organizing Archives - Page 4 of 7 - Emily Roach Health Coach

homemaking, Meal Planning, menu planning, organizing

Monday Meal Plan Oct 7th

Happy October everyone! This week’s meal plan features freezer meals from Wildtree, the kid’s favorite dinner and prep for our friend’s annual pumpkin carving party. The freezer meal has become a life saver as I have a lot less time to cook with three kids four and under. The baby is always hungry as I’m prepping dinner so having the majority of dinner prepared is a huge help.

I generally make my freezer meals at the Wildtree workshops friends are hosting. If you want to do it on your own, these are two resources I would recommend.

From Your Freezer to Your Family: Slow Cooker Freezer Recipes eCookbook — $9.99

Not Your Mother’s Make-Ahead and Freeze Cookbook (currently 60% off in Amazon bargain books!)

Neat-os Reusable Bag Set (chop onions and peppers and store in these reusable bags) Don’t miss their cute snack size bags too. Kids can decorate their own and use them in their lunch box.

The hard part about freezer meals is always going to be finding some time to prep the meals. If you can, set aside a half hour and just start with two meals your family would like. I bet it will be so helpful on some busy weeknight, it will motivate you to try to make more.

Sunday~ Italian beef roast (slow cooker Wildtree freezer meal), steamed carrots, polenta. Apple crisp for dessert!

Monday~ Baked haddock with mushrooms and tomatoes, green beans and rice.

Tuesday~ Chicken nuggets, butternut squash and pasta

Wednesday~ Chicken tortilla soup (freezer meal) and cornbread

Thurday~ CORN {Clean Out Refrigerator Night}

Friday~ Pizza night

For more inspiration, see my past menus here, or the Pinterest board here, or OrgJunkie for a link-up of meal plans.

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October 6, 2013/2 Comments/by eroachwellness

bento box, Food, Giveaway, Kids, lunch, organizing, preschool, reuseable bags, toddlers

The Story Behind Lunch Love (Giveaway)

A few weeks ago, I was surprised by an email from Pinterest that had my Lunch Love board featured in it. It is one of my favorite boards and it has helped me create lots of healthy lunches for my kids. I think it’s no coincidence that my Lunch Love board is a favorite, as packing lunches was what first clued me in to living a more sustainable lifestyle.

My daughter started at day care and I was packing lunches for the first time. First it was breast milk and baby food, and then toddler food. Suddenly, there seemed to be a lot more waste happening. I wanted to make a switch and thankfully, there were lots of other mom-based business offering products to help. Reusable bags, cute toddler sized lunch boxes and kid friendly glass containers were suddenly a normal part of our lunch packing routine. After this switch in our routine, I made other small changes at home. Cloth napkins, cloth diapers, less paper towels, composting and so on. One small step kept leading to another and I was happy about cutting down on the waste happening…that’s really how the name Random Recycling came to be. I wanted to try to cut down on the massive amount of waste/stuff that was coming into our home when we first started having kids. Now the blog clearly has a larger focus and family nutrition is a big part of it.

Izy and Oly Kids Cloth Napkins

Lunch Love can be a fun part of your routine too. Get your kids involved picking out lunches. Pick up a copy of Weelicious Lunches(which is just awesome!) and get some new ideas on what to pack. Plus tips on “how” to pack kids lunch as it’s so important to keep it simple for them. The time available for lunch is generally short so keep food simple and easy to unwrap. Make sure their containers are easy to open so they can be independent eaters as they sit with their friends.

To kick off my Lunch Love Celebration Week, here is a fun giveaway to enter. One winner will get the following:

Rock the Lunch Box assortment of samples and coupons from Stonyfield, Annie’s and Horizon Organics
Izy and Oly cloth napkins, just the right size for little hands
Squooshi reusable squeeze pouches

Enter below using the Rafflecopter. Giveaway is open until midnight, Sat Sept 28th, 2013. Open to US residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Join me on Thursday night as I chat with Danielle Shea Tan, a health coach who will walk us through how to pack a healthy lunch for our kids. She will have tips for picky eaters and we will talk about how to create the right balance between healthy choices and kids favorites. RSVP for this Google + hangout and we will be talking online at 8:30 pm EST. During the talk, I’ll be giving away one copy of Weelicious Lunches to someone who has RSVP’d! See you there!

