Tips for quick birthday party prep

I've come up with a pretty easy way to throw birthday parties the last couple years, and wanted to share my experience in case anyone is hoping to have some fun activities that don't take too much money or effort to prepare.

1. Pick a theme. Although this isn't necessary, it makes it easier for me to make all our regular toys/activities look like they are actually a fun birthday activity. My kids the last few years have done monsters, under the sea, monster trucks, Frozen, Tron, and dinosaurs. Some other fun ideas I've seen friends do include chefs, mad scientist, fairy princess, etc.

2. Use what you've got. I rarely buy new activities or toys for birthday parties. I simply gather our favorite group activities and rename them to fit the theme. So PlayDoh becomes "Dino Dough," "Monster Goop," etc. Pin-the-Tail games can be "Fix Olaf's Nose," "Attach the License Plate to the Monster Truck," etc.

Our favorite group activities are art (coloring pages, decorate a paper bag for goodies, etc.), PlayDoh, dance party with ribbons or scarves or balloons, egg/treasure hunt, bean bag toss, pin-the-tail, cake walk or musical chairs, and sensory activities (bean box, play in shaving cream or pudding, dig in sand, etc.).

3. Keep the take-home simple. I don't like getting a bunch of trinkets and junk food from parties, because the toys get broken easily and the junk food is not something my kids need more of. I've gone to sending home something really simple that the kids will likely have fun with. When we did Tron, we sent home glow sticks. When we did monster trucks, we sent home a dollar store can of shaving cream and a little toy car so the kids could drive the care through the shaving cream. When we did dinosaurs, we sent home an activity we just didn't have time for during the party (little excavation kit made of a toy dinosaur skeleton, plaster, and sand). All the toys have been about $2 or under each, and the kids have fun using them at home. And I don't send home sugar because I know what it does to my kids and I don't need parents hating on me.

4. Interact with the kids. I've found that the kids seem to have the most fun when Matt and I really interact with them throughout. They enjoy being complimented on their artwork or PlayDoh creations. They like getting to brag about themselves a bit. And the kids that don't know many of the other kids at the party can always use an extra buddy or two (even if it is the parents). 

What makes a good book?

So I just finished reading a series my sister-in-law lent me, and I wasn't all that impressed.  In fact, I was really kind of disappointed.  I had some high hopes as I started, and I held out hope until the last book, all to no avail.  (It was The Selection series by Kiera Cass)  And I have to admit, I was warned by my brother-in-law, he kept asking me, "Are you sure?  It is basically just The Bachelor (the TV show)."  And it wasn't that they were bad books; they were fine.  The problem I had was how empty they were.  There wasn't really any meaning; it really was just like the show.  (No disrespect if you like the show.)  I was just hoping for some more involved plot lines and some deeper characters because she hinted at those both throughout the book.  She just never really developed the other plot lines very well, or invested in her characters like I was hoping.  It made me stop and think about some of my favorite books and the differences. 
The books that came to mind right away were the Lord of the Rings, Jane Eyre, and Anne of Green Gables (the whole series) and the Chronicles of Narnia.  And I also got to thinking about other books that I like a lot and were also really popular such as Harry Potter series.  As I was thinking about these books and comparing them to the ones I had just read I came up with a few ideas.  First of all, I am a big plot person.  I like the story to be interesting and exciting.  If all that happens is a rocky romance, that gets a little old.  I can't get into a story when the characters just waffle back and forth on whether they love each other or not.  Which brings me to my next point.  The characters are another big one.  I have to be able to relate to the characters and get a sense of who they are.  You always here that a character has to have some human flaws for them to be relatable and I agree to a certain extent.  The problem I have with a lot of characters nowadays is that their 'flaws' are pretty extreme and I can't relate to them.  When the hero is doing things that I would never dream of doing because I feel they go beyond the common code of good conduct, I can't relate to them, and I lose respect for them.  I have read a few 'teen' series where this has been the case.  Also when the characters don't learn from their mistakes and don't change for the better.  I want to be inspired by the main character in the book, not disappointed in them.  This is one of the reasons I love Anne of Green Gables so much.  I am so inspired by who Anne becomes throughout the books.  Every time I read through them I want to be a better person!  She is not perfect and makes mistakes constantly, but she is still a good person overall, and she always learns from her mistakes.  Jane Eyre is the same way, she is such an inspiring character.  She overcomes so much to hold to what she believes is right and that inspires me to strive to do the same. 
And the last thing that really makes me like a book is when it resonates with my spirit as good triumphs over evil.  And I think this is probably true for a lot of the population, though they may not realize this.  I think that is a major reason the Harry Potter series was so successful.  We inwardly cheer when good prevails and our spirits connect to the story of good vs evil.  It is the same with Lord of the Rings, which is, in my opinion one of the greatest tales of good vs evil.  We recognize the symbolism that can be found in these stories, sometimes unconsciously.  The Chronicles of Narnia was written specifically to be a symbol of the Savior and I love that!  These books appeal to our spirits and the Light of Christ that is in all of us. 
I have stuck to the classics for a long time in reading, and my sister-in-law has started expanding my choices, sometimes for the better and sometimes not.  But I do think it is so important to support good literature and to promote those books that are going to uplift us and not just fill our minds with trash.  (I have been very surprised by the content of a few of the 'teen' and a lot of the 'adult' books I have read recently.) 
What are your thoughts?  What do you look for in a good book?  And what are some of your favorites?


