Great Reads

Here are some of the best posts I've come across this week.

Dear Miss Poki Bear, at 5 Minutes for Parenting, is about a Mom writing monthly letters to her children. I have written letters to our girls before, letters that I am saving for them to read when they get older. This article reminded me that I need to do that more often, that we might remember the things they are going through at these ages.


On Monday, I had posted about working with our children on their manners when we're out shopping. This piece about Public Behavior from Chronicles of a Babywise Mom is an excellent read; it talks about training and practicing with our children prior to going out in public and how that helps create a more pleasant outing for all.


Finally, I am always looking for recommendations of good books to read with our girls. Life as Mom reviews Three Great Read Aloud Handbooks that are full of suggestions for good books.

Money Saved Beats Money Spent

As I mentioned here last week, one of the goals I have when shopping at Publix is to have my "savings" total at the bottom of my receipt be greater than the grand total I spend out of pocket. That doesn't happen very often, but it did this week!

I stopped in on Thursday and got the items pictured; I spent $18.90 total and saved $22.80. This even included a rotisserie chicken which made an easy and delicious supper that night.

My best deals were the Ocean Spray Cranberry Grape Juice for $.75 (B1G1 for $3.49; bought 1 @ $1.75 and had a $1 off coupon), the Cheerios for $1.15 each (B1G1 for $4.29 and had two $1 off coupons) and the Natures Own bread for $.99 (not a great price at $2.29, but had a Publix coupon for $.55 and a manufacturer's coupon for $.75).

See how others saved money this week at Money Saving Mom's Super Savings Saturday and The Thrifty Mama's Shopping Superstars. Also, to see how others fared at Publix, check out Fiddleedeedee's Publix Super Savers on Monday.

Glimpses of Hope

It happens every so often. The spirit and attitudes you're attempting to instill in your children show signs of actually producing results.

Such an event occurred last night. We had finished supper and gotten up from the table. Normally, after meals, each girl clears her own place at the table, puts her dishes in the dishwasher and I clean up the rest.

I had gone into another room with one daughter to look at something she had set up. While I was out of the kitchen for a few minutes, one of the girls entirely cleared the table, put all the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and put the dining room back in order.

I was amazed when I returned! More important than the act, sweet as it was, is the servant's attitude she displayed in doing the extra work without being asked and without coming to receive recognition. It's like a little light at the end of the tunnel - proof that something is taking root in her heart. What a blessing, simple as it is, for a mom's heart!

May I continue to recognize these moments as one of the finer things in life.

Read more about what others see as the finer things in life at Amy's Finer Things Friday.

photo courtesy www.publicdomainpictures.net

My Experiment with Herbs

In pursuit of healthier eating habits, last spring I decided that I wanted to begin cooking more with herbs.

On a trip to a garden center to get plants for our yard, I picked up a small container each of basil and oregano. I planted each in a pot and put it on our back patio. I don't exactly have a green thumb, so I was curious as to how this project would go.

To my surprise, the basil was a huge success! Once it got large enough, I began snipping leaves off and looking for recipes featuring basil. I loved the fresh taste and flavor it added to dishes.

I didn't bring it into the house when the temperatures got colder, so by late fall it had died. I began craving that fresh basil taste, so looked for some at the grocery store. I couldn't believe what they charged for a few leaves - almost double what I had paid for my whole plant! Now that spring is almost here, I'm excited about getting some basil growing again!

Oh, and by the way, my oregano didn't fare quite as well......think I'll try something different this year. If you've had success growing herbs before, please let me know in the comments section what worked well for you.

It's definitely more frugal to grow my own herbs than to buy them at the grocery store. To see how others are living more frugally, check out Frugal Friday at Biblical Womanhood.

photo courtesy www.publicdomainpictures.net

Frugal Living

These days, frugal living and financial responsibility are hot topics. I've come across some excellent articles lately on these subjects and wanted to pass them along.

The Happy Housewife wrote about Needs vs. Wants. This is a post that helps you to stop and think about all the things we see as "needs" and how many of those items are only "wants" and could be given up if necessary.

Recession Proofing, written as a guest post by Amy for Homemaker Barbi, talks about living within your means and lets us know that it is possible to survive and thrive even on just one income.

