My first Halloween as a Mama

I can't believe that my first Halloween as a Mama was 8 years ago today!!! Time really flies when you're having lots of fun and wiping more bottoms than you can count. On their first Halloween, the triplets wore cute borrowed costumes from another family of triplets. Our D was a "Dellaphant" and had the PERFECT big cheeks! We wanted to kiss those cheeks all night long! Our boy was a dinosaur. I am reminded this morning just how loud his ROAR can be! Our Tiny girl was a ladybug, which is so fitting for her fun personality. We went to a Halloween party at their friend, C's, house. The triplets were so exhausted when they came home that they literally fell asleep sitting up in their high chairs!



On their second Halloween, I wanted to be creative and choose costumes for our triplets. Not everyone has triplets! We decided they would be the three blind mice. I searched ebay until I had three mouse costumes!! Let me just say that they were about the cutest thing I've ever seen!!!




On their third Halloween, our sweet two year olds were the three little pigs and their new baby sister was the ladybug! Those 3 little pigs were so cute and carried their sticks, straw, and bricks all night long!




It makes me sad that these years have flown by so quickly, but we are thankful for many happy Halloweens and are excited about another fun one TONIGHT!!! Happy Halloween, everyone!!! We have lots to prepare for our Velveteen Rabbit characters: the sick little boy, the nanny, the Velveteen rabbit, the fairy, and the doctor!

Party Favor Ideas

I tell you what, we women have really raised the bar on ourselves. Each passing year we expect more and more of ourselves. A backyard birthday party with sack races isn't good enough any more. People literally hire PARTY PLANNERS for children's birthday parties. When I was little, which was longer ago than I'd like to admit, we went to a party at SKATE RANCH or SKATE TOWN or to someone's home. If the party was at someone's home, it might be a BACKWARDS birthday party or we'd play fun games or we'd dress up and put on make up. My mother would sometimes hire a neighborhood teenager to help. I could invite all of my classmates and friends and we had a great time. Friends brought small gifts to honor the birthday boy or girl. We weren't given the equivalent of a $15-25 gift that is today's standard. Mamas made the cake or if they couldn't cook, they might ask a friend or neighbor. There were no party planners. No tents. No rented tablecloths, tables and chairs. And...... drumroll, please..... THERE WERE NO PARTY FAVORS!!!!! That's right. No party favors.

Today we have raised the bar and you just can't have a birthday party without party favors. Oriental Trading is excited because their plastic junk is selling like crazy!! Parents are desperate for a party favor, so they turn to the catalog and buy a slew of cheap, plastic toys that will break tomorrow and then fill small goodie bags with them. "Thank you for coming to my party" is no longer acceptable. We must lavish gifts on our guests. I am one of the guiltiest of all. I admit it. My name is Mama Henley and I give party favors. However, I try to think of something that is useful and won't break before our guests even make it home. I thought I'd share some ideas with you. What do you like to give for party favors?

-CDs recorded with fun children's music. My friend, B, gave me this idea originally and we used to make CDs together after that. The CDs became family favorites of many of our friends. The idea spread and now others like to make them too. When we had K's ice cream party, I bought some fun new ice cream songs from I Tunes. I try to make the music fit the theme of the party and I always put some fun children's praise songs in there too.

-$2 gift certificate to Baskin Robbins. They have great ice cream!

-free ice cream or french fries from McDonald's. They usually sell packs in the winter and I save them for birthday parties or a cute gift to friends at school

-homemade playdough

-a book from the Scholastic book orders. You help your child's class and can get some bargain books. Each month they have one that is just $1

-in lieu of party favors, make a donation to a charity that helps children and give each child a note detailing how a gift was made to help other children in their honor. My friend, MD, gave to Desire Street Ministry after Hurricane Katrina for her daughter's birthday. Each guest brought home a "helping hand" with a note thanking them for coming to the party and letting them know a gift was given to help children in the 9th ward in their honor.

-a little bag of fun pencils, erasers, or pens is always fun. What child doesn't LOVE school supplies?

If you're expecting a baby over the holidays....

Our precious angel #5 was due on Christmas Day. While TTC (trying to conceive) in the very very beginning, I had thoughts like, "We certainly don't want a baby due in Nov. or Dec.!" Well, those days of TTC turned into months and those months turned into years. My longing for a baby was so strong that I did not care when my due date was, as long as I could get pregnant and have a baby!! Our triplets were born on Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter. What a gift of life! Baby #4 arrived in the heat of summer on July 28th. I'm not sure a summer due date is desired in the South! We laughed and were thrilled to learn that baby #5 was due on Christmas Day. My attitude had changed from not wanting a Nov. or Dec. baby to seeing how truly special it is to have a newborn around the time of Jesus' birth. It certainly puts everything in perspective and makes you truly realize what Christmas is all about: Our Savior's birth.

Along with all of that joy is a little bit of panic. "How will we have Christmas? What if I am not at home with our other children on Christmas morning? How will I prepare? Oh. My. Goodness. We are having a Christmas baby! What do we do!???!!!"

As an organizer by nature, there are some things that helped make Christmas 2006 our most relaxed and enjoyable ever. It was a very sweet Christmas, and one where I was not stressed or hurried or caught up in the wrong things. If you're expecting a baby in November, December, or January, here are some ideas that might help you!

-Shop NOW if you haven't started already. Go ahead and buy everyone's Christmas gifts and then WRAP them. Yes, you need to go ahead and wrap them.