PS- so I totally spaced posting over Christmas, and even this month...  So sorry! 

Home Management Plan

The new year is the time for new resolutions, and I started one this year that I'll share with you.  Here's a little background:

Even though (and maybe because?) we live in a smallish apartment, I have such a hard time keeping it clean.  As soon as I pick something up, I have three little tornadoes behind me making a mess, trying to spread toys to every room.  Things like doing dishes, cleaning the stove, and scrubbing the bathtub are difficult because I need to help kids and can't complete a task.  Plus when I do a "bigger" job like organizing a drawer or cleaning the fridge, then the other smaller things like picking up toys don't happen because I don't have time.   I  can tolerate some messiness (as you, my former roommates probably know :), but it's immediately overwhelming when you wait to clean the floor until it's covered in food, or wait to dust the blinds until they are completely dusty.  All the while, I have this internal struggle about actually playing with my kids and spending time with them versus spending most of my day cleaning. 

At the start of January, I knew I needed to make some type of change. Nelson was starting a new semester, his hardest one yet, on top of his full-time work where they are facing lay-offs (I think he'll be safe, fingers crossed).  When he finally walks in the door from a crazy day at 9:30 pm and the house is a disaster, it increases his anxiety about not being able to help me and our kids.  Not that I can't be real with him or that he doesn't know how hard it is to keep a tidy house, but that I want to do what I can on my part to help him.  Also, our kids are just about getting to an age where they can entertain themselves for a little while, and our oldest is becoming a good helper.  

So I came up with a Home Management Plan.  

A few things:

-I am still in the "honeymoon stage" with this-- I'm still kind of having fun with it and making it work.  That may change in a few months.

-There is no way I could have done this with a newborn or if my kids didn't play alone for a few minutes.  I would scale it way back and only try to do bigger jobs like cleaning the tub once a month or something.

-I didn't want to start something that, if I didn't complete each job each day, I would feel bad about myself.  I am okay with the fact that I might not get everything done every day, but it gives me motivation and accountability.  I also like that when I'm done with my jobs for the day, it frees my mind to play with my kids.  I know that, even if I didn't clean the toilet, that's a job for another day.

-Now I don't have to write everything down in my planner, but I can still cross it off when I finish-- a little thing I like to do :)

-I've already made changes and will continue to do so (ex: Sundays are very busy and I really don't have time to work on our photo book or journal, so I've got to figure out another regular time to do that; I usually have to do a load of laundry on Fridays; I'm going to add "exercise" to Thursdays)

-I have it printed with a cute picture on top and a scripture on the bottom, and I keep it inside a clear plastic sheet protector with a dry erase marker nearby to mark off the boxes.  I got a laminator for Christmas that I'll break out soon and laminate it, once I've got everything how I like it for sure.

Daily Personal:

☐  Prayers

☐  Scriptures

☐  Shower

Daily:

☐  Clear out dishwasher

☐  Load dishwasher

☐  Bed made

☐  Bathroom counter cleared off

☐  Mail sorted, put away

☐  Autumn’s school papers filed

☐  Autumn homework

☐  Make dinner

☐  Counters & table wiped off

☐  Quick Sweep

☐  Lunch for Nelson

☐  Garbage out- Nelson

Kids Jobs, especially:

