New Cleaning Schedule

Recently the Lord has prompted my heart (through some convicting conversations with my husband) that I am not fulfilling my role as homemaker well. I love staying home and being with the kids, but at times it is more like I am the babysitter, the one who watches the kids rather than the one who is managing her home. One of the key ways this plays out is in my housecleaning (though there are several other manifestations). I don't like to clean. I make no bones about it. I like the way a clean house looks, but I can live with some clutter and dust (okay, a lot of dust) for a long time. My general M.O. is to halfway straighten up a couple of times a week, clean the house on a surface level every couple of weeks, and about once every two months (usually right before family visits) spend an entire day scrubbing everything. I know, it's shocking.

After mulling it over and praying about my attitude, I settled into forming a cleaning 'routine' that I would follow every week. I know that most of you have heard of this, and probably many of you already implement it, but I'm a little slow. Instead of overwhelming myself (and my husband, because he is often corralled into helping during the frenzied before-family-arrives-cleaning) with a big clean, I am going to attempt to clean the house every week, by doing one or two things a day. Novel, isn't it?

So here's my schedule:
Monday- Mop, Laundry and Bill payments

Tuesday- Dust and Vacuum Downstairs

Wednesday- Clean Bathrooms

Thursday- Dust and Vacuum Upstairs, Laundry

Friday- Clean Windows and Backdoor, Dust Blinds and Fans, Wash Linens

Now, ask me if I've actually completed a week :-) I have had this schedule for just a couple of weeks, and I have not yet finished each task on the day assigned. But I have finished most of them, and this schedule helps to keep me on track. If I do a little bit each day, my house shouldn't need a deep scrubbing as often!

I am not perfect, and I still don't enjoy cleaning, but I have found a few things to help me out.

1. Invite people over. Nothing is more motivating to clean than having guests

2. Find a scent that you like. I used to make my own cleaners, but I fell in love with Mrs. Meyer's All Purpose Cleaner in Basil, so I dilute that in a spray bottle and use it on everything (bathrooms, kitchen counters, etc). The smell makes me smile and makes my house smell good.

3. Involve your children. My kids love cleaning the back door. I spray water on the door, give them rags (old cloth diapers) and let them clean it off. I hope to incorporate more chores for them over time.

4. Pray for the right attitude. I do not want to be a legalistic about having a perfect home when people come over. I do not want to be a sloppy housekeeper either, whose disarray distracts from the message of the gospel. I want to be a good wife, mother and homemaker without feeling like I must meet every single qualification of the Proverbs 31 woman. I pray for grace to let go if things don't go to plan, and discipline to do my JOB though I really don't want to run the vacuum.

How do you handle your cleaning and homemaking?

Postpartum Depression

It may seem hard to believe that one could be feeling depressed when greeted by this adorable smile. But, I'm hoping to shed some light on the little talked about topic of postpartum depression. This is a topic that I've intended to write a post about for 3 years now, but never have! It seemed too daunting to write. But last night, I had coffee with a friend and when she told me of another friend of hers battling with PPD, I knew I needed to share my experience.

For those that have endured long months of a colicky baby, its easy to understand how one could develop postpartum depression. In fact, a study in 2005 found a strong link between the two. After having dealt with colic with both of our daughters, I believe that it certainly contributed to the postpartum depression I experienced. (I should note, however, that if you haven't read my post about what I think caused our "colic" you should go read that.)


Before I continue - let me clarify what defines "postpartum depression." Many Moms experience up to two weeks of the "baby blues" that start immediately following delivery. (This is also not widely discussed and something I was completely unprepared for the first time around!) You know the days when you cry all the time, usually over nothing. (In my case, a Pampers commercial.)  But just as quickly as it came, it disappears and you start feeling normal again. Postpartum depressions goes beyond this! With my last two pregnancies, my "baby blues" passed and I was feeling great only to have PPD creep back in over time.


Here is a GREAT (and reliable!) medical resource describing postpartum depression. Here is my experience.


Adeline was born in March of 2008 after what we now know to be our easiest pregnancy and delivery! After about a 2 week "honeymoon" - the colic started. Adeline cried every single night from 6pm-11pm. It was almost like clockwork when it would start! She was a fussy baby for sure and one that was truly colicky as defined by "more than three hours per day for more than three weeks" of crying. I often had to leave the house at night to escape the crying. (My husband could endure this much easier than I could!)


When she was 4 weeks old, I started having gallbladder attacks that were the start of an infected gallbladder, surgery and a horrible C.Diff infection afterwards. Gallbladder pain was unlike any other pain I had EVER experienced. It was the worst pain of my life. Even worse than labor! (I can say that now that I labored with Anna! :) The C.Diff infection eventually got to the point of bathroom trips 15 or more times per day. These two things in addition to the excessive crying led to some serious anxiety. I even had several anxiety attacks - which are scary themselves. This all peaked when she was around 3 months old and I finally decided to talk with my doctor.


I was surprised to realize that PPD can manifest itself as anxiety like I was experiencing. I didn't feel "depressed" - just sort of down a lot of the time and overly anxious about ridiculous things. He recommended a course of Zoloft. After some prayer and counsel, I decided to take it. (I was breastfeeding and it is considered ok.)


Before I continue, let me share this wonderful article by John Piper regarding Christians and anti-depressant use. I wholeheartedly agree with his take. (This is not intended to open a huge can of worms - though feel free to respectfully disagree!) He says,


"Just like you take aspirin to get you through a very serious back-ache, you might, for a season, take some kind of medicine that would enable you to get your bearings mentally so that you can then operate without the medicine."


I only took Zoloft at the lowest dose for about 3 months, but it was night and day when I started taking it. Until I was feeling better, I had no idea how bad it had actually been. I actually enjoyed my baby again! (Even if she did cry for hours on end!)


