Our Daily Routine at the end of 2018

Last fall I wrote a post detailing what our daily routine looked like at that time and already, just one year later, when I look back at that post that particular rhythm of days seems foreign. So here is this year's installment which, I'm sure, in the fall of 2019 I will look back on and marvel how much just one year can change things!

The easiest way to make me feel frazzled and overwhelmed doing this mom thing is for us to go way off of our routine for a while. I feel lost, un-anchored, just sort of drifting along and fuzzy. I know this isn't true for everybody, some people thrive on a more spur of the moment, every day is a different adventure, kind of life. And that's great! But that's definitely not me. Right now we're coming off of several weeks of disrupted routine. Between trips and illnesses and some snow, our usual routine was nowhere to be found. Being in our normal routine this week has felt like slipping into a hot bubble bath after a really, really long day. So cozy and so comfortable. I feel like the whole week has just been one gigantic sigh of relief. I feel calmer, happier, and even the kids' behavior is markedly better. With this fresh gratitude and appreciation for our routine, now seems like the perfect time to write this post. The rhythm of our days brings me such joy and that's what is important, right? Whether you thrive on a structured day or not, the end goal for all of us should be days that bring us joy. Here's what joy looks like for me.

6:30- On a great day, when all the stars have aligned, Anna has slept through the night or only woke briefly once, nobody else has needed me in the night, and anxiety over one thing or another hasn't kept me awake at any point, I will wake up at 6:30 and have some quiet alone time downstairs. Given those specifications, I imagine nobody reading this will be surprised when I say that this doesn't happen often. When it does it is glorious and changes my whole entire day for the better. Someday, someday I will be able to make this happen more regularly. 

Sigh. It's so peaceful when it happens. Tea, devotions, journaling, reading.

7:00- We still have our 'the day starts at 7' rule, meaning anybody awake before 7 can play or read quietly in their beds until they see the 7 on the clock, at which point they can come out to start the day. More and more lately, the only one awake prior to 7 and coming out at 7 is Kate. The boys and Anna tend to sleep later (or Sam will get up at 7 and opt to stay in bed reading until 7:30). If I haven't been up since 6:30 I'll try to snag a little quiet reading time in my bed for a few minutes before getting up and getting myself ready. Alternatively, I just sleep til 7:30, read for 5 minutes (I just like to start my day by reading a page or two at least, it just sets a good tone) and then get ready. I've learned this year that I am my most productive self if I immediately wash my face, brush my teeth, make my bed, fix my hair, and get dressed in the morning. I used to wait until after breakfast, but now as soon as my feet hit the floor I do this routine. Even on mornings where I've had less than 5 hours of sleep and I feel horrible, washing my face and getting my bed made performs some magic on me and I feel like I can at least shuffle through the day. 

While I'm doing this, kids are slowly waking up and going to play. Sometimes if Anna wakes up and I'm not quite ready yet, one or two of the bigger kids will go in her room and sit and talk to her. I love it. It's the sweetest thing and so helpful! Once I'm ready for the day, I run downstairs and put away the dishes on the drying rack from dinner the previous night, open up the curtains (if Kate hasn't already, that's a morning job she does really like to do since she's usually the first kid up), and wash any dishes James left behind (usually just the coffee pot and the knife he used for his bagel). Then I go up to nurse Anna in her room before bringing her down to play with the big kids who are, by now, playing in the playroom. I get breakfast made while they play and wander in and out of the kitchen to tell me about something from a dream they had, or a fact they'd just read (Sam), or ask what we had to do that day. 

8:30/9ish- Breakfast on the table and, on school days, we read our Bible reading, our daily devotional, some poetry, and pray and practice a memory verse together. I'm usually multitasking and making my breakfast while we do this reading and sit down to eat after they've all finished. Sam and Kate go upstairs to do their morning chores (get dressed, pjs on their dresser or the hamper depending upon whether or not they'd worn them twice yet, make their beds, brush their teeth, and Sam cleans the upstairs bathroom sink). Henry goes to play in the playroom and Anna usually sits on my lap and shares my breakfast and my tea. I read a little while I eat and then wash the dishes and get Henry and Anna dressed. If Anna has been especially.... creative... with her breakfast, she gets a sink bath. (Bananas = hair gel to this girl)

9:30/10ish- The kids pick up the playroom a little. Mostly they just need to be sure the desk is clear and there's a little free space on the floor. They bring in two chairs from the dining room that we need and I get our pile of books for that day. We aim to start by 10, but if they're playing really nicely and/or I'm really into whatever I'm reading that morning, sometimes we start a little later.

