Toy Organization

As we have been approaching Christmas, we have been talking with Amanda about how there are several children that aren't as fortunate, and how nice it is to give to others, especially those in need. We decided to clean her room and get rid of things she once loved, and no longer plays with. As we cleaned, I decided it was also the appropriate time to organize Amanda's books and toys so that it would be easy for her to know where to put things away! I decided for her toy bins, we would take pictures of what each bin holds. I have learned that this visual is a great way to teach younger children (who don't know how to read quite yet). I laminated the photos and attached them to the fabric bins with ribbon!

   

Last year, Adam made this cute dollhouse bookshelf for Amanda...we had all intentions of finishing it with a back and painting each cubby, to create a dollhouse for Amanda's dolls but until that actually happens, it works great for storage of extra toys and books. We have found that clear plastic shoe boxes work best for storing kids toys. It is easy to see what is inside, and seems to help when it comes to picking up too. I added photo labels to these boxes as well.

Have you heard of a "toy-rotation"? We thought this would be a great thing to start implementing in our home. The idea behind it is to have a few different boxes of toys. You introduce one box to your children one week, and then at the end of that week, you "pack" those toys back up and introduce a new box. Its fun for the children and gives them a sense of having "new toys" to play with that they haven't seen for awhile. I've seen this toy rotation implemented in other friend's homes, and the children seem to enjoy it..I think we'll give it a try. 

I'm always trying to find ways to save money. I have a love for organizing anything and everything, and organizing containers can be very expensive. To save money, I often find that I can re-purpose food containers...peanut butter jars and condiment jars with the screw on lids are some of my favorites...after you peel the label off, you have a clear jar, or plastic container that works for holding small toys or kids art supplies. These containers are great for organizing kid things, but they work great in all areas of home organization. 

It's amazing how much stuff accumulates when you have children. I only have one child at the moment, I can't imagine what it will be like when we have more. Question: What are your favorite ways to organize kid "clutter"?

Crazy Week

What a week this past week has been! I'm not going to say it has been an easy week but I'm still here, love life, and so so blessed to have people who love and care for my family and I! This week I'm blessed for the Gift of Life and all the blessings and trials that come with it. This is going to be a crazy, jumbled post and yes, a good indication of what this past week has been like. This week we have been doing lots of Christmas crafts and have been working on getting all of our homemade gifts completed. We were so excited to find out that they are giving Adam time off work so we get to go home for a few days and be with my family...which is a true blessing considering we didn't know the next time we would make it back with Adam's hectic work schedule.  

Amanda loves doing puzzles...she has always been really great at them...I love that I can have her sit and do puzzles while I prepare breakfast! Our mornings this week have been filled with lots of puzzles. Can you believe this little one can already do 100 piece puzzles?!? Amanda also has such a strong love for dancing...I'm pretty sure today was the first day in the past 5 days I was able to "hide" it from her long enough to get it washed. Blessed with the little gifts like this though, the pure joy she has dancing around the kitchen as I prepare dinner or excitement she has when she is showing me her newest "move"! Love this girl!

We also finished a tie-blanket for Amanda this week! Grandma Jo had sent us a kit to put it together. It allowed Amanda to work on tying knots which I thought would be great, except she got tired after about the 10th tie which meant I had alot of blanket to finish myself. She however does LOVE snuggling with this blanket!

This week I stocked our freezer again with easy to grab breakfast items. We all have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, and this allows Adam to still get a good breakfast before, or more properly stated, while he is heading out the door to work. This week I prepared, bacon,egg and cheese english muffins, pancakes and french toast! It is easiest to make a double batch while you are making it...twice the amount of food, and you only have to clean up the once. I just wrap the english muffins in tinfoil and label on the outside so it's easy to know what is inside! We also get our cheese at Costco...great way to save a little money on something that can make a huge dent in a grocery budget! Shredding cheese is one of my least favorite things to do when it comes to food prep, so we always spend the extra dollar and get already shredded cheese...I figure the savings in time is worth that extra dollar. Because there is no way that our family of 3 could get through this cheese before it goes bad though, we end up dividing and freezing our cheeze in freezer bags! I will post more later on some of the other things we freeze and how we stock our freezer with already made meals to avoid making that last minute "pizza" delivery!

Amanda helped daddy prepare for his Secret Santa party at work!! We decorated stockings for some of his employees...she thought it was so cool to get to paint each!! We worked on several other Christmas projects but can't show pictures as many are for Christmas gifts!

 This was Amanda's handprint Christmas tree!! Turned out so cute!!

Amanda and Ian put together Popsicle-stick Christmas trees too! Great, easy craft for even the little ones! They had fun adding bits of paper "ornaments" to each of their trees!

We've been trying to make family movie night a special thing in our home. We have been trying to do family movie night twice a month, in which we sit down as a family and pick out a movie, make popcorn or a special treat and enjoy the time together. Last nights movie was "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"...Amanda  was laughing so hard, and it was fun to see her curl up with her daddy!!

Lastly, a picture from my Open House Christmas Bazaar last Saturday. A weather advisory made for a slow show, but it was great to get my product out into the public. Thanks Naomi for allowing me to do this at your home!! If you are in need of last minute Christmas gifts for any babies or moms in your life, check out my business HERE! Gifts needing to make it on time for Christmas must be ordered by December 15th! I just want to thank everyone too for making my dream of running a business a reality...thanks for the continued support!!

Feast of St.Nick

Happy Feast of St. Nicholas a day late!! We set our shoes out on the Eve of the Feast of St. Nick and yesterday, we woke up to special goodies that St. Nick had left us in our shoes!! Amanda was especially excited for her new princess socks and her activity pack. She sat and colored each page and pulled all the stickers from that activity pack....it kept her busy for about 1 1/2 hours!

