Welcome to my Home

Since I had children and moved to the "boonies" I do not have many visitors. Having children and moving a 45 minute drive from most people you know really lets you know who your real friends are.
But I do love when my friends and family come take the time to come for visit. Most of my friends are working, some multiple jobs, some working and still going to school, so they have few time to spare and I love that the choose to spend it with me and my family.
Since I have 2 young children the only real preparation I can get done before people come over is cleaning up the toys and straighten up the house. I have some things I like to always do before guest come, simple things like sweep the entry way, change the linens in the bathroom, and do a quick swish and swipe to my bathrooms.
But I really like to make my guest feel at home. I love making some tea or coffee for them, the kerig is great for a nice little fresh cup for them. Another nice touch is fresh baked cookies.
While I do not have the time to make a batch from scratch I also couldn't imagine giving someone break and bake cookies either.

So a nice little tip I've learned from my latest obsession of reading cooking and baking books is how nice cookie dough freezes. So when I am making cookies with the girls instead of cooking the whole batch and watching half of them go bad before we can eat them I freeze half of them.
I roll the cookie into little balls and place them on parchment paper and place them in the freezer. Once they are a little frozen(so they won't stick together) I move them into plastic bag and write on the bag with tape the date and how to bake the cookies, temperature and time.
Then I can make a small batch for who ever comes to my house, on cold days where I want a nice hot cookie or when ever we get the craving for some baked goods.
Its just so nice for people to come over and I get to show my appreciation for them with out breaking my back to do so.
Life is always a little more complicated with a toddler and infant at home so this just eases it up a little for me.

Outdoors In

Even though it has been a mild winter so far we are spending more time then I would like indoors.
Its mainly because Eve is so young. She is only 4 months and I am not found of the idea of bringing her out in mild NE winter weather. Cold rain, blustery wind are fine for my toddler and me all bundled up, but I would rather not bring her out in it.
We do go out on the not windy, warmer days, but they occur not so often so poor Liv, my toddler, spends more time then I would like indoors. And on those warmer days we spend a large part of the day outdoors enjoying the weather.

I try to do some more active things with her on occasions she does not get to go outside.
We- dance, play right light green light,have parades around the house, do action rhymes like ring around the rosey, chase each other, pull and push special walking toys, pretend we are different animals, hide from each other and pretend we are outside. Today we pretended to splash in puddles, climb trees (the bed) and play in the snow.
I love the old Swedish saying "there is not such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes." But until I feel I can bundle up Eve in a carrier better (and even in rain and snow this does not work at all) bring the outdoors inside will have to do.

Consumerism

Last week when I was grocery shopping I noticed a new product in the cleaning isle. It was a little tablet you place in your dish sink so you won't have sink odors overnight.
I thought to myself what a great product. Being a SAHM/Radical Homemaker I'm often influenced by things that claim to make my life easier. But then I thought about it for a minute.
Argg, they got me. Why would I waste my families hard earned money on this? I already sprinkle baking soda and vinegar down the drain at night. This little odor eater costs me next to nothing.
But I still can't believe I almost fell for it.
They are always trying to pitch products to SAHMs to make our lives easier. No scrubbing, sweet smelling home, no mopping. Yes please, let me spend my money on chemicals to fill my home with.
Its amazing how many products just go into our unconscious. Who knows what was in those little pills to put in my sink?
I'm very glad for being an educated consumer. I try hard to not let products and commercials sway me to buy things. But I realize that I have to try and be aware of this so they won't trick me.
Since having Ev I've been on a de-clutter kick since I feel our house has gotten very crowded with an additional person in it. Because of this I have even been more conscious of what I bring into our home.
But if they can get me, what can they do to our kids? I'm a 30 year old woman, with a BA from a major University and some grad credits from a great MSW program. How can my children stand a chance against advertisers?
I feel they can't. So I try to avoid it as much as possible.
TV programs are limited to PBS or DVD rented from the library. Kids sitting watching tv are the prime victim for advertisers.
I really like this website for advice on keeping your children commercial free.
Commercials are every where. On tv, radion, t-shirts, beach towels, cereal boxes, and if my state gets its way, on the side of school buses!

It angers me to think my children can get picked up in a bus that has a McDonald's billboard on the side. Anything for a buck is what school districts are living I guess.
Its sad and I want my children to be educated consumers, but at this young age this in not possible. So I avoid. And I plan to avoid as long as possible.
Hopefully by the time we can't avoid any more they will be older and smarter consumers.
I feel like I am swimming up steam in this buy buy buy world we are living in.
It doesn't matter though, I will keep fighting the fight and not let my children be another consumer and taker in this great world.

Kids Need to be Kids

An interesting article caught my eye on preschools and children. This article from WebMD states that kids in a preschool setting or childcare spend 70-80% of their time in sedentary activities. What I found interesting is that the main reason for this is the push of academics on children too young.
Children need time to play period. They need time outside, to run, jump, climb trees. This is all very important for their physical development. But we have this push in America for academics earlier and earlier and it is coming at a cost.
Parents putting their children in school at early ages so they can read earlier, write at a young age. All of this, studies shows, backfires and these children who learn this early often do not do better then other children who were let to be children.
These parents don't want their children just playing while they are paying for them to be in school.
And on the flip side some schools are scared to let children play outdoors for fear of injuries in our sue happy culture.

