Salad in a jar party.... now that is my kind of party!!!

In one of my crunchy healthy groups I am in they did a Salad in a Jar party.  It was great, because who doesn't want to eat healthier.  Its nice because its just all ready for you to grab and eat a healthy lunch. 

We all brought different ingredients and put them together.  There are certain things that have to go on the bottom in the dressing so they won't get soggy.  This chart kind of helps with that.  It also gives some good ideas of new things to try.  I have tried a bunch of new things I wouldn't have thought to put in salad.  They have turned out pretty good and add variety into my diet. 

The chart is kind of blurry but I wanted you guys to see and get an idea of what you can use.  

These salads in a jar make life so much easier and healthier.  I don't know about you but by the time I get kids lunch and they finish I end up eating left overs or just totally forgetting to eat.  So these are nice I would just grab one of the fridge and dump it out on my plate and there I have a healthy delicious lunch ready for me.  

We used pint jars and at first I was like that is going to be too small.  If you stuff it in well enough its plenty.  I have even filled my jar too full of the toppings and I didn't have any room for the greens.  That is ok though I usually have some sort of greens in my fridge and I can add that base pretty easily.  Plus its all the toppings that is time consuming to cut up for just one salad.  

We have done 5 jars at a time and that way it last you a week or so depending on how fast and often you eat them.  I have eaten them with dinner too and shared with everyone. I have only done this twice but it was great both times and I liked most of them.  I have had one or two that just didn't mix well with what I had experimented with.  You just learn as you go what mixes well with what.  

I didn't have a picture of the ones I made so I found this cool picture on pintrest that had some pretty good ideas and different types of salads.  Looks good with all of those colors.  

Pros and Cons of kids in school

We are in the middle of this transition stage.  I have one in morning half day kindergarten and one in afternoon preschool.   Sad those times didn't work out at the same time.  It would be better to have them both at school at the same time.  Oh well.... so goes life right?
After a day of running the kids to and from school I got a minute to sit down and just "rest"  I thought back to the days when we didn't have to get ready to go anywhere unless I decided to venture out somewhere.   There are some nice benefits to that stage.

We aren't forced to wake kids up so they can go to school.  Almost every morning I have to wake my daughter up for school.  She needs her sleep and I like her to get it so she is happy and healthy.   Along with not having to get kids up and get going we could stay in pjs all day.   Granted I still do this quite often.  Sometimes I get somewhere and realize I was still in my pjs. haha.   ops.  This cuts down a lot on laundry, which in turn frees up some of moms time.
When I first sent my oldest to preschool I was worried because I wasn't sure exactly what she would be taught.  I kind of knew the teacher and knew she was a good person and had great values.  I just wouldn't be there all the time to know what she is being taught or told.    Then when they get a little bit older like in kindergarten they get talking with the other kids.  She has come home with some interesting stories from other kids.   Nothing too crazy yet but I'm sure well get that soon enough.   This just emphasized to me that I need to be better at teaching her the right principles and values at home.  So when she is confronted with something she knows the right answer and will be confident in what she knows is right.   The weight of teaching my children all of the correct things is put on my shoulders.  I just need to take it a little at a time and do my best.  In this aspect they also get to learn and grow for themselves.  I will touch on this in the pros to having the kids in school.


Then we have the things that make me happy my kids are in school.  They get to meet new friends and learn new things on their own.  They get to grow and develop without mom always there.   I have gone to help out in Lexis class before and its interesting to see how she acts around her peers.  She is on the shy side but not as shy as she was at first when school started.
With the kids gone to school I get to spend more one on one or one on two time with the other kids.  They get more individualized time.  Which is important to them so they know they are loved just the same as the other kids.
I am also able to accomplish more while they are at school so then when they get home I will have my "chores" done so I can help with homework or just spend family time together.  I don't get that too much yet where they are gone at different times still. I can see that being a big bonus when they go at the same time and I only have one or none at home.   I remember thinking what does mom do all day when we are all at school.   OH BOY do I know now..... that is where all my clean clothes came from,  that is where all the food and meals came from.  That time we were gone is when she did all of this stuff.  I appreciate my mom so much more now that I am a mother myself.   I find myself looking back all the time thinking how did mom do this or that.

I look forward to the day that the kids are all in school. I think of all the things I can do and get done.  Then at the same time I will miss my kids and know they are growing up too fast.  Its a double edged sword.  For now I will just enjoy the little kids and the time they are home and know that soon enough that time will come.  A time and a season for everythings.  Just enjoy the stage of life that I am in now. I don't want to wish away their childhood.  I love having them here at home.

