Resource Review- restaurant.com

Today was my anniversary. I guess it still is, but the day is almost over. Eight years ago today we were getting our pictures taken at Sunken Gardens, pledging our lives to one another, eating a great meal, and dancing with our friends and family. It was a great day. (and I don't appear to have any of my wedding photos digitized, so enjoy this engagement pic!) We had a terrific honeymoon. We spend our week eating one meal out each day! Our hotel had an awesome breakfast and we decided to combine our lunch and dinner budget and eat at great restaurants every day. We won't be able to do something like that again for quite a while...now that we have five kids.

But we do make a point to have a date night a couple of times a month and we usually enjoy a dinner as part of our evening together. You may wonder how we manage to do that. Well, there's the mystery shopping. I try to get us some meals out for the cost of my time to fill out the survey afterwards. Most of our dinners are spent this way. Tonight we utilized a new favorite resource- restaurant.com.

Restaurant.com offers certificates to a number of restaurants at a discounted price. Usually you'd pay $10 for a $25 gift certificate. Last fall, we signed up for the dinner of the month club. Each month we receive a $25 gift certificate redeemable at any of the restaurants on the site. Some restrictions apply- gratuity is added, minimum purchase amounts, etc. The best part is, that I was able to use a promo code and bought our year's worth of dinner out for the low price of TWENTY-FOUR DOLLARS! And now, you can enjoy the same incredible savings. Enter the promo code ENJOY through May 13th, and you'll receive 80% off. Get your $25 gift certificates for only $2!!!

And peruse some other great tips at Works for Me Wednesday. Remember, you've got until Thursday to get a great deal on dinner!

Menu Plan Monday

One thing I've learned about dinner time is that if the meal takes a lot of work to prepare, I just don't want to do that clean up. And if it only takes a little bit of work to prepare, I still don't want to do the clean up! Today, I remembered that my skillet can go in the oven. I have one recipe that utilizes this feature- you brown you chicken in the skillet, add the other ingredients, then stick it in the oven. Do you think I can do this with any type of casserole I might make? What one-pot meals do you make? Even crock pot meals are great- as long as the crock pot is the only dish I have to clean up!

Monday- BBQ Pork Chops, Potato Salad, Green Salad
Tuesday- Date Night! Fried Rice for kiddos
Wednesday- Green Bean Casserole for small group dinner
Thursday- Burritoes
Friday- Pizza Night
Saturday- Fried Rice and side dish for Cub Scout dinner
Sunday- Eat What You Want Night

Check out orgjunkie.com for more menu ideas this week.

Need Diapers?

This spring I started using diapers.com. I love it. I love that they have a referral program, I love that they offer discounts, I love that they have free shipping. Most of all, I love that I get my order in just a couple of days. It's great!

If you need diapers, sign up for an account and use my referral code (NETT4468). You'll receive $10 off your first order (of $49 or more) and $5 off your second order! You can even mail in your coupons for more savings! If you're already a diapers.com customer, use the Mother's Day code 5formom and receive $5 off your order.

I'll be stocking up on diapers this weekend, how about you? They also offer a variety of baby and children's products. So, if you're lucky enough to have all your kids out of diapers, check out their website and see if you can score a great deal on anything else right now!

Is a Garden Really Worth It?

Spring is here, spring is here! I love being warm again. It's fun to see the flowers growing inches ever day and the bright colors can't help but make me feel more cheerful and optimistic. This spring we put in a small strawberry bed, but I have yet to put in any veggies.

I like to get the most bang out of the small space we have. Why plant potatoes when I can get them so cheaply all year round? I'm not going to put a watermelon plant in, because then that's all I'd have! Plus, I could probably buy one for less than the cost of watering it. We typically go for things like dark green lettuces, sugar snap peas, roma tomatoes, basil, and spinach. While it's not much of a variety, we can have a daily salad, make some salsa or tomato sauce and can it, and get some pesto in the freezer. I usually have extra peas to freeze, as well. These are the things my family eats that cost a bit more at the store, so it's worth my time and effort to grow them myself.

