High Five for Friday

I can't believe it's Friday and that it's almost the middle of October! Goodness time goes fast...

1. I had a dentist appointment this week and I love my dentist office. They are all so nice and helpful. I had to take my son with me and my husband took my daughter to her gymnastics class. I fed my son before I left hoping he would have a full belly and fall asleep. Well he did about half way through thank goodness but the hygienist was so helpful in making sure I could get him to sleep while still getting my teeth cleaned. After 28 years I still have no cavities! I've never had one and I hope I can keep my streak going. 

2. I've said it before but I really enjoy the Bible study I go to on Tuesdays. It's refreshing and it's a chance for my daughter to get some play time in with her cousin. The ladies that go are older but they are so sweet! I keep my son in with me and they don't mind at all. I hope they have another one after this.

3. My husband started third shift this week. It's different going to bed without him and I'm thankful we are with my parents during this time because being home alone makes me nervous. Although having kids makes me feel better...someone has to be the grown up! 

4. I forgot to post about it last week but my guilty pleasure show Vampire Diaries is back on tv so me and a few friends got together for a little premiere party. It was so much fun! I watched it last night and I am so glad it's back. It's a favorite for sure!

5. I'm helping my sister in law with a garage sale tomorrow so I'm working on finding things to sell in it. Extra money is always nice! I think it's going to be a really nice day for it so I'm excited to help.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! 

Crock Pot Potato Soup

I am a big fan of potato soup. I could eat it every day but that probably wouldn't be the best. I found a recipe on Pinterest making potato soup in the crock pot and I thought it sounded perfect! You don't use any cream of chicken soup or cream of potato...it's simple ingredients and it's delicious! My family loved it and we plan on making it more since it's getting nice and cool outside. This recipe is from Mama Loves Food with a few notes of my own.

Ingredients:

-5 pounds russet potatoes (I washed mine and peeled them because no one really cares for skin in my family, I know it's good for you so keep it on if your family likes it!) dice into 1/2 inch cubes

-1 medium, yellow onion, diced

-10 cloves of garlic, minced (I use garlic powder and put about 1 tbsp in instead)

-64 ounces chicken stock or broth (I buy fat free, low sodium)

-16 ounces cream cheese, softened (you can use low fat if you like)

-1 tbsp seasoning salt

Optional garnishes: crumbled bacon, shredded cheese, green onions

Directions:

1. Add potatoes, onion, garlic, seasoning salt and chicken stock to slow cooker.

2. Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 10 hours.

3. Add the softened cream cheese and purée the soup with an immersion blender (I don't have one so I divide the soup in half and put half the cream cheese in each and use a hand blender, then put it all back together and blend a little more. You may have a few more chunks doing it this way but it's till yummy!)

4. Stir well and top with your choice of garnish.

Yields about 10-12 servings

                                        

Enjoy!!

Yummy Treat

I made a yummy treat yesterday for a snack: dark chocolate covered peanut butter bananas. Long name but they are so good! Here's what I did: 

Ingredients:

4-5 pieces of dark chocolate, melted (I had a bag of ghirardelli dark chocolate squares so I used those)

One banana cut into 10-12 pieces

Natural peanut butter

Directions:

Melt the chocolate in the microwave. I did it for 30 seconds and stirred each time, altogether it was about a minute and a half.

Put a little peanut butter on one banana slice, and top with another banana slice.

Stick a toothpick in the bananas, it should look like this

                 

Then dip the banana in the chocolate so it's completely covered. It should look like this when it's done 

                 

I stuck mine in the freezer but I'm sure you could eat them like this if you don't want to wait. 

A quick and easy snack. I only made five but you could easily make larger batches. I'm also sure this has been done before but I don't have a recipe I followed, I just did it cause I wanted something sweet. 

Enjoy! 

Cleaning Routine

I mentioned in my managing time post that I had a daily cleaning schedule I like to use. I decided to show you how I plan to start getting the house clean and still do what I need to get done with the kids and my family.

                                      

 

As you can see I have cleaning bathrooms on their twice a week. I do a really good cleaning of it on Mondays and then a light cleaning later in the week. We all take showers and my kids take baths so I usually wipe the tub out before every bath but it needs a good cleaning a couple times a week. I like a clean bathroom! 