Mini journals called planners

I like to have things written down or I forget.  I used to be able to remember but I have the full blown mommy brain now.   So I started using these small planners after I got home from my mission.  If you remember from my mission box post, I used a very similar planner to these.  I loved them.   

So I started using them and I love them.  It has been 10 years.....wait what?   I guess when this years planner is over It will have been 10 years since I got home from my mission.  That is crazy.   Anyway    so I use these planners everyday and I write everything I have planned in them.   

At the end of the day I will write what we did that day.   So its like a mini journal for me.  I have used it to look back at when I am writing in my journal.  It doesn't happen as much as I would like anymore.  So this helps me remember what we did.  

Its also fun to look back through and see what we were doing so many years ago. Its quick to look through but I am reminded of so much.   

I also keep track of when I changed my contacts last or when I had that dr appointment.  Things like that.  Its a nice place to keep track of everything.  

New basic salve to use for everything

As part of my natural health journey I have been learning more about essential oils and using them.   I have been attending these online camps where they have so much information about oils.  I have learned so much I love them.  They have a few posts everyday that you learn and read about how you can use a certain oil more.  They also explain the benefits of the oils.  

One of my new items that I have found helpful is this salve.   You can really add whatever oils you want to the basic recipe and use it for different things.   I made this one for chest colds.  I want to make one for skin and stretch marks.  Like to rub on your belly when I am pregnant again.  I feel like this would work a lot better than what I have used previously.   So here is the basic recipe.

1/2 c grapeseed oil

1/2 cup almond oil

2 tablespoons beeswax

1/2 tablespoon vitamin E oil

  Then you add whatever oils you want.... I did Lavendar, Melalueca, frankincense and breathe oil.   I didn't have the cypress and eucalyptus that this recipe called for.  But like I said you can put anything in it for whatever you want to use it for.  It said to do 5 drops of each oil.  

I got the beeswax from amazon I believe and the other oils from the local health store.  They were relatively cheap for how much you use each batch of salve you make.  

The first thing you do is melt your beeswax down it has to be in a double boiler so I put my glass measuring cup in my pan and melted it.  

Then once its melted you add the oils and mix them all together.  

Take it off the stove and put it out to cool a bit maybe 2-3 minutes then add the oils before it starts to set up.   Then you can pour them into whatever containers you want to use.  I bought these ones off aromatools.com  I love how many different options of jars and bottles they have and they are cheap.  

You let it cool in the final containers for 2-3 hours and then they should be setup.  I store one in my babies room and then one in the older kids room.  I just rub it on their chest when they are getting a cold.  I have even used it just for a good nights sleep since it has lavender in it.  

I just used a wooden skewer to stir it with.  It really didn't take long to melt the beezwax.  

I am really excited to make another one.  I want to make one that will help with my kids ezcema they like to rub this on their skin.   I really don't like the lotions you can buy at the store.  So I am going to try this out and I"ll let you know.   

Treasure box idea...

I am seeing all sorts of smart things that my parents did when I was little.  Being a mom now I am looking for all sorts of ways to get rid of stuff and keep a simpler life and home.  

One of those things that my mom was so smart about was this Treasure box.   We had a xerox box that she had decorated and put contact paper on to make it look pretty.   We each had one that we could keep our treasures in.   This helped us to not keep so much junk.  When I was little everything was a treasure.  haha.   With my kids in school now I have a ton of papers that come home with them.   I needed to find a way to only keep the really good stuff.  I have taken pictures of their stuff and then I put it in their scrapbook.   Some things just don't do justice in a picture. 

I found my box and went through it.  I had stuff I didn't know I had kept.  Like my personal progess book that you do in our church when you are 12-18.   

I also had all of my medallions that I had earned.  

I had my quarter collection that we did as a family.  We each got these books and found the quarters from each state.  It was a fun family project to do and help each other find the right quarters we needed.  

I was on the swim team in high school and we would have a swimmer of the meet.  I got two of them and I remember feeling so proud of those when I got them.  I had worked hard for them.  It will be fun to show my kids these things when they are older and are participating in their own activities.  

I have a bunch of things that my Grandma Beck had crocheted or tatted for me.   These are even more special now that she has passed on.  I never learned how to do these but she did teach me how to crochet.  

I have a gold cup that I got for piano.  I played for 6 years I believe and I finally earned my gold cup.  Looking back as an adult I wish I had stuck with playing the piano so I could play better now but I can't.  I didn't like practicing as a kid though. I loved being outside instead.  