What is sad is this push does not just come from parents. Many kindergartens expect a lot from young children and expect them to know a lot when they come in to kindergarten. They also try to teach them so much in the short period they are there. Consequently they are shortening play time and outdoor time. This is not by the choice of the teacher, but by laws and mandates from states and government agencies.
Parents feel conflicted, how much to push before kindergarten? Ideally not much, but its harder and harder to do this.
I just think of an average day for a young child in an academic preschool.
Wake up 7:30 eat breakfast
8 get dressed and ready for school
Out the door by 8:45
9am school
School till lunch time.
Lunch at home then nap till 3 ish.
This leaves several hours at home for the child to get outdoors and just play but many parents schedule playdates and other activities during this time. They also might allow the 2 hours of tv the AAP says is okay for children.
This leaves dinner, bath and bed.
Where is the time for free play? When can kids run and climb, balance and logs? These are important to their physical development.
When can they just explore their world, discover on their own? Find acorns, dig in the dirt?
When can they play, pretend dance and sing on their own?
I feel bad for many children in this generation. Being pushed to their little limits but not allowed to live limitless.

Spend time outside with your children, everyday unless weather is severe.
Give your children plenty of free time, indoors as well.
Turn off the tv, video games and computer. Young children do not need these at all. Limit them as much as you can.
Encourage play, do something outdoors, garden, shovel snow, go for a walk, a hike, swim, indoors, cook,bake, sweep, knit, craft. All of these things your child will love to imitate and play out other times.
Encourage play, not academics in this young age.
As I stated in a previous post I plan to home preschool school. But this will be less academic and more play based. I want my children to enjoy childhood, not feel pushed at a early age, and look back on this period and smile about the smile times we spent together, not the simple times we spent in a car riding from activity to activity.

Home Pre-school

To help get a little more routine to our days and rhythm in our life I am planning to start doing a little home preschooling come March.
Liv will be 2 1/2, which around here is a common age to start pre-school. Personally I feel this is too young, but I don't feel some more structure and lose learning and playing is the same as actually going to pre-school.
I've been having a little bit of a hard time getting a nice routine with our days since Eve has been born. I am planning on starting the New Year with getting back into some more structure then come March do one day a week like a pre-school, or more accurately called a play school. Liv is too young for real schooling, but not too young for story-times, crafts and other types of play.
Thursday will most likely become our pre-school day.
Keep an eye out for my curriculum for her. I will be doing things to help learn letters, colors and shapes, using stories and other activities.
I think March is a great time for us to start since it will be Spring so I can use lots of seasonal things to bring in our home and play time.
I really enjoy the Waldorf philosphy so I'm hoping to use some of that in my pre-school for Liv.
I've been collecting ideas and started a binder for my ideas.
The binder is divided by months since I plan to teach along with the seasons and holidays. I'm going to put all sorts of appropriate activities in my binder for children up to 5 years old, but will only use age appropriate stuff. This way I won't lose any ideas that are great for older children, and I can reuse lots of fun seasonal stuff that is great for all ages.
Wish me luck!

Meal Planning

I like to refer to myself as a Stay at home Mom, or a Radical Homemaker. Radical homemaking differs then what some people think of as homemaking now. Its like going back in time, being a real homemaker, not just watching soaps, popping in TV dinners or getting take out.
One thing that has helped me so much since becoming SAHM or Radical homemaker is menu planning.
I don't know how I lived with out being more organized at home.
I bought this from Target last year

Sunday is my planning day, or night. I sit down with the circular and plan my meals for the week. I do it based on sales and what I feel like, what our week look likes and what frozen meats I may have.
Some people go very specific for each day, Monday-Soup, Tuesday-Beef, Wed-Pasta. For my family I have just found that it does not work. There are certain foods we eat maybe once a month so my weekly planning is a little more open.
This week my meals look like this.
Sunday-Roast
Monday-Cx Quesidillas
Tuesday-Soup with leftovers from the roast
Wed-Sausage with peppers and onions
Thursday-Pasta night
Friday-Pork chops with Apple sauce
Saturday-Turkey burgers
Sunday-Chicken roaster

One plus is getting to use my leftovers. I like to cook bigger meals on nights my husband will be home so I can use the leftovers. With out planning I wouldn't be able to do this. It also helps me save money and plan lunches too.
I can mix in new recipes while keeping old stand bys there for most nights.
It is so much easier to not have to worry what is for dinner. I can plan healthier meals for my family, shopping is easier too.
I keep my list right on the fridge, I write down when we run out of things. Or I add things when I think of a good recipe for the next week.
Try menu planning for a month and you will not know how you lived with out it.

Christmas Cheer

This is the first year where my daughter, Liv, gets Christmas. She understands that Santa comes and bring presents at night. She gets that you leave cookies and milk for Santa and a carrot for his reindeer. She every night she asks me if Santa is coming. She has been cracking me up with some of her Christmas ideas and sayings this year.
"Santa wears boots 'cause he likes to splash (in puddles)", which is one of Olivia's favorite things to do.
"I wanna cook and eat the snowman." Took me about 5 minutes of her saying that to realize she was talking about the Snowman cookies we saw earlier in a cookbook.
When she told Santa what she wants for Christmas she told him "presents."
After watching a video that showed elves making toys she got all excited and said "they are making presents for me?!?" "yup for you and all the other boys and girls" I replied "yes and me!"
"Santa likes red."

"Santa likes cookies, chocolate cookies"
Tonight she asked to say a prayer for Santa.
I have tried to explain to here that Christmas is not just about Santa, but about Jesus and his birth. But I think that idea is lost on a 2 year old. But it doesn't mean I will not try and keep telling her what Christmas really is about.
I'm not sure if tonight she got it a little more or if she was just thankful that Santa comes on Jesus's birthday since she said "Thank Jesus for Santa"
I'm sure the later, but hopefully I will think the first.