Two years ago, in the middle of my second divorce and a few months before my fourth baby was born, I was looking for anything that would help me survive the dark storm that was rolling in. I was feeling desperate and despairing, so I was willing to try anything. When I saw a challenge from Gretchen Rubin to write your own personal commandments to be happier, I didn’t really think it would make a big difference to my situation, but doing something was better than doing nothing and letting my mind wander with worries and fears.

However, since I drafted my own set of personal commandments two years ago, I have found myself turning to them over and over again. They are a reminder of who I want to be, of small and simple things I can do to take control of my own life, and a quick way to boost my own happiness on a regular basis. Writing my own set of personal commandments helped me to clarify what was important to me and what I value most. Every time I return to my commandments, which is almost daily, they take me back very quickly to the overarching principles that I want to live my life by. On difficult days, I often find myself repeating one or two of them as mantras to guide me through a rough patch. They have been enormously helpful to me.

Below are my Eleven Personal Commandments and a brief explanation of each of them. I hope they’ll inspire you to take a closer look at your own core values and come up with your own personal commandments. For more inspiration, Gretchen Rubin has some tips for writing your own commandments here along with her 12 personal commandments that are really fun to read about.

My Eleven Personal Commandments

1. Fall in with it. This commandment, and so often my daily mantra, was inspired by a line from Robert Frost: “Always fall in with what you are asked to accept. Fall in with it and turn it your way.” So many of the difficult things thrown our way are often out of our control. This commandment reminds me to be flexible, rather than passive or resistant. I have to push myself to “fall in with it” so that I can embrace even the most painful circumstances and actively use them to improve and grow.  This is probably my most important and most challenging personal commandment.  As Virginia Woolf said, “Arrange whatever pieces come your way.”

2.  Do it now. Because I always, always, always would rather wait and do it tomorrow. “The only menace is inertia.” St. John Perse

3.  Look for what’s right. I grew up hearing my parents and grandparents say over and over, “Are you looking for what’s right, or are you looking for what’s wrong.” As they taught me early on, you can always find something “right” in any situation. This isn’t always easy, but it’s always rewarding.

This is something I love to see in other people too. Just recently, a friend’s father passed away unexpectedly. Rather than focus on all the “wrong” things – the ways that it was unfair and unfortunate and the tragedy of the whole situation, I only heard them express what was “right” – the fact that just a few months earlier the entire family had been able to get together for his birthday, how he survived (even though he was unconscious) just long enough for everyone to make it into town to be there when he died, how beautiful the funeral was, etc. It was a difficult situation, but it was so inspiring to see their positive response and a good reminder to me of why it’s important to push myself to look for what’s right as often as I can.

4. This too shall pass. Apparently this was one of Abraham Lincoln’s favorite lines and it’s become quite dear to me too. I bought this print a few years ago and it hangs in a corner of my house where I pass it and read it everyday. On a good day, it’s a reminder to savor the joy and the people I love, to remember that it is fleeting and to enjoy the moment. On a bad day (or month, or year), it’s a comfort to remember that it won’t last – there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

5. Dig Deep. This is my parenting mantra. My kids are my world and my greatest joys, and yet, the reality of parenting – and especially single parenting- four children is that it’s hard. I want to dig deep for them and do the thing that feels right, the thing that expresses love, even when I don’t feel like it. This can be big, like patiently responding to a loud and crazy tantrum or fight, or small, like getting out of bed when they call for water in the middle of the night instead of yelling “go to sleep” down the hall and rolling back over. Sometimes I get this right, sometimes I don’t, but it helps to have the commandment to refer back to.

6. Thank God for the things that I do not own. I stole this one from St. Teresa of Avila. As a single parent family, we’ve struggled with money. This is my reminder to be grateful, to avoid comparisons, and to see the blessings in a simple life. Things can truly be baggage, and wishing for things we don’t have only weighs me down. I want to strive for wholeness and happiness and avoid seeing the acquisition of things as the only marker of success and progress. Yes, thank God for the things I do not own.

7. Reach out. I know intuitively that we’re not on this journey alone, but as an introvert, reaching out doesn’t come naturally to me. This is one that I need a lot more work on. It always forces me outside my comfort zone to reach out, but every time I make a real connection I am reminded of why it’s worth the trouble to push myself in this area.

8. Do the next right thing. My dad heard this somewhere when I was a teenager and it inspired him so much that he repeated it to us all the time – for years. Though I may not have fully understood or appreciated it back then, I find it very helpful and even comforting now. So often I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing – as a parent, as someone trying to earn a living, as a creative person, as a human being in general. But rather than let myself become overwhelmed by the unknown or the fear of failure, or become paralyzed by doubt or uncertainty, I remind myself that all I need to do right now is the next right thing. Sometimes the next right thing is just to make dinner and wash the dishes.

9. Enjoy the process. This is one of Gretchen Rubin’s personal commandments, and I liked it so much I included it in my own. Especially when it comes to work -writing/photography, I focus so much on the end results and whether or not it earns me any money, that I forget that I really do love writing and taking pictures. I find this one also helps me more cheerfully accomplish all of my mundane household chores. Instead of rushing through the dishes, I can actually choose to enjoy the process just by paying attention to what I’m doing.

10. Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. When I let myself spiral into fear and worry about the future, let me be an instrument of peace. When I find myself faced with another’s dishonesty, unkindness, anger, or resentment, let me be an instrument of peace. When I am tempted to sacrifice my own peace to avoid conflict as I do so often, let me be an instrument of thy true peace. When I am too focused on myself and can’t see the needs of those around me, let me be an instrument of thy peace. Let me see beyond my own personal preference, my own self interest, and make me an instrument of thy peace.

11. And last, but definitely not least: Let It G0. I don’t mean this as “relax, let things that bother me go.” It’s more like this:

via GIPHY

Yes, like that. I want to let it go when I hate myself for the poor choices that I’ve made that have led me to this point of being a single parent of four kids. I want to let it go when I feel like the past is going to make the future I want impossible. I remember sitting in the theater and hearing Elsa sing her song and wanting to jump out of my seat and join her. It’s perhaps embarrassing to be so moved by a Disney movie, but like Elsa, I just want to let it go, let it go, and rise like the break of dawn. Let it go.

What are some of your personal commandments? Do any of these resonate with you? Leave your thoughts in the comments here.

The post Write Your Own Set of Personal Commandments appeared first on Some the Wiser.

I have been thinking a lot about resilience lately. Mostly because I haven’t been feeling very resilient. It was far from the worst thing that I’ve ever had to deal with, but ever since my car was crunched by a garbage truck at the start of the year, I’ve had a hard time bouncing back. It just felt like one wrong thing too many after a string of strikes and failures. For the past few months, I have felt more bitter, more negative about everything. It’s not who I am and I don’t like it. I want to be more resilient.

So, I’ve been doing some research into resilience, the hows and whys, and trying to come up with some sort of action plan for feeling better – bouncier. I’m still working on that, but in my digging, I came across this fascinating video from The Stockholm Resilience Center (yes! there’s actually a center devoted to researching resilience – fascinating!).  The video gives the best explanation of Resilience that I’ve come across.

What I found really profound, however, is this statement from Brian Walker near the end of the video:

The way you maintain the resilience of a system is by allowing it to probe its boundaries.  If you never burn a forest, the species in that forest that are capable of putting out fire eventually are out competed and disappear. The only way to make a forest resilient to fire is to burn it.

So often when I have conversations with people about being a single parent of four kids, or they find out about how my husband left me pregnant and on bed rest, they’ll say something like: “I have no idea how you do it. I could never do that.” And I guess that’s why this statement struck me as so relevant. I couldn’t do it either, until I had to. I am becoming more resilient not in spite of the fire, but because of it.

What do you think? Do you agree? Share your thoughts in the comments.

The post On Becoming More Resilient: We Can Do Hard Things appeared first on Some the Wiser.

My favorite time of the day is the hour just before bed time. After everyone has changed into pajamas and brushed teeth, we all pile into my bed for an hour or so of reading. We start with a few picture books for the littlest ones, then scriptures, then we end with a few chapters out of a book we’ve chosen as a family. This has been our routine for a long time now, long enough that we never question if we’ll read, only what we’ll read. It’s become a family habit and one that we all treasure.

Recently we sat down together and compiled this list of some of our most favorite family read aloud books. We all voiced our opinions and voted on all the many books we’ve read together. The books we’ve included here were unanimous favorites – from Mom, an almost 10 year old, an 8 year old, a 6 year old, and the 2 year old (who mostly sleeps through the chapter book portion of our evenings, but he voted enthusiastically with the rest of us).

