Cupcakes Kisses 'n' Crumbs: 2017

30 December 2017

2017 Closing 💚

Here we are the end of 2017! I have been looking back on my goals for the year to see how we did!

Some good and some not so good. Feel like we did great in the budget and household areas. I did terrible in my personal goals and as a family, our relationship time goals was only so so. I'm pretty sure that will change this year, already tweaking how we do things.

I don't feel like I did my One Little Word enough.

How about you? Ready to close the books on 2017 and start 2018?

What about 2018 goals? Working on those?

*May contain affiliated links* I participate in Amazon Associates Program occasionally. I won't recommend a product I wasn't myself interested in trying or have tried. I may receive monetary compensation for participating. This does not change the price for you.

15 December 2017

Meal Plan January

Meal planning has me like 🙄😜 It's been a year plus since we have had a real plan. Maybe by starting in mid December it will help me out in January? I really have to do this though. Budgeting and working on debt are still priorities, and winging it just doesn't work well into that.

Knowing that January is full of basketball, and basketball and Cheer coaching. I've added "make 4 freezer meals" to my to do list and making plans for 2 weeks at a time. I can do my big grocery shop and then add produce and whatever I forgot in a couple smaller trips.

It feels a little weird to make a meal plan for so far from now, but I'm going to try. And there are always sides of veggies and fruits too. I just don't list them.

1. Pizza (from home)

2. Tacos

3. Tomato Ravioli Soup

4. Grilled cheese

5. Chinese (from home)

6. Loaded potatoes (leftovers too)

7. Pot Roast

8. Chicken spaghetti

9. Tacos

10. Chicken tortilla soup

11. PB bacon sandwiches

12. Spaghetti

13. Meatballs/potatoes

14. BBQ pork sandwiches

I actually have very little faith that I would be able to keep up so I am just going to do the whole month, maybe by February I can have that month done too!

15. Wild rice/Turkey/veggie bake

16. Chicken enchilada casserole

17. Mac N Cheese

18. Ham and potato soup

19. Homemade pizza

20. Stroganoff

21. Chicken spaghetti

22. Chinese

23. Tacos

24. Grilled cheese/pesto/soup

25. Leftovers/Mac n Cheese

26. Breakfast

27. Meatballs/potatoes

28. Pot Roast

I love that January 1st is a Monday! I love Mondays and I love new beginnings, or the idea of them, fresh starts and all that.

I've got my big list of meals in my planner, I can use my freezer and pantry stock to make our plan and our grocery bill fit.

31 August 2017

Thermos Lunch Ideas

We start school next week and that means I have to have our lunch game down!

We picked up these Thermos a couple years ago and they have been such a helper!

Here are some things we put in hot thermos lunches

Pasta and add ins are our go to! Cheese is often, a sauce is not quite as often.

-Marinara, olives and pepperoni (and pineapple YUM!)

-Shredded chicken and a veggie your kiddo likes, or tolerates. With any sauce! BBQ, pesto, buffalo, Italian, marinara, Alfredo. Whatever the kiddo will eat :)

-Cut up meatballs

-Taco Meat

-bacon or diced ham

And that's just the stuff we add to pasta and cheese!

We also use our thermos for

-taco fillings. I just send a shell too

-chicken nuggets or naked chicken

-chili or soup

-loaded potatoes

-cut up pizza bites

-pulled pork or chicken, just pack the bun on the side

-teriyaki chicken And veggies with rice

-grilled cheese sandwiches (wrapped in foil seems to keep them crispy)

A lot of this is stuff we eat anyway so it's leftovers.

And I know you are thinking I am out of my ever loving mind if I think you are opening or making marinara for a couple school lunches. NO WAY! We use our handy dandy ice cube tray and I freeze whatever sauce there is leftover, or make a batch of it's one we use often. Line your ice cube tray with plastic wrap if you want easier clean up. Then I just pop the sauce cubes in a baggie and label it. Thaws easily overnight, or in the microwave if you do all your lunch prep in the morning!

30 August 2017

Nightly Routine for Easier Mornings

Our mornings start EARLY, and I hate to get the day started on the wrong foot. Sometimes that happens anyway, but most days I can do a little work the night before to make mornings run smooth!