I hope you continue to find inspiration on the Lunch Love board. And thank you Pinterest peeps for sharing it!

I was a partner this summer with Rock the Lunch Box where real moms shared their favorite lunches. Check out the site for loads of ideas and photos. I also received samples of the Izy and Oly napkins and Squooshi pouches so I could test them out first. My kids love both fun accessories in the lunch box! The Weelicious Lunch link to Amazon is an affiliate link, which means this site gets a little kick-back at no cost to you.

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September 24, 2013/12 Comments/by eroachwellness

Food, Meal Planning, menu planning, organizing

Monday Meal Plan Sept 9 with The Fresh 20

This week’s meal plan is a little different. I’ve partnered with The Fresh 20 on their fall campaign to #getfresh, empowering children to take charge of their health. Making the right food choices for your family, and especially children, is so beneficial to long-term health.

Here’s a little more info on the #getfresh campaign:

The Fresh 20 supports healthy eating habits as kids head back to school this year. They’re on a mission to find The Freshest Kids in America by asking kids the question, “How do you #getfresh?” Utilizing any social platform, parents can submit either a video or a photo of how their children #getfresh on health. The campaign offers children and their parents a unique opportunity to get creative with their fresh and healthy habits and to get kids involved in their own health decisions. Check out their site for #getfresh back to school ideas.

This week’s meal plan features some of the menu options from The Fresh 20’s meal planning service. I was given a complimentary membership so I could get a sense of the variety in their dinner plans each week. There is a classic menu, gluten-free and vegetarian options. Newly added menus are For One, Kosher and Dairy Free. (I remember nursing baby #2 and having to go Dairy Free…this menu would have been a lifesaver!) My favorite part of the menu plan is that there is usually one bigger meal made that is then re-made into a new dinner later that week. We usually just eat leftovers but I’m inspired to reuse my leftover and be a little more creative with them go forward.

Sunday~ Hubby’s BBQ Birthday bash (Hence the late post today!) We had amazing grass-fed rib eye steaks, local corn, potato salad, salad with roasted golden beets, apple pie with apples from Smolak Farms, and peanut butter brownies. I haven’t been so full in a long time!

Monday~ BBQ Chicken Thighs. New recipe I’m testing out from The Healthy Lunchbox ebook. I want to see if the kids like it for dinner before I send it along for lunch. Always a good idea to test out new foods at home before sending them along to school. There will be broccoli and some pasta on the side. I’ll be sharing more about the ebook in the coming weeks as it’s a great resource for any parent in charge of making lunches every day.

Tuesday~ Cumin Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Peach Chutney. (Fresh 20 menu item). These will be used again for a later meal. We will have salad on the side with our garden tomatoes that are ripening fast and furiously.

Wednesday~ Whole Chicken in slow cooker. I love one pot meals like this where I can throw in the potatoes and carrots too. The kids love egg noodles so I’ll serve the dinner over some yummy noodles.

Thursday~ Chopped Asian Slaw. (Fresh 20 menu) Uses the leftover pork tenderloin and a little of the peach chutney to create an entirely new meal. I’m already excited about having nearly all of dinner ready ahead of time. There are also tips in each week’s meal plan on what you can prep ahead of time. (cutting veggies, spice mixes, etc.)

Friday~ Pizza night with our homemade dough. I have found the dough a little stickier when making it on warmer days. I think I need to increase the amount of flour in it by a little.

If you want to learn more about The Fresh 20, you can learn more at their newly redesigned website. With a membership, you get 5 dinners planned out for you using only 20 ingredients. I think it’s a great option if you really want to start meal planning, but need a little structure to get going. There’s also a really cool Pin 2 Win event happening with the Fresh 20’s Pinterest board. Check out the details here.