The key to a really good family read aloud book is its ability to appeal to a range of ages. There are a lot of books the kids enjoy, but I don’t and while I think there are a place for those silly, just-for-kids books, I want family reading time to be something that we all look forward to. I also don’t want to pick books that my older kids will love but my six year old won’t understand.

It can be tricky finding good books that meet all of our criteria, and we have been known to start a family read aloud and abandon it because it wasn’t working for us. But when we happen upon a really great family read, it’s an experience we remember. We’re still talking about all the books on this list – they work their way into so many of our conversations and as my oldest approaches the double digits in a couple of months, I’m just so glad we have this shared love of books to keep the conversation open.

Ronia the Robber’s Daughter by Astrid Lindgren

You probably know Lindgren’s most famous book, Pippi Longstocking, but this lesser known book is a true gem. We just finished reading it aloud last night, so it’s at the top of our favorites list. Ronia is an eleven year old girl who lives with her parents and a band of robbers in an old castle in the woods. She befriends the son of a rival robber gang and stirs up quite a storm in the enchanted forest. She’s a strong, brave, wonderful girl character and the book has inspired a lot of conversation about facing our fears, friendship, and independence.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

This was a beautiful book to read aloud. Again, it features a strong, brave girl (seems to be a theme for us) who embarks on an adventurous journey to find the Old Man of the Moon who she hopes will help her change her family’s fortune. It’s a perfect blend of fantasy and Chinese folklore that makes it hard to put down. The folk tales weaved in appealed to my youngest listener and the more complex look at the themes of happiness, greed, discontent, and gratitude. It is such a wise book, but that only adds to its appeal.

Abel’s Island by William Steig

Steig’s picture books are my absolute favorite. Something about his style, his intelligent wit, his clever sense of humor really appeals to me. This chapter book is short, which is sometimes nice if you’re reading with little ones in the mix, but it’s full of Steig’s classic style, humor, and wisdom. Abel is a classy, privileged mouse who is swept away in a flood one day and stranded on an island. It’s an adventure, but a meaningful one with a stubborn, resourceful, philosophical mouse.

Half Magic by Edward Eager

This is one of my all time favorite books and one that we’ve read aloud as a family more than once, and we’ll probably read it again. It’s a perfect summer time adventure with four kids and a magic coin, but it’s not just any old magic adventure. I’ve written more about it here. I always recommend this book to everyone I know who has kids to read it aloud to. So good.

All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor

Somehow I missed this classic book as a kid, but I’m so glad I recently discovered it. We adored this sweet family with five young girls in New York at the turn of the century. They are a Jewish-American family and we loved reading about their Jewish faith, holidays, and traditions. It sparked so much good family discussion! It’s old fashioned, with simple pleasures like candied orange slices and pickle peddlers, and it makes the most ordinary events in a family seem almost magical. Bonus, this mama picked up a few parenting tricks from the wise mother of five in this book – don’t dismiss her cleaning/button trick, it really is handy!

The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright

This is another delightfully old fashioned book set in 1930’s New York. One rainy Saturday four bored siblings cook up a plan to pool their allowances so each of them can have their own Saturday adventure. Each chapter chronicles their adventures, which are ordinary but quite compelling – everything from a haircut, that turns out to be far more traumatic than you might expect (and also led to a lot of family discussion about how we might handle this situation differently), to a tame trip to an art gallery.

The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden

Chester is a cricket who accidentally ends up in the Times Square subway station, far from his country home. The story itself is a sweet, simple, old fashioned, yet timeless, story. There isn’t a grand adventure and it isn’t fast paced. What made it a particularly good read aloud for our family, however, was the music. Every time Chester learned a new song, we looked it up and listened to the music along with Selden’s written descriptions. It really made the book come to life for us, and we can’t talk about this book now without everyone humming the Blue Danube Waltz.

Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech

This is one that my nine year old read on her own, but she loved it so much she begged me to read it aloud and she listened to it all over again. Dallas and Florida are orphaned twins with enough bad foster home experiences behind them that they are convinced at a young age that a happy home won’t ever exist for them. But a summer adventure with an eccentric older couple in the woods turns their lives upside down. Bonus – I love a good excuse to throw around some accents and dialects when I read, and this book has some characters that lend themselves well to fun voices.

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

This is actually a five book series and once we started it last year we fell down the rabbit hole. Our hour of reading regularly turned into two and bedtime reading became at the breakfast table reading, in the car reading, let’s skip dinner and just read instead reading until the entire series was finished. It’s about a brother and sister who go to spend what they think will be an ordinary summer with their grandparents and instead find themselves in a hidden magical preserve for all kinds of creatures, good and bad. It’s an adventure of epic proportions and each book gets better and better with the fifth book being exactly five times better than the first. After we read it aloud as a family, both of my older girls read the entire series again on their own. Note: these books can be scary, which doesn’t really bother us, but it might be too much for some readers.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Not all old books stand the test of time, but this one is just as good as I remembered it from my own childhood. My girls found the secret garden, they mysteries of the old house, and the conflicted characters just as compelling as I hoped they would. And though this book is good to read any time, I particularly like to read it in the spring and summer when we can compare the natural world that is transforming in the book to the nature in our own neck of the woods.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

I saw on Goodreads that Rick Riordan said this book has an “old fashioned elegance” to it and I completely agree. It’s a mystery with puzzles and a nefarious criminal mastermind and super intelligent kids who have to save the day. My kids loved the story and are ready to move on to the next one in the trilogy. As a parent, this book gave me a lot to think about – the ways that adults try to control and manipulate kids and how the kids that think for themselves are often labeled as “defiant” and problem children. I’m still thinking about this one, but I like it.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate 

This book is told from the perspective of a gorilla named Ivan who lives in a cage at the Big Top Mall. I don’t particularly love books about animals (I know, I know) and I was especially wary about an animal narrator, but this book is magnificent. Ivan doesn’t really mind his life in the mall and he doesn’t remember anything before it until a baby elephant named Ruby moves into the cage next door and she does remember her life in the wild jungles of Africa. He wants to help her, but he’s just a gorilla and what can a gorilla in a cage really do? It’s poignant and funny and sure to spark a lot of really good family discussions.

The Borrowers by Mary Norton

This was a book that I loved as a child and I was so excited to read it aloud to my own kids. Luckily, they fell in love too. The borrowers are a family of tiny people that live under the kitchen floor in a “human bean” house. They “borrow” the things they need to survive and stay away from the humans. But when their daughter, Arrietty makes friends with a human boy, everything changes.  Bonus – there’s a Japanese movie version of this book that we really like called The Secret World of Arrietty so after you finish the book you can have a family movie night too.

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken

This is another older book that I somehow missed in my childhood and only discovered it as an adult. It was written in the 1960s and it has all the makings of a favorite children’s book: a Victorian/Georgian setting, secret passages, an evil governess, a goose boy, and two very brave girls. This one is lot’s of fun – I kept sneaking ahead in the book after the kids went to sleep to see what would happen next.

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place by Maryrose Wood

Miss Penelope Lumley comes to Ashton Place as the new governess and discovers that her three young pupils are quite incorrigible. They are children that bark and bite and chase squirrels and have little interest in learning Latin and geography. They have, in fact, been raised by wolves. This book is clever, with a wry sense of humor that appealed to this adult reader as well as my little listeners. The mystery is just mysterious enough to keep the pages turning. Bonus – there’s more books in this series and they’re all good!

What are some of your favorite family read alouds? What are you going to read next?

The post Top Family Read Aloud Books (Ages 5 to 12) appeared first on Some the Wiser.

We aren’t heading to any exotic locations this summer and we don’t have any plans that could really be considered exciting. It would be easy to let these months roll by without fanfare, but I’ve found that taking the time to make a Family Summer Bucket List helps us to really enjoy the season. Not only do we accomplish more and set aside more time for fun and adventures because we’ve put them on a list, marking the things down that we would do anyway (like go to the Farmer’s Market or to the Splash Pad) helps us to pay more attention to the fun we are having. Having a Family Summer Bucket List really makes summer feel like summer.

This list is a simple one. Most of the activities on this list are free or very inexpensive. We planned our summer to be outdoorsy, relaxing, and simple so that we can enjoy each other’s company, the time spent with friends, and all that warm sunshine. Copy our list, come up with your own, but I promise you, writing down even just a small list of summer activities really will make the summer more enjoyable!

1. Visit all the Libraries in our area. There are 21 nearby and so far we’ve hit 6. This is an inexpensive summer adventure that is turning out to be even more fun than I even anticipated. I’ll share more about this soon.

2. Go Camping. This is a classic summer activity and for good reason – it’s fun, it’s cheap, and it’s so relaxing. Check out Aimee’s guide to good camp food.

3. Go to the Pool. Truthfully, I hate public pools and taking four kids to the pool stresses me out like you wouldn’t believe. Still, the kids insisted that this show up on the list.

4. Splash Pad. Easier than the pool if you’ve got little ones, but I find that it’s still appealing even to my almost 10 year old. We’ll be here a lot more often than the pool this summer. Just pack lot’s of snacks.

5.  Something Historical. We haven’t settled on exactly what this will be, but we’re leaning towards the Salinas Pueblo Missions.

6. Shakespeare on the plaza.

7. Watch a movie outside. All around town here there are different parks hosting movies outdoors and we plan to make it to one or two of them. Remember when there used to be Drive in Movie Theaters – ah, the good ol’ days. 

8. Hike.

9. Catch a Fish.

10. Geo Caching. I know this has been around for ages now, but we only started getting into it a few months ago. It is such a fun, and inexpensive way to have an adventure in our own little area. We’ve found almost 10 geocaches now and we hope to double that number this summer.

11. Pick a Summer Theme Song. We settled on the Sound of Sunshine by Michael Franti as our summer anthem and I swear, blasting it on the way to all of our summer activities really does make everything seem more fun (and kind of unofficially more official.)

12. Picnic, picnic, picnic.

13. Eat at a Food Truck. We did this last week – best burritos ever.

14. Go Berry Picking.

15. Find a Waterfall.

16. Sleep on the Trampoline. Remember how everyone sinks to the middle by morning time?

17. Build an epic Lego creation. Items like this come in handy on hot, lazy summer afternoons.

18. Eat Columbian Food.

19. Buy Ice Cream.

20. Make Ice Cream.

21. Tie Dye. We did this with pillow cases on the Fourth of July last year and determined that it needed to become a tradition.

22. Climb trees. We put this on the list every year, and every year we are so glad we did.

23. Ride a train.

24. Plant flowers.

25. Find a Lake.

26. Kayak.

27. Have friends over.

28. Watch a parade.

29. Go to a Baseball Game.

30. Visit the Farmer’s Market.

31. Have a Contest (watermelon seed spitting? three legged race? best lemonade recipe?)

32. Feed the ducks. This is one is for the toddler because he can’t get enough of those ducks.

33. Go to Tinker Town. If you’re ever in Albuquerque .  . .

34. Go to the Jemez Mountains

35. Go the Sandia Mountains

36. Go to the River.

37. Root Beer Floats. Of all the things on this list, I might be the most excited about this one.

38. Smores – with homemade marshmallows this year too.

39. Get Lost. This was Esme’s addition to the list and I think she really means lost. We’ll see.

40. Go to a concert.

41. Barbecue. This one is tricky because we don’t even own a grill. Anyone want to invite us over?

42. Make Lemonade.

43. Art Project.

44. Host a dinner.

45. Backwards Day. Do all of our normal daily activities backwards all day long. Breakfast for dinner!

46. Bowling. Another one that I wrinkle my brow about, but the kids insisted.

47. Go to a Museum.

48. Sew Skirts.

49. Bird Watching.

50. Make a pie.

51. Hammock time. If you haven’t had the pleasure of a nap in a hammock recently, I highly recommend this one.

52. Family Service Project.

What’s on your Summer Bucket List?

The post Family Summer Bucket List: 50 Fun, Cheap Summer Ideas appeared first on Some the Wiser.

Camping is one of our family’s favorite, and least expensive, ways to “vacation” in the summer. We teamed up with Energizer and The Motherhood for this summer’s camping fun. Sharing our best tips for Better Camping with Kids and a fun GIVEAWAY. 

I may be a single mother with a limited budget for vacationing, but I’m determined to give my kids the experience and memories of time away from home in the summer. Camping is one of our favorite ways to “get away” for the summer without spending a lot of money. We don’t have to go far from home, but we still get to experience a more relaxed environment, grow closer as a family, and make memories together.

But if you’re a parent, then you’ll know what I mean when I say that a vacation with kids is a challenge of its own. Just the process of gathering and packing for four kids can sometimes make me question why I’m so determined to get my kids out of town. Still, when all is said and done, I’m always so glad we did it! And, after our most recent mountain getaway, I’ve got a few tips to make camping with kids a little bit easier.

This single mother set up a tent all by herself, manned the dutch ovens for three days of eating, and managed to bring home all four children with a minimal number of scrapes and bruises. Total success! Here are my tips for better camping with kids:

1. Pick the Right Spot

A good location makes all the difference! If you’re new to camping with kids, find a spot that isn’t too far from home, then if things go south, it’s easy to throw in the towel.

Consider the differences between disbursed camping and developed camping and decide what will work best for your family. The upside to developed camping is bathrooms, trash cans, and easy access. The downside is having neighbors and paying fees. For the most part now, we camp on our own away from developed camp sites. But if you have very young kids, or you’re still getting the hang of the whole camping thing, developed camp sites really are nice.

My best tip for picking the right spot is to try to find a spot near water. Camping with kids near a stream makes everything easier for me and more fun for the kids. The kids spent almost our entire camping trip in the water, which meant more time for me to relax!

2. Bring the Right Gear

The right gear means the difference between a relaxing weekend away or a camping disaster. You can find good checklists for the essentials and obvious items like a tent and sleeping bags (here’s a good one), but here’s a few more that really making the family camping experience easier:

• A Lantern: Flashlights are great, but when you’re trying to change diapers, get kids dressed, and find your 6 year old’s favorite (and tiny) stuffed animal in the dark, you’re going to want a reliable lantern. Trust me. Energizer’s versatile lanterns are powerful and portable, just what you need for family camping trips. Our Energizer lantern led the way to the bathroom at night, plus kept all the boogeymen out of the tent until the little ones fell asleep, which, honestly, is the real reason we can’t camp without a high powered lantern. Energizer area lanterns are the safe, reliable way to provide bright 360° light long into the night, at the camp fire, or while weathering a storm.
• A high chair: If you have a little one, find the extra space to bring a high chair. Not only does it make meal times easier, but it can be a lifesaver when you’re trying to keep a toddler away from the camp fire and other camping dangers when you’re hands are busy. I learned this trick when I took my first baby camping for the first time and spent a not very relaxing weekend playing goalie at the campfire and fishing pine needles and rocks out of her mouth.

• Hammocks: You may think this doesn’t really sound like “essential” family camping gear, but I’ll disagree. Yes, it’s delightful to relax in a hammock and stare up at blue sky and big trees – nothing quite like it. But, I really put it on the list because the hammocks kept the kids so entertained. If they weren’t in the water, they were in the hammocks. Hammock games were devised, afternoon rest time was made possible, and a nap or two may even have happened and I owe it all to the hammocks.

• A Hand Washing Station: Okay, I haven’t ever actually done this but when I saw this after our most recent camping trip, I vowed to make this part of our essential camping gear next time. As you’ll see in the pictures I’ve posted here, kids get really, really dirty on camping trips.
• Kid Friendly Bug Repellent: I’m a big fan of essential oils and we do make our own bug sprays for camping, but the kids really love these kid friendly mosquito repellent bracelets. They were effective repelling bugs, but the kids also just thought they were fun – a camping fashion statement if you will. But really, I’ll try almost anything if it keeps the kids from complaining about bugs all weekend.
• Towels: Bring so many towels. More than you think you’ll need. Really, you can’t bring enough towels.
• Batteries: What I said about towels goes for batteries too. It gets really dark out there. When you’re preparing for your summertime adventures, don’t forget the batteries! Even better, bring Energizer batteries. Energizer® EcoAdvanced™ batteries are the world’s first AA and AAA battery made with four percent recycled batteries.

• Headlights : And I should say this, enough head lights for all your kids because they’re going to think they’re amazing and want their own. I only brought two this last time and it was a bigger problem than I care to explain (read: temper tantrum at bed time because not enough lights for reading  ). But seriously, hands free lighting, especially when you’re camping with kids, is amazing! Energizer headlights are lightweight, versatile and water resistant with pivoting functionality to direct light where you need it.

3. Good Food

I’ve long thought that food tastes better when eaten outside, so camping food is one of my life’s great pleasures. If you haven’t tried cooking in a dutch oven while camping, I can’t recommend it highly enough! It’s so easy, but so delicious. Dutch oven pizza is one of my favorite camping dinners, but we enjoyed some amazing Dutch Oven Ravioli on our most recent camping trip too. And Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler, oh dear!

