Preteen Parenting: Episode 5 Say YES

As parents, it's easy to get into the habit of saying no when things pop up or aren't on your radar.  Today we're going to talk about a great way to connect with your older kids with one simple word.

YES.

Look for ways to say YES to your preteens.

They are probably living in a world with lots of nos.  No, you can't have a phone.  No, you can' t go to that event.  No, you can't stay up that late.  No, you can't watch that movie or listen to that music.  No, now is not the right time for that.  No, you can't wear that.  You get it.

I have found that the more little things I can say YES to, the better.

I'll give you some examples.  When things come up or requests come my way, I try to really think if there is a way to say YES or a way to make it happen.  It doesn't always end up with a YES, but I can tell that attitudes improve when I find ways to say YES.

1.  I said YES when the big kids asked to have friends over after school even though I wanted to say no.  Usually I try to come up with a compromise.  If your homework is done, you can play with friends.  If your room is tidy, you can invite someone over.  If you help me fold laundry or dry dishes, then we can run that errand.

2. Can I invite a friend over?  YES.  We ended up with a free weekend day and Olive spontaneously asked if she could invite one of her best friends over.  She borrowed my phone to text her friend's mom to make plans and the girls got to spend a couple of hours together.  The chatted, painted nails, played outside and listened to music.  I could tell that Olive appreciated that YES.  Inviting a friend over wasn't on my daily to do list or radar so I'm glad that I heard her out.

3. Will you fix hot chocolate for us?  After school smoothies?  YES.

4. Can you help me make flash cards to study for my test tomorrow?  YES.  Now we have a set spot with flash card making materials.  I enjoyed helping her study and practice her skills.

5. Will you take us on a bike ride?  YES

6. Can you help me come up with a recipe and plan to sell a product for market day?  YES.  Remember that homemade play-doh post yesterday?  It's been a big success and a good connection point for us.

7. I feel like I'm too old to do this.  Can I just watch this time?  YES.

8. I'm noticing this issue or this problem.  Can you help me solve it?  YES.  I listen to the problem and then go shopping for the right products to fix it.  This has been great for skin care, hygiene and preteen wardrobe issues that have come up.  Shop at places like Walmart, Amazon or Old Navy that have great return options so that you can figure out the right fit for you.

9. I want to read more, but I don't have any good books.  Can you help me?  YES.  We either visit the library, research good books together and put them on hold at our local branch or recently we signed up for a Hoopla account so that Olive can check out books and read them on her tablet.

10. Anything you want to talk about?  YES.  I get that question a lot.  Especially at bedtime so I try to have a couple of topics/questions prepared to chat about.  Some days I don't need them and other days it's helpful to have some talking points.

I hope these ideas give you some YES inspiration when you're thinking of connecting with your preteens.

6 Ingredient Homemade Play-Doh

Have you ever made homemade play-doh?

I grew up with a mom who made homemade play-doh so I had to continue the tradition with my own kids.  This recipe is so easy and you can easily add the ingredients to your next grocery pick up order.  The recipe is fast to make and the play-doh lasts for 1-2 weeks if you keep it in a ziploc bag.  

I've made play-doh for my kids, when we had friends over to play and for a whole class.  It's a really inexpensive, fun activity to do with kids and they love when you let them pick their own color of play-doh.  When Olive was in Pre-K, I made a class set of play-doh for her Christmas party and Olive requested we make more this Fall.  

Homemade Play-Doh Recipe:

1 cup flour

1 cup warm water

1/2 cup salt

1 T lemon juice

1 t vegetable oil

liquid food coloring

Directions:

Add everything to a saucepan and stir until well combined.  Add food coloring, vegetable oil, lemon juice and water back to back to get the best colored play-doh.  If you wait until it's well combined to add the food coloring, the color won't mix in well.  Stir the mixture with a spatula as it thickens up. If you have older kids, you can ask them to help you stir.  Keep stirring until it gets to a good play-doh consistency.  Then put in on the counter or a plate and knead it.  It's warm so I usually knead it the first minute or two and then pass it on to the kids.

You'll be the favorite mom in the neighborhood when you set up a play-doh factory in your kitchen!  The kids loved using my utensils to chop and create.

