Going Out - Don't Forget It List

I have found forgetfullness in motherhood and a hard time asking for help when it would simply take longer to explain than it would for me to just do myself. In order to combat these motherly features, I have decided to post a list of items needed for our standard outings on the inside of a cabinet door closest to our main entrance/exit.

This has been very helpful to a loving Daddy when Mama may be running around chasing kids with toothbrushes, hair brushes, pants and shoes.

Another bonus to this list is when Grandma comes to town and wants to offer her love and support by jumping in when needed. The list is a great reference to direct her to.

Family Events List

Event: Grocery Shopping

• Recycled Bags
• Coupons
• List
• Phone
• Wallet

Event: Play date or event w/ Lunch

• Milk in "to go" cups for car ride
• Diaper Bag *
• Water & Lunch Bag *
• Snacks
• Stroller

Event: Play date or event w/out Lunch

• Milk in to go cups for car ride
• Diaper Bag *
• Water Snacks

Event: Sunday Mass

• Milk in "to go" cups for car ride
• Diaper Bag *
• Mass Bag (books)
• Water
• Raisins
• Fruit snacks
• Pretzel type food
• After mass food or coupons
• Bible w/ mass readings

Event: Daily Mass

• Milk in "to go" cups for car ride
• Diaper Bag *
• Mass Bag (books)
• Water
• Snack

Diaper Bag

• Underwear & Pants
• Wipes
• Wallet
• Phone
• Chapstick

Lunch Bag

• Sandwiches or main course
• Fruit
• Water or Juice Boxes
• Granola Bar, Pretzels, Crackers OR Cereal
• Treat if around

The events are presented first, and the items that may entail a separate list of items to include (Diaper Bag or Lunch Bag) are listed below. There is an asterisks next to each of these items within an event list to note they are special additions.

Feel free to use mine or make one that is well suited to your own family.

Potty Training - Step 2 POTTY DAY!

Today is POTTY DAY!
She had 2 presents to wake up to, including balloons taped to her chair and a big sign with "Happy Potty Day" - on the back, instructions for RockStar Daddy. (I had to leave for the morning, so he gets all of the credit for day 1 - and BRAVO!)
The presents were underwear, and donuts. Anything they have to unwrap makes it extra special. We really built up Potty day talking about it the night before and when we woke up prior to coming downstairs. There was a potty video on that was playing a potty song. We did pictures, and video. We even put a candle in a donut and sang "Happy Potty Day to you!" She could really tell it was something special.

Here is a picture of our setup. When she is taken into a public place, we will simply bring along the foldup seat so she has something familiar to have with her, and we will bring post it papers to cover any sensor potties, otherwise the flush may scare her from public potties. It sure did frighten her brother. That was a great lesson learned!

Today's instructions for daddy ...

• Enjoy this opportunity


• Have her sit on the potty every 1/2 hour (very important. If she makes a mess, it is most likely because you didn't remember to have her sit)


• She will be embarrassed if she makes a mess. Comfort her and encourage her to try again.


• She gets one MnM if she pees.


• Keep the bowl of assorted candy nearby that if she goes to poop and gets scared, you can deter her with the fun of a bowl of candy, where she can pick out a piece if she goes poo poo!


• Enjoy this opportunity


• At nap time, she gets "nap time underwear" after a trip to the potty - A pull up that she takes off right after nap. Discuss with her before nap that she can go pee pee if she would like a treat when she gets up.


• Lots of hugs and kisses especially for successes


• Encourage brother to join in praise whenever possible


• Enjoy this opportunity, it all goes by so quickly.

First Day - She seemed to do a wonderful job. They went to the park without an accident!
The having her sit on the potty will ease away as I can tell she is getting the feeling of when she has to go. I will continue to tell her to share with mama when she has to go pee pee. The diligent reminders should only take a few days at most.
Pull ups at nap time and bedtime will be used until she is dry when she wakes. For brother it only took a few days. Who knows what this experience will hold.
First Week - Went well, but as expected she had some accidents. Most of the accidents were because I relied on her to tell me when she had to go. The novelty of every half hour gets old for these little ones, so I am realizing that I will have to keep a mental note of her fluid intake and decide when to prep her for a trip to the potty until I am confident that she will let me know when it is time.
Second Week - Going into the second week I am realizing that since she is not in a big girl bed yet, the sheets are much easier to change for an accident then big girl bed bedding so she is going into nap time without "nap time underwear". She seems to be getting it, but I can tell that she will not be ready to go all night based on the weight of her diapers in the morning. We are still having accidents. Maybe one a day, two if I am not on it.
To be continued.....

