Kimber's Navy Family

I go through phases in regards to house cleaning, where I can't function without a housekeeper and our bathrooms are covered in toothpaste and our floors with dirt clots, dragged in from muddy boots, and there is a layer of crumbs on every surface. Other times, having a housekeeper is more of an inconvenience-- making sure to have the house tidy on a certain day at a certain time, keeping the children out of her way, and possibly getting out of the house while she's here. Plus the expense. Currently, we are in the latter category. So, for the time being, we are back to cleaning our house, 5 kids and all. So how do you clean with 5 kids? Well, our youngest is an infant, so I don't have much to worry about with her, save for feedings and naps interfering. I tend to do loud cleaning, like vacuuming, right after she wakes up from nap. That way she's happy and content to bounce in her Excersaucer. For the in depth cleaning, like the bathrooms, I try to do that when she...

As a larger family, our grocery budget can be a little intense, especially as we have really tried to cut the crap out of our diet. I've written before about how we cut out hydrogenated oils and aspartame (" The first step ") and how we really try to eat at home (" Dinnertime "). Over two years has passed since I wrote those blog posts and I wanted to do a follow up. How are we doing now that we have two busy toddlers, a homeschooling preschooler, and another on the way? And, since I wrote those original posts, we've moved twice (" Across town move " and " PCS to South Carolina ") and my hubby started power school--a lot has changed since we decided to undertake a new family diet! I'm happy to report that our family diet is going even better than we had anticipated! Not only have we cut out hydrogenated oils and aspartame, but we've also cut out food coloring and fast food. We stick to foods that have ingredients we can prono...

I love vinegar water. My mom used it as a cleaner when we were growing up and so the smell brings back memories of my childhood home. I've always kept a spray bottle of vinegar water in our home. I have used it for a bunch of small cleaning tasks, but it hasn't been until our most recent move that I have started using it for all my cleaning needs. (Probably because up until we moved to South Carolina I had a housekeeper... read " Domestic goddess "). I want to say what prompted our shift to vinegar water is how environmentally friendly it is, but that's not true. What prompted the switch is how easy it is to make and how inexpensive it is. What kind of cleaning products did I used to use? I used to use the Swiffer Wet Jet , but you have to buy the Swiffer Wet Jet Cleaner Refills and the Swiffer Wet Jet Spray Mop Cleaner Pad Refills , not to mention have the Swiffer Wet Jet Mop. I also had the Swiffer Dust Mop (needs the Swiffer Sweeper Dry Sweeping Cloth...

My husband and I recently adjusted our family budget and we are really sticking to it. I like our open conversations about our finances and how we work together as a team. I just don't like budgets (but who does?). Anyways, we went to Costco today. Our grocery budget is not as flexible as it was with our past family budgets so my husband was tallying our purchases as we added things to our cart. I've written before about our family diet and how we are trying to eat healthier (read " The first step "). We have kicked out a lot of bad ingredients and brought down the ingredient count on each of the items we purchase. I really try to make as much home made foods as I can and narrow down our processed foods. However, I'm not one to spend all day in the kitchen, so we do have some processed foods in our house. (I'm hoping organic cereal with no artificial ingredients is better than GMO artificial cereal-- lol!) So here we are at Costco, shopping the aisles....

I went to my twin group meeting the other day and there were lots of questions about feeding toddlers, not to mention all the posts on mommy boards and discussions with my girlfriends. We are all asking, "How do you get toddlers to eat?" Short answer: I don't know. Toddlers are fickle. We jokingly call one of my boys a fruitarian, stolen from the movie "Notting Hill." Hugh Grant goes on a series of blind dates and one of the women turns down food because she is a "fuitarian." When Hugh Grant asks what that is, she explains, "We believe that fruits and vegetables have feeling so we think cooking is cruel. We only eat things that have actually fallen off a tree or bush-- that are, in fact, dead already." We think O wants to eat more, but he isn't certain of the origins of his food. Did the milk fall on its own accord from the cow's udder? Did these apples fall willingly off an organic apple tree? So many questions need to be an...

I wrote a blog in September about making homemade medical ID's . When O first needed a medical ID, he was 17-months old. He is now 23-months old. One of the challenges I have found when looking online for a medical ID appropriate for a toddler is that most of them are engraved metal bracelets. There is a chance that O will need his daily regulator, Pulmicort, changed in the next couple months (read my blog post, " Follow-up on reactive airways "), voiding a bracelet we have engraved with the previous medications. The pricing for many of those engraved IDs comes to about $50, conservatively, when including the cost of the ID tag, bracelet chain, engraving, and shipping. I've also found there are a lot more medical ID bracelet options for toddler girls than toddler boys. The thing about toddlers is that they can't be trusted. I don't even like putting my toddlers down to nap with a sticker on their shirt with the fear that they will shove it in their mou...

Our toddler has reactive airway disease. I did some online research and was unsure as to what kind of medical ID I should buy for a 17-month old (see my blog " Life still goes on "). We knew that we wanted all of his information to be available in whatever situation arises (drop-in childcare, baby-sitter, or even an accident) if one of us could not provide the information when needed. My husband came up with this wonderful idea: clear ID badges. We ran with it. Today we stopped at Office Depot and bought the Office Depot brand adhesive name badges with the red label 100 count (compare to Avery self adhesive name badges item number 5143 ), Office Depot brand plastic badge holders 12 pack , a 10 pack of Office Depot brand black lanyards , and an Office Depot brand credential holder. (The credential holder hung with all the other name badge accessories; I just can't find a link online. The item number is 313-412.) All of this cost around $25. Our first decision was what ...