Over on Simple Bites, Aimee has a fantastic guide for good camping food. Her Homemade Instant Maple Oatmeal has recently become a favorite camping breakfast.  And the Ginger Beef and Bean Burritos I prepared ahead of time, out of the book Brown Eggs and Jam Jars was a lunch favorite (we’ve even made them again since we came home and just baked them in the oven).

And don’t forget the s’mores. Is it really called camping without marshmallows and s’mores? We like to go the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup route with our s’mores and it never disappoints. But remember that hand washing station?  You’ll want one after these for sure.

4. Let them play

For the best experience camping with kids, build in a lot of play time. It’s helpful to bring some structured play just in case :

• Card Games
• Sport’s Equipment (balls, frisbees, etc.)
• Nature Crafts (crafts that involve leafs, or pine cones, or rocks)
• Story Books
• Buckets and water toys
• Ropes

But plan for plenty of unstructured play too! One of my favorite tools for getting the kids playing on their own is this book: The Great Big Book of Children’s Games . This gets them started, but it normally leads to a lot of fun, child led activities and their imagination takes it from there.

I’ve also found that normal “chores” become more like play when we’re camping too. Washing dishes while camping = fun. And teaching outdoor skills feels like a lot of fun too:

• tying knots
• using pocket knives
• safe fire skills
• reading a compass
• bird watching
• identifying animal tracks

5. Embrace the outdoors

In his wonderful book, Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv said,

Passion is lifted from the earth itself by the muddy hands of the young; it travels along grass-stained sleeves to the heart. If we are going to save environmentalism and the environment, we must also save an endangered indicator species: the child in nature.

When you go camping, your kids have the opportunity to experience nature and fall in love with it. There’s no need to bring all of the electronics and distractions from home, instead, embrace nature.  This is something fun that you can do for your children, but it’s also something important.

“Time in nature is not leisure time; it’s an essential investment in our children’s health (and also, by the way, in our own).” Richard Louv

GIVEAWAY

To make your family’s summer adventures and camping trips with kids a little bit easier, I’ve got a great giveaway from Energizer! Energizer lights and batteries are the perfect accessories for all your summertime family activities.

Prize: 

• One Energizer® Fusion LED Folding Lantern
• One Energizer® Vision HD + Focus LED Headlight
• Two packs of Energizer® EcoAdvanced® AA and AAA Batteries

• Energizer homepage
• Energizer® EcoAdvanced™ batteries
• Energizer lighting products

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This post was sponsored by Energizer and The Motherhood. All experiences and opinions are entirely my own. 

The post 5 Tips for Better Camping with Kids + GIVEAWAY appeared first on Some the Wiser.

About a year and half ago, I stumbled upon the best parenting trick: Make it Epic. It is a game changer – let me tell you why . . . 

Sometimes as a single parent, I worry about all of the things that I can’t give my children, all of the things they will miss out on. But I determined early on as a single parent that I wasn’t going to let what we didn’t have get in the way of a happy childhood. So, despite my limitations, and often because of them, I’ve been forced to get creative as a parent, which is how I discovered the best parenting trick of all.

A year and a half ago, as New Year’s Eve approached, I decided I wanted to do something special with the kids, something they’d remember. We didn’t have the money for exotic vacations and even a dinner for all five of us at a restaurant would have been a real stretch. The only ideas I could come up with that fit within all of the constraints felt too ordinary. Just when I was ready to throw in the towel and rent a movie, however, inspiration struck. Maybe we could turn something ordinary into something epic.

I thought of all the ordinary things that my kids enjoyed and tried to think of ways to make them epic. They like to eat pizza, so what if we tried to make the biggest pizza of all time. They like to watch a movie, so what if we hosted a movie marathon. Somewhere in the brainstorming process I came up with Epic Slide Day and it stuck. On December 31, 2014, we ended the year with the most memorable, most epic family adventure.

Epic Slide Day

Going to the park is a pretty ordinary thing for my kids. We live within walking distance of one park and very short driving distance of many more. But for Epic Slide Day, we didn’t just go to the park. We made ordinary park play time into something truly epic.

First, we made a plan. A few days before New Year’s Eve, we mapped out all the parks in our city. I got all the kids involved in the process to help build excitement for the big day. We found 40+ parks around here and then mapped out a route that would take us by every single one of them. We packed snacks and lunch and geared up for a proper adventure.

The plan was to go to every park and go down every single slide. We agreed that every person had to go down every slide and every slide had to be photographed. We printed off a check list that the kids marked as we went so we could keep track of our parks and slides.

Epic Results

The epic slide adventure lasted all day long. We started at 10:30 AM and ended at 4:30 in the afternoon, with only a lunch break in the middle. In the end, each person made it down 78 slides in one day!

We had so much fun! And to keep the memories alive, I put together an Epic Slide Day book with photographs of all 78 slides.

I made the book with MyPublisher and it is truly a family treasure. It’s also the perfect reminder to me that we don’t have to go very far, or spend a lot of money to have fun experiences and make memories together. 

Since our Epic Slide Day, as it has come to be known around here, we’ve tried to come up with more ways to make ordinary things “Epic.” It turned into such a fun and special family experience that I decided I wanted to do something EPIC at least once or twice a year and the kids are always game. Making something ordinary into something Epic is a simple parenting trick, but it’s my favorite one so far.

What are your tips for family fun? I’d love to hear. . .

The post My Best Parenting Trick: Make it Epic appeared first on Some the Wiser.

We’re always up for a fun, easy, inexpensive family movie night! Sharing how we make it happen as well as a giveaway for free movie downloads and more. Check it out below: 

This post was sponsored by VUDU and The Motherhood. We have been happily using VUDU at home for years so we were delighted to partner with them to spread the word. All opinions and experiences are entirely my own.

We only manage to make it to the movie theater once or twice a year. Not only is it incredibly expensive to take a family of five to the theater, but it’s also difficult with kids. The last time we went to the theater, three of my four children had to go the bathroom during the movie. Not fun!

Our favorite way to do movie night is to stay at home. We used to rent movies from RedBox, but after forgetting to return them a few too many times and having to fork out extra money, I banned myself from it. Now, when we want an instantaneous movie, we turn to VUDU. We can buy on-demand movies or rent them, but we don’t need a subscription and there are No Late Fees – this was a game changer for me!

Often a movie night at our house is as simple as someone announcing they want to watch a movie and picking something to watch. It’s an inexpensive way to get everyone to pile on the couch together for a couple of hours. However, every now and then, I like to step it up a notch and make it a little more memorable. It’s still quick and easy to stream a movie on VUDU, but we take the extra time to pop some corn on the stove, break out a treat (everyone’s favorite is rootbeer!), and do the sometimes difficult work of getting a unanimous family vote on a movie title to watch.

I’m always surprised at how these simple steps can make something as ordinary as movie night feel so much more special. 

Our experience with VUDU

It had been way too long since I bought root beer, so I was excited for the excuse to pick up a few bottles when VUDU asked if we wanted to have a family movie night. With VUDU we had instant access to the new Angry Birds Movie and we didn’t have to shell out the big bucks to get everyone into a theater. We accessed VUDU through a blue ray player. We’ve also used it on our ios mobile devices. VUDU is also easily accessible through gaming consoles, Roku, Chromecast, smart tv’s, and android devices.

The quality of the movie was excellent on our HD tv and we had so much fun watching the movie together. We got to do something together as a family without spending a lot of money and without the hassle of having to leave the house with five kids. Watching the latest movies in pajamas is my kind of fun! Not to mention having access to a pause button for all the inevitable bathroom breaks and snack runs.

VUDU for You!

We’ve enjoyed using VUDU for a couple years now and I highly recommend it to other families and friends! Raising a family can be hard work, but I’m always happy to find easy ways to make it more fun and save a little money too. VUDU fits our budget and I’m always pleased with the selection of movies for both me and the kids.

I am offering one lucky reader the chance to try out VUDU with 8 free movie downloads and an adorable Angry Birds Plush Toy Gift Set! 

Sign up for a free VUDU account here and have an easy, cheap family movie night of your own!

Get the ios or Android app here 

Get your own digital copy of Angry Birds here

Scroll down to enter the giveaway:

Giveaway

Enter below to win 8 free movie downloads through VUDU and an Angry Birds Plush Toy Gift Set, sold exclusively through Walmart. Enter below using Rafflecopter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Movie Watching!

The post How We Save Money on Family Movie Night + A Giveaway appeared first on Some the Wiser.

It’s that time of year again! School is just around the corner and we’re getting ready with some fun Back to School Writing Prompts. 

This post is sponsored by BIC and The Motherhood. I received BIC products for review purposes. All opinions and experiences are entirely my own and we are pretty darn excited about all these new pens and pencils! 