It doesn't take long, and every minute is usually worth it.

I leave about 15-20 minutes before bed to run through this routine real quick.

Journaling

The kids each have a little journal in their Good Morning Basket, I try to just write them a little note, or reminders for the day, if something is our usual schedule.

Prep Lunches & Coffee

I am much more with it in the evening than early in the morning, and that coffee is important :)

Breakfast Prep

Just check to make sure nothing needs to be thawed or put it in the Instant Pot

Dishes

Because waking up to an empty sink is AMAZING!

Laundry Prep

I just put a load in the washer, and if it's full already I will start it, if not I just wait for the mornings dirty clothes.

Quick Overall Tidy

Walk through and put things in the right room, bedding and put trash in bin

Check Planner

To make sure we don't have anything out of our norm the next day!

Self Care

Take care of my teeth and hopefully something to counteract these wrinkles lol

Getting to bed on time is Self Care too!

Do you feel like you stay up later and later just to have a little alone time, time where you aren't doing kid stuff, or doing something for someone else?

That was me for years! Ended up being more tired in the morning and everything was more difficult. I switched it up and went to bed earlier, and get up earlier and have MORE time for me and I am not a tired groggy mess in the morning!

Anything you do routinely at night to help with the next day?

24 August 2017

Peanut Butter & Jelly Energy Poppers

Just finished up our second batch of these! So good!

1c oats (mix and match quick and old fashioned however you please)

1/4 PB. We used Wild Friends Sugar Cookie PB

1/4c Roasted Salted Sunflower Seeds

1/4c PB chips

1/4C Honey

Freeze dried fruit or dried cranberries

Mix everything but the fruit together in a bowl. Chill in fridge for 30 minutes or more. It's usually more for me because I have other stuff going on to!

When you have time, add the fruit, maybe 1/4c? I didn't measure, then roll into balls. We used a small cookie scoop to make them even. Chill in fridge or freeze for later.

Perfect snack or lunch box addition!

17 August 2017

Easy Breakfast Plan

This has been helpful for us in the past, last year was kind of a wash. This year though, this year HAS to go smoother! I've done some prepping already and am printing this for my planner!

This might not be perfect and it might not happen every week, I still want to have it so I have something to fall back on when things feel like they are getting out of control!

I've made these pancake poppers in bulk because they are easy to grab and go! Super easy to make too! Whatever you like for pancake batter, then spray a mini muffin tin well, bake 12-14 minutes at 350! I made a bunch to freeze and we will just pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds when it's time to eat them!

We've got bacon and cheese, blackberry, raspberry with protein boost, sausage & maple and apple spice poppers all ready for school in 2 weeks!

I keep yogurt cups and have the dry ingredients in our breakfast bucket! Granola, dried fruit and plastic spoons, just in case!

Summer has it looking slim! Need to restock the spoons and fruit!

Instant Pot Steel Cut Oats! So many variations for flavors! Easy prep the night before, filling and not expensive! I picked Wednesday for this because we rarely use the IP for taco Tuesday'

Eggs, bacon and toast is a little more work for me but I feel like I should have my life together by Thursday of each week lol. I also have a stack of bacon egg and cheese English muffins in the freezer if that is not the case and I am still failing.

Friday is typically chaos for me. The day I play catch up and I don't really want to add extra dishes in the morning or worry about it. We have leftovers, yogurt, cereal sometimes and the kids can choose to make their own stuff too!

*May contain affiliated links* I participate in Amazon Associates Program occasionally. I wont recommend a product I wasn't myself interested in trying or have tried. I may receive monetary compensation for participating. This does not change the price for you.

10 August 2017

Muffin Tops

Muffin Top Cookies? Just plain ol' Muffin Tops?

There isn't more sugar like in a cookie, but they are shaped like a BIG cookie. Call them what you want, they are easy and delicious and the kids will like them! They aren't dense like a cookie, lighter, like a muffin but the oatmeal in these ones gives them oomph!

I've made multiple varieties but don't always track what I add.

For these I did though! Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip.

I just used my basic muffin dry ingredients

1 3/4 AP Flour

1/3C Sugar

2 tsp. Baking Powder

1/4 tsp. Salt

Then I just added about 1C ish of liquids + 1 egg for the basic recipe.