Last year, I found this great article from one person who kept track of their garden costs for one year to see if they had any savings over purchasing their food from the store. It's a great read and gets you thinking about what  you plant and why you plant it. Most gardeners aren't just doing it for the savings, but for those of us who are frugally minded, it's a great resource for helping you do a cost-analysis of your garden. In seeing where your money goes, you can make changes to save even more if you choose to.

What's going in your garden this year?

Resource Review- The Messies Manual

I picked up a bunch of books a couple of weeks ago. They were laying out on a table and said "free"... how could I refuse? I did leave some for others, but went back at the end of the time and grabbed a couple more. I sure do love books!

One of the books I snagged, was called "The Messies Manual: The Procrastinator's Guide to Good Housekeeping." I am definetly in a phase where I am trying to get my house under control. I really don't like stepping over things (you know- toys, books, folded laundry) and I don't like having to clean all the time. It's hard to have fun and enjoy my children when I'm constantly thinking about how much work there is to do. I'm learning that it needs to be streamlined and that there are ways to organize my home so that it is less prone to being messy.

I've also been thinking about how much stuff we have. We were able to visit Asia last summer, and it's really amazing how little people can live with. Here in the States, we think we need to have everything readily available. Think about how much stuff in your home just sits there, gathering dust. We have shelves full of books that are rarely read, closets full of clothes that don't even fit, kitchens full of appliances with purposes too specific to warrant the amount of space they take up. The list goes on and on! If I trust God to provide for me when we need it, I should be able to get rid of all the excess and let Him give us what we need. It's a hard concept! If only I could remember that when I give, it will come back to me.

Felton does a great job providing an overview of what causes us to be messy. She talks straight and helps us deal with the reasons we're holding on to our stuff and have a hard time getting rid of it. We all have neat, organized friends that we wish we could be like. She takes us in to the mind of Neat person and helps us learn the things that come so naturally to them. Little tips on how to organize our space more wisely and plan our time better. We don't need to spend all day cleaning to have a beautiful maintained home, and Felton shows you how.

This book was written in 1983, and there is an updated version available. I have not read this updated version, so I do not know where the differences lie between the two. Felton has spend the last thirty years teaching classes and writing books. I'm sure that anything that she has added will be well worth the read.

I now have a vision for clearning out my clutter. We don't need most of the stuff in our home, and it will be so much easier to manage if it's not here! I feel like I need a little jumpstart, though. I have decided to hire a teen or two to come and help me get things off on the right foot. Even having a friend come and take my children to the park would be extrememly helpfull!

What's one project you wish you could get a jumpstart on?

Menu Plan Monday

I've gone without a menu plan for a couple of weeks. I realized that I desperately need my menu plan! Some people say they like the freedom of choosing their dinners each night or wonder what they would do if they don't feel like eating what's on the schedule. I say, you'll feel like eating what's on the schedule if it's planned out for you and you have all the ingredients in the house! My grocery shopping has been pretty sporadic, which means I'm out of potatoes How could I be out of potatoes?!? It's hard deciding what meat to pull out of the freezer in the morning, hard to decide what to do with it in the afternoons, hard to make what I want with the ingredients we happen to have lying around. 

So, back to my menu plan! It will be so good to save my brain power this week for important things- like decluttering the kids' clothes and planning a field trip! I also discovered that without a plan I just wanted to go out and pick something up. I've decided to have a "busy day backup" of items quick and easy to prepare. Then, when I feel done in after a busy day it will be easier to pull that out than head to the grocery store for deli chicken! What kinds of meals do you keep on hand to save you a trip through the drive thru?

Monday- tuna casserole
Tuesday- roast, potatoes, carrots
Wednesday- fried rice
Thursday- tacoes
Friday- pizza night
Saturday- graduation party
Sunday- mother's day picnic
Back up- hotdogs, chips, fruit

That's my plan! Check out more plans on Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.org. What's on your menu this week?

and the winner is....

