Puzzle day

Today the kids have colds and are all stuffy and drippy nosed. As a result, I told them that school was suspended for the day and they could do whatever they wanted. They decided they wanted to do a puzzle together. Oh my heart!

Miss A, 5, is actually really good at puzzles! This is a 300 piece puzzle and the largest one that she has attempted. She is doing really well!

Cooking with Master W and a cookbook review

As part of his new workbook, Master W, 8, had to plan and prepare a meal for the family. He choose to find a meal and dessert from The Complete Children's Cookbook (link and review below). He choose to make homemade fish sticks with some vegetables and fruit on the side and a jellyroll for dessert. 

He made the jellyroll first.

Preparing the pan. 

Adding oil and parchment paper.

Mixing the wet ingredients in the Kitchen Aid. This was his first time cracking eggs. I showed him how and then he did the rest on his own. He did a wonderful job!

Mixing the dry ingredients. 

Combining the two together.

Spreading the batter on the pan. He doubled the recipe so that we could have leftovers for breakfast. It was a great opportunity to work on adding fractions in a real life setting.

Spreading the jelly

The completed roll.

Making the fish. I didn't get any pictures of him making the batter. This recipe was hands down the best fish batter I have ever had. We all ate like little piggies because it was so good!

The Complete Children's Cookbook review:

Most children's cookbooks have very simple recipes without much variety. This is not one of those cookbooks. It has over 150 different recipes with varying degrees of difficulty. Not only is it a good cookbook for children but a good one for beginners of any age. And did I mention the recipes that we have tried tasted AMAZING? I give this cookbook 📕📕📕📕📕 out of five. 

Good news! It is on sale today (12/12/16):

Amazon Link

Menu 12/11/16

Tomorrow is my short shopping trip. I do one large trip to Aldi and Wal-Mart every other week (after pay day) and then a short trip to Wal-Mart the next week for any needed perishable items. This makes it easier for me, and fewer miles on our vehicle. This is the second half of my menu, since I make it every other week before shopping. This menu is a cheap one but filling all the same. I hope that this gives you some good ideas for cheap meals! items

Sunday - Pizza day. I make our pizza, usually from freshly ground flour.

Monday - Baked Mac and Cheese with green beans, Mandarin oranges, and dinner rolls.

Tuesday - Taco salad with tortilla chips.

Wednesday - Lentil stew made with homemade broth and leftover chicken with fruit and biscuits.

Thursday - French toast with apple slices and meatballs.

Friday - Chicken strips with mashed potatoes, salad, and pears.

Saturday - Leftover lentil stew.

Have a blessed week!

~ Hannah

Frugal shopping tips

For most of my adult life and marriage I have needed to be frugal in my shopping. There have been times when I could loosen the purse strings, so to speak, and be less frugal but for the most part I have needed to carefully plan and budget our shopping needs. This post is about frugal food shopping specifically. Maybe one day I will write tips on how to shop for other things but food is something that is necessary to survive so I am addressing it first.

Make a budget.
The first logical step is to know how much money you have to spend. It is a fairly simple but does take some time. To do this you will need to know roughly how much money you make monthly and how many expenses you have. List out everything from insurance to cable to your water and electric bills. Once you have that number, see how much is leftover. This is what you have for food, any other necessary items, and emergencies (if you swing it, setting aside a small amount each month is a good idea, even if it is only a few dollars).

Plan a menu.
I recommend doing a simple breakfast and lunch menu that stays relatively the same. This is to make your life easier. As for the suppers, there are a few different ways you can do this. Start by writing out a list of all your favorite, simple meals. It will hopefully be enough for a few weeks. If not, start looking for meal ideas on websites, blogs, and cookbooks. Next you can either write down a few weeks worth of menus and rotate or write them on notecards and pick what you want when you plan your shopping trip.

Make a list.
Once you know which meals you are eating that week, look over each one carefully for the ingredients you will need. Then check your pantry for any of those items so you don't waste your money buying a spice or an ingredient that you already have on hand. Once you have that done, make your shopping list. I have found it helpful to keep a 'running list' on the refrigerator. If you run out of anything during the week you can add it to the running list so that you will not forget it on shopping day. Because you will forget, believe me, lol. Then STICK TO THE LIST. This is probably the hardest one for me! When I shop I see delightful things that I must have, all food related of course....and when I give in to my inclinations I pay for it by going over budget. Learn from my mistakes. Don't stray from the list! You made a careful list to avoid going over budget so don't ruin it by impulsively 'needing' something.