☐  Playroom 

☐  Family Room

Monday:        ☐  Exercise

                        ☐  Laundry: clothes

☐  Check Mint.com

☐  Family Home Evening

Tuesday:        ☐  Laundry: towels, rags, bedding

                        ☐  Oven, Stove, Microwave, Sinks

☐  Back steps; break down boxes

Wednesday:   ☐  Exercise

☐  Bathroom

☐  Tub and bath toys

Thursday:      ☐  Dust; Clean doorknobs

☐  Food: fridge, laundry room, cupboards

Friday:           ☐  Counters & papers cleared off

☐  Meal planning

☐  Monthly job(s)*

Saturday:       ☐  Exercise

            ☐  Vacuum

☐  Mop

☐  Sunday meal & church prep

Sunday:          ☐  Photo book or journal

*Monthly Jobs

                ☐  Pics and videos downloaded

                ☐  Sanitize garbage cans

                ☐  Clean baseboards/walls/doors

                ☐  Organize a cupboard/drawer

                ☐  Deep clean highchair

                ☐  Front porch, front door, windows

                ☐  Car washed, inside and out

                ☐  Other home improvement project

This Home Management Plan has been great for me.  Our house is generally clean every day now (like, I could let someone come inside if they knocked on the door at any given time and it wouldn't be a disaster zone).  It has brought a lot of order to our home and peace of mind to Nelson and me.

Have you done a daily checklist like this?  If not, what do you do to keep from getting overwhelmed and have a tidy house? 

Favorites as of late

Gardening
We had several spring-like days in January and it made me very excited to get going on my garden this year. Since we moved into the house in June and it had no existing garden plot, we didn't get one done last year and I really missed it (the planter beds had PLENTY of cleaning out to keep us busy, though, since they were a little overgrown).

I'm actually thankful we didn't already have a garden because I just learned about a totally different style of gardening that I am eager to try. A friend of mine from grad school started a new garden using the Square Foot Gardening approach last year with amazing results.

The method is based on the idea that you really just need optimal soil without a ton of extra space around each plant as long as you aren't walking on the soil and packing it down. They recommend 3x3 or 4x4 boxes (so you can reach across for planting and weeding without walking on it) and a specific mixture of soil: 1/3 blended compost, 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite.

After reading the book she lent me, I'm converted! We plan to put in a garden this spring, and I can't wait to get the kids involved and get planting. I am also SO excited to have lots of sun here so we will get a better yield than in Western Washington.

I'm trying to come up with a design I like best for the garden boxes. Here are a couple options (the boxed in areas would be the garden beds, the other areas are walkways). What do y'all think?

 

Kid Activities
I've followed an amazing blog for a while called Made By Joel. This guy draws little scenes for his kids (along with other amazing art projects), and offers the PDF files free for download. My kids needed something to keep them busy while off of school yesterday, and these were a hit! They like to make little movies, too, and I can see this turning into a multi-use activity.

 

Housework
We have a rather crummy dishwasher (it must be as old as the house, which makes it about 15 years old now), and I get frustrated when I pull out dishes that were rinsed really well and still have crumby nast on them. Anyway, I am happy with a solution I found to the problem we had with cloudy glasses.

After doing some research, I discovered it's most likely calcium deposits due to hard water. A little bit of citric acid (usually about $3 at Walmart) in the dish detergent has made a huge difference! I've even been making my own detergent and simply increased the ratio of citric acid in the mix to help keep the clouding to a minimum. Doesn't make me love my dishwasher, but it has helped me hate it less.

Finance Family Council
Matt and I have made it more a priority to meet together formally to discuss finances and make budget plans. We decided to do this more proactively, because I don't discuss things well if I'm emotional (and I get emotional about money and budgeting in the heat of the moment). This month's Ensign had a nice discussion on how to be more successful in couple family councils. The only thing I would add is that our last council was so much more fun because we sat in our formal room and drank "Mormon wine" that Matt had run across at the store! It was super fun to feel so fancy during our discussion.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year celebration.  Congrats to Shelley and Melissa on your little girls.  How great to have babies at this time to really help the birth of Christ hit home.  And just think, they're BYU roommates in the making!

So, I've fallen off the band wagon these past few months and I haven't posted anything.  The new year is a great time to start anew.  It is one of the things I like about the new year.  I don't ever really set resolutions but I like the idea of a clean slate where I can turn over a new leaf and be a little better.  Hopefully this will translate over to my blogging...

In the spirit of something new, I thought I'd share a new sugar cookie recipe.  I made it three time in the past few weeks and I've had several people comment on how soft the cookies were.  The secret ingredient seems to be cream cheese.  I found the recipe from BeneathMyHeart.net and I only made one slight change.

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
(from BeneathMyHeart.net)

1 C. sugar
1/2 c. margarine
1/2 c. butter
3 oz. cream cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 egg yolk
2 c. flour

Cream the sugar, butter, margarine, and cream cheese together until fluffy.  Add the salt, vanilla, almond, and egg yolk.  Once the ingredients are all mixed together, add the flour.

