I well remember the days when I was buried in baby life and I yearned for a friend who was not-yet a mom. First, she’d be able to come help! But, second, I knew she’d bring fresh perspective like this post from Malisa, that not-yet mom I needed so long ago.

Jessica’s blog was one of the very first blogs I found in the Spring of 2010 with her Spring Clean Along series. I had never really heard about blogging and for sure didn’t know the world that would open up to me through the “mom bloggers.”

As a wife and a not-yet mom, there are many valuable topics I have learned from the blog world including: meal planning, freezer cooking, Godly attitudes, and marriage. The other day, I had a wonderful conversation with a friend of mine. She shared how every morning her toddler comes into her room and wakes her up with a smile and happiness.

My friend said, “it’s weird how as adults we can often lose the joy children have; when I see my daughter’s outlook it reminds me of why I love being a mom and encourages me to be more joyful!”

This conversation got me thinking. My friend didn’t know it, but that story lifted my outlook on parenthood. What she shared expressed the joy of having kids.

So often in our society the role of parenting and motherhood, specifically, is looked down on. I will not accept that belief. Moms are raising our next leaders and have a challenging task. With all the negativity, I need some positivity and a paradigm shift.

There are 3 things I’d like to ask current moms to do for us not-yet moms.

Share the good about being a mom

I have heard many times that being a mom is the hardest career ever, but it is less frequent I hear moms enjoying their lives. Please share the little kisses you get, the “I wuv you, Mama,” and the feeling you have when your child wants only your attention. It’s important to share the difficult parts of parenthood, but a balance of positive stories would be great to hear.

Share how your life has changed

Telling stories about your how your life is different encourages me not to be scared of the changes that occur with parenthood.

• Do you still see your friends?
• Do you and your husband do things differently now because of your kids?
• What things about life do you appreciate now that you didn’t before?

These are some of the things I love hearing about. I have never thought of closing my eyes at the beach as a luxury, but to some of my friends, it is.

Share how you still need non-mom friends

I imagine being around children all day is stressful and talking to and about children all day, is also stressful. There is a big difference in lifestyle between parents and non-parents. It is important for moms and non-moms to talk about where they are in life. Being around you and seeing you raise your children helps me. I hope that being around me and having adult conversations helps you too.

Lastly, keep up the good work and sacrificing for your children, it will pay off! I look forward to one day joining you on the other side!

Is there anything you would add?

What would you share with a not-yet mom?

– Malisa blogs about cooking, crafting, and opinions about the world around her. She loves sharing the latest recipe she’s modified and easy DIY crafts. Malisa enjoys discussing her experiences as a married woman and a follower of Christ in the 21st Century. You can follow her on twitter @malisaprice.

3 Things a Not-Yet Mom Wants from You is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

Parenting and homeschooling six children has been, by far, the wildest ride of my life yet. The month of January was a particular roller coaster-ish one. When Jamie mentioned that we were sharing our “day in the life,” I inwardly cringed. I would have loved to present a picture perfect image and a schedule to match.

But, alas, that is not my reality.

I’m over at Simple Homeschool sharing what a real day looks like for the FishFam. Hop on over and check it out!

A Day in My Life is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

Valentine’s Day doesn’t need to be all lovey-dovey mushy stuff. Make it a time to celebrate your love for your kiddos. ContributorJessie Leigh offers some great ideas on how to make the day special for the little ones.

While, traditionally, Valentine’s Day is a “couple day,” in many homes, it’s become a family affair. Candles, wine, and roses have their place, but I think this holiday is a lovely time to show our children just how much we love them too!

This year, like so many, Valentine’s Day will be falling on a weekday. Just because your children are off away at school for the day doesn’t mean you can’t still add some smiles and special moments to the day!

Say it with food.

Before kissing them goodbye for the day, why not start the day with a festive breakfast? A few simple but fun ideas:

• Cinnamon Pancakes with butter and red sugars
• Oatmeal with a heart-shaped drizzle of maple syrup
• Heart-shaped toast with raspberry preserves and a dusting of powdered sugar
• Raspberry Muffins with fresh whipped cream
• Or keep it super simple with that Kashi heart-shaped cereal!

Let them know you’re thinking about them throughout the day.

Even if there are no “special events” at the school for you to attend, you can always send some love along! Why not tuck a few of the following in their lunch boxes?

• Tuna sandwiches cut in heart-shapes with a cookie cutter
• English muffins with heart shaped cheese on top
• A pink, red, or heart-printed napkin (when it comes to paper party products, you get the most bang for your buck with napkins!)
• English muffin pizzas topped with “shrimp hearts” (two shrimp turned tails together to form a heart)
• A simple little love note sharing why he or she is so special and loved

Plan a special homecoming.

