A Simple String of Pearls

OAMC - Freezer Storage Ideas

2012-02-22T13:35:00.000-08:00

This is my freezer towards the end of the month. Most of February's pre-prepped meals had become yummy family dinners by the time I took this photo. This freezer is pretty small, so I've employed some fun organization strategies from Pinterest to keep things orderly. The magazine racks are wonderful for storing smoothies, soups and sauces upright in freezer bags. I've added the purchase of a couple of lidded casserole dishes to our monthly budget, also. The Anchor Truefit is my personal pick for most versatile and sturdy.

The tight-fitting lid makes them fairly freezer burn proof and also seals in any smells that wouldn't be fun spreading throughout the fridge as leftovers. I'd been using disposable aluminum pans, but have found that at the rate I replace them, it just makes more sense to invest in a more permanent solution. Aluminum pans are great to start out with, though, because if the OAMC system doesn't fit your lifestyle as you thought it might, you wouldn't have wasted money with a major purchase of freezer-friendly casserole dishes!

On Pinterest, I came across this pin of a truly well-ordered freezer FULL of meals:

What's Cookin, Chicago is Joelen's blog. Her post on freezer organization is very thorough and full of great information. She has a unique perspective on freezer meal inspiration and goes beyond the typical casserole and soup recipes. Her blog is absolutely worth a look-see! It's a new favorite of mine!

Happy reading, planning, and dining!

Once A Month Cooking Series Wrap-up

2012-02-21T21:19:00.000-08:00

For my personal 'why' and an intro to the series, click:
A Simple String of Pearls: 'OAMC' Dinner System Series Launch!

For the most intense element of my system, click:

A Simple String of Pearls: 'OAMC' Meal Planning

For some tips on how to do a major monthly grocery investment with kids in tow, click:

A Simple String of Pearls: 'OAMC' Grocery Shopping

For a general overview of prep night, click:
A Simple String of Pearls: 'OAMC' Prep Night!

Having the hard work out of the way keeps weeknight dinners fun! For how we make this time orderly and sweet, click:
A Simple String of Pearls: 'OAMC' Dinner Time!

For examples of how to pack a month's worth of dinners into your freezer space, click:

A Simple String of Pearls: 'OAMC' Freezer Organization

Upcoming:
.
Freezer-friendly recipes!

OAMC - Dinner Time!

2012-02-18T11:32:00.000-08:00

The most complicated thing about making dinner from frozen pre-prepped meals, is remembering to take out the bundle so it thaws in time. Not very tough. I take out crock pot meals the night before needed to thaw while we sleep. In the morning everything's ready to drop into the pot, set on low, and be done by dinnertime. Most of the other meals just need to be taken out of the freezer in the morning to be ready for following the directions at about 4:30 or 5:00pm. A couple of the recipes can go straight from the freezer to the oven. (Unless they're in a glass dish.) Easy peasy.

With all of the hard work done, dinner time is a breeze; a generally fun time to relax with the kiddos. Here are a few of the things we do to make this time of day enjoyable and light-hearted:

You may have noticed the 'Amore' on my stove. It was a gift. My wonderful mother-in-law got it for me because she noticed a silly little trend of mine. When cooking, I usually sing. Mostly fun show tunes, classic stuff, and big band jazz. The kids know that when the moon hits your eyes like a big pizza pie, that's amore. Thus, the stove top word art. Here's another favorite:

By 5:00, we're usually done with schoolwork and can afford a little bit of levity. After a long day of work, errands, school, and focus, it feels nice to sing in the kitchen.

We have a rotating sous chef schedule, so each night a different kid gets to help with the meal and the table. The personal chats that happen when a child is stirring sauce or buttering bread are pretty unique. They also learn skills that will be a blessing to them as they grow up. Cooking is not scary or intimidating when you know the basics... especially while singing.

A couple of years ago, we made these cute place setting guides by tracing dish and silverware outlines onto some pretty place mats that I found on clearance at Target. Putting the dishes and silverware into the outlines has turned setting the table into more of a puzzle game. The mats aren't really needed anymore, but it's still fun to use them every once in a while.

Not all fun and games, though, dinnertime manners are required at the table. We have a strict 'no media' rule. Kids are squirmy and have a tough time sitting still through the length of a whole meal, but as long as they stay generally on their seats, we're okay. There is a list of words and phrases that I don't allow at the dinner table: 'Eew,' 'Yucky,' 'Gross,' and 'I don't like that' are a few. We substitute those with, 'Hmm,' 'That's different,' and 'This is not my favorite.' As long as they try a couple of bites of everything on their plates and mostly fill their tummies with good things, I'm happy.

Crazy Love and Crafty Cuteness!

2012-02-14T21:13:00.000-08:00

A small sampling of our St. Valentine's Day fun:

Stuff they love, written on heart-shaped post-its.

Something I love? Their sweetly childish handwriting!

The kitchen craft board is crowded with tissue paper hearts, snowflakes, and their first attempt at folded heart cut-outs. So fun!

We are so blessed to have a babysitter who does creative art projects with the kids while Jess and I are out together. Miss Tia turned our simple little tissue paper pompom craft into a bouquet of hanging tissue flowers! The heart garland was another of her fun ideas. The kids love it when she comes over! They worked on these projects before the holiday, and I'm sure we'll have to keep the decorations up for at least a week.

Our super healthy Valentine's Day Dinner =

Build Your Own Ooey Gooey Ice Cream Sundaes!

Yum. Hardly ever... a nice treat.

Here are the big kids with cards they got in the mail from Grandmom and Grandad this afternoon. It is such a treat for them to see their names on a real envelope from the mailbox! They opened their Valentines after dinner and carried them around until bedtime. I think Jojo actually took his to keep under his little pillow. Judah crashed early tonight, so he'll have to wait until tomorrow to see his Valentine's Day card!

He calls me 'Liebe'

2012-02-14T19:14:00.000-08:00

He's my 'Handsome.'

For obvious reasons...

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

OAMC - Prep Night!

2012-02-07T22:30:00.000-08:00

Now the fun part... Putting together 20 meals in 1 night! Whoa.

Time to dive in.

The very first thing I do is tape up the prep schedule at my eye level on the kitchen cabinets, making sure there's a pencil close by to take notes, scribble things out, and check the meals off as they're prepped.

I usually spend little chunks of time during the day chopping veggies and setting them aside for prep night. Having that done saves a ton of time. Creating an 'ingredient zone' is the next step. You could heap all the ingredients in one area or divide them up by recipe. I personally don't have a preference and have tried both.

Divided by recipe.

Heaped all together.

Lay out the containers and labels. This isn't a completely necessary step, but it does seem to make things move faster. It's nice not to be fumbling for ziploc baggies with tomato sauce on your fingers! One less thing to worry about!

The only thing left to do, is follow the plan!

Feels good to check those off! Done and done!

Ready for the freezer!

Seriously? Clean-up always waits until the next morning!

Once those dinners are loaded into the freezer,
I have a date with my pillow!

With a huge sense of accomplishment,
dinner is DONE for another month! Whew!

OAMC - Grocery Shopping

2012-02-03T16:23:00.000-08:00

There is not a huge difference between the general stock-up trip to the store and a OAMC grocery outing. With an organized strategy in place, it's entirely possible to sweep through the store without backtracking or forgetting anything.