Big kids will love it!

Toddlers will love it!

We experimented with mix ins.  Cinnamon was fun to sprinkle in but didn't add much of a smell.  These sprinkles were great to mix in once the play-doh cooled.

We learned about coloring mixing.

We made birthday cakes.

And Grimace shakes!

And the 5th graders really enjoyed shopping Olive's play-doh shop at school!  We made pumpkin play-doh. and put it in bags to sell at her class market.

We also made look alike Crumbl Cookie play-doh to sell.  This was a big hit!

I hope you have someone in your life to make play-doh for!  It's been so fun for us to make the past month or so.  I'm going to make sure that I always have these ingredients on hand now that the weather is turning color and we might have some snow days in our future.  Let me know if you have any questions!

4 Charcuterie Board Dinner Short Cuts

It's been a while since I put a charcuterie board on the dinner menu so my family was excited to see it last week.  I grabbed their favorite things and used up the last bits of things we had in the pantry to pull together a delicious dinner board.

I have some simple short cuts to share with you that will make a charcuterie board dinner even more appealing!

Short Cut #1: We had a little leftover pizza, but not enough for a whole dinner.  I heated it up in the oven and it was the perfect warm food addition to our board.

Short Cut #2: Heat up a premade warm appetizer like Spinach Artichoke Dip.  It'll make dinner prep easier and the warm food will help fill everyone up at dinner time.

Short Cut #3: Grab this Entertainment Cracker Collection at Sams right  now!  It'll be perfect for dinners and apps all holiday season long.  We tried the Harvest Wheat Crackers and the Club Crackers and both were really good.

Short Cut #4 - Prechop as much as you can!  I had free time in the afternoon so I chopped all of our cheese and fruits/veggies.  I also grabbed all of the salty snacks from the pantry and put them together in one container.  Both of these things made it so easy for me to build my board at dinner time.  You can even chop everything up the night before so that your dinner will come together really quickly.

And just in case you're a tiny bit nosey or curious what our dinner boards look like at the end of a meal...

Just a little bit of leftovers that are perfect for school lunches!

Would this set up work for your family??

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!  I hope you've had a nice week.  The time change has us dragging over here, but we've enjoyed some nice weather this week.  We survived family pictures and solo parenting last weekend and are excited to go to a Friendsgiving dinner this weekend.

Did you catch my blog posts this week?

Breakfast Bundt Sandwiches - such a yummy breakfast recipe!

Extra Halloween Candy Cookies - my middle guy says these are my best cookies ever.

Unpopular Opinions - My most popular post of the Fall!  The comments are just as interesting as the post!

Now onto my favorites:

1. Leo & Mom Days

I'm trying hard to really enjoy the days of me being 100% in charge of Leo's schedule.  We do a mix of running errands, toddler activities and lunching with our favorite people.  Jason's Deli or Chick-Fil-A are his favorite spots.  Also, his new fleece from Walmart is my favorite.  It's under $10 and looks very Patagonia-esque.

2. Amazon Favorites

I've got two of the cutest Amazon finds to show you today!  I'm loving both!

I ordered a pack of 100 of these mini rubber ducks to use with my Elf on the Shelf plans for December.  They are such great quality and my kids are going to love hunting for 100 little duckies in our house.  I'm going to hide them in their pockets, their bedrooms, their lunch box and more.  It would also be fun to use them with your elves to announce a Christmas bubble bath.  They're on sale and really cute.

 

My 5th grader loves her Stanley so much but didn't love carrying around an open straw.  We looked around on Amazon and found these darling animal straw toppers.  The price is awesome and the quality is even better.  She has this first set and the rest are on her wish list.  She's been using them for a few weeks and they are in perfect condition.  Preteen and mom approved.

    

3. Three is Messy

Leo has had a messy week.  So many baths.  So much laundry.  But look at that cute face.  Three is a messy age.

4. Time Change Snuggles

We have not enjoyed the time change this week, but I have loved finding Leo snuggled up with his siblings.