10ish- This is our school 'block' of time. I make an effort to be home for a morning school block of time at least 3x a week, but ideally 4. We start with something called Swedish Drill which is basically a more structured Simon Says. We have started school days with gross motor activities for a few years now. It's a really great way to start a school day with at least halfway decent attitudes. Then, now that Kate is doing little bits of Kindergarten work, I start trading off who I work with. First I'll do some letter games with Kate (usually while nursing Anna) while Sam independently works on his copywork. Then I do a reading and narration with Sam while Kate does something in her binder (no real structure for her there, she might write letters she knows, or draw a picture, or play a matching game with clothespins, and sometimes she just goes to play dolls). Then Sam and I go over his math lesson and he works independently on that and does a page in his cursive workbook while I read a few books to Henry and Kate. Then another reading and narration with Sam while everybody else plays or listens in. By then we're pretty much finished. Anything else we save for later in the day. We stack the schoolbooks on my desk and everybody scatters to play.

11:30ish- Once we're finished school we might have a snack, or run a quick errand (I now try to schedule all of our errands on one, non-school day, but sometimes we might need to run out after school for just one small thing). If the weather is nice we'll go outside, or just the big kids will go outside and I'll stay in with the littles. This is my time to workout and do my weekly chore for that day and sometime in there I nurse Anna. If I'm lucky I'll snag a quick shower after my workout.

12:30- Lunch. During lunch I read something else for school, or we work on French words, or they do their artist or composer study. Once they're finished eating they go clean up the toys and race me while I wash lunch dishes and clean up the school books. Racing me makes them do a better job. Some days it's like pulling teeth to get them to pick up any toys at all, but some days it happens quickly and smoothly.

1:30/2ish- The big kids are settled in the playroom with the door closed and I take Anna up for a nap. When she's down I make my lunch and sit down to eat while I read or watch a show (though tv is pretty rare for me lately). The big kids come out of the playroom to ask me questions or for help fixing something/breaking up a fight, or to tell me about a bird they saw at the feeder approximately 40000 times so 'quiet time' isn't as quiet for me as it once was, but it's a good chance to recharge.

3- If we have any other (quiet) work for school, we'll do it now. Painting or drawing in their nature journals, or sewing or paper folding are good things to do now while Anna is asleep. In nice weather the big kids will go outside (and Henry is now allowed to go too, as long as he stays on the swing set where I can see him). I read a little more, or start a little dinner prep, or fold laundry, or I go outside with them. Once or twice a week I'll put on a movie for them around now.

4- I wake Anna up from her nap and nurse her. This is when we get the keyboard out for Sam to watch a piano lesson or just to practice, but not everyday. It's pretty random and sporadic actually. I'm hoping to structure this a little more in the new year. Everybody is playing now and I'm starting to prep for the evening. Dinner prep, finishing the weekly cleaning chores, tidying up any mess I made during quiet time, prep for the next day or week of school, catching up on emails (or, at this time of year, doing some online Christmas shopping), working on a menu or grocery list, finishing bullet journal spreads or filling in our schedules if it's the end of the month, working on our budget or paying bills, just busy work. Or Anna wakes up clingy, nurses forever, and then we snuggle a bit.

4:45- Around now I really like to have a snack and a cup of tea before starting dinner. A moment of zen because the rest of the day is going to be nonstop and a little chaotic just because once 5 o'clock hits something happens and kids get crazy.

5:00- I start dinner. Most days I put a Spotify playlist on the tv and the kids are running laps around the house and having a dance party while I cook. Sometimes I play a podcast for myself, sometimes I read while I'm cooking if I'm in the middle of something super good. If I haven't folded that day's laundry yet, I often try to do it at some point while dinner is cooking. The kitchen is the best place to fold laundry lately because Anna can't reach up onto the counter to "help". I do one load of our clothes every night, so it doesn't take long at all to fold it. If I have a timer going for something that's part of dinner, I race the timer while I fold. That makes me sound super weird probably.

Sometimes when they're not running around they sit like this in the hallway next to the kitchen. 