Other big news on the cooking front this week here…we just signed up with 4 families for 1/2 a cow!! Can’t wait to see what we get.

What are you making this week?

For more inspiration, see my past menus here, or the Pinterest board here, or OrgJunkie for a link-up of meal plans.

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September 9, 2013/by eroachwellness

back to school, birthday, Family, Giveaway, Kids, organizing, paper, Pinterest, shopping

Time to get mom organized for back to school (Giveaway)

When we think about back-to-school it’s usually about getting the kids ready. But really it’s mom’s time to get ready for back to school. Here’s some quick tips for getting Mom ready for afterschool sports, birthday parties, meal planning and more.

School Zone at Home

Pick a spot for backpacks. Have the kids leave them there when they get home and return them there after completing homework so they are ready for the morning.
Put together a craft supply basket with scissors, pencils, markers, etc. to be used in a homework zone. Now is the time to stock up with back to school sales.

Meal planning

Pick a Sunday afternoon to put together a few freezer meals for when life gets busy and you don’t have time to make dinner.
A new notebook and meal planning printables are a great way to stay organized. Make notes of what dinners are favorites and incorporate them into your week’s meal plan.
Pinterest is my go-to for meal planning. You can find my meal plan posts here and dinner recipes here. If you need some lunch box inspiration, head over to my Lunch Love board.

Play dates

Schedule one or two in advance so you can plan for some free time to check things off your list.
Mom contact cards make connecting easy on the playground or in passing at pickup time.

After school activities

Pack a bag in advance with sports gear, clean and ready to go. (Pack second small bag for siblings if they will be hanging out waiting)
Keep some snacks ready to go and prepackaged so getting out the door is a little easier.

Birthday Parties

Buy a few gifts at a time for a certain age group so you are always ready
Gift tags are handy to have on hand and personalize a store wrapped gift.

To help get Moms (and Dads) ready for Back to School season, Tiny Prints is offering a great package of products to get you started! The giveaway is up to a $97 value!

5 sets of 24 gift tag stickers
1 – 5×8 lined notebook
100 – mommy/play date/contact cards

Giveaway is open until August 22nd to US and Canada residents only. (Canada must pay for shipping~ sorry!) Please enter using the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Get another chance to win by entering Tiny Prints Back to School contest for another $200 in prizes! Contest is open until August 28th.

I will also be receiving my own customized Tiny Prints back to school package…I can’t wait to pick out some new labels for the kids and I will get new mommy cards with all THREE kids names on them! All opinions shared here are my own.

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August 13, 2013/12 Comments/by eroachwellness

blogging, organizing, social media

Goodbye Google Reader, Hello BlogLovin

If you are busy this summer like me, you barely noticed that Google Reader has bit the dust. Thankfully there are a couple of new feed readers you can use to keep up with your favorite blogs. Many have a more visual format, similar to Pinterest. I think some of you like that sort of thing. 😉 In both cases below, you can import your current feeds. I do think this is a great opportunity to reduce the online clutter you may have and just start with your top 10 favorite blogs to read.

Bloglovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

This is my current go-to blog reader. I use it primarily on my iPhone so download the app too. My only con so far is you can’t pin from the mobile app. I hope they add this function in a future upgrade.

Feedly

Another popular option. I like being able to categorize my favorite blogs here. Overall though I like the Bloglovin layout better.

How do you keep up with your favorite blogs? Feed readers? Facebook? Or old-fashioned email? If you want to get all the latest posts delivered right to your inbox, head over here.

p.s. Thanks for your patience as I take a maternity leave/vacation this month. I’ll return next month with new stories!

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July 10, 2013/2 Comments/by eroachwellness

Food, Meal Planning, menu planning, organizing, shopping

Monday May 20 Meal Plan

As I prepared my meal plan this week, I thought about how many places I buy my food. There is the local grocery store (which also does our home deliveries), Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Costco and the farmer’s market in our town opens up June 2nd. I got into this new habit of shopping after I became a stay-at-home-mom and wanted to get the best food at the best price. I don’t hit every store every week, but at least two a week. We spend a lot of our monthly budget on food, even with me traveling to all these different stores. As I think about life with three little ones four and under, I think I’ll have to make some adjustments.

