Healthy Eating Habits

As our kids have grown, they have become more responsible for their food choices. They often eat at friends' homes and have snack choices at school. We have worked hard to teach them healthy eating habits and they usually make wise choices.

One of the funniest examples came from our daughter. We use natural peanut butter at our home. She was at a friend's home and was offered a sandwich at lunchtime. They served her a peanut butter that contained sugar and she didn't like it! They were so surprised! It is true that tastes can change and they learn to like what you serve on a regular basis.

It definitely Works For Me, and I would love to hear how you have taught your kids healthy eating habits.

-Julie

Home Preschool

Welcome to Gratituesday! Today, I am thinking about how truly grateful I am that I can take a break from my career and raise my children. We have a 2 ½ year old, 16 month old, and a new baby on the way. Life can be a little busy these days, but my husband and I are soaking up all the fun that comes with raising a young family.

Last week, I started doing a home preschool program with my oldest child. I was a little nervous at first because I am not a trained teacher, but I soon realized that there is a lot of material on the internet to help. I also have the added bonus help of having two sister-in-laws that are teachers and available to give me tips.

My daughter knows how to say her abc’s, she can count to 30, and knows her colors. So, we started with learning how to recognize the upper case and lower case letters using fun coloring worksheets. She is having fun learning at home.

This Gratituedsay, I am thankful to be a stay-at-home mom and a home preschool mom! If you have any tips on what material to use for home preschool, I would love suggestions.

-Robin

Catalina Chicken Recipe

For Menu Plan Monday, I wanted to share one of our favorite recipes. It has been a huge hit with everyone we have shared it with and I hope that will include you!

Catalina Chicken

1 lb. chicken, diced
1 c. Light Catalina French Dressing
1/3 c. soy sauce
minced garlic to taste

Cook the diced chicken until it is done thru. Whisk the remaining ingredients together and add to the diced chicken. Cook until the sauce starts to bubble and thickens slightly.

We enjoy this with macaroni and cheese and a small salad. It is slightly sweet and very tender. I hope you love it as much as we do!

-Julie

Happy Sunday!

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV

Teaching Responsibility With Pets

We have a dog and our children learn a lot of responsibility by being charged with taking care of her. They learn that they need to be timely with her feedings, remember to fill her water bowl, play with her, walk her and give her lots of love.

We think it has greatly helped them learn to care for others around them.

What lessons have your children learned from having pets?

-Julie

Easy Daysies Magnet Set Giveaway Winner!

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Thanks to everyone who entered!

Ironing 101

My husband recently finished his training and just started what we call his “real job.” For years, I have not ironed his clothes because he wore a long coat to work every day. Who wants to do all of that work if he is just going to throw on a coat and get everything wrinkled? Last month, I finally gave in and got out the rusty old ironing board. It took a lot of strength to look at all of those wrinkled shirts and know how much work I had cut out for myself. I soon realized that it wasn’t just my ironing board that was rusty. I found that I really did not know what I was doing. For this reason, I have done some research and thought I would share what I learned about ironing with you.

Ironing Tips

1. Adjust the height of your board to the correct height. The board should be at the level of your hips so that you are not slouching. Be sure that you can place your palms on the board without bending your knees.
2. Use the correct temperature settings by checking the labels for the manufacturer’s suggestions. Here are a few rules: for manmade fabrics (such as acetate and acrylic) use the coolest setting. For silk and wool, use a warm setting. Iron cotton and linen on a hot setting.
3. Iron in order. First, iron all parts that have a double-thickness (ties, bows, sleeves, pockets, and collars). They will wrinkle less quickly than larger and thinner areas like shirt backs. For button-down shirts, iron the reverse side of the button row to give it a smoother line. Iron the backside of a shirt collar first and then the front for less wrinkling. For pockets and cuffs, do the backside first. Then, iron in a slow up and down pattern on major areas, pressing harder on the forward motion than the return one. Do not move in circles because it stretches the fabric. Do not press too hard, and let the heat and steam do the work.

4. Ironing works best on slightly damp clothes- if they are too dry you may scorch and yellow your garments. Keep a spray bottle of water at hand for spot dampening.
5. If your fabric is lined, turn it inside out and iron the lining first.
6. For any fabric that is hard to iron like silks, rayons, velvets, and corduroys try ironing them inside out.
7. For ruffles or gathers, hang the garment up and use a vertical burst of steam from your iron or hand steamer.
8. Hang clothes up immediately when the dryer shuts off, the clothes will still be warm and many of the wrinkles will fall out.

I hope these tips help you to become a better ironer. Honestly, I need a lot of practice!

-Robin

We are currently hosting a wonderful giveaway that will make Back To School even easier! Enter for your chance to win an Easy Daysies magnet set here. They are a great visual reminder to help your kids organize their day!