Travel Treasure Chests

I've been working on making something to help keep kids occupied during long road trips.  I knew what I wanted to include, but needed a cool name to call it.  My son came up with the title "Travel Treasure Chests."  And though there is no actual chest, there is a whole lot of fun packed into a fairly compact area.  Here's what the ingredients I used:

• Baking sheet
• Sandpaper, medium grit works great
• Dry erase markers at least 2 colors
• Dice 5
• Laminated game boards
• Yarn
• Clip magnets 2
• Pencil pouches, NOT boxes

Sounds like a mess of random stuff, but I promise this is going to be fun.

So first I started with baking sheet, the kind that are magnetic.  You can use some old ones that you already have or just get the cheap ones from Wal-mart or Target.  Next I took  the yarn and cut different colors in various lengths.  Make sure that you have several of each color and length, and then put them into a pencil pouch.  Now take the magnetic clips and clip the sandpaper to the baking sheet, and wouldn't you know it, the yarn sticks to the sandpaper, so you now have a travel art set.

The next thing I did was find some games that we could print on paper.  The list we came up with was tic tac toe, Yahtzee, connect 4, and that game that you have to connect lines to make a square...I have no idea what it's really called.  I printed two each, back to back, of tic tac toe, and Yahtzee, and one each of the others, also back to back.  I then laminated the sheets.  Now they are like dry erase boards.  Pack dice and dry erase markers into another pencil pouch and you can now play games with your seat mate.  The cookie sheet keeps the dice contained when you roll.  You use the same magnetic clips that you use for the sandpaper to hold the game boards.  And for the connect 4 you simply use different color markers and draw in the circle that you want.

When you have everything done, you simply put the games on the sheet, clip the pouches with the magnets and stick them on top of it all, then tuck it under the seat of the car, or in the pocket of the front seats for safe keeping and easy storage.

Here are a couple pics of what I've done.  Forgive me for not including the yarn, sandpaper, and dice.  The kids thought that it was time to use it now, and didn't want to let me take it back, even just to take a picture o.O So I promise, that I'll get pictures soon and post them on here.

This is a front and back view, one game on each side.

that box game I was talking about on one side

connect 4 on the other side

Almost everything all put stored.

I'm organizationally challenged

Yup the title says it all.  I was not born organized, and it took me many years to get to where I am (which by the way, still isn't great), but where I am now is so much better than where I naturally fall.  If you are like me, you may desire and dream of a nice minimalistic home where everything is in perfect place and there is no dust anywhere to be found, but as soon as your alarm goes off and you open your eyes, you realize it was just that, a dream.  Instead you may be surrounded with clutter, and paperwork that needs filed, laundry that needs done, or dishes that need put away.  Now don't go thinking that I live in the same kind of conditions as someone off of an episode of Hoarders, my house isn't dirty (well maybe the ceiling fans), just cluttered.  But I wanted to share with you all (3 readers) that there is hope for us.  I have done lots of research and implemented several things from lots of the things I have found, and have compiled a list that may help.

1. Use a calendar.  This may sound silly, but if we get in the habit of writing things down in the same spot every time, then you can easily find what you're supposed to be doing and not double book or miss anything.  I have a giant 2ft by 3ft white board calendar on my wall.
2. Color code things.  For our family of 6 we have 8 colors on our calendar.  Each person has their own color.  Then as a family we have a color, and finally we have a color just for general purposes.  This way I can look at my giant calendar and if I see a certain color I know that that particular person has something going on that day.  I also try to color code anything else that I can for quick reference, backpacks, lunch boxes, water bottles, clothes hangers, etc.  It's all game for color coding.
3. Check out the flylady. But don't over do it, just work the baby steps for now.
4. Make a weekly menu.  I use emeals because honestly, I can't come up with a whole week at once, then the grocery list! It's too much for my fried mommy mind.  For less than $5 a month, they do the work for me and I print and shop.  AND now they also do lunches for an additional charge, but I used their sample plan, and everyone loved it!