I wonder what other moms are prioritizing when it comes to shopping locations. Is it price? Is it selection? Is it how fast you can get there and get home? Meal planning has helped me stay on top of what is actually in our freezer/refrigerator to decrease the amount of food wasted. Now I’m going to make sure my meal planning allows me to visit one big store each week, plus one local stop for additional produce for the weekend. When we started making smoothies our produce stash started diminishing awfully quick! If you have suggestions of how to streamline the grocery store process, I would love to read them in the comment section.

On the menu this week…

Sunday~ Homemade Waldorf Chicken Salad for Daddy, Hot Dogs for the Kids. Mom’s off duty and heading to Rice Barn for a spicy dinner and a meet-up with local bloggers for some pre-summer catch-up.

Monday~ Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries

Tuesday~ Date night after the Magic Beans Drool Baby Expo in Boston

Wednesday~ Homemade Chicken Nuggets, steamed green beans and a side of pasta

Thursday~ Pasta Fagioli (meatless meal) and a side salad

Friday~ Mixing it up with Pulled Pork Cemita, Veggie Rice and Guacamole

Saturday~ Pizza night is bumped to Saturday in case we get together with friends and need to make a bigger dinner. Did you catch my recipe post last week for our homemade pizza dough? I tried it with some whole wheat bread flour, but wouldn’t do it again. A little whole wheat is fine but it’s much better with mostly white bread flour.

Homemade Waldorf Chicken Salad for Sunday night

What’s on your menu this week? Any great grocery shopping tips to share?

For more inspiration, see my past menus here, or the Pinterest board here, or OrgJunkie for a link-up of meal plans.

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May 19, 2013/1 Comment/by eroachwellness

baby, Food, Meal Planning, menu planning, organizing

Monday Meal Plan May 6

Happy Cinco de Mayo on this Sunday night. We enjoyed not one, but two, Mexican themed dinners with friends this weekend. Both were delicious and it was wonderful to relax with great company. This week’s meal plan is pretty streamlined as we try to clear through what we have and I start making freezer meals for when the baby arrives.

I’m testing out some recipes from the Mama and Baby Love From Your Freezer to Your Family: Slow Cooker Freezer Recipes eCookbook. I met Stephanie the author at Blissdom and she was kind enough to send me a copy to review. She recognizes how handy it is for moms to have some freezer meals packed away for those days when you are not up for making a big dinner. When the new baby arrives I know I’ll be happy I have a few of these recipes tucked away so we can still eat healthy, even when I’m too tired to cook. The recipes use real food ingredients so it totally works for our family.

On the menu this week…

Sunday~ Cinco de Mayo dinner

Monday~ Chicken Soup using leftovers from last week’s chicken.

Tuesday~ Burgers, Salad

Wednesday~ CORN (Clean Out Refrigerator Night)

Thursday~ Eggs for dinner

Friday~ Pizza night

Saturday~ Weekend away

Sunday is Mother’s Day…hoping to be up at the beach for the day. May need to plan for a BBQ early dinner.

For more inspiration, see my past menus here, or the Pinterest board here, or OrgJunkie for a link-up of meal plans.

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May 5, 2013/by eroachwellness

home, Kids, organizing, play, preschool, project simplify, toddlers

Creating a Play Closet

It’s the last week of Project Simplify and the task was to finish a “Put Off Project.” Hmmm…where to start? As we prepare for the new baby’s arrival in the coming month(?) we have been frantically purging the house of unused items, extra furniture and dealing with issues that come from having siblings move in together. The biggest task of all is to organize the kids playroom area. They have a great selection of toys, games, crafts and activities, but not a great place to store them. First part of Operation Playroom was to clean out an overcrowded closet and make it a cozy play closet for the kids.

