Age Appropriate Chore Chart For Kids

I am always struggling to find the right chores for my kiddos! Check out this awesome chart to help you get an idea of what might be good for your kids! 

The chart comes from Maria Montessori who opened her first classroom in 1907.  It was based on the idea that kids learn from doing more than sitting and listening to a teacher.  

This concept extends beyond the classroom and can also be applied to things in life.As part of this education philosophy, this chart was created to outline what kids should be doing to help around the house based upon their age.

I view this chart as simply suggestions. All kids are different and that needs to be taken into account as coming up with specific chores for your own child.

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey! 

Declutter The House: Round 1

(furnace room)

Last week I shared that we were going to start decluttering our house before Baby Elyse joins us. You can read about it HERE! And well, this past weekend was ROUND 1! And boy did we do great! Not only did we clean out one room, but our second storage room (furnace room)! And the second room, I wasn't even planning on doing, we like REALLY CLEANED IT OUT! There is almost nothing in there now which is great!

And in the main storage room (yes we have 2) a good portion of it is strictly baby stuff that will be pulled out and put throughout the house just before Elyse arrives! I think we did pretty well.

On top of cleaning it out, we donated a ton of Mason's old toys, with his permission and help, that he no longer plays with because he has so many,  plus many other items were donated as well. It took 2 trips in our van to get all the stuff to Goodwill. Which is GREAT! I am so pleased with our progress and honestly feel like a little weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Now...to continue and do other projects I have for myself...What to do next? Painting?

You can compare this first image of our main storage room to the lower 2 to see how much we actually did do! 

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey! 

FIXATE Turkey Sloppy Joes

My nutrition has been not good lately. I have been craving all things carbs. And sadly I have started giving in. I have noticed two things from it. 1) My body doesn't like carbs and reacts negativity to them. I am bloated and just feel sluggish. And my body just doesn't digest them too well. 2) The more I eat of them the MORE I WANT THEM! It is not good. So it is time to cut back and get back to what I know I should be doing, and DO IT! NO EXCUSES!

I am already planning and prepping for next weeks meals. I need to get back on track and switch up the same old, same old meals with some different ones. I went digging in my cupboards and pulled out FIXATE! I love this book, and I can't believe it has been up in my shelves for so long. Everything tastes amazing and it is so easy to follow! This coming week I am making these Turkey Sloppy Joes. I think of this more sweet and savory because of the maple syrup. It just makes it so good! Check out the recipe, give it a try! And hey, if you want 100 other yummy, easy recipes, you can ORDER YOUR VERY OWN COPY TOO!

COOL THING: There are so many ways you can eat them! Check out the serving suggestions below!

Serving Suggestions: 
1) Serve open-faced on one slice of low-sodium whole-grain sprouted bread.
containers: 3.5 greens, 1 yellow, 1 red, 1 tsp
2) Serve over 1 cup Zoodles.
containers: 5 greens 1 red, 1/2 purple, 1 tsp
3) Serve over 1 cup cooked whole wheat pasta or quinoa
containers: 3.5 greens, 2 yellow, 1 red, 1 tsp
4) Serve in 2 large romain lettuce leaves
containers: 4 greens, 1 red, 1 tsp
5) Serve on 2 corn tortillas
containers: 3.5 greens, 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 tsp

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey!

Bump Update: 23 Weeks

Hello first trimester symptoms again! WHAT?!? Why, when? WHAT THE HECK? Seriously! I have been having some serious carb cravings and morning sickness. It is the craziest thing. And when I did give in to my cravings I felt like crap and had morning sickness. It was an evil cycle but for the most part it is what my body wanted. I am still trying to keep it clean. And will be cutting back on the carbs and eh-hem... Peanut M&M's. (they seem to be my sweets of choice for this pregnancy. Mason was ice cream, super thick chocolate shakes. Collin was Oreos. This one M&M's. I could eat them all day long! 



