Disney's in the Desert

Back to Routine with Tyson

This blog post is sponsored by Tyson Foods, Inc., but all thoughts, opinions, and photographs are my own.

We had the best time during the kids’ winter break, celebrating the holidays, and getting lots of good family quality time in. We took our time and our schedules were pretty relaxed, but now school is back in session and work must continue, which means we need to get back into our routine.Finding our way back into routine after the holidays is so important for us as a family, with 4 kids (3 of them are school age!) Implementing meal plans throughout the week saves me time to focus on other areas of our lives (sports practice, church activities, family time, relaxing time). I do this by planning out my grocery list on Sunday afternoon and using Albertson’s grocery app to add everything I know I’ll need to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner seamless. I love that I can shop from my phone at home and select a time that’s convenient for me to go and grab it that same day!  Since I shop on Sunday, I wake up Monday morning having everything I need to roll into the week which is huge for me as someone who really thrives on organization and being prepared. Not only does this help us get back into our routine, but it takes the surprise out of ‘what will I make my family to eat this week?’ and I’m less stressed. My week is bound to run so much more smoothly with this checked off my list. I also have more time to devote to our family’s other obligations and extracurriculars, and I MAY even have an extra minute or two to RELAX with this routine in place!!! We all need a little more balance in our busy lives as parents, right?!

The weekday mornings can feel like the most chaotic especially returning after the holiday hustle and bustle, so I choose to buy Jimmy Dean Delights® Turkey Sausage, Egg White & Cheese English Muffins. They heat up in just over 2 minutes, and what we like to do for our oldest boys (1st and 3rd grade), is heat them up in a meal prep, microwavable safe container and add some fruit on the side and hand them off when they’re heading out the door. So convenient and I know they’re getting a hearty breakfast. For our oldest daughter, who’s still at home most mornings, I will heat her sandwich up once she’s ready to come downstairs for breakfast with a side of yogurt, granola, and some blueberries.

The boys head off to school and I get the girls settled. I start some computer work for the day and they have playtime outside or in our family room. Before I know it, it’s time to prepare lunch. The guesswork of lunch can be time consuming and tricky for a toddler and baby, but I bypass that with Hillshire Farm Ultra Thin Oven Roasted Turkey Breast! I will chop up little piece of it for my baby girl to gnaw on and then add it to pesto pinwheels I make for my oldest girl. We love how it’s thinly sliced and tastes amazing with some veggies for a crunch! I’ll put it into her little car plate along with some yogurt raisins and carrots and she is satisfied until dinner.

The boys get home from school around 3:30 and I lay the baby down for a nap, and get to dinner planning before soccer practice. Can you see how so much of our days revolve around what we’re going to eat!? Thank goodness for Tyson® Grilled & Ready® Chicken Breast Strips – they’re super convenient since they’re already fully cooked to add to another meal. I love that there are no antibiotics in them which makes me feel good about serving them to my family. I love adding them to my orecchiette pasta with cream sauce, mushrooms, tomatoes and parm. Tyson® Grilled & Ready® Chicken Breast Strips are a simple way to add protein to your family’s next meal!

I hope this post inspires you to bring a little more balance to your every day routine! After several weeks of holiday functions and meals, it’s nice to get back to simple and easy to make food my family enjoys. I can focus on other areas of my work and personal life when I have these meal solutions in place!

10 Tips for Decluttering (and cleaning!) in the New Year

Happy New Year friends!! Can you believe it’s here already? I’m definitely welcoming in this new year and setting some reasonable, attainable goals. What about you?! #bye2021

You know organization and keeping my home and family spaces tidy, but there are certain areas that have kind of just left sitting. Things would pile and it just seemed easier to close the door and look away, lol. We’ve all been there, right?

I wanted to give a few ideas in this post more focused on areas that can be easily neglected. This won’t be a ‘wash behind your washing machine!’ post, but more of things we touch daily that we can do things with each week/month in order to maintain and NOT let the build up happen. Some of these are just things I know I have left sitting and I know I’m not using, so donating or disposing of it will help clear some space for the new year.

