Works for Me - When I Travel

Whether it's travel to a hotel, to see grandparents, or just to spend time in the great outdoors, this is how I've recently started to pack our toiletry items.

As I'm packing, the kids' stuff gets gathered into one basket, the adults add their stuff to the other, and then I plop them both into a duffle bag.  The extra space in the duffle gets used for bigger items like a pack of wipes, my flat iron, and that bottle of pump hand soap.  (Yes, I travel with a bottle of pump hand soap - so much easier to get little hands clean than with hotel bar soap!)  The baskets help keep our items corralled at our destination, and it's so easy to gather it back up for the trip home.

You might wonder if this adds an extra bag to our luggage.  Nope.  The kids are still small enough that their clothes can be packed into one duffle bag or small (kid-sized) suitcase for short trips!

I'm linking up to Works for Me Wednesday over at We Are THAT Family.  Hop on over for some other helpful tips!

Hold on! Don't buy that just yet!

 Kristen over at We are THAT Family is hosting a themed Works for Me Wednesday today, and it's all about back-to-school.  I'm sharing one simple tip today:

DO NOT purchase school supplies until after you have attended Open House.

I know the back-to-school sale prices are tempting - but wait!  Because... the list always changes.  Around here, school supply lists are posted online.  Teachers are not permitted to add anything to the school supply list, but they can choose to delete something from the list for their class - or be very specific about what type of folder/pencil/crayons they would prefer.

Last year, our teacher asked for a particular brand of crayons - no biggie, since that's what we typically use.  She also deleted a couple of items - didn't care for primary pencils, and would be providing matching pencil boxes to each student.  This year, our teachers don't need any hand sanitizer - they already have plenty - and took pencils boxes off of the list again.  I can also imagine, in years to come, that "four three-pronged folders" will need to be specific, solid-colored folders - and I know I wouldn't choose the right ones if I was just guessing at a back-to-school sale.

If you end up with extras, you can always return them - but even better, donate them!

Low(er) Stress Homework

I have a kindergartner. He has homework. We have homework issues. Sound familiar?

After a long day at school, it's no surprise that Mister J is just not interested in doing homework. He'd much rather be watching Dinosaur Train or Word Girl, playing Wii, or going to basketball practice. Truly, who wouldn't? However, the homework must get done. In addition to math homework each night, a weekly writing assignment, and a science or social studies assignment, Mister J is also supposed to read 15 minutes each day. I was having Mister J read our bedtimes stories, but it really wasn't working for us. He was tired, and so was I, so we weren't reading anything too challenging. Add it all up, and there were a few ... problems.

1 - Doing all of the homework in the evening is a big stressor for our family (yes, the whole family!), especially on nights when we have other activities scheduled.
2 -We were doing homework at bedtime. This is just not cool.
3 - We were selecting less-challenging books because we were all tired, which wasn't helping Mister J develop his reading skills.

About a week ago, Mister J's class was scheduled for a visit to the library. He'd listened to some of the Magic Treehouse books on CD during the holiday break and really enjoyed them, so I suggested that he select at least one during his library visit. He came home with three! THREE! When were we going to find time to read those?

(light bulb flashes on)

If we could listen to audiobooks in the Mommy-van, why couldn't we do our 15 minutes of daily reading on the way to school in the morning? Genius, I tell ya!

Aside from the benefit of spreading out the homework load across the day, I see lots of other pluses to this system:

1 - It's a way to slowly get into 'school mode' while still having fun (he really enjoys the stories).
2 - He's reading out loud - working on fluency and self-confidence
3 - Since he sits behind me instead of beside me (like when we read at bedtime), he's much more likely to try to sound out the words on his own instead of just asking me. Of course, being less tired also helps.
4 - Miss M is observing this, too - so there's a benefit there, too!

The Magic Treehouse books are challenging for Mister J, so he often spells out words that he doesn't recognize. Then, we just use some of his reading strategies to figure it out. I also think that talking through the reading strategies helps to reinforce them for times when he's reading independently. At the moment, I don't think he's using these strategies as much as he could be, so I am pleased that I can reinforce them while we do our reading homework.

