Keeping Dinner Simple

Dinner prep is crazy at our house. The stress of getting everything done at the time of day where I'm either coming home from work or dealing with someone who is fussy because she is hungry has proven to be a challenge.  Here are some ideas of ways to make dinner prep easier.

• Supper Swapping - Get a group together who has the same size family and likes the same types of foods. Each member cooks enough of a meal for all the families in the group and you swap out your meals. This gives you enough meals for a week with only "cooking" once. You can choose to do only the main dish (I would highly recommend this if you have a large group) or you can do the entire meal. Make your plan best suit your group. Trello is a great resource to make boards and keep track of what everyone is cooking.

• Weekend Prep - Over the weekend cook all the meats that your family will eat for that week. Then all you have to do each evening is reheat the meat and make sides to go with it.

• Doubling up - When you make a meal double it, or at least make enough for your family to eat that meal twice that week. This way with cooking about 3 meals you have enough food to last for the entire week.

• Freezer cooking - There is so much that can be done with freezer cooking.  Your first option goes a long with doubling up. When you make a meal, double the recipe and freeze one of the meals. Then all you have to do is pull it out when you are ready to eat it. Let me remind you to do your research though, not ever recipe will freeze well. Another way to take advantage of your freezer is to take a day or two at once to prep all the meals you want to fill your freezer with.  I do both cooking and non cooking methods to fill my freezer.

        ~ brown ground beef and freeze it to use at a later date
        ~ mix meatloaf, meatballs,  and hamburgers and freeze them before cooking them
        ~ meatloaf, meatballs, and hamburgers could also be cooked and then frozen
        ~ clean and cut chicken/pork into pieces, then freeze them in a with marinade
        ~ marinade and cook chicken/pork, then freeze
        ~ coat and fry chicken and then freeze
        ~ you can find many recipes for chicken that you can coat and then freeze before cooking
        ~ boil chicken and then freeze it
        ~ make a  large pot of tomato sauce and freeze in smaller containers

Hope this gives you some great ideas for easier dinner prep. Plan ahead and you will benefit.

What do you do that helps make dinner prep easier?

Building Our Homes

Of all the tasks set before me as a wife and mother, disciplining myself to keep up with the tasks around the house is the hardest! Keeping of our home needs to reflect God’s image.

There are many attributes of God that we can reflect in our homes. We each, through prayer and personal study, need to find the areas that God lays on our hearts and uses to motivate us personally. Here are some suggestions of what a home can reflect: order, beauty, peace, love, productivity, rest, protection, belonging, joy, consistency.

As God shows you what He wants your home to become, there are some principles that you can apply to start putting these things in place.

1.     Have a plan.

I have heard it said many times, “To fail to plan is to plan to fail.”  This is true in many spheres of life. If we do not have a plan, we will not accomplish what we are endeavoring to do. For some, the sheer thought of making a plan sounds like pointless work. Why waste time planning when you can be doing something instead, but please hear me out. Proverbs 14:1 says, “The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.” Builds here does not mean the constructing of the house, but rather the establishing of the home.

        The first step in building or establishing anything is making a plan. By that I mean having a vision of what your home should look like. Know what attributes you would like to reflect. Without a focused outcome, you are sure to miss your mark.

       Once you know what you want your home to be like, then it is time to create a plan to accomplish your goals.  In the next section we will spend time studying out some of the many plans that are out there. No two homes are alike. Pick the plan that best suits your family.

2.  Take small steps with your vision in mind.

After you have found a plan, start taking steps to implementing it. I will never forget something my art teacher taught me; when you are trying to change an area of your life, start with small steps and build up. At the time he was exhorting us to have our personal devotions, but it is true in all areas of life. To go from doing things one way and completely changing over night what you are doing, you are setting yourself up to fail. Change slowly. Make one new step at a time. Eventually you will get up your mountain.

3. Do something.

It is very easy to get overwhelmed by a monumental task in front of you. Just get started, when you’ve got a step done, then you can add another.