  • 1. Stock up on Folex. I swear by this stuff! I’ve been using for the last 2 years on our carpeted spaces and our laundry (yes, I use it on our laundry! I have not had any issues at all!) For deep/stubborn stains, I will spray a little on, let it set, then scrub. I will spray on a little more and then throw it in the wash as normal.
  • 2. I have purchased a handful of these inexpensive bins from Target. Not only do I love that they come in a few styles (and are pretty to look at!) but they helped me declutter our holiday decor this year as well as some things in our downstairs linen closet. I chose what I wanted to put in them and only kept the things that I know we will use in 2022.
  • 3. Clean out your kids backpacks or better yet, have them help you do this. It’s a great time to do this since it’s still holiday break. Cole keeps his backpack pretty tidy, but Conner is my kid I have to keep an eye on with this. The smaller zipper pouch tends to be where they store a lot of things over the school semester along with the occasional dirt, etc. I make them clear out whatever is trash/unimportant and then throw them in the gentle wash cycle. I also bought the boys each these wallets where they can store their school IDs, money they take for sno cone days, etc. and it helps declutter this pouch as well.
  • 4. Time to clean your linen closets going into 2022. Donate/dispose of any linen (beach towels, shower towels, blankets, sheets etc) that may have seen their last day or that no one has touched in over 6-12 months. I know sometimes some of these things can hold sentimental value, and if that’s the case maybe store it away elsewhere or in another bin that you’re going to keep in storage. I now only keep blankets/towels that we regularly use as a family and it is so much less overwhelming. I can also see what we have and therefore it gets used so much more!
  • 5. Another thing I took care of going into this new year is something you might not really think about, but if you have school aged kids like I do, it’s probably something they’re often touching. In my kids’ school/homework desk we have a bunch of used pencils with erasers broken off, pencils sharpened down past the point of barely being able to even hold it, and lots of mechanical pencils with no lead. I tossed all of them and replaced them with every teacher’s favorite pencils and best part: no lead to refill!
  • 6. In my kitchen, I went thru all of our large utensils (spatulas, serving spoons, tongs, wooden stirrers, etc) that we haven’t used and donated them. It truly was not necessary to have as many as we had and I kept the ones we use weekly for meals.
  • 7. This is something I started doing in 2021, but I get my car washed the first of every month (If I can’t go on the 1st, then sometime before the 5th). I make it a priority to do this, because as a mom of 4, my car can become pretty overrun with kids crumbs, shoe tracking, and other fun things 😉 I found an inexpensive way to do this is by going to the semi-self service car washes (usually around $7 for exterior) and then I use their free vacuums and the kids help me suck up all of the stuff on the floors and seats. I plan to continue doing this into 2022 – it’s a game changer and my car has benefited from it so much. I know by the end of the month (when it’s starting to show gross-ness again ;)) that the car wash is right around the corner and it helps me not feel overwhelmed.
  • 8. There are several different bins, baskets, and containers I love for our closets, and I’ve linked a few of them on this post. The wooden ones are really sturdy and actually pretty deep – I picked up a few more of them plus the plastic kind with the drawers for our master closet clean out I’m determined to finish working on before January is over!
  • 9. I plan to do a blog on my pantry sometime this year (I know, long overdue!!) but if you’re needing some help on where to start, I have all of my favorite products I use to organize my pantry linked in this post, BUT one way I keep things that aren’t in containers still staying fresh and looking uniform are with these cute chip clips. I just bought another pack because the ones I’ve had over the years were dwindling down and some had cracked (they’ve gotten so much use over the last 4 years though!). Highly recommend them!
  • 10. This is another thing I do all year long but I thought it would be helpful to close out my tips with it. Every Monday, I wipe down and disinfect all of our electronics. It’s a really good habit to get into and bring along with you in the new year! Definitely one of those ‘it’s a new week!!!’ things for me.

I hope this helps motivate and inspire you while you’re doing some NY decluttering!! I’ve already implemented a few of these before today and my house feels so much better and the kids have more room too. I know it can sometimes be hard to start these things with life going at such a fast paced all the time, but I promise you once you start, you’ll find a good groove and you won’t want to start! Progress is always so motivating for me. Happy cleaning!

New Years Eve: At Home Ideas

Between busy work schedules, pregnancies, and babies, our New Years Eve have been quiet and spent at home the last few years. Although we are home, we have used this time to be intentional and make memories our kids (and us!) can look back on later.

We plan a fun family night in with appetizers, comfy clothes, movies, and board games!

The Food

It’s so much fun to make a festive board, and we usually try to get a tray or board long enough to write out the year in meats and cheeses (I’m kind of a charcuterie board hoarder at this point so I have lots of options for these in my kitchen but if you don’t, you can usually find an affordable long/large tray at Walmart or Home Goods!) Put nuts, grapes, cranberries, blueberries, pretzels and whatever else your fam likes munching on in between as filler!!! C wanted me to mention it’s a good idea to buy a container or two of rosemary – ‘it makes it that much more festive around the holidays and also it smells good too!’ – haha!!

I personally also like gathering crackers and smoked cheeses, and savory almonds because it feels like we’re adding something a little more special to bring in a new year of life!

We usually buy Gallo Salame® meats for the “numbers”. My kiddos love it and think it’s fun (especially because the older 3 all know their numbers now! 😉 I recently learned how to make salami flowers and it brings a ‘fancy’ flare to these NYE boards as well. There are two easy technique – I’ll try to do a video on them soon!!

The Entertainment

Because the kids aren’t old enough to stay up all the way until midnight, we usually start our snack boards early evening, eat and play a couple of family board games. Another fun idea is a family scavenger hunt. It doesn’t need to be intricate – Pinterest has a bunch of ideas on how to make it fun at home/in your neighborhood!

The Reflecting/Gratitude

We usually snack, eat and chat about our year and what our favorite parts were. It’s a great way to reflect and also remind ourselves on what we’re grateful for, and how we grew.

The Wrap Up

We do this for an hour or so, and then end the night snuggled up, streaming a new movie that’s been recently released.

This night isn’t hard to pull off, but I make it easier on myself by planning ahead. I grab what I need at the store and go over the plan a few times with my busy husband (to remind him when everything is happening!). If you’re looking for a fun night in with your kids/loved ones, try one or two of these ideas!

Happy New Year, friends!! Thank you for being in this space with us and supporting + encouraging our family through 2021! Cheers to 2022!!!

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