• Draw a custom giant “valentine” with sidewalk chalk at the bus stop.
• Winter weather put a crimp in that plan? No worries! Draw a large heart in the snow or use colored water to write a loving message.
• Be ready with a fun craft to do together upon their homecoming.
• Have a fun, Valentine-y snack: sliced strawberries and whipped cream, graham crackers slathered in pink icing, or a sweet little dish of conversation hearts all celebrate the season.
• Serve up some “Cupid Quesadillas” (cheese quesadillas made with two tortillas, an arrow and heart cut out of the top tortilla) after sports/activities.

How do you make your kids’ holidays special when they’re away from you at school all day?

– A mother of three, including a 24 week preemie, JessieLeigh is a determined advocate for even the tiniest of babies.  She can be found celebrating life’s (sometimes unexpected) miracles and blessings at Parenting Miracles.

Making Valentine’s Day Special for Little Ones Away at School is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

I’m over at Food Your Way today talking about how not to waste leftover food. Leftovers don’t need to be boring! And by making good use of them (ie eating them instead of throwing them away), you can save some money, too!

From the post:

Coming off the heels of a month-long pantry challenge, I am reminded of the cost benefits of making the most of what you already have. Throughout the month of January, I shopped my kitchen before going elsewhere. As a result, I was able to shave a good $200 or more off my regular grocery spending. We still ate well, using what we already had in the kitchen.

Hop on over to read my 4 tasty tips for using leftovers. And be sure to chime in with your two cents!

Give Leftovers New Life! is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

Over the weekend a few of my people and I were strolling through the Valentine section of a local store. FishBoy9 started to groan. “I hate Valentine’s Day. It’s so ewwww.”

What followed was a very enlightening conversation. It wasn’t the chocolates and candies that he objected to; it was the mushy stuff. “I can’t stand all that lovey dovey stuff.”

Since I was planning to make some fun Valentine’s printables for our own little celebration with friends later this week, I decided to take his sentiments to heart. There are plenty of girly Valentine items about. This here project is boy-friendly. Savvy folks will recognize the font as Super Mario inspired. My boys are super crazy about those games.

Here’s how to put together your own little Valentine treat bags that won’t make boys go “ewww.” Plain and simple, too, for you minimalists out there.

Boy-Friendly SUPER Valentine’s Treats

• candy or other fun treat
• snack bags
• cardstock
• printer
• this fun printable
• scissors or paper cutter
• stapler and staples

1. Divide the candy among your snack bags and seal them shut.
2. This SUPER Valentine printable has three cards to print out per page. Print as many as you need onto cardstock and cut them out. I liked leaving a small border of white around the edge.
3. Fold each card in half lengthwise and insert the top of the snack bag into the opening. Staple the card to the bag.

Do you do special Valentine’s at your house?

FREE (Boy Friendly) Valentine’s Printable is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

A few days ago we took our fam to Disneyland. It was our third visit to the Magic Kingdom since we’ve had children. In a way that is odd since I grew up going to Disneyland every year. We could. We lived 60 miles from the Matterhorn.

On my first visit back after a decade+ hiatus, tears welled up in my eyes. I walked into Main Street and in so many ways, I was taken back in time.

Those of you who didn’t visit as a child might think I’m nuts. The rest of you, well, you understand. There’s something about Disneyland that brings out the kid in us and reminds us of the best of being a child.

For this visit, I didn’t spend hours planning and scheming as I’ve done in years past. We took it a little more spontaneously than other times. We can. We live about 60 miles from the Matterhorn.

The weather did not disappoint. It was a Mary Poppins kind of forecast, practically perfect in every way. The crowds were slim. (I’m going in February every year from now on!) And I don’t think there was a fight or squabble among my crew the entire day.

Sure, there were some downsides. There were the guys “flipping off” the camera on Space Mountain, blocking our faces in the photo. There were the folks issuing blood-curdling screams during the Haunted Mansion tour that clearly freaked out my already-on-the-edge kiddo. There was the toddler crying during the first full five minutes of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Oh wait. That was my child.

We certainly didn’t have the place to ourselves and it showed in some ways. People are people. And your toes will get stepped on — even in the Magic Kingdom.

In the days leading up to our little day trip, hubs and I joked that we were heading to “The Happiest Place on Earth.” My nine year old son, still free from the advertising mottos that we grew up with, curiously inquired, “What’s the happiest place on Earth?” I explained to him about the marketing slogan of yesteryear.