Use cheap staples.
For a very frugal menu beans, rice, lentils, potatoes, and pasta are going to be your new best friends. These are cheap, easy to prepare, and go a long way to fill little bellies. Or big bellies, if you happen to be feeding those.

Use alternative grocery stores. 
By alternative I mean a store like Aldi or Winco. The selection will be smaller but you should be able to find all the basics for a better price than the grocery store. I shop at Aldi and love it! It was a rather strange experience for me the first time I went I went to an Aldi, shortly after my husband and I got married. I had never heard of a grocery store where you needed a a quarter to get a cart or had to buy your own bags. However, I have come to greatly appreciate Aldi and it saves us hundreds of dollars each year to shop there.

Shop sales. 
Before each shopping trip I check on the sales, especially for fruits and veggies, and try to incorporate those items into the menu. Make sure it is something that you are going to use and that it won't cost more to buy it than you usually spend on that type of item. It won't do to buy a sale item if it is going to cost you more in the long run but it can be a good way to save a few cents or even dollars each week.

Use a lot of cheap sides.
I try to have a few sides that are filling so we don't use as much of the main dish. I used to only have a couple and then we ate far more of the main dish or more meat, which ended up costing more in the long run. Once I switched to several sides I was able to shave quite a bit from the food budget. It also made my husband and children happier.

Make more soups.
Soup is cheap, relatively healthy, filling, and perfect for cooler days. I make my own broth in my crockpot so I can season it myself and is something very healthy for my family. I also add homemade rolls on the side. It makes for a nice, simple meal. I usually make a large batch and then freeze it for another day.

Make what you can from scratch.
IF it makes sense. Many items are really cheap if made from scratch but not everything is worth it. I buy spaghetti sauce because it is cheaper for me to by it than to make it. I make a lot of our breads because it is cheaper. So do your homework and make what makes sense from scratch and buy the rest.

Get to know your market.
Become familiar with the stores you frequent. Memorize the regular prices of the items you buy most often. This way if you happen to see a sale you will know if it is actually a good deal or not.

I hope that this will help you get started or give you some new ideas on how to be frugal! Please share your favorite frugal tips in comment section below.

~ Hannah

Menu 12/4/16

Another week has come which means time for our weekly menu! This week as part of his new school workbook, Master W, 8, planned one of our dinners, including dessert. He will be making it (with my assistance) and then serving it to the family.

This is a frugal menu but you will notice a few superfluous items, like chips with our sandwiches. These items fit within our budget but the meals would be fine without them if they do not fit in yours. I keep them in because I like to have a little more variety and a splash of fun.

Enjoy!

Sunday - Our weekly pizza night with homemade pizza. I am considering adding either more pizza or some sides as my children eat oodles of the stuff.

Monday - Master W's dinner. Fish sticks (homemade), potato wedges, corn, peas, and strawberry jellyroll.

Tuesday - Taco salad with tortilla chips.

Wednesday - Homemade chicken noodle soup with garlic bread.

Thursday - Tuna sandwiches, chips, carrots and dip, applesauce.

Friday/Shabbat meal - Chili, cornbread, salad, cookies.

Saturday - Leftovers.

What we are reading in December 2016

My book: A Treasure Concealed by Tracie Peterson. 

I am not much of a Christian fiction fan. For the most part I avoid it because the story lines are usually very similar, the literary content is somewhat lacking, and it makes for a very quick read. I prefer books with more depth, intricate language full of rich vocabulary, and a lot of character development. Books that one can curl up on the couch with a cup of tea and savor each and every beautifully written page. Books like War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, which is one of my all time favorites and one that I have read five times.  This particular genre does not generally have these qualities. 

However.

I am a very busy mom and some days I do not have the time to sit and savor. Some days I just want a quick and easy read. Something with a wholesome story line without anything too sultry or risque, and without bad language. In those moments I reach for books like this one. Thus far this one has not disappointed me. The story is engaging, the characters are likeable and human, and thus far it is a solid, wholesome read. The story is not original by any means and it does lack some character development as the storyline moves very quickly but over all it is an enjoyable book. I will probably read all three in this series. A solid 3.5 stars from me. 

You can find this book to read for yourself HERE.

My read aloud to Master W, 8: Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. 

If you have not read this series, you need to! I read it as a child and so did my husband. In fact he read it so many times that he had many books almost memorized and can still quote parts to this day. He still listens to the audio books of these on his commute and is currently listening to her biography. I would say he is a fan, lol. 

