Monday, July 27, 2015
Friends forever
Second Half Marathon
Here's to more in the future!
Friday, July 3, 2015
Emily
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Dogs
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Saturday, June 20, 2015
How to: take a roadtrip with four children (without another adult to help!)
Some people have called me crazy for taking a 2 to 3 week roadtrip with the girls while Matt stayed home and worked. Yeah...it's pretty crazy. But I've done it two years now and will probably do it every year we live away from family. Here's what I've learned so far:
1. Travel light
Last year I packed way too much stuff. I brought my big double jogger, two huge bags, extra blankets and sleeping bags, etc. This year I slimmed our stuff way down. I brought our umbrella stroller and ring sling in case we needed to walk somewhere. Each child brought one blanket, one pillow, one stuffed animal. There was a bag of toys and a bag of reading/coloring materials. All the girls shared one big piece of luggage and I brought a small suitcase (carry-on size) for my own things. When it is just you and the children, the LAST thing you need to be doing is carting around a whole bunch of stuff! You don't have time to be searching through the car for the specific shirt that matches those pants, or running through a relative's house trying to find your 7th pillow. Not worth it. Travel light-- each person takes four outfits (plus the one they are wearing), a set of pjs, swimsuit, and Sunday outfit (if needed). The exception to this rule is babies. Bring as many outfits as you think you'll need.
2. Plan your travel
Do not, I repeat, do NOT just "wing it". Have a plan. Know where you're going to sleep each night, how far you will be driving each day, what your food plan is, etc. Even if you stay in the same place for a week, know what you'll be doing each day. Sometimes the most helpful thing is to have some kind of plan for each day so that everyone involved is on the same page. And you don't need to be wandering around a city at 10 pm with tired, screaming children looking for a hotel or worse, knowing you have another hour or two before you reach the next city because you didn't plan when you were going to leave or how far you were going to drive.
3. Convenience, convenience, convenience!
There are some ways that you need to make everything convenient for you. For example, whenever we drove somewhere I always kept everyone's flip flops underneath the back bench in the van. Shoes went in the luggage and into hotels/homes, but flip flops were our easy access shoe for pit stops. Likewise, I kept extra diapers and two extra Lydia outfits in my bag up front. That way when (not if!) she ruined her outfit, I could just change her without having to take everything out of the back to find her suitcase and rifle through it to find a diaper and new outfit. I already had one at hand.
4. Have a food plan
Most likely you're on a budget like us and going to a restaurant for each meal while traveling is neither feasible nor pleasant (especially if you're the only parent!) What works for us is to have a smallish cooler with sandwich stuff, yogurt, cheesesticks, almond milk, cream cheese, etc., and to have another big bag full of bread, bagels, chips, crackers, sunflower seeds, fruit snacks, granola bars, applesauce, fruits and veggies, nuts, plastic silverware, papertowels and some extra plastic bags. Everything needs to be packaged separately! It doesn't matter if you buy it that way or put it in small baggies-- you need to be able to throw the individually bagged food back to your child without stopping. Because if you stopped every time a child was hungry, you wouldn't even make it out of the neighborhood. Also, each child gets a water bottle of their very own. With their name on it. Most importantly-- don't underestimate the importance of papertowels, utensils and extra plastic bags!! These are super important. Papertowels clean messes and faces and double as plates. Bags can be trash bags or crumb protection. You can wash the plastic utensils and use them again, instead of spreading the mayo with your finger. Or the foil applesauce lid.
5. Be flexible
There may reach a moment where everyone is screaming or crying and you feel like driving your car off the road into a river. Don't do that! Just remember, you can spare 30 minutes to play at a nearby park, rest stop or fast food play place. Unless you are truly in a hurry, it isn't worth it to push your schedule so much that everyone is miserable.
6. Vary your entertainment
Last year I simply depended on toys and movies. After two weeks the children were so tired of those toys and movies that they ended up just fighting each other. This year we added coloring and writing materials, chapter books, notebooks, and a brand new thing-- books on tape. The books on tape were a HUGE success. We all loved listening to them, everyone was quiet and it was a perfect activity for when they were tired of toys and movies. I deliberately picked books they'd never read before and it definitely held their interest longer. Most days they would ask if we could listen to the book before they would ask about a movie. WIN!
7. Switch up the seating
I have a seating that works for us in our van. But when I'm flying solo with the children, I allow them to move around their seats. I should note that it isn't a free for all-- we have a schedule that makes sure everyone gets a fair turn. This helped stop a lot of arguments from being next to your "seat partner" for too long. Plus it was really helpful to have Em or Nan sitting next to Lydia because they could help her when I couldn't. Note: Lydia never switched seats because then I couldn't reach her.
8. Keep a basic routine
There were definitely nights where the kids didn't get to sleep at a decent hour, which is to be expected on any major trip involving family and friends. But as a general routine, we kept our daily schedule and chores. They still got up at a normal time, made their beds, brushed teeth, brushed hair and helped throughout the day and we still went to bed fairly normally, read scriptures, listened to the same music, etc., at night. Keeping our routine in this way helped when everything else was chaos.
9. Be nice to yourself
Sure, you may want to try and drive 12 hours a day, or stay up half the night talking to friends and family. Don't do it. As the only parent, you have to be on the ball. Do what it takes to keep your sanity. If that means that you eat out every meal so you don't have to think about preparing every little person's sandwich, do it. If it means you only drive 5 hours a day, that's okay. If it means you tell your family "sorry, I can't take the kids out to dinner tonight because we all need to get to bed earlier", that's okay! You have to take care of yourself, because you are all your children have at that moment. Maybe it means you won't get to see everyone or stay at everyone's house for a night, or drive to so-and-so's little town for an afternoon visit. Make those decisions about what is going to work and what isn't.