Beginning Potty Training - Step 1

Beginning Potty Training - Step 1 (2 weeks, 1-2 hours or less per day)

Today we begin potty training my 21 month old daughter. (this process worked VERY well for her brother)

Step 1 lasts two weeks. (1-2 hours each day)

Each day without a diaper, she sits on her potty in front of a potty show or with a potty book (procured from the library for FREE) for 1-2 hours with a drink in her hand until she presents pee pee or poo poo. (if she misses the potty, I move her quickly to the potty and still offer successful reaction in beginning phases)

The potty is on a towel and she must stay on the potty or the towel.

If she goes pee pee she gets an MnM or poo poo she gets 3 MnMs. (so does her brother-this way he is more than motivating :)) She also receives a parade of happiness from mom in the form of running around with her in my arms while I praise her loudly for what she accomplished and put on a new diaper.

Tomorrow same exercise (this step will last 2 weeks)

Day one - success. She went pee pee in the potty. (very little, but now she knows potty=party with a treat) took 1 1/2 hours

Day two - success, however it took many more MnMs. One to sit on the potty and one of each color when she goes. For Day 3, we celebrate with one pound of chocolate. j/k.... took 1 hour

Day three - success. 4 MnMs. She only took 1/2 hour.

Day four - success. I added in a morning session as well. She didn't go, but she was glad to sit for a bit. Afternoon, 3 MnMs. it only took 5 minutes.

Day Five - no success. I left her to do some computer work, and she had an accident. After that we had to get a move on to be somewhere. Lesson learned: She needs more one on one attention during the "guiding" process.

Day Six - SUCCESS. She went poo poo and pee pee in the potty! I was nervous that she might be concerned about the poo poo, but not with the Halloween treat box infront of her awaiting her proud moment!

Day Seven- success. In thinking ahead to going out places, I decided today to bring out the potty seat that can be set onto toilets anywhere, and wiped down. This way she can get the hang of it and public places may be that much easier than carrying the kid potty wherever we go. You can find the seat we used for $9.99 at BabysRUs

Week 2- We are moving to step 2 on Saturday. She is really getting the hang of things. Each day of week 2 she has atleast gone pee pee in the potty. I have also added on extra morning sessions or sessions when we can simply let her run around without bottoms that she can go to the potty with urges. She has not been perfect. I have noticed that I must request atleast every 1/2 hour for her to sit on the potty. She doesn't seem to have a problem with poop either! Major bonus. What a great proud face she has when she takes the potty to the toilet to empty her presents! We absolutely build on that.

Next Step Potty Traing Step 2 - Potty Day!

Nail Polish on Carpet... How to clean it.

Imagine this... You walk into your closet with the lights off, and feel something crunchy under your toes... ughughuguuu.. whatever could it be? A broken toy? or maybe a... bah... what is it!? You turn on the lights to find it is dry nail polish and ...... in such a nice design.

After coming up with a brilliant "Bill Cosby" plan to paint my son's nails and have him show them off to his friends since he likes nail polish so much... or have him use his allowance to pay for a needed pedicure for myself.. I realized that he is only 3 and my husband would NOT see the creative discipline behind my nail painting plan on his Son, and the sweet little man doesn't get an allowance at his young age.

Bah. I decided to just figure out how to get the nail polish out and make him help. I did an Google search and found what not to do, then I remembered I had carpets cleaned way back and the guy told me his "secret ingredient" was ammonia. I went down and read the ammonia bottle, and it offered a "rugs" solution of 2 cups of ammonia to 1 gallon of warm water. I got my scrub brush out, added the solution to a spray bottle, and went to work.- A word of caution please: Ammonia is extremely dangerous especially for little ones, and when cleaning the carpet you want to try an inconspicuous spot first.

With gloves, (and my eyes steadily on him) we went to work on the carpet. After a few rounds, and some elbow grease..... Boom.

Although a new rug would've been a nice addition to our home, this is much more economical, and I am feeling pretty pleased with the "solution".

Easy Peeling Hard Boiled Eggs

This tip had made it to the orderly home blog because it is a great time saving tip for any mom. I look forward to hearing about how much time you have saved!

If you want to have some easy peel hard boiled eggs....

