Pink Smoothies

Rose is patiently waiting with her cup for a smoothie.

I used to serve smoothies most days of the week. Now that I'm serving nine, it's more of an occasional treat. I may be able to serve them more if I can get back into making yogurt or keifer (a yogurt type drink).

Ingredients:

frozen strawberries

bananas

vanilla yogurt

milk

Add one and a half bananas and four spoonfuls of yogurt. Fill the blender halfway with milk. (orange juice makes a great smoothie too) Blend this until smooth. Add about four handfuls of strawberries. Blend until smooth and serve right away.

We make this twice to serve everyone.

This is so good. Making it with milk makes it taste like a strawberry milkshake. Add a little whipped cream on top and you've got yourself a gourmet desert.

This post is a part of Kitchen Tip Tuesday , hosted at The Finer Things in Life.

Why do they do this.....

It starts out so innocent.....
Ok, she has your attention.....

Now, if I can just reach that "little punching bag".....

Ahh-ha, GOT IT...

Gaaaaaaaaaag..........

No worries, I recover quickly, I'm fine now.....really.

Back to dinner, Mama makes good spaghetti.

***picture credit-Anna-Kate***

Homemade Thursdays

All my girls except for Anna have been blankie girls. Wendy and Lily have been very attached to their blankets. Wendy has a pink Martha Stewart blanket, from my Aunt Barbara, that has been worn so thin it is barely in one piece-thinner than a dryer sheet with big holes. She loves it still and says it is beautiful. I bought her a similar but thicker blanket when she was 2 to see if we could "replace" the grubby one. She wanted nothing to do with the new one I offered, but thankfully Lily took right to that one and it did not go to waste!

I crocheted this blankie size blanket for Rose for her first birthday. It may not become her favorite. We'll just have to wait and see. Click here to see the pattern. I used the softest yarn I have ever felt! It is this bamboo yarn from Micheal's. If you are into yarn, you must check out this squishy, wonderful yarn and find something to make with it!

We also made this sweet little card for my husband's co-worker that had a baby boy this week! I picked up the stamp of baby foot prints at Wal-mart several years ago. It is my favorite for obvious reasons:)
Go join in Homemade Thursdays!

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!

Menu Plan

Monday-
B- cheerios, bananas
L-ham and cheese sandwiches
D-beef hot dogs, left over chili, oven fries

Tuesday-
to do-start soup
B-oatmeal, fruit and nuts
L-chicken soup with rice and carrots
D-quick pizzas (basically any bread with pizza sauce and toppings toasted)

Wednesday-
B-biscuits and gravy
L-pbj and apples
D-calzones with ham, cheese, and broccoli
to do-(soak beans, two crock pots, cook one for weekend)

Thursday-
B-eggs and toast
L-potato soup
D-chili, chips, and cheese

Friday-
B-granola cereal, bananas, milk
L-left overs
D-penne pasta with alfredo sauce, mixed veggies

Saturday-
Brunch-pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream
D-meatloaf, potatoes, gravy, peas

Sunday-
B-oatmeal and toast
D-taco salad with cheese salsa and sour cream
desert-preacher cookies

Preacher Cookies
1/3 c. cocoa
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
1 stick of butter (real butter tastes the best!)
1 tsp. vanilla
3 c. oatmeal (I use old fashioned, can use quick)
1/2 c. peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
Mix cocoa and sugar in a heavy pan. Add milk and butter. Bring to a rolling boil for1 minute. Remove from heat. Add vanilla and peanut butter. Stir until melted. Add oatmeal. Spoon on waxed paper or cookie sheets sprayed with cooking spray and let cool.

Homemade Thursdays

On vacation a couple of months ago, my sister in law was crocheting soap saver bags for missionaries. She was using beautiful rainbow colored yarn. But what got me really excited was that the yarn was 100% cotton and you can buy it at Wal-mart for $1.47! I came home, picked up yarn and a couple of needles and got to work. That's another thing that is great about crochet, you only need a couple of supplies!

All you frugal couponing ladies are very familiar with buddy bars I'm sure! Well here is a home made version. I did not use a pattern, I just made this one to fit the little baby bath bars in the picture.

There are tons of patterns on the web to chose from. Check out some here. I have learned a lot from Teresa's blog Learn To Crochet. Her video tutorials are VERY helpful! I also like Lion Brand Yarn's website. They have a lot of free patterns from beginner on up. I'm working on this now.
One of my goals for this year is to complete one crochet project a month. I have a pretty good head start:0) Go be inspired on Homemade Thursdays and make yourself something!

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.