Fast forward a few years to our latest pregnancy and delivery. Anna is now 3 months old. Her colic has calmed much sooner than Adeline's did and we are SO thankful! She is still a fussy baby, but nowhere to extent of her sister. (I credit proper breastfeeding this time around!) However, this delivery and recovery was my toughest. The baby blues came and went as predicted and there were a few weeks that I felt normal despite her colicky days! 


However, I've recently started to wonder if PPD tried to rear its ugly head again this time around. I've had some anxiety over my medical situation this time around (having had my ovaries removed because of tumors and now being in "menopause.") though not as severe as the last time. Another factor this time is the sleep deprivation. My husband works two jobs and leaves the house at 3:30am. I was very spoiled by all of his nighttime help and moral support for the last two babies. But this time, I'm on my own at night so he can sleep. This has been much more difficult that I anticipated!


The fact that I am in menopause (having no ovaries to produce female hormones) could be one explanation for the difficult days where I find myself struggling to stay joyful. I'm waiting to take any hormones I need so I can breastfeed as long as possible. Once I restore those hormones, these feelings may subside some. 


I'm very thankful for a wonderful OB (or the entire group of OBs!) with whom I feel totally comfortable discussing all of this with. I've talked with a few of them on different occasions about what I was feeling and what to look out for and when to consider medication again. For now, I'm content and feel comfortable waiting. I'm so thankful that Anna is sleeping better and our days are starting to feel more normal! I'm finding that the difficult days are fewer than before! Praise the Lord! 


I hope that by sharing my struggle with postpartum depression, someone else might not feel so alone! My advice is to stay open about how you're feeling. If you have any questions about whether or not what you're feeling is normal, seek out help! Be very careful not to let pride or fear of man stop you from getting the help you may need. (I struggled with this too!) Ask God to give you wisdom to know when to seek help and the humility to do so. Know that He will be faithful to bring you through this!


I would love to hear from others who may have had similar experiences. Please feel free to share as much or as little as you'd like! Thanks for reading!

Choosing to be the Peacemaker

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." Matthew 5:9

Do your kids argue? Do they fight over toys or whose turn it is? What do you do? How do you approach the situation and what is your solution?

Here's an example I'm sure we can all relate to:
You are in the kitchen getting dinner ready (or, maybe even on the computer looking at Facebook!!). Your kiddos are in the other room and you hear an argument errupt. They are going back and forth with "It's my turn" "No, I had it first!" etc. When you walk into the room, they are both pulling on two ends of a toy and yelling at each other.

Approach #1: The judge.
You separate them and ask them, "who had it first?" Then you listen to each of them tell their version of the events that led up to the screaming. You have to decide which one sounds more plausible and give the toy to that kid. Queue screaming child.

Approach #2: The mean mommy.
You take the toy away and say that no one can play with it. Queue two screaming children.

Approach #3: Find the peacemaker.
You take the toy and ask the question, "which is more important - your brother or the toy?" (insight into my family: Joel always says the toy). Correct or encourage that the brother is more important than the toy. Then ask, "who is going to choose to be the peacemaker?" Someone will volunteer - I have never had neither volunteer. One always chooses to raise their hand. The peacemaker gives the toy to the other sibling. The peacemaker is praised for his choice. We even have sticker charts that say "Samuel is a Peacemaker" on top for him to give himself a sticker when he chooses to be the peacemaker.

The third approach is my choice for a number of reasons.
#1 - It's biblical. The Bible teaches us to be peacemakers.
#2 - It's realistic. As adults, arguments are best diffused by someone choosing to be the peacemaker.
#3 - It doesn't require you as the parent to know the backstory. You don't have to make a judgment between the two children.
#4 - It allows one child to have the first turn with the toy. And the child that chose to be the peacemaker receives your praise.

These ideas came from both Ginger Plowman's "Don't Make Me Count to Three" and Susan Hunt's "My ABC Bible Verses" Letter B.

As further encouragement to you, this lesson spoke to me just last night. My husband and I were not getting along so well yesterday. He took the kids to the park and I went to the grocery store. I was recounting to myself all the ways that he was in the wrong and really making me upset. (I'm sure a similar train of thought was running through his head). And then the Holy Spirit gently reminded me of this lesson. God doesn't want to hear the backstory. He doesn't want my list of why I am right and Ed is wrong. He offers us a choice: Who will choose to be the peacemaker? I knew that I couldn't walk away from that choice. I had to choose to be the peacemaker. God's grace is so awesome and His word is so true that it applies to mom just as much as it applies to child!

Strawberry Birthday Party (Pic Heavy)

Last week my little turned two years old.  I can't believe two years have already passed since she was born.

Mattie had a Strawberry Shortcake inspired birthday party using the colors and design of Strawberry Shortcake. Below are some of the things we did to throw her her very own Strawberry Party.

These cupcakes were the BEST cupcakes I might have ever made, maybe ever had. Seriously. Making three dozen cupcakes with a double batch of the icing was a bit laborious, but once my taste buds experienced these cupcakes, it was all worth it. I already had the cupcake stands from Laney's birthday party last year.



 I got the recipe from Martha Stewart's website, but really the recipe is owned by Candice Nelson, aka Sprinkles. I changed some things in the recipe that you will definitely need to know about, like adding baking soda that was accidentally left out of the recipe (that will have to be another post). Here's also a video of Candice Nelson making these (she included the baking soda in this video)



Do you think Mattie liked them? She was putting her fingers in the icing, picking the strawberries off the top, licking the icing off of them and eating them.

Mmm. Mama these are good cupcakes.




