Just a quick post today about something I am super excited about!  I just bought easy lunch boxes from Amazon.  I have been thinking about ways to incorporate some more healthy choices in my kids' lunches at school.  PLUS I hate having to buy and toss tons of plastic baggies; not good for the earth and it is such a money waster!  

This is PJ's lunch and Isaac wanted grapes in his fruit and veggie spot.  I put these together last night and threw it in the fridge.  It was ready to go this AM right away!  The boys hate soggy/squished sandwiches, so I feel this is a great way to stay away from that, too!

This is my lunch this am.  I was even able to put my Chia Pudding in a section.  I love how this automatically portion controls everything!

We are going on a long drive for vacation in two weeks and I am even thinking these are PERFECT for the road!  Everything together and less mess!  

The Mama Moment

As I reflect on yesterday, I feel I need to share my Mama Moments.  I am going to first say, the dishwasher did not get done yesterday.  And the clothes I was planning on putting away also did not make their way to the closet.  

But what did happen yesterday, was one of those evenings that, as a mama, I pleased to say, that I reveled in the moments before me.  

After school, I tutored and then made my trek back to Ontario.  Tuesday, March 25th, was the Diocese of Rochester's Day of Penance.  

PJ made his first penance this past December and recently has made some poor choices that Gary and I decided required him to take responsibility for and ask for forgiveness.  We truly want him to make the right choices and also want him to feel comfortable in understanding that forgiveness is important.  So, in true mama modeling, I also went to confession with him.  I have to say, I still get nervous about confession.  Who likes to own up to their mistakes?!  But, if PJ could do it, couldn't I?

I was super proud of my 8 year old.  When we walked into church he said to me, "Mom, I am really sorry that I did that."  I could tell he was nervous and he even said he had butterflies in his stomach.  But as we waited in line, he did not complain.  He was figidity, but was patient at the same time.  I couldn't have asked for a better boy - the only boy (or child!) - in church.  

As we drove home, I told PJ how proud I was of him for making a good choice and asking for forgiveness.  I am not sure how we got on the subject, but we started talking about all of the things he has liked since he was a little one.  It started out with

tractors and trucks 
               then moved to trains then to Police Officers & Firemen 
                           then to Superheroes
                                       then to Legos 
                                               and finally history and the Civil War. 

We reminisced together and I smiled as I have watched him grow, but how he has always kept a little of each {obsession} in his room in one way or another.

Upon returning home, Gary had made dinner (such a good guy!) - we had tilapia and quinoa and the kiddos had fish sticks and fries.  Evelyn was crying when I came in the door and apparently needed some Mommy time.  I cuddled with her and she may, honestly, have just been hungry, bc my baby ate her dinner well last night!

Following dinner, Gary & Isaac went to Boy Scouts to go on a field trip to the Fire House.  PJ, Evelyn, and I stayed home.  PJ did his homework, alone, which is a HUGE feat!!  And, when I checked over his homework and had him tweak a little piece, there was no complaining - Minor Mama Miracle!  He had to do his reading, too, and he read aloud to Evelyn and I his Superman book (see, the superheroes are back!).  He loves this book and feels confident in reading it.  I used to balk at him reading it over and over again, but then I remembered how many times I reread BabySitters Club books and the book Cheaper By the Dozen.  It's a comfort thing.


Evelyn and I then went upstairs for me to do my laundry and get changed out of work clothes.  What happened next stopped me in my tracks.  Literally...I was actually have dresssed as I filmed this {TMI}...  Just watch...and sorry about the sideways view...

She blew me away.  She knew it had to go on somehow.  Her processing of the problem was incredible.  

~Just how does mommy get this on?~

DISCLAIMER - Please know, that she is incredible with stairs, so I wasn't freaking out when she started to make her way there.

I stood there, watching her {in the moment}.  I didn't worry about my laundry piles.  I watched her.

Then, we went to her room to do her laundry, at least, before she went to bed.  While, PJ's stages were so BOY, Evelyn truly seems to be taking on the more Girl stages!  She wanted to "help" me put the clothes away.  Sure, did they come unfolded and maybe the drawers were not the tidiest...but she loved the process.  I love the quote:

She would even put clothes back in the hamper and try to move it to another location and then pile it all back out.  Is she practicing being a mother?  This stage, this problem solving stage, it blows my mind.  This is the third time I have watched it - but now I get it. 

It is so important to Be In The Moment.

The Mama Moment.

Keep Calm & Get Your Irish On!

This past weekend we had our annual St. Patrick's Day party!  This is the 9th annual St. Pat's Party we have had and, although it was smaller than other St. Pat's parties we have had, it may have been my favorite!!

Let's break this party down by the details!

Pre-Party:

Evelyn & Isaac were quite the little helpers in the kitchen while I prepped everything!

THE FOOD:

People have come to expect some of my favorite recipes each time they come. Here is what this year's menu consisted of:

To make the fruit rainbow, I just pick fruits in the ROYGBV color scheme with mini marshmallows as a garnish of clouds.  For a fruit dip, I love to use Tastefully Simple's Key Lime Cheeseball and add marshmallow fluff to make it sweet and creamy - PLUS it is green!  BONUS - with the fruit & fruit dip leftovers, I tossed them all together for a fun fruit salad!

Eat your greens and a little orange!

My mom makes an incredible Irish Soda Bread, that she even won an award for!  You can enjoy it with or without raisins (I always choose NO raisins!)  

I simply boil my cabbage with a few shakes of Tastefully Simple's Seasoned Salt & Garlic Pepper.  Adds just a little flavor to an otherwise bland veggie.

Salt potatoes are a staple in my home in the summer and I always feel like when we have them for the first time at the St. Pat's party, spring/summer is just around the corner.  What I didn't realize is what a regional phenomena that salt potatoes are!  My family in Long Island cannot purchase salt potatoes down there, let alone even heard of them!  Basically, it is boiled, small potatoes with a large bag of salt poured over them as they boil.  You serve the potatoes with melted butter.  This year, I was excited to use my Christmas gift of a large stock pot to boil them in!

And for the main reason people come to the party....the Hot Corned Beef Buns.  I originally found this recipe in Taste of Home's Quick Cooking magazine.  Over the years, I have adapted it and Tastefully Simplized it, too!  It has been a highlight each year and this year, it went over without a hitch!  I always cook my corned beef in the crockpot with water and the spices that come in the package.  I usually do this over night Friday into Saturday.  Then I am sure to let the corned beef sit and rest before cutting into it.  As best I can, I put the meat into shreds and then add the mayo, cheese, and Onion Onion.  Butter always makes it better and I butter the buns before dolloping on the meat mixture.  Be sure to cover your buns with foil before baking them at 425 as I have forgotten this before and it makes for very burnt buns :*(  Never a good thing!  Bake for 15 minutes and let them slightly cool before serving.  SO YUMMY!

Fan Favorite each year!

Finally, I can take no credit what-so-ever for the amazing cookies my sister-in-law Gina makes.  These are Sour Cream Cut-Out Cookies.  The recipe is long and is a 2-3 day process, but the result is perfection of a cookie!  She always makes these for family events and we all sing her praises as there are never any left!

'

OH - And the beverages!  I tried out a Tastefully Simple recipe using the new Pina Colada Drink bucket called Put the Lime in the Coconut - OMG - this was outstanding!  I couldn't get enough of it!  Our liquor store did not have the Key Lime Liquor so we used Lemon Lime vodka - GREAT SUBSTITUTE!

THE DECOR

I try to decorate the house a little here and there with small touches.  It's quite eclectic and not really the cutest looking decor, but it has little pieces of green here and there and of course little projects the kids have created throughout the years.

For little party gifts, I made a rainbow in a bag using rainbow Twizzlers and Rolos candy.  They were a hit!  I found the original idea here.

I did have a complete #partyfail because I only had blue cups!  I thought I still had white ones leftover from a previous party - Oh well - garnished them with green and orange straws instead!





THE FASHION
This year, after losing the baby weight, I was determined to find a cutie pie outfit for the occasion!!  I searched through pinterest and created what I felt was an appropriate, fun outfit for a mama of 3.  The boys wore their new "I-rish you were here" t-shirts featuring Darth Vader and Evelyn wore "Daddy's Little Clover" outfit that I purchased LAST YEAR during Spring Break!  Of course I had her hair up in mini beebops on top!  Gary wore a "classic" St. Pat's Day t-shirt from Old Navy.

THE FUN

Pretty much the purpose of this party is to celebrate our heritage and gather our close family and friends together.  St. Patrick's Day is also the day that Gary and I became engaged, so it holds a very special place in my heart, too! Some years we double dip the party with other family events like last year with Evelyn's Baptism.  This year, it was just about enjoying each others' company, chatting it up, and enjoying our Irish Feast.  By the end of the night, my Irish eye were smilin', but my Irish tooties were hurtin'!

Happy Pi Day!  

Yes, I am a geek by nature.  Gary is a High School Math Teacher and I have always loved numbers and math, so I love the marriage of  math and cooking on this homophonic day!

In honor of Pi Day, I got creative in the kitchen and decided to make some personal pies for the math teachers at my school.  I had a pie crust leftover from a homemade quiche in the freezer and I even used my frozen whipped cream I blogged about to create this simple pie that Simple Simon would have been proud of!

First, I defrosted the pie crust.

Then, I used a biscuit cutter to serrate the crust into circles.  Each circle
was gently placed in a mini-muffin pan.  I just pinched the extra edges to make it fit.  NOTE - You can make this even SIMPLER by purchasing a pre-made graham cracker crust! I just didn't have any and I was home on a SNOW DAY with 3 kids, so running out to the store QUICKLY was out of the question!

I baked the mini pie crusts at 425 degrees for about 8 minutes.

While it was baking, I had my frozen whipped cream defrosting in a bowl.  I had about 5 heaping tablespoons of whipped cream defrosting.  Again, make this SIMPLER and Low Fat by using NON-FAT COOL WHIP, but see above why I didn't run out to the store...

I added about 1/4 cup of Tastefully Simple's Oh My Chai Mix to the defrosted whipped cream.  This is the perfect flavor of cardamon and black tea.  Sweet, but not too sweet, either!  Stir until well combined.

To make it easier to scoop into my mini pies, I placed the Chai Mixture into a small baggie and snipped a corner to create a piping bag.  KISS (Keep it Simple, Silly!)

To top them off, I had mini chocolate chips that added just the perfect garnish!  You could also use pecans, walnuts, M&M's, or coconut!

All the math teachers seemed to appreciate their Oh My Chai Pi!  Happy Pi Day!

Earlier this fall, I was asked to present to a team of people the benefits of Facebook and how to use it appropriately to move your business forward.

I thought about this carefully and what I realized is that Facebook and other social medias are wonderful tools and can be incredibly powerful.  However, as Spiderman said, 

"With great power, comes great responsibility"

We need to be responsible in how we post to social media.  Often people will say, 

"It's a free country!"

or 

"I have free speech!"

And while I hold these freedoms very near to my heart, it is not lost on me that consequences 

{GOOD OR BAD} 

can come from these precious liberties.

So, I as I discussed our responsibilities, I asked each person in the room to just to "Pause before your Post."

It truly comes down to the age old advice from our elders of :

"If you have nothing nice to say, don't say it at all."

Perhaps, we need to update this advice to say:

"If you have nothing nice to post, don't post it at all."

We came up with rules for posting to help us remember to Pause before we post.  

1. Is my post using positive language? - There is enough negativity in the world.  Why would you want to add to that?  Yes, there are times that I just want to harp on the negatives going on in my life or use a curse word or two - BUT - how is that helping the situation?  How am I portraying myself as a woman? as a mother? as a wife? as a teacher? as a professional? as a business owner?

2. Am I complaining or whining? - I could complain and whine about this one forever!  Don't be the martyr.  Social media is not the place to access the world for their sympathies.  If you are truly in need of a friend, pick up the phone.  Call a friend.  Get personal about your personal problems.  Don't go public.

3. Am I posting too much information? - TMI - it is a rule in my classroom and it is a rule in society, so why wouldn't it be a rule on social media?  Quite frankly, no one wants to hear about how your kid has been sick and you have been up all night holding the bucket.  Again, if you are looking for empathy, pick up the phone.  Another way of sharing TMI is when you just post about every little thing you have done in the day.  Listing out these adventures are great for your journal, but unfortunately, these posts lose their purpose - I would much rather hear about the one silly thing that happened in the dentist office rather than your list of errands throughout the day.  Make it a quality post!