Part of the OAMC planning session involves creating an extensive ingredient list, categorized by store department. After printing it out, I always take it to the kitchen and cross out everything I've already got in my fridge or pantry. Then I'll go through what's left of the list and highlight each item in a single color for grocery store purchases; another color for big Costco-sized items. I'll also scribble a short list of general necessities in the margin.

Yup... crayons.

As a home schooling family, all of the kids are with me all of the time. We all do the shopping together, even for OAMC. We are usually the loudest people in the store, but the kids are otherwise well-behaved. We play games and try to make some fun in the midst of the mundane. I employ the errand system almost every time we leave the house, especially when we'll be out for a long while.

This is what happens when you give a camera to an 8-year old at the grocery store.

While the groceries are getting checked, the big kids play 'I-spy.'

Packed up and ready to stop at home for a minute to unload.

With the grocery stuff waiting at home, Costco is our next stop.

Yes, they're all mine. Yes, my hands are full. (1-2-3-4-5, wow!) Yes, I have a lot of helpers. We hear these comments often. That's ok. I just smile, nod, and keep on moving through the list, crossing off the items as they go into the cart. Focus. Yeah.

We're packed up, ready to go with the last bit of everything we need to make dinner this month, milk for the kids' week, and my own special treat of fresh grapefruit! Yay!

Grocery shopping = DONE!

Next step...

Prep night!

OAMC - Meal Planning!

2012-02-01T17:39:00.000-08:00

OAMC = Once A Month Cooking

For some reason, this planning post has been the toughest for me to write. Maybe it's because there has never been a moment when I sat down and said, "OK, I'm going to create an organized meal-planning system now." It has sort of just taken shape over time. What started out fairly simple has become a bit more complex, and has morphed into a sort of meal-making lifestyle. I will do my best to break down the steps and hope that I don't make it sound more overwhelming than it really is.

Know Thyself
I suppose in the beginning, the most important part of meal-planning for your home is to acknowledge your family's unique personality and weekly schedule restraints. It doesn't make much sense to schedule 'Julia Child Friday Dinners' if your kids have basketball practice every Friday. No matter how tempting it may be to cram the calendar with boeuf bourguignon and sole meuniere, sometimes 'Baked Potato Night' is just a better fit for everybody. An honest evaluation of schedule and lifestyle will save a ton of heartache and wasted food. For myself, though, I like to schedule the fancy stuff sometimes, too. Just because we have kids, doesn't mean we have to eat like them! (At least not all the time!)

Categorizing Meals
The next thing to do when planning your month of meals, is to create meal categories and designate calendar days for them. This was our early schedule:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Pasta	Mex	Finger Foods	Casseroles	Stir fry

When I started OAMC, every Friday was designated as 'Stir Fry Night.' Alternating Fridays were steak and chicken, always with chopped veggies and steamed rice. Easy Peasy! For Mex nights, we rotated nachos, tacos, and enchiladas, etc... Casseroles were the most versatile, but not very practical in the summertime. This was a great way to ease into OAMC without getting overwhelmed. After a few months of this schedule, however, we were quite ready to move on from 'Stir Fry Night,' I started getting bored with pasta, and we were all up for a little more variety.

My current monthly plan now rotates exactly 20 meal categories. Some recipes we use every single month, but there isn't anything we have weekly anymore. I schedule at least one 'Easy Dinner' night every month. Easy, for me, is usually kosher hot dogs or chicken tenders with oven fries. As long as it's on the calendar, and the kids' diets are balanced with plenty of fruits and vegetables during the day, I'm cool with the occasional kosher hot dog. Generally, though, most meals end up being pretty easy when prepped ahead.

Research
With the general framework in place for the month of dinners, finding freezer-friendly recipes is the next step. I haven't found many recipes that can't be slightly modified to be freezable. Potatoes are tricky, though, and gluten-free pastas turn to mush when precooked and added to a casserole. Other than that, most family favorites can easily be prepped ahead for an easier weeknight. I've spent time browsing foodie websites, flipping through cookbooks, and dog-earing magazines to come up with the majority of my favorite recipes.

I've found it really helpful to have all of my recipes printed into a consistent format. It would be almost impossible to juggle cookbooks, internet printouts, and magazine clippings on prep night. For awhile, I'd type the recipes into word documents and save them by the month. That was fine, but what works even better for me is to have them all on 4" x 6" cards so I can flip through them quickly or lay them all out onto a table to see everything at once. The process moves faster for me that way. I type all my recipes onto a template, print them on the cards, and file them by month in a pretty box.

Schedule
With an arsenal of freezer-ready recipes in place, it's fun to finally plug them onto calendar dates. With the family calendar in front of you (complete with choir practices, piano lessons, and basketball games), assign each date with an appropriate meal. Done. For an example, check out my February:

February meal calendar

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
30	31	1	2	3	4	5
		Breakfast dinner	Veggie chowder w/grilled cheese sandwich	Nachos	leftovers	Family movie night
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Chicken pot-au-feu	Quiche	Spaghetti	Chicken cordon bleu	Shredded beef tacos	leftovers	Family movie night
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
Taco chicken chili	Curried chickpeas & couscous	Coconut chicken	Moroccan hamburgers	Savory crepes	leftovers	Family movie night
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
Irish beef pies	Big sandwich	Argentine lentil stew	Porcupines	Tossed pesto pizza	leftovers	Family movie night
27	28	29	1	2	3	4
Chicken & rice casserole	Mulligatawny soup	Stuffed peppers

Make a Grocery List
This is the simplest step. Create a cumulative ingredient list from every recipe, broken down by grocery department. My departments are usually: Produce, Meats, Deli, Dairy, Frozen foods, Canned, and Other. I just line up the recipes and type a huge list of ingredients, adding them up as I go. By the time my grocery list is done, I'll know exactly how much of everything will be needed. Here's my February:

February OAMC Grocery List

Meat-

1lb boneless top round

7 lb ground beef

1 lb bsless chckn tenders

Turkey bacon

16 chicken thighs

6lbs bsless ckn

Produce-

7 onions

6 carrots

1small sweet potato

1C celery

5bell peppers

Thyme

Basil bunch

6baking potatoes (or 4 baking potatoes & 4 cauliflowerflorets,

depending on how you’re making the curried chickpeas.)

1 ½ lbs green beans

1 bunch Green onions

apples

5Tomatoes (for the nachos)

Basil

Parsley

Cilantro

½ lb red potato

1 zucchini

Cans-

Small black olives

2 chickpeas

1 coconut milk

Crushed pineapple

Vegetarian baked beans

Corn

Kidney beans

2 cans Black beans

Chicken enchilada soup

3Stewed tomatoes

Tomato paste

Big Tomato sauce

Refried beans

Deli-

¼ lb sliced cheddar

6 slices of swiss cheese

1 ½ lb maple glazed turkey

1 C Shredded swiss

1lb italian roast beef

8C Cheddar/Jack blend

Dairy-

eggs

1 1/2C buttermilk

Heavy whipping cream

3c fat-free yogurt

Pie crusts

Bakery-

Big bread (ciabatta?)