Congratulations to #5 Elisabeth! Your Jiffy Lube gift card will be arriving soon.

Giveaway

Only a couple more hours to enter the giveaway posted here! Enter for your chance to win a $35 Jiffy Lube gift card. I got mine this week. I'm glad because I'm really overdue for an oil change AND our AC needs to be recharged! A winner will be announced this afternoon. Enter now!

Resource Review- Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it

I love looking at cook books. Seeing all the pretty pictures of food. Thinking about what it would be like to eat that yummy food. But I rarely actually try a new recipe. We stick with our favorites and slight variations on them. If I do want to try a new recipe, I generally opt for the children's books! The recipes are easy to follow and I usually have all the ingredients on hand.

I've recently discovered a book entitiled "Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it" by Karen Solomon. The twelve chapters in this book will give you different methods of making your own foods and preserving them. Each recipe comes with very clear instructions, including the time involved for the project and prep ahead instructions. But not just recipes are included in this book. There are reference pages that will give you direction in how to can produce, how to smoke meat on your grill, and how to make your own cheese press!

The big question when starting on make it yourself project is if there is actually a cost savings. I've done some rough calculating before starting many projects and have discovered that the answer's not easy. Making something myself is generally less expensive than the comparable store-bought version, but more expensive than the cheaper products I tend to by. Bread for example. Making a yummy whole wheat bread myself is cheaper than purchasing a high-quality bread from store or bakery, but it is time consuming. However, I usually buy cheaper bread at a discount bread store, and that is much less expensive and less time consuming! Since the quality of that bread is fine, that's what I usually do! If you buy your products in bulk or on sale, that also reduces your home-making costs. Ultimately, I'll try just about anything once or twice, as long as there isn't a huge expense of equipment. And if it's fun and much better, we'll keep doing it!

Canning is a whole other ball-game. There's an initial expense in equipment (or you can try freecycle, which is how I got dozens of jars for free!) and using a large pasta pot will work for the water bath method while you're trying to figure it out. Canning produce from your garden or homemade jam is a great way to feed your garden goodies to your family throughout the year. It also makes great gifts. Think about it. Everyone would look at you funny if you gave your child's teacher a can of green beans as a Christmas gift. But if it's green beans you canned from your garden with a pretty bow on it, suddenly it's a great gift!

If you're looking for a book that will show you how to make marshmallows, or your own ravioli, I highly recommend "Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it." Let me know what you think!

Vehicle Maintenance and GIVEAWAY

Where do you get most of your savings? Do you count on your grocery budget to maximize your monthly savings? Or do you also shop thrift stores for clothes, buy floor models for appliances and furniture, and shut lights off when you're not in the room? All of these are great ways to save money. Another way to save money is by spending a little. It's true! Routine maintenance costs money. But we still wash our clothes and have our coats drycleaned. We spend money on putting in a garden bed because it's fun and we'll get yummy strawberries. And we need to give our vehicles proper maintenance, as well. 


Sometimes it irritates me to bring in the van for an oil change when there's nothing else wrong with it, but I know it's paying off in the long run because our eight year old van has over 100,000 miles and has never had any issues. Spending the money on an oil change a few times a year is much better than spending a LOT of money on a major repair. It saves a lot of stress associated with having our primary vehicle in the shop, too! Well, did you know that April is National Car Care Month? It is! And I should totally take our van in for it's over-due oil change.

That's why I was so excited when My Blog Spark and Shell Lubricants offered me a $35 Jiffy Lube gift card to get my oil changed. Apparently April is also National Informed Women Month. What do you know about your car? I for one, have never even popped the hood of our van! If we had a flat tire, I wouldn't even be able to tell a kind Samaritan stopping to help where the tire changing stuff is stored.


Well stop by www.motoroilmatters.com and take a little quiz to test your motor oil knowledge. (I scored 6 out of 7) While you're there take a look around learn something new about your car's oil. Come back and tell me about it, and you could win a $35 gift card too! That's right, I get to give away one free oil change to a lucky reader! Here's how you can enter (please post a SEPARATE comment for EACH entry)


1. Earn one entry for visiting the Motor Oil Matters website and learning something new. What misconception was laid to rest? What's something that surprised you? What did you learn?


