Kid of The Day

I was at my friends for the Super Bowl and I saw on her fridge a Laminated picture of a throne that says, “Kid of the Day.”  And then she had all her kids names also printed out and laminated and on the fridge and one of the kids names is above the throne.  So I had to know what this was about so I asked her about it.  It is a revolutionary idea, thanks Cassie!!!

Photo From Cassie

 Here it goes...

So everyday you designate a “Kid of the day” and that kid gets to pick.  What do I mean by pick?  Do your kids get into fights?  Do your kids fight over toys?  Who gets to sit where?  What do we want to have for dinner?  Who needs to stop singing because it is bugging me?  You get the idea.  I often times feel like a referee in my own home by trying to manage and figure out who gets what or who gets to win the fight.  I often times will let the kids work our their own arguments and in fact I will often times charge them a dollar if they want me to work it out for them.  They will usually opt to figure it out for them selves.  Kids want someone else to make the decision and I feel like what I am put in the position to decide who gets to sit where or who gets what color of sucker that the kids can feel like I am favoring one child over another even though I have no intention to do so.  This is why I loved this idea that my friend had.  To eliminate having to pick who had the toy first etc.  The answers is...well who is the KID OF THE DAY!! They get to pick.  If you are the one singing and it is bugging someone well sing on, if you want to sit by the baby in the car then go right ahead.

She said that is has become such a wonderful routine in their home that they do not even question it.  They know that when it is their day they will get to choose so the fighting has stopped.  Or at least it stops shortly after it starts.  How awesome not to have to be the bad guy or referee and just get to enjoy the kids.  We are going to try this in our home!  We are going to change it up a bit and try “Kid of the Week.”  We change chores every week so whoever has dishes for the week, the job everyone hates including me, will get to be Kid of the Week.

Orange Rhino

I have to say that I have had a no yelling resolution since I’ve become a parent.  Sadly I am not perfect and need some help.  And I’m still working on this resolve yet again this year!  I thought I had myself under control and I had kicked that nasty behavior.  So, I was emotionally stable and ready for a new kid.  Well, It turns out that new kids are the reason for the added stress and tendency to yell.  So, back to square one, well not completely I have all the skills now but I have to implement them and with little ones needing you 24/7 it is next to impossible to accomplish.  My friend Alice told me about this awesome lady who challenged herself and promised her kids that she would not yell for 365 days.  If she yelled she had to start over.  SHE DID IT!  She now has a blog and a book and I love her Facebook group called THE ORANGE RHINO CHALLENGE.  She gives us a look at her journey and the skills she learned to "YELL LESS and LOVE MORE” - Orange Rhino.  She has some great tips and she encourages you to take the Orange Rhino Challenge.  Start your goal off small and then add up to it.  She has some free printables on her website to help you get started but if you do not like all the paperwork and have gone paper free and now do your planning and everything on your tablet or phone she also has an app called the Orange Rhino.  I love the app because I do not have added paper hanging around which adds stress too!  The App is only available for apple right now but if it gets enough traffic it will also be available in android.

Orange Rhino Helps you to:

*Track your Triggers:  I track what types of things trigger my yelling and come up with a strategy to deal with it next time.

*Set your Goal and start over if you need to.

*Forgive yourself when you mess up and try again.

*Give you a support system to help you realize you are not alone.

I have had to start over plenty of times but I feel like just knowing that others are struggling with this too helps me to feel normal and helps me to make changes because I know others are cheering for me.  My kids even helped by coloring the Orange Rhino’s from her blog and we posted them around the house.  While it doesn’t always help it is a good reminder and it did help to get the kids involved and it gave a chance for us to talk about it and for them to feel okay to speak up about it too.

Orange rhino’s are peaceful but charge when provoked. :)

Find her Blog Here!

Reinvent Snacks?