 Red-picnic Dollar Tree plates and napkins

 

Focal point of party!
We had the party down at the pool cabana of our neighborhood. It was so nice because it was free, there was enough seating for everyone, there were ceiling fans, and a pool for everyone to swim in after eating cupcakes. (oh and not to mention a cool fireplace for our focal point)

The morning of the party my friend, Rachelle Usher, came over to help me prep for the party. What a tremendous help she was. Rachelle came over and made the balloon banner you see above. Want to know now to make it?

Supplies for Balloon Banner:

• Pack of 20 balloons in red (Party City)
• Pack of 20 balloons in green (Party City)
• Decorator Strip ($4.99 at Party City
• Strong lungs to blow up 40 balloons

Balloon Banner How-To:

1.  Blow up all of the balloons.

2. Tie two balloons of the same color together. 

3. Make a cluster of four balloons total by tying together two clusters of two balloons, of the same color.

4. Stick the end of a balloon cluster (4 balloons tied together) in the hole in the decorator strip.

5. Continue to stick all balloon clusters into decorator strip until you have no more balloon clusters.

6. Reserve a little bit of the decorator strip on each end so you can hang it.

*This banner was supposed to hang straight, but it was difficult to do that at this shelter, so we did the best we could. Also, I wouldn't recommend hanging balloons next to brick. Balloons were randomly popping throughout the party and scaring us to death.

 



I had Dear Hubby unscrew our big chalkboard from the playroom wall,
 so I could make a focus point and personal birthday sign.

I snagged Mattie's birth announcements, her first year portrait, some fake flowers from our house, and a pink chicken for decor (from our house) to add to the focal point.

Spanish Moss "M" for Mattie:

• "M" at Hobby Lobby for $1.99
• Spanish moss at Hobby Lobby
• Spray glue (on hand)
• Ribbon to hang (on hand)

Spanish Moss Letter How-To:

1. Head outside with your supplies.

2. Spray your letter(s) with spray glue.

3. Quickly bunch up and lay down your Spanish moss.

That's it.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

My friend Rachelle actually glued the Spanish moss for me the morning of the party.
She did a fantastic job!



Inspired by the Strawberry Shortcake design (but not using the Strawberry Shortcake character stuff), I bought red, plastic tablecloths from the Dollar Tree, green and white polka dot wrapping paper from Party City for $3.99, and grabbed a few things from the house for decor (strawberry bowl and glass candlesticks).

Gotta love my animated little Lanes. She's the life of a party!

For the party favors, I sewed burlap bags with red thread.

I used a scallopped paper punch and some scrap cream cardstock  to make nametags

Inside bags: (pics aren't that great due to mobile phone pics at 1:30 am)

Handmade red headbands (made from an old tshirt) with burlap rosette

Trader Joes strawberry fruit leather
Organic strawberry sucker
A few pieces of Trader Joes saltwater strawberry taffy
Little plastic bags of Trader Joes crunchy chocolate covered peanuts tied with gingham ribbon



Birthday Girl in her bathing suit.
This was also a swim party, so the entertainment was built in.
Loved this.



Beautiful big sissy having a blast swimming

Celebrating with friends and family

Incredible birthday picture with Nana

Having fun with Mimi
Bye-bye!
Thanks for dropping by my Strawberry Party!

Service Project Ideas

My mom is one of those people who lives in a golf-cart retirement village in Florida. But I wouldn't say that she fits the image of a blue haired Bridge player. She is very active there in all sorts of fun things. One thing she does is make BEAUTIFUL greeting cards. She teaches classes and leads stamping groups. She also volunteers at an organization that sends supplies to troops deployed overseas. She is a really talented cardmaker...I am always amazed at the cute and beautiful ideas she comes up with.

Her latest service project is to make 100 Thanksgiving cards for Thanksgiving baskets for the families of deployed National Guardsmen. She has come up with 6 designs to show the coordinator. On her blog, The Village Stamper, she shows all 6 designs and she is giving away the card with the most votes to one of the commenters. It's a fun, easy giveaway and a way to encourage my beautiful mother! :) Plus, while you're there, you can see all of the beautiful cards she makes on a daily basis!

Give Them Grace

I am currently reading Give Them Grace by Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson. Though I have not finished reading the book yet, and cannot write a full book review, I highly recommend it! The authors' proposition is that anytime we try to "make" our children be good we are merely extending the law--a law that cannot and will not save them, and will instead turn them into hypocrites and rebels. What children need, what we need, is grace. We need to realize that we can do nothing on our own--we cannot even be good on our own.

There is much to process and digest in this book. I am humbled and convicted and see so many areas where I do not preach the gospel to myself, let alone to my children. I look forward to finishing this book and probably re-reading it again to fully integrate the principles inside it.

If I have not piqued your interest enough, here is a quote that gets to the heart of the matter (and the book):

We are commanded [to teach our children God's law] but not to make them good. We are commanded to give them the law so that they will be crushed by it and see their need for a Savior. The law won't make them good. It will make them despair of ever being good, and in that way it will make them open to the love, sacrifice and welcome of their Savior, Jesus Christ.

Have you read this book? If so, what did you learn from it? Do you find it true that too many times we try to make our children obey the law without pointing them to the grace of the cross, the grace that has been given to us, the grace without which we would be dead no matter how good we are?

My take on baby's first foods

My sweet Abbi is now 6 1/2 months old and recently started trying out real food! Since feeding her is on my mind a lot (she begs for it anytime we are in the kitchen!), I thought I'd share my approach on feeding babies. I also highly recommend Lindsay's post on the topic: Feeding Baby Naturally, because she follows a similar thought pattern as myself and is much, much more thorough in her explanations than I am going to be. It is very interesting, easy to read, and the best simple article that I've read on the subject. I'm simply going to share what I have done with my babies, but Lindsey shares the research and reasons behind it. So if you don't have much time, read her article instead of mine because you will be much better educated. :) Another great article is Including Baby at the Family Table from the WAPF website. And if you do have time, I also highly recommend reading Nina Plank's Real Food For Mother and Baby. It is available at most libraries.

