Getting Organized... Help!!

Usually I am pretty organized. I like to keep things neat, a mess makes me... well scattered! I feel unorganized inside if life is a mess around me. That kind of makes me sound crazy huh? Well I'm not ;), unless you ask my husband but no one's asking!

So my thoughts lately have been how to get things organized in my life. I am getting my business started again which means organizing lots of paper work and orders. I have to make sure to get my tax forms filled out and in on time each month, make lists for supplies and lists for what needs to be made each week. Of course I will still be homeschooling too. So I need to figure out how that will be handled. Right now I am thinking about making a chart for Meghan. Something that can tell her what she can do on her own, (while I am working and Daddy is home) and then things we will do when I get home. Kaden is pretty easy, he'll do a couple little things with me but he mostly learns as he plays right now. I will only be working at the bakery 20 hours a week. I am sure there will be a few things to do at home too, such as paperwork. Then there is the normal day to day stuff involved in running a household.

So today I ask you... fellow homeschoolers... business owners... working mothers.... anybody!
What are your tips and tricks for keeping your busy life organized and running smoothly?

Time for an Update!

So I try to keep up and post what is going on with us, however I find that I need a post that is just updates once in a while. I go through the list of everyone and kind of let you know what they have been up to. It's fun for me anyways. :) So here we go...

We have been back in AZ for 2 months now and are so happy to be back! We are staying with my inlaws right now while Nate looks for work. It's going well and we are staying really busy. Nate has several things on the horizon and it looks like he could be back to work very soon, maybe next week or the week after. He helps me a lot with the kids and staying sane. ;) I have been working on getting my cake business back up and running. (My website is http://www.inspiredoccasions.com/ if you are interested. I do still have to get it updated.) I found a kitchen and have been getting all the proper paperwork and inspections. I should be ready to use said kitchen and officially be open June 1st. I have been busy with Jazzercise since moving back too and I love it! I tried it because my cousin takes classes and is becoming an instructor, and it's great. Once we move into our own place I will for sure find a class close. (We'll be moving back to the Valley, where work for both of us is, so about an hour away.)

Onto the kids... Meghan is doing great with school. We recently found out that when she listens to her MP3 player while working on her own she gets done really fast and it's correct too! Of course she takes it off to read or when we work together. She is reading books from the 3rd and 4th grade reading lists and is now practicing cursive writing. She has been to her first sleepover and had a great time! She is still obsessed with anything horse. She has quite a few horses (stuffed, of course or MLP) and she sleeps with them and plays with them constantly. She has lots of shirts with horses on them too. She wants to get back into lessons soon.

Kaden is doing great too. He is THE BUSIEST 3 year old and I have to watch him constantly but he is a little smarty too. He amazes me with what he understands and talks about. He is also very sensitive and so much different than Meghan was at that age. It's fun to have a boy though and get to experience both. He has started learning his letters and numbers. So far he has mastered A and B and 1. This week we are working on C. He wants to try and count things all the time and loves books and being read to. He has pretty much mastered the potty (pee anyways) and decided last week that he was going to stand to go. He is also going all on his own most of the time and will tell us "You don't go with me" if we try to follow him into the bathroom.

Ellie has mastered walking and is on the verge of just running everywhere. She is so funny. She says "mama", "dada", "hi",  and "moo" sometimes. She holds her hand out and makes an "uh uh" noise when she wants something. She has a little baby doll that she likes to play with (and actually she does this to all the baby dolls around), and she "talks" to her. There are no real words but just a sing song tone in her voice as she plays. So cute! She loves straws, patty cake and of course being attached to my hip! She is a great eater too and I am happy to not have to push it with her. (I have enough of that with her brother ;) She loves so many fruits and veggies, just like her sis.

So there you go, my little update on us!
God Bless!

Sweet Baby Faces

We thought this was just so cute! I have to share although maybe it's just cute to us.. You get to see anyways.