Planning isn’t a once and done thing. This takes laying out your vision regularly, evaluating if your plan is working and finding what the next step of change is for your home.

Back to the Beginning

Yeah, I have 48 hours where my only responsibility is to study, commune with God and be refreshed. As I look at this weekend and wonder where to begin, my mind breaks into song, with a little help from the input of my friend.  “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start,” and how true those words are! I’m not talking about our ABC’s and our 123’s. I’m referring to the ultimate beginning – Genesis and the creation account.

God begins with creation, and that is exactly where we need to go back to. Why did God create us? The Genesis account is very clear to the purpose, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27) We are created in God’s image.

So what does that mean? That means in every area of our lives we are to reflect God. The first 2 chapters of the Bible walk us through applying this principle to every area of our life.

As I listen to D.A. Caron, he brings out the point that God is creative, and we are to reflect His creativity that was displayed through creation. We each are given different responsibilities and talents that are to be the canvas we use to display our creativity. In the areas God gives each of us, we need to allow creativity to shine through and mold your task. This is why my process will never look exactly like anyone else’s.

Next we need to reflect God in our work. In verse 28 and 29, God clearly gives to Adam the work he is to accomplish. Because we are image bears for God, the attitude with which we work and the way we do our job should be done in a way that reflects God’s character.

We also need to reflect God in our role as a woman, in marriage, and motherhood. After bringing every animal before Adam, the Bible says, “But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.” (Genesis 2:20) At that point God makes woman. We were specifically designed; we are not just another “Adam”. So in our very being as a woman we need to reflect God. After making woman, God makes marriage and family, specifically designing two roles for woman, wife and mother. These two specific roles therefore should reflect Gods character.

Unfortunately this perfect world did not remain. Sin entered and with it came consequences that not only effected Adam and Eve, but have touched all of human kind. Whether it be in the pain of child bearing, the desire to control your husband, or the challenge of hard work, we are presented with the need of a Savior and God to depend upon. We are in need of God for an answer to our sin and the daily strength and wisdom to live our everyday lives. Let us follow the exhortation of John 15:4 and 5, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

Created For a Purpose

One of my children's favorite words is why! Even though we quickly tire from hearing and answering this question from children, especially when  the question is asked times in a single conversation, why is not a bad question to ask.
Let me clarify the previous statement. Why is not a bad question when asked appropriately. If you ask why after obeying the commands given to you and in a sincere, teachable manner, the question is appropriate.
I firmly believe we as adults need to reclaim the why of our childhood. We need to sincerely desire to learn and act upon what we've learned. As God began taking me on a journey of making my life more simple and intentional I started asking why. Why do I do the things I do? Why should I be doing the things I do? Ultimately I landed on this question as being pivotal for developing the appropriate purpose and priorities for my family, my home, and my life: Why did God create people?
As I started searching the Bible and other good resources, I quickly found that this is an extremely large topic. There is no way I can study it quickly and move on to the next aspect of what I'm trying to learn.
I want to share with you a few of the most prominent answers I came across, but understand that this is only the beginning. When I complete this project, I have every intention of studying the topic more fully.
First and foremost, God created people to glorify Him. Isaiah 43:7 refers to God's children as those "whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made." Our purpose cannot be more simply stated then how Paul states it in 1 Corinthians 10:31, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
This purpose sums up and includes all the other biblical purposes we have. Because this is a blog and not a book, I'll share the other purposes God has brought me to in some other posts. Praying God will work in you heart as he works in mine. May we each live with the intention of glorifying God through all that we say and do.

What happend?

What happened to Mommy's Busy Bees? God began to work!

Over the last few months, God brought a few e-books into my possession. The first being Organized Simplicity and the second being 31 Days to Clean. God used the premise of these books working together with the book I have been reading for a Bible study at church, What Did you Expect?, to start the burden in my heart.

So as I take this journey with the Lord, I will keep you posted on how He is developing the principles of simplistic living and intentional living in my heart and family. Can't wait to see what God has in store.

