Something new

Hello. Its been awhile,it usually is as you well know if you are any kind of a regular here.Lets see...Since last time Ive written, our littlest family member had his first anniversary of his birthday, our oldest became a teenager and our only princess reached double digits. We had a nice Thanksgiving and with fall being Birthday season in our family, I definetly have plenty to be thankful for, and I am, very thankful for each of these four unique people that I love so much. I am very proud to say that my little Gabriel since he has turned two just a few short months ago has potty trained,weaned from the bottle and graduated to a big boy bed! This momma sure is proud(of both of us) *chuckle* I have been thinking and have decided to try something new here and see how it goes.You see, I am one awesome organizer,not just when it comes to things but also most areas of family life and am getting better all the time now that it really counts with a big family. So my goal is to start sharing some organization tips here with you. Whether you have 1, 2 or many children, I'm sure these things will help you be better organized. So today here's my first for ya. Do you find your childrens things/ clothes at random places around the house that they don't belong? I know I do and it can be quite an annoyance. Here's a way to pick it up quick but at the same time still hold them accountable to put their things away. What I do is I purchased 4 canvas bins about two feet high, a different color for each child or you can label their name on whatever container you choose. In our house I set the bins in the foyer next to the staircase.Currently we have 3 bins, one for each of the 2 older children and 1 for our stuff and the little ones. When I find random things ie socks,books, electronics etc, I toss it in their bin and each child knows to grab their bin on their way upstairs to their room's, put the stuff in its correct place and return the bin to the foyer.(We do the little ones with our stuff but are teaching them how to do it as well, they like it!) This has worked well. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Nesting, Meals for a week and more Nesting

In the past few weeks I went from not wanting to do anything, into a cleaning, organizing, donating, planning frenzy. I am getting so much done its nuts. I am very happy with the results of all of this but I realize I am really overdoing it because I am swollen and my feet and legs have been hurting pretty bad. I  feel like I am on a roll though and cannot seem to stop myself. In the midst of it all I have been thinking about how I could make mealtime easier on myself. Alot of the days I feel overwhelmed with deciding on what to make for lunch and dinner and then realizing I don't having everything i need on hand. I usually end up at the store most days picking up some ingredient I need and that gets very stressful, especially when I have three kids in tow on top of being uncomfortably pregnant now.

I decided to try planning all of our lunch and dinner meals for a week, compiling a shopping list of all the needed ingredients and going shopping just one time a week for everything. I did that Sunday, made my trip to the store alone that evening and started the menu yesterday. So far I already feel good about it and hope I can keep it up. Today on the menu was homemade chicken nuggets and French fries for lunch.  For dinner I have cooking in the slow cooker Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches at Romeo's request. I love slow cooker meals because you start them in the morning and don't have to think about dinner til then.

Productive weekend

Saturday was the day. I couldn't take walking down in the basement anymore and looking at all the stuff we have accumulated over the years and the disastrous mess it had become in the past few months. When I was 8 months pregnant I cleaned the entire basement, but with children, we all know things don't stay that way. It always seems like so much more fun for them to play in a space that you've just cleaned too. So I left the baby in daddy's care and while Romeo played outside with his friend, Olivia and I started our 8 hour cleaning, organizing and bagging things for the goodwill task.( Olivia more entertained me with her singing and objections to every little thing I tried to donate). Luckily when she wasn't looking a lot of things ended up in those thrift store bags. She'll never miss them, I guarantee (:








I like to clean and organize well I guess its not that I like to clean but rather that I like the results and I am good at it. But once I start, I don't stop. So after the basement, I cleaned the kitchen cupboard, the silverware drawer and put together the baby's highchair. Today Romeo stayed home sick from school so after we dropped Olivia off we brought about 10 bags to the goodwill. The last few things to get out of the basement are 2 old TVs and a broken computer which I think I will take to recycle once daddy gets off work. Ah, it feels so good to get things done that are on your mind, I love it.

We also went and visited a new church because the pastor had stopped by and invited us. It was a very small church but the message was good and uplifting and Olivia absolutely loved their Sunday school class, she was begging me to go back next weekend, we'll see. Here is their website, they are asking for prayers for a new building so keep them in mind, Thanks. http://northlandbaptistchurch.web.officelive.com/default.aspx

So today I'm spending the day with my boys, life is good, Thank you God!

Thrifty can be good

These past few days I have been on the hunt to find things to better organize our house without spending an arm and a leg. My first attempt failed and I ended up at target buying some Rubbermaid storage bins, which weren't that cheap. Today was better however and Gabriel and I found lots of good things for my organization project at a local thrift store. I feel really good when I find such good deals on things that I need. I even ended up getting a beautiful wool coat for like 3 dollars, hey cant go wrong there. It also reminded mewhat good deals you can find at thrift stores

Yesterday when I went to check on Gabriel during his nap, this is what I found. He wasn't crying or anything and it was too cute for me to go through my mind about the what ifs. So instead I took a picture. 

Tonight for dinner I made a recipe that I hadn't tried before. It came from a cook book, " Easy stovetop chicken recipes of the world" that my mother picked up for me at a garage sale over the past summer. Chicken and bean enchiladas, and they were delicious.

Chicken and Bean Enchiladas (Serves 4)INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 pds boneless skinless chicken breasts
• salt, black pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 red onion
• 1-10oz can kidney beans
• 1- 8oz jar salsa
• lettuce (your choice of kind)
• 8 corn tortillas
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley or cilantro
• goat cheese or feta cheese (crumble)

Cut chicken breasts in thin strips and sprinkle with 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper and cumin. Cook in skillet until done. Drain beans and rinse in cold water. In saucepan add beans and salsa, heat through over low heat. Chop lettuce, chop onion finely, finely chop cilantro. Warm tortillas in a small amount of oil in pan. Lay out tortillas on a cutting board and spread bean mixture, then top with chicken and lettuce. Roll up and top with onion, cilantro, and feta cheese. ( I liked squirting lime on top of mine too)

Milestones, Milestones

It seems like in these past 2 weeks Gabriel is learning a lot of things. Lets see, he started cooing loudly, which seemed to only last a few days, then he moved on to getting up just once in the night to sleeping through the night (we got 2 nights of that but last night he decided he'd get up once again) oh well at least we know its in the near future and besides, we can handle getting up once. He also is starting to grasp things and everything heads straight to his mouth. His newest thing today was that he rolled on his side and I almost thought he'd roll over had he not been on our soft bed. All these things are just happening back to back, it's crazy how fast they start to blossom. I remember all of these milestones with my other children but it has been so long that I couldn't remember at what stage everything happens.

Gabriel reaching for his toys

The children started back to school this week so it's just me and baby with a long list of things to do around here. Yesterday I organized the laundry room and got my new system all in order to make laundry easier for the kids to help with. We labeled baskets in the basement for each color and set up a laundry table where the children will pick up their clean clothes as they drop off their dirty ones from their personal baskets in their own rooms. They know how to sort now so all I have to do is wash and fold.While going through everything in the laundry room I found a pile of things that need to be fixed such as needs a button or has a small tear that needs to be sewn, so I thought today I'd make myself get that done.

Yesterday I went to bible study for the first time in awhile and that felt really good. I told one of the ladies at bible study that I haven't been feeling so well and she said, "You just need us". She was right, I do and I need God. So I am starting my daily devotions again and my bible reading which I had been really slacking on. If there is anything that I must get done daily even on my toughest days, it's that, then I'll have the strength to go from there.

Well, duty calls and before I forget Happy New Year all, hope it brings wonderful things!

Calii on New Years