Heat Wave, the Best Invention and our Day

Probably everyone reading this, with exception of Ben/Ashley, is experiencing this crazy heat wave. It's certainly made the summer miserable! I mentioned before that I get stir-crazy in July, but I think I also get depressed.... brought on by the stir-crazy, of course. So with temperatures above 95 every day, and a heat index of 105-115, personally, I have no desire to play or spend anytime outdoors. I'm a wimp, it's ok. The kids are feeling the stir craziness too... we all can hardly wait for Fall.

My goal is to put almost all of our food storage under our beds. I have a lot under Amy's, and I still have to raise our bed to get some under there (a project for another day). But the other night I realized I needed something (that I didn't mean to put under there) and had to take Amy's bed apart. The kids had a blast playing on the top mattress and turning it into a make-shift slide. 

I found the greatest invention EVER! Does anyone else HATE bed skirts?? I mean, they are the worst... the bane of my existence. I hate them so much that I'm actually researching a bed to buy that doesn't require the usage of a bedskirt. But in the meantime, I found the coolest things... and they actually WORK.

They are called 'Hold On! Bedskirt pins' and I got them at Bed, Bath and Beyond (a box of 12 is $3). I bought 3 boxes and decided that trying it was worth the $9. You just screw them into the bedskirt and it doesn't move. I'm serious, it doesn't m...o...v...e... Oh where were have you been all my life??  I've had them on our bed and Amy's since we moved in, we've changed the sheets, moved the mattresses around, etc and the bedskirt has stayed firmly in place. I LOVE them!

The box says you just need 1 box per bed (12 pins come per box) but I tend to overly secure, so I used a box and a half per bed. Anyhow- if you have bedskirt problems, and can't yet afford to get a bed that doesn't require one, then this is the invention for you!! In fact, it's probably the best $9 I've ever spent.

Moving onto yesterday's antics....

I found these awesome workbooks for Amy. She loves doing them and they are fun for me as well. I've been trying to get us into a schedule of doing them everyday. 

I usually try to do it when Will is napping, but today it didn't work out that way. So he was entertained for a little while by a pen (he loves to write and draw. Of course he can't 'really' do it yet, but he practices a lot)

When that got old, I gave him a piece of play-doh. He didn't really know what to do with it, but he had fun sticking his pen in and out. 

(he's laughing)

Then when Amy was done, she got to play with play-doh too. Which she, of course, loved! Yay for homemade play-doh which is SO much better than the stuff you buy. It lasts forever, it's a better texture and it costs pennies to make. 

(Is anyone else totally excited by the fact that there is no washer/dryer in the background of these pictures??? LOVE that!) 

Last week, I worked on a daunting task. But it's complete, so I can share.
1. I'm always running out of an ingredient, or start making something, thinking I have it (like flour)... only to find that I don't.

2. I really want to stay within our grocery budget (something that's hard when you go to the store all the time).

3. I hate going to the grocery store.... I really do. And I hate it even more when I have to go back because I forgot 1 random item, like soy sauce (which I forgot yesterday).

So for the past week I've been working on a monthly meal plan. Breakfast, lunch, dinner plus snacks and treats for 31 days. Then I created a spreadsheet, containing every single ingredient (down to the last teaspoon of salt) and how much of each I'd need. It took awhile! I had 25 different dinners, 10 lunches and 9 breakfasts. They will all be rotated. But it's all things that we like and eat on a regular basis.

So I'm hoping this will be good all around. Of course from time to time, I'll change up a recipe or two- but for the most part we've been eating the same things for the past 7 years, I can't imagine that we'd change now. I used the same format that I'm doing our food storage with, so it works for me! I'm excited to 'put it into action!'

After school work and play-doh time, we ventured outdoors into the kids little pool. Well, it's not exactly little- Lee and I also fit in with room to spare, but it is technically a kiddie pool. I also got out our crazy sprinkler, for some more added fun.

Amy said, "Mom, I have an idea...." (I always worry when she says this, if you knew her, you'd understand.") "Let's eat lunch outside!" So her and Will shared some "chips, cheese and salsa" (as it's called in our house) and I made my becomingly famous sandwich- and A.L.T panini (I'm the only one that likes it, so it's famous in my book. It's like a B.L.T, but instead of bacon, I use an avocodo. I also use homemade bread).

Then we had popsicles for dessert. After lunch followed quick baths and rest time.

Will and I fell asleep, Amy, the anti-sleeper, didn't- but she played quietly in her room. Then it was onto movie time (The Little Mermaid), dinner and then bedtime. As you can imagine, the kids fell right asleep. I think I'm going to have to keep them this busy all the time!