This is the second book in the series and is about Laura and her family along with their dog Jack as they move from their cabin in Wisconsin to 'Indian Country' and a cabin that Pa builds for them on the prairie. Master W is not a fan of fiction usually but even he loves these books. I highly recommend not only reading them but owning them is a must for every homeschooling family. It is a more expensive investment but worth every penny! Notice that our copy has been read so often that the cover fell off. It is a well worn, well loved book.

You can buy it HERE. 

My read aloud to Master B, 6, and Miss A, 5: Escape to Murray River by Robert Elmer.

This is a great read aloud for younger kids. The language is more simplistic and the chapters are shorter. That is especially nice when you have wiggly kiddos! Both my children have short attention spans so reading to them can prove challenging. There are some sad parts to the story. It is about a father who is falsely accused and sent to Australia to a prison camp. His wife and three children follow him to Australia so they can be closer to him. We are at the point in the book where they are on a ship heading to Australia. The kids are excited to see what happens next!

To find the ebook, go HERE.

Homeschool Facebook page

Just poppin' in for a moment to post a link to our Facebook page. It has more of our day to day school activities, what we are learning, things we find, etc. It is called Callithumpian, short for Callithumpian Academy, which is our unofficial school name. The official name is quite the mouthful so I prefer to just use Callithumpian. You can follow the link HERE to find it. Have a fabulous day!

Ideas on how to pull your day together when it falls apart

I did not plan to write this post this evening. I had pondered my previous subject for a few days, knew the basics of what I wanted to say, and even had a list. 

And then my day fell apart.

Actually it started off pretty weakly with several arguments breaking out before breakfast and it went mostly downhill from there, with me playing the role of a captain desperately trying to keep his (or in my case, her) ship from sinking completely. During one of the quieter moments I had thought how nice it would be to have a list of ideas on how to try to pull a bad day back together. So I sat down and wrote out all the things that have worked for me, past and present. I wish I could call this Hannah's Easy 5 Step Program To Get Your Day Back On Track but we all know that would be an outright lie. Unfortunately sometimes a day is just difficult from beginning to end no matter what you do. However, there are some 'tricks of the trade' that you can do to try to change the course of your day. 

We all have bad days. Young and old; single or married; working or stay at home parent. There is no getting away from it, sometimes things just go wrong. It is a part of life. I remember having bad days before having children. It usually centered around work. Some days I had difficult patients, or a co-worker was grouchy, or perhaps something happened to give me extra work, or we were short staffed, or everything just went wrong. Afterwards I could come home, maybe have a quiet soak in the bath, put on my fuzziest jammies, and settle in with a good book or a favorite show. Maybe have a nice cup of tea as well. I could simply relax my frustrations away. As a homeschooling mom of five, my days look vastly different. There is no clocking out, no relaxing it away. I can never get away because THERE ARE SMALL PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. Everywhere. I go to use the bathroom, they are there. I try to exercise, they are there. I go hide in the closet, and yes, they are there. I can't even go though an entire night without a child coming in and staring at me intently as though I were a once in a lifetime sight that might evaporate away at any moment. Lol. The days of a nice soak in the bath are long gone and forget the book. 

So what is a mom, especially a homeschooling mom, to do? Excellent question! Here are some tips and ideas on how to make your day better. Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments! 

Take them out.

I know this sounds like the last thing you want to do but hear me out. While wrangling a bunch of cranky, whiny kids in public, especially during the school year where you KNOW all eyes are on you, may sound like a terrible idea, it does help pull small people together. I'm not talking a trip to Wal-Mart or the mall here. More like a trip to the park or for a nice walk in the neighborhood. I implemented this one today. Everyone woke up out of sorts. The weather forecast said a high chance of rain so I accepted that I would have five cranky children stuck under the same roof with a cranky mama. Then the sun came out and I literally dashed out the door. It took me 25 minutes to finish lunch, get the kids dressed and ready for outdoors, pottied, and out the door. 

Tangent: is pottied even a word? If not it ought to be because it is an apt description. Every mom knows what pottied means. End of rabbit trial. 

It did help them quite a bit and was the happiest part of our day. We explored a new trail and I got the stroller and my shoes covered in mud. Then they played at the playground. It was a nice couple of hours but sadly it didn't last. We got home and the whining started all over again. But I had a nice reprise, while it lasted.

Have a quiet time.

Sometimes kids, and moms, need some space. A few moments where they don't have to be around others to collect their thoughts. This is especially true of introverts but I imagine that others would find it beneficial as well. I have a couple of introverts and a couple of extroverts and they all need down time at some point. I do not schedule quiet time although I know many moms who do. I utilize it when I feel it is needed. If you don't have it scheduled, call the children together and tell them they for the next X amount of time they will sit in different places and do something alone and quiet. Color, read, draw, listen to tapes, play solitaire, whatever floats their quiet boats. This can be trickier with toddlers but usually some paper and crayons or special toy keeps them occupied for at least a few minutes. Hopefully long enough for the mama to have a few moments of peace. 