4. When was the last time I posted about this? Balance in your posts in a good thing.  If you have a business, be sure to balance your family posts along with your business posts.  Keep your posts unique to specific situations, not the constant barrage of the same thing over and over. 

5. Would my Grandmother want to hear this?  When in doubt, ask yourself this question.  

It is my hope that we all can use our awesome freedom of speech appropriately and lead by example.  

Balance or Fulfillment

I am so busy!  I have no time!


Do you ever hear those words?  Do you ever say those words?  I know I have said them once or twice.

But, do you ever pay attention to what you are busy doing?  Are you creating your busy life for yourself?  Are you "busy" watching TV?  Are you "busy" on Facebook?  Are you "busy" complaining about being busy?

I will never forget one summer, when I was searching for the "perfect balance" in my life, words that my Tastefully Simple HQ coach at the time; she told me, I will never have balance in my life, so stop searching for it!  But what I can have is fulfillment in the areas that are most important to me at that time.

When I heard this, I was, at first, too "busy" to even comprehend the thought of fulfillment.  Really? What did fulfillment even mean?

I spent the summer pondering this notion.  I started counseling that fall and she also discussed how to "Be in the Moment" each day.  Such a crazy idea to me - I am constantly thinking about my calendar and what is to COME not what is now.

So, as I have gathered this information and started to read a book called Slowing Down to the Speed of Light, by Richard Carlson.  I have begun to recognize that the "busy" I always thought I was may have been my own fault and perhaps I just wasn't enjoying the present moment.

Yes, I am a busy lady by definition; I am a wife, a mother to 3 kids, I work full time, I am a Tastefully Simple consultant, I have a team of consultants, etc!  But instead of thinking of these pieces of my life individually, I think have learned to stay in control of my life and create boundries around each one, to preserve the fulfillment.

Below are some of my tips for boundries.  I have put these into place for myself to create the fulfillment in MY life...perhaps some will work for you.  Perhaps, you have more to share...My hope is that you can start to see that "busy" and "balance" are states of the mind, but that fulfillment is moving and the speed of life.

Boundries for my life:

1. Try to be the first person awake in the household - whether it is working out, working on work, emailing, or simply enjoying a peaceful cup of coffee on the deck - take the time for yourself.

2. Communicate on Sunday with your spouse/family about everyone's upcoming schedule for the week - this way, hopefully even if it is a "busy" week, you will be able to find nuggets of time to make sure you fulfill an area that may be lacking

3. Work after bedtime or during down time - recently I have been doing this much more effectively than ever!  I used to feel that if I had a list of things to do, I had to get it all done immediately.  Now, I recognize that when I get home from work, that time with my kids is important and my "work" is still going to be there when they are getting ready for bed or go to bed.  At this time, my kids go to bed at 7:30, so I usually start my work around 7 or 7:30 depending on who's turn it is to put the kids to bed (mine or my husbands).

4.  Plan your meals weekly - this is similar to #2 because, if you know there is a back to back day (like scouts, meetings, and parties) you will be able to use your crockpot on those days to make life a bit easier! Check out my meal planner here.

5.  Learn how to say NO - one of the most powerful words in the English language!  Did you know, that babies learn to say NO usually before they learn to say YES because, articulation-speaking, it is easier to say!  So, when did it become popular to say YES to every sign-up that is needed.  It is OK to say NO.  You do not have to be on each committee or bring every snack.  The first time you say it, you will feel bad

6. Be in control of your phone - this means, you do not need to answer it as soon as it rings.  It's ok not to answer a text immediately.  You are in charge of your responses, but sometimes it feels like the phone dictates us.  If it is ringing and you are "not available" for whatever reason - you are playing with the kids, you are having dinner, you are driving - let it go to VM or let the text sit there.  It's going to be OK.  I promise.  One trick I have realized is to put your phone on AIRPLANE mode.  It shuts off most functions and will save on battery!  Such a good idea to do this in the car!