Weekly Mom Challenge: Dinner Conversation Jar

This is the idea that I am using to help make dinner easier on us all!  Hope it helps!

Cut these questions into strips, fold them, and place them in a jar.

1. If you could have picked your own name what would it be?
2. What animal would you be?
3. Which is your favorite cartoon character?
4. Which character in a book best describes who you are?
5. If you could cook for me what would it be?
6. If you were granted three wishes from a genie what would you wish?
7. Do you do dance crazy when no one is looking?
8. Why is the alphabet in that order? Is it because of that song?
9. Tell me the five best things about you.
10. What does the word "success" mean to you?
11. Who would you rather be: an NBA ballplayer, the mayor, a famous explorer, or a movie star? Why?
12. Which of your friends do you think I like the most? Why?
13. What would be the ideal allowance? Tell me how you would use it.
14. What Punishment have I given you that you thought was really unfair?  Why?
15. If you could keep your room any way you wanted, how would it look?
16. What are the qualities that make a good friend?
17. What was your favorite toy when you were little?
18. What do you think of my driving?
19. What is the most enjoyable thing our family has done together in the last three years?
20. What do you think is beyond the stars?
21. Name two things we should do as a family this weekend?
22. If you were going to have a weird, unusual pet, what would it be?  Why would you want that pet?

23. How do you describe me to your friends?
24. What would you do if you were invisible for a day?
25. Do you think any of our neighbors are scary?
26. What helps to keep you from crying when you are chopping onions? Chewing gum
27. T/F Dalmatians are born without spots? T
28. How far can large kangaroos cover with each jump? 30 feet
29. A dragonfly has a lifespan of how many hours. 24
30. Ben and Jerry’s send the waste from making ice cream to local pig farmers to use as feed.  Pigs love the
stuff, except for which one flavor?  Mint Oreo

I got this particular list on questions here: http://www.howdoesshe.com/christmas-present-to-our-readers/

Weekly Mom Challenge

Weekly Mom Challenge: SIT DOWN TO DINNER AS A FAMILY.
I know how hard it is to sit up to the table as a family. Even when we actually do, it is so hard to sit there and listen! Maybe it's because I don't just have to listen, I actually have to answer question after question. Mostly from my curious six year old. :) this week, I am challenging myself, and anyone who wants to join me, to set and sit at the table as a family. I want to engage in conversation with my children. I have a way I'm going to try to do this, which I will post tomorrow! Hopefully, with my idea, we can get through the next weeks meals with some kind of order! Is it just my family that seems to have trouble with dinner time? Hmm.

Holiday Fun on a Budget

This Christmas we are DEFINITELY on a tighter budget than we've ever been. Every year the kids have come home from school with a cute ornament they've made, but last year they didn't, and I was really sad about it. I thought ALL teachers had the kids make ornaments.  Isn't that in the teacher law book or something? It should be if you ask me. Anyway, this year I decided I couldn't take any chances so we are going to be making these cute little ornaments this weekend to add to our tree as well as adding yummy smells to the air! I already have most of the ingredients and that is great, because it need to be as inexpensive as possible.

I found the recipe here:

http://www.simplynotable.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/cinnamonorn2.jpg

Or you can just follow this recipe:
1 cup of cinnamon
2 tablespoons of ground cloves
2 tablespoons of ground nutmeg
1 cup of applesauce
2 tablespoons of white glue

Mix ingredients until they come together to form a dough. Knead for a few minutes until you can form a dough ball. Sprinkle some cinnamon onto your surface to roll out the dough. You can use cookie cutters or freehand cutting would work as well. Cut holes for hanging with a straw.

To finish, you can lay your ornaments out on a rack to dry for a few days {turning at least once a day} or put them in a 200 degree oven for a few hours. After they are dry -decorate as you wish. {modge podge and glitter would be awesome!}

They didn't turn out perfect, but the kids had fun. :)

Christmas is Coming Fast!

This year we wanted to keep everything simple.  Our kids already have WAY to many toys. They actually have so many, we were able to go through them and donate quite a few things!  At first they weren't very happy with me but now that cleaning up has been simplified, they haven't complained once about missing those toys.  We decided to follow this cute little Santa letter and keep gifts to a minimum, and my husband told them no toys. It was really quite cute what they came up with. 

Here is a link if you would like to use this particular letter.
http://homebyheidi.blogspot.com/2011/12/last-minute-details.html

We also printed out one of these to count down the days till Christmas:

Found here:

http://craftywimama.blogspot.com/2012/11/santa-christmas-countdown.html

Hope you all have a fun time with this!  

We sure did!

Keep It Simple

As a mom I have started noticing, the older they get, the more my kids need my attention. We recently moved and now that things have settled down and the kids have gotten into their routine of a new school, I have really found myself wanting to spend more time with "just" them.  I have started small.

One night we taped squares inside of squares on the floor. {this picture shows a circle, but I found it easier to tape off a square!}  Each square had a point value.  We took turns rolling golf balls into the squares and kept points.  They thought it was the greatest thing EVER!  I couldn't believe it.  On another night we took turns running up the stairs. We saw who could skip the most steps, we saw who could run up them without stopping and then who could run up them the fastest.  They had fun and then they were DOG TIRED, so bonus for Mom and Dad cause they went to sleep great that night!
I found this quote and think it's amazing.

“We women have a lot to learn about simplifying our lives. We have to decide what is important and then move along at a pace that is comfortable for us. We have to develop the maturity to stop trying to prove something. We have to learn to be content with what we are.” -Marjorie Hinckley

Such a smart women.