As Trevor and I navigate our new world with our oldest daughter, Shayela having her first serious boyfriend we find ourselves contemplating what makes our marriage not just work but what makes it thrive and grow.

We have talked for many years about the desire to never allow our marriage to become stagnant. We never wanted to be the couple that got married young, had a bunch of babies, and when they all grew up didn’t know who the other person was.

Let me tell you, it takes a lot of effort. It takes intentionality. It takes late night date nights. It takes trust. It takes honesty. It takes a lot of understanding.

I will probably talk about this a lot in the coming weeks and months as we continue to walk through this with Shayela. However, the first word that comes to mind when I think about what we do that might be different than a lot of people is that we simply adore each other. We have a very deep love AND respect for each other. We make sure to nurture this part of our lives, never take it for granted, and never get complacent.

What if we could have kids teach each other about topics they are passionate about…

One of my favorite parts of homeschooling is that my my girls home with me while I teach preschool. Yesterday Dani spent a few minutes teaching the kids how to draw people. It was so awesome to watch.

To see her using her teaching skills to share her passion of art with a younger group of kids was wonderful. Can you imagine how different our public school system would be if we used this technique?

Putting older kids in a leadership role, using a skill set they already have, to teach other kids about something they are passionate about…. I think the results would be mind blowing.

MADE FROM SCRATCH

Do you like to bake from scratch or do you prefer a box mix for baking? Personally, I find box mixes to be less of a mess but made from scratch is so much tastier.

Nora, one of my 11 year old twins, has been asking to bake something from scratch for quite some time and today she finally got her wish. We had several bananas that were on the brown side (hardly ever happens in house with 8 people) and I decided that banana bread would be a great first “made from scratch” item for her to bake.

She did 99% of the work herself. She found the recipe, the first recipe she found said to “let the bread stand overnight.” She decided she would prefer a recipe that allowed us to eat it immediately so she went to Google. She found the recipe she wanted and got to work.

She preheated the oven, found all of the ingredients on her own, and did all of the mixing, mashing, and stirring on her own. When it was ready, she poured it into the loaf pans…. and like most of us have done 100 times she realized she forgot to oil the loaf pans😂.

She asked me how important that step was and I simply replied,”pour it all back into the bowl, rinse and dry the loaf pans, spray them and try again.” I explained that she would hate to have her bread be ruined because it stuck to the pan. She agreed and finished it like the recipe said.

While it was baking my house smelled amazing and when it was finished Nora proudly had everyone try it… HOLY MOLY it was DELICIOUS!

I believe giving our kids freedom to experiment in the kitchen is important for many different reasons.

Understanding how important it is to follow directions and pay attention to small details can really make a difference as they become adults. Also, knowing that when you make a small mistake you can pour it back in the bowl and start over allows to know that a simple mistake doesn’t mean a failure it means you try again.

Teaching them independence by allowing them to choose what to cook, finding the perfect recipe, finding the ingredients, and executing it by themselves (knowing you are there if they need a little guidance) helps them build confidence in themselves.

Do you let your kiddos cook or bake? If your little one is younger do you allow them to help you? What is your favorite thing they make you?

Pictured is my delicious slice of Nora’s banana bread.

Cheat sheet for menu making

This will be our first year homeschooling our twins and we are SUPER excited about it. I am not used to feeding them breakfast and lunch throughout the year because they have always eaten at school, so we sat down and came up with a cheat sheet for my menu making.

We started with the items they like to eat for breakfast and focused mostly on foods they can make themselves. Part of homeschooling for us is teaching them independence and self sufficiency. Instead of simply adding cereal I asked them for specific types, this way it will be easier when I do the grocery shopping and I will not need to guess what kinds they want.

We then added lunch items. Again, focusing on items they can make themselves. For lunch we will make a schedule and we will take turns making lunch for everyone. Doing it this way will cause less mess in the kitchen, teach them life long cooking skills, and show them how to be part of a giving family.

Last but not least we added snacks. My number 1 tip for snacks is to divide them up into snack baggies as soon as you get them home from the store. That way if someone (you included) needs a snack they can grab a bag instead of being tempted to mindlessly eat out of the box.

From this list I create a menu that is hung on the fridge each week so there are no surprises. The kids know what to expect and I am not having to stress each day about what to make.

At the end of the day when you are feeding an army the trick is to plan ahead and get input from the troops.

Here are pictures of our list and one of our menus. I would love to hear some of the items you add to your list.

Visit Boise Idaho without breaking the bank!

This last weekend we decided to take a small family trip to Boise from our hometown in southeast Washington to visit my father who has been in the hospital for a couple weeks. With some money saving ideas we were able to visit Grandaddy and make it a vacation. I wanted to share a few of the ways we were able to take this trip with a family of 6 (plus my mom) without spending a ton of money.

• Look online and plan out your hotel in advance. I was able to find a hotel for an average of $117/night for 1 room (we needed 2 because Grammy joined us).  I was able to get this rate because I did the entire booking online. That was a savings of almost $100/night. It included a warm breakfast including waffles, sausage, eggs, etc, a very nice indoor pool, hot tub, sauna, steam room, and workout center.

• Get a cargo carrier for your vehicle. In the past when Grammy joined us on vacations we needed to take a second vehicle (we have a Toyota Highlander that seats 8) because we couldn’t fit all of us and our luggage.  Recently I found a nice soft cargo carrier at a yard sale for just $20 and on this trip alone it saved us at least 2 tanks of gas in Grammy’s car. Ours is a lot like this one and as you can see it’s worth the savings with just a couple tanks of gas you didn’t have to buy.

• Research gas prices along your route. I will be honest I am not the one in our family that does this part, hubby does it. For instance on this trip gas was cheaper in Washington and Idaho so he was very careful not to need gas in Oregon. It isn’t a huge savings but a little bit can go a long way.

• Plan your meals. Obviously we were able to save a lot of money because the hotel had free breakfast and for dinners we got food we could cook at our hotel in the microwave. The first night we ate frozen pasta bowls and spent less than $3/ person on dinner. The second night we went to the store and got some finger foods and shared them in the hotel while we watched a movie. For lunches we did eat out because we were going from one attraction to another and didn’t want to take the time to make food. So one day we went to McDonald’s and the last day we had our first Chick-fit-A experience. Also, be sure to take along snacks so you aren’t tempted to pay convenience store prices.

• We were able to visit three of the main family attractions in Boise, World Center for Birds of Prey, Aquarium of Boise, and Zoo Boise. We were very impressed with the prices of each of these attractions and you would not have to do all of them in a single trip. The Birds of Prey exhibit was very neat as it houses many endangered birds and teaches about the importance of conservation. The Aquarium of Boise had a lot of touch pools with many different types of fish, sharks, and sting rays. Zoo Boise was my favorite. We have been to a few zoos in our day but this zoo offers a much more personal experience with the animals. We were able to be within a few feet of some of the most amazing animals on earth, where at bigger zoos the animals are a fair distance away and you don’t necessarily get to see their size and colors up close. We also got to feed a sloth bear for just $3 (we bought one cup of meal worms and shared) and you could also pay $3 to feed a giraffe (we weren’t there long enough for giraffe feeding time)!

• We also really like to take advantage of small stops on our way to and from our destination. On our way home from Boise we found a beautiful bridge with a gorgeous view in Perry Oregon. Had we not been willing to go a couple miles off the highway to this view point we would never have see this part of God’s beauty.

  If you have any great ways of saving money on family vacations I would love to hear them!

~Amanda

 

 

 

Back to school with a big family

Up until 2 years ago back to school shopping was a piece of cake. I only had 2 kiddos in school and it didn’t seem like a big deal to wait until the middle of August when we got their school supply lists to start our shopping. Then Monkey and Bear went into kindergarten and holy moly… all of a sudden I went from 2 supply lists to FOUR! I almost had a nervous breakdown. I hadn’t saved or planned or anything. To say we scrimped by that year would be an understatement.

Now I have a plan… instead of waiting until the supply lists come out in August I start shopping in June. That way I buy a little bit at a time (we get paid twice a month) and I don’t have to scramble by waiting until the last minute. I start with the items I know they will be expected to have… pencils, paper, folders, dry erase markers, backpacks, lunch boxes, ice packs, scissors, crayons, glue, etc. Then I pay attention to coupons and back to school sale ads in our local sunday paper. I also use an app on my phone called Flipp to get our local sale ads.

So far this year I have purchased new lunch boxes for each of the kids at Walmart for just 6.99 each and new back packs for Monkey and Bear at Walmart for 10.99 each. Thankfully Butterfly and Monster don’t need new ones.