-If having a baby is changing your family's 2 income status, buy less expensive gifts and fewer ones if possible. This is not the Christmas to impress everyone with your buying power. I may be wrong, but I think our family members really like the wonderful calendars I make on our Mac. They are filled with pictures taken throughout the year plus all of the special dates for birthdays, anniversaries, and other occasions to be remembered.

-If this is not your first baby, buy something small for the baby to "give" your older children when they come to the hospital to meet the new baby. Again, expense is not necessary. Baby #5 gave each of her older siblings a new can of playdough. They were thrilled and I spent all of $2.

-Charge your cameras now. Buy new batteries. If your camera is old, ask for an early Christmas present.

-Have Christmas cards printed now, as I mentioned in a previous post. Baby needs his or her own birth announcement. Waiting to send Christmas cards puts more pressure on you. If you are making a combo announcement/Christmas card, then you will be anxious about getting them out quickly. If you have already sent Christmas cards, your birth announcement can follow whenever you are ready to do it with no pressure on timing.

-Make gifts for neighbors, teachers, and friends in early November and go ahead and deliver them. Tell them you are thankful for them, and thus, their gift is arriving in November.

-Give to a favorite charity in lieu of gifts. We gave to the American Cancer Society in honor of all of our friends the year my father in law had cancer and died 1 week before Christmas. I sent postcards to all of our friends acknowledging what we had done in their honor.

-Buy your children's gifts now and don't worry about last minute changes on what they really want. They will love whatever you give them!

-If anyone needs new clothes for Christmas parties, etc., buy them now. Make sure everyone has shoes that fit.

-Buy your Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving and go ahead and decorate it.

-Decorate with minimal decorations so that you are not having to take down a lot of stuff with a newborn and a tired body!!

-With our move last year, we just used our Christmas cards as our ornaments!

-Buy some white cardstock and a pad of ink for baby's first hand and foot prints in the hospital.

-Make a list of who to call/email when baby is born.

-If you have older children at home, sit down and write out your weekly schedule. Make a "this happens every week copy". Then, go ahead and write out your schedule for the 2-3 weeks leading up to your due date. I did this and not only did it help those who had to take over when I went to the hospital, but it kept me on track leading up to baby's birthday! Include things on the schedule such as "make lunches before you go to bed and put them in the refrigerator overnight" or "Make sure children have their folder in their backpack before they go to bed" to help caretakers as much as possible.

-Keep up with your laundry.

-Sit back and relax and enjoy Christmas because you have prepared so well!! And... you have a NEWBORN blessing!!!

Tuesday's Tip

Do you hate those awful red stains on your tupperware? Spaghetti and chili can leave red stains on plastic. Other foods leave stains too. It is best to use glass or BPA free plastic for storing your leftovers. If you use plastic, there is a trick to keeping it clean! My friend, B, sprays Pam in her containers before adding the food. It helps cut down on food stains! What is your Tuesday's Tip?

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Tonight our son said he might like to work at Disney when he's a teenager. We told him that was a great idea and maybe he could spend a summer working at the park. I asked him what he'd like to do, and he said, "Maybe help people or run the rides or be a character or something like that."
One of his sisters said, "Yeah! And you can give us free tickets and stuff."
Big brother replied, "I'll have to learn the rules, K. I can't just give away stuff to my family!! You just can't give it all away."
I love his honesty and hope he never changes!

Cooking on the Cheap

I love to cook. It's easy for meals to become more expensive than eating out if you are buying premium ingredients, good meat, and fresh produce. As much as I enjoy cooking, I love a challenge and I love to challenge myself. This works in all areas except for exercise! When the triplets were new babies, and then when we had a fourth baby two years later, I found myself throwing away food that had rotted before I prepared it. I had grand intentions, but you know what they say about good intentions! I would plan meals for our family, buy the ingredients, and then not have the time or energy to prepare the food. When you are overwhelmed, something has to give. Now I am taking over that area of my life and cooking dinner almost every night. I have been doing this for at least 9 months and it feels good. I cooked more than many of my friends in the past, but now I am cooking a lot more. Lately I have been challenging myself to make our food stretch. It's okay to eat leftovers.

On Sunday night, I cooked spaghetti. The meat was on sale for $1.99 a pound, so I bought more than one package and freezed some. When I make spaghetti, I cook the ground beef and an onion. Then I add a store bought sauce like Ragu traditional or whatever I found on sale. I also add parsley flakes, basil, Italian seasoning, and any other spice that strikes my fancy. I let it simmer and then serve it over angel hair pasta. This is one of the meals almost all of the children enjoy. Sunday night I added 2 bottles of sauce. Sometimes I just use plain tomato sauce and spice it up with spices. Alas, the more sauce you add, the more your spaghetti sauce will stretch. We had a lot leftover, so I put it in a container in the refrigerator. I took our leftover noodles and placed them in a ziploc bag. The next night we had a fabulous dinner at a friend's house. So, last night I made baked spaghetti. It was the easiest dinner ever! I took the noodles and mixed them with one egg to coat the noodles. This way they don't stick together and make a nice bottom to your casserole. I covered the noodles with the sauce. The sauce was even better after sitting in the refrigerator for 2 days. I topped the sauce with shredded cheddar cheese. Then, I baked the casserole at 350*F for about 20-30 minutes until the cheese melted and it was warm. We had a delicious, economical dinner for a second night on less than $3 of meat, $2 of sauce (it had been buy 1, get one free), and $1 of noodles! I was so proud of our bargain dinner. How do you make meals stretch?

The picture says it all

I asked the children to decorate their own lunch bags since we needed disposable ones today. I peeked in the refrigerator to make sure every bag had what it needed. I found this:



A little self-confidence never hurt anyone, right? I love it!