Shopping Evaluation

With the Super Walmart opening in our area (and Bottom Dollar Foods too), I knew it was time to do a price comparison to make sure I'm shopping at the best place and getting the best deal for my money. (Before sales and coupons) Here is my simple plan to figure out what is my best plan for shopping and having a base for knowing who has the best deals each week.

• Make a list of everything that over the course of time you need to buy (its OK if you miss something, you can tack it onto your list as you are walking through the store.) 
• Make a list of all the stores that are possibilities for your shopping
• Go to one store each week and do your shopping. In the process, make sure you have written down the real price (not the sale price) for each item on your list and the quantity you receive for that value (quantities may change especially if you are including a BJs or Sams Club in your list like I am.)
• Break down results and compare - easy list then of what your best deals are and where to get them and then when you see that sale,  you'll know if it is a good deal or not!

Happy Shopping!

Christmas Cookies in a Jiff!

Do you work all day and come home to the same busyness of every day with all the holiday prep piled on top? Do you stay at home with one, two, three...(you get the idea) little children who are under foot and need Mommy's help and attention. Are you lucky to get one batch of cookies made, let alone a variety for Christmas?
Me too!
The natural solution in my mind was a cookie exchange, but that is too much work too... or is it. We just did a cookie swap for the moms who send their kids to UBCS Day Care. Here are some easy tips to put together a cookie swap that takes very little time and effort.

• Host the exchange with out getting together. You can do this by collecting cookies, dividing them out, and handing them back out. While this takes a little work on the part of a couple of people who organize the exchange, it is well worth it and really doesn't take all that long if you find the common threads in all of your lives.  We had the moms drop the cookies off when they brought their children to day care Wednesday morning. Today (Friday) they will pick their cookies up and take them home. There are other simple ways to do a swap. If you  know how many people are participating have everyone divide their cookies into that many ziploc bags and everyone takes a bag from each person at church or where every you see eachother. The sky is the limit! Think outside the box.
• Keep your cookie amount reasonable and unchanging. We did 5-6 dozen cookies each for an exchange of about 20 ladies.  For a smaller group we did simply what one batch of your cookies yields. 
• Have everyone bring their cookies in a disposable container - they won't get it back! And they also need to send an empty tray or large tin to take the cookies home in.
• Give a time buffer - if the moms forgot the cookies on Wednesday, they could bring them in Thursday.
• Be creative and have fun! There are lots of ideas out there, so do your research!

Have you participated in a cookie exchange? What things did you notice that made your exchange a success?

Making Dinner Prep Easier

Whether you are a busy working mom, or you are at home all day long, getting dinner ready can be a very stressful time of day. Here are some ideas to cut down on stress and make it easier to enjoy your family meal each day.

1.        Have as much of your dinner prep done before hand as possible (the night before , during nap time, or in the morning)

2.      Have special activities that the kids can do only when you are making dinner.

·         Special coloring activities

·         Special books – Leap Frog Tag

·         Special toys

3.      Set up a meal swap with a few friends. (Details to come about this one :) )

4.      Double your meals and put one in the freezer for another day.

5.      Cut onions the night before or when you are prepping another meal and bag them. Then when you put your meal together in the morning you don’t go to work smelling like onions.

6.     Get older children involve (they can help with simple prep or setting the table.)

Well, sorry I haven't posted in weeks. I learned that it took me way too long to find papers the way I was. I spent 3-4 hours a week and that was for the first time through a lot of the material I was covering. So we ended up buying a book. I'll post a link to the workbook later. I really like it. But this blog will be dedicated to ideas for Busy Moms with Busy Kids. At Upper Bucks Christian School and Day Care we are starting a Moms 2 Moms group. This blog is especially for M2M, but I hope in the mean time that it will benifit ladies all around the country as well!

Preschool Week 2

 Another week is here. Here is the lesson plan, and  the different pages to use. Any pages you don't see are out of the book I told you about in lesson 1.