Nate was making this surprised (shocked??not sure which)  face to Ellie and she was making the face back. He did it a few times and I kept taking pictures to get a few. She started doing it to herself in the mirror which was even more funny and cute!

                                          

                                     

awwwww

Family Movie Night

On Friday our church had a family movie night. (Toy Story 2 in anticipation of Toy Story 3) It is so fun to watch a movie outside! Of course we didn't get to stay for the whole thing because it was getting too late for Ellie but still lots of fun.

Before it got dark they had some inflatables. There was a bounce house, a slide and a caterpillar. My kiddo's love bounce houses!

Here they are on the slide.

In the bounce house...

Waiting to go in the caterpillar. Waiting is so hard when you are three!

We brought a blanket to hang out on and watch the movie and we packed a lunch for everyone. I was able to use our new Easy lunchboxes which I love! I didn't get a picture though! We were in a hurry to get ready to go. I did get a picture of Kaden and Ellie's dinner though. I used the little bento boxes for theirs.

Hopefully this shows I am getting better at packing them. :) They each had peanut butter crackers I put together. They also had fishy crackers under the muffin cup. I got the muffin cups to try and contain things. Ellie had peaches and Kaden had some little pieces of pizza.

Getting ready for the movie!

Kaden on the grass instead of the blanket. lol

Bento boxes?

Check out Shannon's new blog carnival for lots of bento ideas!

I don't know if these are actual bento's but I thought they were cute. I found them at the dollar store and got one of each size... woohoo! Score! Aren't they cute? I found some little picks there too but I haven't used those yet. Make sure you check out your Dollar Tree stores. Love that store!

I used them the next day for the kids lunch. It was just at home so I didn't worry too much about packing it real well. They loved using them though. This was for Meghan and Kaden.

Oh and I also bought the little sandwich cutters. My homemade bread is a little small to use with them. It's suppose to cut out two shapes, one is hearts and the other is dino's. SO I have to position it a little and cut one shape and then I hid the left over pieces of the sandwich under the shape. :)

Meghan had grilled cheese, strawberries, cantalope and yogurt. Kaden had grilled cheese, goldfish and a not pictured yogurt.

Homeschool Blog Hop #9

These are a few of my favorite things...

This is our theme this week. What fun! These are in no special order.

1. My family!
2. Cake decorating
3. Homeschooling and being home with my kids (even on my most frustrating days)
4. Pink and brown together
5. Scrapbooking
6. Reading online
7. When my kids learn something new.
8. Fall
9. M&M's
10. with Dr Pepper
11. Starbucks
12. Olive Garden
13. My church, love it!
14. Taylor Swift
15. Fun, light music

Secret Foods

I didn't know what else to call this post. I probably should think about it a few minutes and come up with something but in that few minutes someone could start crying or calling for me so I am going with it. :)

Lately I have been thinking about ways to sneak veggies, (and fruits) into my son's foods. He doesn't really eat a lot of either. I buy him V-8 Fusion juices and he will have some of that but I know he needs more. So I have been doing some searching. So far here are the sites I have come up with for some help.

This is my friend Shannon's blog. http://bentolunch.blogspot.com/
I have mentioned her before. She homeschools as well so we have a lot in common but she has some great recipes too  Look for zucchini muffins, zucchini appetizers and potato croquettes. I am trying the croquettes today!

The other site I have found so far is The Sneaky Chef. She has some free recipes on there and the recipes for her purees that you add to foods. I am going to try some and then I am sure I will be getting the books eventually.

Do you have any sites or recipes to share? How do you get your kiddo's to eat more veggies? I would love to hear from you! I can use any help I can get. :)

Forced to leave school for wearing the American Flag???