5:45/6- We eat. Sometimes James is home, sometimes he's not. I used to try to plan dinnertime around when he would be home, but it seems to work better to just have it ready by 6 and then we either eat with him or without him. Eating later just makes bedtime a mess. 

6:15/6:30- If James is home he cleans up dinner (because he's awesome) and packs his lunch and breakfast for the next day. We keep the kids in the playroom so we can have a little time to talk to one another without constant interruption (though we still end up being interrupted a whole lot, but such is life right now). If the laundry still isn't folded I fold while we talk and he cleans up. The house is loud at this time of day. The kids are all the way wound up and I always have music on. I try to play more relaxing classical music from dinnertime on. Sometimes it works, but a lot of times it doesn't. It helps me feel calmer though, so, there's that.

6:50- Here we go. It's bedtime. The kids have had several warnings (10 minutes, 5 minutes, 2 minutes) to which they always cheerfully reply, "Okay!", but it's almost never actually okay and, "It's time to clean up and get ready for bed!" is usually met with, "Awwwww! No! Not now! We haven't had enough time to play!" (You all have just read the description of their day. Tell me they don't have enough time to play *eye roll*) Just like after lunch, sometimes clean up happens easily and quickly, sometimes it's a nightmare. Sometimes Sam and Kate are trucking along, doing great, and then Henry comes along and dumps the whole Duplo bin because he, "just needed that one piece for a minute!" Although lately Henry is starting to be a little more helpful during clean up time, a lot of evenings I take him upstairs along with Anna and he looks at books in her room while she's in her crib with books and I'm putting away the laundry.

7:15/7:30- The playroom is hopefully clean by now (we are really working hard at cleaning things up when we're finished with them, before getting new things out and they don't have many toys in the playroom to begin with so, as long as there isn't a whole lot of whining and/or goofing off, they are capable of cleaning up super quickly). Sam and Kate get their pjs on and brush their teeth and either James or I do Henry and Anna. I love the nights when James is home to help out with dinner clean up and bedtime, but it's not a given so I've gotten pretty efficient doing it all myself. If it's a bath night for the little two, I give them a bath while the big kids are finishing up downstairs. On shower nights I help Kate after she's finished in the playroom and then Sam showers after her (just needs help with his hair) or I do their showers on separate nights for my sanity's sake. The days of bathing everybody on the same night are past for now. It was too chaotic. It works better to spread them out. 

7:40ish- Ideally everybody is ready for bed by now and they've put their dirty clothes in the basket I've left in the hallway. I run downstairs and throw that in the washer and then go back up and read a few books to them in Anna's room. If James is home he takes her so she doesn't yell and climb all over everybody, or try to snatch the book out of my hand. Anna is not her best self at this time of day.

8- In bed. Henry nurses for a couple minutes (though he and I are talking about not doing this anymore after Christmas). Sam and Kate may have their reading lights on as long as they are quiet and don't stay up too late. We don't have an official "lights out" time for them, but we may need to implement one soon because Sam is starting to stay up pretty late reading some nights. After a couple minutes, I have laid Henry down and I go get Anna. If James is working super late, she's been in her crib this whole time (if she's fussy Sam will sit in there with her because she isn't always okay with being alone, and then he goes to bed once I come in). If James is home he and Anna are snuggling downstairs or in our bed. I nurse and rock her and she's usually down by 8:30.

8:30/8:45- I go downstairs to switch the laundry to the dryer and then I either sit on the couch with James, reading while he watches tv, or I just go upstairs to read in bed (and James usually follows) because I'm totally beat and want to be able to pass out right away after a chapter or two. Our evenings are not very exciting right now. James works very hard and my days (and nights) with the kids are very full. The other night we were both in bed with the lights off, half asleep already, by 9. If we're a little less sleepy we'll watch something together or play a game (I can kick James' butt in Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit, but still he challenges me to a game)

So that's our day! Or our day 3-4 days a week anyway. I've been trying to be very intentional this year to make any out of the house activities on a non-school day and lump errands in then too. If we go on a field trip or something, we'll do a little school work in the afternoon so we're doing school 4 times a week. On Thursdays, we leave at 3:30 for ballet so that shortens quiet time, but since Kate has an early class this year we're home in time to not have to rush to get dinner on the table. 3 times a month Sam and James leave after dinner on Thursdays for Cub Scouts (and if James can't get home in time, I take all 4 to Scouts, but since that ends at 8, we try to avoid that). While they're there I put the other 3 to bed and Sam creeps into their room quietly when he gets home. 