For this one I added

1 BIG ripe banana all mashed up

2 Eggs

and 1/2 C Oats for bit of texture

1/4 C Mini Chocolate Chips

***The batter should be about muffin batter consistency, maybe slightly thicker***

Play around and try some different combos.

Bake 13-15 Minutes at 350 on a greased cookie sheet

I use a big cookie scoop to measure them equally

09 August 2017

Quick Kitchen Tip

I was just going to do a quick video to show this time/space saver for us but it's been one of THOSE days and there was not even a 10 second space where it wasn't chaos over here. So here it is instead. Our utensil drawer is FULL, it's tiny and I don't think I can purge anything else!

So rather than have the kids open that drawer over and over all day, and to save some space. This is where we keep our apple slicer. It's been a must have here since we have kids in various stages of teeth missing, braces etc.

Do you keep any frequently used items in an unusual place?

08 August 2017

Back to School Organization~ Cleaning Cards

I shared our updated Chore Packs last week, over the weekend I put together the cards for each room. These are not jobs that will take hours, just a checklist of a few items that each take a couple minutes max. Having some help do these few chores a couple times a week will sure help me, and help these kids learn how to keep the spaces they frequent tidy.

I don't expect the bigger kids to need these for long, after a few weeks they will have the routine down, until then, they are laminated and have a spot easy to access. I also attached a dry erase marker because a certain 7 year old I know and love will want to check them off! It might add more time to the job than the actual job, but if it encourages him to helpful, I will take it!

I've got a card (just small, 4x6) for Kitchen, Bathroom, Bedroom, and Family Room.

Email me if you would like them too, free :)

FolkHollow@gmail.com

01 August 2017

Back to School Organization~Chore Cards

Sorry, sorry, sorry for even bringing it up. But today IS August 1st which means school will be in session before we know it :( I don't love that at all, but I do want to make sure it all goes smooth!

Honestly, the last 2 years or so have kind of had me/us in a funk! Baby, re-doing a home, health issues and overall busyness just have not worked in our favor. To combat that busyness that isn't going away I need routine, and scheduling and structure. No way can I just toss that on the kids the first day of school. I haven't updated our CHORE CARDS in years, those need an overhaul, and our weekly and daily routines need an overhaul too. We don't expect them to be followed 100% every single day, but having a plan in place that we hopefully meet 80% of the time still REALLY makes a difference.

We are starting by adding chore packs again, and hopefully practice morning routines in the next couple weeks.

So this is the new chore cards. They are more work because the kids are a lot older now, I mean it's been 5 years!!! And these are all things that *might* need to be done. I promise we don't expect them to clean the coop everyday :) I left some blank because I laminated mine and wet erase markers work great on them! Sometimes we have chores that are just for a season, or a few weeks and I like to have the option.

Happy to share these printable sheets! Just email me (FolkHollow@gmail.com) and I will send you the file! I just had mine printed on card stock (using the floral as a back side), laminated them and then used these rings and a hole punch to keep them handy and together!

20 July 2017

Harry Potter Birthay Celebration

Missing Harry Potter?

We are! We went to Universal last fall and we are halfway through the audio books this summer! Our kids are all fans and we have a couple weeks of mellow, well, mellow for us anyway, so we are going to celebrate Harry Potter's birthday! July 31st is a Monday this year so we will be doing a bit of it during the day while hubby is at work and the biggest Potter fan is at football camp.

I've got a scavenger hunt for after lunch.

I just picked up some horcrux and other Harry Potter inspired items. Some we already had, it doesn't have to be expensive!

A plastic snake, a goblet, an old book, a necklace, a wand, a piece of silvery fabric left over from a project, I really like the little plastic animals because our little one loves them. You can find a Badger, Griffin, or a Raven. I found a little tri wizard cup, a lavender unicorn horn, Nevil will probably need help finding his toad a few times, and the bones of an Acromantula.

We do some harder clues and some that are easier because we have a bit of age range for our Potter fans.

I don't love butterbeer to drink because it's too sweet. This year we are either going to make butter beer fudge or butterbeer caramel corn, I will be winging that, if it turns out I will share :)

After visiting the 3 Broomsticks at Universal Studios and having THE best roasted chicken ever, seriously the best, I am pretty sure we can do something like that with baby potatoes that is easy enough for our middles to do a lot of the work, they love to help! We also have an owl muffin pan and they can make some corn bread or something in them.