2. Earn an extra entry for being a follower/subscriber to my blog (links on right-hand side of page)


3. Earn a third entry for blogging or posting this contest in another format, leave a link and let me know!


The winner will be selected at noon on April 30th. Good luck!

Resource Review- House Works

Do you know how to clean your house, I mean really clean your house? Or are you and your family up to your eyeballs in piles of paper and heaps of toys? Do you roll your eyes at people who dust their ceiling fans because that is the least of your worries? Me too! I think I'm cleaning-impaired. I know I need help. I have loved utilizing the methods from Sink Reflections in my life and have seen some amount of success over the past couple of years.

House Works by Cyntia Ewer is a great resource for any home, but especially those who have trouble in the cleaning area. The brightly colored pictures inspire me to raise my standards. The before and after pictures of clutter areas help to see how it can be done. There are lists for things to include in your pantry and how long typical items are good for. My personal favorite is the step by step instructions for folding a fitted sheet! With pictures and everything!

Ms Ewer starts the book by examining different clutter personalities. Everyone has stuff that can't bare to get rid of, but do you know why you keep it in your house? I have learned that I am a combination of the hoarder and the perfectionist. Knowing this about myself and having some tips on how to combat my natural tendencies, I will hopefully be able to more thoroughly rid my home and life of the clutter. This first section includes tips for organizing your home, instruction on how to clean like a pro, and a chapter devoted to helping you maintain a structure for ensuring these jobs are done.

The second half of the book takes you through some of the biggies of our home- food, clothing, paperwork, and more. Everything starts with a plan. What is that you actual need and use? What's the best method for storing the items in your home? How do you keep it from becoming cluttered again? All of these questions are answered in a simple logical format. Each page is one tip or idea and makes it so easy to flip through the book and pick one thing to implement today.

I started reading this book last week and have been struck by one particular phrase. "Things should be harder to take out than they are to put away." This will revolutionize the way I think about storage. If it's difficult to take something out family members (especially kids) won't take it out unless they really want it. If it's easy to put away, then clean up is a snap! I'll be going through the kids' rooms and things and keeping this principle in mind as I reorganize their storage space. I'm thinking this will be a useful principle to apply to my desk space, as well!

Has the spring cleaning bug bitten you, yet? What's a space in your home that's a cleaning or organizational nightmare?

Mine is the kids' clothes. We have two dressers packed to the gills for the four kids, and no space for another dresser once the baby moves into their room. The closet is used for out of season, out of size clothing storage with some hanging space reserved for the girls' dresses. Any tips or suggestions for me?

Spring Has Sprung

With spring comes sunshine and beautiful flowers. Open windows and a desire to clean. That's what I've been doing these past two weeks. How about you? I feel like I could be cleaning all day every day and not really make much progress. It takes almost all of my energy just to maintain our household, let alone add in some closet cleaning and pile dumping. But I'm tired of the clutter and ready to get it out of my house. And I wanted it done yesterday.

My kids are good helpers for a little while, but eventually they need their attention turned to something else. So, I'm stuck doing most of the work myself while my kids are playing and messing up a recently cleaned up bedroom. I'm reading a new book right now and a phrase keeps popping out at me: "It should be harder to take out than it is to put away." I'm trying to figure out what that means in my home. The example given is to use a tub for books instead of a shelf. Kids need to flip through the stack until the find one they want, then they just slide it back in when done. We have tubs for the kids toys- small ones for cars and wooden blocks and larger ones for kitchen toys and baby dolls. I thought that these were easy enough to put away. Maybe it's hard because they tend to use the blocks to make buildings and roads, then they each have a couple dozen cars and animals out as well. That's a big job to clean up no matter how easy the work is!

