Sweet Potato Vegetarian Burrito

A weekly staple in our house is burrito night. It's a quick, healthy dinner that takes hardly any time to prepare and most likely everything is in your fridge or cabinet. Normally we have black bean burritos sometimes with rice or a side salad. I wanted to switch it up this week and decided to add a sweet potato. It was delicious!
Cook the sweet potato in a skillet until slightly soft, add onions and cook until translucent. Finally add corn and black beans. Serve in a whole wheat tortilla wrap with shredded lettuce. Enjoy!

Routine

 Pull out the Scrabble board and play with your child.

Teachable moments are all around us.

Children's Chore Chart

I was tired of constantly asking my children if they combed their hair, brushed their teeth or went to the bathroom before we headed out for school every morning. I felt like such a nag! Things needed to change. The boys are eight and ten years old, old enough to be a bit more responsible.

So I made a chart of all the things that they need to accomplish before school, I had it laminated at Staples and it lives on our fridge where everyone can see it and has access to it. I have also given them the choice to choose when they would like to have their 30 minutes of computer/video game "screen time", in the morning or evening. The catch is, if they don't check off their chart each morning they will then lose the much coveted screen time.

Our mornings have completed shifted and changed, and are a lot less stressful for me. Now the only words that come out of my mouth that fall in the "nag" category are "Have you checked your chart?" and I say it only once to both of my boys. That's it. When I check the chart if it's not filled in for the day the screen time box gets a big X. This was the motivating factor for my kids to complete the chart.

The new system has worked beautifully! I highly recommend that you try it for your family if your children are old enough to follow directions and do everything on their chart by themselves. The boys actually enjoy checking things off and they get really proud of themselves when they do it without me having to remind them to "check the chart".

Routine

It's a hard life my dogs live!

Routine

Don't focus on what is behind you...the future awaits.

Bobby's Burger Palace

We don't have a lot of options close by for eating out. There are two restaurants in our immediate neighborhood, which as you can imagine it's easy to get bored of them. Normally if we want something quick and easy we head to Hyattsville to enjoy Busboy and Poets or Franklins. But now College Park is popping up new restaurants and I can't resist sweet potato fries! If you need an inexpensive high-end burger check out Bobby's Burger Palace on Route 1 in College Park.

Fun Found Money!

Whenever we find coins on the ground, in the parking lot of the grocery store or while walking the dogs we collect the coins in a large jar in our house. Once it reaches a certain height we put the coins in the coin machine in our bank and use the money for something FUN. An ice cream treat on a random Wednesday, movie tickets, admission to a jump house (If you know my wife then you know that moon bounces are more fun for her than the kids!).

Place an empty jar somewhere in your house that everyone can have access to and every time you randomly discover money on the ground collect it in the jar, see how fast it accumulates. Choose an activity for the entire family to enjoy together. Every person who lost that dime or nickel will be glad that you used it to connect with your family.

Routine

When I need a reminder to share my vulnerability, I pick up this book.

The Wonders of Nature

Take your child outside and go on a bug hunt. Get up close and personal with the bugs living in your backyard. When you get home ask your child to write a story with the bug being the main character or draw a picture of how you think the bug lives. Does she live with her siblings? Does she have to share a room? Does she go to a bug playground? Nature can naturally spark our children's imaginations, sometimes we just have to encourage it.

Fabric Bookmarks

Teacher Appreciation Week will be here before you know it. If you are a sewer and you need to whip out several gifts in a short amount of time, quilted bookmarks are your answer! Sew several strips of fabric together and then cut into 1.5 inch wide by 6 inches long bookmarks. If you choose a heavier fabric as the backing you won't have to worry about any interfacing. Sew the two fabrics together, right sides facing each other and leaving an open end to turn the fabric inside out. Stitch around the whole bookmark and add a loop of ribbon to the top to finish it off.

This is a great project to use up any fabric that you have in your stash!
 

Routine

Breathe.

Just breathe.

To-go Lunch for Busy Moms

Often times as moms, we lose sight of our own nutrition. We are so busy making sure that our children eat a balanced, nutritional lunch and meanwhile we are filling up on bits of leftover food on our children's plates. Grabbing granola or energy bars and calling that a meal.

Lunch on the road doesn't have to be drive-thru, fast food. It also doesn't have to take a ton of time, time which I know as a mom you don't have a lot of. Here is a simple lunch on the road. 

Berry yogurt smoothie, strawberries and microwavable edamame. Try making one healthy lunch on the road this week, change begins in making small steps towards a healthier life.

Penny Science Experiment

During the summer I like to have the boys try science experiments and other fun projects that keep them writing, reading and in the mindset of learning. This project is a lot of fun for the older elementary kids and doesn't take a lot of hands-on time for the parent. I prepped the supplies and then allowed my ten year old son, Logan, to measure, pour and read the directions on his own. Logan enjoyed the experiment and afterwards wanted to find other metal objects to clean!

Have the sterling silver polishing cloth ready- parents!

Penny Experiement:

Fill the 3 cups as follows:

• fill the 1st with plain water & add 10 pennies

• fill the 2nd with water + dish soap & add 10 pennies

• fill the 3rd with 1/2 cup vinegar + 2 teaspoons salt & add 10 pennies

Write which cup you think will get the pennies clean.

Leave the pennies in their cups for 5 minutes. Remove the pennies from the cups and place them on a napkin (without rinsing or drying them). Let the pennies sit for an additional 5 minutes.

What do you think is going to happen?

Write down your observation.

Rinse the pennies that were in the salt & vinegar cup with water. What happened? 

Routine

Don't postpone JOY!

Cheap Bubble Wands

We love being members of the Maryland Science Museum in Baltimore, MD. During a recent trip the boys enjoyed the bubble station outside that is free for anyone walking by. We talked with the man working the station and he told us how he made these fantastic bubble wands with a laundry basket purchased at the dollar store! On our way home we made a quick stop to the Dollar Tree and within minutes we were enjoying bubbles in our front yard. Each laundry basket made six wands. For your child's next birthday party make these bubble wands for the kids, it will be a huge hit!