Adventuring with Mom (4 Tips)

My kids love to play outside year round.

As they are getting older, they are better about bundling up, keeping moving and enjoying the seasons.  This year we have started hiking and adventuring together.  Most of the time it's just me and the kids going on outings during the day while Kevin is at work.

I've learned a few things that make my motto #adventureawaits doable with 3 kids.  

I first started thinking about that idea of looking for adventures to do with the kids everyday when Olive was little.  It's easy to stay home and stick to your routine, but I knew we were missing out on adventures.  I pride myself in being able to find really affordable or free things to do with the kids.  This hike is totally free at a public park.  It's become part of our routine to look for new things to do or to try and call them adventures.  The kids will ask - what adventure are we going on today and I love it.  I'm hoping this is something we can start doing now and continue doing as they get older.  Olive is asking to do some camping so we'll see where that goes.

4 Tips for Adventuring with Kids:

1. Take care of yourself.

Make sure everyone uses the restroom, has a snack and has a water bottle to go.  I have snacks and water in the car for after our hike.  I can't carry all of that plus the baby so they know they fill up before we start our hike.

2. Weather check.

Good walking shoes for everyone (crocs in the Summer and socks/shoes in the cold months) & the Ergo carrier for the baby.  Also do a weather check to ensure that everyone has the right clothes - hats, hoodies, socks/tennis shoes, a blanket for the baby, etc.

3. Share the game plan ahead of time.  

We are going to hike, explore, stay together and then we can swing by the playground at the end if we are all having fun.  We also usually do a pep talk on the way to our adventure.  I'll say things like I need your help with... reading the signs along the path, reading the story for our story walk, let's look for leaves or let's be sure to explore a new trail.

4. Let the kids be the guide.  

Ask them to point out things they want to do along the way - check out a new trail, climb on a fallen tree, find the biggest leaf or look for walking sticks.  I'm obviously the guide and in charge of keeping us safe, but as long as I know where we are, it's fun to let them make decisions about our hike.

This past weekend I took the kids to one of our favorite local parks.  It's just a few minutes from our house and the kids adore the place.  My mom's group is in charge of maintaining a story walk here.  There are signs along the path and one of our board members posts a story each month for you to hike and read through.  Now that Olive is old enough she reads the story to us when we stop at each sign.

We spend 60-90 minutes here and always enjoy ourselves.  The forest is always a little different, new things to see, new things to check out and the leaves are super pretty right now.

Here's how we like to hike:

Leo is happy to ride in the Ergo as long as I have his paci and keep him warm.  Sometimes he'll even nap as we hike.

The most asked question of this hike - Mom, would this be a good walking stick??

The quest for the biggest leaf.

These two love to climb.  They are getting better at tree climbing and usually just need a little help from me.  I gave them each a boost.  Look at these proud smiles.

It's really interesting to me to see their navigating skills improve.  I've got a great sense of direction so it cracks me up when they try to talk me into going the right way back in the opposite direction.  They're getting better at looking for clues and paying attention to their surroundings along the trails.  Only one was right about how to get back...

Would your kids enjoy something like this?? 

Halloween Weekending

Hey, friends!  How was your weekend?  We had a fun Halloween weekend!  Keeping true to ourselves - we edited our Halloween plans and refused to cancel them.  We made some changes to be outdoors, keep our distance, but we still saw friends and had a blast.  

We trick or treated the golf course at the country club, ate smores and had dinner outside.  It was my dream weather - cold enough to wear a flannel and jackets.  We watched some football (Notre Dame & IU won - yay!) and the kids got flu shots.  The kittens also got lots of play time.  The weather has been so nice.  October in Indiana is really lovely.

Peal & Penny getting ready to trick or treat :)  Fitting them into things is getting a little trickier since they are A. getting bigger and B. getting friskier.  

  The leaves are looking beautiful out of every window.

Trick or Treat the golf course.  We've been doing this since 2015 and love this tradition.  Fletcher loved being a dragon - he breathed fire any chance he got.  Olive was a good witch just like she'd planned and Leo is the cutest pumpkin (just like Olive & Fletcher were their first Halloweens).  The weather was perfect and we had a blast.  Half the fun is zooming around the golf course on a golf cart and then getting candy at all the stops is super sweet.

Lovely day!

The kids got a generous amount of candy.  They were thrilled to to come home to check out their loot.  I'm thankful that none of them like Twizzlers so I got them all.  Kevin got the Snickers and the kids decided the Whoppers, Tootsie Rolls and Air Heads were their favorites.

We're planning to trick or treat on Saturday, too.  We just stick to our neighborhood and so many of our neighbors have told the kids they have candy stocked up for them and can't wait to see them in costume.  I love our neighborhood.  What are your Halloween plans?

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!  Hope you've had a nice week.  We had a good one - lots of fun, Fall moments and nice weather.  Check out my favorite moments from this week:

1. Notre Dame football - We had a lot of fun wearing our game day gear and cheering for Notre Dame.  Doesn't Leo look cute in his football outfit? 