I love reading books about cleaning and organizing. My favorite so far has been Sink Reflections. I'm reading another one right now that's looking really good. What are your favorite resources for keeping your home in order? How does your spring cleaning system work? What jobs do you wish you had the time and energy to tackle?

DIY- Raised Garden Bed

While at Sam's Club recently, I saw a kit for making a raised bed garden. It was pretty sophisticated. It had built in trellis pieces that you could raise into place and a pump and sprayer for automatic watering. Even with all those extras, I would not be willing to pay the $150+ that it was priced at. The one without all the accessories was still close to $70. We built our own raised bed this week, and I took pictures just for the purpose of sharing with you! Our cost? A mere $25 for the wood and fill dirt. And a little bit of work for my husband. :)

Raised beds are great for small yards (like ours). Having an area contained for the garden also helps teach the younger children where they're not allowed to walk. The garden is clearly defined and it's not a nebulous line between yard and garden. First, pick a spot to put the garden. We already have one raised bed, and thought we would put the second near it. In fact, there's enough space to do three beds across the back of our lot by the alley, so we'll probably be adding another one next year. Our first bed is 4 ft by 4ft. We've utilized the square foot gardening method for this bed and have managed to have quite a nice salad and salsa garden. The second bed will be home to some transplanted strawberries. Make sure to call your local digging hotline before beginning any work. Expect them to take a week or so to come out and mark things.It's hard to see the flags in the pictures, but where we wanted to dig our garden is about a foot away from the lines.

Building your box is relatively easy. Go to the local lumber store and purchase some 8 foot boards of treated lumber. Saw in half and screw together. Now you've got a square!

Digging up the sod is probably the toughest part of the job. It takes some elbow grease for this part! Put your frame where you want your garden to be and mark out where you need to dig. We reused the orange flags to mark our corners! If it's good weed-free sod, it can be reused in your yard if you have any areas full of weeds to dig up. We have lots of "helpers" for this part of the job. They were mostly on worm rescue!

Once you have your sod out, it's time to put the box in place. Our spot was on a slight incline, so Greg pulled out his level and dug a little more. If the box is nice and level that means you'll have a good level planting area. Water won't pool in one corner or wash away your seedlings.

Next it's time to fill your garden with dirt. We filled ours with a top soil and compost mixture. The top soil was purchased at the store and the compost was free from the dump. Now is a good time to treat your soil if it has any special needs. You can see the stakes put at the corners of the first garden. During the growing season, we wrap chicken wire around the garden to keep the bunnies from eating my lettuce!

Now, you're ready to plant your garden! This box is home to about 20 transplanted strawberries. They've been living in a plastic sack all week. I hope they perk up soon. And I'm really looking forward to fresh strawberries this summer!

The finished product! Just a pile of compost we'll use to fertilize the yard and some sod scraps that we'll use to patch some weedy areas. Now it's time to dig through my seeds to determine what we'll be planting next month. Should I focus on salad or salsa this year?

Shopping One Friday Morning

It was a beautiful morning in Nebraska. One mom and her five children decided to head to the stores. First it was Sam's Club. They climbed on top of the cans of tomato sauce. Ran into other people's cards. They hid behind posts. The lack of free samples gave her nothing to bribe her children with. Luckily, she had a few powdered donuts that had been leftovers at the previous day's MOPS meeting. "If you're good in Hy-Vee, a donut for each of you!" While this mom was digging through her coupons in the yogurt aisle, the kids were poking the eggs. While she was trying to figure out which pop was on sale, they almost knocked over a display of wine. She didn't even make it to frozen foods, instead deciding to check out and be done with it. While she piled the items on the belt, the kids rearranged the candy. Finally, she had enough, "Sit down with your backs on the wall and your hands on your knees." She had been hoping to fit one more store into their morning, but alas it would not be. Amazingly, the man bagging the groceries complimented the behavior of these naughty children of hers. As she paid her bill, she sighed, at least she had gotten some good deals!