I'm all about breastfeeding if you possibly can. I know it is difficult for some people and I don't fault them for it at all. But if it is at all possible, the benefits to both Mama and baby are worth it! So I exclusively breastfeed my babies for the 1st 6 months.

Around 6 months, I usually start introducing foods to my baby. I wait until my baby can sit up all by herself, because that shows me that she is probably developmentally ready. But I don't worry about how much she eats, because at 6 months, she is still getting everything she needs from my breastmilk. I start her out on table food simply to get her used to different tastes and textures, and also so that I can eat in peace! (If she doesn't have food of her own, she is fussing and grabbing at my plate during mealtime :)

With my first baby, I pureed tons of fruits and vegetables and froze them in little ice cubes. But the 2nd time around, I totally skipped all that and was glad that I did. Instead, I just fed her whatever veggies and meat I fixed for my family for dinner. I made sure they were soft enough and would smash them with a fork if they seemed too big. I also added in a lot of butter, olive oil, or coconut oil because babies need healthy fats more than anything. I let her pick everything up and play with it and eat what she could. I didn't feed her anything with a spoon other than home-made yogurt, cod-liver oil, and a soft-boiled egg because they are just so good for her. I wanted her to develop that pincer grasp and good hand-eye coordination as well. So she mainly just fed herself. It was definitely more messy, but much less work since I did not need to puree and freeze. Plus, she was quite entertained and I could eat my dinner in peace!

I'm pretty much taking the same laid back approach with Abbi. I started giving her fermented cod liver oil around 4 months instead of the Vitamin D supplement that most pediatricians recommend. When she started acting like she wanted to eat when we did around 6 months, I first just gave her a spoonful of coconut oil or butter to chew on. Then I let her have fun with some avocado and soft-boiled egg yolks. I've also let her have plain yogurt and fresh cheese from my farmer. I will not give her any cereal because babies can't even digest it well until around a year old. I try not to let my babies have any grains until at least a year, and I'll hold off longer if possible because they need the healthy fat and protein so much more. My goal is to give my babies only real food -- not processed at all. But I'm not ridiculous about it. With Karlie, we went to visit the grandparents and Nina had bought some baby food and really enjoyed feeding Karlie with a spoon and that was fine. I knew that 90% of the time Karlie was feeding herself real food that I prepared.

I've found that around 8 months, my babies start actually "needing" to eat table food more because my milk supply can't quite keep up with their growing bodies. But that's just me. I have friends who have successfully fed their babies only breast milk until one year old. But my body just can't seem to do it. Instead of supplementing with formula, however, I just make sure my babies get enough fat and protein from real food. I continue nursing my babies every 3-4 hours during the day and give them lots of healthy, real food. I've also found that my milk supply keeps up better if I continue to wake them for a late night feeding before I go to bed even once they start sleeping through it. I know many people wouldn't want to mess up the sleep cycle, but it is worth it to me to be able to keep up my milk supply.

Eggs are truly the best food that I can give my babies. They have plenty of protein and iron and fats. They actually contain every nutrient that your body needs other than vitamin C! So I tried to make sure Karlie ate at least one egg yolk every day once she was about 8 months. (And not all eggs are created equal -- please read THIS POST to see why free range, pastured, not-from-a-store-eggs are soooo much better! Quick synopsis: to have healthy eggs you need a healthy chicken. A healthy chicken needs lots of sunlight and bugs to eat. You can't find healthy eggs at a grocery store -- you have to get them from the farm!

I also gave Karlie a lot of avocados -- a great first food for babies because of all the healthy fat. I usually mashed it up with good quality olive oil or coconut oil to give her even more healthy fats! Some times I would mix it with plain home-made yogurt because yogurt is good for her as well and I wanted her to get used to the sour taste of unsweetened yogurt. Avocados are the perfect healthy "fast food." I kept them on hand in case I sadly did not make a healthy enough meal for my family and wanted to be sure she ate real food. They were also my first choice to take for Karlie when we went out to eat because they are just so easy!

So there's my quick overview of how I approach feeding babies. I know it might not work for some children if they have a gagging problem or other eating issues, but it has worked well for my girls so I thought I would share. Feel free to ask any questions!

**And as a disclaimer -- I am not a doctor in any way and my advice should not be taken as professional. I am simply fascinated (my husband would say obsessed :) with nutrition and have read a lot about it.

Communicating with our Husbands

My specific topic today deals with how much we should be sharing with our husbands. And this is probably just as much a question that I want to turn over to the readers as it is my opinion on the topic.

How much do you share with your husband? What do you do if a friend reveals intimate things to you - about herself or about her marriage? What about things going on with you personally? Do you tell him all the different things that go through your head throughout the day? Do you share areas of struggle with him? What if they involve him?

First, if a friend shares personal things with you, do you share them with your husband? I had a friend share with me that she really struggles with anger. She loses her temper at home with her kids. She shared this with me and asked me to pray for her as well as to share some ideas with her about how she could deal with her anger. Do I tell my husband about our conversation? I guess I step back and ask myself, "how would this knowledge affect my husband?"

A harder example: My friend tells me that she is worried about a relationship her husband is having with a co-worker. She shared this with me because she was really upset and feeling defeated. She poured her heart out to me. Our families are friends and our husbands interact. Do I share this secret with my husband? Did my friend tell me in confidence or did she know that I would tell my husband?

I have tried to find wisdom from the Bible on this subject. Here's where I keep coming back -

Proverbs 11:13 A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret. (NIV)

I don't think by telling your husband you are being a "gossip", but perhaps the second half of the proverb instructs us to be trustworthy and keep the secret. I asked my husband his opinion, and he said that he would rather not know these details about our friends lives if they didn't come to him directly.

