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.

Remembering 9/11

Do you remember where you were? Who you were with? What you were doing? I’m sure most people over the age of 25 remember where they were on that fateful day.

I had slept on the couch the night before, while my 2 month old baby slept in her cradle in the living room. I remember waking up to the headline flashing across the television screen “America Under Attack?” I distinctly remember thinking that it was a movie so I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. When it hit me that it was not a movie I got up just in time to see the second plane hit the World Trade Center.

I was only 16 years old and I was terrified. I woke up my family and we watched the news together until I had to go off to school. At school the news was on in every classroom. I remember the principal coming into my U.S. History class and telling my teacher to turn off the television. As soon as the principal was down the hall my teacher turned it back on. After all, it was U.S. HISTORY!

The next few weeks were surreal. I had never before and have never again felt so close to the other people in our country.

I still mourn for those that lost their lives in the attacks, the first responders that gave their lives saving others, those that died on Flight 93, and all the other that have died as a result of that day. I would love to hear your story. Where were you?

Picture credit

How I take off my Color Street glitter strips.

If you haven’t tried Color Street nail strips yet you need to! They are crazy easy to apply and look beautiful for up to two weeks!

If you have tried Color Street glitter nail strips you know that it can be a pain to remove. I have tried a couple different ways to remove mine that were a total bust.

Traditional nail polish remover and a cotton ball took me about an hour and somewhere near 25 cotton balls😬. Then I tried using a glass jar filled with sponges and nail polish remover, that didn’t take nearly as long as the traditional way but, I found the skin around my nails to be worn down and raw. I decided to try one that seemed a little less invasive and it is a WINNER!

First, take three cotton balls and tear them into 10 equalish chunks. Then, saturate 5 of the cotton chunks with nail polish remover and wrap them around the tip of your finger. Allow this to sit for 5-6 minutes (I read a book on my kindle to pass the time).

When time is up simply rub each finger nail with the cotton chunk and the polish will come off pretty easily. When you are finished with your first hand follow the same steps to take off the polish on your second hand. If you have any small pieces of glitter remaining simply buff off with a nail file.

The above picture is before I buffed off a couple tiny spots of glitter.

When you are finished file your nails and apply your next set of Color Street nail strips.

If you are interested in Color Street please visit my website.

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!

Baseball Season

It’s here… baseball season!! In our house this season is pretty exciting. From the Boston Red Sox to our Bear and Monkey playing their first year of t-ball, we simply love baseball season!

I will admit it is also a crazy time as we now learn to juggle Monster’s baseball schedule along with Bear and Monkey’s t-ball schedule all while making it to all of Butterfly’s track meets and trying to continue making it to church on Sundays, Bible study on Wednesdays and fitting in any amount of “family time” we can.  Ha…. wish us luck!

Thankfully we have a great support system so even if there is a practice for two teams on the same night I can always count on my in-laws to step in and help out and if I can’t make it to a week of Bible study I know my mom is doing a good job of keeping the ladies of the church in line. 🙂 I also try to make sure that I am prepared for dinners on those busy nights and that homework gets done AS SOON as they walk in the door from school so we don’t have to scramble before bed or in the morning.

I would love to hear how you prepare for busy seasons. Also, if you have a delicious “busy night” recipe I would love to hear it.

What’s for dinner?

Oh man… the dreaded question…”What’s for dinner?”

Whether its your spouse or kids, getting asked that question can be frustrating. Especially if you don’t know yet. I used to have that problem almost everyday. I would only go shopping for 1 or 2 days worth of food at a time and usually it was at 4pm for that nights dinner. I realized something needed to change so I started doing weekly menus and shopping trips. That worked (sort of) for about a year but quickly noticed that I would be late in writing the menu or I would stall on going to the grocery store so I was back to shopping for dinner at 4pm.

I finally decided to try something different. Something BIGGER. I now plan my meals monthly. I still do the grocery shopping once a week but with the menu planned I am not starting from scratch every week. I can get all of my cookbooks/recipes/past menus out all at one time and plan whole month instead of trying to do it 4 times a month. I write in the dinner meals and then I am able to quickly write my grocery shopping list and hit the store.

When I plan the meals I take into consideration what we will be doing in that month. For instance I go to Bible study on Wednesdays and the kids go to my mother-in-laws, so I don’t need to plan a meal for those days. Also, we all pretty much love breakfast for dinner so we plan that for every Sunday. Another thing that we do is let our kids help plan the menu. I ask them for one meal that they want to help plan and make. They love it! I also try to do easy, quick meals for nights that we have track or baseball. I am sharing an example of my April menu at the end of this post. If you see something you would like the recipe to don’t hesitate to ask. Also, I would love to hear your time saving tips on meal planning. Please share them in the comments!