This truly is a “closet under the stairs” play area. The before picture shows how crazy crowded the closet was with bedding, baby toys in storage, gift wrap and my wedding dress. (See how I organized my gift wrap stash in a previous post.) Some of the bedding was donated, the baby toys were paired down and stored in the nursery and my wedding dress actually still needs a new home. It is amazing to me how much dead space there was in the closet once I saw it in the photo. If the kids outgrow this space, I’ll add in some vertical shelving.

Next up was to add some light to the closet since there are no overhead fixtures. I found one nightlight that goes on the wall that the kids can turn on and it automatically shuts off. I plan to add another one for a little more light in case the kids want to read in the nook at the back.

There are two main activities in the cozy nook, dress-up and baby dolls. Both of these activities tend to sprawl when the kids get into them with their friends. My hope it to potentially contain some of the craziness behind closed doors. I used the removable Command Hooks to hang up the dress up items and the accessories are stored in two baskets below. A princess needs her shoes, bag, gloves and tiaras close at hand.

Madison’s favorite part was actually the bedding at the back that we saved for guests. I may expand this space a little more so it’s truly a cozy spot for the kids. I’ll also be on the lookout for two additional dress up items when I shop the Parent Talk Sale this weekend. We have a large assortment of tutu’s, but not a lot of gender neutral options.

The other addition to the room is this sweet wall art I found and printed out myself. I may add in a few more frames of quotes in the realm of the importance of pretend play. I started saving a number of them, and other playroom ideas, on my Pinterest boards.

For more organizing ideas, head over to the collection of posts on Simple Mom’s week four round up of “put off” projects. You can see all of my other Project Simplify posts here. Thanks for everyone’s comments on the past few Project Simplify projects. I hope to have more updates for Operation Playroom once our new storage unit arrives from Ikea!

I’m sharing this over at OrgJunkie too!

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May 1, 2013/by eroachwellness

When I first saw this collection of ebooks I was pretty excited. I already have some of them so was familiar with the authors. This ebook library is pretty big, and each book isn’t for everyone. However, there probably is at least 4-5 books that you can learn from making the price of the package worthwhile. It’s a homemaking theme, so it covers food, budgeting, parenting, schooling, marriage, health, blogging, holidays and more. It’s not just for my eco-friendly readers, but for any mom, sister, grandparent, newlywed or blogger that is interested in building up her home-keeping resources. (I should say dad, brother or grandfather too, right.)

Why am I buying the ebook bundle?

I am already a fan of ebooks. They are with me on the go in my iPhone or iPad, plus I have others organized on my laptop. When I download a bundle, I have everything go to my laptop. Then I pick and choose as needed and email it to myself to open in either my Kindle app or iBooks app so I have it when I’m waiting at a doctor’s office or traveling.

The reason I’m buying my own bundle is because I wanted these specific books for myself. I’ve seen them advertised and now is the right time to purchase them, plus the balance of the library.

iPhone Photography: The Visual Guide by Alli @ Alli Worthington($9.97)
Tell Your Time by Amy @ Blogging with Amy ($2.99)
Just Making Ice Cream by Marillyn @ Just Making Noise ($12.00)
Real Food, Real Easy by various bloggers @ The Humbled Homemaker ($9.95)

The cost of these four books alone is $34.91 so the low bundle price of $29.97 already gives me a deal, plus I’ll get all the free products too. Keep reading to the end of the post (sorry it’s really long!) and the freebies are noted at the end.

Some of my favorite ebooks I have already read and would recommend:

Mindset for Moms by Jamie @ Steady Days ($4.99) (FAVORITE ebook, keeps me sane as a mom to a preschooler and toddler)
How to Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too by Mandi @ Life Your Way ($12.00)
Simple Blogging: Less Computer Time, Better Blogging by Rachel @ Small Notebook ($8.00)

The Details

For 6 days only, more than 75 widely-known bloggers and authors in the homemaking sphere have joined together to offer 97 of their most popular eBooks and eCourses, valued at just over $600, for the incredibly low price of $29.97!

