Tuesday Tips

Are you to attached to your things and your worldly goods?  Would you like help to become detached from them? 

I have a five year old that can help you with that....

Today Mallary has broken...

1 brush (my new brush I bought two months ago...)
1 flashing reindeer antler headband (I've had for 8 years and it still flashes...)
1 power outlet cover
1 command strip hook

It's only 3:59, who knows what else the day will bring....


Please pray for her safety...

and my sanity.

Tuesday Tips - How a busy mom cleans her house

Oh boy, have I got experience in this department... 

Here's how to get your house clean with three children running around:

FIRST:  Have your four (almost five) and two year olds pull out every strainer, grater, and mixing bowl you own (about 20...) and line them up in the living room for what may look like some cooking competition. 

SECOND:  Ask your children to clean them up.

THIRD:  Threaten your children to clean them up.

FOURTH:  Threaten again and count to three. 

FIFTH:  Re-organize all the bowls and dishes your children "cleaned" and stacked up for you.

And that is how you get clean, organized cupboards!  Oh, wait... it was already clean, and organized... 

How to get your child to clean their room:

FIRST:  Have child dump out every toy basket in their room.  Pull all their blankets and pillows off the bed.  Pull all of her clothes out of her drawer.  For added measure, have her bring in a few baskets of toys from her brother's room and dump those out too. 

SECOND:  Ask your child to clean her room.

THIRD:  Threaten your child to clean her room.

FOURTH:  Count to three and deal with the theatrics that follow.  "But, it's too much for me to do by myself!" "I can't fold my clothes!"  "I don't know how to fold my clothes!"  (said the girl who volunteers to help mom with laundry by folding her clothes...)

FIFTH:  Child cleans her room in ten  minutes...

SIXTH:  Be a little suspicious - especially if she cleaned her room and STILL can't find her soccer shorts.

SEVENTH:  Enter said room yourself, because you need to find child's soccer shorts in less than thirty minutes.  Notice toy baskets STUFFED with clothing.  Not toy clothing... 

EIGHTH:  Maybe get a little mad...  Make child dump ALL BASKETS out and start over. 

NINTH:  Help/direct child in cleaning her room. Watch as she pulls back the blankets on the bed she made up, to see all of her other clothes shoved there and under her pillow.  Help fold up clothes and determine what is clean and dirty. 

TENTH:  Room is clean!  Oh wait, no soccer shorts.  Ask child to make sure there are no other clothes anywhere.  Child says, "Oh yeah..."  Pulls back the blankets from the foot of the bed, more clothes, and soccer shorts!  SCORE!  Put remaining clothes away, enjoy the clean room that will last for about a day.

See???  Ten EASY steps to get your child's room clean...

How to clean your living room:

FIRST:  It helps to be missing something, say, one hair bow to match soccer uniform, and one navy blue sock to match soccer uniform. 

SECOND:  Tell your children to find it.  NOW! 

THIRD:  Watch children destroy living room.  All blankets, coloring books, notebooks pulled out of the ottoman bench and strewn all over living room.  All pillows must also be thrown in the floor. 

FOURTH:  After all the chaos, nothing is found and we have to hurry and leave for soccer without the missing items.

FIFTH:  Come home from soccer, listen to husband ask children why the living room is a disaster.

SIXTH:  Listen to husband complain about messy living room while he makes the children clean it. 

How easy was that? Only six steps to clean a living room!!


And, that, my friends, is how a busy mom cleans her house - SHE DOESN'T!!!  Because she is too busy cleaning up what was clean moments before to worry about cleaning what is actually dirty!

Tuesday Tips

It's so important that your children have the proper footwear for when they play outside...


Like these dressy boots for instance protecting your sweet child's feet from mud:

Or these, perfect for cushioning your child's leap from the swings:


Just so you can get an idea of what they used to look like, you know, before Mallary destroyed them...

Don't let this dainty bow fool you, these are perfect for climbing that climbing wall:

I should have taken a picture of these BEFORE I cleaned all the dirt off...

Though, perfect for outdoor play - expect the shoes to look like this in a few MONTHS not years, MONTHS!!!!:

Today's Tuesday Tip:  Don't overspend on your child's shoes... It really is silly... and a waste of money.