We are actually living with my parents so I'm cleaning their house but I figure since I am home and they both work all day it's the least I can do for them. They do take care of their own laundry and my dad and I switch on and off cooking but like I've said, I don't mind cleaning, I actually like it. My parents have five miniature dachshunds so I wash their dog blankets once a week, just to keep things smelling fresh. If you are looking for a template to use and don't need to wash animal blankets then wash your bedding instead! I do laundry every day...most days anyway...if I'm caught up then I will wash bedding. I'm able to wash the bedding a couple times a month. I wash the kids bedding and blankets with their clothes so they get washed a little more. I vacuum every day, dust and dishes. That's not on my list but it's something that gets done every day. 

I may add things some days...like the other day I cleaned the counter tops really well in the kitchen and on Fridays I usually clean out the pantry, fridge and freezer so it's ready after we go to the grocery store that night. As I said in my last post I try to get cleaning done in the morning or nap time. I like to have my evenings free and any other time with my kids and family. 

What cleaning do you do that I may not have added on here? And go ahead, use this as a template, add in what your family may or may not need. My cleaning usually stays this way but I am constantly thinking of new things I can clean or organize. Hope this helps!

A Must Read Book!

What a gloomy weekend we had around here! I'm glad it's getting cooler but I'm ready for nice, fall days.

I used to love reading on gloomy days and while I haven't been able to get a lot of reading in lately I did manage to find a great trilogy that I loved reading. I'm pretty sure I read the first two books in about three days. I could not put the books down and I've actually re-read them a couple of times because they are that good! You have to read the Divergent Trilogy. I guess it's like Hunger Games, in a sense, but I actually haven't read those books but if you liked those books I hear you will love these! There is suspense, action, a love story...it's a great all around book. The third book is coming out October 22nd and I can't wait to find out how this story ends. Also, they are coming out with a movie in March 2014 because all books get turned into movies don't they? I'm sure the book will be better but I will be seeing this movie for sure! 

So if you are looking for a good read on a gloomy day...get this book...then you need to get Insurgent and Allegiant when it comes out. You won't regret it! 

                                       

                                      

Managing my Time as a Stay at Home Mom

                        

I have never really been good at managing my time and now that I've had a few months with two kids I feel like I finally have a daily routine I love to follow and am striving to follow.

It's no secret I love to make lists. Every morning I make a list of what I want to accomplish during the day, these are items that go along with my daily cleaning schedule (which I will be posting about soon) and extra items that may be needed for the day. I usually try to wake up at 6 every morning, no later than 6:30, to get my work out in for the day so it's done and out of the way. Then I start working on cleaning and getting laundry going. My son sleeps till 7:30 most days so I'm able to at least get my work out in before I need to feed him. He's at the age where he can sit in his jumper and play or roll around on the floor and I'm able to get a few things done before I get my daughter up. Now most people probably think I'm crazy that I wake my daughter up but to be honest she's up by 8 most days and if she isn't up by 8:30 then I get her. I get her ready for the day and fix her breakfast (watch for a blog post coming soon about breakfast ideas for your kids!) and then we start playing. I was teaching her a few things...and I use that term loosely because she wasn't really paying attention so we started playing, using some flash cards, coloring, playing outside, going to the park...anything to keep her moving and going until 11 when we watch Price is Right. Yep, I love that show...and now my daughter does too. I have lunch ready to go around noon and then we get to watch some of her tv shows. I'm working on limiting her tv time...it's something that's hard because some mornings I'm tired and would love to let her sit in front of the tv, don't get me wrong...I've done that before but I'm working on interacting. It's something I strive to get better at every day. Now don't think I've neglected my son during this time because I feed him when needed and he still takes a morning nap which gives me alone time with my daughter. After a few of her shows it's nap time. I try to lay her down around 1:30...she may not fall asleep till about 2 but she always gets a good two hour nap in. My son has been napping around the same time as her so that helps out a lot. They at least overlap by about an hour so I've got a little time to myself. Here is what I usually do during nap time:

-prep dinner

-work on blog posts

-work out (if I oversleep)

-shower 

-finish cleaning

-relax!

I found recently that by prepping dinner during nap time gave me more time with kids...call my captain obvious but I'm just now figuring this out! I do a lot of crock pot meals which helps give me more time as well. I love cooking but there are some meals that have a lot of steps and if I can save myself some time later I will do it. The other day we had sweet and sour chicken. Usually I start on dinner around 4:30 and for this meal I need to cut the chicken, dredge it in egg and cornstarch, fry it in a pan for a few minutes, make the sauce, pour it all in a casserole dish, bake it for an hour. Doesn't sound like a ton but it is time consuming. So I actually had a chance during the kids nap to do all of that and put foil on it and pop it in the fridge. It was so great to have that done at 2 and stick it in the oven later in the day instead of doing it all and missing out on time with my kids. If I have the chance I try to actually prep some food in the morning as well. I'm all about using my time as best as I can.

