FYSF January 30, 2009

Okay, so I’m getting creative… but today’s FYSF stands for “Feed Your Sweet Face”

hee hee hee.

Some yummy chocolate recipes that are staples in my house:

Fudgy Saucepan Brownies

1 c. butter (2 sticks)

3/4 c. cocoa powder

1 3/4 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp salt

3 eggs

1 1/4 c. flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9×13 pan. 
2. Melt butter in medium saucepan over low heat, stir in cocoa, blending until smooth. Remove from heat, cool slightly
3. Add sugar, vanilla, salt and eggs (keep in saucepan; the hotter it is, the easier to stir). Beat until thoroughly combined. Add flour and baking powder. Mix well. 
4. Spread batter into greased pan. Bake 30 minutes. (Tester will not come out clean). 

Hot Cocoa (3 servings)

3 cups milk

1 heaping Tbsp. cocoa powder

1 heaping Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp vanilla, if desired

Blend ingredients in blender til thoroughly mixed and foamy. Heat on medium and serve. You’ll hardly miss the marshmallows because it’s so frothy. But, don’t stir TOO much or the foam will lessen. 

Hello, I will change your life January 30, 2009

I hope this is not too grand of a claim. But, this stuff is amazing in the kitchen. It works so much better than Comet or baking soda for cleaning my porcelain sink scratches, my flat top stove, and my stainless steel pan.

making the most of time together January 29, 2009

I can ALWAYS use a reminder to slow down and focus on the needs of my kids!  It is way too easy to get going with what I need/want to get done for the day and before I know it it’s dinner time and I haven’t had purposeful time with them.  Sure, I’ve had talks with them about why we chew food with our mouths closed, reminded them to be gentle with the kitties, asked them to use full sentences to ask for help, encouraged them to share their toys and even had some one-on-one time with their hind ends, but I need to remember that those little things can be special times with them, training them, and being purposeful with them!  Both of the kids just love any time that we can do things together … I need to remember to utilize and cherish these times!

Sammy is an out going leader of a little 3 year old!  He would love to tell everyone how things should be done, from his little sister to his parents.  Spending time with him is often letting him help me with tasks like setting the table and thinking about how we can serve other people. (eg, picking up toys before Daddy comes home)

Zoe is just 2 and learning to talk and use her words well.  A lot of the time that I spend with her is just purposing to ask her questions and helping her to answer them in sentences.  Seems simple, but she loves the face time and the encouragement!

Girl Time January 28, 2009

How I spend time with each of my girls has changed so much over the years.  I am constantly evaluating and changing how I spend time with each one as their interests change and as they grow.  So as of right now this is how I spend time with each one…

Brigitta – Right now Brigitta loves to read.  She has like 3 novels going right now on top of her school work and Bible reading.  In order to spend time with her I try to engage her with what she is reading.  We are both reading the same thing in the Bible and then we discuss it together.  She really likes staying home and reading a good book as opposed to be out and about.   Another way to spend time with Brigitta is to treat her like an adult :)  Sometimes we let just Brigitta stay up past all her sisters just to chat or even to help me with the dishes or cleaning.  She likes being treated like an adult in this way.

Natalia – Miss Tali LOVES going out!!!  She likes to be on the move doing errands, taking classes, visiting people or going to the zoo.  Natalia is my shopping and errand buddy.  When I need to spend time with her we go out somewhere.

Analina – Analina has a speech delay and consequently in order to spend time with her and connect we usually have to do some kind of activity together.  She really likes helping out around the house so we usually clean together or read a book or play with blocks together.  She is my little helper!

Francesca – Cha Cha is our party animal :)  She loves to laugh and dance and have a good time.  We mostly just laugh all day :)  To really get her going we put on some music (she likes all kinds but really gets dancing to rap and ’80s music) and dance around together.  The girls is very jolly all the time and really likes to laugh and giggle.  She likes being tickled and thrown around.

All of my girls require daily one on one attention from me.  Each of them is so unique and different and I am constantly looking for more effective ways to connect with them.