Finally, Keeper of the Home has a post called Clothing Kids Without Breaking the Bank. Saving money on clothes for our family is one of my favorite pastimes! I consider it a challenge to find great quality clothes at good prices.

Hope these ideas are helpful for you!

photo courtesy http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/

Pasta Recipe

Pasta is one of our girls' favorite foods. It doesn't have to be fancy; last night it was fettucine tossed with olive oil, parmesan cheese and a little salt and pepper. They basically licked the bowl clean. Since Jessica at Life is Mom is holding an "Ultimate Recipe Swap" and this week's theme is pasta dishes, I thought I'd share one we enjoy here. It was hard to narrow it down; but, since we started out the week with cold temperatures, I was in the "comfort food" frame of mind. Hence, here's my favorite chicken lasagna recipe.

Chicken Lasagna

12 ounces egg noodles
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups cubed cooked chicken
3 cups cottage cheese
2 eggs, slightly beaten
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, grated
Parmesan cheese, grated

Cook egg noodles according to package directions; set aside. Melt butter over medium heat in a saucepan; blend in flour, salt and pepper and cook until smooth. Slowly add broth and stir until sauce is thick and bubbly. Stir in chicken; set aside. In separate bowl, combine cottage cheese and eggs; set aside. In 9x13x2 inch baking dish, layer as follows: 1/3 of chicken mixture, 1/2 of cooked egg noodles, 1/2 of cottage cheese mixture, and 1/2 of mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers, ending with chicken mixture. Sprinkle heavily with Parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered for approximately 1 hour at 350 degrees.
[You can also make this ahead and freeze it. When ready to use, thaw for 24 hours in refrigerator and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.]

One day soon I'll share one of our favorite summer pasta recipes! Check out Life as Mom for more great pasta dishes.

Whose Path Will We Take?

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."

What more important desire could we have in life but that God might direct our path? The way I would choose may seem smooth and pleasant, sunshine all the time; but the path God directs me on is the one that will make me the person who can best be used by Him.

Therefore, I must daily trust Him and not follow my own way. I need to recognize Him as ultimately in control of all things and yield to His leading as I seek Him through Bible study and prayer.

This is one of many truths to be passed along to our children; taught through Bible instruction, yet, more importantly, lived out before them.

photo courtesy publicdomainpictures.net

Family Resources

Vision Forum, which offers some great products for the family, has released a new book by Doug Phillips entitled The Little Boy Down the Road.

According to their website, "The Little Boy Down the Road is a collection of humorous and thought-provoking short stories and essays on family and fatherhood that reveal the beauty of the Christian household."

You can click here to preview a chapter from the book. When purchasing the book, if you use the code 0309cd, you will receive 70% off the cd Victories Large and Small, which "outlines ten victories of parenthood — moments of unsurpassing beauty, both large and small, that dads and moms should recognize and rejoice in as they raise their children."

Tip for Getting a Lot Done Around the House

A good friend gave me this tip several years ago. When you have a list of chores to accomplish around the house, begin working and don't sit down.

Her statement caused me to think about how I do things. I am the type of person who is most productive in the morning. I can start out on a roll and get several things done quickly.

However, I started noticing that when I sat down to take a break (well-deserved though it may be), I would have a harder time getting up and going again. It also seemed that I didn't get as much accomplished as I had prior to my break before "needing" to take a breather again.

So these days, when I have alot of things to get done, I take her tip to heart. I keep moving down my list and try not to sit down until I'm done.

There are lots of great tips today over at Works for Me Wednesday. Read some of my other tips here and here.

Let's Love Letters

This edition of Teaching Tuesday is about letters. I would encourage you to introduce letters to your child at an early age, but NOT in a formal sense. There are many ways to incorporate the ABC's into your day and have them become part of your play. Here are a few ideas that I used with our girls when they were very young.

• Read books that are centered around letters. One of my older daughter's favorite books when she was around two years old was Dr. Seuss' ABC book. Let's just say I had it memorized! I have seen many cute books for young children that use letters as a basis for a story. Check these out at the library and read them during your reading time with your child.