While I wouldn’t say we are excited about summer ending, I can definitely say that stocking up on school supplies is an activity we all look forward to! There’s something about freshly sharpened pencils, empty notebooks, and fabulous new pens that gets us feeling energized and excited about school. I’m not even the one going back to school and I was downright giddy about new notebooks and pencils!

To help the kids build excitement for school next week, I let them pick out their own special notebooks (not the boring ones off the school supply list), which is how we ended up with the gold glitter. It did the trick though because the kids had so much fun. And when I said we we’re going to do a few writing exercises to get back in the school mood, they were totally game!

The kids were so enthusiastic about the plan (the promise of new pens really does that to them!) that they wanted to go to the library to make it feel more “school-ish.” Obviously, I was happy to oblige. 

At the beginning of the summer, everyone got a new workbook to keep a little structure in our mostly carefree summer days. I also picked up some handwriting practice books for the kids to work on. I knew my older girls would have fun with it, but I was hopeful that the practice would actually help my 6 year old.

I know that handwriting is an essential part of a child’s education and helps them express their creativity and develop their best self. Adelaide, my 6 year old, will be heading into first grade this year and I knew she needed a little extra writing practice to be ready. Luckily, she loved the practice books and worked on her handwriting throughout the summer without complaint (for the most part).

However, when we sat down to do a few Back to School Writing Prompts this week, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much her writing had improved over the summer. I know that research shows that handwriting promotes critical thinking, reading comprehension, fine motor skills development, creativity, and even self confidence. Still, it was surprising and exciting to see it all in action in my youngest daughter. I was thoroughly impressed! I also felt a lot better about the upcoming school year.

This year, my kids will be attending a new school. For the past five years, we’ve attended a wonderful Montessori school across town. We’ve had a great experience there, but this year we needed to make some changes. The nice thing is that the kids will be attending school a lot closer to home. However, we’re all still a little unsure and a little nervous about what’s ahead.

Heading to the library, armed with our new notebooks, pens, and pencils, I had high hopes that doing a fun writing activity and answering some open ended questions would help everyone feel a little more relaxed about the big changes happening next week. 

Back to School Writing Prompts

While we may have been doing these Back to School Writing Prompts to get everyone back in school mode, it turns out they were just a lot of fun. They prompted serious conversations about the school year ahead, as well as a lot of giggling and good silly fun. Their answers and doodles to all the questions were humorous, and revealing, and adorable. I quickly stashed away all of their answers to use as fun keepsakes and perfect reminders of who they were at 10, 8, and 6.

These are the Writing Prompts we used:

• What would you do if you were principal for a day?
• What are you looking forward to most this school year?
• What is your favorite subject?
  • What do you like about it?
• What is your favorite activity at recess?
• What are the two places you like most on the playground?
• What is one thing you learned last school year?
• What is one thing you want to learn more about this school year?
• Who is your favorite teacher and why?
• Who is your best friend at school and why?
• Do you think math (or any subject) is too easy or too hard? Why?
• Can you write and illustrate a favorite vocabulary word that you learned in school?

There were a lot of gems in the kids’ notebooks but I had a few favorite answers. If Eila were principal for a day, she’d put a pool outside, build a very big tree house and an indoor aquarium, and fire all the mean teachers. She also expressed her fears and excitements about the new school, which were so sweet. She surprised me by saying she’s most excited about learning Math this year – I wouldn’t have guessed that!

Her favorite BIC writing tools: BIC® Velocity® Side Clic™ Mechanical Pencil and BIC® Atlantis® Bold – because of all those fun colors! 

Adelaide is my child that is the least enthusiastic about school. She’d rather play. Still, she was a good sport with the writing activity (largely because she really adored the BIC® XTRA-Fun #2 Pencils with Stripes, no joke). My favorite Q & A: What is one thing you learned last school year? I did not lern anything. Well, there you have it. She’s pretty good at making me laugh.

And if Esme were principal for a day, she’d divide the students by their level of IQ. Perhaps I’m raising a bit of an evil genius here? Hmm. She also had a lot of fun writing out her favorite spelling/vocabulary words and illustrating them. Chrysanthemum anyone? (And don’t worry, I definitely had to check the spelling on that just now).

Her Favorite BIC writing tool: Definitely the BIC® 4-Color Stylus and Pen. She commandeered it as soon as the package was open and hasn’t let go of it since. On the other hand, I’m just as obsessed with the BIC® Cristal® Xtra Precision Ball Pens.  They are classic favorites and I like to always have a package or two in my desk drawer. I really do love a good pen! 

You can check out all of BIC’s fantastic Pens, Pencils, and Highlighters here.  When it comes to writing supplies, they really are the best!

BIC’s If I Were Principal For a Day Contest

Not only can you do some fun Back to School Writing Prompts with your kids, but BIC has a writing contest they can enter.

What would your kid(s) do if they were principal for a day? Have them write out their ideas and you could WIN a $10,000 scholarship! Visit BICFightForYourWrite.com now through August 15th to enter BIC’s If I Were Principal For a Day Contest and learn about more ways to celebrate handwriting. No purchase necessary. U.S. only, 21 +. Ends 8/15/16. Click here for Official Rules and details.

The post Back to School Writing Prompts appeared first on Some the Wiser.

We love the Farmer’s Market for more than just the fresh produce. Here’s 8 Reasons that get me + four kids out to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning! 

There isn’t much I dislike more than taking four kids to the grocery store. No matter how many discussions we have ahead of time, or how many rewards or threats I exact, it is almost always complete insanity as soon as we set foot in a grocery store. The two year old doesn’t like to sit in a cart and will scream, the ten year old wants to negotiate for items that didn’t make the shopping list, and my two middle children argue, run, yell, etc.  And when I shop with all the kids, inevitably I forget some very important item off the list and have to do it all over again the next day. It really is my least favorite chore.

Summer time, however, is a different story. Once the farmer’s markets open for the season, we can do a different kind of grocery shopping. Maybe it’s the sunshine, or the free face painting, or all the food samples, but an hour at the farmer’s market with four kids is not only manageable, it’s fun too. The kids will groan as loud as I do when I announce a trip to the grocery store, but I don’t even have to ask twice when the farmer’s market is the destination!

8 Reasons To Go To The Farmer’s Market

Our summer wouldn’t be complete without our trips to the Farmer’s Markets in Albuquerque. We do enjoy all the local fruits and vegetables, but there are a lot of reasons beyond the produce to visit the farmer’s market. If you need a little nudge, here are a few things that get us to the farmer’s market.

 1. To Talk to the Garden Experts

There are so many benefits to growing a backyard garden, but even after attempting to grow my own food every summer for the last five years, I still find it so challenging. I’ve found, however, that the farmer’s market is the best place to ask all my gardening questions. Where to get the best seeds? Why are my cucumber leaves turning yellow? What kind of mulch to use? Those growers at the market have all the best answers! I have even borrowed gardening books from them before.  

2. Cheap or Free Entertainment

While we try to hurry as fast as we can at the grocery store, at the farmer’s market no one ever wants to leave. There’s almost always live music and tables with coloring pages. Sometimes there’s a free rock climbing wall or free face painting, and there’s always plenty to look at. If you’re a two-year-old, jumping off curbs is even mighty entertaining. And while everyone is having fun, I still manage to pick up some fresh produce for the week.

3.  To Eat Good Food

We don’t eat breakfast on Farmer’s Market days because we can eat while we shop. Maybe a fresh peach, a breakfast burrito, or everyone’s favorite, a visit to the local bakery’s table at the market for a pastry or a muffin. It’s kind of like the Costco bonus – going in to buy toilet paper in bulk but also getting to feed everyone lunch at the concession stand for only a few dollars – yeah, like that, but better.

4. Free Samples

Again, kind of like those yummy Costco samples, but better. At the farmer’s market you don’t have to guess if the peaches you’re buying are good ones – taste a slice first. Not sure about the difference between clover honey and buckwheat honey? Taste before you buy. And as someone who feels very shortchanged when I buy a whole bag of grapes at the grocery store only to find out they are bitter when we get home, this feels like a really big perk. Plus, you know it’s going to be a good day when you start it off with free grilled corn on the cob.

5. All the Other Vendors

Most of the time, there’s a lot more than just produce, meat, and eggs at the farmer’s market. Last weekend, I saw handmade soaps, fresh flowers, wood furniture, quilts, essential oils, and so much more. If you want to buy local or handmade or even just find unique gifts and art, the farmer’s market is the best place to shop.

6. To Make Friends

Maybe this isn’t always true, but it seems like we meet the nicest people (and their dogs) at the farmer’s market. People aren’t rushing like they do at the grocery store, and no one seems to mind that the kids are loud. If you worry about globalization at all, the local farmer’s market is the best place to give yourself a happy dose of good old fashioned “community” to cheer you up again.

