Keeping our family active with Fitbit

One of our goals this year is to be more active and healthy as a family.   Matt and I have both been using a Fitbit for the better part of the last year, and M has been asking for one relentlessly.     

Last week we decided to go ahead and get her one on the following conditions:

1. She commits to wearing it daily- if it does not get used we will give it to someone who will use it.
2. She joins weekly challenges with us so that we can monitor her activity.

Although there are definitely less expensive pedometers on the market for a kid, we decided that a Fitbit flex would be perfect for her because it goes around her wrist like a watch and would be harder to lose than a pedometer that you clip on to your belt- I predict that one of those would end up in a pile of laundry and into the washer really quickly. In addition, it would allow her to join the weekly challenges that her dad and I already do.  We are hoping that her competitive side will come out and she will want to crush her step goal each day so that she can beat us and gain bragging rights.  We were able to get a opened box Fitbit flex off of Ebay for around $40 that functions just as a new one would, so the cost was similar to other less expensive activity bands on the market.

Our plan:

    1. Set an obtainable starting goal so that she does not get discouraged if she does not immediately start meeting her daily goal.   We decided that 5,000 steps is a good starting point, and we will gradually start upping the goal until she is at the recommended 10,000 steps per day.

    2.    Motivate her to get moving.   During the weekend, and once homework is done after school it is time to move.  We will encourage her with family walks, playing outside,       dance class, walking the dog, active video games like Just Dance or Wii Fit,  and a little gentle encouragement if we see that she has not been racking up steps each day.  

    3.  Get other family members involved so that she has even more motivation.

    4.  Make sure that we keep moving so that we set a good example for her and PB. There have been far too many weekends in the past where we sit around and watch Netflix all weekend- this can’t be the norm anymore. 

2016 Resolutions

I am a month late on posting my resolutions for the new year, but each of these goals are very important to me. I will post about them periodically, and with any luck maybe I will actually meet all of them by the end of 2016....

2016 resolutions:

1. Eat cleaner and focus on the health of me and my family (since this summer, Matt and I have lost over 90 lbs combined- hoping to keep it up)

2. Be more active, and get active as a family. Make time for it even on busy days.

3. Commit to more date nights with my husband- we only had two last year and both want to make it more of a priority this year. We have a great marriage but it is time to strengthen it even more.

4. Finish all of the un-finished projects around the house.

5. Waste less food

6. Keep my house more clean and organized. I failed miserably at that last year, and thought it was hard with a newborn- now I have a toddler who lives to make a mess- so this should get interesting.

Messy fun with an easy clean-up

What do you do when your kiddos are bored before bedtime, and can’t seem to find anything fun to do?   Let them make a mess!

Last Sunday night, I thought it would be fun to let the girls finger paint because M loves arts and crafts, and Peanut just likes to make a mess.  I covered the kitchen table in Glad Press’ n Seal Wrap, grabbed a few paper plates and some non-toxic washable paint and let the girls go nuts.  I let peanut paint in her diaper because I knew that she would have paint flying everywhere within seconds,and promptly put her in the tub to wash her off when she was done- heck she needed a bath anyway.

Clean up was pretty much the easiest thing ever.  I simply threw out the paper plates with the leftover paint, and peeled the Press' n Seal wrap off of the table.  I didn’t even have to wipe down the table afterwards.  I call that a parenting win!

Weekend Fun

I love my job, but I live for the weekends and the time with my family. We had such a wonderful weekend full of family fun!  Friday night we had a bingo night fundraiser event at M’s school.  Even though our table could not manage to get a bingo to save our lives- It was great watching M run around with all of her friends. Saturday we went out to dinner with a big group of friends and their kids.  7 adults, one pre-teen and 6 babies under 18 months- it was quite a handful and we were quite the spectacle, but we had so much fun. The babies really seemed to enjoy eating dinner together, Peanut ate like a champ when she usually is a pretty light eater. She also enjoyed sharing with her friends.  Sunday was hubby’s 33rd birthday.  We took advantage of the sunshine and the snow on the ground by taking the girls sledding.  It was still pretty nice out so I was able to grill our steaks for dinner outside on our gas grill- it made me long for spring even though I know that living in Northeast Ohio means that winter will drag on for several more months. After dinner we celebrated the end of a wonderful day with hubby’s favorite type of birthday cake.   Today it is back to the grind- why does it always seem like the weekends go by way too quickly? 

Why I don't routinely coupon

I was never an extreme couponer, but I did love using them to make my monthly grocery budget go further.   Over the past several years though, I have dramatically reduced the number of coupons that I use because couponing was not giving me the quality of food that I wanted to feed my family.

Over the years I have done many diets to help improve my health, but the one that has helped the most was a ketogenic diet- meaning I largely eat a diet that is high in protein, high in good fats (like avocado) and low in carbohydrates.  I try as much as possible to influence my families diet in the same way. A while back I learned that as a general rule of thumb, you want to shop for healthy food around the perimeter of the store to avoid all of the processed junk that is found in the isles. I find that holds true in most cases.  I have found that coupons tend to be mostly for processed food in those center aisles, or items that I just don’t need or can buy cheaper with generics.

That being said- I will occasionally still look out for awesome deals.   Last year I was able to stack Arm and Hammer laundry detergent coupons with a buy 1 get 2 free deal at Rite Aid so I ordered a bunch of coupons from a coupon clipper- I know that the initial bottle was horribly overpriced but I was still able to accumulate a several year supply of laundry detergent for under $40 with that deal and with as often as I did laundry after PB was born, it was well worth it!