5. Go Aces!

We kicked off the UE Purple Aces basketball season this week.  The whole family went and sat by my dad.  The kids loved the snacks and the basketball.  We sit by my Dad and Kevin's parents are not too far away.  The kids ate popcorn with my dad and then Kevin's mom got them Dippin Dots.  Perfect evening if you ask them.

6. Clinic Progress

Kevin's newly renovated psychology clinic on campus is coming together nicely!  We came to check out the furniture and see how all of the finishes are looking.  He got to pick out most of it so it's neat to see his vision for the clinic come together.

7. Birthday Party

We went to a family party and Leo asked Grandpa if he could help him blow out his candles.  He loves blowing out the candles, but doesn't love the extra attention.  The weather was so nice!

8. Thanksgiving tour

My house is decorated for Thanksgiving.  I love my cute turkey collection so much!  Olive made me this Happy Thanksgiving banner last year and I'm so glad that I saved it.  It's my favorite.

9. Cousins at the park

We met our cousins at the park and the kids had so much fun!

10. Kevin Goes Camping

Kevin went on his first hiking/backpacking/camping adventure with some friends from work.  He had a good time and learned a lot about camping.  His group hiked fast and he was proud of his camping gear - that chair and the coffee set up were key to enjoying his time in the woods.  The kids are eager to do some backyard camping with him next.

Have a great weekend!  I'll see you back here on Monday.

Linking up with Tanya for Prime Purchases and Momfessionals for Friday Favorites

Unpopular Opinions

I have some unpopular opinions to share with you today.

Let's see if we agree!  Or agree to disagree!

1. I never decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving.  My house is decorated with turkeys, pumpkins and ready for Thanksgiving.  I know cute turkeys are hard to find, but I've been collecting them for years.  I really don't want to see anything Christmas at my house until after Thanksgiving.  I do start shopping for Christmas and tucking things away for Christmas, but that's it - Christmas music, movies and decoration happen after Thanksgiving for us.

2. I know Elf on the Shelf isn't for everyone, but I'm so excited for some elf activities at our house in December.  Anytime you can get your preteen excited about something, you stick with it!  I've been collecting fun things to do and surprise my kids with for months.  That way I can enjoy December and not have to run around like crazy to find elf supplies.

3. I don't understand people who pay money to work on their yard or plant trees and then refuse to water them.  We live in an area of our city with lots of new construction and it's wild to me to watch things die.

4. I'm over holiday gift guides on social media and we're still weeks away from Christmas!  It seems like everyone is putting out their gift guides and they all just blur together.  The only way I enjoy and shop gift suggestions is when people I follow share items that their family owns and loves.  I love those recommendations and often shop them.  The huge gift guides of items someone thinks 10 year old girls would love aren't very helpful to me.

5. Do you ever start to wonder about products when you are seeing them promoted online 24/7?  I'm looking at your Nutrafol, AG1, powder drinks, Magic Spoon, Tommy John and more.  I'm sure some are wonderful, but they can't all be life changing, right?

6. I'm the only one at my house who loves doing family pictures.  I don't love the scheduling/watching the weather portion, but I do love helping everyone pick out outfits and updating our pictures for the year.  And sending out photo Christmas cards is always a highlight of my year (minus the crazy postage costs these days).

7. Super chunky, white tennis shoes are not cute.  I love that tennis shoes have gotten cute and colorful and there are pairs for every type of outfit, but those super chunky white ones do not catch my eye.

8. I hate that so many little kids have phones.  My first grader and fifth grader are both in classes with plenty of cell phones.  I wish more parents would wait.  We don't have a hard and fast age to give cell phones.  We're learning as we go and educating ourselves about the best devices and online safety options for our family.  Kevin and I got cell phones when we were 18 and headed off to college.  I think kids today would be better off with that set up.

9. I would pick going to a Morgan Wallen concert over a Taylor Swift concert any day.

10. I can't wait to get my kid's school pictures for the year.  Some years they're the best and some years they are just so so.  But I love documenting them with a school picture every year.