7. To Save Money

Not everything is cheaper at the farmer’s market, but a lot of things are, especially if you want to buy organic. Plus, if you’re factoring in the cost to the environment, buying locally grown produce/meat/eggs is definitely the cheaper option.

8. Because Your Kids Might Eat Their Vegetables

The farmer’s market works some sort of magic on my kids. They are aren’t enthusiastic kale eaters, but after we picked up a bunch of kale from the market last weekend, I brought it home and made this delicious stew. I kid you not, the kids ate every green bite. Something about meeting the people who grow the produce, talking to them, picking out the food . . . I don’t know. It’s just farmer’s market magic.

The post 8 Reasons To Go To The Farmer’s Market appeared first on Some the Wiser.

Happy Halloween! We’re keeping it simple this year with these Easy Halloween Costumes. The three cutest witches and an adorable little pumpkin! 

Admittedly, Halloween is not my favorite holiday. Costumes always feel like a hassle and an expense. And then there’s all the candy and treats that have to be dealt with. It’s not even a holiday that you get a break from school or work for. So yes, I’m sort of a Halloween scrooge.

Some years, I talk the kids out of the Halloween hoopla and we eat a cupcake at our favorite bakery and see a movie instead. This year, I lost the battle. Halloween it is.

Honestly though, I’ve been having fun with it this year. We stuck to easy Halloween costumes, which helped. But really, the kids have just been so enthusiastic that it’s rubbed off on me and I’ve been feeling markedly less grumpy about the whole thing.

Seriously though, look at that little pumpkin! It’s impossible for me to be a Halloween grouch while I have him running around yelling, “I’m a punkin! I’m a punkin!” And since he found out there is candy involved, he’s been the happiest, most excited two year old of all time.

Rory’s pumpkin costume was the most involved of all of them, but the fleece was cheap and it wasn’t too difficult. I used Simplicity Pattern 2788.

The witches were really easy Halloween costumes. We picked up all the hats at Michaels (on sale and with a coupon!), made no-sew tutus, and a piece of costume velvet for Esme’s cape (she’s apparently too grown up for tutus now.) 

On Saturday night, we had our annual church dinner and trunk-or-treat party. As I settled into the trunk after dinner to prepare to hand out candy, I had a moment. The light was fading, but its glow made the orange and yellow trees dropping their leaves around the parking lot feel like magic. All the kids were adorable and the sound of laughter was everywhere. And for just a moment, time seemed to stand still, and everything felt perfect. My kids. My community. The weather. The trees. Even all that candy.

Halloween may be growing on me.

The post Easy Halloween Costumes: Three Witches and a Pumpkin appeared first on Some the Wiser.

My Adelaide is six years old. This is my third time around with a six year old and I’m thoroughly convinced now that six might be one of the best ages of all. Six is just so much fun!

Each time one of my girls turns six, I turn back to the A.A. Milne poem, “Now We Are Six.” Yes, now that she’s Six, she’s as clever as ever. And I really do want her Six, now and forever.

I said the same thing when Esme, my oldest, turned six, but my feelings haven’t changed a bit. And wasn’t it just yesterday that Eila turned six? I really wouldn’t mind keeping them six forever and ever.

Just after she turned six earlier this year, I bought her this dress (JCrew doesn’t have the exact dress anymore, but it’s a lot like this one). It immediately became her most favorite dress. She’d wear it every day if I let her, and I think she’s worn it at least twice a week since she got it, and sometimes more!

But now, this dress has become part of my girl. When I think of her, I picture her twirling and flouncing in this blue checked dress. And long after she’s grown and six is only a memory, I don’t doubt I will still look back and remember my girl just as she is right now. Six and perfect, with her missing teeth, golden curls, laughing smile, and that bright blue dress, always twirling.

I noticed recently, with some panic, that she’s suddenly taller and the dress alarmingly shorter. The days are conspiring against me. Soon, it will be too cold for the dress and because she’s the youngest of my three girls, I won’t even be able to pass it down to a sister and it enjoy it next year.

So, we drove down to the river so I could attempt to capture everything that I love about her and this dress right now. Before everything changes.

Really, the pictures hardly do her justice. But still, it’s something.

Oh SIX, you really are wonderful.

The post A Girl and Her Dress appeared first on Some the Wiser.

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright! 

I love the tradition of taking a family picture and sending out holiday cards. I look forward to it as much as all of the good Christmas food and music.

I was running behind this year though and so holiday cards almost didn’t happen. But the kids were home from school early one afternoon and the light coming in my bedroom looked just right. Hurry everyone! Get your pajamas on and pile on the bed!

It sounds easier than it was though. I took 221 pictures and we have exactly 1 picture that worked.

That one good picture, the one where everyone is looking at the camera and smiling became the holiday card of course.

But looking at all of the rejected photos I realized that they’re almost better than the one that made the cut. It’s our family for real – the way it normally goes around here is not all that picture perfect. 

So I wish you the happiest of holidays this year. Thank you for stopping by our little corner of the web – it means so much to us.

May your days be merry and bright, and if it gets a little crazy behind the scenes, may you find it in your heart to enjoy that too.

The post Happy Holidays + The Outtakes appeared first on Some the Wiser.

I knit a few things last year, but not very much. This year, I’m making “knit more” an official resolution for 2017. I love to do it, and there’s nothing more relaxing or calming to me than sitting down with a ball of wool and needles. So, in theory, it should be easy to reach this goal. Right?

I’m off to a good start though with this sweater I finally finished for Esme. It’s Granny’s Favorite by Georgie Nicolson (you can get it on Ravelry) and it was fun and easy to knit.

I ended up knitting the pattern’s largest size because somehow, and entirely without my permission, Esme has grown up. I look at these images and feel, once again, that familiar push and pull of a mother’s heart. I want her to be that wispy haired little kid that couldn’t pronounce her ‘c’ and ‘k’ words properly and always said titty tat instead of kitty cat. I miss the way she used to curl up on my lap for story time and my heart does flip flops on the rare occasion now that she’ll actually hold my hand for a minute or two when we’re walking.

But she’s also so fun and so intelligent. We have inspiring conversations about books and she started a little book blog of her own a few months ago that I love to read. She recently won the school spelling bee, learned how to sew, and is truly the most helpful kid in the house. I have these glimpses lately of the woman she’s growing into and I am amazed at the incredible person she’s becoming. I just feel lucky to know her.

Push and pull. So it is.

The post A New Sweater for a New Year appeared first on Some the Wiser.

We did a bit of family crafting last month and we’ve got a few Homemade Gift Ideas for you! 

Last month was a flurry of holiday activities and gift making. But it was such a fun flurry! At 6, 8, and 10, my girls are finally old enough to really get involved with the gift making and giving. Together we managed to make a pile of homemade gifts for friends and teachers. It was a meaningful experience for the kids to actually make the gifts they were giving and it made the holidays feel so special.

It all started with the washcloths. I’d been knitting cotton washcloths all year long – partly for something to keep my hands busy, but also imagining that eventually I’d find something fun to do with all those cloths. When I saw how pretty the stacks of knit cloths looked all lined up on the shelf, I built the rest of our gift ideas around them.

For the Washcloths:

I used a cone of cotton yarn and the Boxy Dishcloth pattern from Michelle Krause (available for free on Ravelry)

For the Soap:

I really wanted to try making our own soap to gift with the cloths, but it hasn’t happened yet. So, we did the next best thing and bought homemade soap from the Cobble Hill Farm Apothecary.  I’ve been using their Dead Sea Frankincense and Myrrh soap on my face for a few months now and I’m in love with it!

For our holiday gifts we also bought Calendula Tea + Sweet Orange (such a refreshing, bright smell), Lake Placid Cabin (which smells like a dreamy mountain cabin, for real), and Pumpkin Spice (because pumpkin, and spice, you know). I’ve been so pleased with all of their products!

Lavender Sachets:

These lavender sachets were really fun to make. I used 4 inch squares of cotton fabric, with a print on the top and muslin on the bottom.

I like the smell of lavender, but sometimes it can be a little overpowering on its own. So, I combined the fresh lavender buds with jasmine rice and a few drops of Serenity, doTerra essential oil blend. They smell delicious and it was easy to make a whole bunch of them.

For each sachet, you will need:

• Two 4 inch squares of fabric
• 1/4 cup dried lavender
• 1/2 cup uncooked rice (I use Jasmine)
• 1 to 2 drops Serenity 
• See here for sewing instructions if needed 

Homemade Lip Gloss and Chap-stick

The homemade lip gloss and chap sticks were the kids favorite part of our homemade holiday gift ideas. Because we’d never made our own lip gloss, I simplified things and bought a kit from Lusa Organics.  They were easy to make and turned out beautifully. They’re soft (unlike some homemade chap sticks I’ve tried) and they smell delicious too.