Hamburger buns

Frozen-

3bags of corn

1bag peas

Pizza dough

Other-

Bisquick gluten free mix

Long-grain white rice

Saltines

Panko

Shortening

Salsa

White wine

Port wine

Veggie boullion

Couscous

Flaked coconut

Orange marmalade

Worcestershire sauce

1C dry lentils

Small box of minute rice

Pancake mix

Dried minced onions

Tortillas

Waxed paper

Pine nuts

Plan Prep-night
This is probably the most complicated step, but it's not unlike planning a Thanksgiving dinner. Evaluate all of the recipes, group together the dinners with similar ingredients, and plan out a strategy that fits all of the steps together like a puzzle. Here's my February:

February OAMC Prep Night

-February PrepNight Schedule-

1. Layout labels, baggies, casserole dishes, reheating instructions, and plenty ofcling wrap and clear packing tape. Tapethis schedule onto cabinets at eye level. Arrange the recipes in order on a designated spot by your prep area.

2. Chickenprep: dice 1lb into bite-sized cubes, slice 3lbs into 1-inch strips, and leave1lb whole. Remove the skin from thechicken thighs. No pre-roasting this month. Yay!

3. GroundBeef prep: brown 3lbs of the ground beef in a big skillet. When the gb is done, drain the fat & letthe meat cool off a bit.

4. Createan “ingredient zone”:

a. Forveggie prep-

i. Onions-chop 6, quarter and slice 1.

ii. Carrots-chop 4 into1/4 inch rounds, shred 4.

iii. SweetPotato- peel & cube.

iv. Celery-slice into 1/4inch rounds.

v. BellPeppers- core, seed, and slice.

vi. BakingPotatoes- peel and dice.

vii. GreenBeans- snip ends and clip the beans into 1inch pieces.

viii. Green onions- chop.

ix. Tomatoes-3 peel & dice, 2 seed & dice.

x. Redpotato- dice.

xi. Apples-peel, core, and dice.

xii. Zucchini-chop

b. Keepall the canned ingredients in one area.

5. Wewill be ‘flash freezing’ a few of the meals. Make sure there is a section of your freezer cleared enough to hold aflat cookie sheet. (Or two cookie sheetsif you’re a fast worker!)

6. GROUNDBEEF MEALS

a. IrishBeef Pies

i. Ina medium saucepan, heat oil over medium; add potatoes. Cook until beginning to brown, 7-9minutes. Add pre-browned beef, stir intomato paste, Worcestershire, thyme, and 1C water. Cover and cook until potatoes are tender,about 15 minutes. (while it’s cooking,assemble the Nacho meal). Lightly mash mixture with a fork, Season w/salt &pepper, then let cool completely. (while it’s cooling, assemble the spaghettimeal)

ii. Ona lightly floured work surface, roll each crust into a 14-inch square; cut eachinto 4 equal squares. Place ½ C fillingon one half of each square, leaving a ½ inch border around the filling. Brush borders w/water; fold dough overfilling to enclose. Crimp edges w/a fork to seal. With a paring knife, cut 3 small vents ineach. Transfer to a parchment lined cookie sheet and FLASH FREEZE.

iii. Afterthe pies are frozen through, wrap them each in waxed paper and place in agallon sized baggie. Label & returnto the freezer.

b. Nachos

i. Fromthe pre-browned ground beef, portion out 1lb into a skillet. Prepare as taco meat according to seasoningpackage directions.

ii. Measure1lb to be used w/nachos & scoop into a quart sized baggie.

1. Measure2C cheddar or Mexican blend shredded cheese into a quart-sized baggie.

2. Scoop½ can of refried beans into another quart sized bag.

3. Enclosethe baggies in a gallon sized baggie w/ reheating instructions.

4. Label& freeze.

c. Spaghetti

i. Ina big skillet, sauté 1C onion with the chopped zucchini until tender.

ii. Combinethe veggies w/2cans stewed tomatoes, 2jars of gluten-free marinara sauce, and2lbs pre-browned ground beef. Pour into2 gallon-sized baggies.

iii. Tapetogether the sauce w/a package of gf pasta & reheating instructions.

iv. Labeland freeze.

d. Moroccanburgers

i. Combineall ingredients thoroughly; shape into 8 patties. Stack the patties, separated by squares ofwaxed paper. Put the stack into agallon-sized baggie.

ii. Tapetogether with hamburger buns. Label& freeze.

e. Porcupines

i. Combinethe hamburger, uncooked minute rice, minced onions, and salt & pepper totaste. Form big meatballs and line themup in a casserole dish. Pour the tomatosauce over the top.

ii. Wrapw/foil, then saran. Encloseinstructions, label and freeze.

7. VEGETARIANMEALS

a. VeggieChowder

i. Ina quart-sized baggie, combine onion, bell peppers, & thyme.

ii. Ina gallon-sized baggie, combine milk & potatoes.

iii. Bagup the green beans in a quart-sized baggie.

iv. Enclosethe 3 baggies and a bag of frozen corn into a gallon sized baggie.

v. Label& freeze.

b. CurriedChickpeas w/couscous

i. Combineall ingredients except the couscous into a gallon sized baggie.

ii. Measurethe couscous into a quart-sized baggie.

iii. Tapethe baggies together, label, & freeze.

c. ArgentineLentil Stew

i. Measurethe lentils into a quart-sized baggie.

ii. Combinethe tomatoes, onion, carrot, apple, peas, garlic, olive oil, barbeque sauce,and paprika into a gallon-sized baggie.

iii. Tapetogether, label, & freeze.

8. CHICKENMEALS

a. CordonBleu

i. Rolleach chicken tender w/cheese & deli meat, then roll in the bread crumbs.

ii. Laythem out on a parchment-lined cookie sheet & FLASH FREEZE.

iii. Whenfrozen through, place the rolls into a gallon sized baggie.

iv. Putcheese slices for topping into a quart sized baggie.

v. Tapebaggies together, label, & freeze.

b. Pot-au-Feu

i. Skin chicken pieces and remove fat. Sprinkle with salt & pepper.

ii. Add 1T olive oil to large frying pan ordutch oven. When hot, add the chickenpieces and brown on all sides. Removechicken to prepared baking pans and allow to cool. (Assemble the Taco Chicken Chili while the chicken cools)

iii. Saute the onions and garlic in the oliveoil over med-high heat until golden. Stir in carrots, celery, and thyme. Saute until the veggies are soft,about 5 minutes. Divide the veggiesamong the casserole dishes. Keep thejuices in the pan.

iv. Return pan to the heat and add flour. Stir vigorously to blend flour until flourmixture begins to brown. Slowly whisk inthe chicken broth, white wine and port wine. Stir until boiling and slightly thickened.

v. Pour sauce over chicken and vegetables.

vi. Wrapw/foil, then saran. Label & freeze.

c. Tacochicken chili

i. Combineall of the canned ingredients & the taco seasoning in a gallon sizedbaggie.

ii. Put3 raw chicken breasts into a quart sized baggie. Tape the baggies together w/theinstructions. Label & freeze.

d. Chicken& Rice casserole

i. Inan ungreased casserole dish, combine the soup, water, rice, cumin, pepper,beans, & corn. Top w/chicken strips.

ii. Wrapw/foil, then saran. Label & freeze.

e. Mulligatawny

i. Combineall ingredients in a gallon-sized baggie.

ii. Label& freeze.

f. CoconutChicken

i. Tosstogether the panko & coconut in a shallow bowl; set aside.

ii. Stirtogether the yogurt, almond extract, & marmalade in a large bowl. Pour half into a quart-sized baggie w/thecrushed pineapple.

iii. Coatthe chicken strips in the remaining yogurt mixture, roll each strip in thepanko mixture, then set on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

iv. FLASHFREEZE the coated chicken strips. (Start on the deli meals while the chicken is freezing). Oncefrozen, place strips into a gallon-sized baggie. Tape together with the dipping sauce baggie,then label & freeze.