Play a game.

Get them all together for a game or two. Nothing banishes away cranky moods like a rousing game of Hungry Hungry Hippos! Of course this one could backfire if the children are of a more competitive bent. I recommend mom being involved from start to finish, just in case. 

Read together. 

Either mom reads, everyone takes turns reading, or the older kids read to the younger kids. I have more non-readers than readers at this point so I usually just do the reading but my oldest sometimes likes a turn. 

Have a tea party.

There is something about a tea party that gets kids excited and their minds off their troubles. It gives them something to look forward to and to plan. It doesn't have to be fancy, just some crackers and juice. Read a bit or listen to some music. Go around and have each child say something they are thankful to have. 

Play hooky.

Sometimes you just need to ditch school for the day and play hooky. Nobody learns when under duress and if it is looking like one of those days, it may be better to simply close the books and do some life learning instead. I go year round just so we can have plenty of sun days, lazy days, rain days, and mental health days. 

Connection.

If one child is causing most of the ruckus and is making everyone else miserable, try to figure out why. Is the child in pain? Sad over something? Frustrated? Needing more attention from mom? This is a great time to sit down with that child and just talk. It may change not only day but also your relationship.

If all else fails....

If all else fails there is nothing wrong with tossing up your hands in defeat, grabbing another cup of coffee, putting in a movie and just hunkering down until daddy comes home or bedtime, whichever comes first. And speaking of bedtime, putting them all down 15 minutes early (assuming you have bedtimes) is another idea. It is not so early that it will severely mess up the next morning and can be a sanity saver for mom. 

And there you have it folks! May your days, even the bad ones, be blessed. 

~ Hannah

Some weekend pics

It was beautiful this past weekend! Hubby and I took the kids out to the trail near our house so the kids could ride their bikes. Or rather, bikes and scooter. Master J, 3, does not have a bike yet. I really like this trail because it is a loop that is about 1/3 of a mile long. I can sit in the grassy part in the middle and see the entire thing, and therefore all my children. It is a good opportunity for them to have some freedom and independence and still be supervised. They love it too!

The older three taking a break from biking to follow a grasshopper through the grass.  

Annnd a picture of me with the baby. Er, toddler. I have been trying to be sure to include myself in our family outings. I don't want my kids to look back in 20 years and wonder where mom was (behind the camera of course, lol). I am not keen on pics of myself, especially after all the fluff having five kids has added to my frame but, insanely dry lips aside, this one isn't so bad. At least my hair is fixed 😂

Master J, abandoning his scooter to run as fast as his three year old legs would carry him.

Four of my five children, with hubby. Notice Miss R, 17 months now, wandering far ahead. She was having a ball and wore her toddler self out. This may or may not have been part of mommy's diabolical plan all along, muwahahahaha!

Biking together. Sometimes they stayed together, other times they dashed off in all directions. Miss A (right) is a speedy little thing! She learned how to ride without training wheels on her older brother's bike. Every day for two weeks she would go out, get on his bike, go a few feet, and fall. Then up again, a few more feet, then on the ground again. Her determination finally paid off and she got it down without falling. She could barely reach his pedals so we decided that she needed a bike of her own. Pink with sparkles. She loves it.

Hannah's Feeding a Crowd When Times Are Tough Menu, 11/27/16

I will be blogging more about things I am passionate about, including homeschooling and frugal living tips. As part of the frugal living I will be posting a weekly menu. Now this is not going to be a healthy eating on a budget or Tips from Hannah the Health Guru. Nopity nope nope. These menus, for now, will be focusing on truly frugal, 'filling bellies' eating. Not that I don't care about health, I do. It is just that for now I do not have the budget to reflect healthy eating. Most 'healthy eating on a budget' menus that I have found have a much higher weekly food budget or far fewer people to feed. A lot of this is made up of canned, made from scratch, or on sale items, whatever is cheaper when I go out shopping.

Enjoy!

Please note, we always have a homemade pizza night and a taco night. Sometimes I do full on tacos, sometimes I do a salad, and other times I do a salad with tortilla chips.

Sunday - Pizza night 🍕 (My phone gives me emoticon suggestions. It thought I ought to have a pizza slice. I agreed.)

