Last week it was our turn to take the team snack. The after-game snack and drink are by far Ryan’s most anticipated part of game day, so naturally he looked forward to making the coveted treat selection. I, on the other hand, was a bit nervous because the precedent already set by the other parents was processed bags of chips and cookies, and artificially-colored sugar drinks.

While I haven’t made a fussy scene or refused Ryan the after-game snack, our family does try to make healthier food choices and on my turn to provide I wasn’t about to condone a chocolate-stuffed cookie and sugared drink right before a six-year-old’s bedtime.

I was sick with worry as our first game day snack assignment approached. I paced the Walmart snack aisles for over an hour, questioned and requestioned my options, and even called Jared–practically in tears–for advice on what to take.  I know it all sounds stupid when putting it out there like that, but for me, the issue was deeper than a game-day snack. The issue for me was, “Where do I stand?”

Some days I think it would be so much easier if I were content to blend in with the crowd. But I feel so much responsibility as a parent to do what I believe is best, not just what might be popular. And so there are times when I pray for confidence, suck in a deep breath, and then accept the challenge to take a risk and set a new trend.

And so that’s how it was with game day snacks. Game day came and went, the kids took the snack and went, and honestly, I’m not sure anyone even noticed a difference in the food selection. But I did. And I knew I could walk away feeling content about providing a healthier snack option for our growing ball players.

Game Day Snacks are a big part of the team-playing experience so there’s no need to damper the fun. But perhaps you’re like me and are ready to accept the challenge of setting a healthier trend?

A couple of tips to keep in mind:

• Consider prepackaged. Not only for the convenience, but also to eliminate the worry about where it came from.
• Be mindful of allergies. As the parent of a peanut-allergic son, I usually carry an alternate snack in my bag, just in case. But it’s always appreciated when others have been considerate of him.

What else can you think of? In the comments section, please share your ideas and thoughts on healthier snack options.

On Monday, May 7th a random commenter will be selected to win a $25 gift card to Walmart.

This giveaway has been provided by Walmart and General Mills, through MyBlogSpark, but opinions, experiences, subject choice, and snack ideas are my own.

We hit a major milestone here this week! I’m talking about our firstborn loosing his first tooth. It’s moments like this that cause me to shed a little tear and wonder where my baby has gone. I already anticipate being a mess when he gets his driver’s license. Just sayin.’

Of course the talk of the night was whether the tooth fairy would visit, and what she might leave. Oh, the pressure this brought these clueless parents when experiencing the ritual for the first time! I mean, you have to do it right, because there are other kids down the line who will be losing their pearly whites sooner than I want to admit.

And what’s the going rate these days, anyway? She brought a quarter per tooth when Jared and I were kids. But I do distinctly remember being jealous that she left some kids a dollar. Ryan claims his classmate got $12. What?! I’m justifying by telling myself he must be an only child.

Up until a few days ago I’d forgotten just how tiny those baby teeth are, and knew we couldn’t just put it under his pillow. I learned that the hard way as a kid who lost a tooth in the night. My wise mom suggested she had connections and if I put a note under my pillow she was sure the tooth fairy wouldn’t mind the substitute. If only I’d had a cute little bag to keep my tooth in then!

Since all the time I have for crafting these days  is about 10 minutes standing at the kitchen table, I opted to make this a no-sew project. But if you prefer, feel free to use embroidery floss or your sewing machine to close the seams on the bag.

For this mini no-sew bag you’ll need:

• piece of colored felt
• piece of white or ivory felt
• glue gun or embroidery floss
• yarn or cord (about 30 inches)
• scissors
• safety pin (optional)

Cut a large rectangle strip from the colored felt. (I cut off a third of a sheet, making my rectangle about 4″x8″.)

Squeeze a strip of glue about 2 inches down on each end of the felt. Fold the felt over to create a “tube.” The drawstring will be going through here, so make sure it’s a wide enough “tube” and that you don’t glue the sides shut.

Fold the felt in half so that the top hems are on the inside. Glue the sides shut, stopping just before you reach the hems at the top (don’t glue the drawstring “tubes” shut).

Cut a tooth shape from the white/ivory felt.

Glue the tooth onto the bag, for decoration. OR, if you want, just glue down the sides, leaving the top and middle of the felt tooth unglued, so it forms a little “pocket” to put the baby teeth in.

Cut the string/yarn in two equal pieces. Thread one string through one of the hemmed tubes. If you’re having trouble getting it through, try putting a safety pin on the end of the string and bunching up the felt to thread it through.

Thread the same string through the other hemmed tube.

Now thread the second string through both hemmed tubes, starting with the opposite one you started with the first time.

Tie the ends of the string and trim so they are even.

Now all you have to do is wait for the tooth fairy!

It’s faded and yellowed over the years, and I was amazed she kept the coloring page. I remember having that Precious Moments coloring book, and that the illustration reminded me of my mom. At that time I was probably 10, and the oldest of a quickly growing family. At the top in my childhood handwriting it says,

“Even if some days are like this. Love, Pam”

She sent me the coloring page with a note that brought me to humble tears. She explained at the time I gave her the torn-out crayon-filled drawing, she was a young mom of several kids, living very far from home. The page meant a lot to her because she felt that in some ways even at my young age, I understood how she was feeling.

20 years later I’m the young mom of several kids, living very far from home. And many, many of my days feel like this. 

Logically, and many times faithfully, I ponder this season of motherhood and can see that it really is–just a season. I know my kids will grow out of tantrums and time-outs, faces will no longer be scratched from clawing at each other over a favorite toy, bedrooms will stay clean, they’ll wipe their own bums, and I’ll get a full night’s rest again.

{Attempting an impossible picture with all four}

But keeping perspective and knowing I’ll someday miss this time doesn’t mean it’s not hard. The fatigue, frustration, and filth wear on me, and I begin to wonder how much more I can take. And there are even times I’m ready to blow.

My perspective shifted when my mom sent that letter with the coloring page because in our difficult relationship I’ve never been able to see her as someone who understands me. But because she’s a mom, she has been there.

For this reason, I write. My writing isn’t always happy-happy-joy-joy. And while I don’t think it’s necessary to document every tantrum, there’s value in keeping the difficult memories preserved so that 20 years from now, when MY daughters are the struggling moms, I can say, I know what you’re going through. I was there. Here, read more.

{Serity breastfeeds her baby doll}

And maybe even before then, I can say to another mom I meet, I know exactly what you mean. I’m going through that too.

An alternative title to this post could be “You Know You’re Growing Up When You Ask For a Freezer for Your Anniversary.” Yes, it’s true. No flowers or fancy dinner for this practical girl on her 11th wedding anniversary. Just a deep freeze, thankyouverymuch. We actually found an amazing deal on a clearanced display model and I’m soooo excited to have more freezer space for my big cooking days.

These cheesy mini meatloaves will be coming up on the May freezer cooking menu at Once a Month Mom, and are adored by my kids. They love meatloaf anyway, but making them in muffin (read: mini) form makes them much more manageable, and it’s easy to grab a couple from the freezer to reheat for lunches. I actually made a batch this weekend hoping to start filling the new freezer, but they didn’t make it past dinnertime. . . . Better double the batch next time .

Cheesy Meatloaf Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef or turkey
• 0.75 cup dry breadcrumbs
• 0.75 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 0.5 to 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 6 ounces Mozzarella cheese, cubed

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine all but cheese and mix well. Fill wells of muffin tins (I love using silicone cups) with meatloaf mixture, and place a cube of cheese in the center of each meatloaf.

Completely cover with a bit more meatloaf mixture. Bake at 350F for about 15 minutes, or until done. Remove from muffin tins, cool slightly, and serve with ketchup, if desired.

To freeze: After baking meatloaves, allow to cool, then place in freezer bags. Seal, label, and freeze. To serve: reheat in microwave until hot, 1-2 minutes.

Last week I was invited to give a short presentation on breastfeeding during a prenatal class at the health department. Kentucky is the 47th LOWEST state in the US when it comes to breastfeeding rates, so talking about it–standing out and doing something different than the norm–can be a bit intimidating. But it’s also exciting to be part of a change I believe in.

My life-savor friend watched the girls for an hour, but I decided to take Lydia with me. Object lesson, perhaps? And because I always seem to be running late these days, I didn’t have time to feed her before we left, so I sat quietly in the classroom with my nursing cover and filled her while people arrived. Not planned, but was kind of convenient to tie in to the presentation.

When it was my turn to speak, I talked about how having a new baby presents you with what seems to be a million choices . . . epidural or “natural?” daycare or stay at home? breast milk or formula? etc. and that making the right (“write”) choice can be overwhelming. Because there are so many choices to make, it’s good to learn about your options so you can make the best choice for you and your baby. I told them that I wasn’t there to pressure them into anything, but that I would just like to share my experience with breastfeeding, why it works for me, and some of the benefits so that they could decide if it was something they wanted to learn more about.

At the end of my story I sent around a signup sheet and asked the girls to indicate whether they wanted more information. I didn’t realize this before the class (thankfully), but because the breastfeeding rates are so low in this area, the prenatal instructor didn’t expect much outcome from my visit. So to have five of the seven girls want to know more about breastfeeding their soon-to-be-born babies was an exciting surprise.

Why were so many interested? Who knows, really, but I think it may have been because I tried to remain genuine and honest about my experiences, and to also empower them so that they knew enough to make their own decision.

I think as moms, we crave empowerment. Not that we want to have power over others, but just that we want to feel like we can make our own decisions–ones that we feel are best for us and our families, create joyful experiences, live our dreams, and intentionally love without guilt, peer pressure, or criticism. Lately I’ve spent way too much time as a woman and as a mother, feeling powerless because I’ve let let the stress of my responsibilities take over.  But I hope in some small way I was able to give a piece of hope to the group of women who are expecting our next generation.

9:00 pm and I’m tying my tennis shoes.

“Are you going somewhere?” Jared wonders.

“I was thinking about going to the gym.”

He barely looks up. “Do you mind taking Lyddie with you? I have papers to grade.”

*Sigh.* I go back to folding the laundry I’d left piled on the couch. Six-year old t-ball shirt, small, smaller, and small pink everything, more mismatched socks than I can count.

And then, unannounced, and faster than I can fold a miniature pair of ruffled panties, the anger and sadness and confusion come all at once, in an overwhelming wave, and I grit my teeth. “I think I’m going to blow.”