2. Lots of walks and leaf collecting.  Jacket weather is my favorite!  Jean jackets, hoodies, I love them all.

3. Leo said his first word - MAMA!!  He's the first kid to say my name instead of Dada.  He earned some bonus points with me for that :)  He also tried solid foods for the first time.  He wasn't so sure about the texture.

4. Scrunchies + Claires.  Two of Olive's most favorite things.

5. Cheeto Bones!!  We are obsessed.  I can't tell you how many bags we've gone through this month.  They're perfect for lunches and they're really yummy.

6. Fletcher is loving school!  He always has the funniest things to say about school like "My classroom doesn't have tissues.  You're just supposed to use your sleeve."  haha

7. Kittens!  Penny & Pearl are doing great!  They're super sweet and very loved.

8. Fall leaves - the trees in our area are gorgeous!

9. Picking Pumpkins.  We made it to a local nursery to get pumpkins last weekend.  The kids had a blast, it was much quicker than a pumpkin patch and we were outdoors the whole time.  We each picked out one and then put them inside to keep them from being devoured by our squirrels.

Sweetest pumpkin in the patch!

10. Park days - We've been going to the park as much as possible.  Leo loves to be bundled up and is happy to go along for the ride.

11. Get out and VOTE!  Leo and I headed to the polls to make sure we got to vote.  I almost always vote on Election Day, but this year I kept stressing about what if the kids got sick and I couldn't get there.  Now I don't have to worry, my vote is in the books.

12. Olive lost another tooth yesterday!  It's her 5th one and the exciting part is that she lost it AT SCHOOL.  She's always talked about how cool it would be to lose at tooth at school in front of her friends and it finally happened.  She woke up to a very wiggly tooth yesterday.  I was pretty sure it wouldn't hang on for the whole school day.  She came RUNNING off the school bus proudly to show us the new gap in her smile.  All her dreams came true - she lost it at school, went down to the nurse and got a tiny tooth treasure box to put her tooth in.  She wrote a letter to the tooth fairy and couldn't wait to see her response.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!  See you back here on Monday.

Linking up with Momfessionals

Simple Dinner Ideas (that will definitely save you money!)

I've got some yummy dinner ideas to share with you today.  They're all easy and don't take a ton of time to prepare.  I also have some fun tips for you to ensure you eat up all the leftovers in your fridge.  Tip #3 and #5 will probably save you the most money.  Tips #1, #7 and #8 are some of my very favorite recipes of all time.

Enjoy!

1. My number one requested food item is still - Crusty Bread.  My whole family loves it and I'm still in shock that it's just 4 ingredients and so simple.  It really tastes like a gourmet food item.  You can find the recipe for 4 Ingredient Crusty Bread here.  A loaf of crusty bread in a bakery costs $4-6 and it costs me under $1 to make this at home.

2. Teriyaki Chicken, Veggies & Rice

I love the 6 packs of cooked chicken breasts at Sams for just under $10.  They're delicious and 3 feed our whole family making it just $5 a dinner for chicken.  I slice it, heat it up in a skillet, sautee frozen veggie mix, boil in a bag rice and add teriyaki sauce to the chicken and veggies.  Much cheaper than takeout.

3. Fancy Salads

A really nice steakhouse in town serves the best salads.  It's very pricey to go there by the time you add up your meal, tip and a babysitter.  I have started making this salad at home for the feel of a fancy meal at a much lower price.  Spinach, mandarin oranges, feta, purple onion, pepper and balsamic dressing.

3. Eat at Home (even when you don't want to)

It's much easier to run through a drive through, but all those trips really add up.  I made soup and grilled cheese for lunch one day to use up the groceries we had instead of getting fast food.  It was good and really didn't take that long.

4. Breakfast at home.

It'll be much cheaper than eating out and it's a quick dinner option.  My whole family loves this meal any time of day.  My usual combo is waffles, scrambled eggs, sausage/bacon and fruit.

5. Don't Forget About Your Leftovers

Mix leftovers and new food to come up with a fresh meal.

I have a designated zone in my fridge to keep leftovers.  It's right up front where I see it all the time.  I eat leftovers for lunch and incorporate them into our dinners.  Both options save us money.  Here's a great way to eat up leftover pizza.  We had 3 slices of pizza left.  It wasn't enough to feed the whole family so I made two quick naan flatbread pizzas (taco pizza w taco leftovers and pesto pizza).  I sliced everything up and added a yummy kale salad mix.  We finished up two leftovers - tacos from taco night and pizza from pizza night, added in some new things - pesto pizza & salad to make the meal seem new again.

6. Sourdough Bread

I make sourdough bread most Mondays and crusty bread another day during the week.  Both are great additions to dinner.  I incorporate them into my meal plans.  We had grilled chicken, grilled onions, kale/quinoa mix from Aldi, leftover potato salad and homemade bread.  Yum!

7. French Dip Sandwiches

My husband and I love these sandwiches.  I've been using this French Dip Recipe since 2015.  It's a family favorite.  I change up sides every time we have it.  I served it with roasted red potatoes and onions, berries & kale salad this month.

8. Hamburger Stew

I shared this recipe earlier in the week and it's SO good!  You really have to give it a try now that it's soup season.  You can find the recipe here - Hamburger Stew

Which one of these would be the easiest for you to implement?