Ok, so that's about all I really have going for me right now, but let me tell you, it took my house from stacks of mail and piles of laundry to desktop space, and peace and calm.  Still not great, but headed in the right direction.

School is in Session

I just want to start by saying that I love my kids and my family with all my heart.  Now that I've got that out there, I want to say, I am so happy that school has started again!  That sounds so bad, even just typing it makes me cringe a little.  I never wanted to be that mom that was so happy when their kids weren't home all day, and really that's not why I'm excited for them to be at school.  I'm excited because I need that routine and consistency.  I've been going bonkers all summer long trying to make sure that we had things to do and that the kids enjoyed themselves.  So much so that I didn't get a chance to really enjoy spending that time with them, which breaks my heart. 

Now we all get up early, the kids get ready for school as the hubby makes his lunch and I get things into backpacks and breakfast served.  Then I take them to school, and get anything else that needs done done.  This week alone I have had 3 doctors appointments for myself (I've been neglecting going because I didn't want to take all the kiddos), and laundry is all caught up (not an easy task with 6 people), but best of all, I got the kitchen mopped AND it dried without footprints all over it...AMAZING!

Each day after school I have been more appreciative of the time I get to spend with my rugrats and we giggle as I help them with homework (PS Algebra homework on the second day of school is NOT cool), the kids have been wanting to help me with making dinner more lately, so that's been great too.  We all eat at the table as a family, every night, we chat about our day and really connect with each other.  It's great.  The kids then get showered and ready for bed, pick out their clothes for the next day, and we get to have some family quiet time to relax, NO T.V. read a book, or play a game, sometimes we go on a walk or a bike ride after dinner too.  And I no longer feel so overwhelmed and anxious. 

So I guess I'm okay with being that mom, because it makes me appreciate them more when they aren't always connected to my hip.  Now the battle to get the school system to do a year round school....I kid, I kid....or do I? ;o)

Organizing for another school year

So as much as I would like to have been born organized, I wasn't.  I have never been very good at keeping things the way that I have wanted to.  Having multiple kids has helped me though, THANK GOODNESS. 

This year I have made a vow to myself and my family that I am going to keep all things school organized.  So I did some research and got things all set up to get us off to a good start when school starts back up on the 20th.  My kids already have their own designated colors for our calendar, so if I look at the calendar and see something in purple I know it's for my oldest daughter, but if I see something in blue I know it's for my son.  This trick has saved my sanity, and you will see that I incorporated their colors into this system as well to help everyone.


First I made a spot for the kids to put their things.  I used some 3 drawer carts that we already had, and stacked them in a cabinet that is by our desk.

(Excuse my steam mop)

Then each kiddo got a drawer that currently only has a spiral notebook and a composition book, but will also be where their long term homework goes, library books, and project from school that they wish to keep.

This is my son's drawer

Pencils, sharpener, crayons, glue, dictionary, etc

filler paper and printer paper

I also set up a Home/School communication area.  Again each kiddo got a folder, and inside they will leave me all the papers that they get from school each day/week.  At the end of the day, when they are in bed, I will check the folders, sign what needs to be signed, file what needs to be filed, toss what needs to be tossed, and put anything on the calendar that we need to.  If there is something that needs to be taken back to school I will put it on the "school" side of the folder and the kids check it in the morning before going to school and gather anything that needs taken back.

folders on my desk

inside of the folders

So there you have it, my attempt at being organized.  And please if you see me in a couple months, ask me how I'm doing with this, I know it's going to be a challenge for me to maintain :)

Wait a minute, what day is today?

This last week has been a haze for me. 

• The excitement and anticipation of my oldest daughter returning from her 10 week vacation away from us.  
• A trip just hours later to the ER with her.  
• Getting everything ready for school to start again next week.  
• A good friend of ours had their first baby.  