The Girl, the Boy, and the Baby. January 27, 2009

As it is in most all families…my kids are all very different personalities….which creates a challenge for me when trying to plan out a day that helps each child to feel loved and cared for.   Here is my plan of attack for our home.  :-)

Child #1:  Maggie.  3 years old. I have learned that Maggie needs some one on one time each day.  She doesn’t recognize that she needs it and won’t ask for it, but by mid morning I try to make sure that I have had a conversation with her (ONLY HER) where I am asking her questions about her morning/day and focusing on her answers.  No distractions, no answering her brother, no running around doing things while she’s talking.  I ask her things like how she slept, if she liked her breakfast, what she would like to do that day, if their is a craft she’d like to do, and if their is an outfit she would like to wear that day (assuming she’s not already dressed).  The few minutes is takes to talk with her really helps to make a connection with her for the day and consequently is MUCH less likely to act out later in the day when she it tired.

Child #2: Sam.  3 years old. Sam will not let us forget that he is around.  He is constantly under my feet wanting to “help”: help cook, help clean, help do laundry, help carry brother, help remind Maggie to flush and wash up, help get the mail, help hang a picture, help carry groceries…you name it- he’s surely qualified to help do it (or at least he thinks he is!).  I try to involve him in as much as I can, he feels very important and loved when we let him assist us in the chores of daily life.  I think we emotionally scar him when we don’t let him help us.  I make an effort each day to have some physical play time with him.  Maybe soccer or baseball outside, a tickle match inside, or some good old fashioned grunting and roaring at each other.  He’s definitely a boy and I try hard to let him be one….

Child #3: Miles. 7 months old. Miles is a funny little guy.  He can sit on my lap for HOURS and not make a peep.  He just loves to sit with us and hang out.  He’s not a fan of being in a room by himself, so when he is sitting down to play and his siblings run out of the room- he’s going to cry.  He wants to be where the action is…although we aren’t too sure that he really wants to be a part of the action….just near it is good enough for him.  It’s very easy for me to just tote Miles along with me throughout the day, because he is so content being toted along!!  BUT, I have recently made an effort to have a period of time where I just sit and play with Miles and his toys on the floor.  It’s been a little difficult to train Sam and Maggie to let me do it, but they are getting more and more used to it each day.  It’s good for Miles…and good for them!

Have fun… or I will KILL you! January 25, 2009

 

That title was to be read in the very intense voice of Jack Bauer. We laugh about how he’s always threatening to kill people. Guess we have a dark sense of humor?? The first thing that comes to mind that Andrew and I have fun doing is watching 24. We enjoy having people over for 24 parties. And we enjoy staying up WAAAAY too late watching old episodes (“Just one more… without the commercials it’s only 40 mins!”). We like to have a lighthearted attitude in our house. We’re often being goofy with each other by doing things like quoting strange lines from Napoleon Dynamite or Nacho Libre at each other. 

We have a lot of fun with our kids. We sneak into their rooms together every night before we go to bed to give them a kiss (and make sure they are breathing!! at least that’s why I go in….). We laugh a lot about our kids and like to tell each other stories about the crazy things they have done. 

We both love photography, so we have fun looking at the photos the other has taken. We also dream of going on photography outings or trips together. Maybe a photog date after it gets warmer… To those who know us, it will probably be no surprise that Andrew prefers architecture photos and I prefer people photos :)

We go on coffee dates about once or twice a month together. It’s really nice to get out by ourselves and it’s also fun to share our love of coffee. I think the most fun I have with my husband is just doing stuff together. It doesn’t have to be exciting… sometimes we walk around Target together and just look at toys or grab things like vacuum cleaner filters that I never remember to buy when I’m with the kids. I really like Andrew and am so glad God has given us to each other. It’s a joy to live everyday life with him.