Monday - Roast chicken with green beans, potato wedges, fruit (I will be making bone broth with the carcass)

Tuesday - Taco night

Wednesday - Cheese omelets with toast and fresh fruit

Thursday - Hotdogs with chips, baked beans, and salad

Friday - Pancakes with turkey bacon (since we don't eat pork) and fruit

Saturday - Leftovers. I will be making extra omelets and pancakes just for this meal, to be sure we have enough food for everyone.

Huggies Slip-On Diapers Review (old post)

So this is old, a review I wrote for some diapers I received (specifically to review) when my oldest daughter, Miss A, was little. She is now 5 years old, lol. I don't even know if these even exist any longer but here is the review anyway:

 My daughter has always been an independent little thing and toddler hood has brought this to a whole new level. At 20 months she can dress herself completely, from undressing to putting her socks and shoes on. EXCEPT her diaper - that has frustrated her very much! That was the best part about using the Huggies Slip-Ons, she could do it herself. She loved it! From the very first diaper change, she was able to take off her diaper and put a new one on (provided she had not pooped, of course). The diaper fit her well and she was able to put it on and take it off with ease.

There were two things about this diaper that I didn't like.

Maybe it is because I am an experienced mom (I have four children), but this diaper was not nearly as convenient as a regular disposable diaper. I can change a child standing up with a regular diaper very quickly, without having to remove any articles of clothing. This diaper, I had to remove her pants/shorts in order to put it on her, which was very inconvenient in certain situations. Take going out as an example. A couple weeks ago I was out with the kids and we took a bathroom break. My daughter had shoes, tights, and pants on at the time. I hate public restrooms and try to keep my kids as sanitary as possible. With a regular disposable, I was able to simply pull down her pants and tights, take it off, put it on, and pull up her pants again without laying her down on the changing table or having to remove her shoes and pants while doing it. Now, the Slip-Ons do have tabs that undo and redo but these are harder to work than the regular tabs while standing up. Maybe I just have more experience with the other tabs and with practise could do it with ease, but that was what I found.

The other issue was that these are not nearly as absorbent as the diapers I currently use. They also are not good for night diapers for heavy wetters. I cannot remember the last time my daughter leaked while using the generic diapers we usually use but she had several leaks with the Huggies Slip-Ons.

Happy Thanksgiving! And updates.

Ok, a belated Thanksgiving as it was yesterday but I thought I would wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving all the same!

Some updates....

I am planning on being more active from now on. 2016 goals, ya know, now that the year is almost over 😂 My goal is to share some things here but our day to day things will be posted on the Facebook page.

As I mentioned on my Facebook page (Callithumpian, for those who do not know), the kids have gotten new workbooks which I plan on reviewing soon. Keep an eye out for that! Both the kids and I are really excited about these books. Once I use them for a bit I will share our thoughts with all of you.

Ozark Trails 30 oz Tumbler Review

This post contains affiliate links.

I am making a brief blogging comeback for this fantabulous cup. (I don't know if fantabulous is actually a word but I think it sums this up nicely.) You know those really cool, really expensive tumblers that hold ice for what seems like ions? Well, this is the knock off brand version of that tumbler. It. Is. Amazing.

When we first moved to Texas I not only had to get used to the heat and the feels-like-you-are-breathing-water humidity but I also had to get used to the tap water. For those who have never lived up North, let me explain. For the vast majority of my life I was able to go to the tap, turn it on, and poof! Instant cold water. Here, not so much. The water is lukewarm, year round. I like my drinking water to be COLD so you can imagine how horrifying this was for me. The first year here I went through vast quantities of ice. Two problems with constantly icing your drink, 1. The ice melts in a very short amount of time and then you need more ice, and 2. Condensation. I had to be careful where I set my ice water because it would drip everywhere. I seriously considered one of those expensive tumblers but I couldn't justify the high price tag.

Enter the cup of the year, my beautiful, glorious Ozark Trail tumbler. This is the stuff of legends! Before writing a glowing review, I figured I had best test it out in different environments to see how it handled itself. In an air conditioned environment, it stays cold all day long; when out walking in the Texas Summer heat (say at the zoo with the littles), it stays cold for several hours; when left in the hot vehicle, the ice melts after about 2.5-3 hours but it stays cold for longer. I no longer need to continually add ice to my water! Another perk is that there is NO CONDENSATION. None. This things stays bone dry even if completely chock full of ice. It solves all my problems for much less than the name brand model!

I highly recommend this tumbler, especially if you enjoy your beverages cold. It also keeps beverages hot/warm but I have not yet tried anything warm in there.

Amazon Affiliate links:

20oz model

30oz model