Find the B's
Balloon Page
Bee Page
Starfall B Page
Letter B
Mini Book page 1
Mini Book page 2

Counting worksheet - I just change the 7 to a 3
Groups of 3&4 Worksheet - having trouble getting it up. I'll update when I get it worked out.

Tower of Triangles
Learning Express 3
Learning Express 4
Learning Express 5
Triangle Fish

Education.com Red Book
Worksheet Universe Red Page
Education.com Red Page
Ladybug Coloring Page
Education.com Fireman

Kids Learning Long and Short Page
A Kids Heart Long and Short Page
Teaching Ideas Long and Short Page

This Week

Sorry there was no lessons for this week. All we have done is review because of only having one class. Tuesday we had a great time at the park with Moms & Tots!

Next week's lessons to come out shortly!

Preschool Week 1

Today we had our first day of Preschool! The kids did great. For those of you who would like to cover the material we are learning - here it is. I'll post the next week's work, at the end of the week before. (Thursday or Friday, hopefully before Saturday :) We covered the material in 2 hours but added play time, games, snack and waiting on eachother.
Hope this is a help to you.

This week the 4 yearolds will be working on the following skills:

• Letters ~ Aa
• Numbers ~ 0, 1, and 2
• Shapes ~ Triangle
• Colors ~ Red
• Pre-Math Skills ~ Comparing Sizes
• Fine Motor Skills ~ Various
• Story ~ The Apple Pie Tree and Alligator Shoes***
• Bible ~  Cubbies start on Wednesday - Cubbie Motto and Key Verse  We are using Bible time to work with what our children are already doing in AWANAS at our church on Wednesday Night. If you live in the Sellersville, PA area and would like more information  feel free to contact Bethel Baptist Church.

***For a story, you could either focus on the story each day and also read another or find other stories with the same theme for other days, I will do the same story for our learning time and read another story to my children at nap time.

See this week's lesson plan and activities.
Below are the worksheets that coordinate with each lesson. Worksheets that have page numbers came out of Preschool Skills

A:
Letter A
Mini book page 1
Mini book page 2
Find Capital A

0,1,2:
0 Handwriting Page

Counting 1 Page
Counting 2 Page

Triangles:
Cutting Triangles
Triangle Boat Picture
Triangle Itsy Bitsy Book

Red:
Red Picture Worksheet
Kid Zone Red Page
Red Itsy Bitsy Book

Compare Size:
Comparing Size Practice Activity
Small Worksheet
Big Worksheet

Fine Motor:
Cutting Practice Sheet
Sample Name Sheet - For those of you who are in our Preschool group, let me know if you would like a link to your child's name, please let me know.

Revising Rewards

My first child can be a handful! He has a strong will and loves to use it. Finding what matters to him can be a challenge. But right now I'm learning that he loves playing with money. So as Mommy looks for new ways to encourage good behavior and helping, I came up with Busy Bee Bucks. My boys can earn the bucks by following through on responsibilities and showing kindness. They can spend them on rewards: special privileges, treats, special activities (doesn't have to be anything expensive :).

These bucks can be used to show the process of earning privileges in a more concrete manner than the concept alone. You could also use it to teach them to save and tithe. Haven't figured out exactly how I'm going to use them, but will share more as we learn through trial and error.

Click here- Busy Bee Bucks or above to open the bucks.

Would love to hear your ideas on how something like this has helped you!

Welcome

When Laurel and I sat down, and she shared her preschool ideas with me, she left a thought in my head that I couldn't get past. She asked if I was going to do a blog for the preschool a group of us are starting. My first thought was no way! And even as Holly and I talked about it yesterday, I thought there was no way I could do it. I have to keep up with our Moms & Tots blog. But as I started working on my preschool planning, I realize that I could share what I'm doing on here for all those involved and those not involved, with out adding much work, I'm already typing everything up. So why not type it up where others can access it and use it.
So as I begin the planning of our Busy Bee preschool and keeping my three children busy at home, hope I'll be able to share ideas that will help you too!