I have a bunch of other breakable stuff that I keep in there. My box isn't as full as it once was.  But I am glad I saved the things I did.  I have just started to put some of my daughters school work in a box that I made for her.  Then when she gets older she can decide what to keep.  She can keep whatever as long as it all fits in her box.  Right now her special stuff goes in a drawer in the bathroom.   We need to change that.  

I love this idea because it gives them the opportunity to choose for themselves and to decide what is important to them, and then they have all of their "special" stuff all in one place.  

Rough sick winter

We were doing so good this winter until the middle of January and then we all got it good.  It started with everyone getting the 24 hour flu.   Luckily everyone but me got it on a friday night and saturday.   I didn't get it until monday right at 5 pm when my husband got home.   So really it worked out pretty well if we were going to get it.    Then that week the kids started with runny noses and a cough.   I figured Sawyer was getting an ear infection and so I put silver in his ears and he seemed to be a little better.   The other two just kept coughing and coughing.  I figured it was the cold that the cough just lingered for ever.  Finally one night my daughter asked me if she could go to the dr.  I said ok well go.   I had been trying to avoid going to the dr because they just give you antibiotics and I didn't want that.
I give my kids probiotics and elderberry everyday.  I figured that this would help keep everything away and if they did get something it would make it go away faster.   Turns out she had strep and sawyer had an ear infection still.  So I got the antibiotics because she had already missed quite a few days of school.

Fast forward a few days I came down with something terrible.  My whole body was sore and achy.  It was bad.  My throat hurt so bad I figured I had gotten strep from her.  I was gargling silver and drinking a ton.   We were also drinking hot lemon and honey tea.   I finally decided to go in and get tested for strep...... big fat NO!  ok well now I know its just a viral thing that will take a few days to go away.    So I kept taking my garlic and vit c and doing the silver gargle.   It did go away faster than the last viral thing I got in October.  So that was nice.  

  The kids still were coughing pretty bad a week later  and my oldest was sleeping so much.  She would come home from school and take a 2-3 hour nap and then sleep at night fine too.  This was not normal so I took them back in and dr said they just have the viral cold on top of recovering from strep.   OH MY!!!
By this point it had been a month of us being sick...... I was so sick of being sick.....
I was frustrated by now because we had been so good at doing all of the preventable stuff.   Using the oils and taking all of the extra probiotics and everything.    We shouldn't have gotten sick and stayed sick for a month.    I know that so much sickness was going around everywhere and having kids in school makes it worse because they get so much from school.    I know we need to improve our washing hands with the kids and I know that is part of it.  We have started to sing a song while we wash our hands, to make sure they are washing for long enough.  I know this will help.

We are all doing better now.  I am pretty sure sawyer still has a little ear infection because his nose is runny again.  I just can't get him to lay down for a few minutes to let the silver do its work.   I need to try it when he is asleep.  It made me want to research out more about how to prevent and be proactive about not getting sick next winter.   I have already found quite a few things that we can add to our preventative list.   I know we still did pretty good for not getting little colds here and there we just had major stuff for a month.  So I guess that is a plus.   Its a learning process and I am learning all sorts of new stuff that I can start applying and using now.  I guess its the struggles that make you grow and force you to learn more.

Family Fun Dinner games

We went to chick fil e  for lunch one saturday while we were "in town"    The kids love playing there and the food is somewhat better than other fast food.   In the kids meal there was a sample of a game called Dinner Games.    Jared loved them.  So he looked up the real game and bought it. Our kids love playing games and you can only play candyland, and guess who so many times.  So it was nice to add a new game into our mix.  We have been trying to do more things as a family that don't involve electronics.  So this was great.  Plus we find it better to distract our kids at dinner time and they will actually eat more.   It is in a smallish box that is metal so you could easily take it with you on a trip or to grandmas house.  

 

The cards are pretty good.  They have different categories like Memory, phonics vocabulary, numbers and math, silly, social skills, creative and critical thinking.   I love that there is a variety and that they are labeled.  So if your child needs more social skills or whatever category you can pick those cards out and use those.  

Here are some of the cards for an example

We even play this just at night after dinner.   The kids love it.  They will pick it out and bring it to us and say lets play this game.  There are quite a few that are for older kids, I think the game says 6-13 or something.  I am glad that there is a range of ages.  We love that this has dinner ideas because we like dinner time to be family time.   We get to talk and have fun.    I am glad that there are games like this that are creative and fun.  Sometimes you just need that extra help in starting the conversations and fun at dinner.