I'm really, really happy with the flow of our days lately. And by lately, I mean the past several months. It feels like we've found our groove. Not that there was anything wrong with our routines in the past, we've always been a very routine oriented family, but in the past I've felt a struggle to fit everything in and things would often slide. Usually working out, sometimes the weekly cleaning chores, often laundry. This current routine doesn't feel forced or crammed at all, but mostly things are getting done when they're supposed to. It feels good to wake up in the morning and already be able to see at least the bare bones of what the day will hold and to know that at the end of the day chores and tasks will be accomplished without ever having felt rushed. Most of the time anyway! Of course there are days where bedtime rolls around and it feels like a tornado came sweeping in while I was eating breakfast and, somehow, spit me out at 7:30 in the evening, the whole day a blur. But this that I've written up is what we strive for and what we achieve most days. I'm so grateful for our slow, quiet days. So grateful for how hard James works so that I can stay home. So grateful for our homeschooling curriculum which brings so much beauty through music, art, and literature to our days. And so, so grateful for this life I have and these people I get to do it with day in and day out.

A Want/Need/Wear/Read Christmas

I love Christmas. All of it. I love cheesy Christmas movies and I love nativity scenes. I love cookies and I love Advent wreaths. I love that God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and O Holy Night can coexist with All I Want For Christmas Is You and the Chipmunk’s Christmas Don’t Be Late. I’ve been unapologetically listening to Christmas music here and there for a couple weeks now, though we won’t decorate until after Thanksgiving. I have loved the whole Christmas season my whole life, and once I had kids my love for Christmas just exploded and I swear it grows a little more every year. The excitement and anticipation of Christmas through the eyes of kids is nothing short of magical.

Something else I love about Christmas is the gifts. Giving them and receiving them. I know that’s not really the right thing to say, but hear me out! I love thinking about things to give people. I love watching them open a gift (or just imagining them opening a card we sent!) and seeing joy on their face. I love receiving gifts. When I say I love receiving gifts, don’t misunderstand. I don’t mean that love being given big, expensive things. Or piles of stuff. I love the gift of being seen. I love knowing our name is on somebody’s Christmas card list. I love opening a gift one of my kids’ made for me (“I used pink paper to make that necklace because I know that’s one of your favorite colors!”) Heck, I love being tagged in a meme on Facebook because it reminded somebody of me. I think being seen is a gift that most people would love to receive. “I picked this out for you because I know you’ll love it.”, “I got this for you because I know you need it for work/your new hobby”, “I made these cookies for my family this week and remembered they’re your favorite so I brought you some!”, “Just wanted to say hi and I think you’re a great mom.”, “Merry Christmas to you and your beautiful family!” Gifts. Amazing gifts.

We want our kids to have this same view of gifts. We want them to know that the gifts of time or a kind word are just as (more even) important as the gift of a new toy. We also want them to play and explore and grow and learn and have toys that they love without feeling like we are drowning in a sea of toys. This can be such a hard balance to strike at any point in time, but especially at Christmas.

A few years ago, when Sam was 3 and Kate was 1, and we were talking about feeling ready to add a 3rd little one to our family soon, I was feeling incredibly overwhelmed by toys and Christmas was fast approaching. Browsing Pinterest one day, I stumbled across this Christmas list template for 4 gifts. 1 thing I want, 1 thing I need, 1 thing to wear, 1 thing to read. To me this was brilliant. Not only would it help us avoid the present overwhelm on Christmas morning, but I could see how it would greatly simplify Christmas shopping for me, having clear cut categories like this. So we tried it out, and haven’t looked back ever since. It seems to have gained some popularity in the past couple years and I am hearing about more and more families doing it. James and I even do it for our own gift exchanging now. I’ve seen some other incarnations of the template I found that include things like “1 thing to do share”, or “1 place to go.” I love those! We haven’t added those because I usually use some grandparent Christmas money for joint and/or experience gifts.

Since our first year of want/need/wear/read, our Christmas gift plan has changed a little bit, but the past 2 years have been the same and I think we’ve found our “sweet spot”. The want/need/wear/gifts come from us and the kids write to Santa asking for one special toy. Santa will also bring a new game or puzzle and something handmade, either by us or by somebody on Etsy. This works so well for us. Christmas morning is peaceful and fun, and clean up later in the day is very quick and easy. 