I also purchased a lot of the essentials from Office Depot using their Back to School Deals. In this picture there are 6 pencil boxes, 6 pairs of scissors, 6 mini staplers, 4- 100 count index cards, 9- 24 count Crayola crayons, 9 sharpies, 6- 4 count papermate pens, 9- 12 count pencils, 9- 3 count erasers, 1- 10 piece math kit, 1 three hole punch/ruler, and 1 three ring binder pencil pouch. My total was $42.26 and and my savings was a grand total of $166.76! The only thing you will want to watch out for here is you are limited to 3 of each item. I took Butterfly with me and gave her cash to pay for her cart full of supplies so you will want to take an older child, your spouse, or maybe even a friends if you need more than 3 of each item.

If you have any great ideas on how to save on back to school shopping I would love to hear them!

1 on 1 time with kids in a big family!

If you have a large family you know how hard it can be to find ways to have 1 on 1 time with each kid. I blogged a while ago about doing date nights here, but sometimes time and money don’t allow for frequent date nights so you have to get creative.

One of favorite ways to have 1 on 1 time with each kid is grocery shopping. I know… I know…most moms dread grocery shopping and when I have to take all 4 kids with me I do too. Thankfully, most of the time there is another adult (or 14 year old) at home that can watch 3 kids while I take 1 grocery shopping with me.

Here is how we do it…. I do one big grocery shopping trip a week and on that trip I take one kid. They get to help plan out one menu item and pick out 2 treats for the week (usually gummy snacks, Popsicles, or a treat for lunch boxes). They get to help read the list at the store and put the groceries in the cart. When we are finished, if they have been helpful and have had a good attitude, they get to pick out a candy at the register. Then they help load the groceries into the car.  When we get home all 4 kids unload and put away all the groceries.

While we are grocery shopping I am sure to give them opportunities to explore different aisles, food products that we don’t normally buy, and ask questions without interruption. I honestly wouldn’t trade our 1 on 1 grocery shopping for anything. This week was Monkey’s turn to go shopping with me and we had a blast.

I would love to know… how do you find new and creative ways to spend 1 on 1 time with each of your children??

 

 

Beating Summer Boredom

I’m Bored… How many times do you think you will hear that this summer?

Now, I am not one to think it is my job to keep my kids entertained every minute of summer, but I do try to help them find ways to use their boredom to be creative. So, this summer we have decided to put together art books. I find art projects and lessons on Pinterest then make an example and teach my kids how to do the project. Today I will share with you the first 3 projects of our art books.

1. Watercolor Shapes-  What we used: a blank piece of white copy paper, a small card board circle, a medium cardboard circle, a rectangle, crayola watercolors, a black sharpie and a pencil. First, We traced around the shapes with the pencil until we achieved the look we wanted. I traced the shapes for the younger kids as they weren’t able to hold the shape still and trace it without the shape moving. Next, we filled each space with it’s own color. After all the paint was dry we went over each line again with with the sharpie.

What we learned: use card stock instead of copy paper and to achieve darker colors use less water in your watercolor.

 

2. African Akuaba Doll scratch art- What we used: Card stock, 96 count crayola crayons, black acrylic paint, sponge paint brush, a paper plate (to put the paint on) and a thick nail. First we colored all over the card stock with the crayons. As you can see there is no specific way to color your paper. Next, cover the paper with a thin/medium coat of black paint using the sponge paint brush. Allow the paint to dry overnight.

After the paint is dry use the nail to scratch off the paint in the shape of an African Akuaba Doll.

What we learned: doing this project later in the evening will be easier if you are expecting a younger child to be patient waiting for paint to dry, it is easier to lightly draw the doll with a ball point pen and then scratch off the paint, every few scratches rub the scratch with the tip of your finger so the paint doesn’t peel too much and you may want to go over the scratches with the end of a pair of scissors to make them thicker.

3.Oil Pastel flowers on black construction paper- What we used: oil pastels and black construction paper. For this project the only instructions I gave were to color a flower/flowers and take up as much of the black paper as they could.

What we learned: you can use a paper towel to smudge the pastels to give it a much different look and using light and dark colors together makes the oil pastels stand out better.

After we are finished with our projects we put them in clear plastic sheet protectors and place them in our individual art books. Below is an example of the binders we are using for our books. We purchased them for only $.88 at Walmart.

How are you helping your kids beat the summer boredom?