11. I do not understand the current math curriculums being taught in elementary school.  Let me explain.  The steps and logic are so drawn out.  A simple problem that would take me seconds to solve is broken down into many parts and takes up a whole page to figure out.  There is less emphasis on memorizing facts and more emphasis on learning tricks and steps.  I really need to do some research on this curriculum and the data behind it because it doesn't make sense to me.  We arrive at the same answer, it's just that I do it in a fraction of the time that the new math teaches.  Maybe I'm old or maybe the old way was better.  I need to do some digging on this subject.

12. The pumpkin spice Frosty at Wendy's looks disgusting.  A Frosty should be chocolate.  End of story.

13. I suggested to Kevin that he should hide his ear buds because of Leo.  He didn't think that was necessary.  Ask him how he likes using one ear bud  now instead of two right now!?  Haha.  I'm currently on the hunt for ear bud #2 and Leo is no help.

14. Super wide leg denim doesn't look great on anyone.  I'm not talk about flares or bell bottom type pants.  I'm talking about the jeans where you could fit your whole body into one leg.  Don't get me started on the horseshoe jean trend.  They're awful!

Did we agree or disagree!?  Let's chat in the comments!

Extra Halloween Candy Cookies

I bet you've got an abundance of Halloween candy right now.  Am I right?

I had the kids help me make some Halloween Candy Cookies and Fletcher said they were the best cookie I've ever made.  And he loves all my cookies!

You just need to grab all the candy that you think would taste delicious in a chocolate chip cookie.  Unwrap and chop them up.

We grabbed M&Ms, Reese's Pieces, Reese Cups, Hershey Bars, Cookies and Cream Hershey Bars and more.  I chopped up 1 1/2 cups of candy and then cut my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe from 2 cups of chocolate chips to 1 cup of chocolate chips.  Mix it all together and YUM!

They're the easiest, yummiest cookies.  And your kids will love helping you come up with the recipe.

Pretty cookie tip: Chop a few extra candies to add to the top of your warm cookies.  I added in some extra Reese's cups and M&Ms right when the cookies came out of the oven.

Let me know if you try them!

You can also chop up your favorite chocolates and add them to the top of a pan of brownies before you bake them.  That's another great way to use your leftover Halloween candy.

Breakfast Bundt Sandwiches

I have the most delicious recipe to share with you today!  

I saw the idea on instagram and then worked on a recipe of my own.  It take a few steps (unless you have multiple bundt pans) and it is a recipe that you can assemble ahead of time.  That makes it perfect for the holidays or family gatherings.

Hello, Breakfast Bundt Sandwiches.

Ingredients:

2 cans of crescent rolls

12 eggs

salt and pepper & favorite seasonings to taste

1 lb thick bacon

6 slices of sharp cheddar

Directions:

Grease your bundt pan very very well.  Scramble the eggs and seasonings and then bake it at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until the top is set and slightly browned.  Bake your bacon at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes until it is crispy enough for you.  Bake your crescent rolls in a greased bundt pan.  Lay both cans of crescent rolls into the pan and pinch them together to get make one log.  Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.  Let cool and then slice in half.

While the crescent roll bundt is cooling.  Gather the egg layer, the bacon and the cheese slices.  I did a layer of half slices of cheese all around the bottom bundt.  Then added eggs, bacon and top of the bundt.  Pop it in the oven for 5-8 minutes until the cheese is melted.  Let cool for a few minutes and slice into individual sandwiches.  It's surprisingly easy to slice and serve for a crowd.

Recipe made 15 sandwiches for me, but you can cut them as big or small as you want.

Make ahead tips:

You can do the egg and bacon layer the night before.  Just let them cool and refrigerate them.  Then reheat them in the oven when you are ready to make your sandwiches.  Make the crescent roll portion the day you need it.  You want that part to be as fresh out of the oven as possible.  Then assemble everything and pop it in the oven to melt the cheese.

The trickiest layer is the eggs because they really wanted to stick to my greased pan.  I used a small spatula to ease my eggs out of the pan.

I will say that even though it didn't come out perfectly, it didn't matter one bit on the sandwiches.  You couldn't tell at all and it still sliced and served perfectly.  

I'm drooling!!

This was so good that I'm making it again for dinner this week!

Would your family or friends enjoy these Breakfast Bundt Sandwiches?  I'm obsessed.