4 hours ago
One of the things that has surprised me as my kids have grown older has been what I call the “happy chaos” that comes along with having toddlers. Before I had kids, I used to tell myself that my household would not be one of chaos – I was convinced that I could still maintain an orderly, peaceful house with children running around.
I can almost hear you all laughing at me, because any mom knows that with kids comes a certain level of chaos. A person can only maintain so much order with even one child in the house, and now we have three children, 3 and under, who make my life so much more fun . . . and yes, chaotic! People inform me that I have my hands full on a daily basis.
I have long since accepted that a chaos-free life with children is an oxymoron, but that doesn’t mean I have completely given up on keeping the craziness to a manageable level. The following are a few things that have helped me as I try to find a good balance...
Check out Tommy Nelson's blog to read the rest of my post on managing the chaos of life with young kids!
The word "staycation" never conjured up particularly good images in my mind. I always thought it sounded a bit boring. However, I am happy to report that after our staycation a couple weeks ago, I have become a fan! We had a great time, and we managed to squeeze a lot of fun things in while still relaxing. I'm not a staycation expert, but I thought I'd share a few tips for making a stay cation fun from my limited experience.
Play Tourist
I don't know why, but it seems like people tend to take for granted all of the tourist sites that are right down the road from where they live. Before our staycation we came up with a list of touristy places and activities in our area and picked a couple of them to do. It was fun to go some places that we never go. We even went to one national monument that we had never visited before. It made it feel like we were going somewhere new, even though we were staying home.
Take A "Road Trip"
On your way to your touristy destinations, treat the drive like a road trip. Turn up the music, roll down the windows, play a movie for the kids (if you have that capability). Or if you are like Derek and me, listen to an audio book or drama. Do whatever you would normal do for a road trip, even if you are only driving for 30 minutes.
Go Camping
Set up a tent in your backyard, complete with air mattress, sleeping bags, Skittles, and a movie on the laptop (yes, that is how I camp - I'm not hardcore). You can even add a fire and s'mores if you have a fire pit, or if your area allows. We were planning on doing this, but we ended up being so busy with all of the stuff we wanted to do together that we actually never got around to camping. However, if we had, I think it would have been pretty fun!
Add Something Tastey
For us, this translated into special drinks that I made for Derek and myself when we got home early enough (virgin pina coladas and homemade sodas). We also stocked up on snacks, and we added an "eating out" budget so we didn't have to make as many meals.
Ignore The Mess
It can be difficult to relax at home when you are a neat freak like me. But cleaning and working don't really go with a vacation (or a staycation), so I cleaned as much as possible on Sunday night, and then ignored the mess as much as possible during the week (okay, I admit, I did declutter a little - just a couple times).
Unplug
I wanted to treat our staycation like a vacation as much as possible, so I decided to put away my laptop, limit my contact with the outside world, and just spend time with my family. The only thing I did was Instagram some of the great pictures we took! It gives more of a vacation atmosphere when you take a break from normal distractions and obligations and just focus on spending time together.
Those are my tips! The main point is just to do something you wouldn't normally do, relax, and spend time with your loved ones. Those are the things that can make a staycation just as fun as a vacation, in my opinion. I no longer balk at the idea of staying home - and the distinct advantage is that you save lots of money with staycations!
Have you ever taken a staycation? What did you do to make it more fun?
Bedtime is one of my favorite times of the day with the kids. For Wyatt in particular, this is the time of day that he likes to chat my ear off.
We usually say a prayer together every night, and he likes to list things. Sometimes we'll list things to thank God for, sometimes he'll list things he hopes we get to do the next day. His new favorite is listing people that he wants to go to Heaven with him (is that cute, or what?).
We received "A Night Night Prayer" by Amy Parker recently. I love this book for multiple reasons - for one, the illustrations are so cute! In these pages we follow a little llama child through his bedtime routine. He lists all the things that are sleeping - trees, flowers, the dog, parents, etc. He says goodnight to each thing that is sleeping, and then the book closes with a sweet little prayer.