Gifts quickly and easily corralled post present opening.

The “want” and “read” gifts always seem to be the easiest for me and for others that I know who use these same categories. Kids are usually pretty open about things that they want and books (for me anyway!) are always so easy and fun to pick out for anybody! Sometimes “need” and “wear” can be a little trickier.

Oftentimes nobody really needs new clothes. Sometimes get them something really special (like a tutu dress for Kate or graphic t-shirts for the boys with trains or construction vehicles on them). Or we’ll go with new shoes, sunglasses, a jacket, or even something for dress up play.

In the past I’ve come up with “need” gifts that were the same for everybody across the board. Water bottles one year, umbrellas another, rain boots still another. This year is the first year that I’ve had different “need” ideas for everybody. But some “need” ideas I always have on my radar, besides those I just shared: something for a sport or activity they’re involved in (a ballet bag, a soccer ball, a piano songbook), a jewelry box, a bank or a wallet, a backpack, lunch box, crayons, a drawing pad, slippers, a blanket or quilt for their bed, hiking boots, a sleeping bag, binoculars, a compass, bike helmet. Sometimes I’m afraid the “need” gift will come across as boring, but so far it hasn’t! I think it’s important (and hard) to remember that kids are usually actually pretty easy to please. It’s easy to get the thought into our minds that they need something flashy and fancy to hold their attention, but let me tell you about the squeals of excitement we heard last year when everybody got a new pair of slippers! Slippers that they still get excited about to this day! So, if you want to try this, embrace the simple “need” gifts. Most likely they’ll be incredibly well received!

Like I said earlier, James and I do want/need/wear/read gifts for each other as well (Santa fills our stockings, but doesn’t leave gifts for us under the tree). Same as with the kids, the categories make planning and shopping so much easier, but even more than the kids, there’s something so special about both giving and receiving a “need” gift. Because with adults who are capable of meeting their own needs, you have to think “outside the box” a little bit and get them something they might not know they need. Last year James got me the gift of time to myself for my “need” gift. Bath products and coupons for things like trips out of the house by myself (to run errands or to just grab a cup of coffee). Things that yes I do need, but things that I’m not good at just doing for myself or asking for. My “need” gift from James always makes me feel so seen and so cared for.

I know that Christmas can be so overwhelming for a lot of different reasons, but a gift giving template like this one can do a lot towards simplifying not only Christmas morning, but also the aftermath! I am so thankful that I found this idea several years ago. And I am so excited that Christmas time has rolled around again! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go play a Pentatonix Christmas album. Again. 

Camping With Little Kids

We just got back from an amazing weekend spent camping and hiking at a state park close to our house. As I was posting all of our pictures, I started getting lots of messages asking questions about taking little kids camping so I figured I'd take all of the little tips I can think of and put them all in a blog post! I'll sharing pictures if I have them and linking to products as I come to them. I hope this can be helpful and encouraging to families who have been wanting to try taking their little ones camping! Parts of it can be hard, but staying home with little ones is hard too! Why not take the show on the road and into the woods, right? It's a whole heck of a lot easier to clean up snack spills in the woods and noisy playing doesn't actually seem so noisy after all when you take the walls away! So, go for it!

My first tip is to keep it simple. Resist the urge to Pinterest camp with all sorts of planned arts and crafts, fancy meals, and activities. I'll admit, some of the camping crafts and whatnot I've seen on Pinterest look so cute and fun! But if I pin them, it's so I can come back to them when I'm camping without sippy cups or diapers! For now, we keep it extremely simple with very low expectations! Even without very little kids though, you don't need all sorts of gadgets and extra just.... stuff to go camping. Just what is necessary to meet everybody's basic needs. A place to sleep, clothes to wear, food to eat. Good to go!

One big struggle with camping can be keeping everything you need for meals organized. I'm lucky to have been raised by a very organized mother who took us camping every summer, so packing intentionally and functionally for a camping trip feels like second nature to me! We pack one big rubbermaid tub with non perishable food, and another with kitchen supplies. In the food bin, we try to put loose things in jars and containers whenever we can because they're less likely to get stale. If I am going to be making something like pancakes while we're there, I mix the dry ingredients in a gallon bag and write instructions on the outside for adding the wet ingredients. For recipes that call for milk, I pre measure it out and pack it in jars. That eliminates the need for fitting a whole gallon of milk in our cooler. I pack the jars for recipes, and then just a half gallon for the kids to drink and James to put in his coffee.