Compassion. Worry. And maybe a bit of “let me get out of her way” quickly cross Jared’s face as he looks up. “Oh, hey, yeah, if you want to go to the gym, I’m sure Lyddie will be fine.”

And now I add guilt to my pile of flaming emotions.

“I think we’ll all be happier if I do. Besides, she’s asleep.”

The gym feels good. I can pound out my frustration on the treadmill, concentrate on the pain in my hamstrings, instead of my heart. Which is good since I can’t even figure out what’s wrong, except that while I logically believe I’m no superwoman, deep down I want to be. And even try to be. Help is the hardest word to say. And the overwhelmed-ness has been almost paralyzing lately. 

I woke up and looked at Lydia the other morning and said out loud, “when did you grow up?” And that’s when I realized how much I’ve been missing the past few months as I’ve been running on air, not feeling present in my kids lives most of the time. It wasn’t until someone said the words that I even considered, post-partum depression?

Really? Hmmm. I thought I was doing okay keeping it together.

And while the transition from three to four HAS been the easiest of all the additions, it definitely hasn’t been easy. If anything, having this new baby has made me more thoughtful. More thoughtful about where I place my priorities, more thoughtful of my limited time, more thoughtful of the things I want my kids to learn, more thoughtful of our family’s values and faith.

Last week was spring break and I spent every day, all day with my family. We didn’t go on vacations or do anything spectacular. In fact, most days were pretty normal. We grocery shopped, read books, played at the park, did chores, ate dinner in, ate dinner out, watched movies, drew pictures. In the back of my mind I was stressed about Etsy orders and my quickly filling e-mail inbox. I started to feel inadequate with my fun mommy efforts and thought maybe I should look at Pinterest and find some amazing Easter crafts. Or maybe we should silk-dye our eggs instead of just regular food coloring. Or maybe I should get coordinating Easter outfits and set up a photoshoot.

One night we took the kids out for dinner. We were sitting at the table munching pre-meal chips and salsa and chatting about our day when an older man approached our table.

“Folks, I don’t know who you are, or what ya’ll are doin’ but you should write a book about it.”

Jared and I looked at each other, questioningly. I looked at our kids who all happened to be sitting on their chairs at that exact moment. And I had no idea what he was talking about. Then he went on.

“I taught school for a million years, and ya’ll are doing something right.”

And then, just as quickly as he entered, he walked away.

I looked at our table, strewn with crayons from tic-tac-toe games. Salsa was dripping down the shirt of one of the kids, chip crumbs littered the floor, and someone had to pee NOW. It was quite the scene and I couldn’t help laughing. At the same time, and I mean this humbly, that man’s comment was a much-needed confirmation to many prayers I’ve been saying lately.

It confirmed to me once again, that my kids don’t need Pin-worthy Easter crafts, gourmet dinners, or magazine-worthy photoshoots. As Meg Meeker says, they don’t care whether the brownies are made from scratch, come from a box, or are bought at the store. They just want to eat them with me. They just want me.

And so for many days I’ve ignored everything else and have just been mommy.

It’s all very confusing to me, because I feel very driven and things have been going incredibly well in my artistic and blogging goals. I know where I want to be business-wise and know I can get there. I’m overflowing with ideas to offer the PTA. But interestingly, the past couple of weeks as I’ve been focusing more on balance and strengthening my relationship with my family and my Father in Heaven, other paths I’ve pursued have fallen out and seem  much less important.

“When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives.”  (Ezra Taft Benson)

I’m interested in your thoughts. . .

One thing you can always count on at the first of each month is a new round of freezer menus at Once a Month Mom. As the traditional menu writer, I stayed true to simple family favorites for April’s menu. Here’s a roundup of all the yummy things I got to contribute during March and that are currently filling our freezer.

Homemade Uncrustables: Super handy to keep around and the sealed sandwiches work great in lunchboxes and are just pennies a sandwich (compared to the store-bought version).

PB&J version and Bacon and Egg version

Fluffy Whole Wheat Pancakes: These hearty pancakes are a family favorite for breakfast or dinner.

Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Shells: Where classic pasta is sassed up and spiced up with buffalo wing sauce. YUM

Chicken and Asparagus Carbanara: Creamy pasta, fresh asparagus, and a bit of crispy, salty bacon make this one-dish meal totally satisfying.

Thai Peanut Noodles: Jared and I love these sweet and spicy noodles, but since our son is allergic to peanuts we like to reserve them for an after- the-kids-go-bed-at-home-date-night meal. I think they’re just as good as takeout.

Creamy Chicken with Mushrooms: The best part of this meal for me is that you don’t even have to thaw before placing in the Crockpot!

Chocolate Chip Banana Breakfast Cookies: Chocolate and banana is always a winning combo in my book, and these puffy cookies make a yummy after-school snack or grab-and-go breakfast treat.

New to freezer cooking? See why I love it!

I have a theory lately, and it’s that dinner can be ho-hum, but when I serve homemade bread, it totally saves the meal. Or maybe it’s just that we’re bread-lovers around here. In any case, I made these biscuits recently and everyone loved them. Then we had a few leftovers and the kids ate them for breakfast the next morning with scrambled eggs and fruit.

Bacon Cheddar Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup cold butter
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup cooked, crumbled bacon
• 1 egg (for egg wash)
• 1 Tablespoon milk

Directions:

Place flour, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. With the mixer on low, add the butter and mix until the butter is the size of peas. OR, if you don’t have a mixer, place ingredients in a bowl and use a pastry cutter to “cut” the butter into the dry ingredients.

Combine the buttermilk and egg in a small bowl beat lightly with a fork. With the mixer still on low, quickly add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and mix only until moistened. (If not using a mixer, mix with a wooden spoon until moistened.)

Add the cheese and bacon to the dough. Mix only until combined. Dump dough onto a well-floured board and knead lightly 3-4 times.

With a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a rectangle about 10 by 5 inches. With a sharp knife, cut the dough into 12 rectangles, or use a cookie cutter or large glass to cut out circles.

Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, or lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Beat egg and milk to make an egg wash. Brush the tops of biscuits with the egg wash, and bake at 425F for 15-20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and the biscuits are cooked through. Serve warm.

Side Note. Since I’ve been into food storage lately I bought some Bacon TVP (textured vegetable protein) to try. I wasn’t sure how it would go over since Jared was a little hesitant when I told him I wanted to add some “fake meat” to our food storage stash. But I after rehydrating the bacon bits and adding them to these biscuits, nobody had any complaints. Serity even snitched “bacon” by the handfuls while she was “helping” me make these biscuits. While the Bacon TVP is definitely not as tasty as a juicy slice of fried bacon, the bits are pretty good in recipes such as baked beans, or mixed in scrambled eggs. And they’re much cheaper and more convenient than cooking up a pound of grease-splattering bacon.

“Gussy” recently started offering mentoring opportunities and I was anxious to take part as I feel like I’ve hit some crossroads with my little business and needed some outside, non-biased feedback. Her advice was eye-opening and gave me the new perspective and boost I needed.

A few days later I was facing a difficult parenting decision, and consulted a good friend. Her listening ear and simple suggestion was exactly the answer I needed in order to move toward a solution.

I don’t know about you, but for me, sometimes it’s so easy to get stuck in the rut of life and keep doing things the same way over and over, expecting different results. I believe it’s been said that’s the definition of “insanity.” But if I approach it with humility, getting fresh eyes from someone else often helps me take a step back and see things in a new light and boosts my perspective. (I have to admit though, one of my biggest weaknesses is that I don’t take unsolicited advice/criticism very well.)

{My very creative 4-year old opened my eyes to “seeing” a dinosaur in her pear}

Is there something troubling you? Are you stuck in a rut? Maybe asking a friend’s advice will help you “see things in a new light.”

I was having one of my {seems to be weekly} cry-in-the-shower sessions the other day and praying silently about the solution to my overwhelmed state of mind of having too many things to do and I came to the raw conclusion that for me, it comes down to value. I’m not placing enough value on myself and my role as a mother my babies. And while I logically believe in the worthiness of investing in motherhood, I’ve bought into the lie that I need to do MORE.

I’m at a place right now where there’s no conclusion to this part of my story yet. Being a mom is hard. It is. But I also know that everything worthwhile is.

Since I love to cook and eat, watching my diet isn’t terribly fun and I definitely never thought I’d be drinking a spinach smoothie. Or that I’d be LOVING it. I’ve seen them all over blogworld for a while, and had never had the desire to even try one. But now I’m glad I did, because really, they’re quite good. You can’t even taste the spinach! I’ve been drinking them for breakfast (and sometimes an afternoon snack too!) every day lately, and have even got my kids on board this week by calling it a “shamrock smoothie.” There are probably a thousand variations for this smoothie, but here’s what I’ve been putting in mine:

• 1 cup frozen fruit (I bought a big bag of no sugar added pineapple, mango, peach, and strawberry chunks in the frozen section of Walmart)
• 1 banana
• 1 cup apple juice (no sugar added, 100% juice) or water
• 1 cup+ fresh spinach (I cram as much as I can)

Blend extremely well, and serve with a cute straw . The first time I made this I didn’t think it was sweet enough, but now I think it’s totally satisfying. Even good enough to sub for dessert! Although, THAT might be pushing it. . .

I’m sharing this week’s meal plan at Once a Month Mom today!

One day last week we had guests for dinner. It was a particularly busy day for me and in between packaging Etsy orders I put together a pot of chili and a pan of cornbread and left them to simmer and bake while I ran to the post office (No worries, Jared was home.).

I was driving home, anticipating dinner and guests arriving when Jared texted. . . “Smells like something is burning.” Long story short–the simmering chili was no longer simmering, but burning to the bottom of the pot, and the sweet-smelling house I had left STANK like burned beans when I got home. And then the doorbell rang.

I’m sure it wasn’t the classiest of moves, but I excused myself (“Lyddie needs to eat”) and hid in my bedroom for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do about dinner–and trying to keep it together.

In the end I realized the only thing I could do was laugh and so we quickly come up with a plan B, which resulted in a pot of solely-pantry-ingredient soup. Thankfully the unburned cornbread saved the meal–as homemade bread often does.

While we were savoring crusty chunks of bread sopped with honey and laughing about my crazy day in which I had been spinning too many plates, someone commented about how good the soup was for having just “thrown it together.” That dinnertime conundrum reminded me of the classic children’s story–Stone Soup–and so I knew I must make a felt story set in honor of our pot of pantry soup good enough to serve guests.

