SeaWorld

This past spring Nate and I decided to buy passes to SeaWorld for our family that would allow us unlimited admission through the end of the year. We took a trip in the spring, one in the summer, and one the weekend before Thanksgiving as our final hurrah! We also visited the USS Midway, which proved to be a fantastic activity for our kids and a place we will definitely need to visit again.

However, before we left on our trip, there were a few items of business that needed to get done. If you are like me and can't (or won't) leave a messy house before you go on vacation, regardless of how long or short the trip, there will be some cleaning required before you leave. There was also laundry, although very minimal, packing, and food to be prepped.

Everyone is different when it comes to vacation time, but for our family I like to pack snacks for the car ride...healthy snacks. Although I do occasionally splurge on chips or cookies, I know that I feel better when I eat better and my body makes no exceptions, not even for road trips. With my parents living almost a thousand miles away, I have made many, many road trips over the years and feel that there is nothing worse than the effects of sitting in the car all day and eating crap.

So here it is Thursday morning, the day before our trip and I plan to get right to work...that is after I complete my mandatory volunteer hours at my daughters school, visit the doctor during lunch, and teach voice lessons that afternoon. When I am done it's time to get dinner ready (thankfully leftovers) and then, finally, when my energy has peaked for the day and I am bursting to the brim with exuberance and patience I now have time to get ready for our trip (says every pregnant mama at the end of the day). Wrong! I am exhausted, my feet hurt, and I just want to curl up on the couch or better yet go straight to bed.

I am not sure where we get this mentality, the one as mothers that tells us we have to do it all and be it all, but it is a real thing folks and one that has been highly talked about and written about in recent years. From the attention to this subject has come a unhealthy and slightly disturbing mentality of settling or glorifying our underachievement as homemakers and parents as we accept that there is no such thing as being perfect, being able to do it all, or have it all.

Although I whole heartily believe in accepting our inability to do it all, embracing our weaknesses, and our need to understand that our best is good enough, why have we not discussed that our inability to do it all is an opportunity, the perfect opportunity to ask our children to contribute in sharing our load? After all, do they not benefit from the fruits of our labors as much as we do? This family trip is a trip for the family, which means that everyone, parents and children, are to benefit from the enjoyment of getting away. Why then is it my sole responsibility to do all the work to get us there? Shouldn't we all have an equal investment in this trip (the equal portion being relative to age and individual ability).Well, I can tell you that at our house and in our family if you want to enjoy a family trip you better be willing to help get us there because running around the house making a mess for mom to clean up or simply watching a movie just isn't good enough for me. I am not capable of doing it all, they are capable of helping, and to me that is a match made in heaven.

So at dinner that night the following discussion (aka mom laying down the law) took place:

Me: "Alright everyone, who is excited about our trip? Wahooo!!!"
Kids: "Me!!!!"
Me: "Great! Me too! But before we can go and enjoy ourselves there are a few things that need to get done and we will not be leaving if those things do not get done. Everybody understand?"
Kids: "Yes."

While I cleaned up from dinner I gave the kids a list of items that needed to be packed in their bags and then had everyone bring their bags to me for inspection once they were ready to go. Frequent verbal check-ins were required and my oldest child had to help my youngest. Once the bags were packed and by the back door I asked each child which foods they wanted to help prepare. The older kids washed and bagged apples, grapes, cherry tomatoes, and Cuties. Olive stood by my side and filled a bag with the veggies I was cutting. We then set up an assembly line to make sandwiches, which we froze over night. When it was all done and the kitchen was clean we rewarded ourselves with a Popsicle each.

Lastly we set the timer for a five minute pick-up (this is where everyone runs around as fast as they can picking up anything that belongs to them around the house before the timer goes off) and I then helped the youngest two quickly tidy their rooms. My oldest vacuumed for me and with the house now clean enough, and bags and food packed, I managed to pack my own things after the kids were in bed. Truth be told I probably could have stayed up really late and done all the work by myself, which would have spared my ears and emotionally exhausted self the pains of dealing with a few meltdowns along the way. However, I really felt in those precious moment as we worked together a sense of community, a connection with my children and I believe they felt it too.

We had a great trip, enjoyed our snacks, the company of one another, the Christmas lights at SeaWorld and our favorite burger joint in San Diego for some seriously good hamburgers and amazing onion rings (the best)!

Benson was too tired to eat all of his lunch...

My big takeaway from this trip was this: as a mother it is impossible for me to do everything for my family, but together, as a family team we are capable of achieving more, of being more than I could ever be on my own. This does not mean that we all pull the same weight, but that we pull equally according to our own strength and ability. My expectations for my three year old are very different than my expectations for my eight year old, and what I expect from my children is not on the same level of what I expect from myself or my husband. We, my husband and I, will always pull more weight than our children and until all my children are in school and I officially reenter the workforce the way we contribute to our family team will differ greatly. However, just like there are different positions to be played on a team sport, there are different positions we play on our family team. The key is understanding that  when we all work together and do our best that that is when we all win.

Rainy Day Pasta

YouTube Video Tutorial: 

Rainy Day Pasta

As a kid I lived in the Portland, Oregon area from ages eight to thirteen. During this time I played soccer and have many, many memories of practicing and playing in the rain. I remember being cold, wet, and covered in mud on more than one occasion (especially when I played the position of goalie). Now I live in Phoenix and my kids, like me, now play soccer. Except in contrast to being wet, cold, and muddy they are usually hot, sweaty, and dusty.

When my family first moved from Oregon to Arizona I missed the rain and longed for the pitter-patter or rain drops to lull me to sleep at night. Although I now fall asleep to the sound of the deserts humming crickets I absolutely love it when I wake up to an overcast sky and get to enjoy the nostalgic feelings associated with a wet, rainy day. They are few and far between here in the Valley of the Sun, but about two weeks ago we were fortunate enough to be showered upon for several hours one afternoon. The rain poured quite heavily, there was lightening that sounded as though it was right overhead, and sure enough about an hour into this heavenly delight I was informed that soccer practice would be canceled that night due to the muddy fields.

Of course, given the conditions I played soccer in as a child I found this to be quite humorous, however, not so humorous was the task of now finding something for my children to do. I am all about free play so I sent them to the play room, but there was something about their energy that day that was just out of control. Instead of engaging in their usual make believe or  being enthralled for hours on end by loges, they were a bunch of wild monkeys wreaking havoc on my house, my ears, and my brain.

With no relief in sight (my husband was working late that night) and the inability to send the kids outside (due to the close proximity of the lightening) it was time for what I have termed as "super-engaging" with my kids. This means I drop whatever I am doing and become one hundred percent focused on taking all that craziness and redirecting it into a outlet that keeps everybody sane and happy.

There are many ways that I "super-engage" with my kids, but one of my favorites over the years has been making homemade pasta. It is super simple to make and the best part is that unlike a craft the mess or final outcome is edible (in other words if you are going to have to clean up a mess from dinner and a mess from your kids, why not combine them and just clean up one mess). In fact, you can really think of it as giving your child play-dough. I do not make it as much as I used to simply because our afternoons and evenings have become busier as the kids have gotten older, but every once in a while I still pull it out and it still works its magic every time. I know, it really does sound crazy, but I have found from years of trying just about everything humanly possibly on those long afternoons when you are on the home stretch, when dad is out of town, and when you are trying to just not kill anybody that productive outlets and tasks for your kids are game changers (actually they are literally life savers). Now, perhaps your children are unlike mine and their level of crankiness, the amount they fight, and the attitude they give is not directly linked to the amount of electronic time they have had that day (or for the past several days). But for me, those are in direct proportion to one another as is the amount of cooperativeness, kindness, and respect I receive when my children have worked and contributed to our family. This pasta is great because they are working to make their own food, but it is a fun kid of work.

So, here is my rainy day, life saving pasta. If you clean up as you go there is a very, very minimal mess to clean up at the end. If your kids will not eat it green I will include the recipe for the basic pasta dough as well as the spinach pasta dough. And if you do not have a food processor you can still make pasta by hand in a bowl, you will just not be able to make the spinach pasta. Both of these recipes are from the cookbook that came with my Cuisinart Food Processor, however I do not put salt in mine because I do not like the taste.

Pasta Dough:

2 C All-Purpose Flour (I use half unbleached white and half white whole wheat flour)
1 C Semolina Flour
4 Large Eggs

Use the large metal chopping blade in your food processor to pulse together dry ingredients. Then turn on the food processor and add one egg at a time until a dough ball forms. Let it run for another thirty seconds or so and that is it! Take it out, divide it into four equal parts, roll out each of those parts just until it is flat and can be put through your pasta machine.

