Trash Bag Snack Mix

I don't know about your kids but mine tend to get bored with snack foods.  We end up with mostly eaten bags of chips, cookies crackers and cereal sitting around the pantry.  So what we have come up with is a trail mix type of snack.

Here is what I started with:

In this batch we had pretzels, marshmallows, several mostly eaten bags of cereal (don't you hate when there isn't enough to to have a bowl, but too much to throw away), cheese puffs, a crushed pack of ice cream cones, several single serving snack bags, vanilla wafers, graham crackers, and crushed up Christmas sugar cookies.  Other ideas we've added in the past are nuts & chocolate chips. It's really just for whatever you have laying around.  We also almost always add freshly popped popcorn.  The heat from it causes the crumbs to stick to it, which creates a great flavor.  

We dump all the ingredients in a clean trash bag and mix.  (We all love this part!)

And this was what we ended up with:

I use a soup ladle to fill cheap ziplock bags 1/2 way to create take and go bags for the kids.  This batch made 30 bags.

This is a great money saver since most of these items would've ended up in the trash anyways.  The kids love it!  Enjoy!  

Ready to toss in the towel...

When I began homeschooling I had a 2nd grader, a kindergartner, twin 3-year-olds, and my youngest was weeks away from her 1st birthday (# 6 & 7 hadn't joined our family yet).  I almost never accomplished half of what I sat out to do in a day.  I enjoyed watching the Duggars on TV and asked myself regularly "If they can do it with so many, why can't I?"  I really struggled with what God had called me to do and what I felt I could do.  I went to bed EVERY night feeling inadequate.

Right now we are finishing our 3rd year of homeschool and I finally feel like I have enough of a hold on it that it doesn't weigh on me.  I still have hard days.  My husband will tell you that I call him every couple weeks and tell him that I just don't know if I'm cut out for this.  These calls used to consist of me telling him we would have to re-work the budget so we could send all the kids to the nearest Christian school... so it's improving.  :-) 

So what changed?  I read and read and read!  Many moms before me had been there, done that, and wrote a book or blog about how they made it through.  I found as many as books as I could get my hands on and used their wisdom as it applied to me.  Some were not very helpful but others helped to shape the mom I am today.  I compiled a list of my favorites.

In my personal opinion every homeschooling mom should read these 4 books:

1.  Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe by Todd Wilson will not tell you how to get it all done but will reassure you that you are not alone.  I think about this book often on "those" days and it makes me smile.

2.  Managers of Their Home by Steven & Teri Maxwell will give you wonderful advice on fitting it all into a day.  She has very practical advice for scheduling.  A word to the wise though; after reading this I developed the my most ridiculous schedule.  No one could have accomplished everything I had crammed into it.  Please start simple!  You do not have to try to be a super mom, she doesn't exist!

3.  Large Family Logistics by Kim Brenneman is for any size family.  I hate that the title is so misleading.  There is tons of wisdom in those pages.  She began the book as notes of what she had learned with the intent of passing it on to her daughters.  Don't get intimidated by its size though; this book is HUGE!  It's chapters are not wrote dependant upon each other.  This means if you want to know more about laundry you simply flip to the laundry chapter, you don't need to read the one before or the one after.  I LOVE that!

4.  Parenting from the Heart by Marilyn Boyer is a small book of wisdom wrote by a seasoned mother of 14.  It is very encouraging & practical.

Other books I have read and highly recommend:

Managers of Their Chores by Steve and Teri Maxwell
Homeschooling with a Meek & Quiet Spirit by Teri Maxwell
Loving the Little Years by Rachel Jankovic
Love in the House by Chris & Wendy Jeub
The Duggars: 20 and Counting by Michelle & Jim Bob Duggar
A Love that Multiplies by Michelle & Jim Bob Duggar    

Would you add any to this list?  I would REALLY love to know what books have helped with your homeschooling journey?

Little Tips & Tricks

I have wanted to share some of my little tips & tricks with y'all for awhile but have not had the time to write a long post about each of them so I thought I'd share a list of them with you and if you would like more info on any of them let me know. 

These are the kid's laundry baskets.  Each child has their own.  I wash and dry clothes then my 6-year-old son brings the load to the living room where each child (even my 3-year-old) sorts the clothes into the correct child's basket.  I bought these at the Dollar Tree and taped pictures of my kids to each one so the non-readers could work too.  Each child puts their basket away after the load has been sorted.  I don't care if it's folded because it will be unfolded in no time.  My kids don't own any clothes that can't be sprayed with water and tossed in the dryer for 10 minutes to get the wrinkles out.

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These are the labels on my kids drawers. Each child has labels for all articles of their clothing. Each label is marked with the child's first initial. The labels pictured here belong to my 3-year-old daughter; she is able to her clothes away with minimal assistance.