Does it complicate the question if your husband is a pastor/elder? And what about communication the other way? Does your husband keep these types of confidences from you? Perhaps the wisest idea would be to settle these issues with your husbands beforehand. Talk with your husband and discuss what is appropriate to share between you and what you will keep in confidence from each other.

The second half of my questions has to deal with personal, private issues. How much do you reveal about yourself to your husband vs. how much do you filter to protect him and your marriage from unnecessary insecurity?

My first reaction is to say that husband and wife should share all things with each other. But is this the wisest course of action? Or even practical? I say that a personal filter can be helpful in your marriage. For example, let's say I find myself feeling attracted to another man. I need to deal with that between myself and God. Telling my husband may cause him to feel insecure. But what if it gets to a point where spending time with that family is causing problems for me to have victory over that sin? I need to step up and confess that sin to my husband so he can help me in it.

And what about areas that directly involve your husband? I often struggle with anger and disappointment towards my husband when I feel like he doesn't meet my expectations. (I will insert here that the problem is my attitude, not my husband "falling short.") In the past I've tried to share this with my husband because I thought I should be honest with him about how I felt. But there is a difference between communicating expectations and sharing your feelings of anger and disappointment. My confession of feelings caused a lot of insecurity in my husband. I was not building him up at all. I am learning to take things to the Lord and ask Him to refine me so that I can speak love and encouragement into my husband's life. There is a filter there to protect our marriage - definitely not a filter between me and God b/c I need to lay it all at his feet, but a filter in how much I am confessing to my husband.

Please share your feedback on this topic. I feel like I really asked more questions than I answered. And I feel like there could be a lot more biblical wisdom shed on this topic. I'd love to hear your reactions and thoughts. I am not dead set on any of the opinions I gave here, so please feel free to disagree...just so long as you give your reason why and a thoughtful rebuttal.

And the Winner of the Activity Bag Giveaway is...

Of the 90 entries we received for the Preschool Activity Bags Giveaway, entry number #47 Rachael Davis is the winner!

Rachael shared in her comment - "I love that there is so much experiential wisdom here on this one blog, from so many women that I adore."

We too love to share in the Prayer of Hannah community with all of you. We learn just as much from all of our readers as you've shared that you learn from us.

Thanks so much for all of your entries. We look forward to a great fall season with Prayer of Hannah! Congratulations Rachael!

Hospitality at our house (Part 2)

In my previous post, I explained how my family began a weekly routine of having others to dinner each week. Today I thought I would share a couple tips for preparing dinner for a crowd (with 3 littles running around) and some of our guests' favorite recipes.

-- Without a doubt, my biggest piece of advice is to do as much as possible ahead of time! If I have to spend an hour fixing dinner right before our company comes, my sweet little ones will inevitably choose that hour to make a big mess, get in an argument, and/or have a random accident and require Mommy's attention. It never fails. So I almost always choose meals that I can prepare ahead of time. And most of the time, I have prepped the meat a couple of weeks ago and can just pull it from the freezer. I usually get around 6 pounds of ground beef at the Farmer's market at one time. The next day I brown it all at once and season it according to my monthly meal plan. I usually make around 2 pounds of taco meat, 2 pounds of sloppy joe meat, and 2 pounds of seasoned ground beef all ready to use in my recipes. Last week we had taco night for our company and all I had to do was warm up the meat and tortillas! So easy! Our guests had offered to bring the toppings and we ended up with a fun and delicious meal that was not the least bit stressful for me.

-- Don't be afraid to ask guests to bring something. It helps with the cost of having people over each week and usually our friends truly want to do something to help. I often end up with favorite new recipes as well! Last week my friend Mandie made this awesome black bean salsa that I can't wait incorporate into our regular meal plan. Even the single college guys that I cook for often pick up things at the store that we need like buns for sloppy joes or sour cream for tacos.

My favorite recipes for feeding a crowd:

Lime Chicken Tacos -- this is hands down my favorite recipe that never fails to please! I think it originally came from this blog, but I've changed it slightly. The recipe is very forgiving and I just add more beans, corn, salsa, etc to feed more people.

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts

3 Tbs lime juice

1 Tbs. chili powder

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup chunky salsa (we love mango salsa the best!)

1 can diced pineapples, drained

1 can black beans

12 flour tortillas, warmed

sour cream, lettuce, shredded cheese, avocado, cilantro and any other toppings you like

Place the chicken in a 3-qt. slow cooker. Combine lime juice and chili powder; pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or until chicken is tender.

Remove chicken; cool slightly. Shred and return to the slow cooker. Stir in corn, beans, pineapple tidbits, and salsa. Cover and cook on low for 30 minutes or until heated through.

Serve in tortillas with toppings

The Best Sloppy Joes Ever -- This recipe comes from my friend Beth. Each time I make these I get rave reviews and people ask what is different about them... the cinnamon totally kicks it up a notch!

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
2 T. chopped onion
2 T. green pepper
2 T. celery
¼ tsp. garlic salt
½ cup ketchup
1 tsp. prepared mustard
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2-3 T. lemon juice
1 T. vinegar
2-3 T. Italian dressing
2-3 T. brown sugar
sprinkled cinnamon

Directions: In a medium skillet, combine beef, onion, green pepper, celery, and garlic salt; Cook and stir until meat is brown and veggies are tender. Drain fat. Stir together rest of ingredients – Spread over meat and cook until heated through.

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos -- the sauce on these taquitos is utterly delicious and the mixture can easily be made the day before! I often double the sauce because I love i t so much and pair them with this quinoa and black beans recipe.