• Play with blocks that have letters on them. For her second Christmas, my daughter received a set of very nice wooden blocks from my grandmother. They had letters in color on the sides. While these were great for building, they were also useful in playing other games such as finding letters that were the same and teaching letter names.



• I was able to find foam letter shapes that could be used in the bathtub. Both girls played with these, getting them wet and then sticking them up on the side of the tub. Again, we could name the letters or try to find the letter that started their name.



• One of the neatest things I found was a large rug that had the alphabet printed on it. It was actually decorative and very pretty; we bought it for our older daughter when she was about eighteen months old. In her room, she would play with her toys on it; however, she would also notice the letters and as we were playing on it, we would talk about what the names of the letters were. For some reason, she developed an affinity for the letter Z! It was one of the first letters she learned and she loved to find it in books and point it out.



• Using sidewalk chalk, write some letters on your sidewalk or driveway and see if your child can find a certain letter and jump on it.



• At snack time, form the shape of a letter on a plate with cheerios or another small snack food and see if they can name the letter.

These are just a few fun things we did together in an informal way to introduce the girls to letters. I'd love to hear ideas you may have used in this area with your children!

Thanks to Teachers

Teachers play a special part in our lives and in the lives of our children. Admittedly, I have a soft spot in my heart for teachers since I used to be one!

Now that I'm a mom, I see even more clearly how important a role teachers play in a child's life. They have an awesome responsibility as a partner with parents in training and educating our children.

Teachers often act as an instructor, role model, friend and counselor. They can open up whole new worlds of interest for our kids and influence choices they make for the future.

My dad has said many times that, as parents, we love people who love our kids and that's so true. I am grateful to each teacher who has invested a part of themselves into my children.

Visit Laura at Heavenly Homemakers each Tuesday to celebrate Gratituesday and see things for which others are grateful.

photo courtesy publicdomainpictures.net

Mannerly Monday - Shopping Edition

Shopping with children. Does the very idea make you break out in a cold sweat? No matter their age, each stage our children pass through seems to present its own challenges.

You begin with the infant who starts screaming as you cross the first item off your twenty-item list. From there you progress to the toddler who wants nothing to do with being restrained in a cart, to the potty-training one who needs to make two mad dashes to the bathroom in a twenty minute span when you’re in the store with the dirtiest restrooms in town.

None of this even covers the small revolution you encounter when you refuse to buy them something they feel they must have, the sibling knock-down, drag outs in the middle of the store, or the unexpected loud comments about the person standing directly behind you in the checkout line.

What worked for me when shopping with two little ones? Grocery shopping late at night or very early in the morning when my husband was at home with the kids, or, at a little later stage, a special treat of a blowpop or tootsie roll pop which could buy me about fifteen minutes of peace (albeit with a sticky ending).

So this mannerly Monday, let’s consider the manners we can teach our children to help them have self-control while out shopping. Prior to leaving the house on errands, I would usually try to discuss and practice the rules I wanted the girls to remember.

1) Look with your eyes, not with your hands. We have yet to conquer this one completely, but it’s an important one.

2) Stay close by your parent at all times. Try to stand still and wait patiently and quietly.

3) Never run in a store. If you should knock something over, put it back where it goes. If something breaks, let a store employee know right away.

4) Watch out for others whether walking or pushing a cart. Be sure to say “excuse me” if you reach or walk in front of someone to get an item.

5) After shopping, return your cart to the front of the store or to the appropriate parking lot stall.

I am sure some mothers have great ideas for making shopping with children a pleasurable experience. I’ve heard of moms who involve their small children with choosing items off of the shelf and finding ways for them to “help” throughout the trip. With plenty of time and only one little one, I think that might have been fun; however, I tended to have more of the mindset of dashing through the store as quickly as possible.

I do have to say that it has become easier as the girls have gotten older. They are now able to push the cart if the aisles aren't too crowded and get familiar items off the shelf. If I'm shopping for something for them or someone they know, they're interested in what I'm purchasing. If I'm shopping for myself, they're a little more easily entertained by things like letting them play with the calculator on my cell phone while I try on clothes in the dressing room.

If you have special rules you use with your children when shopping, or ideas for passing shopping time pleasantly, please share in the comments section.

photo courtesy publicdomainpictures.net