Coming soon!!

At least that’s how I feel right now. So many choices, so many opportunities I’m continually being faced with, just to see if I’m truly aware of the heat rising or if I’m comfortable hanging out in the pot.

Like the other day when the girls and I were out doing a bazillion errands. Since I needed to go to several of the places in the outdoor strip mall I loaded the baby and toddler into one cart along with my gigantic purse/diaper bag/entertainment center, while my four-year-old tagged along cartside from store to store. Three stores AFTER we’d been in TJ Maxx I noticed the bag of dark chocolate truffles tucked under my bag. My two-year old has great taste!

But we hadn’t paid for them. Seriously, did I just shoplift?

Thoughts started racing. It was lunchtime. Three-month Lyddie was waking up and needed to eat. Two-year-old Seri was getting whiny. The store was in the opposite direction of the van and Emmy’s four-year-old legs were tired. But we’d just stolen. It was unintentional. And no one even noticed. Wow, I could really use some chocolate right now. OH MY GOSH, WE’VE JUST STOLEN.

I remembered the Sunday School lesson I taught last week. And I looked at my sweet girls, whom I’m responsible for, whom I love and want the best for. This is a teaching moment, I realized. And so I turned the cart around.

Now don’t assume that I’m perfect. There are plenty of times I hang out way too long in that comfortable pot of water. Sometimes making the right choice is so hard. And maybe keeping the $5 bag of chocolates would have been easier than trekking back to the store with three hungry, tired kids. Besides, they didn’t know I hadn’t paid for them.

But keeping the bag of chocolates would have also been like allowing the heat to rise, just a bit. And then what would have happened the next time? Would it be that much easier for me to justify the right choice, rationalizing that it’s really not THAT big of a deal.

I’m sure bank robbers don’t START OUT in boiling water.

Your thoughts?

But when we walked out of the theater after the movie Jared and I were both so disappointed at having supported the movie, and that it seems like there just isn’t much we can in good conscience show our kids. It’s so different from when we grew up. But I’m sure every generation of parents says that.

I’m sure you’ve heard the analogy of the frogs in a pot of water. Frankly, I’m not really sure WHY you would put a frog in a pot of water, but the idea is that you can’t just throw a frog in boiling water because it will hop right out. You have to put the frog in tepid water and SLOWLY bring up the heat. The frog will hang out in the pot, getting comfortable and before long the water boils and it’s too late for the frog.

I taught Sunday School yesterday, and we discussed this analogy. There are lots of situations you can apply it to, but I specifically talked about how carefully, slowly the devil lulls. It’s scary. Just like the frog in boiling water, he doesn’t throw us in a pot of boiling water–of course we’ll recognize the emergency and hop out. Instead we start out in the comfortable water–taking our kids to a super cute, well done, “family friendly” movie for example, laced with subtle, subtle messages that may rub our values just a bit.

But we justify it, thinking, maybe it wasn’t really “that” bad. Besides, it had great animation, the music was fun, and the END had a good message. If we’re not careful, slowly, slowly that heat rises, we get more lenient on what we expose our family to, and before we know it, we’ve allowed inappropriate influences into our home.

It’s a simple example, but think about how extreme it can get if we’re not keeping ourselves and our families in check. Definitely something to think about.

I did open the door again, curious to see what he wanted since my morning breath had already been exposed. And slickly dressed Jared did then take bed-head Pam to the top of the football stadium bleachers for a bowl of Cheerios and to talk while we watched the sunrise.

Cute, right?

I was a poor sport about it the.whole.time. In fact, I was grumpy, self-conscious, and a major downer all morning. {Frankly, it’s a wonder he even asked me out again.}

My point in sharing this somewhat-embarrassing story is that while talking at the top of the stadium is a totally creative, inexpensive, thoughtful date, it’s not my love language, and so at that time I couldn’t appreciate it and didn’t give him the credit he deserved for planning a surprise for me.

For the February giveaway I wondered, how do YOU show love?

I wondered this because I’ve been re-reading The 5 Love Languages to fulfill my “read at least one book a month for ME” goal. And it’s neat to learn all the different ways we give and receive love, and even more interesting to realize you can pour your heart into loving someone, but if it’s not in their love language, they may not realize or appreciate or even FEEL that love.

Jared poured love into planning that date for me, but I didn’t recognize the love language and not only did I not feel loved, I was annoyed. And my immature reaction left him feeling unloved too.

My love language is doing things (“acts of service”). It fills my tank when Jared does the dishes, or bathes the kids, or hangs picture frames for me. Jared’s love language is talking (“words of affirmation”) and “quality time”–just shootin’ the breeze over a bowl of ice cream.

Recognizing that we have different love languages has made a big difference in our marriage.

What about you? Do you know your love language?

Our meal plan for the week:

Breakfast:

• Oatmeal with freeze dried strawberries
• Cereal, toast, oranges
• Fluffy Whole Wheat Pancakes, scrambled eggs

Kiddo Lunch:

• Popcorn shrimp, rolls, steamed broccoli
• Cheese Quesadillas, oranges, pudding
• Hard-boiled eggs, crackers, string cheese, pineapple
• Mac and cheese, baby carrots
• Spaghettios, ants on a log, yogurt
• Lunch at a friend’s

Dinner:

• Egg Rolls, brown rice, steamed broccoli
• Grilled chicken, mashed cauliflower, garlic-roasted green beans, Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits
• Dinner out
• Tilapia, Parmesan Quinoa, roasted veggies
• Leftovers
• Crunchy-shell Tacos, black beans, oranges
• Thai Peanut Noodles with veggies

Just a reminder, there are three giveaways going on and will all be ending Wednesday, February 29th.

1. February Giveaway
2. Shelf Reliance giveaway
3. $25 Sam’s Club gift card giveaway

There weren’t any couponing deals I was terribly excited about this week, so we stuck with the basics (yay for marked-down produce!) and will shop the pantry for any other meal items.

Total: $33.65

I also had the chance to do some shopping at Sam’s Club. The nearest one is an hour away and we don’t have a membership, but I printed off a one day pass and the girls and I had fun turning our shopping trip into a lunch date by tasting all the samples and then getting hot dogs and icees afterwards. Lunch for all of us for under $5! Score.

I practiced self-control by passing over the jumbo muffins and other tasty snacks, and just stuck to some bulk items to add to our food storage. Taking my cash envelopes helped rein the spending!

If you need diapers, it’s a good time to stockup because during the month of February Sam’s Club is offering a $10 giftcard when you purchase two qualifying baby products. The good people at My Blog Spark and P&G sent me a $25 Sam’s Club gift card to give to one of my readers to further sweeten this deal!

If you’d like to enter, leave me a comment about your thoughts on shopping at wholesale clubs. For example, do you find the savings to be worth paying an annual membership fee? Does shopping in bulk save you money? I’ve been debating on joining for a while, so I’d love your input.

This giveaway will end Tuesday, February 28th.

But six months later his “stable” job ended and what had been the perfectly painted picture became a financially stressful time.

When I was a kid I watched my mom can jars and jars of fruit and grind wheat to make homemade bread. She was very resourceful and while our large family never had much, we never went hungry, even during times of financial stress and job loss. My mom’s example taught me to be grateful to “have enough” and to always try to save for a rainy day.  Because those days would come. So even from our student-budget newlywed days Jared and I got in the habit of going to the grocery store and buying one for now, and one for later, building a small reserve, “just in case.”

I’m working on decluttering. BIG time. Our house has become a bit overwhelmed with STUFF. I don’t even know where it all comes from, but I know I’m tired of picking it up. And I’ve gotten into this nasty habit of just shoving things in the closet or my bedroom if I don’t know what to do with it. (How’s that for a romantic setting?)

I’ve been reading Money Saving Mom’s new book and she talks about how cutting the clutter saves money. After reading the chapter I started looking around at all the random piles that keep collecting on flat surfaces of our house. I sorted though several piles, filled a couple of boxes for Goodwill, and a garbage bag for the trash, and when I found several free product coupons (now expired), duplicates of a couple of books I recently bought, and LOTS of untouched new-in-the-package craft supplies, I realized, yep. She’s right.  If I cut the clutter, it would definitely save me money!

It’s always an ongoing project. But today, I’m decluttering my desk space. Baby steps.

I miss designing. A lot. I know a lot of people were surprised and even expressed disappointment when Little Dreamer closed and I decided to turn down other design offers I received and put my digital art away for a while.

Why would I do that after three years of hard work? Why would I “retire” when I was on top of my game, finally gaining momentum, and receiving payment for the work I’d put in?

My reason was that I felt in order to stay focused and protect this business I’d built, as well as my brand, I needed to stick with my gut and only continue to sell my designs if I could find that place I felt comfortable and confident calling my digital home. Until then, I’ll wait.

{via}

But it’s been a year now, and I do miss it and have been thinking about it a lot lately.

I’m working on building a year supply of food storage, and just ordered some #10 cans of freeze-dried fruit:

Up until recently food storage was really scary to me and I thought it was mostly just storing buckets of wheat in your basement (as my parents did!). But lately I’ve been learning a lot about why we should have a good supply, and how to incorporate healthy variety into this supply. I know I’m a grocery geek, but it’s so exciting to me and so I’ll be talking more about this food storage stuff soon. . . . Just sayin’.

P.S. I don’t think this fruit pack sale is available on the Shelf Reliance site, but it was a REALLY good deal, so if you’re interested in more info, or ordering, contact Jade (jadegarn@yahoo.com).

P.P.S. When I ordered, Jade threw in a little bonus bag of cherry yogurt bites to sample. My kids went CRAZY for them, especially my two-year old, Serity, who now begs multiple times a day for “wittle yogurt fings.” Pretty sure I’ll need to order more of those, although I’m not sure how long they’ll last in our “food storage!”

Last week Jared and I realized Valentine’s Day marked TEN years since two nervous newlywed kids took a semester off college, filled two suitcases, and flew across the world to learn the foreign language of marriage. Immersing ourselves in the Chinese culture as we taught English was one of the hardest but best things we’ve ever done for ourselves and each other. We were thrown out of our comfort zones, forced to lean on each other, and grew as a couple.

Ten years seemed like a good excuse to celebrate with some Chinese food this week, so we took the family out to a local Chinese/American buffet and I’ve also been making some of our favorites at home–dishes I learned alongside the local people.

I’ll be posting freezer-friendly egg rolls on Once a Month Mom this weekend.