We pack very little of our home kitchen supplies because we have some camping specific things, so packing the supply box is a breeze since it is mostly always packed. A set of pots and pans that nest inside each other saves space. We have this set and really like it! The camping box is a good place to send old, non breakable plates and utensils that you don't really use anymore. We prefer not to use disposable dishes and cutlery while camping, so we have a mishmash of camping specific plates we bought at an outdoors store and old utensils we stopped using when we got a new set as a wedding gift. We have a set of cups, but everybody mostly drinks out of water bottles, and then a set of mugs is a necessity! Besides all of that, your needs will vary depending on what you plan on cooking and eating, but we always have a roll of foil, some baggies, a cutting board and knife, and propane for our camp stove (can't go wrong with this one!) Also very helpful for the eating part of camping is an extra table. Campsites usually have a picnic table (bring a plastic tablecloth!), but a small folding table is so nice to have for food prep and dishwashing!

For meals we try to strike a balance between really easy and really yummy! We could just eat cereal and sandwiches all weekend (nothing wrong with that!), but we like to get at least a little fancier! Things that can be cooked over the campfire are really fun and we try to include the kids in the prep work as much as possible. The bigger kids anyway! Prepping meals while camping with babies brings me to another really big tip, babywearing. Bring at least one carrier. Even if your baby or toddler loves playing on the ground, you're going to want a safe place for them when the fire or stove is going and your full attention can't be on them. We have a high chair that folds pretty flat which makes it easy to bring with us (this one), a folding booster seat or chair that hooks to a tabletop would work too. If you don't have any of those things, an umbrella stroller could work for feeding a baby too. A big drink cooler with a dispenser, filled with water and ice, saves cooler space and makes it easy for even little ones to get their own drinks! The kids like to help make a big batch of trail mix (pretzels, different kinds of goldfish, bunny grahams, raisins, m&ms, we do something different every time!) before we leave and that serves as a great snack for everybody throughout the day. I usually also bake one or two treats and of course there are marshmallows and s'mores after dinner!

This is a really easy and really yummy campfire mac-n-cheese recipe that I found on Pinterest and modified a bit.

1lb cooked elbow noodles (I cook them before leaving home and pack them in a gallon bag)

1 jar alfredo sauce

2ish cups of shredded cheese (I use mostly cheddar, but a little parmesan too!)

Mix everything in foil pans, cover with foil, and set on a grate over the fire. Depending on how good your fire is going, they might just need a few minutes! They're done when the cheese is getting nice and stringy! We like to have this with sandwich melts (turkey or cheese sandwiches on hoagie rolls, wrapped in foil, and sat on the grate as well until the cheese is melty) and veggies with dip.

For mealtime clean up, we have baby wipes and paper towels. We have these amazing silicone bibs that are so easy to clean and have a nice deep pocket so they keep the baby pretty clean to begin with. We use them every single day at home and they're also amazing for camping! We have these, but there are a lot of different brands on Amazon. Baggies and/or the jars or containers I used for pre-prepped food that are now empty work for any leftovers.

Another concern when camping with kids is keeping them occupied. Depending on where you're camping, you might have a lot of activities available outside your campsite. We used to camp at a KOA campground growing up and loved using their pool and playground! Where we've been camping with our kids there is a playground and also miles and miles of hiking trails! For keeping occupied at the actual campsite, like I said before, I don't pre-plan any big things (as tempting as it is sometimes!) We pack two small plastic bins. One has a board game, a couple card games, drawing pads, and a pencil case full of crayons and pens. The other bin the kids pack themselves with toys that can get dirty and can get wet. I usually ask them to pack from 3 categories; animals, trucks, and people. They just need to be toys that I can throw in the sink when we get home before they go back into the playroom. These trucks are our absolute favorite for camping (they also work well as cake decorations BTW 😉 ) because they're so fun to play with in the dirt and they wash up super easily. With less kids, it might work for each one to pack their own individual backpack, but in our family it works best to just pack one bin of toys. Less fighting and we don't end up with way too many things to keep track of!

These are 3 of our favorite games right now and they're camping friendly! Uno, Spot It (there are lots of different versions, but we have the original), and Let's Feed the Very Hungry Caterpillar (toddler friendly with some help!)