I know that I posted a wonderfully well written post on how to present snacks to kids.  If I do say so myself.  But I was presented with a problem and therefore had to find the solution.  My husband presented the problem to me.  He said that we had entirely way too many snacks in the house and he wanted them gone!  Now if you know my husband he is most generally joking.  So I initially shoved it off and kept buying snacks and organizing them like I did.  Okay it was not just initially it was for years.  He began to get persistent so I figured he must be serious.  I asked him about it a bit more and he was very serious about it.  We were spending a lot of money on snacks and the kids were eating too many snacks and not eating their dinner well.  So I said we would give it a go and I would stop buying snacks.  I know what you are thinking.  "Poor women!"  Or poor kids whoever you feel more sorry for.  I did too.  At first it was hard not to just have handy snacks to reach for especially on the go.  I have to admit that I had a bit of a laugh when one of our kids asked to have a snack and dad said yes. hummmm. I wondered what snack fairy had come to visit and ran to the pantry.  No, but really what was he thinking this was his idea after all.

Surprisingly no one wilted away and died.  No one went starving.  We even were satisfied actually.  I, most of all, because everyone ate their dinner!!! What?  I know, now you're jealous!  They were hungry and well fed at dinner, imagine that.

Here is what I did to make it work:
1.)  Vegetables and fruit anytime you want.  "Don't Even Ask!"  That is my response.  If you are hungry you know what you can have.  After all, if you ruin dinner with a carrot I'm not going to be that upset.

2.)  Make treats!  Okay okay a bit counterintuitive but they had healthier home made treats once or twice a week not processed snacks everyday.  We eat them for dessert or for a family home evening snack.

3.)  Eat dinner early!  Dinner is more at 4:30 or 5:00.  The kids are usually pretty hungry after school.     So instead of making them suffer we just eat dinner.

4.)  Put any foods that need to be eaten out on the counter.  It is surprising how fast food is eaten when it is visible and easy to eat.

5.)  Homemade bread!  I also made bread and my kiddos enjoyed it with jelly.  Or I'd make over ripe banana's into banana bread.  There always seems to be a nighttime "snack"  even when I'm not buying snacks.

If you are spending too much money on snacks or your kids are over snacking and they won't eat their dinner.  Try it! At least for awhile and it will change your mindset to what is really essential snacking.  Thanks hubby for the great idea!!

Fly Lady Fly

My new favorite website...you have got to check it out.  This lady is a genius and so positive and encouraging.  Housework and organizing your home can get overwhelming half the time I feel like I don't have enough time she makes it doable without the stress and guilt and pressure.

Each day of the week she gives specific tasks to do in the home that take 15 min.  Each week is a different room.  These tasks help with the deep cleaning but it is only 15 min. a day.  Then on Monday you do an hour of quick clean 10 min. for vaccum, dust, etc. this used to take me hours and I obsess about getting things "just right."  And now I just do it, it feels like I have succeeded and it didn't take me all day and it's not perfect but my house is clean and organized and I'm just taking it one step and one day at a time.  A timer is key...set the timer for 15 min. and then stop when it goes off.  I don't need to stress about it because I know I'm going to get to it, she has it all mapped out for me and she helps me establish healthy daily routines.

Flylady.Net

Sign up for the emails and check out the Launch pad for daily tasks, routines, and tips.

Let's Fly Ladies!!! 

Online/App Chore Chart

Our warm fuzzy jars worked great for rewarding good behavior but didn't really give us any structure and organization when it comes to chores.  Especially since my kids are getting older now and can handle a daily chore chart.  I came across this wonderful app on my iPhone called MY JOB CHART.
One of the great advantages of using the online program is that it automatically updates everyday.  Sometimes that was the downfall of other charts that I've tried at home. Mom Malfunction!!! I would forget to update or get a new sheet or count points and start over.  This program will do all of that for you.  Not to mention the fact that you can personalize chores for each child and days of the week and you can assign points to be allotted for jobs done.  The jobs can be divided into daytime and night time jobs too.

The kids just login and then check off their assigned, by you, chores when they are complete.  Then when they complete the chores they are given points and then they can choose how to spend their points.  You get to pick the rewards that they choose from and I usually let the kids help me pick too that way they are more motivated to do their chores.  Then they organize their points and can either save, share, or spend.  What a great way to teach money management skills too!!!

It can also be a way to let the kids learn responsibility and less yelling.  If they don't do it they don't get the points and if I have to do it then I don't have the energy or time to do other things for them.  So if they asked, "Can you do ____  for me?"  you could reply, “I'm really tired so I can't because I had to do your chores.”  Also you could assign an even worse chore, like DOG POOP, on the job chart and until the do it mom is out of business. :)

My kiddos love earning points and using electronics for their chore chart and this one had all the features that I wanted.

* Morning, Evening, and Extra’s Checklists
* Customizable
* Daily update...They do not have to uncheck it to check them again the next day
* Tracks all the points they Earned for Each job they check off
* I get to pick what rewards are Available to them
* They get to pick what rewards they want and how they spend their points
* The App let’s me know which rewards they spent their points on and when I redeem the reward for them I check it done...SO I do not forget to redeem!

The app is available on iPhone and android devices and you can use it on your desktop or laptop as well. So if you are interested in using this chore chart those are a few of the ways that you can use it.   You can reach the program online here at myjobchart.com.  If you are searching on your app store search "my job chart."

Top 16 Gift Ideas and Recipes Using Essential Oils

I love the Holidays and I love making people happy with gifts and goodies so I have put together a list of links of some of my favorite ideas:

1.) Peppermint Patties!  I love her blog everything I've made off of her blog is really good!

2.)  5 Gift ideas from Doterra blog including the easy Bath Salts and sugar scrub

3.)  Dryer Balls with a bottle of oils (For dryer sheets)

4.)  DIY Diffuser Necklaces

5.)  Travel tin/ small gift set of oils

 

6.)  Roller Bottles..You could make up a group of your favorite oils into roller bottles and 
tie a ribbon around them with some oils info.  When I fill the bottles I fill with a 1-1 ratio 
essential oil to Carrier oil (Fractionated Coconut oil) for adults and a 1-2 ratio essential oil 
to carrier oil for kids.  This is such an easy way for kids to put on their oils.

This is where I buy my bottles great site...

7.)  Room Spray or Monster Spray!  Room spray is a great replacement for air freshener 
that is non-toxic.  Also Monster Spray is pretty much the same thing only I use Lavender for 
my scent and it is the perfect remedy for monsters at night. I even let my kids spray it to put 
them in control of getting rid of the monsters.  Not only do they think it gets rid of monsters it is

full of lavender which will help them calm down and sleep.

8.)  Bath Bombs/bath fizzies

....There were many more recipe's for them when I searched bath bombs under Google. 

......Also as a tip: you can substitute Citric acid (which can be hard to find) for half the

amount of Cream of Tartar.

9.)  Tub truffles

...This is only one of the many recipes when I was searching.

The main idea that I got was equal parts of coconut oil and a butter i.e. like Cocoa or Shea

and then and a little bit of fractionated coconut oil to combine and some of your favorite 
essential oilfor scent and then freeze and package.

10.)  DIY Whipped Body Butter

11.)  Hot cocoa recipe and popcorn... doTerra Holiday Magazine recipe ideas and prices for 
holiday oils and specials.

12.)  GingerBread Men....I just added oils in place of spices i.e. Cinnamon oil, Ginger oil, and Clove oil and add it into the wet ingredients instead of the dry...This dough seemed really dry when we were rolling them out but we rolled them out pretty thick and didn't over bake and they turned out really nice and chewy yummy!

13.)  Cranberry Chutney...This was really good what a great dip for any holiday party!

14.)  Cheesecake swirl Peppermint Brownie's....I just added a drop of peppermint to the brownie 
mix you could do this with your favorite brownie recipe to give it some holiday flare.  It makes an easy 
classic into something for the holidays and an easy yet yummy filler for those Holiday Cookie Plates.  Also 
try adding a bottle of oils to the top of your plates with a ribbon or a cookies cutter or an ornament.  
Always a nice Touch!

15.)  Pinterest Doterra Oils recipes

16.)  Fruit Dip and other Yummy and Easy Food and oil recipes.  The Fruit Dip with Wild Orange is delicious.

....She also has some great spa product recipes and other ideas so search her blog for more ideas!

***When cooking with essential oils make sure you are using food grade oils such as doTERRA!****

You can buy doTERRA product here on my website. 

Happy Holiday's and fun gift and treat making!!!

Helpful links for Essentail Oils info:

http://www.oilsmentor.com/

http://www.everythingessential.me/

Compensation Plan

Enrollment Kits

"There's nothing to eat!"

Do your kids complain that there is nothing to eat?  I myself personally hate this, however I also remember saying it when I was a kid.  So I'm guessing that this is a common problem.  The second my kids say it I can list off a number of snacks that they could eat.  So what did I do help aid the snack dilemma and stop the, "There's nothing to eat!"

1.  I emptied out one of my crisper drawers in the refrigerator and designated it as a drawer for snacks.  It was the bottom drawer because I'm tall and my kids are short! :)  This has been a huge improvement for the kids finding a snack.  No more standing in front of the refrigerator with the door open trying to decide what to eat.  They go in, open their drawer, and pick something.

This is what kind of snacks I put in the drawer:
 - string cheese
 - baby carrots
 - cleaned grapes
 - gogurt
 - cut up fruit, vege's, i.e. catalope, pineapple, berries (just clean and place in airtight Tupperware)
 - oranges, apples, and pears
 - mini manadarin oranges or applesauce

The key is to make the snacks ready to eat, without a lot of work for you or the kids to do when snack time comes along.  I love it too because you can have healthy options for the kids, a place for the snacks to go, and the kids know exactly where to go when they are hungry.

2.) Have one place in the pantry for dry snacks.  If you don't have a pantry use one shelf in the cabnets.  One small place.  If I make big trips to cosco/samsclub then I will put extra snacks somewhere else.  Only the snacks that I want them to eat are on the snack shelf.  It limits choices and helps the kids see the available options and helps them make a faster choice.

These are the kinds of snacks I put on the snack shelf:
 - Fruit snacks
 - Crackers
 - Nuts
 - Granola Bars
 - Nutrigrain bars
 - Healthy homemade snacks

I do not put candy or other dessert items here I save these for dessert or family night or just plain snacks they have to ask for.  But with the other snacks I just let the kids help themselves, a little freedom is good and they don't eat me out of house and home either.  If they haven't had freedom with snacks yet they may over eat a bit at first but their body will tell them when they've had enough. Well, I do have one daughter that could eat as many sweets treats as she wanted, thats why I limit those snacks.

3.) I had a friends mom who would put out bowls of snacks on the table for the kids during snack time and they could pick what they wanted.  I like that idea but I could never keep up with it.  But it might work for you too!

*Now what about the opposite dilemma?  Too many treats at Halloween!!!!!!  When I was a kid we had maybe an hour party at school and then trick or treating that night and that was it.  I feel like there is soooo much going on for Halloween.  Downtown trick or treat, Harvest party/Carnival, Library story-time party, ALLLLLLL day Halloween Party, parade, and trick or treat at school, and trunk or treat and trick or treats.  It is too much.  Well anyway, needless to say next year we will be boycotting half of the activities.  Yah I say that now! ;)  Anyway,  my husband is against taking all the candy away that makes it home so I steal all their bags and then I can at least limit how much they eat at a time.  My kids really have learned when enough is enough and I do see them stop most of the time when they've had enough.
A couple tummy aches and even the thing that follows.  But now one of my daughters always says, "I've had enough!"

1.)  One of my friends gives the kids a sandwich size ziplock bag and says what ever fits in here you can keep and everything else either gets thrown away or put away!

2.) My sister-in-law makes a type of advent calender with the candy.  She wraps a piece of candy for each day until Christmas in plastic wrap individually and then let's them eat a piece a day as a count down to Christmas!

3.) Always take some pieces for yourself when you're inspecting the candy as a tax for the taxing service you provided on Halloween! :)

How do you get your kids to eat healthy and stay away from too many sweets for the holidays?