Crockpot Roast Beef: The Busy Mom's Lifeline

It's been a busy year. A VERY busy year. Especially the fall. We moved, we had a baby, Josh started a new job, thanksgiving, Christmas... I have been busy, tired and not had much time to cook and still haven't established a routine.

One thing that is important to me, amongst the craziness is to provide my family with healthy meals each day.

Crock pot beef has been my lifeline. It's so easy, it wins you mega mommy points and you can do so much with it. Sure, I enjoy being more creative at meal time, but with change and a new baby, that is going on the shelf and we're in survival mode when it comes to meals.

Here's what I do and it tastes great every time.

1. Buy an enormous pot roast
2. Cover the roast in flour
3. Sear both sides very lightly
4. Put in crock pot
5. Add 2 cups of beef broth, some salt, pepper, garlic, oregano and half a chopped onion
6. Put on low, I normally leave it on the 12 hour setting. Walk away and don't worry about dinner.

There is so much you can do with this, to make it last several meals. Here are some I have come up with so far, that can get you through 2-3 days.

Beef, Gravy, Roast Potatoes, peas, carrots
BBQ Beef, baked potatoes with sour cream, corn
Beef sub sandwiches, mustard, provolone.
Use it for a soup.
Use it for a pie.
Use it in a salad.

In the past, I had avoided the big roasts because they seemed so exspensive, but they are not, because you can make them work through several meals and it saves a lot of time, which is important, because there aren't many minutes in the right now that I am not attending sweet little ones.

REVIEW: Oliver's Labels

How often does a sippy cup get left behind at a play date? A coat at the jump zone? How many tears have been shed over lost luvvies and favorite dolls gone astray?

Oliver's Labels seek to solve this long standing dilemna with their cute, durable name tags which come in a variety of cheerful designs and are made with long lasting adhesive backs to stick to a an array of well loved items.

The folks over at Oliver's Labels were kind enough to send me some sweet labels for the girls to take on a test drive. Their customer service is prompt and friendly. Even though I had requested labels that said 'Esther and Rachel Brown', they were kind enough to make the girls individual labels pointing out that "With two young girls and a baby at home, we just know having two sets of our labels will help keep you organized." They definitely understand the importance of being organized to a mother of three.

For the girls, I picked out the nature design, but there were so many choices: Sports, Sea life, Flowers to name just a few.

I was especially impressed with their allergy labels. They provide labels for allergies against dairy, gluten, eggs, seafood, peanuts and http://www.oliverslabels.com/Designs/Products.aspx?DesignID=39. As a parent, something that is always of great concern is the safety of my children. I cannot imagine having the extra worry of a child with severe food allergies. I believe these labels can help put a parents mind somewhat at ease.

So, back to helping kids not loose their stuff! Oliver's Labels have designed and incorporated a nifty little system called 'Found-It'. A 9 digit code is applied to each label. Upon finding an item, the finder can log in to www.oliverslabels.com, report the item using the code and you are notified by email.

Oliver's labels acts as an intermediary, so no personal information is ever shared. As their website says, Found-It really is a homing device for your lost item!

Ok, so here in the moment you have been waiting for! The photo's! Here are so pictures of the items with have tagged so far. Aren't they cute? My girls just love them.






So, what else can you use your Oliver's Labels for? Hats? Toys? Baby gear? Lunch Boxes? Back packs? Use your imagination!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com and the Tomoson weekly featured sponsor Favorite Wigs - Shop Name Brand Wigs at Low Prices! Large Wig Selection of Forever Young Wigs, and other Quality Wigs. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

Learning to read...

As I began praying and learning about homeschooling, one of my biggest concerns was teaching Esther how to read. I felt (and still feel) inadequate. I don't have a teaching degree, I don't know how to teach phonics etc. So I put a lot of time into researching schools of thought on when and how to teach reading.

I found myself leaning towards the literature based curriculum, Charlotte Mason style learning. I favored the concept that you did not need to push a child to learn reading formally but to begin surrounding them with living books and that reading would stem naturally out of this.

The concept of flashcards, worksheets and three letter work books not only bored me but lacked beauty. It reeked of classroom. And isn't that what I was trying to avoid? I wanted a living, breathing learning experience that was interwoven with a rich daily life.

Now, I am not saying that I have abandoned my ideals, but that it was a shock to the system that my eldest LIKES worksheets, flashcards, workbooks and phonics. Sure, we LOVE to read beautifully illustrated and written living books together, but even though I was not pushing her to read, it seemed, that she was pushing me to teach her formally.

When I read about how bored children get with the above and do much better with informal narration, plays, crafts, it didn't occur to me that this was a general thing and not a rule, and in fact, Esther enjoys these things immensely but actually would rather sit and work on Kindergarten workbook, and wants to finish the creative activity so she could go back to tracing letters, matching patterns and doing mazes.

She learned her letter sounds close to a year ago, but as she was only three, I didn't want to push her and also she was overwhelmed beyond just saying the sound (again, she was the one who chose to learn them, I just followed her lead).

Anyway, jump forward to earlier this week when she pulled Alphaphonics off the bookshelf and asked me about it. I explained what it was and she asked me to do it with her. So, we did! I was amazed that she was putting words together and enjoying it.

On recommendations of lots of friends, I picked up some BOB books from the library. I have to admit, it was a little hard to do, because I had been so excited about literature based learning of reading.

However, I am OVER it. Because today, Esther read a whole book! She is so proud and excited!