You have to read this story. There were several highschool students forced to go home on Cinco De Mayo because they wouldn't turn their t-shirts inside out. What was on these shirts??? Something nasty?? Something racial?? Something gang related or equally bad? NO they were wearing the American Flag! They were accused of offending the Mexican Americans that go to school there. Check it out.. There are even email addresses and phone numbers to call out this Principal and VP. I say they get flooded with emails and phone calls!

http://chicksontheright.com/2010/05/06/start-your-calls-and-letters-patriots/

I found another article on Fox news too.
http://www.foxnewsradio.com/2010/05/06/students-sent-home-for-wearing-american-flag-shirts/#axzz0nAJTLTnO

Muffin Tin Monday

Okay so I didn't get this posted on Monday. Woops! I wanted to share anyways. It was a really easy one for me. We had gone out for Mexican food the night before and the kids had lots of leftovers. :D I really need to do this more than just once a week. The kids love it!

They each had a mini tostado, mini taco and mini burrito on top. (these were the leftovers)

On the bottom I added corn chips, pinto beans and cantalope. (I know the melon isn't Mexican-or is it? hehe- but we needed a fruit and it's what I had.)

He doesn't eat much so anything that helps I love. Isn't he cute!?

Working Mommy Wednesday- Career Change

I decided to join in Julia's Working Mommy Wednesday over on Work, Wife, Mom... Life!

This weeks question is what career would you want if you were planning a change.

I don't know how many people know this but I am currently getting my business started again. I had it for several years and closed up when I was getting ready to have Kaden. Here is my website if you are interested but basically I make custom decorated cakes. I love it and hope to be busy again really soon.

Before I found my calling ;) I went to school and worked as a nail tech. I liked it ok, it satisfied some of my need for something artistic. I thought when I was younger I wanted to be a teacher. I still like teaching and since I homeschool my kids I guess I am a teacher.

So that said I don't think I would want to change my career or life as far as working goes but if I did I think it would be something crafty... Maybe something to do with scrapbooking or crafting. If i worked outside the home, (not having my own business) I think I would be teaching.

Stuffed Muffins!

I wanted to share my good friend Shannon's blog. I have shared it before but if you haven't checked it out please do! She has awesome ideas for kids lunches and great recipes. She has a giveaway going on right now too here, although you aren't going to win because I am, sorry. ;)

Today Meghan and I made her stuffed muffin recipe. They are so good! You can add whatever you want to them. I love that they are a muffin too, easy to take along anywhere. You can find the recipe here.

We stuffed them with ham and cheese this time. I used fresh ground flour and Rapadura sugar... and of course if you haven't heard before we use raw milk. Tasty! Try them and let me know what you think and check out Shannon's blog too and find some more fun recipes and lunch ideas!

Jamie Oliver-Food Revolution

Homeschool Blog Hop #8

It has been a while since there was a hop but here it is!! There is no theme this time so just enjoy your time finding new homeschool blogs!

I thought I would ask how everyone homeschools; is it year round (like us) or with a regular school year or something completely different? I love to hear how others do things!

We homeschool year round because I like the freedom of it. I like to take vacations and breaks during the normal school year so it's not so crowded. I like that the kids don't have a huge break and get out of the habit of "doing schoolwork". If something happens we don't have to worry about taking a day or a week off. It has worked out well for us!

STOP: Please DO NOT add your link below unless you have a post published about the blog hop and the current theme, and the McLinky code showing in that post.


Please ensure you have linked directly to your blog hop post and that the title includes the words 'blog hop' somewhere. All links added are checked via McLinky and those without these details are removed immediately (we do not always have time to visit the blog to check).

We are all enjoying this immensely, please play fairly as the majority of blog hoppers do! Thanks for participating, have fun

Unschooling Illegal???

There was a recent story on ABC about unschoolers. It featured one family and was shown in a very negative light. It seems a lot of people think these parents are harming their children. Now I don't unschool my children; but I do believe in a parents rights to choose how their child is schooled and raised. I am not going to write up a huge post on this as I found a great post online that I think sums up the major points. Please check it out. There is also a link to the original video here on Spunky Homeschool.

A Bouncy Party

Here are pictures from the kids party at Bounce U. They had a great time! Kaden wanted to go play some more. :) Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us!!