I will pick up some dry ice for the table and goodies for snack mix to make for movie watching!

Here are some other things we have done in the past, none are to hard!

https://cupcakeskissesncrumbs.blogspot.com/2014/02/our-harry-potter-9th-birthday-party.html

What do you do to celebrate?

28 June 2017

Peach Bourbon Scones

I am a sucker for both peach and bourbon! At the grocery store the other day the peaches just looked really good! I grabbed a few and threw this recipe together. I never know how something will turn out the first time, but GOODNESS was this just right! Not too sweet, just peachy 🍑

Directions

Preheat Oven to 400

Dice up 1-2 peaches (I prefer smaller chunks) sprinkle with a little sugar and set aside

Mix 2 1/4 C Flour

1/3 C Brown Sugar

1Tbs Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

In a separate bowl mix

1 Egg

1/4C Vanilla Yogurt

3 Tbsp Whipping Cream

1/2 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

2 Tbsp Bourbon

Cut in 1/2C cold cubed butter into dry mix until it's all crumbly.

Add wet ingredients slowly into dry ingredients, mix only until combined.

Fold in peach chunks (about 3/4C)

Dump onto well floured surface, shape into circle about 1/2" thick. Cut into 8. You can make mini ones from there or leave all 8. Separate and place on parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Bake 18-20 minutes (less for mini ones)

While they are baking, mix up some glaze
Sifted powdered sugar, whipping cream and bourbon
I didn't measure because I often forget to.
But I prefer a thicker glaze.

Once the scones are done, move to a cooling rack and brush glaze on once cooled.

Enjoy!

03 April 2017

April Goals

Oh my my, life has been busy, to say the least. I didn't even bother with goals in March! I mean I meant to, I thought about them but I don't really know where March even went! So here we are on the 3rd of April. I can start this month off with some written goals.

House~Yikes, some of the same goals since January! Countertops, finish up cabinets, decide what we are going to do with the pantry. Outside is a whole other ball game! My main goal this month is to get the garden going, just SOMETHING, even if it's not beautiful and everything I want to plant. I also need to finish dealing with the trees that we had felled in the fall. I broke our chainsaw so it's been a slow process until we can get it fixed.

Financial~Only goal there is to recover from Disneyland trip! No more eating out (besides hubby's birthday), meal planning is a must if we are going to come close. We paid off a few smaller debts the last couple months without making the budget suffer. This month I hope to make a good dent in another with some Etsy sales. I am on a no clothes shopping challenge for the month too! Not going overboard on Easter stuff!

Health~I need to get myself back to the doctor for more labs, and make getting there a priority. I am so bad about going, but I can tell that my thyroid is off again.

Relationships~ I really doubt we will have opportunity for date nights, or kid dates at all until baseball season is over. Once I get everyone's game schedule I hope to have a few nights we can have family dates!

And MAYBE, just maybe I will actually update y'all. I need some accountability ; )

22 February 2017

Managing Goals

I think the MOST important step in goal setting is making sure that

YOUR GOALS LINE UP WITH YOUR PRIORITIES!

When you tell someone what your priorities are, do your goals reflect that? If not, maybe it's time to alter your goals a little.

There are lots of methods of Goal Setting. I think these 2 are the ones I hear the most
SMART Goals
Specific, Measurable, Agreed Upon, Realistic, Time Based

IDEA

Identify, Design, Execute, Augment

For me I need it simple and easy to manage and track. I don't have an hour a week to reflect on my goals. What I do is

~Have my action plan, or steps in my planner, every week, for the things I can focus on RIGHT NOW.

~Those steps or action plan written down are good when/if you get sidetracked.

~Mark the deadline, my ideal deadline

~Make a spot in my planner every week to update, remind, just the constant visual reminder is helpful in keeping my priorities in sight.
I just use a little mason jar stamps and tally marks for things that are daily.

Here I have our savings/budget jar
and the 3 littles are sticking to my Morning and Evening plans and Meal Planning

Here is a great deal on a little stamp!

