These are not just limited to yogurt or applesauce, the possibilities are really endless with these little babies. I came across them a few months back and since I make all my own yogurt these are perfect for sending yogurt to school in, or taking it anywhere you want it to go. These cups have never leaked once, which I LOVE, (who wants to clean up lunch pails that have been spilled in, yuck)! We also use them for applesauce, if you make your own then these are awesome to send individual portions to school in and if you don’t make your own it’s so much cheaper to buy the big jar of applesauce and then portion it out vs. buying the applesauce’s that are pre-packaged and portable. Anyway enough rambling these are perfect for any liquid or runny substance you may want to send in your child’s lunch or take to work yourself in your own lunch. Try them out, here’s a link on Amazon, I found these at Burlington Coat Factory of all places and they were cheaper than the Amazon price, but I have looked other places and even gone back to Burlington and have never been able to find them again, only on Amazon (let me know if you ever find them elsewhere). I hope they become a favorite of yours like they are mine.
We must be pretty good friends if I’ll show you a picture of my laundry room:). Laundry is such a huge part of our lives, no matter if there are 2 people living in your house or 10 there is always laundry to do and when it’s organized and caught up on life seems slightly on the amazing/wonderful side. A few years back I was asked to give a class on organization, I thought that a little funny because I didn’t think I had a whole lot to share on being organized but as I started thinking I realized my life was pretty organized tailored to me. If someone else were to come in my house they may not think I was overly organized but to me it was organized because I had a system and I knew where things were. So I share this post in hopes to maybe give you a few ideas or spark something that will help you figure out a way to be more organized (something that works for you). Organization is huge as a mom, if I am organized everything goes/runs so much smoother if I am not chaos usually hits, so I try hard to stay organized. I’ll share organization tips along the way with this blog because it’s something I value a lot.
When we moved into this house I finally had a laundry room, a whole room just for laundry that was an amazing feeling, the builder even told me in the building process that my laundry room was wasted space and I kind of chuckled inside, he had obviously never done laundry for 9 people before. little did he know I would use every nook and cranny of that room. Anyway so I came up with this system when we moved in and I love it, it goes along with my post about teaching kids how to work hard, http://debsfaves.com/teaching-kids-the-value-of-hard-work/ by giving them a task that takes more than 20 minutes to complete plus it’s on going meaning they have to do it each week. It also leaves me folding very little laundry and I LOVE that. So here’s what I do… Under my folding table I have tall long bins for our dirty laundry, I separate the laundry into those bins, jeans, darks, lights, towels, and clothes I hang up after I wash them (this is just how I do it, it’s just suggestion do whatever works best for you). Then on the top of my folding table I have a laundry basket for each kid except my youngest and my oldest (my oldest does all his own laundry) and I do the youngest’s. I wash all the clothes and when they come out of the dryer I separate them at that moment into each kids basket unfolded, on Saturday they each take their bin to their bedroom, even my three year old, and fold all of it and put it away in their drawers or hang it up. Then they bring it back for me to fill up again. This system has worked great and it gives my kids a huge part to play in doing their own laundry while teaching them responsibility. You do have to realize their drawers won’t look perfect but I am totally okay with that (as a mom of 7 I have to let go of a few things) and hopefully over time they will learn how to fold better and then it will look better as they get practice (my older kids do a great job). I have done laundry for a lot of years and this has hands down been my favorite way to do it. If you don’t have a lot of space in your laundry room or no laundry room at all I think there are easy ways to improvise and still have a system similar to this. Let the laundry organization begin:).
Here is a link to a laundry basket and to some tall skinny ones like I have if you need somewhere to start. I got my baskets at Costco and the tall ones on the bottom at Target. You can get laundry baskets ANYWHERE.
I came across this quote a while ago on Pinterest and I LOVED it. I think earnestly listening to our children is one of the most important things we can do for them as parents. We should be totally vested in what they have to say so that they know that they can always talk to us about anything and that we really truly care about what they are doing and how life is going for them. After reading this quote I remembered an experience I had with my son, he was 6-7 at the time (he is 13 now), he was very much into Lego’s and loved playing with them, one day he came to me so excited about some things he had made with Lego’s and he wanted to tell me ALL about them. I of course was busy, and just between you and me, did not want to listen to stories about lego’s and fortresses and dragons and warriors etc. but as I was sitting there thinking of all the things I should be doing and wasn’t a sweet thought came to me and I will never forget it. It was.. Listen to him now, while he is little, talk all about Lego’s and things that are important to him so that when he is older he will want to talk with you about everything that is important to him, and he will come to YOU when things are hard. After that thought my perspective changed and I listened. Even after that wonderful experience with him I am still not always perfect at listening earnestly to my children (I’ll be honest sometimes my ears are constantly ringing with the sounds of children’s voices) but I try hard and I know It is so important. So maybe today take the time to listen earnestly to your child and see if it makes a difference even just in that moment. If it is extremely hard for you to earnestly listen just try and take it one day at a time. Listen well to a couple things they have to say and then do the same the next day, add to it as the days go on and you’ll realize it will start to become easier and then you’ll find that listening/talking with your child will become one of your favorite things to do.