And then our conversation got serious as he took the question literally.

What IS the happiest place on Earth?

And I looked at him and I knew. Even though I love Disneyland with every part of my being. Even though I dream of season passes and stays in the Dream Suite. Even though I could “do Disney” for days on end — much to the chagrin of my husband.

I looked at him and said, “I think the happiest place is being with you guys. Wherever that is.”

May YOUR home be the happiest place on Earth today.

The Happiest Place on Earth is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

While your home may be in utter chaos around you, we’re going to take a non-traditional approach to tackling it. We’re going on Zone Defense this year. This week our zone is your closet.

This month we’re tackling our first zone out of twelve. But, I’m kinda faking you out a bit. We’re gonna get up close and personal.

Rather than work on the hardest zone, which would probably be a great “eat that frog” kind of approach, we’re going to tackle your space, your zone.

Here’s my rationale: If you feel put together, if you can start the day with a smile on your face and a spring in your step, all the rest will fall into place. Or it just won’t bug you that much.

Your Zone

So, we’re going to be looking at several aspects of your zone this month:

• your clothes closet
• your body
• your bathroom and bedroom
• your place to hang out/relax/recharge
• your purse, your calendar, your car

These are important aspects of your well-being as a woman. And so that is where we start. You’ll feel better this year. And that’s golden, baby.

An added bonus is that if you start with your stuff, then later on when you approach other members of the family regarding some of their possessions and storage methods, you’ve already set the tone. You will have already purged unwanted stuff and redesigned your space to fit you. You will, Lord willing, feel more rested and put together, and that will be contagious!

Or at least help you answer any protests they give you with a smile on your face!

Your Personal Space: Clean out your clothes closet.

They say, “Clothes make the man,” or woman, as the case may be. How you feel about yourself is often related to the clothes you wear. And if you feel good about your outward appearance, that will give you confidence to tackle these other projects – and the other stuff of life, too.

So, here we go!

1. Pull out everything in your closet.

Everything. Only the items that you regularly wear are going back in. Anything you don’t wear is going to be trashed, repaired, or donated. If you don’t wear it, someone else could. And there are plenty of needy people out there.

2. Try them on.

Try on the items that you’re not sure about or haven’t worn in awhile. If you like what you see, you get to keep it. If not, then send it to the maybe pile. You’re allowed a reprieve on five items. You can keep five things that might fit someday or you might change your mind on. Choose wisely, little grasshopper. Too many of us hold onto stuff that really will never come back in style or fit us again.

(Pregnant and nursing moms get a free pass on this one, but ditch the stained pieces and those that are outdated and in disrepair.)

3. Replace the keepers.

Arrange the YES items in rainbow order: white, pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black. This is a great means for locating the blue sweater that you know you just put away. If the clothes are arranged in color order, they will be easier to find.
I find it best to place tops in one section and bottoms in another. Do what you know works for you. If you’re not sure what works best for you, try my way first and then make adjustments.

4. Plan the matches.

As you look through your clothes that you love, can wear, and will wear, think about how they work together. Do you have a mix and match wardrobe? Does every item have something to go with it? (Preferably, you’ll have more than one thing to coordinate with each garment.)

Matchbook Magazine has a checklist of classic basics that might inspire you for any upgrades you want to make to your wardrobe.

5. How would you improve your organization?

While you’re admiring your clean closet, make a note in your notebook of organizing improvements you could make. Would it help to have a sweater organizer hanging for the rack? Would hooks help you organize your scarfs and belts better? Do you have enough hangers for your clothes? Do you need a shoe rack or a behind-the-door organizer?

Think through the “organizing” items that really would help you. Don’t just go buy something.  Make a list of “this-would-really-help-me-out” items and make plans to go shopping and price these items out. (You can download this Room Organizer Chart to help you.)

6. Clean up!

Vacuum or sweep your closet floor so you know you did a thorough job. Take out the trash and the discards. Deal with them appropriately.

7. Maintain

So, now that your closet is clean and organized, keep it that way! Hang clothes up, keep things off the floor, replace shoes in their holders. If you maintain this space, you won’t find yourself in trouble again. And hopefully, if your closet plays by the rules, the other zones will follow suit.

photo source: Small Notebook

Related links:

• Wardrobe Woes
• Your Wardrobe: Learning to Mix and Match
• Shopping for Clothing that Works
• Fall Wardrobe Essentials
• Add Classic Style to a the Small Wardrobe :: from Small Notebook
• How to Manage Your Wardrobe with Common Sense :: from Small Notebook
• What to Wear When You Travel :: from Simple Mom
• Dressing Your Worth :: from Pancakes and French Fries
• Clothes Make the Woman :: my fashion pins on Pinterest

 Will this zone be easy or hard for you this week?