More than anything, our goal for this sale was for it to be, well… ultimate! We firmly believe that you will not find a more comprehensive collection of homemaking resources anywhere on the web, and particularly not in this price range. For this low price, you gain access to every single one of these resources, so that you can customize your own collection to contain exactly the ones you want and know you’ll use.

This library of homemaking helps include topics such as mothering, organization and cleaning, recipes and kitchen helps, home education, spiritual growth for both moms and kids, home décor and DIY, pregnancy and baby care, frugal living, health and fitness, and even work-from-home and financial tools.

To sweeten the pot, we’ve also teamed up with 10 companies to bring you over $140 in bonus offers, giving you an affordable opportunity to get products you’ll use and love for only the cost of shipping, or in some cases, entirely for free!

What’s Included in the Sale?

When you purchase The Ultimate Homemaking eBook collection you will get instant access to any of the 97 eBooks and eCourses listed below.

PLUS over $140 of FREE Bonuses

The Ultimate Homemaking eBook collection comes with more than $140 of FREE Bonuses from 10 companies that we know you’ll love. More on these bonuses below.

Please note: This collection is only available from 9 a.m. EST on April 29th to 11:59 p.m. EST on May 4th. There will be no late sales offered.

PLUS, You will receive FREE Bonuses from these companies…

A FREE Two-Month Membership to Fit2B Studio (for new members) or $20 off a Yearly Membership (for current members), where their wholesome workouts for the whole family are tummy safe and particularly target Diastasis Recti (split abs). ($19.98 value. No shipping restrictions.)

A $15 store credit to TruKid. With products like their aware-winning sun care, they are dedicated to providing all natural skin and hair care for kids, babies, and now pets. ($15.00 value. Standard shipping applies. International shipping available.)

Your choice of incredible natural products like sea salt and clay for FREE. Choose from the Redmond Trading Earthpaste Bundle ($24.90 value) or the Facial Mud Bundle ($26.90 value). (Standard shipping applies. Continental US only.)

Your choice of a FREE heirloom sourdough starter or FREE yogurt starter from Cultures for Health, the leading supplier of starter cultures and supplies for making cultured and fermented foods ($12.95 value. US & CAN addresses only. Standard shipping applies.)

Your choice of: a FREE 3-Month Subscription (for new accounts) or 30% off a One Year Subscription. Plan to Eat is an online menu planner that uses your recipes, scheduled for the days you want them. ($15.00 value. No shipping restrictions.)

A FREE Culinary Herbs Assorted Seed Pack Check just in time for spring planting from www.wheatgrasskits.com, a living whole foods company. ($11.95 value. Standard shipping applies to all US states and territories- no international shipping for seeds.)

Get $10 off Union28’s original “my husband rocks” tee. Their marriage apparel lets you celebrate your spouse in style. ($10.00 value. Standard shipping rates apply. International shipping available, but free shipping only available within USA.)

A $10 store credit plus 1 FREE lip balm from Bee All Natural. Their whole body products nourish and heal, and are made using only the highest quality, food grade, organic ingredients. ($13.49 value. Standard shipping applies. International shipping available.)

A FREE 2 oz. bottle of your choice of liquid herbal formula from TriLight Health. They specialize in fast acting, great tasting natural herbal remedies. ($12.95 value or more. Standard shipping applies, within the USA only.)

Your choice of 3 FREE ePlanners OR a 3-Month FREE Membership to ListPlanIt, whose mobile lists will help to organize your life. ($15.00 value. No shipping restrictions.)

The fine print:

Bonus Offers

Each bonus offer can be redeemed once only per eBook Bundle purchase.
For each bonus offer, transaction numbers or proof of purchase may be required at the time of redemption.
All bonus offers are free gifts from the bonus sponsors, are their sole responsibility to provide, and are subject to availability.
All bonus offers expire at midnight on May 19th, 2013 (2 weeks from the last day of this sale).

