"Breakfast" for supper?!?

image courtesy of iCLIPART.com

   
         In my quest to stream line and organize life in this very busy season, I am quickly coming to the realization that it is important to do things the way that works best for our family. I have read countless books and magazine articles that all promised that if I followed their schedules and charts, I would be able to run the household without a hitch. Unfortunately, those ideas that looked great on paper did not transfer too well to my actual life. I had to discover that each family is unique and what worked for someone else might not necessarily work for me...
....and that it was okay.
         There is alot of pressure on the shoulders of mothers, whether you are a stay-at-home one or not. We are not super women, we are not celebrities who have nannies and personal chefs. We are only human and we do get tired! Instead of racing through life holding a candle that is burning on both ends, I am trying to slow down, and give myself permission to be a wife, a mom, a homemaker in a way that brings glory to God, rather than aiming to meet the expectations of society.
      One aspect of homemaking that seems to demand alot of time and energy is food preparation. Everyone has to eat to live, but so often it seems like everything in our world revolves around food. I want to provide my family with delicious, nourishing, healthy meals, but there is just not enough time to cook elaborate multiple course meals every day.
      Prior to having children, I regularily made detailed spread sheets of meal plans and grocery lists, and even had an impressive stack of new recipes to try every week. But, it is no longer possible for me to do things exactly the same now. When I have hungry little mouths clamoring for food and my time is spread so thinly, I am having to modify my previous approach. This is hard for me, since old habits die hard. :) I still aim to be organized in this area, but have had to take a step or two back and realize that there needs to be a more modified plan in place.
      It is difficult to find that happy place of a balanced dose of enough organization to keep things running smoothly, and also an equal dose of relaxed simplification that allows for the unexpected.
      This is what I am doing for now: my goal is to have a supper plan in place every morning--and it does not have to be anything fancy! I still like to experiment in the kitchen and make the effort to present my family with special treats that take that little bit of extra effort. BUT, instead feeling obligated to do that every day, I am aiming for a couple of "nicer" meals every week, and then on the other nights making simpler fare.
      I do have a rough meal plan in place for each week, and plan my shopping accordingly, but I don't assign a meal to any particular night. I just have the ingredients on hand to make the meals, then see how the week goes. If the morning goes well and the children are playing nicely, then on that day I might do some extra cooking and baking. I can get meat marinating, peel potatoes, make a batch of dough for rolls in the snippets of time over the course of the day. However, if it is a hectic, totally crazy day, then I have the flexibility to reach for something quicker.
       I have actually found that easy, economical things such as spaghetti or an occaisonal frozen pizza go over great with our family, and paired with vegetables on the side, are nutritious, well rounded meals. I have now given myself permission to take short cuts in the kitchen, to improvise and use convenience foods in my recipes...and yes, even to serve unexpected things such as pancakes or waffles for supper! (At first, my children thought it was a little funny, but they gobbled them right up, especially when topped with fresh berry sauce. :)) Who says those foods can only be served in the morning?!?
     Keeping things simple is good. There is no need to feel guilty about not cooking everything from scratch,...or even occaisonally eating out!

After all, the most important "ingredient" (even in waffles!), is love.

Teaching Responsibility, Part 1

One of the things that I want to work on in 2011 is teaching my older children more responsibility. They already have a few small chores they do, but I would like to expand upon that a bit and train them in a few new things now that they are older. As a mom, I naturally find myself trying to do everything. Often times, it is just easier in the short term to pick up after them rather than take time out to have them work along side of me. It takes extra time and patience to gently train and direct the children to do chores,

but in the long term, it will be worth it.  

It goes beyond having a tidy house,. I think it's important that children learn to take care of their property, to work together as a team with their family,to follow direction, and to have a helpful, cheerful spirit while doing so. I also want them to have a sense of pride in a job well done.The foundation for their future life as an adult is being built right now. It must begin early on. I cannot wait until they are teenagers and then wonder why their rooms are disasters and they do not know how to do simple household tasks.

I'm supposed to be raising children--not little piggies!

What better place to begin learning about responsibility than on the home front?

This does not mean that my children can never take toys out or make a mess in the course of learning, creating, and just being kids. My goal is not to have a spotless house that looks like a show room. I have three small little ones and it would be unrealistic to expect perfection (in fact, as I type this, I am surrounded by a Lincoln log village and a Hot Wheels parking lot! :) ), especially since we are homeschooling.