I bought these boots at Target (clearance!) a few days ago.

I’d been searching for some tall boots for a while, and the price was right. But now I’m second guessing the purchase because I’m not really sure how to wear them. I’ve never gotten into the skinny jean look, probably because having four babies in six years has made me pretty curvy. But if I wear the boots under my boot-cut jeans, it kind of defeats the purpose of boots, right? I think they look pretty cute with skirts, but what length is right? See my dilemma?

I need boot-wearing advice, please.

Thanks for having “lunch” with me today!

January’s giveaway was so much fun, and it’s time to do it again!

Here’s what’s included this month:

Add some personality to your camera with a trendy camera strap from Bluebird Chic. Straps fit Canon and Nikon SLR camera straps. Winner chooses design of choice.

Who doesn’t love a handwritten note? Say I love you (my dear) to someone special with this sweet card from Sarah Jane Studios.

Stock up on something new with a $25 gift certificate from Doable Diapers, your modern cloth diaper store. But even if you don’t have babies in cloth diapers, I’m sure you’ll find something fab to spend your $25 on, such as adorable patterned baby legs, trendy nursing covers, or kid-friendly re-usable snack bags.

During the month of February, Doable Diapers is offering a discount of $5 off your order of $35 or more when you use promo code: CREATIVE. Free shipping is included anywhere in the U.S.

Seal your love notes with a kiss, or at least this adorable heart stamp from Pretty Tape.

And last, but not least, some fuzzy felt love via yours truly. . . add to your scrapbook layouts, attach to a sweet baby’s headband, etc.

Go here to enter the February Giveaway. . .

Giveaway ends February 29th.

“So, holding hands, huh?” I casually asked, as we walked toward the store.

“Yeah, that’s what you do on a date,” he replied.

Melt my heart. It was a nice surprise and I willingly held onto my boy’s hand.

“Plus, we’re in a parking lot,” he quickly added.

Ha. See, I knew there had to be more to it than just wanting to hold mommy’s hand!

{Movie date with Ryan}

Talking to a friend recently who’s grown kids are starting to leave home, and she was telling me it feels like she was just in my place “a minute ago” and how it all goes so fast. I hear this constantly, especially from older ladies at the grocery store, and ironically, it’s usually at times when someone’s throwing a tantrum or picking their nose, or teasing their sister, and my tendency is to want to roll my eyes. Really, it all goes so fast? You want them for a few days?

But then times like a date with my now-big boy happen, and I look back and choke back tears and think, gosh, what happened to my tiny baby?

A mantra I have hanging in our living room (via Gretchen Rubin) to remind me, every day:

‘Cause I swear that was just a minute ago.

Here’s what I’m wondering from you moms–is it worse (more emotional) to see your oldest growing up, or will I feel this way with ALL of them?!

When I make my kids macaroni and cheese at lunchtime, they rarely finish the whole box. And since I’m working on losing post-baby weight, any more than a couple of bites isn’t great for me.

I usually save leftovers in the fridge, but I was finding they weren’t getting eaten until I tried a sneaky little-mom trick. I tell ya, sometimes getting them to eat is all about presentation for these little guys. And that’s how “macaroni muffins” were made.

Here’s how this works. After they’ve eaten their fill of macaroni (with fresh fruit or veggies or something else nutritious, of course), I fill my favorite silicone liners with the leftovers.

Then place in the freezer until macaroni is solid. Pop out of the liners and place in a freezer bag, then return to the freezer.

Now on those crazy days when it’s lunchtime and they’re “starving,” and I want something quick, I just pull a couple “macaroni muffins” from the freezer–reheat in the microwave about 45 seconds, cut up some apples, and lunch is ready in less than five minutes. And they think it’s silly and therefore cool to have macaroni and cheese “muffins” for lunch.

Another thing I really like about these individual serving sizes is that less food is wasted. Some days my girls eat seconds and thirds, and other days they nibble like a bird. So having the macaroni pre-portioned out allows me to just make a little  instead of an entire box for which the’ll only eat of few bites of. And if they’re still hungry, it’s easy to reheat another “muffin.”

Do you have any creative tips for kiddo mealtime? I’d love to hear them!

I took advantage of a few kid-free moments this week and ran to the grocery store hoping for some meat markdowns. I’ve noticed the meat department at my local high-end grocer marks down meat late evening, so if I can plan to swing by after kiddo bedtime, or first thing in the morning, I can usually score some great deals on meat. This week it was ground beef and pepperoni which I was happy for since we’d used all the beef I had stored in the freezer. And my kids love everything pizza, so the pepperoni is a treat for them. Right after it’s photo session the hamburger went straight to the Crockpot to brown and bag for time-saving meal prep later on.

Here’s what this week’s shopping trip looked like:

Highlights:

• Manager’s Special ground beef: marked to $1.79/lb
• Macaroni and Cheese had peelies making them $0.94 each. A box this size will last my kids 2+ lunches. And I DO feed them boxed mac and cheese!
• Capri Suns were a splurge (on sale for $1.49 a box), but when I can I like to stockup on juice boxes/bags for lunchboxes, picnics, and long car trips. My kids think I’m a mean mom since I don’t let them drink them otherwise, but then I become supermom when I do pull them out!

And then later on in the week . . .

Highlights:

• FREE ice cream (Kroger “best customer” coupon)
• $0.37 boxes of taco shells (had $1 off peelies on them!!)
• $0.55 cake mix
• $0.79 Manager’s Special frosting (perfect!)

Money Saving Tip: Use cash! It’s a simple concept, and yet, I’ll admit, it’s been a tough habit for us to stick to. Some months we forget to withdraw cash at payday and so we just use the debit card all month. Or some months the envelope is empty before the end of the month, and so we just use the debit card to finish out the month. We never go over, (as in overdrawing),and we don’t have credit cards, but swiping that sweet little debit card sure makes it easy to fudge our budgeted amounts. Not gazelle intense, for sure.

It’s true what they say though–cash is easier to budget because you can physically SEE how much you have (or don’t have).

With the new year we dedicated ourselves to using only cash again. January was a little rocky and the envelopes were pretty bare by the end of the month, but so far February has been going really well and I’m excited about the amount of money we’ve already saved by just putting the debit card away.

{My CUTE new cash envelopes}

Do you use cash envelopes? What’s your experience? They say give it three months until it becomes a habit. Did it take you that long?

I’m excited to share more about one of our featured sponsors this month–Chelle’s Creations. Chelle is an amazing digital scrapbooking designer with an eye for detail. Her themed kits are adorable, but also versatile enough to use on non-themed layouts. I especially love the whimsy she adds to her designs, and is great at combining hand-drawn elements with real elements. And you know I love felt. *swoon*

Chelle also sells a number of unique CU (commerical use) products for digital designers, or for scrapbookers to alter according to their needs.

I think Chelle is a star at having “captured creativity” in that she didn’t let “mainstream” scrapbooking stop her from capturing what she wanted in her memory books. She ended up taking it as far as learning to design her own elements, winning a design contest, and becoming a successful digital designer. (More on all that below!)

Tell a bit about yourself . . .

My name is Chelle, wife to Dave for 19 years & Mom to seven.  We live in the country with four of our children still at home.  I love helping people fill their need to create with fun digital scrapbook supplies, fun printable crafts, & tutorials.

Why do you scrapbook?

I scrapbook to remember.  When I was born I had 10 living grandparents.  Now I have a handful of photos.  One grandmother kept a journal in her later life, but as an “older” mom of a 2 year old, I wonder what life was like for her when my father was born (she was also 40).  Was she as tired as I am?  LOL!

Fortunately (until recently) I’ve always had a good memory.  I want to share those stories with my children & grandchildren.  So I scrap.

{Chelle introduces video scrapbook layouts}

How did you get started?

I’ve been scrapbooking forever, & I LOVE it.  My first scrapbooks were made using typing paper, with construction paper mats and titles cut from magazines, or drawn on with markers…all held together with rubber cement.  (No, really.  The first scrapbook class I took…the teacher TOLD us to use those things.)

Scrapbooking has changed a lot over the years, but I’ve always enjoyed creating my own supplies.  In my “paper” days, I had a large collection of stuff…not just papers & embellishments, but tons of ink, paint, dyes, fabric, clay, acetate, & other crafty things so I could modify my stash.  When I was working on scrapping these sledding photos, I couldn’t find anything winter-y with lime green, navy, & turquoise (imagine that).  So I taped off sections of white cardstock, and made my own striped paper with acrylic paint.  A tiny denim pocket with raffia “straw” seemed like the perfect embellishment for our “We’re from the Country” parade float memories.  Since I couldn’t find one, I sewed my own..including silk flowers with a button center.  When I discovered digital I found myself tweaking supplies to fit my needs (just like in my paper days), so I started putting my collections together, and offering them to friends.  After winning a design contest in 2009, Chelle’s Creations was born.

Share your scrapbooking method.

Frustrated with too much stuff on layouts (the paper couldn’t support it) and the expense of re-making each layout 6 times (one for me and one for each child) I quit.  Totally quit.  Sold some of my stash and gave away the rest.  I started printing “plain” hardcover books with just my photos & journaling.  Then two years later while recovering from surgery I was surfing the internet looking for something to use on an album for my daughter and stumbled onto digital scrapbooking.  I was immediately hooked.  It was a merge of my photos & journaling printed in a hardbound book (with multiple copies) and my love of creating.  Now I could decorate my memories again!

All of my photos & memoriabilia from my childhood through 2009 have been scrapped.  (I am going back and scrapping more stories from my childhood…when I remember a story.)  I’m an event scrapper so I keep my photos in folders labeled with the event & the date.  Then when I get time to scrap I can pick an event & scrap it.  So I scrap somewhat randomly.  When a year is finished I print a copy for me & a copy for each of my children.

Where do you get your inspiration?

Everywhere.  Sometimes I’ll see a pattern on a pillow & think, “That would make a FABULOUS paper.”  Or my little guy’s clothing.   Or something I see on Pinterest.  I often create kits so I can scrap my memories, but I also create kits with themes requested by my Creative Team or my customers.

Share a scrapbooking tip.

My best advice [for digital scrapbooking] would be to learn the shortcut keystrokes.  Not just things like Ctrl-L (levels) & Ctrl-J (duplicate selection on a new layer), but just the letters:  D (to change to the default foreground & background colors (black & white), X to switch them around, M for the marquee tool, T for the type tool, B for the brush tool…
Using those keys can really speed up your scrapping.