This book fits in right with our nighttime list theme. I think Wyatt and I will have a lot of fun looking at all the things listed in this book, and then coming up with some of our own things to add to it. This is a great book for winding down at night and prepping kids mentally for bedtime, and the board book style allows for easy handling. I don't have to worry about pages tearing if the kids want to read this book themselves!
As you can see, Miss Gwen loved this book too! We're training her in list-making now.
If you'd like another bedtime book to add to your collection, I recommend checking this one out!
Note: I received this book for free from Tommy Nelson in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
We usually say a prayer together every night, and he likes to list things. Sometimes we'll list things to thank God for, sometimes he'll list things he hopes we get to do the next day. His new favorite is listing people that he wants to go to Heaven with him (is that cute, or what?).
We received "A Night Night Prayer" by Amy Parker recently. I love this book for multiple reasons - for one, the illustrations are so cute! In these pages we follow a little llama child through his bedtime routine. He lists all the things that are sleeping - trees, flowers, the dog, parents, etc. He says goodnight to each thing that is sleeping, and then the book closes with a sweet little prayer.
This book fits in right with our nighttime list theme. I think Wyatt and I will have a lot of fun looking at all the things listed in this book, and then coming up with some of our own things to add to it. This is a great book for winding down at night and prepping kids mentally for bedtime, and the board book style allows for easy handling. I don't have to worry about pages tearing if the kids want to read this book themselves!
As you can see, Miss Gwen loved this book too! We're training her in list-making now.
If you'd like another bedtime book to add to your collection, I recommend checking this one out!
Note: I received this book for free from Tommy Nelson in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
Shortly after we found out we were pregnant last year, I decided I wanted to try for a natural birth.
I have no problems with epidurals, but there were a few reasons I want to give natural birth a try: (1) to save money, (2) because my recovery was so much easier after my natural birth with my daughter, and (3) to prove to myself I could give birth naturally by choice instead of just by necessity.
There is only so much you can do to prepare for labor, and I don't think anything fully prepared me for how intense the transition phase of labor was! However, there were three labor resources that I found encouraging and helpful when I was trying to mentally prepare for giving birth naturally, and I wanted to share them here for all of you ladies who are interested.
I rented this DVD from the library when we were pregnant with our first child. We didn't take a childbirth class, so this was our version of a class. This is not a DVD about natural childbirth - all the medical interventions that can be involved with childbirth are discussed as well. But the reason I am listing it is because the breathing methods discussed were so helpful to me during my labors. The instructor is a lamaze teacher, so she goes through the three classic Lamaze breathing techniques. Breathing through each contraction was the main thing that helped me through all three of my labors, but especially with my natural labors. Focusing on each technique took my mind off the pain, helped me relax, and made the contractions much more manageable. I thought it was useful to have the breathing demonstrated and practice beforehand, and this DVD was great for that.
This entire book is about giving birth naturally in a hospital, and I thought the information was useful and interesting. The author does advocate for having a doula and picking a caregiver that is supportive of a natural birth - those sections weren't as helpful to me because I already had a caregiver I was comfortable with, and I couldn't afford a doula. What I thought was most helpful about this book were the tips on how to handle things in the hospital to give yourself the best chance of succeeding - how to get the hospital staff on board and postpone certain interventions. I felt pretty motivated and confident that I could have a good chance at a successful natural hospital birth through utilizing the information in this book.
I read this book mostly to see what the fuss was about. First, I have to say that I did not like everything in this book. I felt like a lot of the philosophy was more New Age in nature, I didn't like the fertility idols she seemed enthralled with, and The Farm sounds kind of cultish to me. I think Christians should read this book with discernment. She was also fairly anti-hospital in this book, and since I knew that I wanted a hospital birth, I refused to accept the parts where she seemed to imply that it was difficult or impossible to succeed at natural birth in a hospital. What I did find useful was some of the information on helping your body along in labor - different positions, relaxing your muscles in labor, etc. Even though I didn't like many of her philosophies, I did feel more confident in my ability to give birth naturally after reading the practical information that was shared.
That is all I have! Do any of you have resources that you found helpful before giving birth?
You know how I said that I don't make fancy dinners that often? Cheap and fast are the two words that usually describe our meals around here. I'm trying to do better because Derek has requested that I make "real" dinners more often, so the other night I thought I'd make a chicken lasagna.