HyVee does have some good deals this week. These are the ones I took advantage of. I'm so frazzled that I can't even tell you if these are weekend sale items, or they will be going through Tuesday. If you plan to hit the store on Saturday, you should get these same prices. My total for this transaction was $21.37. I had around 12 dollars in savings from coupons alone! How awesome is that?

4 Dr Pepper 12 packs 4/$10 w/coupon from circular

2 Russet Potatoes $1.18 for 5 lb 

2 Betty Crocker Potatoes 5/$5 used $1/2 MQ from Con Agra booklet

1 Wesson Canola Oil reduced to $2.99 used $1 off MQ from Con Agra booklet

1 Nestle Chocolate Chips at $1.69 with circular coupon also used $.75 coupon (from Nestle Baking Club?)

1 Yoplait Yogurt FREE w/MyBlogSpark coupon

1 Philidelphia Cream Cheese Minis FREE w/First Taste mailer

1 Bunch Celery $.58

1 C&H Sugar $1.88 w/circular coupon used $.50 MQ from online (not sure where I printed this)

2 Blue Bonnet Margarine $.77 each

2 Betty Crocker frosting tubs $.89 each used $1/2 MQ from Con Agra booklet

I hope I have a chance to get to Super Saver this afternoon. It might have to wait until Greg gets home, so we don't have a repeat of our frustrating morning! They have 4 pounds of strawberries for $4.98. Add that to the bananas and blueberries I picked up at Sam's and we'll be enjoying some cheap smoothies. I love spring! Any other good deals this weekend? Let me know!

We Have a Winner

Thanks all for entering the Yoplait giveaway. I got my free yogurt at the grocery store this morning, and wish that I could be the one to eat it. Alas, I got a cherry cobbler for Greg. We'll see how he likes it. The winner of the My Blog Spark Yoplait giveaway is comment number 6- Mrs Rohlf. Congratulations! Once I confirm your address, your package will be on it's way. Don't forget, you can get a coupon for Yoplait yogurt here.

Do It Yourself

I have a hard time spending money. Especially on things that I feel I should be able to do myself. Pay someone to install our new floor? No way! Someone to landscape my yard? My kids can dig a hole, and I can stick a flower in it! It's easy to see how one could save money by doing the bigger projects yourself, but what about the small things? How much money are you paying someone to do some easy, but time consuming tasks? You may not think there any, but if you look at your grocery list, I bet you can find a couple! It's easy to make refried beans and chicken stock for pennies. It's a fun family project to make and can salsa and pesto.

The types of projects I'm thinking about are the ones that women used to do more frequently, things that used to be considered common knowledge. The first time I made refried beans, or canned a jar of pickles, I spent hours at the computer or leafing through library books. It's tough to take the knowledge of the written word and transfer it into a kitchen or garden setting, at least for me! My favorite cookbooks are the ones for children because they include a picture for each step. I'm going to do that for you! I'm not a crafty or handy person, so I figure if I can do these projects, anybody can! On my list of projects to share with you this summer will be the following items. Most of these are ones that I do on a fairly regular basis:

how to can salsa (and other food items)
making refried beans
making a good broth or stock (chicken, beef, ham)
what to do with that broth or stock (soups and gravies)
building a raised bed garden
what's up with square foot gardening?
frosting- why buy a can?
cornbread from scratch
pizza dough in your mixer
baby food in your blender
my husband brought home a deer, now what?
grinding sausage
drying jerky
turn a can of tomato sauce into something edible (marinara, soup, pizza sauce)
blanching vegetables
dividing plants

I have spent the last couple of years figuring out how to do these things. It's been a struggle, and I'd love to share what I've learned with you, and see if you have any tips for me. I'm always up for trying something new, though, and would love to add to my list of things we make ourselves. What kinds of things do you wish you knew more about? Let's learn together! Leave a comment and I'll add it to my list. I'm looking forward to a great summer of working in my garden and reaping the harvest. Are you?

Resource Review- Down Came the Rain

This week's resource has nothing to do with finances, or time management. At least not directly. But it's one that I think is important for all women to read, or at least be aware of the issue that it addresses. I'm recommending that you pick up a copy of Down Came the Rain by Brooke Shields.