How do you manage your goals? Do you share them to keep you accountable? Keep them to yourself? Daily or weekly reflection or accountability?

31 January 2017

February Goals 2017

I am already doing better planning my February goals than I did for January.

February is ridiculously busy for us. We have tournament basketball for 1 kiddo, and regular season for 2 others. I am not going to make my goals smaller, but will be heavy on the GRACE, grace, GRACE. Planning big.

SELF~January was super, I planned some time with friends with no kids, and went to a concert too. Even those 2 little breaks help me feel refreshed. I have somehow managed to miss MOPS for the last 4 times. I need that adult interaction time.

This month, chances of me squeezing in any kid free time are slim. Still planning some mini hikes with the kids. I love the quick little break, sunshine and trees <3 p="">

HEALTH~ Diet bet is over, not too shabby! I think I might try the step bet this month. We have lots of swamped weekends, so really my only goal is to be prepared for the weekends and keep up on my water!

FINANCIAL~ I probably could have done a LOT better on the meal planning. But did put some extra to that Home Depot Bill ;) Have our budget all set up. So the plan for this month is to meal plan for REAL this month. Stick to my grocery budget and put the leftover to debt.

RELATIONSHIPS~ Birthday celebrations and basketball will keep us busy. But I am hoping to squeeze a kid date in around Valentines Day. Last month we had a couple 1 on 1 dates and a lot of family dates!

HOUSE~ January was a productive month! Kitchen cabinets are built, and almost done with paint. Couple more coats on a few drawers and the doors. Knobs picked out, handles purchased.

Just got our faucet in the mail. It's perfect! I hope it works out well!

I am hoping to finish the kitchen this month! We have cabinets to finish, counter tops to have installed, some barn wood to install and a vent hood. This might be a little ambitious considering we have NO free weekend days all month. I also want to keep up on my organizing schedule and get the garden plan done and prepped. Some raised beds, some fencing and sprinkler installation. Not sure when that will happen though.

08 January 2017

What things can you do right now?

I can get overwhelmed when I think about my goals and how much WORK it is to get there. Sometimes it seems so daunting and I don't know where to start, if you can relate to this, join me and see if this helps you, no matter what your goals are! Taking baby steps to make it to the big steps!

Things I can do RIGHT now to move me towards my January goals!
Making time for myself
Schedule alone time! It's easy to say and put off. I am adding it to my planner. Just 1 thing so far

And I want to tell you how much I LOVE these pens! So smooth and fine!
You can find them HERE.

Diet Bet, staying hydrated, eating well
I am using MyFitnessPal, my water trackers in my planner, so cute right?

Meal planning is really what saves me. I put my dinner in and do breakfast and lunch around that to make it fit my goals.

Financial Goals, not eating out
Meal planning, and using my planner as best I can to thaw/prep in the morning! Set an alarm on my phone to prep dinner. Different times each day, we have a insane schedule in the evenings right now!

Kid Dates
Similar to making time for ME, making time for us, planning and putting it in the planner ahead of time (and fitting it in the not eating out budget) We won't be doing anything extravagant this month, but we will be using up some old expired groupons and gift cards for fancy coco dates.

House-Finish sanding cabinets, Organize Plan
I started keeping the sander IN the house as motivation. And my weekly organizing plan handy!
Sticking to my Weekly Cleaning so I still have FRIDAY free to get the organizing done!

03 January 2017

January Goals

Already 3 days in and I feel behind! But I am starting with small steps, little chunks of the big goals!

Self~ MAKE TIME for myself, twice, even if it's something small like a trip to the gym

Health~ I joined a diet bet, nothing like the dread of losing money to motivate ya, right? Especially when it's ALL on me, 100% me. Little parts of this are staying hydrated and being aware of my food choices. I use something like these to track my water!

Financial~Eek, this is my least favorite to jump right in. So January I am taking it a bit easy, my only goals are to not eat out (besides what is planned), update all our debts/accounts and make a plan for the year.

Relationships~ Take each kiddo out once and one for hubby and I. NO PHONE (besides pictures)

If you struggle with phone time, the app InTheMoment

House~Finish sanding kitchen cabinets, finish the last door molding and 1 last floor board piece!

Stick to my Organizing Plan!