I've never made chicken lasagna before, but I didn't really like the recipes I found - so I mixed and matched and changed certain things entirely until I had made up my own recipe again! I tell you, I'm on a roll.
Derek and I aren't foodies or chicken lasagna connoisseurs, but we thought it turned out pretty good! So I wanted to share my recipe with you (and also as a record for myself so that the next time I make it I have it all typed out). Please excuse some of the poor quality photos - I was still just working with a phone camera when I made this!
Chicken Spinach Lasagna
2 chicken breasts, cooked
Lasagna noodles
1/2 onion, minced
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1/2 stick (1/4 c.) butter
1/2 flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups chick broth
1 cup milk
32 oz. small curd cottage cheese, drained and rinsed
2 eggs
3/4 c. parmesan cheese
2 tsp. oregano
32 ounce block of mozzarella cheese
2 cups spinach leaves
A few fresh basil leaves (optional)
1/4 chopped fresh parsley
1. Cook chicken breasts (however you want, I just put a couple frozen chicken breasts in the oven until they were cooked through). Let them cool, then shred or cube the chicken. Set aside.
2. Boil 6-9 lasagna noodles in water until they are cooked and flexible.
3. In the meantime, add butter, onion, and garlic to saucepan over medium heat until onions are translucent and tender. Add flour and salt (but if I'm honest, I forgot the salt - it tasted fine anyway, but most recipes call for salt), mix well. Add chicken broth and simmer until thick (whisk if it starts to look clumpy). Whisk in milk and set aside.
4. While the sauce is simmering, drain the cottage cheese and rinse well.
In a bowl mix the cottage cheese, eggs, and oregano (I just eyed it with the oregano, it was probably around 2 teaspoons). Mix in 1/2 cup of the parmesan cheese and the shredded or cubed chicken. Set aside.
5. Rinse spinach leaves and, tear up into smaller pieces if desired. I also mixed in a few basil leaves with the spinach, just because I was dying to use our new basil plant! Set aside.
(My pretty basil plant.)
(Spinach leaves, pre-tearing.)
6. Slice mozzarella cheese.
(Is It weird that I think sliced mozzarella cheese is pretty?)
7. Now comes the fun part - layering! Start with a layer of lasagna noodles.
Then spread a layer of the cottage cheese mixture over that.
Put down a layer of spinach leaves. (Sorry, no picture of that step, but I'm confident you all can figure it out by yourselves anyway.)
Layer the mozzarella slices over that.
Spread a thin layer of sauce over the cheese.
Repeat.
8. Sprinkle the remainder of the parmesan cheese and the fresh parsley over the top of the lasagna.
Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes, until heated through and bubbly.
Cool for 10 minutes and serve!
Variation Idea: I also saw a recipe that called for artichoke. I didn't have any, so I didn't try it in mine, but I think it would be good with artichoke cut up and added into the cottage cheese mixture. I'll probably try it that way next time, and if it's good I'll report back.
Enjoy!
In Stuck Together by Mary Connealy, Tina Cahill is determined to get the town saloon to close, and though she spend much of her free time picketing the establishment, no one in the town seems to pay any attention to her. But Vince Yates notices Tina, and has for a long time. Then Vince's rathe shows up and leaves his mentally deteriorating mother and his sister, and Vince has more on his plate than he can handle. If he could just get past his fear that he might turn out like his parents, he might propose to Tina!
This book was just a fun, slightly humorous read! I liked Tina's character, and I thought her stubbornness was amusing. I thought the development of the romance between Tina and Vince was sweet, even though the characters were mostly confused about or trying to avoid their feelings through most of the book.
The story line flashes back and forth between Vince and Tina and Vince's friend, Luke. Since this is the third book in this series, I think I would understand and appreciate that part of the plot better if I had read the other two books first. Connealy makes several references to events that I assume occurred in the other two books, so if you were interested in reading this book, I might suggest picking up the first two books to fill in the gaps.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, especially the quirky, colorful characters. The plot was interesting enough, even though I hadn't read the other books before picking up this one. If you like light-hearted western romances, I'd say this might be one to check out.
Note: I received this book for free from Bethany House in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
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