• get a pot of water to a rolling boil
• add eggs
• set timer for 12 minutes
• when timer goes off, bring pot to sink and empty water only
• fill pot with ice cubes and cold water
• let sit for 5-10 minutes
• keep eggs in the refrigerator

When the eggs are ready for use, crack the egg by rolling it all the way around in the center, and whala... the shell will practically fall right off. This may even be a fun to do with your little ones.

You may just see this post again around Easter!

Play-doh is back!

After seeing an article in the October 2009 edition of Family Fun about making your own playdough, it reminded me that our Play-doh has been out of rotation for a while. Then I realized the reason why. The Play-doh we have is hard ... and hard to work with.

After arriving at the museum we packed up for and drove out to was closed, I had to quick find some excitement for kids who were in the car for too long. We decided to stop into target today for an adventure in the toy aisle. (Please note - this adventure only works with my little ones after a few rough adventures where mama stayed strong letting them know we aren't going to buy anything. I also threaten that we sadly can't come back if they carryon, but we can call Grandma and/or Daddy when we get home to share our findings with them and who knows....)

A case of Play-doh goes for $4.79 and a 4 pack for $1.64 at Target. If you ask me, $1.64 for HOURS of fun is worth it.

Option B is back to the create your own playdough. I would absolutely refer you to www.familyfun.go.com. They have not posted the All-Natural Play Clay recipie yet, but they have a handful of other ones that you can choose from. I just love this magazine!

Back at home... hours of fun began again. Now daddy has a "to do" with his little blessings when the show ends. :)

Crayon on Walls - Updated 08/2010

It has been a while since I have blogged, but after today, I had to share a few lessons learned.

Never allow a 3 year to leave the table with a crayon. Pat him down first!
- You may say duh, right but as a multitasking mother on the phone, I underestimated the agility of a little boy "I habba go poddy Mama"

How to clean crayon off the walls. WET WIPES!!! Who knew!?
Here is how the humbling lesson was learned....
I had given my 3 year old a washcloth with soap and had him start wiping the walls. I told him to continue until it was all done. (I was very serious too even if it took all day)

UPDATE August 2010: Have your kids use the wet wipes as a creative yet memorable punishment. When they are asleep from all that hard work (and rightly so) you can use the Mr. Clean Eraser - NOT FOR KIDS. As mentioned in the comments (Thank you for your feedback Gen and Claire!)- it works wonders! It also works for more than crayon. I have used it for the paint marks toys make when run across the walls, the garage door-entering into the home from garage, and those little black marks on the corner baseboards that no one knows where they really come from!

My 1 year old daughter wanted in on the action, so instead of getting three washcloths dirty (you know I had to have one of my own by now-five minutes into the cleaning) I decided to give her a wet wipe.

In just a few minutes I found she was the most productive! How neat. The wet wipes were a wonder for crayon even on carpet!!!!! I hope if you ever come across this dilemma, you will remember this lesson and feel free to act as though you thought of it first. Hey if a 1 year old can come up with it, you can too!

Weekly Menu Plan

A calendar on my refrigerator with meals assigned for each day of the week. (Updated one week at a time) Wow. How did I let that one get by me? After seeing this technique in place, I was intrigued!

After three months of making a weekly menu plan in advance the following benefits have been found:

• Saving money by not overspending at the grocery store.
• Food wasting is decreased.
• Not stressing out on figuring out what to make for dinner each night.
• You should have all dinner ingredients on hand if the week was planned properly.
• Your spouse will be enticed by the dinner treat he can expect when he arrives home and by the new less stressed you!

How to get started...

1. List all of the meals you currently make for dinner.
2. Get the grocery circulars that come in the mail and see what items are on sale.
3. Compare what is on sale to your meal ideas list and try to make the best buys.
4. Try your best to by coordinating items. (lettuce and tomatoes for tacos one night and a salad the next)
5. Each week you can add one new menu item to your list and in no time your variety will be huge and you will find ways to use all of the shredded cheddar cheese or cilantro you bought for that one recipe you just had to try.

Here are a few sites that inspire with great shopping techniques and new meal ideas.

http://niftythriftythriving.blogspot.com/
http://themealplanner.blogspot.com/

http://cookingclaire.blogspot.com/
http://notesfromthetable.blogspot.com/

Happy Meal Planning!

Bringing Order Into Your Car

Although a simple idea, here is a post on something you may have thought of but simply not gotten around to.

In your most used vehicle, stock one small freezer bag under each child's seat filled with the following...

• underwear/diapers
• socks
• pants or shorts
• long or short sleeve shirt
• wipes (even if your child is out of diapers)
• empty freezer bag for soiled clothing

Based on my experience this past week -- my son atop hills of dirt/mud on two separate occasions prior to getting in the car -- I encourage all moms to stock with these essentials. During both of these random experiences I was able to let him experience the dirt only as a child can, stress free for me!

One might think that a diaper bag covers these dilemmas. This technique has made for lighter diaper bags. It has also assisted when I was "sure" there was an extra (fill in the blank) inside the diaper bag.

What to do with Plastic Grocery Bags?

Until you remember to take those used grocery bags to a store for recycling, here are some suggestions for how to store them, and maybe even reuse them.

Adorable handmade dolls can be found at Linda's Creations for $20.00. Definately one of my future purchases. I have seen these and can attest to them holding quite a few bags.

Super Human Grocery Bag Holder found at Target for $12.99.
We currently use this holder and I have found that it fills up too fast. When I remember to bring in the cotton grocery bags placed in our car that are to be used at the store, this one may work just fine. Order for me, comes with practice.

For the creative/green in you, below is a list of 10 smart uses for Old Plastic Bags. The detail and original list can be found on the Real Simple website.

1. As knee pads
2. As hand protectors for doggy doo
3. Paint preservers-in the middle of a paint job
4. Make shift rain hats
5. Easy kitchen cleanups (suggesting to peeling fruits and veggies on top)
6. As wrapping paper
7. Wet umbrella holders
8. Shoe Protectors/carpet protectors (muddy shoes)
9. As Cookbook protectors
10. As planter fillers (saving on needed potting soil)

Displaced Directions

Ever go to clean out a junk drawer and find pieces of paper with directions you may just need to use again? What do you do with them? A paper clip? An envelope?

For this dilemma, we have a small notebook kept in the glove compartment of the vehicle we use the most. The first few pages display a list or table of contents of sorts. (This way I don't have to thumb through the entire book, or try to remember if someone has been added. I can simply look down the list) Each time I add a new page into the book, I add the name of the location "Sunny Sommers Home" to the list at the beginning of the book. This has come in handy on more than one occasion.

The outline for the rest of the pages are as follows...

Sunny Sommers
555-4102
8008 Sunshine Ln
Sunland, AZ 01134

From Home (Phoenix)
L on 25th Street
R on Coombiya Ln
R on Cardinal Terrace
L on Morning Ln

This same concept works well using the Notes feature of a BlackBerry or Smartphone. Another route is using the text note features on most mobile device address books - add directions to each person's home or business in this section and you have no hard copy to mess with, or lose, plus it's easy to save backups.

Cookies To Order

You just got off the phone with some surprise guests; perhaps your husband just let you know that he had a rough day - he is looking for some extra TLC; an event that you forgot about until last minute comes up that you were supposed to bring a treat for.... Ah boy...

After this tip, you can simply preheat the oven and retrieve the best chocolate chip cookies you have ever tasted giving your home a sensational appeal for your guests, warming the heart and tummy of your husband, and hiding forgetfulness from the people who surely think you have it all together...assuming anyone does.

The cookie recipe below can be made and separated into 3 rolls. Put two in the freezer and cook the first roll for proof. The next two rolls are bonus used usually for the aforementioned reasons.

Be forewarned... these are good enough to hide from my husband in places like the frozen chicken nugget bag, or frozen vegetables.

350 8-10 minutes
Mix: 2 sticks butter (unsalted)
2 cups brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
Add: 2 eggs
3 tsp vanilla
Stir in: 4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda (be sure it is not expired)
1 tsp salt
2 cups of chocolate chips

Order up!

Organizing Your Greeting Cards

Unused Christmas cards from years past, birthday cards purchased but unsent (If only I used the "You Remembered!? " tip years ago!), extra note cards, cards and or envelopes just lying around, and much more hidden within junk grouping areas, presented me a new "orderly home" project.

A central location for all of these cards, complete with dividers for easy access and filing. I use a 6.4x10.9x16.3in Rubbermaid container that easily holds all card sizes and has a little space for an extra holder for maybe stickers or stamps.

With my Brother PT-80 label maker,(LOVE this gadget) each divider (made from trimming manila envelopes) is given a category as follows.

• Birthdays
• Christmas
• Get Well
• Friendship
• New Baby
• Thank You
• Note Cards
• Cards w/out Envelopes
• Extra Envelopes

With the start of the new year, I am glad to have my "Card and Party Central" in place before I am enveloped :P with the next group of birthdays that seem to all arrive at once.