Must Have Monday

Any family of five has moutains of laundry each week!  Throw in 3 sports going on at one time and it can become quite overwhelming.  I have tried several methods - a load a day, 3 to 4 loads every few days, etc...  Since our laundry room is also the main entrance our family uses to the house (and the location of coats, shoes, bookbags, etc...), having laundry in there constantly drives me CRAZY because there is just not room.

So for me, it works best to do 24 hours of non-stop laundry to get it out of the way.  That is not to say that I don't do the occasional load in between; however, it's not that much and it doesn't sit in there taking up space.  So every Sunday night the laundry gets sorted... but NOT BY ME!  Because to make this work, my "must have" is three little laundry sorters.  And I start them just shy of 2 years old - as soon as they can identify the color white!

Now at 3 1/2, Owen can successfully sort darks, mediums, and whites with 85% acurracy!  He loves doing it!  We use to make it a game - laundry basketball - and he would stand on the bed and shoot the underwear into the approriate basket.  However, now he is just happy to do his part.  Makenna & Ella have been well-trained for years:)

Thanks to the delay cycle on my washer (brilliant!) I manage to get 7 to 8 loads washed and folded and put away by bedtime on Monday night.  Did I mention that my sorters also put away their own clothes too

Must Have Monday

....fresh flowers to brighten your kitchen.  My tulips are gone and it's too soon for my hydrandra... so these will have to do for now.  Sometimes it's the flowers that brighten your day and other times it's the delivery boy!

Must Have Monday... a day late

These seem to be handy for a southeast PA spring... especially when you have a boy that LOVES puddles.  Gotta love Target for the momma and boy styles!

We've been having a lot of the rainy and 50 days around these parts with the occasional beautiful day to give just a glimmer of hope.

Must Have Monday

Some afternoons I am just dragging.... and craving a fun drink from Starbucks!  However, since the closest one is 15 minutes away and those trips can get costly, I love making my own Iced Coffees at home.
You can get one of these shakers almost anywhere.  Mine came from Target and it has markings on the side for other "drink recipes" (although I would not  recommend those drinks at 2:00 in the afternoon!).

Fill about a third of the way with ice.  Then add creamer and/or milk.  I like about T. of french vanilla creamer just for a bit of sweetness and then a few more T. of skim milk.

Fill the rest of the way with your left over coffee from the morning.  Shake.

I like mine in this "Starbucks knock-off" cup that I found at BB&Beyond for $5.

Enjoy!  I promise it will get you through the afternoon.  Although for the next 5 Mondays I will be getting mine for FREE because I got this sweet Dunkin Donuts coupon in the mail!

Are there any "friendly skies" left?

Flying with young children is anxiety filled to say the least.  We have certainly logged our share of frequent flyer miles with having family around the country.  Despite being veterans, it seems that the airlines continue to make it increasingly challenging ... and well frankly anti-family.

There are many "must-haves" for air travel with children (i.e. the portable DVD player with charged batteries!); however, these days it may be that the airline you choose could make the most impact in your decision.

Rather than waste time telling you all the annoying rules, fees and attitudes of other airlines... I will simply say that our family are fans of Southwest Airlines.  Can we say TWO snacks, unlimited drinks, bags fly free, coloring books, happy flight attendants that sing, and early boarding for families with small children so you can actually sit TOGETHER (now there is a novel idea, ahem... are you listening USAir???)! 

But best of all they still give out these pilot wings to little boys:)

So excited that they now fly to Minnesota:)

Cutting a Pineapple

I absolutely love my Pampered Chef pineapple cutter!  It seemed like a frivolous purchase... I mean how many times do you buy a pineapple.  But, I am so glad I have it now.  So easy to use.  And a local produce stand has pineapples for $2! Wahoo.

Slice off the top and base

Place the cutter on top with the inner circle aligned with the pineapple core.  Push down by pressing on the side handles in a rocking motion (similar to an apple cutter).

The slicer cuts off the rind, cores the pineapple and leaves two halves.

So Good!!