My best advice is- If you don’t need it, don’t buy it just because you have a coupon for it.  All that ever did for me was clutter up my pantry with items that my family might not have ever eaten.

I love shopping sales, Aldi, Trader Joe’s and buying in bulk as alternatives to coupons.  I hope to share some of my non-coupon shopping wins soon. 

DIY Patio Funiture Makeover

Last spring I decided to add a little bit of color to my boring deck.  I had been itching to buy new patio furniture,  but did not want to spend hundreds of dollars on a set.   I found a tall wrought iron bistro set on a local buy sell trade site for $50 and with a little bit of spray paint and a new patio umbrella, it gave my deck just the splash of color I was looking for. The entire project only took a few hours and cost $110. One of these days I would love to customize some cushions for the chairs- but that will have to wait for another day.   

This spring I have big plans to FINALLY finish repainting and staining the deck to make the old worn wood look like new again.  This has been a project that has been on my to-do list for the last two years, so once the spring weather arrives I have to make it happen! 

Easy DIY Baby Wipes

Diapers are expensive, wipes are expensive, babies are expensive! 

I started venturing into DIY cloth wipes when baby PB had a nasty diaper rash. I figured homemade wipes may be more gentle than the store bought sensitive wipes.  I've been making them ever since because they are so cheap and easy, and most importantly easy on PB’s skin.

Recipe:

It is important to boil tap water or use distilled water to prevent molding.  I advise using boiled tap water because you will need to warm up the distilled water anyway to mix the ingredients- and it costs much less.

4 cups of boiled water

1 tbs of coconut oil

1 tsp of baby wash

4 drops of tea tree oil

8 drops of lavender essential oil (optional but makes the wipes smell great)

1 roll of paper towels cut in half

2 storage containers (large left over formula tubs work great for this)

I mix everything with a whisk  while the boiled water is still warm. Cut the roll of paper towels in half using a sharp knife- this is honestly the hardest part of the entire process. I tend to leave the wrapping on the roll until it is cut in half to avoid contamination.    Once the roll is cut in half, place one half roll into each storage container and pour enough of the mixture into each container to saturate the paper towels. Once the paper towels have absorbed all of the liquid, you should easily be able to pull the paper towel roll out from the center of the wipes- this will also give you a good central location to pull out your wipes.  

I use Sam’s Club Members Mark paper towels because they are good quality, inexpensive and make durable wipes.  Depending on the type you use you may need to add more or less water to your recipe.

Venturing into cloth diapering- the easy and inexpensive way!

At the beginning of my pregnancy, I swore I would cloth diaper baby PB because I knew it would save a lot of money. After she was born when we tried a few Charlie Banana pocket diapers during her first few weeks and I was not impressed because it seemed like a lot of work and I worried about the upfront cost of the diapers since 6 diapers with only one insert each could easily run $120- I figured that would last about an hour with a newborn. I gave up quickly, deciding that I did not have time for cloth diapering and that I would find ways to save money on disposables.

Thankfully a friend showed me a method of cloth diapering that was much easier than pocket diapers or all in ones.  She used a combination of waterproof diaper covers, and prefold cloth diapers.

When you use this system, cleaning diapers is so easy.  If baby PB just pees, I simply change out the prefold and re-use the same cloth diaper cover.  If PB poops,  I can still reuse the cover as long as the poop is only on the prefold- otherwise I have to wash both.   I don’t do anything to rinse pee diapers, I just put them in a wet bag in a tightly sealed trash can, poopy diapers get rinsed in the toilet  before going in the wet bag unless the poop is solid enough that it just falls off of the prefold. 

I tend to wash covers and prefolds ~3 times/week using about half of the laundry detergent that I would use on a normal load.  I always wash with hot water,  and sometimes they require an extra rinse- but most of the time the initial cycle is just fine.  I only keep the cloth diaper covers and the wetbag in the dryer for ~10-15 minutes, anything longer can damage the elastic on the diaper covers.  Prefolds will stay in the dryer until I have another load of laundry to combine them with since they take quite a bit longer to dry and I don’t want to waste a 70 minute dry cycle on such a small load of laundry. Finding another load of laundry to wash around here is never a problem!   I also hang the diapers and prefolds on a clothesline when the weather is cooperating.  The sun is great for bleaching out stains.  

Types we own and love:

Kawaii Baby (snap and velcro)- very inexpensive and great quality. Snaps are great and durable but the velcro is quick and easy like a disposable.

Buttons: I only own one of these since they are a bit more expensive, but the quality and fit is great. We have an adorable little farm design.

Diaper Rite: These are the best quality covers I have found for the price, the only problem is they are frequently out of stock.

Thirsties:  these are great quality! We own several newborn size and will probably be buying some one size fits all.

Welcome!

Welcome to my attempt to share all of the fun family activities, craft projects, money saving ideas, and DIY projects that I come up with.   I am a mommy to two crazy kiddos and a puppy.  My 1 year old daughter (nicknamed peanut-butter)  is already a dare-devil. My 9 year old step-daughter (also known as Monkey) is sassy and incredibly smart.  Because having young children is not hectic enough, a few months ago we also adopted a border collie mix puppy named Odin.  My girls keep me on my toes, and I love to try to come up with new fun, interesting and educational things for them to do.