. DELIMEALS

a. Quiche

i. Measurethe Gf Bisquick mix into a quart-sized baggie.

ii. Measurethe filling ingredients into a gallon-sized baggie.

iii. Tapetogether, label, and freeze.

b. BigSandwich (I make 2 at a time. They comein handy quite often!)

i. slice big loaves lengthwise

ii. layer each w/ ½ lb roast beef & ½ lbturkey deli meat, then layer the cheeses over the top of the meat.

iii. sprinkle w/parmesean & Italianseasonings

iv. wrap up in foil & saran.

v. enclose instructions, tape together, label&freeze.

c. SavoryCrepes

i. Measureyour dry pancake mix into a quart-sized baggie.

ii. Putthe deli meat into another quart-sized baggie.

iii. Measureshredded cheese into another quart-sized baggie.

iv. Packagethem all together into a gallon-sized baggie, label & freeze.

d. PestoPizza

i. Measurethe cheese into a quart-sized baggie.

ii. Measurethe pesto ingredients into a snack-sized baggie.

iii. Packagethem with pizza dough into a gallon-sized baggie, label, & freeze.

Make Dinner Labels
Every meal will need a label on it with the name of the dish and date that it was prepared. I sometimes go a step further and type up reheating instructions for the label also, but that is not necessary. It is important, though, that you use tape that will absolutely stay 'stuck' when frozen. I've had a couple whoopsies when the labels fell off of the meals, then got switched around. Clear packing tape works very well and is my favorite label sticking method. Don't use post-its. They won't stay. My Brother P-touch labels usually stick well, but not always. I like to make the dinner labels in advance.

Planning DONE!

Roanoke

2012-01-30T13:02:00.000-08:00

So... I started my OAMC series, then promptly went out of town. Thus, the delay on my next series post. Honestly, I thought I'd have more down time at the conference to work on the planning post, but the opposite was true over the weekend! It was a busy, busy time at the Roanoke Conference in Ocean Shores for my husband's campaign. We went as a family, stayed in a hotel, enjoyed the beach, and had a bit of a vacation! Between all the vacation-y fun, I was able to sit in on sessions of the Roanoke, hang out with the campaign team, make new friends from all over the state, and network with candidates. I love watching my husband in these environments. He cares about what is important to people and honestly likes listening to what they have to say!

While Jess and I were in the sessions, the kids got to hang out at the hotel with Grandma Meemer. (Jesse's mom) It was so cute, how much fun they had! They ordered room service, watched TV, and even (gasp) jumped on the beds a time or two! I brought schoolwork, crafts, books, and games in case they got bored... silly me. I guess I didn't figure how awesome and entertaining hotel rooms can be when you're a little kid.

Judah played peek-a-boo from Daddy's suits hanging in the closet...

...then climbed into the 'activity drawer' just for fun.

I took a break Saturday afternoon and went beach combing with the kids and Grandma Meemer. I left the conference, threw a vest over my blazer, bundled up the kiddos, and hit the beach! The tweed skirt and knee boots were certainly not appropriate beachwear and we might have been a bit of a spectacle, but it was fun and a wonderful memory for the kids.

We played 'Red light, Green light, Boomerang.' When I yelled 'green light,' they ran toward the water. When I yelled 'red light,' they froze. When I yelled 'boomerang,' they turned around and raced back to me. The first kid to tackle mom, won the game. We played until every kid won at least once.

Searching for shells with Grandma Meemer...

The buddy system!

Luci saw this from a distance and was SURE that it was a shark skull. She was so disappointed to discover that it was, in fact, driftwood. She was hoping to donate it to a museum.

C'est dommage.

Meemer helped the kids draw pictures of their beach memories that night when I went back to the conference session. The drawings turned out so beautiful. I'm completely proud of my artistic sweeties! They slept hard Saturday night!

It was a great weekend; fun and productive... but we were glad to get home Sunday afternoon. We really did need the little getaway, and were thankful for it. Now that we're home and refreshed from the trip, I'm excited to finish up the post on planning for the OAMC series. The rest of the series will go lickety split after that! Thanks for hanging in there!

'OAMC' Dinner System Series Launch!

2012-01-24T13:33:00.000-08:00

Is there a mom out there unfamiliar with the 5 o'clock "Oh-my-gosh-what's-for-dinner" panic session? It's a common scenario that I know all too well. Thankfully, though, since discovering and personalizing my own method for once-a-month cooking, my family's weeknight dinner times have been much more peaceful. I must admit, it does take a TON of planning and one very focused day (or late night) of meal prep. However, having it done and being able to love on my kids instead of freak out over what to feed them, has convinced me that this method is the perfect fit for my family. I also 'recycle' my monthly meal calendars and reuse them every year. The January dinners we're eating now, are from the same recipes I used last January. February's dinner plan is already done, too, so prep night will be a snap next week! This way, I only really have to do the intensive planning one time, then reuse my dinner schedules year after year. When I plan and prep ahead, we easily avoid fast food dinners and as a result, neither our budget nor our waistlines have gone bust!

My system has 4 basic parts: Planning, Grocery shopping, Meal Prep, and Dinner time. I'll be blogging a short OAMC series in which I will detail each individual part, give some helpful hints, and throw in a few real-life trouble shooting ideas.

Here's a sneak peek:

Planning

Organizing

Prep night 'Ingredient Zone'

Prep night 'Check List'

Prep night -DONE-

This sweet little system has been almost a cure-all for dinnertime issues. Picky eaters are not as much of a problem, table manners are much improved, and the frantic pace of 'rush-to-get-something-on-the-table' has given way to a kind of relaxed easiness.

I don't know if it will work for you. It's quite a change-up from the norm, and does require a few supplies you might not have on hand. Having dinner done is very much the motivator, though. Whether or not you decide to use the system in your own homes, I hope this OAMC series will be a blessing to you!

Ice Storm 2012

2012-01-21T14:50:00.000-08:00

Our beautiful Northwest snowfall took an icy turn this week. In 1996, we had an ice storm that felled huge tree branches and caved in roofs all over Western Washington. It was a disaster. This storm has rivalled that one. First we had about 5inches of snow that partially melted before freezing over. Then we had about 1 foot of snowfall over the frozen stuff. Finally, freezing rain then layered a thick coating of ice over absolutely everything. Snow-capped trees, power lines, vehicles and buildings became encased in ice for an aesthetically beautiful, though disastrous result. Over 400,000 people without electricity, downed power lines and trees, inaccessible roads, and even the complete closure of both Tacoma Narrows bridges. Whoa.

We were among the lucky few who did not lose power or trees. Our only personal detriment from the storm was the cancellation of some campaign events and a bit of cabin fever.

I did run out and take a few snapshots of the ice in my front yard:

Mini Weeping Willow Tree

Rose Bush

Lavender

Rhododendron

It's hard to tell in the picture, but our family van was completely encased in 1/4 inch of ice. It looked like lace when it finally melted, because the snow under the ice melted first.