After baby number five was born, I was really struggling with my emotions. (You can read a little bit about my story here.) This book was recommended to me from two different sources. So I finally broke down and picked it up. Then I let it sit in my bag for a few days. It wasn't until after I had been to the doctor that I felt brave enough to give it a read. What I read was a story of excrutiating pain as Brooke describes her journey to first become pregnant and then to enjoy her mother hood.

She writes in such a way, that I now feel as if we're friends :) It's an easy read- I read the whole thing in one long afternoon. It can be emotional at times, as she describes the pain and emotions that she was feeling. She also does a really good job of explaining what her husband and close friends and family were seeing. It would be a good book to read so you can recognize the signs of post-partum depression not only in yourself but in a woman you love.

However, if you are currently struggling with post-partum, I hesitate in offering this as a resource for you. I read this book after I had been to the doctor. My fears had been confirmed and I was diagnosed and treated (read about my treatment here). Two days later as I was reading this book I kept thinking, "well maybe I'm not so bad, maybe I don't really have this." Can you believe it? part of the struggle is in the depression itself, you don't really think it's that bad. And even Brooke describes a very scary time when she took herself off of her medication. Another factor is that her depression was very acute and dramatic while mine was the weight of impending doom always hanging over me with a few moments of anxiety and a panic attack mixed in.

Understanding post-partum depression is important for women everywhere. Some of the new things I've learned is that it can hit at any time. While you're still pregnant, several months after giving birth, when you stop nursing...pretty much any time there's a potential for a hormonal imbalance! Get the knowledge you need to keep yourself and your loved ones safe. Read this book about one woman's struggle and talk to your doctor if you have any concerns.

School Time

A couple weeks ago I shared about our morning routine. I think that doing the same thing every morning has offered my children some stability. Every day looks a little different, but we try to start out the same. Here's a peek into our school time.

I found a great resource from World Book of what they should know at each grade level. I would love to be the kind of mom who could take that and teach my kids very naturally throughout the day. Unfortunately, I no longer have the brain power to be able to do that. There are plenty of resources out there, though, to help me teach my kids in a manner that fits us.

Reading/Language- I think it's pretty important for kids to learn how to read. Once they can read, they are able to find out anything they want to. But my boys hated sitting still long enough to get this very basic knowledge into them. I read a great book by Ruth Beechick (A Home Start in Reading) that helped me to see that reading is not the all there is. It's more important to teach kids about the world around them (science) and allow them to build a thirst for knowledge. Once I stopped pushing on the reading, things really improved.

Math- I am perfectly comfortable teaching my kids their math without needing a text. We do word problems in the van while running errands. We play counting and simple math games while setting the table. But math is so sequential that I was afraid I would miss something. So, we have a text, but it's more for me to see what they should be learning than it is for them to work from. I'm discovering that while my method is teaching them their math skills just fine, they don't really understand the written equation- we'll work on it :)

Each of these topics takes about ten minutes per child. Usually the kids are all playing on the floor. I'll call one over to me and we'll do a lesson from their book. Recently, Zachary's language lessons have involved drawing pictures of each season, so all the kids did that with him. Or I'll be working on patterns with Veronica, and the boys will want patterns, too. More often than not, I'm even folding laundry during this time, as well! It's pretty laid back, but I like the structure that the books we have chosen give us. For these lessons, there's little to nothing to prepare ahead of time. This makes it easy for Daddy or Grandma to do a lesson, as well.


Bible Study- We're always doing something different for this. Right now we have a Character Building curriculum that we're really enjoying. Sometimes we just read through a whole Bible. Other times our unit study is more Biblically based and we have a lot of projects that we're working on. Our favorite of all time was reading through the Jesus Storybook Bible.