What’s your best seller?

My all time best seller is Ticket to Ride.  I created it in colors to match my family photos at the amusement park.

Chelle is offering a 25% discount on her digital goodies when you use coupon code: Pams_Fan_25 at checkout. She’s regularly adding new designs, and it doesn’t expire until the end of April, so wear that coupon out!

She’s also offering a $10 gift certificate to one lucky winner. If you know digi, you know that will go a long way!! To enter, check out Chelle’s store, and then come back and leave a comment letting us know what you’d spend your gift certificate on. Giveaway ends: Friday, February 17th.

You can also find Chelle:

Blog

Newsletter Signup (FREE goodies when you sign up!)

Facebook

Twitter

{FREE with newsletter signup}

So you’re a boxed macaroni and cheese mom too!?! Then maybe this easy-peasy always popular cake mix cookie recipe will be just right for you! Plus, they’re cute and festive for a certain upcoming lovey holiday. . . And I’m positive they’ve be perfect for the Cookie and Milk Valentines.

Pin It

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

• 1 box red velvet cake mix
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs

Combine cake mix, butter, and eggs. Spoon into balls onto a baking sheet and bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool, then spread cookies with cream cheese frosting and sandwich together. Roll edges in festive sprinkles, if desired.

A few days ago I received a custom request for a full-sheet recipe card printable to coordinate with the Recipe Binder printables. I thought I’d make it available for all to enjoy. Simply download and print out as many copies as you’d like, copy your favorite recipes onto the recipe card, punch holes in the side, and add to your recipe binder. Organization at it’s cutest!

Pin It

I know, I know. And not even organic–just the good ole’ classic blue box-kind. Because here’s my reality– (or justification, if you want to call it that!). I have four little kids, and a limited budget, even less time, and bazillion things to do. And so in order to do what works for me, I do things that are inexpensive, fast, and simple. And maybe I even incorporate some no-brainers, like boxed macaroni and cheese.

Blogging has opened up this whole new world of satisfying our nosy tendencies–of letting us peek into each other’s lives, observing how other people live, seeing what they say works for them–even what they buy at the grocery store and eat for dinner. I love reading blogs and getting to know other people through their daily lives. I’m inspired to read about what they did on Friday night’s date, how they organize their closets, what they’re doing to encourage their potty-trainer.

But I also have to set a limit to my blog reading, because I think reading blogs can be a bit like watching soap operas. It can be way too easy to to start feeling like our lives inadequate, like our boxed macaroni and cheese can’t possibly be good enough because such-and-such mom feeds her kids homemade pasta made from organic wheat she grew in her backyard greenhouse.

My point is this. Just because something works for me–like boxed macaroni and cheese–doesn’t mean it will work for you. And what’s important to me, might not be important to you. And that’s okay.

We women need each other. We need different personalities, different talents, different parenting styles, different menus, different ages, different different stages of life, different experiences.We need macaroni, and we need cheese.

But hopefully, despite our differences, we can support each other in this journey–and jump in the pot together.

Preparing most of our meals at home is important to me for our family’s health and budget, but it definitely takes TIME. Freezer cooking comes to my rescue once again. I popped the kids a bowl of popcorn, turned on a movie, put Lyddie down for a nap, and got to work in the kitchen. In literally ONE HOUR I was able to get a ton of prep work done which will save SOOO much time later on.

Here’s what I was able to do in one hour:

• Cooked and packaged several pounds of ground beef
• Cooked and shredded several pounds of chicken
• Chopped and assembled several onion and pepper veggie packets (for fajitas, stirfry, pizza, Sausage and Pepper Penne, etc.)
• Made two batches meatloaf (cooked one batch in muffin cups for kid-size “meatloaf muffins”)
• Chopped and froze onions

If preparing a month’s worth of meals feels too intimidating, I really encourage you to just take freezer cooking baby steps. I am at a stage of my life where I don’t have an entire day to spend cooking and filling the freezer. But one hour–one hour a week–I can do, and I thank myself for making the effort everytime it’s time to prepare dinner.

Here’s what’s on our menu this week:

Breakfast:

• Homemade Oatmeal Packets with freeze dried strawberries x4
• Cereal, toast x2
• Sausage and Pancake Muffins(double the batch and freeze extras)

  

Kiddo Lunch:

• Mac and Cheese, grapes
• Homemade Uncrustables, string cheese, carrots
• Cheese Quesadillas, cucumbers
• Meatloaf Muffins, apple slices
• Chicken Pot Pie Bundles, applesauce

Dinner:

• Fiesta Chicken Enchiladas, black beans
• Minestrone soup, Freezer rolls
• Meatloaf, baked potatoes, garlic-roasted green beans
• Homemade Mac and Cheese with ham, peas
• Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup, Freezer Rolls
• Daddy Cooks (AKA: My Work Night): Pancakes
• Leftovers

What’s on your plate this week?

It’s been a couple of months since I did any serious couponing as I gave myself permission to take some time off from chasing deals while we adjusted to life with a new baby. But this was a good stockup week at Kroger, and I was excited to get back into it and start the new month off fresh with my newly-filled cash envelopes. It feels kind of funny to show off my groceries, but survey results showed you want to see more couponing inspiration. So here you go! 

Best deals: (prices AFTER sale matched with coupon)

• Canned Tomatoes: $0.29/can
• Whole Wheat Pasta: $0.50/box
• Pasta Sauce: $0.74/jar
• Turkey Meatballs: $0.99/bag
• Taco Shells: $0.37/box
• Protein Bars: $0.16/each (planning to add these to our 72 hour kits)
• Cereal: $0.99/box
• Formula: $0.99/can
• Blistex: $0.19/each

Yes, I’m a breastfeeding mama, but after a manager special markdown and a coupon, the normally-priced $16 cans of Enfamil were $0.99!! They’ll be nice to have on hand for the occassional night out.

Total Before Coupons: $181.35

Total After: $67.42

Money Saving Tip: When the deals are hot–stockpile.

When the deals are hot, don’t buy one can, buy six (or whatever number you choose). Items typically reach their rock-bottom price every six to twelve weeks, and keeping a “stock” gets you through the next sale and helps you avoid having to pay full price later on. If the weekly budget allows, I typically buy enough of an item to last my family three to six months (although my current goal is to work up to a year’s supply).

How is your money saving journey going?

One of my goals this year is to kick this little blog up a notch, and it’s come time to pursue sponsors to help keep the lights on–so to say. I put out a call, and am so excited with the supportive response I received and the opportunity I now have to introduce some incredible indie businesses sponsoring Keeping Life Creative this month.

I eagerly support creativity–particularly small businesses run by women (many of them stay-at-home-moms like me!) who dared to dream and pursue their passion. And so I’ve selected and approved sponsors for this blog that I feel exemplify that. I hope you enjoy getting to know them as I have, and that you will take some time to visit their shops and blogs.

Chelle of Chelle’s Creations is a digital scrapbook designer at Scrap Orchard. I’ve had the chance to get to know and admire Chelle’s designs over the past couple of years, and adore her whimsical themed kits, and high-quality commercial-use element packs.

Chelle keeps a fun blog where she posts scrapbooking ideas, tutorials, and FREEBIES! When you sign up for her newsletter, you’ll receive weekly tips and offers. One offer I think is so fun is Chelle’s scrapbooking rewards program–similar to a punch card. When you purchase digi goodies from her store, keep track on your reward card. When the card is filled, redeem for a FREE $10 code to her store!!

Keeping Life Creative readers can take 25% off Chelle’s digital designs using coupon code: Pams_Fan_25 

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know I’m pretty dedicated to couponing and stockpiling. My goal has been to build up to a year’s supply, so when Jade Garn, independent consultant for Shelf Reliance, e-mailed me her sponsor interest–I literally YELPED out loud because just a few days before I had spent many hours of my weekend researching food storage companies. {Talk about having a fly on your wall!}

I’m excited to have Jade aboard this month and to have the opportunity to share more about my thoughts on food storage as well as my experiences sampling some of Shelf Reliance’s shelf-stable food storage products. If you’re interested in trying their innovative freeze-dried, shelf-stable foods, take advantage of the discount Jade offers when you order through her consultant site.

Shelf Reliance has a great feature called The Q, a customizable program for those who want to build their food storage without going into debt. Based on the information and budgeted amount you provide, the automatic Q planner creates a plan for your family, then ships it directly to your home.

When joining The Q, you can set your monthly budget at what’s affordable for you, but Jade is offering a FREE pouch of vegetables of your choice to anyone that signs up for The Q at a $100 budget or more AND has it shipped during the month of February. Another benefit of joining The Q with a monthly budget of at least $100 for at least 3 months is that you will receive the Platinum Membership free for life, along with NO Annual Fee for life.

Andrea Hamilton, of Doable Diapers, initially chose cloth diapers with her oldest child to save money.  Now a mom of two young children, she realized there were more benefits to cloth diapers than JUST saving money. The benefits as well as the cute prints and colors that continually flooded the markets had her hooked, and she pursued her dream of opening a cloth diaper store.  Her goal is to grow the business so that her husband, who is studying to be a paster, can work less and study more.

The title of her store comes from the misconception many people have about cloth diapers.  I laughed about this, because I told Andrea that my mom used cloth diapers with my younger siblings and they were REALLY hard for me to help change because of the diaper pins and rubber pants. After browsing Andrea’s shop and blog, I learned that cloth diapers have come a LONG way! Andrea points out, “Today’s cloth diapers have snaps, velcro, and customizable absorption, making them just as easy, if not easier, than mainstream disposable diapers.  So in fact, cloth diapers are very doable!”

Doable Diapers offers FREE shipping on everything in the U.S. Use coupon code CREATIVE to take $5 off any order of $35 or more.

Hayley, the lady behind The Tiny Twig, writes a blog dedicated to “inspiring women to create lives of more passion and less fuss.” When it comes to motherhood, and life, Hayley says it like it is. Examine your life. Examine what stresses you out. Look for ways to make it less fussy so that you can spend your time focusing on things you value–things you’re passionate about.

Simple.Truth. Yet for me, reading Hayley’s blog is as inspiring and refreshing as sitting down and chatting with a best friend.

I dare ya to try her. But I’m warning you–you may get hooked!

Emily originally created Jones Design Company as a small stationery design business. But as her family grew (she has three boys and a girl) and her creative interests expanded, Jones Design Company became a lifestyle blog.