Now, the light and heat is beginning to turn back on for those families who had lost power, the streets are drive-able, and it's safe to clean up damaged tree limbs without fear of more falling. I'm gearing up to make a grocery run to restock on some necessities... now that I can officially open the drivers' side door of my van!

Snow Playdough!

2012-01-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

The Pacific Northwest has just been hit with a wave of snow. I love seeing my kids enjoy the wintery fun of playing in the snow, but the Washington rains usually wash it away before they're ready to say goodbye.

While creating 'snow' playdough doesn't exactly produce the same thrill as the real stuff, it does take the edge off of their disappointment when it melts.

Snow Playdough

1C flour

1/2 C salt

2t cream of tartar

2T veg oil

1C water

2t vanilla extract
2t coconut extract
silver glitter

Step 1 -

In a medium saucepan, whisk the dry ingredients together. Mix in the remaining ingredients until it's all blended and smooth like batter.

Step 2 -

Cook over medium-low until a thick dough forms.

It will get really lumpy and wrong-looking.

Step 3 -

Turn out onto parchment paper...

...and knead until smooth.

Step 4 -

Make a well in the middle of the ball of playdough and

dump in the glitter.

Step 5 -

Knead the dough until the glitter is fully incorporated.

Ani was the first to break it in. She sculpted a snowy mountain. I think it resembles the Matterhorn!

Fun!

Homemade Gourmet Popcorn on the Cheap

2012-01-16T21:29:00.000-08:00

Popcorn: the ultimate movie night staple. With grocery prices consistently rising though, many folks are looking to simplify their lists and are cutting out 'luxuries.' At +/- $1.00 per bag of microwave popcorn, it's an easy cut. Here's our alternative to cutting the deliciousness entirely: making it from scratch on the stovetop! Bulk kernels are very inexpensive and you probably have everything else that you'd need in your cupboards already. The process of making it is fun, too.

Basic Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup - popcorn kernels

+/- 2T canola oil

a super big soup pot w/a lid

Step 1 - Drizzle enough oil into the pot to completely cover the bottom. Drop 1 popcorn kernel in, turn the burner up to 'high,' then cover the pot with it's lid.

Step 2 - Watch and wait for the single popcorn kernel to pop. It should take about 2 minutes. Carefully pour the rest of the popcorn kernels into the hot oil. Put the lid back on right away!

Step 3 - Keeping the pot on the burner, shake it back and forth quickly. The motion keeps the kernels from burning. The corn pops right away and really fast. It's so much fun to watch it fly around in the pot! My kids love the noise. When the popping stops, turn off the heat and remove the pot from the burner.

Step 4 - Toppings! Personally, I'm totally boring. It's salt alone for my portion. My kids are eclectic in their topping choices, ranging from garlic salt to cinnamon sugar and even cocoa powder! (Mmm...) I've made a curry salt blend that is super yummy, and parmesean cheese is another big fave for the kids.

Yum!

...settling in to watch their collective favorite movie, Tangled!
I love them all snuggled up under that rag quilt!

...by the content of their character...

2012-01-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

"Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You con't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermo-dynamics to serve. You only neeed a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."

-Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Think on these things...

2012-01-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure,whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence andif anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

I'm choosing my thoughts lately. I don't have pictures to share of my late father-in-law, but some positive memories I have of him are...

...even though he was beside himself with fear of flying, he got on an airplane for the first time in his life to make it to Jesse's & my wedding.

Conquering fear = worthy of praise.

...he bought Jess his first car. He worked hard and sacrificed to be able to afford it.

Heartfelt gift = lovely

These are the kinds of things I will choose to remember and tell his grandchildren.

And all the while, life goes on. Literally! This house of ours is so teeming with LIFE, it's inescapable! During times like this, it's so evident to me that I have the responsibility to decide what kind of things my thoughts dwell on.

Deuteronomy 30: 19b-20a
...I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to His voice and hold fast to Him.

My choices DO dictate the kind of life my kids have. If I choose to dwell on the negative stuff (i.e. we couldn't get to church this morning because of icy snowy roads), my bad attitude is like a curse on my whole house and may hinder my kids' relationships with the Lord. However, when I turn my thoughts toward the positive, true, honorable, and right, my happy/peaceful attitude becomes a blessing here!

So, even though my husband is states away at his dad's funeral while I keep house with our kids, missing church for icy streets and desperately grieving for my relatives...
I choose JOY.

And receive blessing instead of curse.

Sad week...

2012-01-12T18:14:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's hard to find a cheerful voice when things seem stressful and heartbreaking in the midst of this very real life. I could ignore it and publish the 'how-to' blog post recipe I was planning, but that would seem superficial and fake. My family has just experienced another loss, but this one has hit closer to home. My husband's dad passed away this week. Unexpectedly.

We're still feeling the shock of it.

The finality has not quite set in.

Jess is working through it in his way. He hurts for the hurting.

As I personally tend to do when faced with circumstances beyond my control and emotionally taxing, I will probably enter into a frantic cleaning mode soon. This time, I may end up bleaching the attic rafters, the concrete foundations of our basement, and everything in between. That would feel better.

Meanwhile, we take time for reflection, love each other through the shock, and give that special extra measure of grace. Again.

Happy Birthday, sweet Angela!

2012-01-08T13:18:00.000-08:00

My baby girl has a New Year's Eve birthday. Last year, Jess and I thought it would be fun to have Ani's friends and their parents (our close friends) over for a big New Year's Eve / Birthday Pajama party here at our house. The kids all brought their Nerf guns and showed up in their jammies for a whole house Dad and kid Super Nerf War. It was hysterical! Everybody had a blast! (No pun intended.) Everybody, that is, except Ani. She hated her party. Poor thing. We found her and one of her friends up on top of the bunk beds quietly playing Barbies in the middle of the Nerf-y craziness. In retrospect, a pajama Nerf war would be super fun for lots of kids... but Angela is a sweet, peaceful, little princess who loves art, music, and things that sparkle. Birthday party FAIL! Jess and I knew that we had to step it up this year to create a memorable day that would be a blessing to her.

We chose to throw her big birthday bash one week after her birth date. Holiday chaos having subsided, we figured that things would be a bit more calm. We thought about tea parties, fashion parties, or movie parties but eventually settled on having a pottery painting party at a local cafe studio. Totally Angela.

But first was her actual birthday on New Year's Eve. We have a little family tradition for birthdays: a balloon bunch and flower bouquet in the special kid's signature color.

These guys greeted Ani for breakfast on her official big day.

We had a small little family party at lunchtime. Grandparents came over and brought sweet indulgences that she loved.

So feminine as she ripped open her gifts... always a princess!

Babe loves chocolate! She had a ginormous cupcake with a purple #7 candle on top. Happy girl! The frosting-less chocolate muffins were for the rest of us. Yum!

So pretty...

I almost feel as though the bouquet is a little bit for me, too!

One week later...PARTY DAY at the Java and Clay Cafe!

Angela was a princess. I braided her hair into a crown and surprised her with a flowery beaded ribbon wreath.

I used face paint to create a sparkly heart tiara for her. I love how delicate and precise she is! Look at that focus!

She chose to decorate a sweet unicorn figurine. Each kid who came to the party chose and painted their own figurine also. While they painted and played, Ani's favorite princess songs were piped in as background music. It was so cute to hear the kids' little voices all singing along at different parts of the songs... After the crafty time, we had the obligatory cake and Happy Birthday song singing.

