what a whirlwind. I had never been to Maine, and can't encourage you more to make it a "must see" place. It was beautiful, serene and felt like home the minute I arrived.

When we arrived home yesterday, it was only 9:30 am and I had already been up for 7 hours. Needless to say, I was exhausted. My husband, not so "aware" of this exhaustion decides that we should all bake scones together as a family.... go figure.

This spurred my thoughts on an almost 3 year old and a 14 month old in the kitchen...what is their place? What is a child's place in the kitchen at any age? Is there a guideline as to what is appropriate for each age? Our oldest, smeared the milk on top of the scones w/ the milk brush thingy and our 14 month old just focused on making her way to the top step of the stool. She thought of this herself, and that's about all I could have thought for her to do as well...

Anyways, I snapped some pictures for you all to enjoy as a smooth transition back into blogging again after an almost 2 week hiatus.


I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you involve your children in the kitchen!

Found some interesting links and cookbooks that I thought might be inspirational and appropriate !

Holiday Childrens Cookbook

Williams and Sonoma Kid's Baking

Tips for Involving Kids in the Kitchen

Thanks!



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Our Produce...How Was It? & Thursday Thoughts

Well, since I have been writing about how I will one day take a picture of our produce right when we get it, I thought I should actually get around to it. I took some photos of our produce and fruit share, just to give you an idea of the quality and amount that we get. This is all for $59 every two weeks. What do you think? Worth it? I thought our produce was the best its ever been this week. Everything looked amazing! I also thought I would share a little bit about procrastinating...

My oldest who is 2 1/2, goes on the little girl potty about 8-10 times a day... Sometimes, I "procrastinate" (ok, I just don't want to do it), to empty out the little girl potty into the big potty. I feel like I would be in there all day..

This is what happens when you procrastinate:




Mini swimming pool?
A day at the spa?
A foot soak?




No, just disgusting...
My one year old seemed to enjoy it!







Did I learn my lesson? Ask me when she does it again:)
There's my Thursday Thoughts, or just sharing what goes on in our home...








{Peace}

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Try It! Tuesday- The Family Meal Table

Well, I am kind of making this a Try It Tuesday post, in conjunction with my Thursday Thoughts.... because I want to bring up something that is becoming very important to me and I am about to go on a journey...do you want to come?

God is taking me on a journey that all started with the Above Rubies study called:

The Family Meal Table ( the link will take you to their site where you can purchase this study)

First, since this is a sharing post, I figured I would tell you a little about where I came from, where I am now, and where I am going....

I linked my first ever post on here above, and would love for you to read that and see where I started on my journey to be a stay at home mom. When I began this blog, I truly felt like God had finally solidified my decision to stay at home and not feel pressure to work... EVEN if we were struggling financially. That was back in April...it is now June and God has consistently provided.

A lot of my transformation was taking a more pro-active role in every day happenings in the home, primarily family meals. I decided to start cooking more, not just baking cookies (which I still love), but to put my family on the right track health wise, starting with home cooking. I stopped purchasing anything boxed or packaged, and really began to develop a sense of ownership and responsibility towards not just my children's health, but mine and my husbands too.

That said, I began to make home cooked meals almost every night. Well, now that I have that down pretty good, God had to go and present this study to me... the Family Meal Table and Hospitality. I'll give you a little overview of how my family meal table goes down almost every night:

Around 4:00, I am half way through making dinner, and the kids are getting really antsy and wanting to have another snack, so I usually give in, put on a movie for them and finish making dinner. Around 5:00, dinner is ready and the kids are full from their snack ( Flop #1) while we wait for Dad to arrive home.

Once Dad arrives home, I tell everyone to sit down. During that 3 minutes time span, the 1 year old nearly loses it because we are making her get strapped into something, while also wanting to eat. The 2 year old doesn't stop talking to Dad because she hasn't seen him all day. I realize I told everyone to sit down and....duh, the table isn't set( Flop #2). So I quickly try to set the table, and get the food off the stove top while all of this chaos is happening. ( I hope I'm not scaring you :)

I finally sit down and the table and hurry to say, "Go ahead Brian and pray so we can eat." (Flop # 3- rushing prayer time) Brian hurriedly prays and we begin eating...

Within 3 minutes, the three year old is finished and wanting to be excused. Daddy is nowhere near relaxed because the meal seemed like we were rushing to be the first car in line for a Nascar race. I haven't even eaten yet, because I am playing who wants to eat more, me or baby...and for some reason, she always wins...

We end up practically jumping out of our seats to end the chaotic dinner and go do something that will de-stress us...like go to the pool (meanwhile, I have left all of the dishes, pots and pans in the sink to go do something fun)

So there is a typical night at our house...want to join? Probably not... this is where I feel I have a problem. If I want my house to not only be inviting and welcoming to my own family, but other families or friends, then I have to change our Family Meal Table.

I realize that because our children are so young, there's going to be some aspect of chaos, but I feel that we are not leaving room for God to come and join us at the table because we can't wait to finish the meal.

I learned in the study that Jesus always made a meal for people when he was about to tell them something important, or reveal something about Himself to them. Jesus thought mealtime was important! So must I! Over the next two months, I will be completing this study and hope you will join me, if not just reading my blog, but perhaps ordering the study yourself, or just sharing your thoughts, suggestions (b/c boy could I use them) or comments!

So the first step to making my meal time less chaotic and more God welcoming?

1. Set the Table ahead of Time and call your family in to sit down when the food is already on the table... seem easy? We'll see about that :)

Bless you All!!






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Thursday Thoughts.... Shape Your Children

I thought I would start a new trend here at my blog and let people know what is going on in my head....maybe nobody really cares, but at least I can have it out of my head and somewhere on the internet right? So every Thursday, I will post some thoughts I have been having over the course of the week. They could be deep, or just simple things I thought I should share. Its a way to get more personal with my.....um 6 devoted bloggers....Thanks by the way.

Ok, here's the first go at Thursday's Thoughts.....

Today at MOPS, we had a great speaker. She is a mom of three children who are all in their 20s and 30s. She has had a double mastectomy due to breast cancer, and has a real vulnerability and rawness about her. Needless to say, she said a few things that really hit me....

1. Don't try to change your children, shape them. Get to know your children, what they succeed at, what they struggle with and encourage them on their own journey, not the journey you want for them.
She quoted the verse:
Psalm 139:13- For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
She explained that God already created who your child is, you can't create your child, you can help to shape them into who God wants them to be and what special gifts he wants them to use. Point Taken...



2. Moms have guilt about our children...endless guilt. She told the story of how she felt guilt before her first child was even born because she couldn't swallow those horse pill vitamins.... Most of the guilt we feel is what she called False Guilt which is feeling guilty about something that has already happened that we can never change, or things that truly are going to be inconsequential to the future success of our children, yet we worry about them endlessly. She says....Get Rid of the Guilt...I agree...but its hard..really hard. Guess I have to learn that I'm not perfect

3. Have grace...NOT just for your children, but for YOU, the mom. Accept the Grace that God pours out for us...it is AMAZING.

Well, that's it in short.... some words to chew on for the next week, but I encourage you to accept grace and get rid of the guilt!!

I am also going to include some recent pictures. in these posts...


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