Get going team and be ready to report back. Can’t wait to see the polished you!

Maintain Your Personal Space & Your Clothes Closet (Zone Defense) is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

Freezer cooking, or bulk cooking, can be a great way to economize on time, money, and resources. And the kids can help cook!

As I mentioned last week, I’m on a mission to make my boys a little more independent in the kitchen. So, it only made sense to include them in the freezer cooking this month. Heaven help me!

Instead of asking each guy what he wanted to make, I let them choose from a variety of cooking plans that I created for The Cookbook (coming later this year). I figured this was an easier way to choose meals as well as have the grocery list and cooking plan already to go.

Providentially, the plan that they chose, the one with the most meat, of course, also featured cuts of meats that were on sale this week at my local stores. Yeah! Shopping, however, involved trips to three four different stores. In recent years it’s not been unusual for me to shop at six different stores in a week, but lately, I’ve not been that crazy in my shopping. This freezer cooking gig required me to stretch a bit.

Note: I could have shopped at probably just one or two, but I would have spent a lot more money. As it is, I believe my grocery total for these meals hovered around $200.

some freezer meal groceries + extras

(Peek in at Good Cheap Eats tomorrow to see how that shopping broke down and what a month’s worth of dinners looks like in groceries as well as dollars and cents.)

Here’s the cooking plan as it looked before we started cooking:

Sorry, no links for most of these. I guess you’ll have to wait to buy The Cookbook.

• Mediterranean Style Steak
• Seasoned Steak with Gorgonzola-Herb Butter
• Mexican Beef Tortas
• Spicy Shrimp and Tomatoes
• Tortilla Soup with Shrimp
• Fish Chowder with Red Potatoes and Corn
• Quick and Spicy Marinara Sauce
• Jamie’s Spice Mix
• Teriyaki Chicken Skewers
• Herb Butter Chicken Tenders
• Caribbean Pork Tenderloin
• Herb-Crusted Pork Roast
• Soy-Ginger Pork Tenderloin
• Cozy Cheese and Potato Casserole

Preorders should start in a month or so. Wait for it….

I gathered all my plastic ware. The Glad plastic boxes and Pyrex or Ziploc glass dishes with plastic lids are my favorites.

I also decided to jot down notes from each day to see how it all worked out, freezer cooking with kids — or how it didn’t.

Thoughts the night before:

Quite honestly, I’m not sure how this will go. I’m hoping that I can assign big boys to different prep tasks and go back and forth from their stations, offering advice and helping. But, the three littles may either help or hinder this process. It’s anybody’s game.

In the past, I’ve told the boys they were “helping” me, but then that didn’t really happen. So, I’m a little skeptical that this will work. I still have some shopping to do in the morning and then a fairly ambitious list to work through.

And there’s always the risk that someone will make a mistake and we’ll have a bulk batch of Oops! But, then again, I’ve been known to do that on my own — without any help.

It should be interesting.

And here’s how it panned out.

Successes on cooking day:

Be my own prep chef – One of the keys to a productive batch cooking day is to do all the prep work in advance. I often neglect to do that, I’m so eager to get cooking. But, this time I made a point to prep everything before I started assembling the meals. This entailed chopping vegetables, cooking potatoes, and grating cheese and lime zest. The result really streamlined the experience. The meals came together super quickly that I surprised even myself, creating 25+ meals in about 5 hours.

Tasty recipes – Our house was filled with good scents all day long. And everything we tasted was delicious! I did veer a little from my original plan, subbing in a pulled pork recipe for the Soy-Ginger Tenderloin and making a chili instead of the Tortilla Soup. Many of these are fairly low maintenance to pull together: marinated meats, soups, slow cooker meals. It’s all a matter of coordinating the different tools in your kitchen.

Cooperative children – My boys were (mostly) great about their kitchen experience. One particular person dragged his feet a little bit, that one who likes to push buttons, so really his behavior was par for the course. He warmed up pretty quickly, though, since he wants to be a chef someday.

I asked each of the bigger boys (14, 11, and 9) to choose two recipes to prepare. Then when I got to one dude’s recipe in the cooking plan’s order, I called him over to walk him through the recipe. It was pretty much a private cooking lesson at that point as I explained what was supposed to happen and what he needed to watch for, add, etc. I tried to let them do the work, with me supervising.

Lots of (labeled) meals for February – We were able to make everything on the list in about 5 to 6 hours, resulting in over 25 meals for the coming month. I also made a point to label everything. The pantry challenge showed me some of my recent laziness. No more mysteries!

What I would do differently:

Communicate my goals to the kids - Things didn’t go exactly as I planned. I think I envisioned a little more enthusiasm on the part of my kids. But, since I didn’t explain that to them ahead of time, they had no idea that I really wanted them to embrace the experience. Everyone did what was asked of him. But, no one went overboard. hehe.

Multi-task more - Next time, I’ll multi-task a little more, getting more than one child going on his task at a time and then “hopefully” roam the kitchen, helping and advising. I definitely could have had more than one cook in the kitchen.

Well, we’ll see next time.

Related Reading:

Here are some of my favorite posts that will help you get started in Freezer Cooking:

• A Quick Start Guide to Freezer Cooking
• How to Create a Freezer Cooking Plan
• Freezer Cooking Recipes You Can Count On
• Freezer Cooking Q & A
• Storage Length and Methods of Packaging

How did freezer cooking go for you?

February Freezer Cooking (With Kids) is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

Here’s a quick round-up of some fun, inexpensive DIY Valentines. Check your craft cupboard or your scrapbooking supplies and use what you have to save some coin.

Box of Chocolates Money

My aunt gave us this box of goodies for Christmas one year. So fun! Read my tutorial of how to make it. Varying the denominations would make this a very economical, yet fun gift for a special someone.

Custom-wrapped Chocolate Bars

Wrap your favorite candy bars in colored paper for an easy and sweet treat.

Bake someone happy.

Bake up a batch of heart shaped maple scones. Serve them at breakfast or for an afterschool snack. Or package them up in a gift bag and tie with a bow.

Frugal DIY Valentines is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

A Kings birthday cake, whether for an LA Kings Hockey fan or other special guest of honor, is super easy to make with a layer cake and a cardboard crown.

I am not a big fan of purple. I’ll admit it. But, I couldn’t very well serve a black cake to my LA KINGS hockey fan of a husband. So, even though I am not a fan of purple, I took one for the team, as they say.

I actually shopped in three different stores trying to find the right inspiration for this cake: Party City, Target, and Michaels. Hockey paraphernalia is hard to come by as are paper crowns, believe it or not. (At least those that match the color scheme I was going for.)

I cheated this year. Yes, I kinda did. I chose a very simple cake to serve my husband on his birthday. I guess that’s becoming my MO. The last year’s worth of birthday cakes have not been some of my best work. They’ve been uber-simple, not that fancy.

I think part of that has been that my bigger kids aren’t all that jazzed about themed birthday cakes. The older two no longer request Bionicle Thornax or Roman Gladiator birthday cakes. Instead, both requested cheesecake on their birthdays.

I definitely pulled out all the stops when they were little guys. The younger ones are easily pleased. And I’m getting old.

I’m not sure how I did it, back in those days when I stayed up into the wee hours of the night sewing capes for 2 dozen knights in shining armor. I don’t think I could — or would — do it today.

But, I’m a firm believer in making birthdays special nonetheless.

Good Meals

On FishPapa’s birthday on Sunday, he requested a full breakfast. This is by far his favorite meal. Typically, we go out to breakfast, but it is often very expensive and not that great. So, I stocked up on everything I needed to make ham and eggs, bacon, biscuits, pancakes, and hashbrowns and we feasted at home. My kids adore a full breakfast.

Good Cake

Later in the day we sang to him and ate cake. LA Kings Hockey Cake. Here’s where the cheating part comes in. In retrospect, the cake would have looked cooler if it had been fondant for a crown instead of cardboard. But, we don’t like the taste of fondant. Nor the taste of cardboard, either, for that matter. But, it seemed less wasteful to recycle a paper crown than to chuck one made of fondant.

And hubs didn’t mind. Though he did miss the chocolate frosting. I think he’ll be requesting cheesecake next time, too.

A Kings cake, whether for a hockey fan or some other royal dignitary, is super easy to make, especially with a paper crown. Frost a round layer cake and place the crown around it on the platter. I made sure that the crown would allow you to peek at the purple frosting. And I added a touch of silver sprinkles across the top. The purple kisses also added a little sparkle to the other wise plain Jane cake.

And there you have it: super simple cake for a King.

Baked any fun cakes lately?

You can view the upcoming topics on the URS Calendar. Next week: Valentine’s Recipes

LA Kings Hockey Birthday Cake (& a Birthday Cake Round-Up) is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.