Unit Studies- What about everything else? Science, history, geography, etc. We have chosen to immerse ourselves in one topic at a time and study it from all angles. There are many great programs that offer unit studies. We are currently using Konos. The units are based on character traits and are multi-level. All the kids study the same thing at the same time. Many times during the school year we don't do this part and just check out stacks of library books. It serves the same purpose- to introduce the kids to a variety of topics and to enjoy the learning process. Using Konos is my way of being intentional about choosing the topics and projects and the other method is the kids picking out what they're interested in. Both are valid methods of teaching and we utilize them both.

Right now, Bible study and unit studies are done altogether. Crafts and science can be done by all the children- each to their own level of skill and understanding. Some things we've already covered twice and I anticipate covering them again. The baby needs to learn about Adam and Eve and how weather works, too!

Add in a little playtime and doing a couple chores and it's lunchtime! My how the day flies by. How do you structure your day? Do you do any structured activities with your kids?

Menu Plan Monday

I usually love having meals together with other families. Whether the menu is planned out, or it's just a regular ole' pot luck, I love them all. I love weddings and graduations parties. Pretty much anything that means I don't have to cook for my family. :)

One of the worst parts about not eating dairy because of baby is having to avoid food of all sorts that I have not cooked (and I barely trust that!). I don't know that I have a point to all this complaining, but it has certainly made me more conscious of the food issues that other people may have and has altered the foods I bring to events, even when I'm not nursing a baby. Now, when I have a brunch to attend, I bring a hot item that doesn't contain cheese. When it's my turn to bring snacks, I'm opting for fruit salads and peanut butter on celery sticks. And when we have a pot luck to attend, I bring along a sandwich.

This past weekend we went to a wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony, but I kept wondering what would be served as the meal. It turns out that I could safely eat about half of it, so I was fine. (I had a granola bar along, just in case!) This summer is probably going to be filled with church potlucks and picnics since we are putting the finishing touches on a building and everyone is looking forward to doing that sort of thing. (I am not.) What do you do when attending an event where you know you won't be able to eat the food? Any tips for me?

Monday- Tuna Casserole (mine made separately without cheese)
Tuesday- Roast
Wednesday- Fried Rice
Thursday- Sausage and potatoes
Friday- Pizza Night (mine made without cheese)
Saturday- Leftovers
Easter Sunday- Dinner w/family

Check out more menus at orgjunkie.org

Yoplait Giveaway

March is almost over, how are you doing on your New Year's Resolution's? I didn't make any this year. I was a little busy with the new baby. :) But I have hit the point in post-pregnancy weight loss where I'm no longer losing weight quickly and easily. If I want to lose any more, I have to do something pro-active. 


That's why I was so excited when My Blog Spark and Yoplait offered to send me an "Outsmarting Temptation" gift pack plus a coupon for a free yogurt sample. I love the lunch tote that is included with this pack. It's so pretty I want to use it for more than just lunch! And the journal will be very helpful to track my eating habits. It gives me a place to record the foods I eat and it's nutritional content. 


I have to say that Yoplait has done a pretty good job with their yogurt's in the past, and their new flavors seem to be a great alternative to a sugary, fat-filled dessert. Red Velvet Cake and Blueberry Pie are two of the offerings on the menu. (Check out all flavors and get a $1 off coupon here.) Unfortunately, with baby's dislike of anything dairy, I won't be able to try these flavors any time soon. But my family is sure to like them!

I am pleased to announce that My Blog Spark and Yoplait have given me the opportunity to share a gift pack with one of my readers! One lucky winner will be selected at random. You will receive a Yoplait Light "Outsmarting Temptation" gift pack, which includes an insulated gourmet lunch tote, a food journal and a travel utensil set. 


Leave a comment as your submission along with a way for me to contact you. A winner will be announced at noon on April 2, and you will have 48 hours to respond with your mailing address. Leave a separate comment for each submission.


1, Leave a comment with what flavor of the new Yoplait Light you'd like to try.
2. Become a follower or subscriber and leave a comment letting me know. [How to become a follower: click the link on the right of the blog that says "follower" to follow using blogger. Click the link that says "subscribe to posts" to choose another reader.]


A winner has been announced!