Cleaning Up the Kids Room

Did I ever tell you how much I loathe clutter? It seems no matter how much I dislike clutter with a husband, four kids (all 5 and under), a dog and now three kittens (not to mention all the home improvement projects going on!), clutter seems to tag along where ever I go. Recently I have carried on a few conversations with friends leading to me explaining that while I may list a million things I am able to accomplish on CERTAIN days...these days are rare. Most days I feel so behind in my cleaning and household management because I'm sitting down every hour or two to nurse Joey. While I TRULY treasure this time, I'm sure any nursing mom can relate, that the downside is not being able to do anything else during this time. I'm sure God designed it that way though to allow us multi-tasking mothers to sit down, take a breath and enjoy our babies for the short time they are small. :-) So when I do have a day where I am able to cross off everything on my "to-do" list I'm usually super excited and want to share!

The closet door in my kids room which had ALL their toys neatly organized in bins mysteriously unlocked itself (cough cough, anyone want to confess?). And my children started sneaking bins full of toys downstairs to the living room; while I was in the kitchen unaware. They continued doing this until I walked into my living room and could barely see the carpeting. 

I decided I was NOT going to clean up this mess all by myself. I was going to make the kids help. I filled up bins with toys and had my boys carry them upstairs and dump them in their room in a big pile. We continued this process until all the toys were back in their room.

Once we were in their room I started three piles. The boys toys, Trinity's toys, and baby toys (for Joey....they got into his toybox too). The kids helped me put the toys in their proper pile. Once the main piles were established I went through each of them and made a Keep Pile, Give Away Pile, and Trash Pile. 

When it was all said and done we had a bag full of garbage and THREE garbage bags full of toys to give away/sell. 

Clutter....ugh!!

Yep, this is with the three garbage bags full of toys gone! They have a ton of toys. BUT I was also able to bring all the downstairs toys up to their closet too. (All of their clothes are in our new closet room...I'll be sure to share pictures when that MAJOR project is complete). 

We wanted their room upstairs to be free of furniture to avoid accidents while playing and give Mommy & Daddy peace of mind (more Mommy) about them playing upstairs in their room.  

(I should add a little note here, for anyone who might be wondering. Yes, there are two baby gates where their door should be. No, we did not make a "cage" for our children...lol. However, they were sneaking downstairs in the middle of the night/early in the morning to get food, get into things they're not allowed to, etc. We didn't want a door on their room because we wanted them to be able to call us if they needed something and didn't want fingers getting pinched. Our boys however, are big enough to simply climb over one gate. Solution: stack two gates. :-) But I do have to tell you there has been a few times they've even managed to climb over TWO gates...I'm thinking my kids truly are little monkeys! :-) )

BEST EVER Turkey Meatloaf

This is my recipe for ground turkey meatloaf! You'll never know it wasn't ground beef!! :-) This recipe was given the seal of approval from my family. :-) 

Ingredients:

3lbs Ground Turkey

6 Eggs

1 Green Pepper, minced

1 Medium onion, minced

1/2 C Water

3 Tbsp Better Than Bouillon Beef Flavor 

2 1/2 C Bread Crumbs - Plain

1 Can of Tomato Sauce, divided

First you'll want to cut up your pepper and onion and minced them in a food chopper.

 Toss them in a skillet and saute until the onion and pepper are soft.

I LOVE Superior Touch's Better Than Bouillon Beef Base! :-) I use this and their Chicken Base in so many recipes! It's so good and a lot better than bouillon cubes. :-)

 Add in the 1/2 C of water to the pepper and onion along with the three tablespoons of beef base. Stir together until the beef base is dissolved.

 Add the six eggs and 3lbs of turkey together on a large mixing bowl.

Pour in the pepper onion mix...

 Add in the breadcrumbs...

Also add in 1/2 can of tomato sauce (I forgot to photograph this step...oops) 


Mix all the ingredients together...

 Put the meatloaf mixture in two separate loaf pans. If you have company coming over or your family's just REALLY hungry you can bake both of these. If not, freeze one for later. :-)

 Pour remaining tomato sauce over top of the meatloaf.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours to 1hr and 45mins (depending on your oven). Check it with a meat thermometer. The center of the meatloaf should register at no less than 170 degrees. 

Homemade Piggy Banks

I've been wanting to teach my children about the value of money and how hard Daddy has to work to earn money to buy the toys, clothes, food, etc that they have. They were starting to get to a point where they expected to get toys when we went into a store or thought if they pointed something out to us in a magazine they would get it. So we've been explained the concept of saving money and working for money. I thought it would be a great learning lesson as well as a fun craft to make homemade piggy banks. I came across a few ideas that inspired this project but, as I normally do, I changed a few things and made it my own. :-) 

Materials (These are per piggy bank; I made four):

Hot Glue Gun

Scissors

Knife

Empty & Clean mayo jar, peanut butter jar, etc.

Paint (White and then the color you want to paint your bank)

Paint Brushes

2 White Decorative Rocks

1 egg carton

1 cut up newpaper 

Coarse Sandpaper

1 part Elmer's white glue/1part Water mixed (I used the whole bottle since I was making four banks)

After washing and drying your jars, you will need to cut out the coin  hole. DO NOT allow children to do this. An adult will need to do this part and even then you will need to be very cautious (I stabbed myself doing this step so I speak from experience!) Using a sharp knife cut two vertical lines in the jar. Space them the width of two nickels apart and make them just a bit longer than the width of a quarter. This will ensure the coins fit through with ease. Then using the scissors, cut the space connecting the two lines/cuts to make a rectangular opening. Next you want to use the sandpaper to sand down the plastic edges around the whole to make sure there are not any sharp edges around the coin hole. 

Next mix the water and Elmer's glue together and pour into a plate. Dip the strips of newspaper into the glue mixture and scrape off excess glue with fingers. Apply the newspaper to the jar. Cover every part of the jar except the threads where the lid screws on. 

I let the kids help with this part and they had a blast.

 

 Next set the jar up on the rim to dry.  While the jars were drying I let the kids paint their lids.

 

 Then cut the egg carton into sections. You will need 6 "egg cups" per bank. 

 Using your hot glue gun, attach the "ears" to the top of the bank. Remember that the "top" is with the coin hold facing upward.

 Next attach the four legs.

 When cutting your egg cups if you cut the square corners off the cup will glue easier to the surface of the bank. On the left the two have the corners cut. On the right the cup still has the squared corners.

 Then apply newspaper over top of the egg carton cups.

 Once the banks have dried, paint them white to "prime" them. Allow them to dry.

 Then you can paint the banks whatever color you like. My kids picked out their colors. (Brenden; blue, Joshua; green, Trinity; purple). We had a guest over when we made these and she picked out the colors she wanted and asked me to finish it for her when she had to go home. :-) I will eventually make Joey a red one. :-) 

 Here are the decorative glass rocks I used for the eyes...

 Just glue them on above the lid...

 Then paint black circles on them to create the pupils of the eyes.

 You can then paint black stripes down the lid for the nose/snout. Make sure that you screw on the lid FIRST then paint the black lines to ensure that the lines are vertical.

 I wrote the kids names on the back/butt of the pig.

You may have to use scissors to "reopen" any area where the newspaper covered the coin hole.

That's it!! :-) I'm going to make a list of chores my kids will be allowed to do to earn money to put in their piggy banks to save up to buy things they want. :-) 

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