If you are planning a big trip with your children by yourself, know that it can be done! It takes a lot of planning (and even more patience)! However I have learned that these basic traveling principles go a long way and that these trips form great memories. And it gets easier as the kids get older.
1. Travel light
Last year I packed way too much stuff. I brought my big double jogger, two huge bags, extra blankets and sleeping bags, etc. This year I slimmed our stuff way down. I brought our umbrella stroller and ring sling in case we needed to walk somewhere. Each child brought one blanket, one pillow, one stuffed animal. There was a bag of toys and a bag of reading/coloring materials. All the girls shared one big piece of luggage and I brought a small suitcase (carry-on size) for my own things. When it is just you and the children, the LAST thing you need to be doing is carting around a whole bunch of stuff! You don't have time to be searching through the car for the specific shirt that matches those pants, or running through a relative's house trying to find your 7th pillow. Not worth it. Travel light-- each person takes four outfits (plus the one they are wearing), a set of pjs, swimsuit, and Sunday outfit (if needed). The exception to this rule is babies. Bring as many outfits as you think you'll need.
2. Plan your travel
Do not, I repeat, do NOT just "wing it". Have a plan. Know where you're going to sleep each night, how far you will be driving each day, what your food plan is, etc. Even if you stay in the same place for a week, know what you'll be doing each day. Sometimes the most helpful thing is to have some kind of plan for each day so that everyone involved is on the same page. And you don't need to be wandering around a city at 10 pm with tired, screaming children looking for a hotel or worse, knowing you have another hour or two before you reach the next city because you didn't plan when you were going to leave or how far you were going to drive.
3. Convenience, convenience, convenience!
There are some ways that you need to make everything convenient for you. For example, whenever we drove somewhere I always kept everyone's flip flops underneath the back bench in the van. Shoes went in the luggage and into hotels/homes, but flip flops were our easy access shoe for pit stops. Likewise, I kept extra diapers and two extra Lydia outfits in my bag up front. That way when (not if!) she ruined her outfit, I could just change her without having to take everything out of the back to find her suitcase and rifle through it to find a diaper and new outfit. I already had one at hand.
4. Have a food plan
Most likely you're on a budget like us and going to a restaurant for each meal while traveling is neither feasible nor pleasant (especially if you're the only parent!) What works for us is to have a smallish cooler with sandwich stuff, yogurt, cheesesticks, almond milk, cream cheese, etc., and to have another big bag full of bread, bagels, chips, crackers, sunflower seeds, fruit snacks, granola bars, applesauce, fruits and veggies, nuts, plastic silverware, papertowels and some extra plastic bags. Everything needs to be packaged separately! It doesn't matter if you buy it that way or put it in small baggies-- you need to be able to throw the individually bagged food back to your child without stopping. Because if you stopped every time a child was hungry, you wouldn't even make it out of the neighborhood. Also, each child gets a water bottle of their very own. With their name on it. Most importantly-- don't underestimate the importance of papertowels, utensils and extra plastic bags!! These are super important. Papertowels clean messes and faces and double as plates. Bags can be trash bags or crumb protection. You can wash the plastic utensils and use them again, instead of spreading the mayo with your finger. Or the foil applesauce lid.
5. Be flexible
There may reach a moment where everyone is screaming or crying and you feel like driving your car off the road into a river. Don't do that! Just remember, you can spare 30 minutes to play at a nearby park, rest stop or fast food play place. Unless you are truly in a hurry, it isn't worth it to push your schedule so much that everyone is miserable.
6. Vary your entertainment
Last year I simply depended on toys and movies. After two weeks the children were so tired of those toys and movies that they ended up just fighting each other. This year we added coloring and writing materials, chapter books, notebooks, and a brand new thing-- books on tape. The books on tape were a HUGE success. We all loved listening to them, everyone was quiet and it was a perfect activity for when they were tired of toys and movies. I deliberately picked books they'd never read before and it definitely held their interest longer. Most days they would ask if we could listen to the book before they would ask about a movie. WIN!
7. Switch up the seating
I have a seating that works for us in our van. But when I'm flying solo with the children, I allow them to move around their seats. I should note that it isn't a free for all-- we have a schedule that makes sure everyone gets a fair turn. This helped stop a lot of arguments from being next to your "seat partner" for too long. Plus it was really helpful to have Em or Nan sitting next to Lydia because they could help her when I couldn't. Note: Lydia never switched seats because then I couldn't reach her.
8. Keep a basic routine
There were definitely nights where the kids didn't get to sleep at a decent hour, which is to be expected on any major trip involving family and friends. But as a general routine, we kept our daily schedule and chores. They still got up at a normal time, made their beds, brushed teeth, brushed hair and helped throughout the day and we still went to bed fairly normally, read scriptures, listened to the same music, etc., at night. Keeping our routine in this way helped when everything else was chaos.
9. Be nice to yourself
Sure, you may want to try and drive 12 hours a day, or stay up half the night talking to friends and family. Don't do it. As the only parent, you have to be on the ball. Do what it takes to keep your sanity. If that means that you eat out every meal so you don't have to think about preparing every little person's sandwich, do it. If it means you only drive 5 hours a day, that's okay. If it means you tell your family "sorry, I can't take the kids out to dinner tonight because we all need to get to bed earlier", that's okay! You have to take care of yourself, because you are all your children have at that moment. Maybe it means you won't get to see everyone or stay at everyone's house for a night, or drive to so-and-so's little town for an afternoon visit. Make those decisions about what is going to work and what isn't.
If you are planning a big trip with your children by yourself, know that it can be done! It takes a lot of planning (and even more patience)! However I have learned that these basic traveling principles go a long way and that these trips form great memories. And it gets easier as the kids get older.
Saturday, June 13, 2015
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