Car organization

My job involves a lot of time spent in my car and so over time I have come to implement a few organizational items that helps to keep the car looking clutter free whilst keeping the necessary things at hand.

I though I would share a few of these with you as I am sure as we are all busy mums we face the same clutter challenges in our mum taxi's.

This is a great little organizer I picked up from Target which sits on the back on your seat. I use it to store some spare nappies, a change mat, wipes, dummies and some water free handwash. It is great extra storage and keeps the clutter off the floor.

This is another organizer I picked up at Target. This one I use for bits and pieces I need throughout the day and it lives on my front seat. I am able to keep in here the things I might need to hand throughout the day. These include my diary, wipes, vouchers/coupons, snacks etc.

I also keep a large canvas tub in the boot of my car for the larger things I like to keep in the car. These include a spare change of clothes for Flynn, first aid kit, hat sun block etc. I like to make sure I am prepared in the car for those times when accidents happen !!!

Our weekend..

Was a fun filled sunny one, we spent a lot of it at a friends holiday house. Here is our weekend in photos- back to regular blogging tomorrow : )

30 seconds..........

Ok so I never ever makes Flynn's dinners- there is my confession for the week!! LOL, no no really I do make them, but I cook everything in bulk here at home. I have never made just one meal. Its seems like a waste of both time and money for me, it is far for economical for me to cook as many as I can manage and then freeze them.

So we rotate through about 5 varieties of frozen meals for Flynn which are a variety of rices, pastas, pasta bakes etc. I keep about a months worth in the freezer at any one time so between 30-40 meals. Each time I make something different.

One of the reasons I do this is so that we can get Flynn fed earlier if we need to, it is 30 seconds in the microwave to get these dinners reheated so if your toddler is having a melt down and you need a quick dinner they can be at the table eating in under a minute!! Works for me !! The other time we use them is if we are out for the night or day. We also sometimes use them as a side dish to what we are eating as a family.

For example of we are having chicken wraps for dinner all Flynn would eat is the chicken, so instead he can have the chicken and a side dish of something with some vegies etc in it.

There are a few things I like to do differently when making Flynn's meals that I thought I might share. For starters I am as many secret/hidden vegetables as I can possibly manage !!! This way if he decides to pick out all of the obvious ones I know he is still getting some extra nutrition. So in this pasta bake I added an entire tin of creamed corn and also pumpkin, sweetcorn and apple puree. These cannot be seen and the pasta bake sauce means that he cannot taste all of these extra vegies. I always add the obvious ones as well in the hope he will eat them.

So we were running a little low in the freezer and so this week I thought I would dedicate some time each night to making up some extra meals to restock. From these 2 pasta bakes I got 14 toddler sized meals. I use mainly the gladware 280ml containers for my bulk Flynn meals. They hold the perfect amount and they are only about $3.00 for 6 at the grocery store. They have lasted for about a year so far and are going great.

So here are 13 of the meals ready to go into the freezer for future nights meals.

Tantrum with your breakfast anyone????

Don't you love it when toddlers decide on the worst time of the day and decide that when they will pull their tantrum for the day? It is lovely isn't it !!! This was at breakfast the other day and we were having a great time having breakfast together and chatting about what was going to happen that day when out of no where the tantrum started.

Once he starts you know he is not going to stop for a good 20 mins. The good thing about him being in the high chair is that he was restrained (this time). I use the ignoring technique when this happens other than taking the odd funny happy snap- bad mummy LOL.

What do you do when your toddlers have a tantrum?

Taking a small trip

We are heading off for the weekend down south to stay with some friends in their holiday house (we are so blessed to have so many amazing generous people in our life) I am so looking forward to the break.

Have a great weekend, I hope you all manage to fit in some quality family time.

Sick Week

Not the best photo, (sorry about that) but this was our reality for most of this week. We have all been struck down with a nasty head cold and so lots of naps for me and for Flynn as well- although he seems to be getting better now. Going to work as been particularly difficult as all I have wanted to do is crawl into bed and die for the day LOL. Here's hoping we are on the tail end of this sickness so I can have some more motivation next week.

Apricot and sultana rock cakes.

I really felt like a snack the other night just before dinner and so whilst the pasta was cooking I put these together, they were really quick and easy and yummy to !!! My kind of recipe : ) Ingredients-

2 cups self raising flour

1/4 tps cinnamon

1/3 cup caster sugar

90g butter chopped

1/2 cup dries apricots chopped

1/2 cup sultanas

1 egg beaten

3/4 cup milk

Sift flour and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl, then stir in sugar.

Using your fingers rub in butter to resemble breadcrumbs

Stir in apricots and sultanas

Combine egg and milk in a smaller bowl.

Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture

Add milk to mixture stirring with a butter knife to combine and create a dough type mixture.

Spoon rounded tablespoons of mixture onto baking sheets about 5 centimetres apart.

Bake for 15-20 minutes in a moderate oven.

Eat warm : ) Yum.

A Tote

A few readers were interested in my tote idea that I store by folders in and so I though I would a post explaining how this "system" works as well.

I came up with this idea when I went back to work that I needed to have a large tote that I took to work with me. It enables me to be able to store my work folders, diary, notebook, wipes, a small toiletries bag, a water bottle and my lunch cooler. It works really well as I can just chuck everything in there and take it with me each day. It saves me forgetting things at home or the office and keeps everything together.

I hope thats helps those that were interested in this idea.

Sweetest Day

Did you know that October 17 is Sweetest Day? This is a day to honor the kind and helpful people in our lives. I love this idea and so I decided to make up some Thank you cards for the people in our lives that we love and want to thank.

I put these cards together the other night for our mums and some girlfriends-

Teddy Bear Sausage Rolls

Well if it helps them to eat them we will do anything right? So these teddy bear sausage rolls were a hit and I thought I would share the recipe.

Ingredients-

250g sausage mince

250g beef mince

1 small onion finely chopped

1 small carrot grated

1 small zucchini grated

1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs

1 tbs tomato paste

1 tbs barbeque sauce

2 eggs beaten

3 sheets puff pastry

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl (only one egg)

Cut each sheet of puff pastry in half.

Roll mixture into 6 long sausage shapes.

Place onto pastry and roll tightly to seal.

Cut into smaller pieces (about3-4)

Brush with remaining egg and bake for 20-25 minutes in a moderate oven.

If you wants to add pastry shapes just cut them out and add them onto the top brushing on a bit of egg.

Have a Happy Weekend : )

I am off enjoying the sunshine and this gorgeous boy, hope you are having a happy weekend : )

Hawaiian Scrolls

Mmm these are such a yummy picnic food and are so easy to put together.

On this lazy Sunday afternoon last week after Flynn awoke from his afternoon nap we took these outside and had a picnic lunch. It is such a fun way to mix things up for kids just eating somewhere different can engage so much more chatting and eating from them which is great!!

Ingredients-
2 cups plain flour (sifted)
2 tps baking powder (sifted)
1tps salt
1 cup buttermilk
Tomato Paste
1 cup grated cheese
1tps dried oregano (optional)
1/2 cup ham
1.2 Pineapple

Place flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl.
Make a well in the centre
Place buttermilk in the well and mix with a knife to form a dough.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth
Roll out into a 30cm square.
Spread out tomato paste and then add other ingredients.
Roll into a sausage shape to enclose mixture and then cut into approx 12 rolls.

Place in an ovenproof dish and cook in a 200 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes.

Best eaten hot and fresh that day : )

In just one short week

As I said in an earlier post I was away last week at conference, when I got home I was surprised at how different my garden looked. All those bulbs I had planted over the last few months had just decided to pop open and reveal some stunning flowers !!

How awesome : )

How to keep up with photo's

In scrapbook land we are constantly printing and scrapping photos all throughout the year. One of the most challenging things for a lot of us is keeping those photos organized and under control so that you can access them when you need to. I use several systems for this for both long term and short term photo storage depending on what I am doing with the photos.

I take around 600 photos per month but I try to only print a portion of those (around 150) so thats a lot of photos to keep up with!! I automatically use about 30 of those for my 365 project and what I do with those is as soon as they are printed I slot them straight into the album so that when I have time to sit down and stick them in and complete the journalling they are all ready to go.

For long term storage I use the Creative Memories photo boxes. They are acid free and really durable for long term photo storage. These photos are old childhood photos of both Simon and myself that I have not gotten around to scrapping yet. Anything older than a year goes in these boxes for me to get to at a later stage. They go into the boxes and then I give them a general label on the divider which I can change as the photos change. I have 3 of these and they each hold about 500 photos.

For short term storage I have started using clear divided file folders for my 4x6 prints. I have 2 of these (they each hold about 150 photos) these are not labelled as they changed so frequently- about once a month and are literally just temporary storage until I get to scrapping the photos. I use a large file folder to store enlargements as well.

The Versatile Crepe

I bought a crepe maker while ago and have loved making these sweet wraps ever since. I often will make them on the weekend as a special treat for the family. Unfortunately Simon does not have a sweet tooth and so these go wasted on him- although he did do a savoury version this weekend.

Here is the recipe I use-

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups Milk

1 1/2 cups Flour

Pinch Salt

1 tp Vanilla Essence

3 Eggs

30g Melted Butter

Sift flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.

Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a separate bowl

Pour the wet mixture slowly into the bowl whilst whisking to prevent any lumps.
Mix until smooth.
Pour approximately 1/4 cup of the batter onto the crepe plate
Quickly spread the batter in circular movements until flat as shown above
Cook for about 60 seconds on one side and then remove from the plate.

Fill with whatever you like and enjoy : )

Flynn had a nutella filled crepe- a special treat!! He called it chcolate toast- very cute.
Here is Simon's savoury crepe with scrambled egg and tomato sauce filling-

Packing and Organizing to go away Post #3

Ok so now you have your lists done and your packing !! It's the night before you leave and there are always going to be those things you cannot pack until the absolute last minute- your toothbrush, phone charges, kids snuggly toys, water bottles etc. And so what I like to do the night beofre is as I think of these things I pop them down on a post it note stuck onto the family table. I generally section this per person and also household stuff that needs to be done on the morning of. You can double check you have everything just as you are about to leave to make sure you have not forgotten anything. Then go and enjoy your trip- knowing you have everything packed that you will possibly need/ want : )

Packing Cubes and link to packing list

There has been a bit of interest from a few people in some more information on the packing cubes and also a link to the packing list I use. I managed to find one photo I had taken from a previous trip- not the greatest picture but it gives you the general idea of what they look like.

I googled a little and found this site that sells them but you can also get them from Howards Storage world (for Aust readers). They are not very cheap so it is a matter of buying a few at a time until you have any many as you need and then you keep them forever so a good investment for travel especially once you have a family. There are some more pictures on the site as well.

http://www.gogogear.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=823

I tend to split them into shirts, cardigans etc so I can just go to the one cube to pack stuff- I apply the same for Flynn if he is travelling as well- he gets his own cubes. Shown in the photo at the bottom of the suitcase is a medium cube- I can fit 2-3 on top of each other and then down the side vertically is another cube so you can fit about 6-8 in a medium suitcase. I normally use the fully plastic one shown at the back for shows at it contains any smell !! This time I think it had nappies and wipes in for Flynn.

The packing list I download is from mom agenda. I add and delete stuff from it, one day when I have the time I may do up my own master list but for now this work for us. I just print it off the week before and have it around all week, once something is packed it gets ticked off.

http://www.momagenda.com/printable/cherrykf-vacationplanning.pdf

http://www.momagenda.com/printable/oceankf-packingchecklist.pdf

Packing and Organizing to go away Post #2

Ok so now that you have all of your paperwork done and you have written your packing checklist- you need to start packing! For a bigger trip we allocate space in the guest room and start packing about a week before. This gives us time to wash and iron any neccessary clothes we want to take away. It also gives us a space away from prying fingers to be able to lay everything out that we need.

We have been using packing "cubes" for years now and I have even converted my husband Simon who thought they were silly to start off with. They are great as you can fold everything you need to and are able to put the cubes into the suitcase without everything getting messy. I generallyt split the cubes into pants, shirts, cardigans, pajamas etc. It is also so handy whilst you are away as you just grab a cube and zip it open to get what you want you do not need to rifle through a weeks worth of clothes to get to one Tshirt!!

Packing and Organizing to go away Post #1

You would probably have not noticed my absence in the past few days as my blog posts continue to appear but I am currently away at a work conference halfway across the country (I pre write all of my blog posts a week ahead so that I do not have to come on every day if I am too busy).

But anyway the point of my post today is organization when planning to go away on a trip (big or small). I only went away for 4 days this time but the planning philosophy for us remains the same if it is 3 nights or 2 weeks. We have travelled a lot as a family both within Australia, overseas and also for work and so through all of this travelling we have come up with a system that seems to work for our family and so I thought I would share it as some of it may work for you.

A week before I am due to leave I type out an Itinerary to leave at home for my husband. This explains when I am leaving flight no's etc and what is going on while I am gone- pick up's and drop off's and where Flynn needs to be. I email this to Simon, print a copy for me and also for the fridge at home so that anyone who is coming over can also see what is happening while I am gone.

I then print out my itinerary for the actual trip and any relevant travel info such as flight info and hotel bookings etc. I normally print 3 copies, one to leave at home, one for my suitcase and one to keep on me in my travel wallet. This way I am covered if one gets lost and Simon also always has a copy at home. This is obviously a lot more vital when you are travelling overseas but I still do it when I go interstate as well.

When we travel overseas as a family I leave this itinerary with my mum with a copy of our passports as well. In the past this has come in great handy when we needed to call back for things.

I use the below packing checklist for larger trips to make sure nothing is forgotten and use this to check things off as they are packed. I found this is a great way to make sure you do not forget anything!!

Tomorrow's to do list.........

It's a long one!! I tend to write a to do list when I know I have a lot to get accomplished the following day. I have been away all week at a work conference and so I have a lot more to do tomorrow than normal. Here is mine for Sunday-

1. Blog postings with photos

2. Pack tote and handbag for Monday

3. Iron work clothes for Mon-Fri

4. Bake scrolls for lunch

5. Menu plan for next week

6.Wash clothes from week away and sort any washing in the laundry

7. Weekly plan into my diary.

8. Pack daycare bag and layout Flynn's clothes for Monday

9. Defrost muffins for Mon/Tues

10. Write out photo list for Blog

11. Write out Grocery list for next week.

And obviously all the normal mum stuff in between like lunches, baths, tidying etc. I am going to try and fit in as much play/quality time as possible in with Flynn as I have missed him a lot this week while I have been away. I am planning to take the afternoon off on Monday as well to go and do something special together.

What is on your to do list for this weekend?

Naughty Toddlers

Mmm you know those moments when you find your toddler has done something naughty, but unfortunately at that moment they also happen to look so cute doing it you just can't tell them off and you actually have to stifen laughter? Well Sunday was like that for me, Flynn decided in his toddler wisdom that he did not want to have a nap at all on this day. He usually sleeps for up to 3 1/2 hours so this was highly unusual for him. The first time I went in there he had completely trashed his room-

To do this he takes everything out of his cot including his own clothes, sleeping bag etc. He then also grabs everything within reach on throws that on the floor as well. When I went in there he was jumping up and down in his cot laughing hysterically like a hyena. Argh whats a mum to do- so I let him get up and have some lunch and another play to wear himself out and hopefully have a nap.

But alas a nap was not to be as the second time I went int here he had managed somehow to get hold of a tube of nappy cream and smear it all over his face like sun cream : ( Oh it was funny though. I am annoyed at myself for not snapping a photo of that one but I was so concerned with making sure I got it all cleaned up I completely forgot until afterwards.

By this time I was exhausted at the thought of trying to get his to sleep again and I looked over and he was sitting on the floor helping himself to some of my popcorn and my heart melted. No matter what this boy does and how naughty he is I will never love him more than this day, until tomorrow : )

We Tried.......

You know when they just don't want to have their photo taken? Well we tried to get a few nice photos for Fathers day over the weekend but Flynn was just not in the mood. Oh well, there is always tomorrow!! Loving the daisies though- they are such a great back drop !!

A system for organizing papers.

I have tried various "systems" throughout the years to control and organize the daily papers that need to be actioned in our household. I am yet to find a system that works at home, but I am waiting to conquer that once we have redone our office in December. But for the stuff you need to carry around with you I have come up with a system that I thought I would share that has been working for our family.

I am not sure about the rest of you but one of the things I find the hardest with kids papers for schools/daycare/kindy/sport/gym etc is getting it from filled out of the bench to the actual correct location stage- without it getting lost or ruined. This may be different for you and your family bit this is the part I struggle with. So when I found these cute file folders a few weeks ago I thought these would work a treat!!

So I have 3 folders running at the moment- (this will most likely increase with each child)

1. Daycare/ kindy- this is for all of the paperwork, surveys and newsletters that end up coming home that you may want to read or that you need to send back.

2. Household- bills, newsletters and paperwork that you need to post, followup etc

3. Flynn's File- anything directly related to Flynn that needs to be followed up, doctors letters shoe size chart (will show this later) etc.

I have labelled all of the folders so that they can be changed if necessary at a later stage. I keep these file folders in a large tote bag that lives with me and in my car. This bag is separate to my handbag and holds things like- the file folders, laptop, diary, water bottle, work lunch etc. I take it to work and then it come into the house with me at night. The great things about this system is I can throw stuff in the bag through the night when I am at home and organize it when I am at the office the next day. I think utilizing time at work (lunch breaks etc) is a great way to be able to get small jobs/ paperwork done so that you don't have to worry about them when you are at home.

Those Daisies

Remember my post a few weeks ago about that field behind our house? Well about 3 days after I took that photo all of the flowers started popping open!!! (I am so glad I snapped that shot when I did) Nothing says spring like a field full of these gorgeous things-

Another great download

http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/articles/10_Cant_Miss_Photos_to_Take


When I find great downloads I love to share them with everyone, so this one is so exception as I think it's great. It is a designed for a scrapbooker but can be adapted for anyone who loves taking photos. There are 2 lists (have you caught on yet that I LOVE lists !!) one is a list of 10 Can't miss photo opportunities for each month of the year and the other is a blank photo checklist for you to fill in yourself.


They provide some great inspiration and ideas for you to be able to adapt throughout the year. It is an American download so for my Australian readers a few things are not applicable to us, but it is still a great resource. I have printed off a few for family and friends as I think they would love using both.

Happy Father's Day

To my wonderful husband Simon, the father of our child Flynn- we hope you have a fabulous day getting spoilt and waited on all day : ) You are a great dad and continue to grow in strength to strength every year and Flynn just adores you !

I did a big breakfast this morning for a few of Simon's friends- Simon had a great game of golf of Saturday with some of his friends.

And today on Sunday we have just had lots of quality time at home playing together as a family- Simon's request for today, and I was happy to oblige, home days are great.

Hope you are all having a great weekend : )

A Swimming Layout

I did this layout last weekend from the photos of our swimming fun at the pool. It is the first time I have done a 2 page layout and also used a sketch it was great fun and I am happy with the result so I might start to do a few more of these this weekend. It is a great sketch to use when you have heaps of photos and want to include them all of the one layout. I may need to do something similar for our Tulip park photos as I have HEAPS of them as well!!

I am spending some time today sorting through my recent photos and working out what I am going to be scrapping this weekend. I have decided I am going to resist printing those tulip photos until I have my current photo pile under control!!!

He loves cooking, just like mummy!!

Flynn absolutely loves cooking with me, which is fantastic!! We have a great time together and it is such an educational experience for him. He has his own stool in the kitchen and his own little apron and mixing bowl, utensils etc. The best parts for him are the mixing, sifting and watching the kitchenaid spinning around and around. We have been cooking together for about a year now and it has been wonderful to watch his skills grow and change throughout the year-from watching me and just snacking while I baked to actually wanting to be involved in every process and tasting the mixture etc.

It is also a great way to get kids to taste different foods in the difference stages of cooking such as vegies etc. Although you have to allocate more time when you cook with your kids it is so worth the mess and the time as it is such a great learning experience for them. So the other night while dinner was cooking (great activity to do during witching hour) we made these yummy banana and blueberry cakes. They were originally going to be friands until I realized I had no Almond meal in the pantry!! Bummer. Anyway I found another recipe which looked equally as good and we gave that a go. It was good timing as they cooked in the oven while we were eating dinner!!

A single (for a night) mums dinner

So Simon travels a fair bit for work which can make my life a little bit more complicated and hectic and it can require some more organizing and pre-planning on my part. So last week when Simon was out for work for a few nights it was tempting to just go and get takeaway (I am sure I am not alone feeling that after working all day!). It is sometimes really hard to muster up the energy to cook a healthy meal for you family after you have just worked a 10 hour day.

I personally found dinner a lot easier when I was at home during the day as I would pre plan and pre chop a lot of the dinner and in winter I would use the slow cooker heaps!! But now that I am working full time I have to shift focus to either using a pre cooked meal or cooking something when I get home. Shopping in bulk helps a lot with meal times as we mostly always have on hand what we need and also meal planning helps as well.

Unfortunately none of this cooks the dinner for you though!! So on this night I found the energy from somewhere and made up this super quick stir fry with noodles- Flynn loved it and it was really easy. I thought about all the hastle of going down to order takeaway noodles and realized that sometimes cooking is actually quicker and easier and it is most definitely a lot cheaper. This meal cost about $12 and made a meal for both Flynn and I and also all of the left overs below. So now I can freeze the rest and make my life easier for another hectic night of the week.

Some Tulips (among other flowers)

Over the weekend we went to the Tulip park. It was a great day and we were so grateful to finally get there after a few weeks of having to postpone due to bad weather. I loved being able to snap some flower photos but Flynn was not so obliging to having his photo taken !!

We love having picnic with friends/family and this one was no exception, our only issue at the moment with going out in public is that Flynn is a bolter/runner. He thinks the funniest thing ever is to run away from us at full speed laughing hysterically and we have to chase after him to be able to catch him. We have tried everything to make him understand the consequences of running away but nothing seems to work. We are hoping it is a phase he will soon grow out of as it makes outings in public very difficult for us. And yet he looks so sweet and innocent....