One of her favorite gifts of the day was this pair of fairy wings! She had to try them out right away!

Her wonderful friends all together yelled, "WE LOVE ANGELA!" as this photo was taken. Absolute joy!

Love these kids.

The cafe is glazing and firing the kids' artwork for pickup in a few days. This was my first venture into 'remote-hosting' a birthday party... we usually celebrate at home. In all, everyone had a great time and Angela was abundantly blessed!

Mission accomplished: Birthday SUCCESS!

To Resolve or not to Resolve...

2011-12-30T19:08:00.000-08:00

I read this book almost every year over the week between Christmas and January 1st. It is a great way to bring focus to my compulsive list-making obsession and structure to what would surely become pages of New Year's Resolutions. Even the word ~resolution~ evokes confidence. As a person with many many areas needing improvement, I love the permanence of being ~resolute~ in certain things. As if simply stating, "I will lose weight" or "I will become more organized" would ever actually change the status of my waistline or the cleanliness of my laundry room... Still, the motions of decision-making followed by action steps and subsequent progress is an encouragement that resolving does result in positive change. The 'Your Best Year Yet' program helps define and create a tangible plan for achieving goals. Love it!

So why am I dragging my feet this year? The motivation to change and grow is there, but the ability to slow down long enough to reflect on past achievements and plan for future success is not. The go-go-go of daily life has become slightly frantic and almost addicting. It's been really hard lately to -stop- long enough to collect thoughts and refocus priorities. As soon as a moment of peace alights, distraction descends to trump. If not distraction, then certainly exhaustion, followed by a sledgehammer-like crash into sleep.

What to do?

Solution = Mr. Wonderful

More specifically, the hour or so I'm going to have all to myself tomorrow morning. A slice of solitude at a coffee shop, free to reflect and resolve, courtesy of my own personal dreamboat husband.

I'm expecting to be completely productive. I'll come home with a prioritized, specific goal list and be ready to hit the ground running. Can't wait!

It's so wonderful to be known. I'm so glad that he understands that an hour alone and a $4 cup of coffee would be worth more to me than an expensive bouquet of flowers or piece of jewelry. What a guy!

Christmas Memories 2011

2011-12-28T09:36:00.000-08:00

Our simple string of outdoor Christmas lights:

Love the cranberry wreath!

Sentimental sweetness:

Grandma's vintage ornaments

Coffee service snowman in the campaign office

Homemade ornaments:

Button wreath

Ani's creation!

Tortiglioni garland

Apple/cinnamon cutout

Excited kids:

Advent observation:

The thoughtful few gifts:

These are a few of my favorite things...

Relaxed celebration:

Love.

Homespun Holiday 10 - Gingerbread Day!

2011-12-27T13:06:00.000-08:00

We are a homeschooling family and as such, are educational opportunists! In this case, making a batch of gingerbread cookies has become more than just a holiday tradition... it's a unit study! Our general curriculum got set aside for the day in favor of an eclectic version of everything they've been studying. For example, in lieu of their phonics and language arts, together we read storybooks about gingerbread cookie people, taking turns reading certain words and saying little phrases 'tout ensemble.' For math, Luci learned how to multiply fractions by quadrupling the gingerbread playdough recipe and Ani learned basic fractions by measuring the ingredients and comparing elements. The boys (kindergarten and preK) colored pictures, traced the alphabet onto the floured countertop, and did fun worksheets. By the end of the day, we'd had productive schooltime, but my kitchen was a disaster! Chalk that one up to fun homeschooling... sometimes, it does get messy!

Book

Jan Bret's Gingerbread Baby and Gingerbread Friends

Jojo's faves!

Gingerbread Playdough

1C flour

1/2 C salt

2t cream of tartar

1T cinnamon

2t ginger

1t nutmeg

1t ground cloves

2T veg oil

1C water

1t vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, whisk the dry ingredients together. Mix in the remaining ingredients until it's all blended and smooth like batter. Cook over medium-low until a thick dough forms. Turn out onto parchment paper and knead until smooth.

This recipe makes a delicious smelling playdough! It seems to be fairly fool-proof also, with a pliable and elastic result even considering the little mistakes I made when cooking my dough on the stovetop. I started out with the heat far too low, then overcompensated by turning it up too high. By the time the mixture had thickened from the batter to a dough-y texture, it was overcooked on the bottom. However, by turning it out and kneading for awhile, the 'too done' part incorporated into the rest of it, and the whole batch turned out beautifully smooth with a light brown color!

Measuring ingredients

Helping knead.

Gingerbread salt dough ornaments

2C flour

1C salt

3/4C cinnamon

1T ground ginger

1 1/2 C warm water

-Mix the dry ingredients together, then add warm water until a pliable dough forms. Cover and refrigerate until you're ready to make your ornaments. Turn out the dough onto a parchment paper, and roll out till it's no thinner than 1/4 inch thick. Cut out your shapes, not forgetting to poke a hole where you want to thread the ornament for hanging. Place them on a cookie sheet, and bake at 200 degrees for about 4 hours. After completely cooling, you can choose to paint them, or just string 'em up as they are!

Honestly, these salt dough ornaments were not super great. The dough seemed a big too mushy to really form anything cute. We ended up just rolling little balls out of the dough and smushing them into disks that the kids could etch their names into. They needed longer to bake than just the 4 hours, and did not end up with the overwhelming aromatic effect I had expected. Oh well! The kids did still have fun making them. Anytime they get to make a major mess out of the kitchen, it's a good time!

Gluten-free Gingerbread Man cookies

No pictures. Bad blogger! I blame the messy kitchen and distracted nature of baking with kids.

However, we like to use the recipe directly from the cookbook Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise G. Roberts. This is the absolute best resource I've seen for gluten-free baking. The first three chapters read like a textbook on how to successfully bake with non-wheat flours. If you've tried to bake gluten-free before and have failed, you understand the delicate science it can be. This book is a game changer. In depth how-to's and what-not-to-do's abound. Buy it. You won't regret your purchase.

Homespun Holidays 9 - Glittered Eggshell Ornaments

2011-12-20T16:15:00.000-08:00

Hurrah for new traditions! This year my friend Malia and I have decided to institute a Christmas craft day for our kiddos. She hosted this year, planned, and supplied for our super fun craft. Their family has recently started raising their own chickens. They've got a sweet little flock of feathery pets that produce plenty of multi-colored eggs. From this overabundance, she derived the source of our fun ornament craft.

Supplies:

blown-out eggshells

medium gauge wire, cut to 6"

glitter

Elmer's glue

paint brush

needle-nose pliers

wire snips

'crown' beads

pearly beads

lightweight tassels

Malia harvested these gorgeous home-grown eggs about a week or two ago. She had them blown out, dried, and ready to go for us when we got there. Five little egg shells for my five sweet kids.

Remember my color code? Malia did! She had the Martha Stewart glitter in each of my kids' signature colors. Honestly, this is the best glitter I've ever used! It is powder fine and covers completely when dusted over the craft subject. It gets a BIG recommend from me! Great stuff.

Here's the how-to:

At the end of your wire piece, twist a small loop. Thread the wire through the little holes used to blow out the eggshell.

When the eggshell is sitting on the small loop, twist the longer end of the exposed wire into a large loop. Tuck the free end of the wire back into the shell. This forms a kind of handle you'll use to steady the shell for the next few steps.

