Mommy's Project 52:20 Cooking

Cooking is something I still find frustrating. It is not my pleasure but something I do because it need to be done. It needs to healthy, it needs to have variety, it need to be something that both my husband and my kids will eat, and it need to be done quickly and efficiently. I have tried lots of different approaches and am still looking for the best way to do it.

I tried index cards with 30 different meal plans and then each week, I will deal out 7 different meals and shop for the ingredients. It worked for a while but then I grew restless with it. Then I tried a weekly meal planner on the refrigerator and planned for the week. It works pretty well as long as I can pick the meal that day depending on circumstances. If I am having a great day, I can spend more time at the stove or prepping veggies but if it is a not so good day then I want something that can be thrown in the oven and baked. With the recent move meal planning has been thrown out the window and replaced with easy to make meals or take-out. I am ready to get my kitchen in order and get back on track.

My son is a picky eater and so I have tried to include him in the meal planning and veggie picking. My husband gets frustrated because I don't make his favorite foods as much. But they are usually not things the kids will eat so he gets what he likes less often.

I have a new kitchen and a new opportunity to get this cooking thing to work for me. I don't think I will ever love to cook but I want to make it more enjoyable and less frustrating. I am looking forward to reading about how other moms handle the chore of cooking.

On the fun side, I do bake with the kids but that is the not the same thing as cooking supper/dinner. Here are some pictures of us making our Christmas cookies this week. They both took their jobs very seriously. I am glad that Daddy likes to eat cookies no matter the color of the frosting or how many sprinkles or fingerprints are on the cookies.

Mommy's Project 52:19 Folding

In honor of this week's topic, I decided to see how letting the kids help fold clothes would work out. It started well but in the end I think I would prefer just to fold them myself while they play around me.

My five year old son can fold washcloths and hand towels but he prefers to fold them his way. He quickly assured me that he could fold all the clothes and I could put them away.

My daughter was very good at picking out clothes and handing them to me but she also wanted to do more.

They both took the job so seriously and kept at it until they proudly announced they were finished. I took their stacks of clothes into the correct bedroom and quickly re-folded them as I put them away. I try to involve the kids in lots of my chores around the house but folding clothes didn't work out for me. Do your kids help you fold laundry?

Mommy's Project 52:18 Styling

I am not good at letting my child dress himself. I have a sweater holder in my son's closet with a complete outfit in each section. He just grabs one and put everything in one section on and then he is good to go. This is the result when he goes for it himself.

(Side note: We have arrived and are in our new home. Yeah. Now for the unpacking. I was so tired that the packing has come to a halt and I have just been playing for a couple of days with the kids. We all needed some down time.)

Mommy's Project 52:17 Leading

The dictionary defines "leading" as directing or guiding. I was thinking about how much of the "leading" we do is just by living our life. I am always telling my son that how he handles himself is how his sister will learn how to handle the situation. It starts with the adults around our children. I am amazed at how much my son picks up on my feelings and notices my reactions to things around me. As we approach the Christmas holidays, I am reminded that I need to set the example of how to handle the season. I can lead my son toward consumerism or the real joy in the season of giving and helping others. I am looking for new ways for us to serve others this season instead of looking to see how much we can collect under the Christmas tree. Do you have unique ways to lead your family toward doing more instead of wanting more this time of year?

Side note: The last few posts have been short due to the fact I am overwhelmed by getting us ready for the big move. My next post will be on the other side of the move. Yeah, I can't wait to get us settled in our new home. Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Mommy's Project 52:16 Organizing

I feel exactly the opposite of organized right now. I had dreams of sorting through everything before I moved and it is not going to happen. I find myself just putting stuff in boxes hoping that I will be able to unpack slowly and the organizing will happen on the other end of this move. I do like to organize and we will have to downsize because we are going to have about 400 less square feet of space in the new house. I do feel that the space is better designed so I am hoping that will make up for some of the difference. I am really looking forward to getting us and all our stuff back in one location.

Mommy's Project 52:15 Nap Time

Yeah for nap time!! Not only are my kids happier when they get their nap, so is Mommy and Daddy. My son who is going to turn five this month has napped until very recently. He would nap from 12:30 to 3:30 everyday from when he was a little over a year to his mid fours. He has stopped napping but he still has quiet time in his room for about 30 minutes each day so I can have a break. He needed to stop napping because it made it hard for him to sleep at night. If I let him stay in his room for longer than 30 minutes he will fall asleep and then it will be a late bedtime. I think it is okay for him to stay up all day since he will be going to Kindergarten next fall and he needs to build his stamina up for the long school day. He still gets tired around supper time but now with the time change he will go to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 and that is perfect for me.

My daughter who is 22 months old is in the great one long nap phase. She now naps pretty much everyday from 12:30 to 3:30 and still goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:00. It is awesome and I love it! It gives my son and I time to work on things that are better done when sister is asleep. It might be a movie and popcorn, a game with small pieces, or computer time for my son. After Christmas, we are going to try a little "home schooling" to get ready for Kindergarten. I mentioned in my last post we are moving and as of now there are no openings in any of the preschool programs that I am interested in where we are moving. So we might only be able to do a Mom's Day Out program twice a week this spring.

The only thing I have consciously done is to make napping a priority. I set up our schedules around nap time as much as possible so that we are home between lunch and 3:30 pm. Occasionally when I need a nap, I will lay down beside my son as he reads in bed and get a quick nap in while he is doing his quiet time. My husband likes to declare everybody nap time after church on Sundays. It makes for a nice relaxing lazy Sunday when we don't have anything else scheduled. It has not been happening with this move but it is something we hope to be able to put back into the schedule after the move.

(Note to self: I need to take some pictures of them sleeping, I couldn't find any in the last 6 months.)

Mommy's Project 52:14 Fixing

We are in the process of a big move. When we moved here 18 months ago, I realized that I let my feelings about the move show and it made the move harder on my son. This time I need to do a better job making this move a positive experience for my son. This weekend we started the process of moving our life from here to there. We closed on a house on Friday. Then we camped out in the house for the weekend. My husband and I thought a good introduction to the neighborhood would be trick-or-treating.

Letting my son take some personal ownership of his room was another way we felt we could get him more excited about this move. My son got to make his bedroom personal by adding dinosaur decals to the wall. We him decide where to put them in the room and kept our interference to a minimum. His only rule was they had to be higher than his sister could reach.

.

He wanted to help paint his sister's room. We didn't know if he was old enough but we gave him a chance and he made us so proud. He worked so carefully with the paint. Then we added some flower decals on her wall.

This is her room all fixed up.

It was a good start. When we were done, my son looked at me and said, "So we can stay here forever? Or until Daddy gets laid off from his job again, right?" He is exactly right and maybe even then. So I am doing my best to be positive about all things involved with the move because I know I have little eyes watching how I handle the move and I want to fix all those scared feelings he has about moving one more time. I think the painting and decorating even got me excited about this new chapter of our lives.