I love writing and wish I could write a post daily and maybe I will get to the point since I'm learning time management. If the cleaning is caught up, the dinner is prepped and I feel like my list is at a good place then I will sit down and start working on posts. I actually have a few drafts lined up so all I really need to do is proof read them and publish them in the mornings and I'm good to go. I also work on them at night after the kids go to bed. I'm finding out I can be a mom and still get some good, helpful blog posts out there without ignoring my kids in the process...I've done this before in case you didn't pick up on that. :-)

Working out is something I am trying to get into a habit of doing. As I've mentioned in past posts I am doing turbo fire and the workouts range from 30-60 minutes each day. I've found that waking up early and getting them out of the way is the best way to do it but if I oversleep, which I usually do and am trying to work on, I will do it during the kids naps. So far it's worked out well. I was able to work out today and squeeze a shower in before my son woke up. That's a big deal! There are times where my son will wake up and I'm in the middle of working out but again, he's at the age where he doesn't mind to watch mommy for a few more minutes while I finish. Plus I secretly think he's laughing at me.

If I've worked out in the morning, most of the time all I have time for is that and washing up bottles before one of my kids is awake so I never really have time to get a shower in right after...may seem gross but most days I'm home and don't need to go out till later. If my husband is home I can usually get a shower in and those are the days I usually do errands. So I'm able to shower while the kids nap which works out well.

I mentioned I have a daily cleaning schedule that I try to stick to so I will work on that while they nap as well. I'm doing laundry, washing bottles, filling the dishwasher all through the day but I have a list that I get to like cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming...things I can't do when the kids are up. I like to have all of this done by the time they are up. As you can see I really am trying to be more of an attentive mom. 

And of course I try to relax if I can. I actually do more relaxing after the kids go to bed for the night because I've done all I need to during the day and I like to have my nights free. I may meet up with a friend if my husband is home that night or I will take a bath, whatever I want. It's my me time! I'm actually looking into starting a new Bible study and that may be what I do before bed. 

I love getting this stuff done so when the kids get up we can go to the park, run errands if I need to and I'm not tied to staying in the house. Now don't get me wrong, if it's a gloomy day, one of the kids is sick or I'm not feeling well we call it a pajama and movie day and that's just how it goes. I'm not going to put the cleaning and laundry before my kids. Those things will still be there but my kids are growing up so fast!

We eat dinner and hang out and then I give the kids baths starting around 7, 7:30. My husband gets home from work around 8 and likes to take a shower right away, being a nurse and working 13 hours I don't blame him, so I try to have the kids ready for bed by the time he gets home. My daughter goes to bed about 8:30 and my son falls asleep anywhere between 9-10. I'm working on going to bed about 10 since I'm waking up early.  

I really feel like this schedule works well for us. My husband is going to be starting third shift next week and that will be something to get used to. He will be sleeping during the day but I've told him my daily plan and he understands that he will most likely need to buy earplugs. I can only keep the kids quiet for so long. 

I hope this gives you some sort of idea as to how my day goes. I love being a stay at home mom and I love cleaning, cooking and blogging! I'm still working everyday to spend more time with my kids, play with them, make time for myself and the things I love and take care of my home. I wouldn't trade any of it! 

Toothpaste Results!

I promised you results from my toothpaste challenge and here they are!

I was using this toothpaste to see if it would be just as good or better than using white strips.

I will say it works. If you are looking for a quick fix then yes, grab some two hour white strips and go but this toothpaste is great for every day use. I drink coffee everyday and would notice my teeth had a little stain to them after drinking but once I used this toothpaste it was gone. The more you use the toothpaste the better your teeth look. I know that's an obvious statement but I really do like this toothpaste. While white strips give you immediate results this toothpaste helps keep your teeth white the rest of the time. I'm sure Crest wants you to buy the white strips and use this toothpaste to maintain but if you can't afford to get white strips, buy this toothpaste. It works great! 

*I was not compensated for this. Crest has no idea who I am. This is my opinion.