Allow the dough to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

After the dough has chilled, roll it out and cut out your desired shapes.  Place on a cookie sheet.  Add sprinkles at this point.

Bake for 7-10 in an oven preheated to 375.  Take the cookies out when the bottoms are just barely beginning to turn golden.

As a note, the original recipe calls for 1 cup butter or margarine.  I am a cheapskate and I don't like to put a cup of butter in anything if I can help it because it is rather pricey.  However, I found that if I used margarine the dough was extremely sticky.  When I used 1/2 butter and 1/2 cup margarine the dough wasn't as sticky and it was much easier to roll out and cut out shapes.  (And yes, I admit, butter is better but it is really hard to compete with my penchant for pinching pennies.)

Happy New Year!

Head Cold Season

It can't be winter without a nasty head cold, right?? Today I wanted to post (for my November post) about the common cold and one over-the-counter method that works great for me! Before going any further, whenever one person in our family gets sick, I like to use "on guard" essential oil on the bottoms of everyone else's feet. With essential oils, I really have noticed that the sicknesses do not spread as much within the family as they used to.

The common cold is a virus, meaning that there is no antibiotic that will take it away. When you or your kids get coughs and colds, there is very little that a doctor can do, so I try to stay away from the doctor's office as much as possible (unless there is a fever involved, which Michelle talked about last post).

When I get colds, I tend to have a lot of mucous and gunk build-up in the sinuses right around my nose and under my eyes. That is why this NeilMed Sinus Rinse is AMAZING! You fill up the bottle with warm water, add a packet of saline solution powder (it is simply sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate mixed together) and lean over your sink while slowly squeezing the solution in one nostril. It comes out the other nostril, and usually a whole bunch of gunk comes out with it. :) I know, TMI! The thing I love about this is that it gets out so much more junk than what normally comes out if I just blow into a kleenex.

When you get colds, it is super important to get the junk OUT! If it has no way out, then it can turn into a nasty sinus infection, which is much worse than the common cold and usually does require antibiotics to go away.

Also, I am sure all of you use Vick's Vapo Rub on your kids. I seriously love this stuff! I put it on the bottoms of their feet if they are coughing or congested and it helps them sleep so much better. What other remedies do you have for the common cold?

Strep Throat

Does anyone else feel like life is getting more and more crazy?  Sheesh!  Some news not related to the topic; we went to Disneyland two weeks ago and we had a blast.  It was so fun to get away as a family and to watch the kids enjoy the magical land of Disney.  Also, now when we are driving in the car, the kids will put their hands in the air and say weeee, even Jared!
Anyway, on to strep throat.  For some reason we have had a lot of experience with this.  Isaac has gotten this 3 or 4 times in the last few years.
  Strep is caused by group A Streptococcus (group A strep), and it is spread by droplets.  So if someone coughs or sneezes on you, or you drink from the same cup etc.  Strep has no vaccination to prevent it and it is fairly contagious if you are in close contact with someone infected.  (Though when Isaac had it he did not pass it to anyone else, we kept him away from everyone.) 
Strep will make you miserable, but is easily treated.  The trick is identifying it.  Here is the full list of symptoms from the CDC:

Sore throat, usually starts quickly and can cause severe pain when swallowing

A fever (101°F or above)

Red and swollen tonsils, sometimes with white patches or streaks of pus

Tiny red spots (petechiae) on the area at the back of the roof of the mouth  (the soft or hard palate)

Headache, nausea, or vomiting

Swollen lymph nodes in the neck

Body aches or rash

The symptoms that have been most prominent when Isaac have had it are the sore throat and the fever lasting more than a day.  It is usually the fever that brings us into the doctor.  (Side note, any time you have a fever of unknown origin lasting more than 3 days go see the doctor!)  His fever is constant, and I am giving Tylenol and Ibuprophen around the clock every 4-6 hours.  Poor kid is miserable! He also has the nastiest breath! 
Luckily it is super easy to identify.  Your doctor can just swab and do a quick test, which if it comes back negative they will culture it and do a fullproof test just to make sure.  Once it has been tested positive they give you an antibiotic and poof, 24 hours later you are feeling better!  (It's like magic, seriously.)  It is very important to take the full course of antibiotics.  That is how we end up with antibiotic resistant bacteria.  So take all your medicine even if you feel better!  Always finish them unless directed not to by your doctor, very important! ;)
Hopefully strep does not visit your household this season, but if it does now you will be ready! 
I took all my information from this website:  http://www.cdc.gov/features/strepthroat/