Amanda had an extra special day as we had planned a special "sleepover" night at her Auntie Jill's house. In the afternoon, we had started to get snow and roads became very slick fast...it put her sleepover night in jeopardy as I really didn't want to make the trip into Bozeman, but Amanda had been so excited for the past week for this night, and after talking to Jill it sounded as she had been just as excited, so we made the trip in. 

We ended up having to take the highway, as the frontage road we usually take had been shut to multiple accidents...praying the whole 10 miles in, that we would make it there safely. Took us two hours round trip...something that normally would take us 15 minutes each way! We made it safe and sound and after hearing the excitement in Amanda's voice of all the things she got to do at Auntie Jill's, I was reassured that we had made the right decision. Amanda got to decorate cookies, watch a movie and eat popcorn, paint nails and stay up extra late and cozy up to Auntie Jill at night! Thanks Jill for making this special night for her that I'm sure she will be talking about for quite sometime and helping us to remember how much we are blessed and how much we love our little girl.

Adam and I quickly realized as we walked back in the door, when we had arrived home, that things just aren't the same without little Amanda. What a joy she has brought to our life..life just wouldn't be the same without her..we were feeling extra blessed for the gift of parenthood, but also missing our little bundle of joy. I had wanted to get a ton of product done for Bridger Babies but we took advantage of the time together and had  a date night at home...dinner and a movie! Best decision, as date nights are rare and few. 

As I headed for bed, I turned at the top of the stairs to make my normal trip to Amanda's room to check on her, re-tuck her in, and give her a kiss...then remembered she wasn't here...Reminded me again of how truly blessed we are to have that little darling in our life. I must say...we had a wonderful, uninterrupted night's sleep...which was amazing, but as we woke this morning, we reminisced on how it just wasn't the same and Adam admitted he even kinda missed Amanda standing at the side of his bed asking for assistance in re-dressing after using the toilet in the morning. Haha. Parenthood definitely changes you!! 

Today was a nice day at the house...we had Amanda's cousins over to play...Amanda and Ryan had fun playing out back in the newly fallen snow. Off now, to complete all other tasks for the Open House Christmas Bazaar tomorrow! For those of you in Bozeman, I would love to see you...check out my Facebook page for the details! If you bring a friend,and make a purchase, you get 10% off your purchase! For anyone who can't make it, I'm offering 10% off your purchase if you order by Sunday, Dec. 9th. and mention the open house! Contact me at bridgerbabies@gmail.com or message me on Facebook.  Have a great weekend!!

Beginning of Advent!

Advent is here!! I love this time of year...the coming of Christmas! As a mom, it can be hard to find time to do anything other than the daily chores that encompass our lives, but I've been finding a peace by starting my days by getting up and spending time with Our Lord. No matter how stressful and chaotic the mornings sometimes seem, as long as I make time for Him, my day starts out brighter. It has been a busy week for us... I've been preparing for an Open House Christmas Bazaar for my business, playing with the kids during the day and sewing like crazy at night. Adam has been working 7 days a week and for now, there is no end to that in sight...the joys of retail!! And I'm pretty sure by the end of the week, Amanda will have had me read just about every kids book in this house!! Which if you've seen our house, you know that's a LOT!! (Mom insight: Garage Sales and Used Book Stores are AMAZING for stocking your home with lots of reading material!) I love that she loves to read and learn...today she shocked me by picking out a few "sight words" in a book and reciting them!! WOW...can you say proud moment for mom! 

This past week as I have been preparing for the Open House Christmas Bazaar, I decided to make a few re-useable sandwich bags...I'm trying to perfect them...and will be adding them to my product line soon for Bridger Babies. 


I've also been trying to add new breakfast meals to our meal plans for a little variety...this week I decided to give a new spin to our omelets. Omelets are great because it is a good way to get through leftover veggies and meats. We had lots of ham left over after Thanksgiving, so I  diced it and stored it in the freezer. The key ingredient that I added to our omelets this week was the cream cheese...I melted a tbsp of cream cheese and poured it over the veggies before closing the omelet...man was it tasty!!



With Adam working so much, I try to have dinner ideas that work great for when he's gone too! I tend to go for salads on the nights Adam is gone...as they just aren't his favorite. I made my favorite go-to salad this week...one that I had learned to make back when I was with Pampered Chef...one I wanted to share with all of you. 

Harvest Chicken Salad
1 pkg fresh baby spinach leaves ( I was out of spinach so I actually used Romaine this time...still tastes great)
2 c diced roasted chicken
1 c diced celery
2 medium apples
1/2 c chopped onion
3/4 c dried cranberries
1/2 c toasted pecan halves
mandarin orange slices

Dressing:
2 oranges
1/3 c mayo
2 tbsp stone-ground mustard 
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt and pepper
1 small garlic clove, pressed

For dressing, zest one orange using zester to measure 2 tsp zest. Juice oranges to measure 1/2 c fresh squeezed orange juice. Combine zest, mayo, mustard, sugar, salt, pepper and garlic, whisk until smooth. Add orange juice and continue to whisk. Combine all salad ingredients. 

 We made a "Santa" Advent Calendar! Amanda was so so excited. Amanda gets to put on a cotton ball each day until Christmas. By Christmas, Santa's beard will be full!!

One last favorite, easy recipe for all you mommas! Asparagus...oh how we LOVE asparagus!! Preheat oven to 375. Spread your asparagus out on a baking sheet, drizzle with a little olive oil and small amount of salt and pepper. Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes. When you take it out of oven sprinkle with a little shredded Parmesan and let melt. Most delicious way we've tried!! Have any other delicious ways to prepare veggies...let me know!! Amanda loves veggies and I'm always trying to find new ways to season and make more veggies!!