Here are some lessons I have learned:

- Every child learns differently and we have to figure out what makes that child tick and figure out what methods work for them. No ones a cookie cutter.

- When a child is ready to learn something, run with it.

- It's all very well to have ideals but whats most important is that the child enjoys the learning and develops a love of learning. If a child begins to hate 'school' because they don't like the phonics lessons and worksheet, try something else. But, if they love the worksheets and phonics, and they are learning and loving it - why fix whats not broken?

- There isn't perhaps a superior way to learning to read, as long as it's done with fun, love and both teacher and student enjoy it and it nurtures a love to read and learn.

- Teaching to read isn't that hard. You can do it! My little girl is READING!!! In less that a week, she is doing amazing. What you need is patience, lots of praise and to follow your child's lead. Don't push before they are ready, it will be tiring and fruitless but if you are paying attention, you'll find that right time and they'll soak it up.

-Finally, I love BOB books. They are not full of eloquent words and beautiful illustrations but, they have given my daughter confidence and a desire to read, read, read! Plus... now, we'll go read some Jan Brett...

Burn the Floor Houston

Late last week I was browsing through my Facebook news feed and came across a post by The Cloth Diaper Foundation that mentioned a give away for Houston moms.

Naturally I was intrigued and excited. So I followed the link to www.50in8.com , a blog by Lisa Johnston about healthy living, family, product reviews and giveaways.

The giveaway was for Burn The Floor starring Mark Ballas from Dancing with the Stars.

I remember looking forward to watching Simply Come Dancing with Bruce Forsyth when it came out, I think 7-8 years ago now? The beautiful dresses, the expressiveness of dance that conveys our innermost feelings and desires so elegantly.

What little girl doesn't want to be wearing a long flowing dress, as she is waltzed across the room by a chivalrous prince charming?

I decided to enter the ticket giveaway to see this dance performance fresh from Broadway. I love going to the theaters, watching the skill, talents and choreography. It was a teenage dream to be on broadway, sadly, I never had the dance lessons or the voice, but it was a dream non the less that I slip back into once in a while when watching live performances.

I didn't expect to win. I never win giveaways and competitions! But I did, and it was fantastic! Josh and I went on a much needed date night. Joel slept all the way through in my wrap.

Our favorite part was the swing segment. It's amazing how they do all the lifts, and well, I love the music too!

The icing to the cake was the meet Lisa, owner of 50in8 and manager of The Cloth Diaper Foundation. She was there on a mommy-daughter night. Our seats were on opposite sides of the Mezzanine, so we played Wheres Waldo, resulting with me eventually standing up and waving randomly in the intermission, that did the trick!

And just because... here is a picture of me and Joel 'dancing under the stars' outside afterward...

What We Tell Our Kids About Santa...

Every Christian parent struggles with the dilemma: What do we tell our children about Christmas?

I ran across this post by Pastor Mark Driscoll on the Mars Hill website. It provides some interesting insights and helpful histories.

I was glad for some perspective, as tonight we went to our apartment complex party which had a Santa. I wasn't sure what to tell the children but also wanted to go to the party in order to join in with our community.


What We Tell Our Kids About Santa | Pastor Mark for the Washington Post | The Mars Hill Blog


I also want to clarify, on a general basis, that when I post articles written by other authors, I have read with discernment and found some or most of the information helpful. This does not mean I endorse every statement in the article or everything the individual says, writes or stands for. Remember - Do the research and make prayerful decisions.

The life of Joel (1 month old!)

With Every new baby, you learn something new. For example, Esther never spit up, so I guess I thought it all the comments of leaving the house covered in spit up or needing lots of burp rags were over exaggerated.

Esther never slept more than 20 minute stretches unless we were driving or she was being held. So when Rachel came out spitting up ALL the time, reflux etc it was quite a surprise. Also, when at just a week old she was sleeping 5 hour stretches, we were in shock, we didn't know that babies did that!

So, what have we learned about Joel so far?

Joel does not like to have his diaper wet at all. Esther and Rachel couldn't care less. So up until now, the whole 'babies cry to let you know if their diaper needs changing' was irrelevant, because the girls didn't. Yeah. Joel will wake up from a deep sleep to let us know... mommy, I need a new diaper!

He loves being on the changing table. This is where he smiles and vocalises the most. This is a new thing, since the girls didn't like having clothes and diapers changed. Joel will go from being fussy to big grins, simply by placing him on the changing table. (Esther and Rachel did not like being changed)

Joel loves baths! Esther hated being bathed, Rachel tolerated it but Joel gets so excited! He loves having his head rubbed while being shampooed and he loves having warm water poured on him.

Joel loves to sleep on his mommies chest. Again, the the girls didn't. But for Joel, he loves lying on his tummy on his mommy and having his head rubbed.

He loves his silly sisters who 'mother' him. They really are wonderful with him. He loves being worn and drinking lots and lots and lots of mommy's milk (Now that it's dairy and wheat free that is!).

We have also discovered, he loves listening to singing. He smiles so big when we sing him a Christmas carol and in the car, if we are driving and he is a little fussy, a song will settle him down fast. Rachel is always singing to him, its adorable!

Every baby is a new, wonderful adventure!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

A couple of weeks ago, we put up our tree! Can I just say, it gets more fun every year as the children older and can participate more. Here are some pictures from our night... Christmas music, dancing, hot chocolate, gingerbread, paper chain making and decoration making!