Fun together January 22, 2009

I must confess that there are definitely times when it easier to have fun with my husband and other times where it is something that I have to work at!  Lately Matt and I have been having a lot of fun together.  Maybe it’s because we are missing the long snowed in days that we had a few weeks ago!  (Hmm, doesn’t seem possible!)  I do long for the days where a nice evening walk will be possible again!  We have been making the most of our time with the kids in bed and filling them with past times similar to those of the Moffats.  Games have always been fun for us and we recently invested in some new ones :)

We have enjoyed Ticket to Ride (love the 2-3 player Switzerland expansion) and got the 1910 expansion that has more US routes and larger cards.  If our brains are up for a challenge, we attempt Quiddler, which is a short word game (literally … short words, and a short game!)  Matt usually isn’t a fan of word games, but this is an exception for him … he loves it!  We have tried, although not mastered, the geometric game of Blokus … I think we enjoy it more as a four player game right now.

Bring it on!! January 21, 2009

Having fun with my husband can be somewhat of a challenge :)  He is a very hard working guy who doesn’t have many hobbies.  He doesn’t really like games, he is way too competitive to play sports with me (I am not competitive, nor am I very coordinated :), and he travels a lot.  We also have 4 kids under the age of 8 who keep us very busy.  So some would ask how in the world do you guys have fun???  What do you even do together?

My answer is the Wii, much like the Moffatt’s.  The only twist is that we have to play games that I can actually beat him at to add the competitive element (boxing, DDR , bowling :).  Sometimes I turn it into a tournament in which we keep score and play a mix of games.  I really like just having fun but in order to pull him in I have to try and be a little competitive.

We also really enjoy movies together but you do not really interact during a movie.  We do try and watch interesting films that we can talk about afterward and analyze together.

When we go out it is nice and we really enjoy just talking with each other.  We could talk for hours and often do by the time we actually get a date in.  We like to go out to appetizers or dessert to save a little money.  We have fun trying new places and picking places that are nice enough to hang out in for 2-3 hours.  If you can get to places during happy hour most restaurants offer great half price appetizers and it is a fun way to get good food and not spend very much money.  We also LOVE exploring our city together.  When the weather is nice we go for long walks in different parts of the city.  We have gone all over Minneapolis and had many different kinds of adventures finding new Farmers Markets, running into friends, or meeting new people.  We can also bring our kids along :)

I usually am the one that has to plan and initiate fun things.  This can be hard when you are exhausted and have been coming up with fun things all day for little ones but the rewards that you reap in your marriage far outway a little exhaustion.  It is a challenge for me to think of fun things to do and sometimes it just comes down to my attitude.  Being cheerful and just slowing down enough to listen and draw my husband out each day go a long way to us having fun together.

A slow start…but we’re back with some fun! January 20, 2009

Our apologies for the slow start to the week, readers!  Our fearless leader, Andie, is looking at an unexpectedly long week and I am sure your prayers would be welcomed!  This week, we’re going to share some of our favorite things to do with our husbands (for FUN!).

Our household has (semi)recently bought a Wii.  It has quickly become our favorite activity – post kids and pre-bed.  Eric and I have laughed hard enough to cry at our Wii Music jams and woke up with sore shoulders from honing our bowling and tennis skills.  Our kids (3 years olds!) love driving the MarioKarts around and ‘bonking’ them into everything.  It’s been a great one-time investment that has provided hours of family fun (okay, or just fun for Mom and Dad) in these cold, wet, and windy days of winter.

Another of our favorite things to do is play Ticket to Ride.  The Switzerland Expansion is our preferred version at the moment.  It’s offers a healthy dose of competition for us and works our brains out just enough at the end of the day.  :-)

We’d LOVE your ideas and input too!  Drop us a comment and share what your and your hubby do together!

Free Your Space Friday January 16, 2009

Okay, so today is more of a rearrange your space Friday. Your project today is to take a box, bin or bag and put half of the kids’ toys in it. Put it in storage. They probably will still have quite enough to play with. Then, in a week or two, switch your toy batch. Voila! “New” toys.

I know many of you do this already, but maybe need the extra motivation to switch them out again. The extra bonus step of this FYSF is to weed through toys and get rid of ones that are not being played with often.

For those of you without kids…. I can’t think of an alternative today. I guess you get the day off!