Oh and Monday, I got to see our little girl via ultrasound! I had my mid-pregnancy check up and everything looks great. The fun part was seeing her suck her thumb, yawn and the crazy part, seeing her kick at me and feeling it at the same time. I don't know why but it is just freaky cool! Since Monday she has been so active. I don't know what happened but it seems like she is kicking me all day and night long! Any time I want to rest she just starts going at it. "ROCK ME TO SLEEP MOM!" Anyways. It has been fun, but man she is very feisty!

 (Baby Elyse. Weighing in aprox. 1 pound 1 ounce.)

Total Weight Gain:  11 pounds total weighing in at 248.1 pounds. EEK! Well that jumped up didn't it!?! I was sick going into last week and at the beginning of this week I was up 10 because I had to weigh myself for my ultrasound appointment. So it is going up about 1/2-1 pound a week right now.

Symptoms: Just the regularly occurring headache, some morning sickness and CRAVINGS FOR CARBS! 

Baby’s Size: Papaya. Saw a papaya at the store yesterday and it was HUGE! 

Maternity Clothes: Yes, bottoms need to wear maternity or stretchy pants. Tops I wear maternity now and my bigger t-shirts.

Stretch Marks: I already have a ton that I got when I gained weight years ago. So nothing new.

Gender: GIRL!!! 

Sleep: I am only waking up once a night to go to the bathroom. I am flipping over from one side to the other a lot, but often times I end up on my back. She is starting to kick me awake at night now.

Miss Anything: Sleeping comfortably flat on my belly or back! Sleeping through the night. 

Cravings: CARBS! Big time. This is the first time where I just want to eat carbs, breads, pasta and goodies all day long! I have not been fighting it very well this week and have given in. Hence why my weight has probably gone up. Plus carbs don't really like me, so when I eat them my tummy gets all in a funk.

Aversions: nothing yet

Excited About: Picking out the coming home outfit and her first photo session outfits. (YES OUTFITS!) I can't wait to show you guys what I am getting! 

Workouts: Got in my workouts 4 days a this past week, which is awesome! I have been doing 21 Day Fix yoga & pilates specifically, Diary Of A Fit Mommy's Fit For Two 2nd Trimester workouts and the Beachbody On Demand Active Maternity 2nd Trimester workouts. 

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey!

Declutter Your Life

This week is our theme week in my FREE daily motivation and support group (You can click here to join!) And I wanted to share today's topic! 

Declutter- Have clutter? MUST CLEAN! Nothing makes me feel less organized than when I have piles of stuff on the counters, or just stuff in a place where it doesn’t belong. Not just that. But who has a junk drawer? Junk cabinet? Junk storage room? Messy pantry? Bathroom drawers? Junk food hiding in your house? ANYTHING! 

So we have a storage room in the basement that is a MESS! (check out the picture, and I can't believe I am showing you my messy house!) This is one of my “nesting” vibes I am having to clean this crap out. We have toys that aren’t played with. Broken chair, and just unorganized. It used to be organized, but we got in the habit of just throwing crap in there. Well, this weekend is the weekend that we are tackling that one room. (Yes we have another room to tackle too!)

HOW TO START DECLUTTERING YOUR HOUSE AND LIFE? 

1) Schedule a date this month that you can tackle one room. 

2) Set a reminder on your phone so you don't forget about it.

3) And don’t do it all the areas in one week. Break your house down and do just one room at a time so you don't get frustrated!

We all have areas that need to be picked up and cleaned. Pick something that just needs a little sprucing. And you won’t believe how much better you are feeling once you get it done!

What project are you scheduling to declutter? By the way all the areas I mentioned about where to declutter, yeah, those are the areas in my life I have to work on! So no judgements from me or anyone on what we have to declutter in our lives!

**I will update with pictures after this weekend with our more organized and cleaned room. So make sure you check back next week! You can view the RESULTS of our round 1 decluttering project here!

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey!