Triple Clicks

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Rules Are Changing

Our kids think they rule the house.  Hahaha... They are getting a rude awakening this week.  

And they think they are tortured. 

Meanwhile the hubby and I are stocking up on the chocolate. LOL 

I know from older moms that this 'parenting thing' will always keep changing, so just when we think we have it figured it, things will change or somebody will hit a new stage and we'll have to start all over again. 

I also know from my experience that I have a hard time keeping a cleaning schedule.  The few times I have, when somebody gets sick it goes out the window-especially if it's me who's sick.   

I made the kids chore charts this morning.  We have been having issues lately that we will not let continue, and no, I don't feel comfortable "airing out our dirty laundry".. So I will just leave it at that.  Things are changing and they are getting more rules.  Andrew and Eva are old enough to understand and Grace will get there.  

On our chore charts (they are just paper for now.. that might change, that might not) there is 'put clothes away', 'clean your room', 'clean living room'.  Those are the columns. There are rows for each day of the week, the chore columns are doubled. We will check those after school and before daddy comes home-and of course the bed needs cleaned off (because who wants to play on the floor?!!? lol) before bed.  They get a smiley face for each one complete.  If they have put their clothes away and helped with toys in their room and the living room, then they get to go outside.   


In other news... Fall is most definitely here.  I'm FREEZING on a daily basis.. but as I found out yesterday, turn the heat on and we roast in the evening. Even if it's just on for a few hours.  Gotta love the Midwest!!! 

Have a great week!!

~Tabitha

Thursday, September 22, 2016

New Month. New Shopping Trip.

We are blessed to receive a little more money in our grocery budget.  It's some answered prayers, let me tell ya.  I'm still working on my grocery list and meal plan, but I'm going to give you the basics.  I'm PRETTY sure we're going shopping this week, but given the kids are sick and we do have enough supper food to make it through another week, we might postpone.  

So I'll give you my meal plan and let you run with it. 

1. Breaded Chicken Salad (we get breaded strips from Sam's that are awesome)
2. Chicken Caesar Salad
3. Chicken and Avocado Salad (my husband is the only one who likes avocado... it's really just trimmed down for the rest of us depending on what we want) 
4. Salisbury steak
5. Tacos (or taco salad, we'll see...)
6. Pork Chops
7. Chili (cuz it's soup season!)
8. Baked Chicken (chicken pieces are cheap again right now)
9. Fish
10. Sesame Seed Chicken
11. Shepherd's Pie
12. Chicken Pot Pie
13. Witch Doctor's Angry Chicken

While it is still overwhelmingly chicken-y, I'm trying to balance it out so we have a variety every week.  

I'll also do some homemade soups for the kids and I for lunches. My husband isn't a big soup fan, but the kids and I like it. 

Any recipes you'd like to see as a blog post, let me know! 

Have a Great Week!

~Tabitha
  

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Trial and Error

I've been trying a lot of new recipes lately.. Most of them are not turning out..  

I found a bag of apples in my deep freezer... so I attempted applesauce-just threw them in the crock pot...Yeah-don't do that.. The birds seemed to enjoy it though. :D

I'm also TRYING to make yogurt... That's not working out so great either.  I think it might be because I'm using low fat milk instead of whole milk-but I honestly have no idea.  Attempt number 2 will happen this week.  

There have been a few recipes that have been good. My mom brought up a pork chop recipe when she came to visit.  You mix Parmesan, Italian bread crumbs (I crunch up about a cup of croutons), garlic, onion, salt and pepper (tablespoon of each).  Pack all that on your pork chop then bake in the oven at 350 for 30-45 minutes depending on thickness of your chop.  I've been making chicken Caesar salad, too.  That's good and even the kids like it.   I found this recipe for the kids, they went fast and were even approved by my husband. I did leave the topping off but oh my, still good. 

I had been making skirts in the spring... well, some of those just didn't work out-so I had to take them apart.. The material is sitting there to try again.  

I can't say I'm doing too much out of the ordinary housekeeping around here.  We are still trying to get in the groove of school. Hannah has started teething, one tooth in already and she's only 4 1/2 months old!   Mornings have been rough around here the last couple of weeks.  Hannah and teething just don't get along. We've been using the amber teething necklace, homeopathic teething tablets and toys.  

Well... I think that's about all that's going on around here.  

Have a great week! 

~Tabitha

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Planning for Vacation

I'm sure you're looking at the title going What? Vacation? But it's fall!!! 

Let me explain. 

As I've said before, my husband and I are planners.. You think I plan a lot, give my husband an excel spreadsheet and an idea and you won't know what happened. I love it about him, but at the time it drives me a little crazy.  

After we know our destination, we think about our family tree and see if there's any places we want to stop related to that (cemeteries, genealogical societies, old homesteads)... Holy cow we sounds geeks.  We make a list of those places and see what we can feasibly manage without driving in circles.  

Then we make a rough plan route writing down all the hiways-becuase Google maps doesn't have the 'plan a route' option anymore, this can get a little frustrating. We make marks about every 10 hours figuring that's a good day of driving. 

After we get everything planned, we go back through the route and see if there's anything interested we might like to stop and see other than cemeteries (we need a bumper sticker 'will break for cemeteries!' lol).  If there's something that looks interesting, we write down names, addresses and add it to the list.  We can decide while we are there if we want to find it or not-usually depends on traffic and kid's attitudes.  We also go through and decide about what time we'll wake up, will put us around here this time.... Since we like to drive back roads, knowing where there are places to stop for lunch is a must. It also helps to know when we will get close to being low on gas so we don't get stuck somewhere..because tow fees are no fun.  

This time around, instead of making reservations at hotels-which yes can save you money, also makes you stick to a schedule so if you get to that town sooner than expected and want to keep to driving you have to pay a cancellation fee... Well, it just opens a can of worms. So we searched around towns that we will hit around 10 hours of driving each day and wrote down hotel numbers and addresses. We learned a lot from our last big vacation to Illinois... Some things we are planning a little more, some things we are planning a little less. 

I will keep letting you know how we plan our vacation as we go, we still have 6 months before vacation. :D 

Have a great week! 

~Tabitha