Snack For Little Hands...

Some of you will remember my post on cutting melons. The same cutting steps apply here. Wendy and Lily love oranges, but they can be quite messy. I usually cut their oranges in circles or wedges. They usually miss a good bit of fruit and the juices too. All those little strings seem to get in the way of them eating all of it also.

At this point, just slice the fruit long way into four quarters and slice into bite size pieces.
Less waste, less mess, happy kids, happy Mama!

Clementines are also a very manageable snack for little ones. I can usually get oranges cheaper:0)

This post is part of Kitchen Tip Tuesday and Help For Growing Families. Go read tons of great advice for Mamas! If you have young kids you will want to try the recipe links from Mother Hen!

How We Handle Laundry

I' m not sharing this because I think everyone else will need to follow our schedule, but because this type of organization does not come naturally for me. My natural tendency is to let things get to emergency status. "Who needs socks and underwear today?" Well, in an effort to stay ahead of "mount laundry" I have posted this daily laundry schedule on the refrigerator. What would we do without a refrigerator to stick everything on?!

When we follow it, we all have clean clothes and we feel in control of the laundry. When we don't, it gets away from us quickly!

Everyone keeps a basket or two in their room to collect dirty clothes. It is easier to wash, dry, and put away clothes from each bedroom than mix everything together.

EVERYONE helps with laundry. There is no other way to keep up. Tommy (Daddy) is a huge help with laundry. Our kids learn at a young age to run all appliances;)

Monday-Mom, Dad, and Rose

Tuesday-Abby and Anna

Wednesday-Wendy and Lily

Thursday-Jacob and Samuel

Friday-catch up day, sheets and towels

Towels and cloth diapers are done as needed. A load of towels are done almost everyday. The number of loads done daily varies. Yesterday five loads went through. We have two washers and dryers, one set upstairs and one set in the basement. We are trying to hang dry as much as possible to cut drying cost.

I hope this is helpful to someone else. It is so simple, but not for someone as organizationally challenged as I am!

Read more Help For Growing Families at Ship Full of Pirates.