November | 2010 |

Brothers

27. November 2010 · 2 comments · Categories: motherhood · Tags: brothers

As the baby grows up and is walking around, him and his older brother are interacting a lot more. Sometimes this is a really good thing. Of course this also means there’s a lot more squabbling and crying as big brother really doesn’t like sharing his toys as much as he said he would when I was pregnant. In fact he seems to get a strange thrill from seeing just how much he can bother his baby brother. There are lots of not-so-happy brother moments and I’m sure they will eventually learn to team up at least to see just how crazy they can make mama. But somehow even when they are fighting there is something kind of sweet in it since they are being brothers together. I think I have many crazy days ahead of me with these two but I’m still incredibly grateful that they have each other. Here are some rare sweet moments I caught on camera of the two brothers:

I was nursing the baby and they decided it would be a good time to play footsie. It was slightly annoying to me, the nursing mother, but the sweetness factor won out and I allowed it.

And they’ve been doing laundry together too

Even the baby has become pretty helpful since he sees older brother doing it

And they really like reading together too.

As I wrote this I had to stop and tell big brother to stop bothering his little brother probably about a 101 times.

sigh. God help me.

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Small Successes Thursday November 18

18. November 2010 · 4 comments · Categories: Around the House, Marriage, motherhood, Small Successes

1. I asked others for help on a project I’m working on instead of trying to do it all by myself.

2. I decided it was time to do the same at home and get serious about sharing the load so bought a Chore Chart for the kids and so far it has been working pretty well.

3. I went through the kids closet and transferred clothes from rubbermaid boxes to the space saver bags. I like that they seal to cut down on moths but I don’t think they will save much space…it doesn’t look like the picture said it would…did I not do it right? (see below)

Share what you got done this week!

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Whiney Whine Whine

17. November 2010 · 6 comments · Categories: Marriage, motherhood, Whiney Wednesday

Simplemama’s

Today I was thinking about whining, which is appropriate since it is Whiney Wednesday. I was thinking about motherhood and the many trials and difficulties it entails. It’s not all “sparkles and rainbows” like my friend Mary points out. But, I have to say that even while I talk about my whines and all the hardships of being a mother I have never once thought to myself, “I wish I never would have become a mother” or “I wish I didn’t have one or any of my children”. The same is true for my husband and our marriage. They honeymoon stage can’t last forever but our love can continue deepening and ‘aging’. (like a good wine). I think it’s good to remember that every now and then; that I am happy with who I am as a wife and mother and I accept my husband and children and love them as they are, even when they drive me absolutely bonkers. That said, here are my whines for the day:

1. I have many wonderful ideas for things I’d like to do with my children…just can’t seem to find the execute button.

2. My 4 year old thinks it is fun to take anything and everything away from his little brother, but little brother is not so amused by this.

3. My 4 year old also thinks it’s great fun to knock 13 month old little brother over now that he is walking around everywhere. Again, little brother is not so amused by this either. (he actually just did this as I was typing and I had to stop and yell at him…)

It’s good to do a ‘reality check’ in our ‘perfect’ lives. Get the code for the picture here and link back here if you want to join Whiney Wednesday in your blog. Then leave a comment here (even if you don’t have a blog) or on the Erika Marie/simplemama facebook page if that’s easier.

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A Catholic Mom’s Holiday Play Book

17. November 2010 · Write a comment · Categories: Random

Today I shared some holiday survival tips at Catholic Mom. You can read through it for ideas for making your own Moms’ Holiday Play Book.

How do you get through Advent and Christmas and live to tell about it?

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I’ve been working in the kitchen…

14. November 2010 · 10 comments · Categories: Around the House, Food, motherhood, Random · Tags: freezer cooking, homemade convenience food, how to go crazy in two weeks, once-a-month cooking

all the live-long day….or at least all day long every day since November 1st.

I’ve been somewhat consumed with food lately. I’ve already ranted about the inconvenience of convenience food. I did buy a bunch of convenience food last month and while there were definitely some major bonuses (less stress, less clean-up, husband actually cooked a meal), it was very expensive and we all got sick a few weeks into it. (our immune systems are too spoiled).

I knew I couldn’t try and be a Julie or Julia so decided to try and be a Once A Month Mom and cook all our meals for a month in one day and make my own convenience food.

ha.

That one day turned into two weeks and I still haven’t done everything I bought food for!

I’ve done this before and was able to do it in one or two days but this time I was distracted with a few other things going on in our lives and for some reason I decided to try all new recipes at the same time. I got the inspiration from my friends Elizabeth, Amy, and Corinne after we discussed freezer cooking and these books: Once-A-Month Cooking, Revised and Expanded: A Proven System for Spending Less Time in the Kitchen and Enjoying Delicious, Homemade Meals Every Day and Once-A-Month Cooking Family Favorites: More Great Recipes That Save You Time and Money from the Inventors of the Ultimate Do-Ahead Dinnertime Method.

I am definitely going to buy at least one of those. I love how they go give you step-by-step directions: Go to the store. Buy this this and that. Go home. (an important one). Unload groceries (also important).

Then the next day, they tell EXACTLY how to assemble everything and when to cook what and it’s really great.

But did I do that for my first month back to freezer cooking? Nope. I got sidetracked…by this lovely site: http://onceamonthmom.com/

And did I stick to the recipes she had for this month or even for last month so I could use her grocery list?

Nope.

I decided to mix and match throughout the recipes in her September, October, and November menus and make up my own menu. This meant I had to make up my own grocery list. I don’t want to say I don’t like her website because it really is a cool resource. But it’s not as detailed in directions as the Once-A-Month Cooking book is and the quantities for ingredients in her recipes are a little crazy. Like 5.32 cups of shredded pepperoni. Ok…so how many pounds of pepperoni do I buy? So it took me a few days (yes days not hours or even minutes) to put my grocery list together.

Then it took me a few hours in the store to buy it all. (with 2 male monkey babies) Thank goodness God sent my friend Patty randomly to me in the store or I may have gone crazy staring at egg cartons while holding a screeching male monkey baby and trying to decide how many eggs I should buy.

I fully intended on taking one maybe two days to do all the cooking and I also fully intended to write a short blog post each day of my freezer-meal adventure (like Julie from Julie and Julia). But again. No.

So it was a very exhausting couple of weeks. But you know what? I now have about 20 meals in my freezer and we’ve already cut our grocery bill and dining out bills substantially just in these past 2 weeks of staying home and not buying convenience food or eating out as much as the past 2 months. So it might just be worth it. I think I’ll buy that Once-A-Month Cooking book and see if that’s easier for the next go around.

What resources have others found for making your own freezer meals? Is it worth it or it it easier to just make dinner every night (or every other night with leftovers)?

Ok here’s some pictures of the past couple of weeks: (I realize I have more pictures of the baby than of the food but by the time I sat down to eat anything I didn’t feel like grabbing the camera. I’ll post more food pics as we eat the ones in the freezer)