When you visit Jones Design Company, you’ll find Emily portrays elegance and grace in her home decor, fashion, and graphic designs. You’ll also discover free printables, tutorials for creative and inexpensive projects, musings on family, faith, and motherhood.

Maggie is the cute face behind Gussy Sews. Her indie biz story of how she went from unemployment to teaching herself how to sew, creating a brand, and running a successful full-time creative business is wildly inspiring. And her sassy bags are pretty darn adorable as well!

Besides sewing a shop full of ruffles, Maggie blogs dream-catching inspiration at Gussy Sews.

Illustrator and designer, Katie Daisy, is an inspiring example of someone who pursued her bliss and her colorful acryllic-painted artprints are reflect her passion for nature.

Find more of Katie’s beautiful art in her Etsy shop.

Leah of Bluebird Chic is a crafty, homeschooling mommy who loves photography, running, reading, and scrapbooking. She handcrafts colorful, trendy, camera strap covers and other hand sewn items.

Stay tuned for more from Bluebird Chic. . . something fun is coming in the February giveaway!!

Jessi writes the Naptime Diaries where she chats about life as a mom, and wife to a church planter. Her voice shines in her writing, and she’s the kind of person I want to sit down and have a brownie with. Preferably glass-free.

Jessi has an Etsy shop where she sells scripture-based art prints. Use coupon code NEWYEAR to take 30% off.

Mandie of MoxieMandie creates funky, fun, bright accessories such as zippy pouches and pillow covers from modern, thrifted, and vintage fabric.

I immediately loved Mandie when I read on her blog that she’s a girl who loves fabric and decided to do something about it. That, to me, is the spirit of following your dreams.

Use code TENOFHEARTS to take 10% off your purchase from MoxieMandie.

HUGE thank you to all my February sponsors! Stay tuned for the February giveaway where you you may see more of their fun products.

Interested in sponsoring Keeping Life Creative? Find more info here.

When I was a kid, we made our own Valentines. My mom would get out a big box of construction paper and scissors, glitter, paper doilies, and glue, and we’d sit at the kitchen table and assemble heart-shaped cards for my classmates. I loved the creative project and the time with my mom. But as I got a bit older (2nd or 3rd grade?) I  started to be embarrassed by my homemade Valentines when I realized my friends were all giving the “cool” store-bought tear-at-the-perforation Looney Tunes, Transformers, and Smurfs cards.

Since Ryan is in first grade, I know I’m beginning to creap on that possibly too-cool-for-homemade-Valentines-and-crafting-with-mom stage. But this one includes a little treat, so I think we might be good for at least one more year.

• We Go Together {FREE} printable
• cookies
• red cardstock
• paper CD sleeves
• twine
• paper doilies
• scissors
• tape

• Download and print the {FREE} We Go Together printable. (This is my favorite project printing paper, but cardstock works too.)
• Trim the printable using scissors or a paper cutter.
• Cut or punch hearts from the red cardstock.
• Write a message on the back of each CD sleeve, if desired.

• Place a cookie or two inside each paper CD sleeve. Depending on your cookies, you may want to line the CD sleeve with an additional doily to absorb any oil.
• Seal the CD sleeve with a kiss (or tape or a sticker!)

• Tie everything together with twine, or use a gluestick to attach the doily, cardstock heart, and We Go Together card to the cookie-filled sleeve.

Give to friends or neighbors, tuck in a lunchbox or briefcase, etc.

Like it?
Pin It

LOVE it? (Want some more of it?)

Pin It

It’s the first day of a new month and that means NEW freezer cooking menus at Once a Month Mom! Here is a roundup of all the yummy things I filled our freezer with during January:

{Veggie and Rice Stirfry Packets}

{Homemade Bagel Bites}

{Mexican Chicken}

{Banana Bread}

{Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Cookies}

{Easy Ranch Chicken}

{Chicken and Rice Bake}

{Instant Oatmeal Packets}

Did you do any freezer cooking this month?

Recently Jared and I had a conversation about motherhood and my “work” and this little business of mine. Sometimes I get down on myself, falling into the worldly trap of thinking being a stay-at-home mom isn’t “good enough.” I don’t know if it’s imagined, or if the judgement is really there–but I often feel others are looking down on me for my choice to be a full-time mom instead of investing in a paying career. Times like these are when I selfishly think maybe I need to do more, take on more, BE more.

This morning, even earlier than my alarm goes off, I heard little feet pattering across the wood floor to the bathroom. A few minutes later I heard rustling and soft singing, and soon bedroom lights went on and three little munchkins were up. Initially I was annoyed. It was SOOO early still, and pitch dark outside. Sleep is so valuable these days. What were they doing awake already? I rolled over and buried my face in the pillow, as if to hide from the perceived nightmarish morning I was about to have with three still-tired children. Or at least a still-tired mommy.

But soon six little feet pattered across that wood floor, blankets in tow, to climb up on my bed for a morning mommy cuddle. A little bit of arguing ensued about who was going to fit where. A miniature two-year-old voice even bossily shouted “my mommy” to her older siblings. But eventually we all got comfy (enough) for a few moments.

While the cuddle only lasted a minute (my freshly showered and dressed husband emerged and they were ready for daddy time), I remembered something Jared said to me during our nightly talk. Although this stay-at-home mommy stuff isn’t always glamorous, fun, or even fulfilling, we both believe it’s what’s best for our family right now. Jared, who’s also supportive of me following my passions said, “I think the most important thing for you to accomplish is having our kids know you love them.”

It puts things in perspective, you know? Because truly, my kids don’t really care what I do. They don’t care if I have an online store, what my college degree is in, how many blog followers I have, or that I’m PTA president. They don’t even care if I make great dinners instead of boxed macaroni and cheese.

They just want morning cuddles, stories, tickles, laughs, and love. They want to know that they are safe, and cherished. They just want me. And so no matter how many other things I get involved in outside my home, I always want to remember that while the pay is low and the benefits are just hugs and kisses, being a mom to these little ones is my best job of all.

I’m sharing this week’s meal plan at Once a Month Mom today! Come see my freezer cooking plan and what we’re eating this week.

Many of my favorite recipes come from my grandma or mom and cinnamon-streusel topped “coffee cake” is one of those recipes that says “home” to me. The recipe originated from a magazine my grandma clipped when she was a newlywed and learning how to cook. Over the years it’s been tweaked a bit, including the addition of chocolate chips by someone with a sweet tooth!

Coffee cake is often requested when her grandkids visit, and is Grandma’s go-to breakfast recipe when there are overnight guests. My mom also made this sweet breakfast cake when I was growing up, often doubling the batch so we could snack on the leftovers later.

Since my family’s current breakfast routine usually includes instant oatmeal, I’d forgotten about this recipe until recently when I was putting together my recipe binder. Upon discovery I made it in mini cake (muffin) form, and as suspected–my kids loved it as much as I remember loving it.

Coffee cake muffins (which really should have a new name since they have nothing to do with coffee) are tasty at breakfast with fresh fruit and a glass of milk, or if cake for breakfast isn’t your thing, they’re pretty delish served warm with a scoop of ice cream for dessert.

Here’s the recipe:

Grandma’s Coffee Cake

Batter:

• 1 beaten egg
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 TBSP oil
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking powder

Mix ingredients well and pour into a greased 8×8 baking pan (OR muffin cups). Sprinkle with topping. 

Topping:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 TBSP flour
• 2 TBSP melted butter
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix brown sugar, cinnamon, flour, and butter. Sprinkle over cake batter. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts, if using. Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes (cake) or 12-15 minutes (muffins) or until lightly golden brown.

Tip for cooking with kids: Baking is a great kid-friendly introduction to cooking, and my kids love helping for the reward of licking the spoon when we’re done! One of their “jobs” when we make muffins is to fill the muffin tin with paper liners, or spread the silicone liners (above) on a baking sheet.

Pin It

Since the death of my laptop a few months ago, I have not scrapbooked ONE.SINGLE.PAGE. {Gasp}

Now that might now seem like a big deal to some of you, but documenting my family’s stories is a big priority to me, and so falling several months behind has been stressful. So I made myself a goal this year to keep up with my 2012 photos and stories, but as good old Dave Ramsey says–if you don’t have a written plan, your goal will just be a dream. Knowing I wanted to be successful in accomplishing this goal, I was thinking about HOW I would go about keeping up with my 2012 photos when I remembered my sister-in-law, Shaela’s method of keeping up. It’s genius (especially her NOT GUILTY part that you’ll read more about in a minute!). Since this method works well for her, (and I’m thinking it will work for me) I asked her to come share because it might also work for YOU. 

Hi everyone! My name is Shaela and I live in Las Vegas, NV. Pam asked me to do a guest post on my scrapbook method, so here I am!

I started scrapbooking traditionally about 10 years ago, and while I tried my best to keep up with pictures and layouts, as time went on (and marriage, kids, and life happened) I seemed to get more and more behind. But then I hit on a method that really worked for me, and I have successfully completed 2 years worth of scrapbooks: one from 2010 (traditional) and one from 2011 (digital).

Since I am both a traditional and a digital scrapbooker and have used this method successfully both ways, I hope that it will help many of you to accomplish every scrapbooker’s goal: to stay caught up with your layouts! So I’m going to explain the method I have found that works best for me.

I decided early in 2010 that something needed to change. I wrote notes and took pictures and sometimes had them printed and put together in layouts, but most of the time my pictures just sat on my desk or in my computer and nothing was done with them. So the very first thing I did was take my 3 big boxes of photos (think Xerox paper boxes) from the last 8 years and label them “NOT GUILTY”. Seriously… I wrote that on the sides of them with a sharpie and stuck them in the back of my closet. I will get to them someday (hopefully), but even if I don’t, I’m NOT allowing myself to feel guilty. You cannot move forward if you are constantly looking back, and moving forward is what I wanted to do.

After I set my guilt aside, I downloaded and sorted the photos from my digital camera so I could start with a clean memory card. Then I set up a folder on my computer desktop labeled “2010 photos”. Inside that folder I set up a separate folder for each month of the year, like this:

Then at the end of each month, I took ALL of the photos on my camera and transferred them to that month’s folder. Most of the time I had random photos, but sometimes I had many photos from a specific event: birthdays, vacations, etc. I grouped those photos into folders within the month, like so:

The first week of the new month was my photo editing week. I went through my photos and fixed any flaws, deleted duplicates or bad shots and basically did general cleaning up. Once the photos were done, I burned a DVD disc with the photos from that month and slipped it into a cd case. I made 2 copies each month: a backup and a backup-backup (you can also backup your photos online if you like).