I repurposed my baby play yard to contain my laundry mountain.  I was so tired of the mess spilling into the floor when I get behind.

This is my menu binder.  It has magnets on the back so I can keep it on my fridge.  I keep my coupons I plan to use (not a big couponer, I tried, just not for me), blank shopping lists, and the small menu cards for the meals we typically eat.  Love the movable cards because it makes it easy for quick changes to the menu.

This is our school cart.  At one point we had a whole classroom complete with desks and reading nook.  Then we realized it just worked better for us to school wherever we land (most of the time curled up on the couch.)  The cart is a audio/visual cart my husband purchased for me at our county public school surplus.
 
I have plenty more little things that use to make my day flow smoothly. I will publish more as I have time.

I'm no Super Mom!

The other day I had a friend wish me happy birthday she addressed me as "Super Mom" in her statement.  This is not the first time I have heard this.  I regretfully admit it happens frequently.  This literally makes me laugh out loud and makes me want to set the record straight.

I think that when people see me with a large amount of children they think I must have it all together.  "Super Mom" is a fictional character, much like Spiderman or Ironman.  She simply doesn't exist.  No one has it all together all the time.  We all have weaknesses in our planning, scheduling, housekeeping, & child rearing at times.  We all have lazy times that we don't feel like doing a thing.  We all have messy houses, dirty dishes, laundry mountains, & unfinished school days sometimes.  We all struggle with taking time for ourselves. 

I find it refreshing hearing from others that I am not the only one that has these struggles & love learning how they deal with them.  I find their words reassuring & their advice helpful.  I highly suggest that you admit that you are not a "Super Mom".  You must not only admit it to yourself but admit it to your friends.  Believe it of not, I guarantee your friends think you are a "Super Mom" too!   I really feel we moms need to debunk this myth, then we need to collectively agree to stop pretending or at least let our friends go on believing that we are "Super Moms" 

Find a friend and tell her one of your "I'm no Super Mom because..." stories.  You will be so glad you did because she will almost certainly relay her story to you.  I promise you will feel so free from having to act like something that you are not.  Then read the book "Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe" (even if you are not a homeschooler.)    

Here is one of my many  "I'm no Super Mom because..." stories:
Not long after writing my last post about keeping up on laundry my dryer broke.  It ended up being an electrical problem with the wiring in my home and took 2 weeks to get fixed.  This all happened right as the seasons were changing so as we got our warm clothes dirty, I just got out the fall clothes and let the kids wear them.  Well as you can imagine, a family of 9 can really rack up the dirty clothes.  It was not long before all summer and winter clothes were dirty and in a big, mixed up mess in my laundry room.  Now not only do I have a literal mountain of laundry to wash, but I also have my seasons of clothes that need separated.  I have dreaded getting this under control for so long that it has been 2 1/2 months and it is just as bad as ever.  We do laundry as needed at this point.  I will get it caught up one day but I dread the amount work it will take.  It is just much easier to wash clothes as needed and close the mountain in the laundry room!

What is your "I'm no Super Mom because..." story?

Laundry: From Dirty to Put Away with the Littles Helping

Let me start by saying I do NOT enjoy laundry at all!  Over the years I have tried many processes in our home to make laundry easier or at least bareable.  I think I have finally found the thing that works for us.  We have been doing this for around a year now and have stayed caught up on laundry for the most part. 

All the kids are responsible for bringing their own clothes to the upstairs bathroom.  We have a large hamper in there and they bring all their clothes and put them in there.  EXCEPT their socks.  (I'll talk about socks in another post.)

The boys are responsible for carrying all the dirty clothes down to the laundry room.  They have their own basket to use to carry clothes down in.  They usualy have to make a couple trips each to get it all.  My boys are 4 & 5 and manage this job great.  I would probably assign this job to them even if they were 2 & 3 but just give them smaller baskets so they couldn't carry as much.  I firmly believe boys really are made for work.  That is why God gave them so much more energy. 

I wash and dry the clothes.  Then I put them in a large tote and bring them to the living room for sorting. 

All the girls sort the clean clothes into small baskets.  Each child has their own basket.  I labeled them with their picture (so the non-readers could help) and name.  I got the basket at the dollar store but anywhere will work.  They are about 12" square and stack together for easy storage.  You want to get something small enough for your littles to carry.

Each child is responsible for putting away their own laundry.  My 3-yr-old still nees some help but the others do just fine.  I do not require them to fold it.  I used to spend hours folding and putting away their clothes neatly, but it always looked like a bomb went off in there drawer after a day or two.  So now I just let it get wrinkled and if I need it wrinkle-free I mist it with water and toss it in the dryer for 10 minutes.

This works for us.  What works for you?   

14 kids in 10 years with 3 pregnancies...

**I'm told this is all very confusing with kids going and coming, so I included a timeline at the bottom to help.

I only wanted 2 children when I was a young mom.  In 2001, at the age of 20, I gave birth to Kendra.  I found parenting her so easy that I really never understood why everyone made such a big deal over it.  I was one of those young moms that really makes me a little crazy now.  I thought after one child I had it all figured out and offered advice to others freely.  I roll my eyes at myself now just thinking about how annoying I must have been.

In October 2003 I became pregnant with our 2nd child.  I was so convinced that I was having a boy that I referred to my baby bump as "him, he, his" often.  I got rid of all my girl baby clothes, and began to buy boy things.  I was so bummed at my 20 week ultrasound to find that my little guy was a little girl!  Now I could not imagine life with out my Jayna.  She was born June 3, 2004.  She was such a challenging toddler.  She kept me on my toes all the time & taught me that I didn't know quite as much about parenting as I thought!  To this day she is still my most mischievous child.

My husband and I really wanted a son.  In October of 2005 we began the journey of foster-adoptive care.  We choose this route because I "knew" I couldn't handle more than 3 children and this was a way to ensure that we would get a son.  This thought makes me literally laugh out loud now that I have parented over 14 children in my life.

On May 2, 2006 we became foster parents to Christian & Samantha at the age of 6 weeks old.  It was such a challenge having twins.  At the time I was still working full time and rarely got any sleep.  We ultimately got to adopt them in July 2008, which is so rare since they were our 1st placement, babies, & twins.  For this reason I am fearful to tell people this whole story about our foster/adoptive journey.  I don't want to get their hopes up into thinking we are the norm. 

Shortly after getting the twins (June 16, 2006 to be exact) we got a call asking us to take in the twins 3-yr-old sister, Olivia.  We said "What's one more?" and gladly accepted her into our home.  This gave us five kids, ages 4 and under with twin 6-wk-olds in the mix. Remember, I was still working full time at this point.  I think back on this time of my life I wonder how on Earth I did it.  I know if I can get through that crazy time of my life I can get manage most any thing!  The last time we saw Olivia was July of 2008, when she was 5. 

The next children to enter my life were brothers, Mathew (4) & Michael (3)  The M&M boys were unique challenge because they were the first toddler boys I had ever parented.  They were all boy, and were very rough and tough.  They came August 2007 when the twins were 18 months, Kendra was 5, Jayna was 4 (a very challenging age to parent her, LOL!), and Olivia had left us briefly during this time and was not around much.  The M&M brother's stay was short at our home and they left us in October that same year.

In December 2007 we decided that we would like to have another child biologically.  Madelyn was born September 23, 2008.  She was the easiest baby ever.  She was so calm and laid back.  God knew that with a house full of littles that I needed a easier kid.  LOL! 

Shortly after Madelyn was born we got a phone call for a foster placement of three siblings, Mikayla (9), Jordan (8), & Savanna (5).  They arrived October 29, 2008.  There placement in our home created a lot of chaos and was challenging on so many levels.   However, I love them dearly and miss them often.  I have had so much personal growth as a parent since they were here.  I wish I could've been the parent I am now with them then.  The left us in the beginning of June 2009.

In August of 2010 we welcomed baby Trinity into our home.  She was 8-months-old and only stayed with us for a week but she will hold a special place in my heart forever.

On January 20 of this year we welcomed John into our home.  He was 3 and the time and a complete ball of energy.  He has been through so much in his little life that he is so grateful for all that he has here.  He tells me dozens of times a day how he "loves me so very, very much!"  He melts my heart!

On August 24th of this year we also welcomed John's sweet sister Patricia into our family.  She has been such a wonderful addition.  She has a very humble and sweet attitude to her.  I pray for and look forward to the day we are able to officially able to adopt them and make them ours forever!

**Timeline to ease confusion:
10/14/2001- Gave birth to Kendra
6/3/2004- Gave birth to Jayna
5/2/2006- Christain & Samantha arrived as foster placement
6/16/2006- Olivia arrived as a foster placement
8/12/2007- Matthew & Michael came as foster placement
10/2007- Matthew & Michael left
7/8/2008- Olivia left our home for good (had been coming and going for about a year)
7/18/2008- Adopted Christian & Samantha
9/23/2008- Gave birth to Madelyn
10/29/2008- Mikayla, Jordan, & Savanna came as foster placement
6/2009- Mikayla, Jordan, & Savanna left
8/2010- Trinity came to stay for 1 week as foster placement then left
1/20/2011- John came as a foster placement
8/24/2011- Patricia came as a foster placement

That is how I became a 30-year-old mom to 14 children with having given birth to the 1st one at 20.  I love every child that has entered my life and would take on more if the state would allow it, but our state limits the number of children allowed in your home.  We pray those rules change. 

Until next time...