The kids had a lot of fun making these, but even more fun handing them out. Their friends loved receiving homemade lip gloss! I’d highly recommend this kit if you’re interested in getting started on your own. We’ll be making more of these for sure!

We packaged them in some small linen bags and through in few candies just for good measure.

Kid Art Gift Tags

My favorite part of our homemade holiday gift ideas was most definitely the Kid Art Gift Tags my kids made. They each drew a few pictures, which I scanned into the computer and then used this template to turn them into gift tags. They were absolutely adorable! Plus, the kids felt awesome handing out their artwork as part of their gifts.

And that’s a wrap!

What are some of your favorite homemade gift ideas? Time to start planning for next year already!

The post Homemade Gift Ideas appeared first on Some the Wiser.

These Apple Cheddar Muffins have been a family favorite for years. Fresh apples paired with cheese are always a winning combo! These are the most tender, flavorful muffins – they’ll melt in your mouth! 

Muffins are hands down my favorite thing to bake. So easy, but so rewarding! These Apple Cheddar Muffins are an old favorite, but they’re new to my kitchen. My mom adapted these from a Cook’s Illustrated magazine years ago and she’s been making them for family breakfasts ever since. I think they are her most requested recipe.

As much as I love them, I’ve always left them to mom. But after the crazy few weeks we’ve had around here, I needed a tried and true muffin recipe for comfort food. When my Stemilt delivery showed up on my doorstep with some gorgeous Pinata Apples, it was time!

Last month, my two year old started acting a little sick. I thought maybe an ear infection? But within less than 24 hours he was really sick and we were in the hospital trying to figure it all out. They suspected meningitis, but a spinal (gahh!) ruled that out. In the end, after so very many tests/x-rays/CAT scans/ultrasounds and a long hospital stay, they said things like Bacteremia and Pharyngeal Abscess. I’m still trying to make sense of it all! 

I kept asking, “How did he get this?” but it’s a question with no answer. Wrong germ, wrong time, wrong place. The doctors and nurses were incredible though and they eventually sent me home with a sweet traumatized boy who was on the road to recovery. But just when I thought we were almost going to get back to normal around here, we found ourselves back in the hospital. Meanwhile, the girls were all hit with the flu. It was fun.

It’s been another week now and I think it’s finally safe to say that he’s fine once again, I’m still crossing my fingers.

Honestly, I’m still feeling a little shell shocked. It wasn’t until it was all over that it really hit me just how scary it was. When I took Rory into our regular pediatrician’s office for a follow-up after our hospital stay, our favorite CNP said, “You know, he could have died!” I knew that, I guess, but I hadn’t let myself think it until she said those words.

I knew it was serious, even before I took him to the hospital, and I knew I’d never had a child act so sick ever before. Still, it wasn’t until he was home and safe once again that I could have even allowed myself to process the real terror of it all. In the thick of it I had to cope, so I didn’t go there. He’s finally in the clear now, and I’m feeling all the emotions. Or rather, ALL THE EMOTIONS, because it’s been intense.

Apple Cheddar Muffins

This little story, however, has a very happy ending. It ends with muffins. Not just any muffins either. These Apple Cheddar Muffins really are the best of the best.

The cheese in these muffins makes them so tender, so rich. They will melt in your mouth! The apples on top are my favorite part, but I also included chunks of apple in the muffins as well for those warm, juicy bursts of flavor. These taste like cinnamon and sweet apples, but the glaze also gives them a hint of lemon too. They really are a gorgeous addition to the breakfast/brunch table, but they’re not a lot work.

When picking apples for this recipe, look for apples that crisp, with a sweet-tart flavor. Apples like Jonagold, Gala, Cortland, and Pink Lady work well. I am, however, partial to Stemilt’s Pinata apples. They are seriously good with a tropical twist! You can also use Stemilt’s “There’s An Apple for That” website which will calculate the best apple for whatever you’re making. It’s fun!

As with most muffin recipes, you can make them as healthy as you like. If you’re looking for a treat, or a surefire way to impress, just follow the recipe as is. If you’re feeling a little more health conscious, use half or all whole grain flour (I like to use spelt, but whole wheat works too) and skip the glaze. Either way, they are muffins to fall in love with.

I’ve been enjoying these muffins for years now, but this week, they’re comfort food. Getting in the kitchen to mix them up is also a good distraction from the obsessive scrubbing and cleaning I’ve been doing. I may or may not be a little, or a lot, scared of germs now.

But, back to those muffins. Enjoy!

Apple Cheddar Muffins with Cinnamon Glaze

 

Print

Prep time

25 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

50 mins

 

Serves: approximately 18 muffins

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 8 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter cut into pieces
• 8 ounces cheddar cheese cut into small chunks
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 pound apples (crisp, sweet-tart apples work best), this was 2 large pinata apples for me

For the Glaze

• ⅓ cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease muffin tins well and set aside.
2. Take ½ pound of apple and core, peel and dice into bite size pieces. Take the other half pound of apple and core without peeling. Slice the apples crosswise into thin half moons. Set aside.
3. In a food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, butter and cheese until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Pour mixture into a large mixing bowl.
4. Whisk the egg and milk together. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the egg and milk mixture. Stir gently until just combined, being careful not to over mix. Gently fold in the half pound of peeled, diced apples.
5. Spoon batter, about ¼ cup, into each prepared muffin tin. Take the half moon sliced apples and place them cut side down on top of each muffin (as pictured above) pressing them in gently. Bake until edges of muffin are just beginning to turn golden, about 15 minutes.

For the Glaze:

1. While the muffins are baking, combine all of the glaze ingredients in small sauce pan and heat over medium heat until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved - about 5 minutes.
2. When the muffins have cooked for about 15 minutes (or when the edges are beginning to turn golden) remove them from oven and brush the glaze evenly over the top. Return to oven and bake until done, about 10 more minutes, or until muffins spring back when gently pressed on top. Cool in muffin tin for about 10 minutes before removing. If you have additional glaze left, you can serve them with extra glaze.

3.5.3208

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Divorce, even when it’s the right thing, is always devastating. But as hard and messy as getting divorced has been, the thing that I’ve always been certain of is that my kids are counting on me. I am their mom, and even as a single parent, I’ve always known that I can’t ever let them down.

There are millions of single mothers traveling this rough road all over the world. There are 12 million single parent homes in the United States and 84% of those are single mother families. While the median income for married couple families is $84,000 a year, nearly half of single mother families have an annual income of less than $25,000. To say it’s not easy being the sole provider and care giver doesn’t even begin to describe the daily struggle of making ends meet and raising children alone. And yet I, along with so many other moms out there, keep digging deep because I know that it’s up to me to give them the best childhood and brightest future I can.

Single moms are some of the toughest people I know! We do brutally difficult things on a daily basis and we sacrifice so much, but we do it because we know that our kids deserve the best we have to give. Being a single mom has taught me how to be strong.

I’ve been surviving this single parenting gig for a while now and while I’m a long way from having things figured out, there’s a few things I know to be true. Here are 6 Parenting Hacks from a Single Mother that can make all parent’s lives a little easier.

It doesn’t Have to Be All or Nothing

For a long time I felt bad because I couldn’t do all the things I wanted to for my kids. But I’ve realized as a single parent that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You get credit every time you do something, even if it isn’t everything you’d like to do. I wish I could volunteer in my kids’ classrooms at school, but since I can’t, I give myself credit for chaperoning a field trip once or twice a year.

I can’t give my kids everything, even if they do deserve it, because I just don’t have the money, time, and energy to do it all. The key is to do what you can and give yourself credit for it. My kids don’t get to take all the lessons or join all the teams they’d like to, and I can’t give them all the parties and play dates and vacations that I wish I could, but I give them some things, and that’s always better than nothing.

There Is Such Thing as Clean Enough

One of the first lessons I had to learn as a single mom with a crew of young kids is that there is such thing as clean enough. My house could always be cleaner, but I’ve learned to settle happily for clean enough. Cleaning is a constant battle with kids in the house, but I’d rather them remember the time we spend reading together, than how I was constantly nagging about dusting and vacuuming.

I like a clean house, but I do think it’s okay for parents to lower their expectations just a little. We put things away, we keep the dishes washed, and I attempt a few loads of laundry every week. But we never have matching socks, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve cleaned the oven, and I almost never wash the windows. Our house is clean enough, and I get to spend that much more time with my kids.

I’m a Better Mom When I Don’t Mop the Floor, a.k.a Love Being Your Kids’ Mom

I try to mop the floors once a week (sometimes every other week when it’s “clean enough”) but as honorable as mopping the floor may be, I sometimes think I’m a worse mother when I do. After I’ve mopped the floors I become that person who eyes all of my kids warily – don’t you dare wear those shoes in this house, no you can’t have a snack because you’ll get crumbs all over the floor I just mopped, and no I can’t push you on the swings because I’ve been mopping all day. And inevitably, on the day that I mop, someone will spill a cup of milk or drop an egg or track a trail of mud into every single room of the house.

A few years ago, on just such a mopping day, as I was snapping at everyone and protecting my precious floors, my four year old sweetly pierced my heart when she said, “I like you better when you don’t mop.” And I knew right away that she was right. If the floor was dirty, I wouldn’t think twice about pulling out the crackers, letting them run in and out as they played, and I’d probably just pull out a towel without a word when the cup of milk spilled. I vowed then and there to love being a mom more than I love clean floors. I still mop, obviously, but I’ve relinquished all expectations that it means I’ll actually have a clean house. Not right now – right now, I’m a mom first.

You Can If You Have To

Something that people often say to me is, “I don’t know how you do it!” When people find out I’m a single parent with four young kids at home, they’ll often tell me that they could never do it, that they don’t know how I manage. And I hear married moms say things all the time like, “I can’t because my husband’s out of town.” But the thing a single mother learns very quickly is that you can if you have to.

I never imagined I’d be a single mother and if you’d asked me before I became a single parent if I thought I’d ever take four kids camping by myself, or manage our mortgage alone, or go weeks on end without even a minute to myself, I’d have assured you it was all impossible. But the truth is, you can do anything when you have to. And you can even do just about anything if you want to. Something that I’ve learned as a single parent is that “my husband’s not home” is actually never a reason for not doing something. You can make it happen if you need to and if you want to.

Making it Fun is Not Optional

It’s never fair for kids to have to go through a divorce. All kids deserve a loving home with both of their parents. That my kids will never have that is a deep sorrow I know they’ll always have to live with and it breaks my heart. It also makes it even more important to me to give them the happiest memories of their childhood that I can.

As a single mom I’ve learned the importance of making things epic, having family traditions, and finding little ways to make things fun. It’s stressful trying to provide for my kids. Honestly, so much of what I do as a single parent is brutal and it takes everything I have to keep going some days. But I know that making it fun is not optional. Family game night is crucial. Reading together before bed is written in stone. Loud dance parties in the kitchen after dinner are essential. These are things I want my kids to remember when they think back on our time together.

Look for What’s Right

Parenting, even under the best of circumstances, is a tough business. For most of us, it’s easier to see our shortcomings and our parenting failures than it is to see the parenting wins. Managing picky eaters, temper tantrums, messy bedrooms, and sibling rivalry can bring out the worst in even the best of parents – and I haven’t even made it to the teen years yet! But it’s always a good idea to set aside all that mom guilt and take stock of what you’re doing right as parent from time to time.

The list of things I’m missing the mark on is a mile long, but when I’m paying attention, there are some things I’m good at. I almost always manage to get a good homemade dinner on the table that we eat together. We read together every day. I make sure everyone gets enough sleep. And we spend a lot of time outside. I’m doing a few things right.

Celebrating Single Parents Everywhere

In recognition of National Single Parent Day on March 21, Georgia-Pacific’s Angel Soft® toilet paper brand is launching a poignant video celebrating and recognizing the joys and challenges of being a single parent.

This National Single Parent Day video shares the stories of three single parents and how they have overcome incredible odds through raw, personal interviews and it totally made me cry! It culminates with a granted wish that will help make their everyday lives a little easier. Be sure you’re following the #SingleParentsDay hashtag so you don’t miss it! You will also find it on the Angel Soft Facebook page and on their website .

This is a sponsored post by Angel Soft on behalf of The Motherhood. All opinions expressed are my own. 

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So often I feel overwhelmed with all the things that need to be done in a day, week, month. I wish there were more hours or that I had more hands or that everything would slow down just a little. I get frustrated at how little I’m able to mark off the to-do list everyday and how small my accomplishments are. But we keep moving around the sun and the moments pass by even as I’m trying so hard to hold on. It’s too much, too fast.

And then I sit down to clear off the camera cards for the next round of pictures and I’m amazed at all we’ve done in just a few short weeks. It’s fast, it’s overwhelming sometimes, but really, what a beautiful life this is.

Here are a few postcards of our May Days:

There’s been so much goodness this month after all. I’m in love with all the spinach, lettuce, peas, beets, and radishes coming out of the garden! And the fresh mint – I’m putting mint in everything. My baby turned 3, against my wishes of course, but he is going to be the sweetest three year old. We’ve spent so much time outdoors in the sunshine and the clouds. Really, it’s been good. It’s nice to remember that.

Not pictured: approximately 150 mosquito bites, way too much laundry, a really messy closet clean out that still isn’t finished, and plenty of temper tantrums. So it goes.

But this past Saturday, we were sitting down to breakfast when a flurry of something on the patio caught my eye. I immediately called the kids over to the window when I realized that it was a cloud of butterflies. We stepped out into the garden while hundreds of butterflies swarmed around us. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was magical.

They were in the garden all morning, but I didn’t really remember to snap any pictures because I was too busy enjoying such a strange and beautiful gift from mother nature. Before they all left though, I did manage to capture this beauty in one of the garden beds.

Afterwards, when the biggest swarms had passed through and we finally returned to our unfinished breakfasts, we did a little research. They were Painted Ladies and they migrate from Northern Mexico this time of year. Apparently, when there’s been a lot of rain in the winter, there can be millions of them that make the spring journey north.

I guess our humble garden was on the way. Someone knew we could use a little magic in our ordinary day. Isn’t life beautiful?

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June is probably my favorite month of the whole year. The summer stretches out before you and feels like it will last forever. The garden is still easy and no one is tired of swim lessons yet.

We packed June full of all the SUMMER we possibly could. Days at the pool, up the mountains, in the river, at the lake. We ate smores and watermelon and all the fresh peas from the garden. Museums with friends, the Zoo with cousins, and backyard sleepovers on the trampoline. (Not pictured: the week the flu took everyone down. Summer flu is the worst.)

If only it could be June forever and ever.

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Somehow the calendar is telling me that tomorrow is October, but I’m still stuck in July. And oh, it was a good July!

It was a month of family reunions, gardening, swimming, and camping. I got to see the house that my Grandmother lived in when she was a little girl (the falling down shack in the pictures below), pick elderberries with her, and then eat the Elderberry Cobbler that she made.

We went to a pie auction, playgrounds, parades, neighborhood firework shows that are just as magical as the big ones and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Hammocks, cousins, s’mores, many afternoons of exploring creeks and forests, and many more lazy afternoons of good books and family games.

I’m sure there were rough days, tough moments, and all that real life stuff in between. But honestly, looking back through these pictures, I really only remember the good stuff.

It was a perfect July.

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I knit the Jones Cardigan for Rory!

Last January I resolved to do more knitting. It’s something I love, but it’s also something that is so easily pushed aside. There are always so many things to do in a day. But, knowing how much knitting calms and relaxes me, I resolved to do a lot more of it in 2017.

I still didn’t do as much knitting as I would have liked, but I’m feeling pretty proud of what I was able to accomplish. As my kids will tell you, every time I finish knitting something, I walk around for a couple of hours exclaiming, “This used to be a pile of string!” I don’t know if I’ll ever get over just how incredible it is to turn a pile of string into something wearable.

One of my favorite knits this year has been this sweater for my adorable little Rory. The pattern is the Jones Cardigan from Tin Can Knits. The yarn is Knitpick’s Swish, which is so soft. It was really fun to knit and my first time doing anything cabled – surprisingly easier than I thought.

Let’s be honest though, the sweater is fun, but it’s the boy I’m really in love with. First, he does a pretty darn good JCrew impression when being compelled to model for pictures in a hand knit sweater (see first picture above). Second, he doesn’t just tolerate wearing mom’s crafty projects, he is downright enthusiastic about it. He acts almost as excited as I do about turning strings into sweaters!

This boy really is a light in my life. 

At three years old, this Jones Cardigan wearing cutie is the happiest person I know. His favorite past time is pretending to be a puppy. He tells a lot of jokes, loves to read books with me, and asks to “snuggle” at least ten times a day. He makes me the happiest mama in the whole wide world.

January 2018 resolutions: snuggle more, read more, laugh more, and most certainly knit more.

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