Since I was still scrapbooking traditionally in 2010, the next thing I did was plan out my layouts. I looked at the photos for the month and decided which stories I wanted to tell. For the special events I typically planned only one layout (either a single or 2-page spread) but the random photos were a bit more difficult to plan: sometimes one photo had a whole story to tell, and other times the photos were just snapshots of daily life. Once I had my layouts planned and sketched out, I cropped my photos and sent them to Costco for printing.

I would pick them up and place them with my sketchbook and work on the layouts throughout the month. This way I was scrapbooking July’s photos in August, August’s photos in September, etc. Since I gave myself a whole month to get them done, I found that it was very manageable, and the stories were still fairly fresh in my mind. If I ended up with a lot of random photos, I often scrapbooked an “ordinary days” layout where I put them all together and called it good.

Occasionally I had SO many photos from a day or event that I simply couldn’t scrapbook them all, but I still wanted to be able to see them. So I bought some 12×12 divided inserts and slipped the extra photos in after the initial layout of the event. 
 Using this method I was able to fully complete my 2010 scrapbook by January 2011 – a feat I had NEVER accomplished! With my 2010 scrapbook completed, I was ready to follow the same method in 2011 but with a twist. While I love the physical craft of scrapbooking and getting my “hands dirty”, it was taking so much time (and money) that I found myself falling behind at times… having to scramble at the end of October or early November to finish up September’s layouts, for example. So in 2011 I decided to take the plunge into digital scrapbooking. I set up my folders on the computer the same way, but with a few additions. Within each month’s folder, I made 3 folders labeled “JPEG layout files, photos, and PSD layout files”, like this:

Within the photos folder I treated my photos the same as before: creating subfolders for special events and leaving the rest of the photos “loose.” Since my decision to switch to digital was based on saving on time and money, I also decided to use layered templates and Photoshop Elements to create my layouts, since this would save me a lot of time and planning in the long run. I also used quickpages occasionally.

I then basically followed the same routine: at the end of the month I put all my photos from my camera into the appropriate folder, cleaned and edited them, and then scrapbooked the prior month’s photos in the ensuing weeks. It went much smoother and faster doing it digitally because I didn’t have to crop, print, and physically cut each photo – I just dragged them into Photoshop when I was working on a layout. I saved all of my layouts as editable .psd files, and when I had a layout completed to my satisfaction I also saved it as a full-resolution .jpg in the JPEGs folder. When I finished a folder of photos, either within the month or for the whole month, I renamed the folder to add “- DONE” at the end of it so I knew what was finished and what still needed doing. At the end of the year, all my folders looked like this:

Many places offer scrapbook-size prints if you prefer to print your layouts and slip them into your own scrapbooks, but I chose to have mine bound into a photobook at the end of the year. The first week in January 2012 I uploaded all of my .jpg layouts from 2011 and had them bound into an 8×8 photobook from Shutterfly.

For the first time in 10 years I am “caught up” with scrapbooking. I don’t feel pressure and guilt anymore about the hundreds of photos that I still have in boxes from years ago. I know that even if I never get to those, my children and grandchildren will be able to look at what I have accomplished and what I’m doing now. It’s a method that has worked for me for 2 years now and a method I plan to continue in the years to come. I hope that it works for some of you as well!

(Pam again) Awesome, right? I’m going to do that NOT GUILTY thing immediately. lol

For lots more scrapbooking and crafty fun, visit Shaela on her blog!

It’s one of the things that surprised me the most when we moved here because where I grew up, large families, stay-at-home moms, baking bread, scrapbooking, and breastfeeding were all normal–and not at all granola. We called it “family -centered” and “homemaking” and “self-reliance.” And, I don’t know, I’d kinda like to think I’m still a cute, hip(ish?) mom even though I have a brood of babies, make jam, clip coupons, and aspire to make dinner most nights.

So imagine my surprise when Lydia was born and my doctor and nurses were amazed that I was planning to breastfeed instead of starting her out on a bottle. That I had nursed my other three babies as well, that Lyddie latched right away, and that I fervently pumped to keep my milk supply while they had her on formula during her extended hospital stay.

It kinda seemed weird to me that I was the weird one because I thought studies were saying [when possible] “breast is best.”

Then, imagine my further surprise when a few weeks later I got a call from a nutritionist. They were looking for a “peer counselor,” preferably an “experienced” mom to serve as a testimony and an encouragement to new or hesitant moms. And would I be interested?

Hmmm. Guess being weird and standing out sometimes has it’s benefits?

So this week I’m attending a training so that if a struggling new mom needs someone to talk to–I can be a resource. I’m excited to attend the training, even if it does mean that it’s just to get a few days off housework!

Since I am, as they say, “experienced,” I’ll be the first to say breastfeeding isn’t always a slice of pie, and so this post definitely isn’t meant to preach one way or the other. Bottles and formula were invented for a reason, and by all means, if that’s works best for YOU, use them. Personally, I’ve had good success with nursing, and it’s been my preferred choice for my babies. But I know it’s not always possible, and I’ve also had struggles with poor latch and cracked nipples and low milk supply, so I hope my perspective of with both sides will be able to aid someone else.

My recent survey (if you haven’t taken it, there’s still time!!) showed the majority of my readers are moms with young kids. So I’m curious to know, what were/are your experiences with feeding your babies? Did you try breastfeeding? Why or why not? What challenges or triumphs did you have?

Let’s respectfully discuss.

My method of freezer cooking continues to evolve depending on LIFE. A couple of months ago I shared on Once a Month Mom via video how I’m currently fitting make ahead meal prep into my schedule. In short, I rarely do it all in one day, but break it into manageable sessions (often once a week). So if you love the idea of cooking ahead, but the “once a month” idea intimidates you, check out that video for a few ideas. (Oh! P.S. I’m not that fat anymore!)

Here’s what I was able to get done in a couple of hours while Jared ran some errands and the kids played:

• Cooked and diced chicken
• Homemade chicken noodle soup
• Chicken and Rice Bake
• Breakfast Cookies

Breakfast: (Slimfast shake for me)

• Oatmeal x3
• Cereal, English muffins, oranges
• Breakfast Cookies, bananas x3

Kiddo Lunch: (Lean Cuisine meal or salad for me)

• Grilled Cheese sandwiches, chips, carrots
• Fish sticks, bread and honey, pineapple
• Cubed ham, string cheese, crackers, applesauce
• lunch at friend’s while mommy is away x3

{Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup}

Dinner:

• Chicken and Rice Bake, steamed broccoli
• Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, Freezer Rolls
• Ham, Funeral Potatoes, peas
• BBQ Pork sandwiches, coleslaw
• Leftovers
• Dinner Out
• Daddy Cooks (my work night): Scrambled eggs and toast

For more meal planning ideas, visit OrgJunkie.

{DIY Reuseable Meal Planner}

Over time this baby blog of mine has grown and grown and I’m excited to announce I’m now accepting sponsors. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor for the month of February, see here for more info.

You get the idea.

During one of my recent sitting sessions I was browsing Etsy. Oh, if only I had a million dollars. There is some of the COOLEST stuff on there! But besides window-shopping pleasure while I sit in my pajamas and nurse my baby, I love that Etsy gives indie businesses–many at-home moms like me,  the opportunity to open a store, pursue a dream, sell a craft. So in honor of setting goals and fulfilling dreams this new year, I thought it would be fun to host a little giveaway highlighting some fun finds from indie businesses who dared to dream.

January makes me think of blue-gray cold and rain, snow, wishing for sunshine, and trying to beat the winter blahs. If it were up to me, spring would start right after Christmas . So since it’s January and cold in my part of the world, I tried to go with a bit of a theme here. A bit of blue-gray, a bit of rain, a bit of sunshine. . . . (Just nod and smile and pretend you see it!)

A closer peek at what’s included in the January giveaway:

This adorable 6″x9″ wall calendar, tied with baker’s twine, features original illustrations by Sarah Jane. I’m particularly in awe of Sarah, her art, and her story, because I feel like in many ways it’s mine, only I’m still very much at the beginning. Her blog and her art is truly inspiring and I’m not ashamed to say I want to be like her when I “grow up.” *blush*

(Soooo, I’m secretly hoping no one enters this giveaway so that I can maybe keep this adorable chevron zippy pouch to myself! I can think of a million ways I’d use it. . .)

This 7″ x 4.5″ Gold and Grey Zippy Pouch is by Moxiemandie. Mandie, of Moxiemandie, creates funky, fun, bright accessories such as zippy pouches and pillow covers from modern, thrifted, and vintage fabric. I immediately loved Mandie when I read on her blog that she’s a girl who loves fabric and decided to do something about it. That, to me, is the spirit of following your dreams.

A happy little set of four notecards with coordinating envelopes, created by me–reminding us to look for the happy moments in life when skies are gray. These cards would be fun to send to a friend who needs a little pick-me-up, a sick neighbor, or just someone you love who makes you happy!

For scrapbooking or cardmaking, sending a pretty letter or package, or other creative projects, I’m sure you’ll love using this Turquoise Polka Dotted Japanese Washi Tape from Etsy seller, Pretty Tape, as well as teal bakers twine from Whisker Graphics.

To enter this super-duper fun giveaway, visit the Giveaway tab at the top of the blog and follow the directions. The January giveaway ends January 27th, 2012.

When I go to thrift stores, flea markets, and yard sales, I like to keep my eye out for old frames with lots of detail {character}. This one was $2. It’s ugly and was missing the glass.

But I could see it had some fun potential and that a  couple good coats of spray paint could fix it up.

After it was painted I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it, so while nursing the babe I turned to Pinterest for inspiration. (Yes, I’m a pro multi-tasker!) Pinterest inspired me to transform the old frame into a bulletin board for my work space. Repurpose is the official term, I think.

So then came the next part–kind of like a Choose Your Own Adventure book. What should I use for the “board?” Colorful or neutral fabric? Burlap or corkboard?

Since the frame and paint were only $3 and I was “repurposing” I decided to dig around the house and see what I already had that I could use to finish the board. I went with a destined-for-the-trash piece cardboard box–cut down to size, and a large remnant of neutral fabric, hidden in my stash.

If you’re making your own board, start by covering the cardboard with fabric by folding it fabric tightly around the edges, and securing with hot glue. (Can’t live without hot glue!)