3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup green salsa
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice (juice from half a lime)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp chopped cilantro
2 Tbsp sliced green onions
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 cup shredded Mexican flavored cheese
small flour or corn tortillas
kosher salt
cooking spray

Preheat your oven to 425˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, salsa, lime juice, ground cumin, chili powder, onion powder and garlic. Once combined, stir in the cilantro and green onions. Add the chicken and cheese; mix thoroughly.

(If you decided to prep this in advance, refrigerate the mixture at this point until ready to continue.)

Working with a few tortillas at a time, heat them in the microwave between two paper towels until they are soft enough to roll (about 20 – 30 seconds).

Spoon 2-3 Tablespoons of the chicken mixture onto the lower third of a tortilla. Roll the tortilla as tightly as you can.

Place the rolled tortilla seam side down on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas until the mixture is gone. Make sure the taquitos are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until crisp and golden.

Serve with salsa, sour cream or guacamole.

**To freeze: Before baking, chill the taquitos on the baking sheet in the fridge. Once completely cooled, wrap each taquito individually with plastic wrap. Place in a labeled freezer bag and freeze. To bake a frozen taquito (no need to thaw first): Preheat oven to 425˚F and bake for 20 minutes.

Easy Cheddar Potato Chowder -- my favorite delicious but frugal meal for the fall!

2 cups diced potatoes

½ to 1 cup diced carrots

½ cup chopped celery

½ cup chopped onion

1 ½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

¼ cup margarine

¼ cup flour
2 cups milk

2 cups cheddar cheese

½ lb. Bacon, cooked and crumbled

Directions: Boil two cups of water; add to potatoes, celery, carrots, onion, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Do not drain.Make a white sauce using margarine, flour, and milk. Cook until thickened. Add grated cheddar. Stir until smooth. Add bacon and the undrained vegetables. Simmer (do not boil) until heated through.

Breakfast for dinner! The college guys I cook for always get so excited when I make this egg sausage casserole and french toast casserole.

What do you like to make for company? I'd love to have your favorite recipes!

We go together, like a wink and a smile

Don't miss the GIVEAWAY post! Click here to leave a comment and enter a giveaway for 15 preschool busy bags! Ends Thursday at midnight!

This morning there was a coolness in the air that gave me a small taste of fall. I love fall--the crispness in the breeze, the changing leaves, the apples and pumpkins and spices everywhere. And I love fall because for the Finns, fall is "courtin' weather". Nathan and I met and fell in love in the fall twelve years ago, and every fall season reminds us of that special time in our lives.

The story of how we met actually begins BEFORE we met. The summer before my senior year of college, I broke up with the guy I had been dating for a year and a half. That same summer, Nathan broke up with his girlfriend of 2 1/2 years. Both of us thought we were dating people we would eventually marry, but that summer those relationships ended. Both of us started classes in the fall determined not to date (Nathan), or certain that there was no one worthy of dating on campus (Leah).

In late August, Nathan was a junior transfer student at the college where I was a senior. Though we had been introduced briefly, we connected over dinner at the cafeteria the first night of classes. He winked at me from across the room--yes, he was a bold fellow!--and a few minutes later I sat down at his table. I swear that I was startled by his wink, didn't intend to sit by him, and was, in fact, alarmed that I ended up at his table. He declares that I was immediately charmed by him and his wink and had to sit with him. The entire table had great conversations that night, and Nathan and I ended up eating lunch together the next day. (truth--I waited for someone fun to eat lunch with because all my friends had a different lunch hour. I met up with one of Nathan's friend, ate lunch with him, talking the entire hour until Nathan came to lunch--and I was glad to see him, and stayed another hour!) I walked him to his post-lunch class because it was near my dorm, and I remember the professor (whom I knew and loved) grinning at my walking a guy to a class.

We had many mutual friends, and over the first couple of weeks of classes we spent a lot of time hanging out in groups. Nathan and I had wonderful 'talks', and I just found myself drawn to him. Though we were not dating, I had at least two different girls ask me if I had a claim on him, which I didn't. One day Nathan told me that he needed to talk to me that evening. I knew it was the inevitable "define the relationship" conversation, and I knew what he was going to say--he liked me a lot, but he did not want to be tied down, and our spending so much time together was sending the wrong signals. I prepared myself all day for the 'let her down gently' talk, and knew at the same time that I didn't want it to happen.

We started walking that evening, my dreading the conversation entirely, and...he didn't say what I expected. Instead of just wanting to be friends, Nathan poured out his heart to me, told me he was smitten with me (yes, he used that word!), and declared that he would like to pursue a relationship with me with the intention of marrying me. I was speechless. I asked to sit down-I remember my knees feeling weak. There was no bench, so we just sat down on a curb! I was startled, thrilled and excited all at the same time, and though it could have been scary and may have frightened some girls, I felt a complete peace. The rest was history. We spent many fall evenings together talking about life, theology, our future plans and goals. Our favorite place to 'hang out' was on the front porch of the BSU house on campus--it had several rocking chairs, which Nathan loves, for which we were dubbed the "rocking chair romance." We knew very early that we had met the person we were to marry! Eight months after meeting, we were engaged (April 2000) and eight months after that, we were married (January 2001).



Nathan and I on the porch where we spent so much time in our pre-marriage relationship (taken August 2010)

I am so blessed that the Lord led me to Nathan. The fall season reminds me of God's grace to us both in allowing us to share our lives together. I look forward to many more years with my best friend. Thanks for reading our love story!

Fuzzi Bunz Deal!

Don't miss the GIVEAWAY post! Click here to leave a comment and enter a giveaway for 15 preschool busy bags! Ends Thursday at midnight!