Tuesday Tips

Here are some money saving tips just for you!

TIP #1:  Instead of buying new toys, just buy a pack of paper plates.  They are a highly coveted item from my pantry! 

TIP #2:  Why do we buy chairs?  It's so much more fun to sit on the table...

TIP #3:  Seriously, no need for new toys... Just show your children where you keep your kitchen towels, and they'll stay busy for days!

TIP #4:  Why do we buy Barbies?  A piece of string can keep your child occupied all day - the possibilities are endless!

Not even kidding, my kids fight over string...

TIP #5:  Buy new batteries!  (On sale or with a coupon, of course)  It makes your child feel like they have brand new toys once you get those new batteries in them!

The best thing I did this day was to put batteries in the Zhu zhu pets from last Christmas... the kids loved it!

TIP #6:  Don't waste your money on those pretend dishes when your kids could just use the real thing!

These two items are Jonah's favorite toys.  A small stainless steel bowl and a tiny whisk keeps him busy for hours! 

TIP #7:  No need to waste your money on buying spoons plus you won't have to wash them after meal time!

My children teach me so much about saving money...

Tuesday Tips

Is it spring?!?! 

I am on this crazy "spring" cleaning trip!  Except it's January... but, my house is well overdue for a good spring cleaning.

I just cleaned out my sock drawer - got rid of the scratchy, icky sports socks that I never wear.  Why did I keep them for so long? 

I've cleaned out the kids' toys, part of the garage, my pantry, my kitchen cabinets, organized my Christmas stuff, and still working on my work room...

I'll share a few tips with you from all that cleaning.

So, my kids' bookshelves were overflowing, and I got this great idea... (props to you if you've already been doing this, but poo on you for not sharing!)  I store all of my kids Christmas/winter books with all of my Christmas decorations.  When I pull out my Christmas decorations, I get out all of those books, when I put my decorations away I put away all my Christmas decorations (except I leave all the winter themed ones out a little longer).  BUT, I realized I should be doing this with all of their holiday books!!!  Why didn't I think of this sooner???  So, I went through all of their book shelves and pulled out the holiday ones.  I stored all of the holiday books in their respective holiday rubbermaid tote in the garage!  Great solution for their overstuffed shelves, and then their books are like new when that holiday comes around!!!  Ready... now, break!  Go do your own!  :)

My next tip, I've been wanting to do for a while.  When I was putting up my Christmas decorations, I finally did it.  I took a picture of all of my Christmas Tree Ornaments.  I'm going to print them up (Shutterfly/Snapfish prints for one cent...) and write on the back what is special about that ornament/when we got it/who gave it to us/etc.  

I especially wanted to do this because we give our kids ornaments every year that has to do with something they were into/did/etc. the past year.  I wanted them to know why I picked out a specific ornament for them. 

Here are a few of the new ornaments from our travels this past year...

Jamaica with John!!

Family reunion in Maryland

Sisters Trip to Charleston, SC

Tuesday Tips

Just one tip today...

I know how you feel -  it's the middle of the afternoon, and you are soooooo tired.  Do you dare attempt to take a nap on the couch while your kids run around you???  No!!!  Don't do it!!! Unless you are prepared to deal with the consequences...

My consequence on this paticular day was to clean up Jonah's mess...  He started to empty out the trashcan...

Lesson learned - mommy can't nap! Or... put the trashcan in the pantry if you're going to attempt a nap...

Tuesday Tips

At the end of the summer, I was tired of our van being a mess,and decided to clean it out - which inspired today's Tuesday Tips:

HOW TO MAKE YOUR VEHICLE FEEL MORE LIKE HOME

If you're like us, you spend A LOT of time in your car (we've put 42,000 miles on our van in 1.5 years), so here are a few tips to make it feel just like you are sitting at home while sitting in your car! 

Tip #1. You have souvenirs from all of your trips in your home - why not leave a few in your car too?

Tip #2.  Make your kids comfortable by leaving some socks on the floor of your vehicle - just like their bedrooms at home!