The list goes on and on, and the days seem to run together, leaving me uncertain of what day it even is.  So there wasn't anything special cooked/baked, and no crafting was to be had in my house this week.  I'm hoping to get something fun done this week with the kids before their days are consumed with school, homework, chores and extracurricular activities.  So here's to a smooth start to school and some exciting last days of summer.

S'mores Pops MMMM

Well here's a little something that my kiddos love when I make it, S'mores Pops!

Preheat your oven to 300* F.

Gather your ingredients, this part is really hard:

1. Gram Crackers
2. Milk Chocolate Chips
3. Marshmallows

You will also need a round cookie cutter that will fit on the gram crackers (I used a 1 inch). Some lollipop sticks or skewers, and a double broiler (or you can melt the chocolate in the microwave, but I prefer the double broiler).

 After you have what you need, start cutting circles out of your gram crackers.  Don't worry, although you may think it will just crumble, I only had 1 cracker break, steady even pressure is the key.

Now take the jumbo marshmallows and cut the ends off so that it's sticky on both sides.  Then place cut ends down onto half of the cracker circles, then top them with the other half.  Pop them into your preheated oven for 5 minutes to get the marshmallows nice and gooey. and then move them into the freezer to firm up.

While your sandwiches are in the freezer, melt the milk chocolate chips in your double broiler (or microwave, just be careful not to scorch your chocolate).  Pull out the sandwiches and insert a skewer or lollipop stick and dip into the chocolate.  When they are all done being dipped, place them back into the fridge or freezer to solidify the chocolate.  (notice how one of the circles broke when I was inserting the skewer, don't fret, just use the melted chocolate like glue to hold it together.)

Remove from fridge or freezer and enjoy your treat!

I'm such a mean mom

I love that according to my middle daughter her friends think I'm mean because I make her clean all the time and she doesn't have many toys.  Well let's take a moment to examine these allegations:

1. You aren't cleaning all the time. If you would just do the couple of things that I ask you to do it would be done in 10-15 minutes, but you don't, you mess around and therefore it takes you all day and we don't get to do anything else more "fun"
2. I don't buy you toys. At one point you had so many toys that you didn't even know what you had. You didn't care about your things and left them out over and over again, I took them away and gave you an opportunity to earn them back, sometimes you succeeded and sometimes you didn't, but the things you got back just ended up not taken care of again and again, so I got rid of them because it looked to me like you didn't want them in the first place.
3. I'm mean because you have to fold and put away your own laundry, and have started to learn how to start the washer...OH my gosh...again with the teaching you some responsibility. I can't wait to see what your friends do when they move out. They aren't going to know what to do to keep a house, or do their own laundry, but you should know how because of me, your mean, mean mom.

It may not seem like fun now, but if you get into the habit of doing the things that I am trying to teach you, when you are an adult on your own in this world, you will have more time for all the "fun" because you know how to do the not so fun. I love you and I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just teaching you responsibility. I know, it's tough being a kid.

Getting everything together

Well today I went and got a few more things for our Disneyland trip, I'm trying to get a little at a time so that it doesn't seem like it's all at once and get overwhelming. As a family of 6 we know that Disney is going to be expensive.  In order to help combat the cost we decided to do a lot of things at home before we go.  We are making quillows for our trip down (we're driving down in the middle of the night), we're also making autograph/photo books instead of buying them, making journals to record our memories, and I'm going as far as making our own travel games for the kids on the way home.  Here is some of the demos of what I'm doing:


Journals



Hair Bows


 


Magnetic cookie sheet travel games

We are also going to hit up the Disneystore to get some of the great sale prices, and hide our little gems from the littles, so that at the end of the day when we get back to our room, there will be our very own souvenir at a fraction of the cost!  I will also carry a few small things in my pack so that they can get something at the park too and I don't have to pay the inflated prices.  We will however be making our own ears at the park....Can't wait!