One thing you can absolutely never have too many of when camping with kids is glow sticks. Buy all the glow sticks. The dollar store has fun bracelets and necklaces. We put the little connectors on for the bigger kids to actually use them as intended, but leave the connectors off for little ones who like to put everything in their mouths, they're plenty happy with just the straight stick! If you're really lucky, your daddy might have an entire ammo can full of military grade 'chem lights' leftover from his Marine Corps days 😉 None of our kids are huge fans of the dark (I'm not either!), but glow sticks are a super fun way for everybody to feel more comfortable! They're also very helpful for keeping track of anybody who might wander off. Give them each a different color to make it even easier!

In the tent we have a few different bed situations. Sam and Kate (7 and 5) each have a sleeping bag, pillow, and extra fleece blanket. Henry (3) has what we call a 'nest' which is just a couple thicker blankets folded up to lay on top of and two blankets to cover him. Anna (1) has a pack-n-play, but prefers to share my sleeping bag. James and I both have sleeping bags and he has an inflatable sleeping pad under his. For ease of packing and keeping organized, I pack one "night night" bag with everybody's special blankies, stuffed animals (they may choose 2 to bring, otherwise the tent would be overrun!), pacifiers, and a battery powered white noise machine (we use white noise at home so this is a comfort measure, but even if we didn't I would consider it for camping, especially if its a busier campground and your kids have early-ish bedtimes, it can get noisy at campgrounds in the evenings!) If you happen to go camping in the absolute pouring rain, and you get some puddles and/or little rivers in your tent, your pack-n-play will be a great place to throw things that absolutely need to stay dry like books and your white noise machine (ask me how I know this 🙁) We bring a broom for the inside of the tent and a doormat for the outside of the tent to minimize dirt on pillows and blankets. Shoes stay on the mat outside when anybody goes into the tent during the day, but we bring them in overnight so they don't get damp or become a home to any little creatures. 

We haven't ever worried about trying for a nap in the tent since Sam was a baby. When we went camping then and didn't have any other kids, we put him down for a nap in the tent at the normal time and just did our own thing out by the fire while he slept. With lots of kids to worry about now, we just hope for carrier naps on a hike or cat naps on somebody's lap during a quiet moment. 

For clothing, diapers, and toiletries, utilize your car as sort of a "staging area" of sorts. We just got a new tent from James' parents, an early Christmas present, that has an attached screen room where I was able to set up all of our clothes and things, but without that, I use the trunk of the van. Added bonus of the trunk is that the door will shelter you from the rain (again, ask me how I know...) I prefer to pack just one bag of clothes for us (James packs his own bag because his clothes take up a lot more space!) When we go on other trips, like to the beach, everybody gets their own duffel bag of clothes because I unpack when we get there, but when we're dressing straight out of our bags, I pack just one. I roll everybody's clothes to save space. Pants, shirt, socks, and underwear in each roll. I do one outfit per day, 1 extra outfit, and then 1 outfit opposite whatever season we're camping in (so shorts and short sleeves when we camp in the fall) just in case. We normally wear pjs for 2 nights before getting new ones when we're at home, but if your kids like to keep their pjs on until after breakfast like mine, their pjs will get dirty so one pair per night is a good idea! I also pack 1 pair of either warmer or cooler pjs, just in case. 

I keep all of our diaper-related things together. In 1 diaper box I pack diapers (we don't use cloth when camping), wipes (bring extra!), plastic grocery bags, a cloth wet bag, and extra undies and pants for a new potty trainer. Keeping it in one box makes it easy to transport from tent to car, depending on where you end up needing to change diapers.

For toiletries, something small with handles is best in my opinion, since you'll be walking at least a little (but it could be quite a ways!) to and from the bathroom while also herding all of your kids (again, babywearing is your friend!!) We keep it really simple with toiletries. Unless it's pouring rain and everybody needs to be both warmed up and rinsed of allllllll of the mud before going into the tent for the night, we just clean everybody up with a washcloth at the sink and skip a full shower until we get home. I bring one bottle of body wash. Not really the time for a huge assortment of products. Toothbrushes and toothpaste of course and I never travel with kids without a thermometer and Motrin because you just never know! I do bring a hairbrush, but tightly braid Kate's hair before we leave the house. Unless it gets snagged on the tent's zippers (often does) her braids will last from Friday until Sunday.