General

It is your responsibility to download and back-up your purchase within the 1-month download time-frame. With proof of purchase, we can renew download links up until August 1st, 2013. After this date we will no longer have access to the books and will not be able to provide any new links to download.
Due to the nature of this sale, there will be no refunds available. However, we would invite you to read our Frequently Asked Questions page to learn more about the file types, the download process, how the bonus offers work, etc.

Please note: This collection is only available from 9 a.m. EST on April 29th to 11:59 p.m. EST on May 4th. There will be no late sales offered, so make sure that you get your bundle right away!

This post includes affiliate links, and I make a portion of the sale of each ebook bundle. Thanks for your support of this site!

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April 29, 2013/1 Comment/by eroachwellness

baby, cleaning, Etsy., Family, Kids, organizing, play, preschool, project simplify

Creating a Quiet Activity Desk for Project Simplify Part 2

The Project Simplify challenge this week became a little more in-depth so I decided to split it out into two separate posts. This project features the creation of a quiet activity desk for my preschooler. I used some wasted space to carve out a special area for her to enjoy in the nursery when I’m busy with the new baby next month.

I recently had an interior designer, Dina from Honey & Fitz, come for a visit to help me plan out the kid’s room as it shifts from a girly one to a shared girl/boy bedroom. We also reviewed the layout of the nursery and debated what to do with this random desk space that was built into the room. We never used it as a desk, even when the room was my home office. Once I cleared off all the clutter, including the day care notes from years past, the desk looked so lonely. I realized that it could be a good place for the kid’s to be entertained while I’m busy nursing the new baby. This led to the creation of the “Quiet Desk.”

The desk offers great work space and it’s just the right size for a child. Madison said, “I can do my homework here.” Cute since she is a long way off from homework days, but she already gets the concept of it. While I’m happy the desk is now functional, I would love to add a couple more interesting things on the wall to look at. Maybe a fun map to start talking about geography, or some hanging clipboards with activity sheets attached to them. The goal is to have some activities that the kids can do independently when I don’t have any hands free.

When I search on Etsy for Quiet Books, there are so many fun options, depending on the age of your child. I really like this quiet book from Handcrafting Harmony as it offers lots of fine motor skill practice.

Source

I’m curious to see how well the two “big kids” share this new space. When I introduced it to them it was a hit, except it’s a little tight for two little people at the same time. I also need to find a little place mat as I think the crayons will soon decorate the desk instead of paper the way my little guy colors.

What other activities would you add to this quiet space? Any other tips for entertaining older kids while you are busy nursing a newborn?

For Part 1 of this week’s Project Simplify, check out the How to Organize Your Gift Wrap post.

For more organizing ideas, head over to the collection of posts on Simple Mom’s week three round-up of “pile” projects. You can see all of my other Project Simplify posts here. Up next week~ the put off project! You know you have one…

This is shared with Growing Slower’s Tuesday Baby link-up

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April 25, 2013/5 Comments/by eroachwellness

Monday Meal Plan Oct 7th

The Story Behind Lunch Love (Giveaway)

Monday Meal Plan Sept 9 with The Fresh 20

What are you making this week?

Time to get mom organized for back to school (Giveaway)

Monday May 20 Meal Plan

On the menu this week…

Monday Meal Plan May 6

On the menu this week…

Creating a Play Closet

Why I am buying the Ultimate Homemaking eBook Library

Why am I buying the ebook bundle?

The Details

What’s Included in the Sale?

PLUS over $140 of FREE Bonuses

Home & Property {Cleaning, Organizing, Decor}

Educational Children’s Resources

Budgeting {Finance & Time}

In the Kitchen {Recipes and Cooking}

Pregnancy & Baby Care

Holidays & Special Events

Spiritual Growth

Marriage & Romance

Motherhood

Health & Fitness

Beauty

Working from Home & Blogging

Ecourses

PLUS, You will receive FREE Bonuses from these companies…

The fine print:

This post includes affiliate links, and I make a portion of the sale of each ebook bundle. Thanks for your support of this site!

Creating a Quiet Activity Desk for Project Simplify Part 2

Free Meal Plan

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