Homework in the morning Works for Me!

Have a Works-for-Me Wednesday tip that you'd like to share? Head on over to We Are THAT Family to link up to the fun!

Fill Up Those Empty Minutes

I know what you are thinking, "Who has empty minutes?" Many of my minutes are filled each day with brushing teeth, tying shoes, packing lunches, shuttling children to and from school and after-school activities, serving meals, brushing teeth again, reading bedtime stories, and tucking in children. Not to mention the errands and volunteer commitments that fill my time while they are in school, my (flexible hours, part-time) job, and exercise when I can squeeze it in. Of course, I do have some fun things - a weekly Bible study or an occasional meeting for coffee or dinner with friends. But, in the midst of all of the responsibilities of being a mom, a wife, a daughter, a friend, I still end up with little pockets of time that aren't long enough to run "just one more" errand or do "just one more" chore. Or it could be the time spent waiting in the pick-up line at school - you know, before the line starts to move. (Sometimes I get there early - I'm an 'early is on time" kind of girl.) Now sometimes I need those empty minutes to just listen to the radio (adult music!), read an article in a magazine (if I remembered to bring it), or say a few prayers about what's on my heart. And sometimes - like yesterday - I need to clean the windows on the mommy-van. Yes, you read that right - I cleaned the windows on my van in the pick-up line. They were dirty and streaky, and I just couldn't stand it a moment longer. I arrived just a few minutes before the preschoolers came out to the pick-up line, so I jumped out of the mommy-van with a canister of these in hand ...

...and made quick work of the front windshield, and driver's side and front-row passenger windows. I also grabbed a couple of baby wipes and freshened up the dash and console areas. I figure of they can clean my kids' faces, hands, and bottoms, they should be good enough for the dashboard!

Did I look a little out-of-place? Perhaps. Was I embarrassed when I reached over the steering wheel and leaned, just for a moment, into the horn? Absolutely. Was I totally pleased with the clean windows when I was done? Definitely! The dust-free dash and crumb-free cupholders were a bonus!

So, tell me - how do you fill your empty minutes?

For more Works for Me Wednesday posts, head on over to We Are THAT Family.

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A TRUE WFMW

Not that all of my WFMW posts aren't really things that work for me, but this is a solution that I figured out last night. And tried out this morning. And it WORKED!

When Miss M got home from preschool yesterday, I noticed that her backpack was wet. After a little sleuthing, I figured out that the condensation on the cold pack in her lunch box had leaked out of the lunchbox and into the bottom of her backpack. (The lunchbox was packed into her backpack to come home.) It's the first time I've ever packed a lunch that had to stay cold for that many hours, so even though we've had these lunchboxes for years I was surprised by the leak.

I needed a quick and easy solution, because it was two days until Thursday packets - and I didn't want to pull a bunch of soggy papers out of her backpack - yuck!

After the kids were in bed and I had some "down time" to think it through, I decided to wrap a thin (baby) washcloth around the ice pack today. When I got home with Miss M, I was pleased to see that the cloth had absorbed the condensation. I'll be anxious to see how it worked with Mister J's lunch - he's in a full day of school now, so there's more time for his cold pack to warm up and "sweat."

I think this might also work with the tube part of a sock - it would stay on better and also fit a variety of sizes/shapes of ice packs. I'm going to refine it a bit, and I'll be sure to post photos/updates when I do!

Thanks for stopping by, and hop on over to We Are THAT Family for more Works for Me Wednesday posts!

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Straight from the Travel Trenches

If you're visiting for WFMW - I know summer travel has pretty much ended, so I hope you will bookmark this for fall break or holiday travel!

Well, maybe not straight from the travel trenches, but I haven't been off the plane long!

We recently returned from vacation. For folks who normally drive just a few hours to any destination, the though of a non-stop flight across country was nerve-wracking. I need not have worried so much - everything turned out just fine. In the process, I learned a few tips to make our next flight even more enjoyable.

Lesson #1 - Only pack as much 'entertainment' as your child(ren) can carry. That includes my 3 year old (whose backpack ended up hitching a ride on the stroller handles, but that's not really the point). I packed enough stuff to keep the and entire plane full of folks entertained. It was more than we needed, and more than we needed to carry. My kids were both thrilled with the idea of playing Leapster nonstop for a few hours. A coloring book and crayons and a small magnetic game were the only other things they even bothered with. Add their blankets and loveys to the backpack (oh, and their 3-1-1 bags), and their backpacks would have been comfortably full without being too heavy.

Lesson #2 - Only pack as many clothes as will fit into a carry-on suitcase. Mister J could carry his (admittedly too heavy) backpack and pull his own small suitcase. He had more than enough clothes. We also had access to a washing machine and dryer. My need to wear a different shirt each day (so the scrapbook pictures would all look different) should not have outweighed the logic (and savings) of packing light. Our checked bag, paid in advance, cost us $15 each way. I wouldn't have minded having an extra $30 in my pocket, but we don't travel by air all that much - this was certainly a learning experience for me!

Lesson #3 - Bandanas make great handkerchiefs. I packed them because they are a great (lightweight) imaginative toy. They doubled as easy-to-locate hankies, since ours were brightly-colored. I tied the corner of one on the stroller seatbelt so Miss M could reach, but couldn't drop the one we gave her for her runny nose. It was easier than dealing with a travel pack of tissues, easier on her nose, and environmentally-friendly. (Remember, though, I had access to a washer and dryer).

Lesson #4 - I was so glad I made a point of saving some kid-sized plastic cups and lids from a local restaurant we visit regularly. I packed them, along with several straws, in my carry-on bag. They took up a good bit of space, but were much more kid-friendly than the open plastic cups that the airlines use for their beverage service. Just be sure to ask for the whole can of juice so you can share it between the kids!

Lesson #5 - If you are taking a long vacation or typically purchase a lot of gifts/souvenirs, plan time to drop by a pack and ship store before you head home. This felt a little excessive to me at first, but it is cheaper than checking an extra bag and is one less thing to haul/worry about. Our box just arrived yesterday, and the timing was perfect (we've had time to unpack, do laundry, and get back to our normal routine). Now we will unpack the couple of special things the kids picked out, I'll set aside the postcards and brochures I picked up along the way until it's time to put them in a scrapbook, and the box is ready to be recycled.

Lesson #6 - Be sure to keep a full change of clothes, wipes, and zipper bags handy in case of a potty accident, vomit, or any other incident that could leave clothes wet, smelly, or otherwise unwearable. Speaking from experience here - Miss M soaked everything but her socks when she ... Well, let me just say that in about 10 minutes, we had her clothes changed, soiled clothes bagged up, cleaned and packed her booster into its travel bag, and were on our way to check in for our flight. (Yes, I cleaned her up on the spot. Well, out of the way of the rental car drop-off line, in a relatively low-traffic area. Big J was mortified. I was praying that she wouldn't get sick again and that we could find something relatively mild among the meal options in the airport food court. And then I opened up one of the suitcases and found one more clean outfit to pack into her carry-on bag, just in case.)

I'm sure you have a few travel tips of your own - feel free to share them in the comments! And for more Works for Me Wednesday ideas, head on over to http://www.wearethatfamily.com.

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Lovin' our Lunchboxes!

This week's WFMW theme is Back to School! Can you believe it's already August? School starts in just over 3 weeks for us. Both of my kids start a new school this year - older in Kindy, younger in PreK-3. I'm excited, anxious, and also in denial that summer is almost over. Open House - also known as 'meet the teacher' day around here is coming soon! We haven't yet checked many school supplies off of our shopping list, but there's one thing we don't need to buy - lunchboxes!

If you drop by - even on a semi-regular basis - you know that I'm crazy about our Laptop Lunch Boxes. (No, I'm not getting paid to tell you about them, though I certainly wouldn't mind a little incentive!) We've had them over a year now, and I still think they were a great investment! Here are just a few pics of lunches I've packed for my kiddos:




One of my favorite things about the boxes - besides that they are sturdy, made of 'safe' plastics, recycleable, and help me minimize packaging waste - is that my kids will eat pretty much anything I pack into them! Yes, those are veggies with hummus in the first photo. There's edamame hiding under that cucumber heart in the second photo, and that's my son's salad in the third photo.

Do you pack a lunch for your child? What tips do you have for a mom new to packing lunch every day? If you'd like to see more of our lunches, click here.

Thanks for dropping in! For more helpful back-to-school tips, head on over to Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

Storing Outdoor Toys

You may have read about my method here, or maybe you hopped over from here - either way, WELCOME! I'm so glad you stopped by to see how we keep our outdoor toys put away and our back yard relatively tidy.

Let me go ahead and spill the beans, and then I'll share some photos. We use a rolling garbage bin to store our outdoor toys. Now, don't get overcome by the 'ick' factor and stop reading! We bought the bin specifically for this purpose. Let me show you how well it works!

This is what our yard often looks like at the end of playtime.

While the sand toys get put away under the shell of the turtle sandbox, I have to have a place for all of the balls, the bowling pins, and other outdoor toys. We originally considered a storage bench that would stay on the porch, but found that they were expensive. Plus, we didn't want to constantly haul toys from the porch down to the backyard, and then back up to the porch every time we played outside. The rolling bin works perfectly! Take a look:

Housed under the porch, it's convenient and easily accessible.
Here's a shot to give you some better perspective.

It's only partially-filled - there are 10 sand-filled 2-liter bottles in there!

Let's add more toys and see what happens...

It holds them all - and I can still close it!

Aside from keeping the back yard tidy, the toys also stay dry. We rarely have to dry out the bin - maybe once each season, which is probably not a bad idea, anyway.

Thanks for stopping by, and hop on over to We Are THAT Family for more Works for Me Wednesday posts!

*More of my WFMW posts*

Another mention...

Since Jane Anne was kind enough to point out that it's perfectly normal to get excited about seeing your comments/ideas featured on someone else's blog - click here! And then come back next Wednesday, since I'm planning to post this idea - with photos - on Works for Me Wednesday.

Convenient Scratch Baking

Yes, it sounds like an impossible thing, but it's not! Read on!

I enjoy being in the kitchen - cooking or baking, old recipes or new. More and more often, I find myself baking from scratch - with my daughter's food allergies, it's often difficult to find 'safe' mixes. Plus, I just like knowing exactly what I'm serving to my family and friends. But how do I balance the work of scratch baking with the convenience of a mix? Especially when company's coming, and there's a birthday cake involved? Taking a cue from my friends at Dream Dinners, I created my own mixes!
I gathered the recipes I was planning to use, all of the dry ingredients, and got to work! I amended the recipes a bit to account for any of the mixing work I did ahead of time, printed them out, and put all of the ingredients and the recipe into a larger bag. I made two cake mixes and one cookie mix to use over the weekend. I'm tempted to mix up several batches of our favorites because this was just SO easy!

As much as my kids and I enjoy baking together, it just wasn't practical for our weekend. So, when I don't have time to spare, premeasuring my own mixes work for me!

For other great tips and tricks, visit Works for Me Wednesday over at We Are THAT Family.

Happy To Do Chores

I've tried to become a lot more conscious of how I spend money (thanks, Dave!), focusing on needs and really examining the wants. A few weeks back, though, I was browsing through the dollar store - really, how much trouble can you get into at the dollar store?!? I was looking for a basket that would work in my bathroom cabinet, but ended up finding something else that I liked. That I couldn't not buy. Suddenly, my original purpose wasn't important anymore, and I needed the something else that I found.

I'm glad I let my impulse take over - this time.

I found child-sized laundry baskets, and picked out one for each of my kids. When I fold our clean laundry, I put Miss M's items into one basket, Mister J's into the other basket. And then I tell them to come and pick up their baskets and put them away. Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Before they had baskets, getting them to carry a pile of laundry and put it away was like pulling teeth. Mister J would complain about dropping things, and Miss M would ignore my request completely. The baskets make it easier for them to carry everything, but also fun and special.