Then staple the covered board to the back of the frame. After a glue gun, a staple gun is one of my must-have craft tools. Next I think I want a nail gun. (Unintentional theme here!)

Waaaa-laaaaa! The finished bulletin board. . .

It’s currently serving as home to my vision board, right above my workspace.  I love the pop of color it gives the normally-neutral wall. I love having a place to display my vision board, particularly where I work–to remind me why I’m doing what I’m doing, and where we’re wanting to go and what we’re wanting to become.

And I love that this simple display only cost $3!!

For more crafty/DIY inspiration, visit my boards on Pinterest.

Pin It

Baking with a two-year-old is like having a treat before actually having your treat.

What’s this mommy?

That’s butter.

What’s this, mommy?

That’s sugar.

What’s this, mommy?

That’s an egg.

Moving on. . . .

Oatmeal Cookies? Yes, Please.

Wish you all could join me for a glass of milk.

Hope your day is saaaaa-weeeeeet!!

Monday! My favorite day of the week. I love the fresh start Monday brings and getting back into routine after the weekend. Jared starts a new semester this week, and while I’ve loved having him home, it’s going to be great to get back onto a true routine. (Although, honestly, I’m a bit scared wondering if I can I really handle all four kids by myself!!)

I’m feeling especially chipper this week because postpartum wise, I’m feeling great and am looking forward to my six-week clearance to start exercising. I started Weight Watchers last week (I’ve done this after having all of my babies) and hope to be back to my pre-pregnancy weight before too long.

Here’s what’s up for this week:

Breakfast: (Slimfast shake for me)

• Oatmeal x3
• Cereal and English Muffins x2
• Scrambled eggs and toast
• Waffles

Kiddo Lunches: (Lean Cuisine meal or salad for me)

• Homemade Bagel Bites, baby carrots and ranch dressing
• Tuna Sandwiches, chips, apple slices
• Fish Sticks, bread with honey, apple slices
• Mac and cheese, frozen blueberries
• Homemade “lunchables” (crackers, cheese, meat), applesauce
• Peanut Butter and Jelly “Uncrustables”, cucumber slices

{Homemade Bagel Bites}

  Snacks:

• Crackers, string cheese, apple slices
• Popcorn, orange slices
• Banana Blueberry Muffins
• Oatmeal Cookies, milk
• Chocolate pudding, bananas
• Pretzels, orange slices

{Oatmeal Cookies}

Dinner:

• Mexican Chicken, brown rice
• Beef Stew, crackers, fruit salad
• Chicken Gumbo, Freezer Rolls
• Daddy Cooks (AKA my work night): Pancakes
• Sloppy Joes, chips, veggies and dip
• Dinner out or leftovers
• Pork Loin (crockpot), mashed potatoes, roasted broccoli, Freezer Rolls 

{Mexican Chicken}

For more meal planning ideas, be sure to visit Orgjunkie.

{DIY Reusable Meal Planner}

I’m a 29-year old stay-at-home mama to four munchkins–a boy and three girls, ages six and under.

I’ve been married for ten years to this cute boy (Jared), who teaches writing at a small college in rural Kentucky.

We’re midwest transplants originally from the Pacific Northwest, and miss our families terribly, but are learning to love where we live now too.

I love digital scrapbooking and am on a creative team for Jacque Larsen.

Once upon a time I also designed digital scrapbooking products, but am currently taking a break because I dreamed this crazy dream and decided to open an Etsy shop.

I have a weakness for children’s literature and have bookshelves full–mostly collected from thrift stores. Jared and I dream of writing and illustrating a children’s book someday. You know, when we have a spare minute.

I love to cook and eat, and have the awesome opportunity to contribute as the traditional menu writer at Once a Month Mom–a freezer cooking blog.

I’m active in my church, start way more projects than I can finish, love the color red, never get tired of watermelon and chocolate, have a daily date with my glue gun, and can’t get enough felty goodness.

I believe everyone has a story, and this is mine. You can read more about WHY I blog here.

I hope we can be friends.

Thanks for stopping by!!

When we were brainstorming ideas, Jared suggested the tagline “felt up by Pamela Donnis.” You know, ’cause most of my products are made from felt. But I wasn’t sure it would attract the kind of customer base I’m looking for

As we’re entering this new year and I’m in goal setting mode, and working out where I’d like my blog and business to go this year, I’m wondering if you’ll help me out?

Will  you answer just nine short questions to help me get a better sense of the Keeping Life Creative community? Who you are, where you come from, what you like, that kind of thing. All your answers are anonymous, but are really helpful in planning out blog posts, new products, etc.

Hugs and Kisses all around!! XOXOXOXO

Click here to take survey

This month I’ve  started reading (and am so far loving) EntreLeadership. Since I’m a huge Dave Ramsey fan anyway, it’s no surprise I’m wanting to highlight just about every paragraph, especially the parts on setting goals.

Dave teaches that goals need to be five things:  measurable, specific, written, time-sensitive, and yours and in order to meet your goals, you have to DO things to hit the goal within the time allocated. If you don’t act, that goal will “condemn you and call you a dreamer.”

I’m definitely a dreamer, and that’s one reason I love making an annual vision board. But I also want to be a do-er, and the best way for me to DO things to hit my bigger goals is to break them into manageable, less overwhelming, bite-size pieces.

To help break my 2012 goals down, I made a weekly list to add to my Motivated Moms planner. In each of the four boxes I set weekly goals/make to-do lists in different categories: personal, family, business, and community. Every goal/task might not be met during the week, but the planning (and “brain dumping”) helps relieve my tendency to get overwhelmed.

If you think this weekly planner might work in your home, business, or life responsibilities, feel free to download and print in black and white or color.

Happy goal setting!

Immediately I thought, “okay, I must be really tired,” and exhaustedly examined my car key, wondering if I was trying to drive home with the wrong one in or put it in backwards, etc. But I couldn’t find any reason for the car not to start. I panicked slightly and called my husband. He was in an appointment and couldn’t answer. I tried again, and again, and again for about 10 minutes, and could NOT figure out a reason the key wouldn’t turn. In my head I was desperately praying, yet trying to remain calm so the girls would stay calm. Finally I turned to my four-year-old.

“Emmy, I can’t get the car to start. Maybe we should say a prayer.”

I didn’t tell her I’d spent the last 10 minutes praying or that I was genuinely worried. The girls folded their arms around their ponies and bowed their heads while I said a sincere but simple prayer. Then I asked Emmy to say one too.

“Heavenly Father, please help start the car,” she prayed, completely trusting her prayer would start the car, and completely trusting her mom to get her home safely so they could go back to playing ponies.

After a few more key jiggles and an eventual return call from Jared, the key finally turned in the ignition as if the past 20 minute struggle hadn’t existed. The girls went back to their ponies, my husband went back to his appointment, and I drove back home to unload groceries. But my mind didn’t return to the exhausted daze I’d been in, and I became humbly aware with the reminder that I have the responsibility to not just physically get my kids home from the grocery store, but to teach them the things they need to get them Home–to our Father’s Home–safely.

“Teach me all that I must do, to live with Him someday.”

I do have specific goals for this new year, but I felt stuck as I realized most of my new year goals are similar to the ones I had in 2011. And then I started feeling guilty about the things I didn’t get accomplished in 2011. And the guilt killed my motivation and desire to dream and so I just sat there, uninspired with my pile of magazines, cake, and Bones re-runs.

What I eventually decided was it doesn’t really matter what I didn’t do in 2011. Especially considering the big curveballs that had to be worked out last year. So what? Maybe I got off course from my original goals a bit. This year can be a year to clarify, recommit, and refuse to let guilt be a motivation squasher.

Dave Ramsey says goals need to be five things: measurable, specific, written, time-sensitive, and YOURS, otherwise we won’t move toward specific action and another year will go by without any real change. I also think when it comes to goals, I need accountability and sharing my goals helps me feel accountable and so here are some of my measurable, specific, written, time-sensitive goals for this year:

Personal:

• Daily scripture study and prayer
• Read 12 books (one per month)
• Lose pregnancy weight with diet and exercise
• Stay current with scrapbooking–starting with January 2012 photos

Family:

• Weekly date with Jared
• Monthly one-on-one date with each child
• Stay consistent with chores and daily routine
• Stay consistent with weekly family night
• Stay consistent with nightly scriptures and prayers
• Teach Emery to read
• Potty-train Serity
• Breastfeed Lydia until at least 12 months
• Encourage Ryan in his interests (t-ball? piano?)
• Summer swimming lessons for Ryan and Emmy

Homemaking:

• Keep up with daily housework using my Motivated Moms Planner
• Organize/purge closets
• Obtain a one-year supply of food storage
• Create 72 hour emergency kits and a family emergency plan
• Continue to freezer cook and write for Once a Month Mom
• Coupon like a pro!

Business:

• Create and stick to a weekly work schedule
• Set weekly work goals
• Create three new Etsy products a month
• Blog three to five times a week
• Advertise on other blogs
• Start accepting blog sponsors

Financial:

• Pay off van (tried for this last year, but got set back after a nasty car accident)
• Stick to cash envelopes
• Pay cash for summer trip to family reunion

Hooray for a new year of goal setting! What are you planning this year?

For the past several years Jared and I have traditionally made “vision boards” as part of our new year celebration. Having a new baby kept us close to home this year, so we spent New Year’s Eve cozied up with re-runs of Bones, chocolate cake, and a stack of old magazines–and worked on our 2012 goals.

The idea behind a vision board is that when you surround yourself with images of your goals–who you want to become, what you want to have, things you want to do, where you want to live, etc. your life starts to change to match those desires. But because I’m naturally very visual, a vision board works for me as “seeing” my goals helps me stay motivated and gives me clarity and direction. In my day-to-day, it’s easier for me to keep priorities, set boundaries, and say yes (or no) when I know my “vision.”

I started making magazine-collage vision boards and doodled dream lists way before I even knew these visuals had a proper term. Actually, this is a pretty funny story–when I was 14 and totally boy-crazy I journaled about the “perfect guy.” I was very specific about qualities I thought this “dream guy” should have, all the way down to my preference for brown eyes. I ended up finding that list several years later–while I was engaged to Jared.

Reading that list again was hilarious, but also eye-opening when I realized my future husband fit every single preference on that list–from personality traits to looks–except that he had blue eyes, not brown. Now that I have four children with amazingly beautiful blue eyes, I’m definitely glad I overlooked that one factor.