I don't think that means we have to live in a constant state of dirty chaos, though! No, every nook and cranny of my home is not necessarily organized the way I would like it. There are usually some crumbs under the table. I struggle to keep up with the laundry.

Yet, I do want our home to be comfortable, welcoming, reasonably clean.

A happy sanctuary to those I love.

Like with many things in life, it is all about balance and attitude.

I often forget just how capable my children are, how much they can actually do. They continually surprise me with something new that they learn how to do for themselves. The two older ones love tagging along with me as I go about the housework and they seem to derive a sense of satisfaction to be involved and feel like they are a big help to our whole family. Some of the best conversations I have had with the children have happened while we were working on something together.

They are at that young, impressionable age where work can actually be made fun!

Although the oldest two are only 3 and 5 years old, some of the many things that they can do are: dusting--an old, soft sock  worn over a little hand is a great way for them to help polish everything on their level...especially baseboards (they like to see who ends up with the dirtiest sock or dusting rag)! We got a small hand vaccum a few years ago that is light enough for them to handle and actually use. They like to vacuum under their beds and other places that are hard for me to get at with the regular sized vacuum. Setting the table, clearing the table after a meal, putting away silverware, and helping me cook and bake in the kitchen are other things that are a good way to include them. In the laundry room, sorting laundry is excellent practice for grouping colors and types of like items together...great way to capitalize on those teaching moments! Then there are the little daily things such as making beds and cleaning up toys when done playing with them. Even little Ethan is learning to put his blocks away in the bin before his afternoon nap.

It's so cute to see his older siblings encouraging and cheering him on.

So, even though my children do already know how to help around the house, I want to get a better organized system of chores in place, especially now that we are doing more structured homeschooling. I have come to the conclusion that we need more of a direct, visual course of action: chore charts.

 I want the children to get up every morning and know what their responsibilities are for the day. This will keep us on track with our daily routine much better. Of course, it won't be a set in stone schedule since life is full of the unexpected. The chore charts will serve as a guideline to our day but won't be overly rigid.

I am going to focus this week on working along side the children and introducing a few new things that they can try doing, then beginning the chore charts fresh on Monday morning. I will be writing a post with an update on how the new system is going in a week or so. I'm looking forward to seeing how this works for us!

In the meantime, I must go and wash the dishes --even though I don't feel like it! I would honestly much rather curl up with a book and some hot tea.

But, after all, responsiblity must first begin with the parent. :) Good night!

Ethan's room

I had always assumed that my two sons would immediately share a bedroom, but due to them being four years apart in age with different sleeping schedules, it didn't work out well the way I had thought it would. It got to the point where I had to put that idea aside and turn my thoughts to another alternative. Moving to a house with more bedrooms was definitely not an option, nor was building onto our existing house. Instead, I zeroed in on how we could shift our current living areas around to fit the needs of our family for the short term until Ethan is a bit older and can share a bunk bed upstairs with his big brother.

And so this fall the answer turned out to be moving our desk and filing cabinets out of the tiny place downstairs that we had been using for an office. Though not big (I've seen walk-in closets that are larger!)  this space had lots of charm and I could just see all of the hidden potential. I thought it would make a cute bedroom for a one year old if we could give this room an economical, mini makeover.

This is what it looked like before anything was done:

The first thing to be changed was the wall color. It went from pale blue to a cheerful, sunshiny yellow. That helped to make it feel so much warmer, and even a bit larger! I did not think to take any before pictures of Ethan's crib, but in the course of putting together this new room, I also stripped the old finish off of that,

sanded it down, then painted it black to match his dresser.

 Here is what Ethan's room looks like now:

Hooray--it's finally finished and he can start using it now. (And yes, it did taken me two months to wrap up this project. Lots going on at all times. :) )

It may be small, but it is inviting and fun and perfect for a little guy whose needs are pretty basic: cozy spot for sleeping, a place to keep his toys and clothes, and some warm, clean floor area to play on. I think that Ethan's favorite feature has to be the adorable Curious George mural above his crib.

Just goes to show how a fresh coat of paint, creativity (i.e.working with what you have!), and some elbow grease can completely transform a room!