So, let's be honest here. Anna has worn very few cloth diapers in her short little life. Every time I feel like getting in the groove, something throws me off! It is hard to find time for laundry with three. I'm not giving up yet and I'm considering revamping our stash. 

It seems that its MUCH easier for me to rely on pocket diapers such as FuzziBunz or BumGenius. I still love both, but don't have enough of them to use pockets as my main diaper. Previously, I'd used prefolds as the bulk of our stash, but they are a little more difficult to put on and be out and about with. 

When I heard about this GREAT DEAL offered by FuzziBunz, I decided it was time to sell a few diapers in order to get some more of my beloved FuzziBunz! The deal is that you get two totally free diapers when you buy 6. One is a solid and one is a never-before-seen-print! 

You can get a six pack of Fuzzi Bunz at Cotton Babies in either the "perfect size" (small, medium, etc.) or the new "one size." Economy shipping is free on any order at Cotton Babies. I've never tried the one size diapers, but you can use your two free diapers to try them out! The free deal is offered in either a size medium or one size!

And if you want to sell your diapers to fund new ones, Craigslist is an easy option if you don't want to ship them. I've also used Diaperswappers for a long time now and never had a negative experience. 

Is anyone else struggling with staying motivated to use cloth? Or am I the only one!? I hate purchasing disposables when I KNOW I have plenty of cloth in our drawers....so here's to sticking with cloth for the third time around!

[Closed] Giveaway: 15 Preschool Activity Bags from Prayer of Hannah

Hello! Welcome to the new and improved Prayer of Hannah blog. Whether you are a long-time reader of Prayer of Hannah, or a first time visitor, please browse around and see what we are all about.

As a way to celebrate our new look, we are offering a cute little giveaway...

A set of 15 Preschool Busy Bags! The lucky winner of this giveaway will receive 15 Preschool Activity Bags, all assembled and ready to entertain your preschooler. The 15 bags come with a handy tote to keep them all stored in one place.

Here are the ins and outs of the giveaway. Please leave a comment to this post to let us know what you enjoy most about Prayer of Hannah. We will leave the comments open until 12 midnight on Thursday, August 18. At that time, we will close the comments and pick a winner at random. One entry per person. We will announce the winner on Friday and ship your Activity Bags to you. This giveaway is not limited to the United States - we will ship anywhere worldwide. We know a lot of our readers live all around the world and we'd hate to leave you out!

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking us out! Good luck!

Our Preschool Schedule (kind of a "space-saving" workboxes approach)

Our first year of pre-school is starting up on Monday and I am so excited! I have a lot of fun things planned for my girls this year, but I suddenly realized that I needed to make a schedule or we were just not going to have time for it all. (Is there anyone else out there who stays incredibly busy all day long but somehow only has some laundry and dinner to show for it? :) Here is the schedule I plan to *loosely* follow with my girls. We are only going to do school about 3 days a week but will follow the afternoon schedule on most days because it makes life easier. Karlie usually wants to do everything her sister does, so she will always start out with us and if she gets bored, she will just play with her doll-house or puzzles while we finish the longer read-alouds or table work.

7:30 -- wake up, eat breakfast

8:00 -- Bible Time, weather chart, calendar

8:30 -- get dressed and do chores

9:00 -- History cards memory work, Teaching Reading, manner review, letter of the week, number-line practice

9:45 -- Preschool workbook

10:00 -- snack and outside

10:30 -- daily read-aloud, short book, Brain Quest activity

11:00 -- blanket-time while I do housework

11:30 -- free play while I do housework and fix lunch

12:00 -- lunch

12:30 -- library books

1:00 -- naps

3:00 -- wake up, library books, snack

3:30 -- Activity with Mama (click HERE to see my list of optional activities we will rotate through)

4:00 -- free play or housework with Mama

4:30 -- Make dinner/ free art work (they usually want to help make dinner but if not they can use markers, stamps, stencils, etc at the table in the kitchen)

5:00 -- Clean up/outside time/ watch for Daddy :)

5:30 -- Dinner with Daddy

6:00 -- Playtime with Daddy

6:30 -- Pajamas, singing, Scripture memory, Bible reading, prayer

7:00 -- In bed!

To make my life easier and reduce the weekly planning load, I decided to make a list of all the read-alouds, blanket-time, and learning activities/games I want to use with the girls this fall. (If you want to see my master list, click HERE.) I found this great pocket chart at Amazon and I am using it to show the girls our schedule each day. The best part is that the chart folds up completely flat and I slide it behind my couch (along with our calendar and weather chart) when when are not using it! It also has a pocket in the middle that I use to store my weather pieces, pictures, and extra letter cards.

I love the workboxes idea for organizing schoolwork, but they take up more room than I have available, some of my larger books wouldn't fit, and for just a simple pre-school plan, I didn't want to have to fill them every night. So instead, I took pictures of all our daily options, grouped them together by category for easy rotation, and placed them in our daily order in the pocket chart. Now I don't really have to plan anything: the girls simply flip the cards over to see what activity is next. Here is an example of what one day's activities might look like:
The pocket chart has 2 sides, so I 'm currently using the other side for our Teaching Reading cards sound review.

I have to mention another favorite Amazon find: this number-line flip chart. It is a lot larger than I thought it would be and has the numbers in ascending order on one side and descending order on the other. It also has flaps that flip down and cover numbers to easily work on counting by 2's and 5's.

If you are teaching your little ones at home this year, I'd love to hear about your schedule and favorite resources!

More Link Love

I originally typed out a post about all the wonderful ways to save money on the internet (group coupon sites like Groupon, Swagbucks, and more)...but then I lost the post. A few other articles/posts have come to my attention as well, so instead of focusing just on saving money, I thought I would give you a list of links this week.

For saving money while on the internet:
Swagbucks -- earn Swagbucks through searching the internet and completing task. Redeem Swagbucks for prizes and gift cards. My favorite? $5 Amazon gift card for 450 SB. Sign up now, use code AUGUSTBONUS when joining and you will receive 80 SB instead of just 30 (good through August 12)

Money Saving Mom has a great post about how to earn Swagbucks. Check it out!

Ebates -- Ebates is an online coupon and rebate site. They have coupons for over 1,200 stores, and if you shop through their site, you receive a rebate on your online purchase.

Groupon, Living Social, and Plum District -- These are group coupon sites that offer a discount on a store/restaurant/service provider, and if enough people want it, the deal goes through and you get a great discount. You probably use one of these, but check out all of them, and keep your eyes open for online deals in other cities. Websites like Money Saving Mom and others are usually good about letting you know when an online deal (say for Shutterfly) comes available.

Heartsy and GroopDealz -- These sites are for those unique, handmade gifts you are looking for. Heartsy gives discounts (like Groupons) on Etsy shops, while GroopDealz provides one or two offers a day on particular items (like earrings or kids clothes).


For your encouragement:
Dr. Russ Moore has a great post about why you should read fiction (it includes a book recommendation!

I really appreciate the suggestions found in this post about Big Church for Small Kids

I found this list of six spiritual questions to be helpful. Do you have anyone in your life who asks you hard questions?

My toes are greatly stepped on (in a necessary way) in this list of 25 ways to provoke your child to anger.

A friend of POH and several of the writers here, Rachael Davis, wrote a great post about cultivating a love of reading in your children. She has great ideas that I am even now incorporating.

Thanks for reading my list! Note: several of the "money-saving" links are my referral links (I get a small 'bonus' or something if you sign up through my link)

First Day of School Ideas

Today marked our first day of school! We are homeschooling and Will started Kindergarten while Adeline is doing her first preschool (I use this term very loosely) year. Anna sleeps. :)

As I thought to our first day, I went in search of ideas to build anticipation for this year. Since Will has done a preschool curriculum at home with me, I wanted to let him know that this would be different and a big deal! Like I suspected, he LOVED the suspense building up to today and we had a GREAT first day.

These ideas are for ANY first day of school. Not just Kindergarten and not just for homeschoolers!

1. Make a paper chain to countdown the days to the first day of school. The poster Will is holding once held his paper chain, but we removed the last link before I took a picture.

2. Here is a blog post with creative pictures to document those first school days.

3. This is a great list of "Smile-Inducing" lunchbox ideas for those packing a lunch daily. We won't have to every day, but my kids did get new lunch boxes for those days when we can pack things up and head outside! (Not yet, it's still near 100 degrees here!)

4. Make a special breakfast! Something out of the ordinary. My kids got these Double Chocolate Chip Muffins.

5. Here is a list of 10 fantastic ideas including wrapping up the new school supplies! I thought it would be exciting for them to find their new pencil boxes (though not wrapped) with shiny new crayons, pencils, etc. The only problem was that the shiny new scissors were too enticing and my kids gave each other haircuts for the first day of school. (I was feeding their baby sister.) So, beware of those shiny new scissors. :)

6. This great list includes ideas for a "Back to School Fairy" and a time capsule to remember the first day of your new school year.

7. Interview your child to have a record of their responses at the first of the year. Repeat at the end of the year. I typed one up and it was our first activity. We measured our height, drew a picture, traced our hand and answered questions. I wrote what they couldn't and look forward to doing something similar each year.

8. Make a schultuete! It's a German tradition for the first day of school. I love it! (I love school supplies so any gift of school supplies sounds great to me! Maybe not my kids...)

9. Order pizza for dinner. I know, its nothing earth shattering, but I think we'll continue this one. It was nice to not have to worry about dinner and it was a great treat for the end of our first day!

10. Lastly, be sure to take the traditional picture for the first day. I enjoy seeing mine from childhood. Your child might enjoying being able to look back and see what they were wearing, what kind of lunchbox they had, what house the picture was taken in front of, etc.

Happy School Year!

This post is part of KK's SUYL back to school traditions link-up

Preschool Activity Bags (aka Busy Bags)

As we gear up for school to start around our house, I've been looking for ideas of things to do with my younger son while I work one-on-one with my older son. I've collected quite a few ideas for Preschool Activity Bags, also referred to as Busy Bags. The idea is to have a self-contained activity that you can pull out and set your little one to work on without having to run around and collect materials or dream something up on the spot. I'd like to share 15 Busy Bags that I'll be putting together with a group of friends next week. I decided it would be fun to get a group of 5 together to split the work and cost of the supplies. In my researching, I've also found various blogs that host "Busy Bag Swaps" where you make 15-20 bags of the same activity and mail them to the host. She then divides out all the bags and you receive 15-20 different Busy Bags.

Here are the bags we'll be making. They are all hyperlinked to the original post.

1. Clothesline by Money Saving Mom

2. Number Wheel by Walking by the Way

3. Animal Match Grid by Walking by the Way

4. Gift wrap Collage Letters by Walking by the Way

5. Noodle Necklaces by Walking by the Way

6. Shades of Color by Walking by the Way

7. Measure It! by Walking by the Way

8. Spooning Beads by Walking by the Way

9. Number Frogs by Walking by the Way

10. Double Trouble Shapes by Walking by the Way

11. Missing Number (it is similar to the idea seen here).

12. Colored Egg Carton by My Delicious Ambiguity

13. Popsicle Stick Puzzles by The Amazing Mess

14. Lacing Cards by Tot School

15. Playdough Mats by Homeschool Creations


The goal is to complete all the bags in one evening and for a cost of $1/bag or less. If it goes well, I will definitely do it again after we work our way through these 15 bags.

Do you have any good suggestions? Would these bags work for you? I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments.