Emma (8), and Emerson (6) participated at church Music Camp and they had a BLAST! Each day half of the time they learned songs and dances centered around Bible verses, then the second half of the day was spent doing fun activities like going bowling, visiting a senior center, getting squirted by firemen with a firehouse, and having a Nerf war.
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They had their performance earlier today and I was THAT mom recording every second. I love it when they get to do stuff like this with other kiddos. Since we homeschool it isn't an everyday occurrence, so when it happens it is truly special.
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On another note, a few things I've picked up as a mama of 4 have been running around my head so I decided I would share some!
Here are my top 4 mama hacks...
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#1 Chicken-Breast Meal Prep
Buy 2-3 packs of chicken breast (which comes out to ballpark \\$30-45) and pop it in the slow cooker for 6-8 hours with some water and two cubes of beef bouillon (it goes much further than chicken broth). Let it cook all day and boom! You're meal prepped for 5-10 meals. We are a family of 6 and while the two little ones don't currently eat much 2-3 chicken breasts make up a meal for us so I end up getting 7-10 meals out of this. I don't season the meat or anything because it gives me a blank slate for a variety of different meals. I just pop it in the freezer and it's ready to go at the drop of a hat. Cheap and easy meal hack for the win because there's never enough time.
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#2 Watch Within Reach
Fill reusable water bottles each morning and have them within kiddo reach. Water requests (despite their ability to get water on their own) were one of my most frequent visitors throughout the day and by doing this I cut down on that significantly (not eliminate, but cut down).
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#3 Green Thumbs Are Happy Thumbs
Gardening is good for their little souls. The kids have flocked to it and are a bit obsessed, and I couldn't be happier about it. Them learning how to take steps to grow their own food was one of the main reasons I wanted to move out of California, and I couldn't be more grateful that we landed where we did. One of my favorite things about it is that it doesn't work 100% of the time. Mistakes get made and plants die. There are no participation trophies. You either learn, follow-through, show up, and succeed, or you don't and your plant dies. Good prep for the real world, in my opinion.
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#4 Let's Save a Little Power
Flipping the breakers off that power the lights my kiddos love to leave on has eliminated the problem (and cut down on the electricity bill).
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One more
To my kiddos, TV and sugar are like poison and a surefire recipe for a bad day. By limiting TV to 30 minutes once a week and keeping 0 candy/cookies/sugary snacks in the house the kiddos are forced to find more exciting ways to spend their time like setting frog traps and building frog exhibits, playing fetch with the doggies, reading, riding bikes, playing with their guinea pigs, and building things indoors/outdoors.
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Scroll down for a photo of our two oldest with our awesome neighbor (who gave them a ride to Music Camp each day this week). They had a blast. I tried to get Emma to smile normal, but any more than take two would get awkward, so I just decided to roll with it. 😊
![[Fanmail Friday] Hi Stranger](https://www.buxemail.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/cover-2843-225x300.jpg)
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![[Fanmail Friday] Honestly， It’s Been Tough](https://www.buxemail.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/cover-2845-225x300.jpg)
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