We generally take many, many, many walks to and from the bathroom throughout the day, but do also bring a small travel potty for emergencies. We haven't had to use it yet, but I'm afraid to be caught without it if somebody wakes up desperate at 2 in the morning! Glow sticks come in handy again for those nighttime treks to the bathroom. I lead the way with an actual flashlight (and a baby on my back!) and have the kids line up behind me, youngest to oldest, so the oldest is bringing up the rear. I get really anxious hiking back to the bathroom (the campground we go to has trails through the woods to a bathroom in the center of the site loop) in the dark, but lining them up like this gives me peace of mind!

Obviously keep an eye on the weather beforehand so you can plan accordingly, but take this very important advice and pack a bunch of extra tarps, string, and stakes, plus some umbrellas anyway. You can survive a sopping wet camping trip and still want to go again if you have some tarps and umbrellas. Just keep reminding yourself that you're making memories and a really hot shower is waiting for you at home!

Above all else, just relax and have fun. Your kids are going to get spectacularly dirty. Somebody (everybody) will eat some dirt, on purpose or accidentally. You honestly might not get a whole lot of sleep (or maybe you will! be optimistic!), you probably won't be eating the healthiest meals you've ever had, there's going to be a lot of bugs, and it'll take a fair amount of work to organize, pack, and set everything up. But it is so worth it. So worth it! If you used to love camping before having kids, or maybe you've never camped before but it's something you and/or your kids have been interested in lately, I hope this post encourages you to give it a try!  I am of course happy to answer any other questions, so please feel free to send them my way! I may not have the answers, but I can at least tell you what has worked for us. Happy Camping!

August Bullet Journal Spreads!

I don't know about anybody else, but I swear July never even happened. How is it almost over? Honestly, our July wasn't great. We still managed to get plenty of fun in there, but there were a lot of bad days with illnesses, poison ivy, and car troubles. No wonder it went by in such a blur. Normally, it's my favorite month of the year, but right now I'm feeling ready for a fresh start (and also really excited about starting school again!) so bring on August!

I got to sit down when I had breaks in my day yesterday and today to do my bullet journal spreads for the upcoming month! It's been almost two years now that I've been 'bullet journaling' and I keep waiting for a month where I'm kinda over it and don't do my pages, but it hasn't happened yet! I look forward to and love the days at the end of one month when I sit down and get ready for the new month! I shared back in January what a bullet journal is and how I set mine up for the year. You can find that here. But today I just wanted to share what my pages for August ended up looking like! I've tweaked things here and there since I shared pictures last and I know lots of people are always curious to peek inside bullet journals, so here you go!

This is the first year I've done a habit tracker and I love it so much. Often by the end of the month I'm not great at keeping up with actually filling in the little square (sometimes I am, but there have been months that I'm not), but just knowing this list exists helps me stay on top of these things!

My cleaning schedule tracker is different now than it was in January. What I had been doing before just looked cluttered and wasn't helpful. This tracker (and the schedule itself!) is working great! Our budget page stays the same. It's just the best way I've found to 'Dave Ramsey' the way James gets paychecks.

Monthly menu and shopping list has stayed the same. I started the year though just using the shopping list page to write out the things I needed for the dinners I had written on the menu. I now put my whole list on this page, not just dinners, because it makes it easier to write out into an organized way in the smaller notebook I take grocery shopping.

Monthly calendar pages still the same. Love this layout, especially the spot for future planning since I don't always have the next month's pages done to jot down events as they come up. This works great for me.

2nd or 3rd incarnation of weekly spreads this year and I think I've finally found 'the one'. I like how simple it is and that the whole week is one page, but I have plenty of room to fill in each days' tasks.

And just some fun pages to show how I also keep other types of lists in here, as needed 🙂 I never make these kinds of pages very fancy, just a little doodle or two if I feel like it. I usually end up with 2 or 3 list or planning pages like this at the end of each month's group of pages. I like doing it this way, rather than keeping my lists grouped together elsewhere (or just in a different notebook entirely) because the lists usually pertain to the specific month they're following after. 

And that's all folks! This all took maybe an hour, at the very most and was split up into little chunks of time here and there over 2 days. It's so enjoyable for me to do it that it doesn't ever feel like a lot of work so I wouldn't even mind if it took longer!

Hope this satisfied your curiosity if bullet journals are something that you're into! Happy Almost August!