Tip #3.  And it wouldn't feel like home if there weren't toys scattered everywhere, now would it??

Tip #4.  Don't forget the stickers!!!  You know, to match the walls and the kitchen chairs at home!

Tip #5.  It also wouldn't feel like home if you weren't able to brush your hair when you wanted to!!

Tip #6.  Make sure you leave lots of shoes on the floor too - to create the same environment that is on your kitchen floor...

Tip #7.  It definitely wouldn't feel like home to you unless there was trash left by your kids for you to clean up after!  So, encourage them to scatter their wrappers and trash!

Tip #8.  Don't forget about the crayon drawings all over the walls at home - you want to be sure to duplicate that in your vehicle!!!  

Tip #9.  You also want to make sure that snacks are readily available...  This works best if they are found in every car seat, and in every crevice or crack...

Tip #10.  What keeps you busy at home (besides your kids)?  Whatever it is, you want to make sure it has a presence in your vehicle as well! 

Let's just say, I was very happy to get my van cleaned out that day - unfortunately, I had already thrown away all the fast food wrappers, and half eaten, old cheeseburgers the kids had thrown on the ground before I got out the camera... 

Tuesday Tips

My simple tip for today:

Make sure your spouse turns down the volume on his alarm clock...

Or, you will also be really tired of your children repeatedly waking up at 5:30 in the morning!

John doesn't wake up to his alarm clock, but he successfully manages to wake everyone else up with it.

That Johnny...

Tuesday Tips

I'm sure many of you have asked yourselves these questions many, many times.

Well, it's your lucky day, because I'm going to answer them for you!

1. How do you make a baby happy?

2. How do you help your baby develop their fine motor skills?

4. How do you get your baby to applaud you after feeding them?

5. How do you teach a baby to feed himself?

ANSWERS?

You just put Rice Krispy cereal on your kitchen floor, and let your baby go to town!!

Yes. I let me son eat off the ground.

The difference between a mother of one, and a mother of three - I totally didn't give Trevan food that had dropped on the ground, and now I'm putting it on the ground for Jonah to eat off of...

Now accepting Mother of the Year nominations

Tuesday Tips

Today's Tuesday Tips - My "Get the Look" (for less) Edition

Look #1: Fashionable Torn Jeans

Get the look for less! Don't pay for overpriced torn jeans! Just borrow my six year old, and he can give you the look you want for FREE!!! (Eight, EIGHT!, pairs of pants Trevan has gone through since the beginning of school, four were hand me downs, and four were brand new!!!!!!)

Look #2: Looking for that perfect vinyl decal to put over your fireplace?

Get the look for less! Just pick out some stickers instead and let your kids go crazy!

Look #3: Don't you love the clean vanity look?

Get the look for less... Or not at all! (My kids have a nice little drawer thing to put all this stuff in...)

Look #4: Fun vinyl names on your chairs!

Get the look for less! Give your kid some stickers, and you'll be able to tell which chairs are theirs!

Look #5: A well decorated tub!

Get the look for less! Don't spend money on an interior designer or spend money at the florist for those flowers. You could hire my kids for much less and they would give you an equally well decorated tub!

Look #6: Short bangs!

Get the look for less! Hire my daughter to cut yours! She's had a lot of practice!!!!!

Tuesday Tips

Don't spend your money on a mop or a vacuum - just get a 3 year old and a 10 month old!!

I was making an ice cream cake the other day, and accidentally dropped a bunch of ice cream in the floor. Before I could wipe it up, Mallary asked if she could lick it up. Being the good mother that I am, I told her it was gross to eat stuff off of the floor and that it could make you sick, but when she started lapping it up like a dog, I didn't bother stopping her.


Jonah is to the point where he likes to find all the crumbs underneath the table and put them in his mouth. He's our little scavenger.


Looking for an afternoon snack...

Crawling to come and get me. (He army crawls)

He LOVES the camera.

He spies a spot on the ground...

He found something, but didn't quite make it in his mouth.

"Yum, Mom, I like Oreo crumbs!"

He seriously gets so excited crawling around the kitchen looking for crumbs. If I sweep, or wipe some up, he follows the piles and looks at me like, "why are you taking my snack????"