Paint a very thin layer of Elmer's glue onto the eggshell, then immediately dust with the glitter.

Hook up the handle loop and hang the sparkly eggshell up to dry. We used this photo display tree, but you could just as easily use a secured and sturdy clothespin.

While the eggs were drying, we poured the excess glitter back into the little tubes. We wouldn't want to waste any!

Cheese!

Waiting, waiting...

When the shell is completely dry, unhook it and straighten out the long loop. Move the shell a bit down the wire to allow a better hold on the small loop side. Straighten the long sided wire, then thread with a 'crown' type bead followed by whatever pretty bead pattern you like. When the beads are all on the wire, create a tiny loop just above your last bead using the needle-nose pliers, then snip the excess. This is the top of the ornament. The newly made small loop is what the hanger hooks to.

Follow the same process on the other side. First straighten the wire, then load with crown and beads, finally creating a small loop and snipping the excess. Attach the lightweight tassel to the bottom loop and an ornament hanger to the top loop.

Done!

Luci's

Ani's

Jojo's

Jedi's

Judah's broke while we were beading it. One must be gingerly when crafting with eggshells!

Homespun Holidays 8 - Santa Pictures / Mall Day

2011-12-19T13:57:00.000-08:00

Tis the season for traditions! One fun annual outing we enjoy is our trek to the mall to have the kids' Santa photo taken. It's our tradition to meet up with a beautiful lifelong friend and her two kids for an afternoon of mall wandering, lunch, and laughs. Jen and I have been friends since our first day of kindergarten, when the teacher introduced us to each other because of our mutual first name. She was the maid of honor in my wedding and has remained close to my heart over the years. We live far apart from each other now, but every summer we meet for a zoo date, and every December we hit the mall together for our kids' Santa pics.

~We fought the madness of the dreaded parking lot...

~We elbowed our way through the deal-seeking crowds...

~We lined up in a queue of napless excited children...

...all in the quest of the holy grail of nostalgic holiday photos:

No room for Santa this year!

After the picture had been taken, all bets were off. We bee-lined our way to Starbucks, ran a few thankless mall errands, visited every public bathroom in the facility, shared some fun snacks, talked, laughed, and diffused numerous sibling outbursts before saying 'goodbye' until next time. We made plans to see each other sooner next time, never wanting to wait until our summer zoo date.

Friends for 29ish years and counting!

Homespun Holidays 7 - Fun Seasonal Chores

2011-12-15T20:46:00.000-08:00

The season of Advent does not necessarily give a free pass from household responsibility. Especially when the backyard looks like this:

The perfect opportunity presents itself when the baby finally does this:

Don't worry. I moved the blankets and put him on his back.

It takes a significant amount of time to bundle up all the big kids so they are warm and cozy, ready to work, and looking like

this:

So they can do this:

Two kids with leaf blowers, two kids with rakes, one wheelbarrow, and a LOT of spent energy and our yard looks...

...not much different at all.

But they had good time and learned a bit about hard work.

Afterwards, we had a fun craft project to do. Pomanders!

They did not actually enjoy making the pomanders. The cloves didn't feel nice on their little fingertips. I think they had way more fun raking the leaves!

When all was said and done, though, it was a good day.

Homespun Holidays 6 - Fun to GO!

2011-12-12T19:30:00.000-08:00

We spend a lot of time in our little van. From the outside, it's all business:

But on the inside, it's a party:

Washington's 6th Congressional District covers a very large area. Campaigning it requires a lot of driving. A lot of time in the van. Personally, I love road trips, but the super long ones can be tiresome for the kids. Of course, there's always a strategy in place, but after a couple hours, even the most fun car games get old. Anything I can do to create a festive and happy environment is certainly helpful! With all of the additional driving time to and from Christmas outings, errands, and events, it just made sense to liven up the atmosphere in our little mini van! We had a good time decorating, too!

This is my reminder...

Luci applied cute window clings up high and

out of the driver's line of vision.

Each of the big kids made a felt tree last year.
We hung them up on the coat hooks and threaded the
loops with tinsel garland.

Our holiday transportation soundtrack includes

just about every irritatingly festive Christmas kids' music available.
For example :

...And we sing along most of the time!

Yet, the baby still manages to fall asleep.

Is that cute, or what?!

Homespun Holidays 5 - the Button Wreath Ornament

2011-12-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

#37 on my list of 40by40 list is: completely decorate a Christmas tree with just homemade ornaments. That little number is going to be checked off this year! The kids have been making at least a couple ornaments each per week as art projects for homeschool.

The button wreath was the first:

We started with assorted buttons in little bowls.

After using needlenose pliers to twist a small loop into fine gauge wire, it was pretty simple to just thread the buttons in a random pattern.

Each wire portion was about 9inches long and held about 70ish buttons.

This is a great fine motor exercise!

How to finish:

When the buttons look right, thread the free end of the wire through the wire loop, tighten the wires together, twist the wire into a large loop, and finish with a tight knot before trimming the excess wire with snips. Wrap the wire knot with ribbon and tie it into a cute little bow. Done!

There are more fun ornament crafts on the calendar for the next couple of weeks! The tree is looking very sweet so far. I will definitely post a final picture of the whole tree on Christmas Day!

Book Basket for Advent follow-up

2011-12-04T22:04:00.001-08:00

Here's the list of book titles included in our Advent reading basket:

Llama Llama Holiday Drama
Once There Was a Christmas Tree
The Quiltmaker's Gift
Santa Are You for Real?
The Twelve Days of Christmas in Washington
Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
Home for Christmas
Gingerbread Friends
Gingerbread Baby
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Horrible Harry and the Christmas Surprise
An Irish Night Before Christmas
What About Heaven
Parables for Kids
A Child's Book of Prayers

Little Golden Books:
The Christmas Story
Jingle Bells
Santa's Surprise Book
Frosty the Snowman
Raggedy Ann and Andy Help Santa Claus
The Night Before Christmas
The Animals' Christmas Eve
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Shines Again

The little Golden Books were the ones I read as a kid! It is so sweet that my babes love them as much as I did!

Homespun Holidays 4 -Christmas Tree Shopping in the Evergreen State

2011-12-04T13:20:00.001-08:00

Tree day has always been one of my personal favorite Christmas season traditions. Here in the Pacific Northwest, the environment is perfectly designed for growing evergreens and our landscape is blanketed with them!

We found and chopped down our Noble Fir, early Saturday morning at a local tree farm here in our sweet Gig Harbor.

Here's how the adventure went for us:

Yeah! Let's go find our tree!

Jed wanted this one...

Pleeeeeeeease?

Hide and seek!

1...2...3...4...5.........

A Santa was there at the tree farm. He gave the kids candy canes. Food allergies and sensitivities be dashed. Sometimes a kid must have a candy cane. This was actually a cute moment. The kids were talking to this Santa Claus as though he were the true fairy tale character, not just a man in a suit. I was thoroughly confused at this, because they know the truth about Santa. When we were in the car on the way home, Luci explained it to me. The Santa man had 'kind eyes.' She didn't want to hurt his feelings by letting on that she knew that he really was a regular guy. Ani saw some other kids close by. Since it's the parents' job to tell their kids about Santa, she didn't want to be the one to spill the beans. The boys just went along with the game and pretended with the girls.
P.S. Joseph does not like being cold. Look at his cute little grumpy face while he sat on the back of that old fire engine! Tsk, tsk, tsk...