Mister J's basket matches his quilt.

She's putting that away all by herself. I had to hurry to get these pictures!

She's proud of that empty basket!

And after they put away their laundry? They bring the baskets back to the laundry room.

So... about that $2 impulse buy? This time, it works for me!

For more great ideas, check out the Works For Me Wednesday links at We are THAT Family!

Kids in the Kitchen

Mom, I'm Bored! edition

How will we beat summer boredom this season? When the kids are tired of the backyard, tired of coloring, tired of their toys, there's no playdate on the schedule, and for some reason we can't go to the pool (rain...), we'll be trying out new recipes!

I love to cook, and my kids love to help, so it's (messy) fun for all of us. Plus, with our garden and our co-op fruits and veggies, we've got lots to keep us busy!

Here are just a few things we've tried (including easy ice cream). We've also made popsicles from fresh fruit, which are great because I know what's in them and can adjust the amount of sugar needed (if any). The kids especially love to help with quesadillas and pizza.

Aside from enjoying the fruits of our labor, we also get to reinforce counting skills, taking turns, teamwork, and patience. Works for me!

For more great ideas, check out the Works For Me Wednesday links at We are THAT Family!

Works for Me Wednesday

Everyone's trying to be a little more "green" these days - whether that's recycling, reducing waste, or reusing things you already have. I've been recycling for a while now - my family started when my sister learned about recycling kindergarten a few years back (um ... in the very early 90s). After participating in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University through our church, I've also examined the reasons I purchase all of the "stuff" we fills our lives with. As a result of both my desire to develop 'green' habits and my desire to spend more on real needs and (far!) less on wants, I'm repurposing items in our home that have outgrown their original purpose.

The item I'm sharing today has been around since Mister J was a baby. I repurposed it when Miss M was around a year old - about two years ago. Originally, it was a travel container for liquid gold - that is, Mister J's baby formula. So, what have I done with it? It now serves as a storage container for Miss M's ponytail holders. (OK, so those ponytail holders aren't very 'green' - it's a process!) I have also used it to keep her bows from getting smooshed when we travel!

Check it out!

















I'm always excited to repurpose items or get 're-newed' things that I can put to use in my home. What items have you repurposed to some new, unexpected use?

By the way, check out more Works For Me Wednesday posts at We are THAT Family!

tiny item, BIG HELP

There's a lot of stuff in my mommy-van. Two car seats, random toys, a local map book (but why, now that my phone has GPS?!?), a half-roll of paper towels, a double-sized beach blanket, and more.... Why all that stuff??? Well, that's certainly a post for another (slow) day! However....

There is ONE tiny thing that makes a HUGE difference for me. I keep a baby emery board in the door handle of the driver's door (you know, the place you grab to pull it shut when you get in - mine is more of a 'cup' than a 'handle' I suppose. Anyway...). I am constantly chipping my nails, and - especially now that I have braces again - it helps me kick the bad habit of biting my nails to try and 'fix' them. I try to fill those small pockets of time (waiting at preschool pickup, waiting at a stop light, waiting at a drive-through...) with little tasks. Sometimes I make a phone call, sometimes I review my calendar/to do list/grocery list (not while I'm driving, of course!), sometimes I say a prayer, and sometimes I file my nails since I have an emery board handy!

Check out more Works for Me Wednesday ideas at We are THAT Family.

WFMW - Backwards Edition

In addition to being a Backwards Edition of WFMW, it's also my first WFMW post! So, here goes!

My dilemma, the one for which I NEED YOUR HELP, is this:

How can I get both of my kids to look at the camera (preferably with smiles) at the same time?



As you might have noticed if you follow the blog, I have a hard time getting Miss M to look at the camera. Mister J was a ham early on, and tolerates me now. Miss M has always, always had her own plan when it comes to smiling for the camera.... My scrapbooks and I appreciate your suggestions!!!