Spinach Pasta Dough:

6 Ounces Fresh Spinach Leaves
1 1/2 C All-Purpose Flour (I use while whole wheat instead)
2/3 C Semolina Flour

Use the large metal chopping blade in your food processor to chop your spinach. Once the consistency looks even, scrape the sides of the bow and add in your dry ingredients. Pulse ten times or so and then turn on the food processor until a ball forms. Let it run for another thirty seconds or so and that is it! Take it out, divide it into four equal parts, roll out each of those parts just until it is flat and can be put through your pasta machine.

Side note for both of these: the dough for this is very, very different than the consistency of dough in baking. It is much more dry and each of your four dough balls may need to be pressed together with your hands to get the dough to stick. Do not try and make it more wet (I've made that mistake before) or else it will stick to the pasta machine.

I first run my dough through the machine on a 1 (the thickest setting) and then go to a higher setting to make it thinner. So you will end up running everything through twice on the flat setting and then once through the attachment that actually cuts it into pasta.

Here is a link to a machine like the one I have. I like a manual one because it gives your kids more to do (it takes more time, which when I am making pasta is what I am looking for). It works great for the larger linguine size noodles, but I have not had great success with the thinner noodles. Just an FYI.

How to Keep Your Child Busy in the Kitchen

Video Tutorial:

How To Keep Your Child Busy In The Kitchen

Let's face it. Some days we do not have the emotional or mental patience to have our children in the kitchen cooking with us. Been there, many a day. Whether you are having an extra rough day, or are possibly preparing something that is not conducive to little helping hands OR you have never cooked with your kids before and are looking for a way to ease yourself and them into this new routine you will want a few other options for your child to keep them entertained and happy while keeping them by your side. Establishing a routine of being together in the kitchen on a daily basis is important to your success as a family team even if your child is doing a puzzle or counting raisins. Listed bellow are my favorite items to use (FYI, I am not getting paid to promote any of this stuff. I'm just telling you want I use) and keep close by either in or right next to my kitchen.

Sorting Snacks:

Trader Joe's Golden Berry Blend (Golden Raisins, Cherries, Cranberries & Blueberries)

Any type of trail mix (preferably without m&m's since most children tend to only eat those)

Annie's Homegrown Organic Snack mixes are great. Olive's favorites are the farm animal crackers. 

Counting Snacks:

Almonds, Cashews, and Peanuts all work great.

Raisins
Blueberries
Cheerios (Trader Joe's just had pumpkin flavored ones that were super fun)

Envirokidz Corn Puffs (Gorilla Munch) 

Dried Fruit

Any of the Annie's Homegrown Organic Snacks
Mini Marshmallows (but only in really dire circumstances)

Puzzles:

Almost all of my puzzles have come from either a garage sale or a Ross/TJ Maxx/Marshalls. I've included links just so you can get an idea of what to look for for your child. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GJSL0IW/ref=pd_sim_21_9?ie=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01GJSL0IW&pd_rd_r=81X5J8DE253CA1P149B0&pd_rd_w=7CBwF&pd_rd_wg=NiNJG&psc=1&refRID=81X5J8DE253CA1P149B0

I love pattern blocks. I put several different ones down because there is a range in their level of difficulty.

https://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Beginner-Educational-Double-Sided/dp/B00005O63Q/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1478798290&sr=8-3&keywords=melissa+and+doug+blocks+puzzle

https://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Pattern-Blocks-Boards/dp/B00006JZCG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1478798290&sr=8-2&keywords=melissa+and+doug+blocks+puzzle

https://www.amazon.com/MightyMind-40200-SuperMind/dp/B00001N2MX/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478798481&sr=8-1&keywords=super+mind+kids

https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Journey-Match-Shape-Shuffle/dp/B000F8VBQE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478798550&sr=8-1&keywords=shape+shuffle

And then any 12, 24, or 48 piece puzzle. It just depends on how old your child is. For children ages three and under you might want to consider sticking to puzzles that come in a wooden tray so that they have preset boundaries for where their puzzles pieces can go. Here is an example:

https://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Playful-Jigsaw-Puzzle/dp/B000GKXY66/ref=sr_1_23?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1478798253&sr=1-23&keywords=melissa+and+doug+puzzles

Cutting Fruit:
Bananas
Strawberries
Peaches/Nectarines
Watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe
Pears
Apples
Kiwi

Having them peal a Cutie is also great for their fine motor skills. Just start it for them and let them do the rest. Also, my kids all love eating their fruit with a toothpick, which is great because it usually takes them longer.