Luci was the 'finder of our tree!' We usually get Frasier firs, but couldn't resist trying a Noble this year. It's up and lit in our home now, and could quite possibly be my favorite Christmas tree yet! It's LOVE!

Homespun Holidays 3 - Deck the Halls...

2011-12-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

...with antique handmade ornaments! Beautiful!

My grandma made them. They've been boxed up for years and desperately needed some TLC. Memories are funny. I can visualize the Christmas Day scene of my childhood from the awakening moment to satisfied sleep with all of the beauty between. The family. The velvety stockings on the fireplace. Sugar cookies. Pine smell. Mom looking gorgeous, Dad smiling and smelling like Old Spice. In this memory, my brother and I never argue, our snarky comments put aside until every December 26th. We'd always end up at Grandma & Papa's big house with the Aunts, Uncles & Cousins for food, presents, and good times. There, hanging in her kitchen, were the very ornaments that I just spent the afternoon repairing.

Tangible family history.

I hope my kids remember their childhood with as much loving nostalgia as I remember mine. What 'things' will they hold onto as adults that will send them back in time to Christmas memories? Hmm. That's a question I'll be contemplating over the next few weeks... while I soak up the gorgeousness of these ornaments that are hanging in my home now.

So pretty!

Homespun Holidays 2 - Maple Milk Recipe

2011-12-02T20:50:00.001-08:00

We have an interesting allotment of food allergies in our little family. Our list of no-no's includes gluten (wheat), red food dye, and cane sugar. Try Christmas baking without those! Not. Easy.

When I was a kid, my mom would have an entire day set aside to bake Christmas cookies with her friend, Sylvia. They would each already have mixed up their own sugar cookie dough (octuple batches probably), and they would just bake and bake all day long. There were cookies on every surface of the kitchen as well as on the dining room table to cool & frost. Finished cookies were loaded into pretty boxes which were stacked downstairs. In my memory, it was like miles and miles of the cutest and sweetest confections imaginable! We ate cookies every day of December, and always had enough to make heaping plates wrapped with festive cellophane for neighbors and friends. Mmmm. Mom also had the recipe for the perfect cup of homemade cocoa. She still makes it every time it snows.

Honestly, I've never been able to hurdle the high bar set by my own Wonder-mom in the dessert making department. For the sake of novelty and reminiscence, I usually throw together a couple batches of sugar cookies at Christmastime. I'll be sharing the recipes in a week or so, both regular and gluten-free.

Cocoa is a little trickier without sugar. I've tried out different sweeteners, but couldn't get the same result. One of our newly discovered family favorites is maple milk. It is completely simple and surprisingly delicious enough to rival even the perfect cup of cocoa!

Maple Milk Recipe

4Cups of Whole Milk

2Tablespoons of 100% pure Maple Syrup

dash of cinnamon

Heat up the milk either on stovetop or in the microwave. When it's hot, whisk in the syrup, then pour into individual mugs. Top each mug with a little dash of cinnamon. Yum! That's it!

Ani could quite possibly become a great chef someday.
She loves to help in the kitchen!

I personally also love throwing a couple shots of espresso in a nice mug of maple milk for myself... it creates a beautiful latte!

linking here for the first time:

Homespun Holidays 1- Advent; The Countdown!

2011-12-01T23:47:00.000-08:00

For a child, rare excitement can rival the anticipation of Christmas. As a parent, it's my intention to take advantage of that happy expectation and funnel it into learning opportunities. As a Christian, I pray that my kids grab on to more than the historical events of the Nativity, but the truth of Emmanuel, God With Us. Here's my strategy for both:

Morning Routine~

Our morning Hi5 has a couple fun new 'afters' during the season of advent. The 5 general to-do's are: get dressed, make your bed, eat breakfast, brush your teeth, and hug mommy. (I love sleepy sweet barely-awake hugs!) When all 4 big kids are done with their Hi5's, we usually start school. To encourage some of that healthy Christmas enthusiasm and incorporate it into our homeschool, we've included a morning advent time in the routine.

Wrapping up 25 Christmas storybooks was not my original idea, but it is brilliant! I'm so excited to try this out with my kiddos! These are a few of the books we're using. I love the 'Santa, Are You for Real?' book. It's a great resource for anyone wanting to tell their kids the truth about Santa. 'Llama, llama, Holiday Drama' is also a shoo-in to be a new family favorite this year! Jedidiah especially identifies with the little llama in his red pajamas who LOVES his mama. We like books. I've gift wrapped each of our Christmas stories, labeled them 1-25, then stacked them in a big book basket in the school room. Before the kids start their morning subjects, they get to open up one of the books & we kick off the day with a fun story.

Yes, my kitchen floor is littered with Cheerios...
almost always.

When my brother and I were kids, our Grandma Bev would give each of us a candy countdown calendar before Christmas. Every day we'd search for the right little numbered doors, punch them through, and compare chocolate candy before we'd eat 'em up! Every year it was the same and we loved it! It's even more much fun now, to watch my own little sweeties search for the numbered doors. It's a total splurge for them to get to eat a whole piece of chocolate every single day! Truly a big deal!

Before Bed~

This is my take on the advent wreath. Purple and rose are the traditional candle colors, but since it's just a simple family tradition, I don't figure it's much of a faux pas to use colors that we like better. We light one candle at a time for each week of advent, saving the white candle for Christmas morning. There's nothing magic in the candles, but the action of quieting ourselves while we light them puts a soft frame around the time set aside. We start our evening family time with a light of the candles and a couple Christmas carols. (I wonder if the kids will still be into this when they're in their teen years? Hmm... So thankful for the childish innocence we get before they turn 'too cool.')

Kids take turns opening the doors on the magnetic creche. By Christmas day, this little scene will be filled with stars, barnyard animals, angels, magi, inn-keeper, shepherds, sheep, Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus. They like putting the elements on the scene before Jess reads a chapter in our book.

Jotham's Journey is an advent devotional in the form of a fictitious adventure story of a young boy and his family around the time of Christ's birth. There's a chapter for each night of advent. At our house, Jesse reads the chapter while the kids color Christmas-y worksheets and listen. Last year was the first time the kids were old enough to sit still for the length of the chapters, listen to the whole reading, and understand the story's progression. It's an intriguing story, entertaining enough to be engaging for adults as well as educational for kids. There are 'think about it' questions after each chapter. It's a bit cerebral for the younger ones, but still provides a good conversation start. After the chapter, we have a little prayer time and blow out the candle.

So, there it is! That is how we celebrate Advent every day in December... ideally. Of course there are times when the kids are too wound up to sit still, or we're all out late at an activity. We just read two chapters the next night and get all caught up. Same goes for the candy doors and story books. After all, isn't Christmas really about grace in it's purest and most beautiful form? Today, we're creating the memories that our kids will reflect upon as adults.

²⁸ And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:28

...All things! Whether or not this plan is perfectly followed every day, my hope and fervent prayer is that their experiences and memories should all guide them towards Jesus.

Cuteness...

2011-11-30T21:00:00.001-08:00

Sometimes kids act naughty because they are learning how to discipline themselves to make good choices. Other times, it's because they are really tired.

Jed: 3 minutes into a 5 minute time out.

Love!