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With a large family, you can imagine we have lots of birthdays to celebrate. There’s 7 of us but two sets of twins so really there are only 5 birthday parties I should plan each year.

NOT so.

Somehow we end up planning birthday parties randomly for family coming into town or our nanny or a close friend.

By now I’ve done this so many times and have the formula down that even the toddlers can rattle out my checklist: decorations, balloons, cake, bounce house, prizes!

We celebrate a lot of birthdays at our house and here’s the “usual” list of things to buy and do. As always, this is all done in one note created in Evernote.

• Decide on date, time and venue – mostly it’s our house but sometimes at a kids venue.
• Create guest list to determine supplies, favors and amount of food to get.
• Book the venue
• Make and send out invitations
• Decide on food – are we cooking, buying, getting a caterer?
• Order the food
• Reserve equipment – tables, chairs and bounce house depending on what we decide to do
• Pick the theme then buy party supplies matching the theme. This is usually the kid’s favorite character at the time.
  • Tablecloth
  • Paper Plates x 8 or 16 if we have more guests
  • Desert plates x 8
  • Beverage napkins (the smaller ones) come in 16
  • Paper cups x 8
  • Some type of wall or ceiling decoration
  • Pinata and pinata fillers (maybe)
• Check Amazon for party favors matching the theme.
• Visit Party City to buy the party supplies and if cheaper buy the party favors.
• Order any other favors or party supplies we couldn’t find from Party City.
• Plan for 2-3 games to play during the party. Browse the internet for ideas or come up with your own. Party stores also have great games.
• Order prizes or grab prizes at Target, hobby stores for the game winner.
• Order a cake from Costco.
• Buy a toy to decorate the cake from Costco. I’ll post more about how to make this look like a custom cake  later.
• Amazon packages arrive the week of the party. I hide them all until the day of the party so the kids don’t get to them.
• Follow up on RSVPs for day of party
• Pick up cake and drinks at Costco the night before the party.
• Pick up food the night before the party (if not delivered)
• Assemble favors the night (usually late) before the party
• Fill the pinata! the night before the party
• On day of party, we set up the dining table with the paper goods. We reserve the themed items for the kids and use plain paper plates for the grown ups.
• If we have time, get balloons on the day of the party.
• Decorate cake on day of the party.
• Get food ready on day of party.
• Write down the games so older twins can help with the “schedule”.
• Get ready to party!

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We have five children including 2 sets of twins. Currently ages 7,7,6,2,2. That’s 2 fraternal twin girls, a single boy, followed by 2 identical twin girls. Life After 5 – kids that is, has definitely changed.

Last year I wrote about my quest to find a calendar system big enough for my large family. You can read about that post here.

The original calendar system worked pretty good. We had a desk calendar on the freezer door held up by magnets and I used color coded sharpies to write in each kids’ calendar item.

The problem was all these flyers, etc were pinned on top of the calendar with other magnets. Also — the sharpie pens were on the other side of the kitchen, and – I had no place to put down the papers I was holding with dates I needed to add to the calendar while I was in front of the refrigerator/freezer that displayed the calendar.

So…I perused Pinterest, then office supply stores and finally by accident, found our new calendar at Hobby Lobby.

It’s one of those white board calendars you have to write in the dates and it had a white wooden frame. I ended up spray painting the frame to a dark bronze color to make it stand out against the light colored wall I ended up putting it on. We happened to have wall space above the counter in the kitchen where I kept the pens and scissors and notepads. It seemed to be waiting for the new calendar to fill its space, so there it went.

I’ve replaced the sharpie pens with colored dry erase markers. At the start of each month my “homework” is to get the calendar updated for the current month from the various papers that come home. We now have one magnet labeled “today” that we move daily to indicate the current day for the kids to keep up. The mess of flyers and invitations, etc are scanned into Evernote if I may want to reference later, then loosely filed  in a decorative box below the calendar so we can grab the info when the date arrives and toss it afterwards.

This system so far has worked well. All I need to update the calendar is in one place. It’s in a prominent spot so hubby, babysitter, kids and I know of anything important for the day. And I don’t need to keep a paper calendar around or buy a new one at the end of the school year. We’ll see if we need a “take 3” for this topic/post in a few months.

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About Us

We have five children including 2 sets of twins. Currently ages 7,7,5,2,2. That’s 2 fraternal twin girls, a single boy, followed by 2 identical twin girls. Life After 5 – kids that is, has definitely changed.

My one and only boy turned 6.

His dad and I decided to reward him with a “boy only” birthday party at a trampoline place. He is going nuts. I’m still wondering how I missed so much of his first 5 years  and why he can’t stay  5  forever.

Well there’s party planning to do so I must end this post early. Maybe I’ll share my last minute birthday party checklist for my next post.

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About Us

We have five children including 2 sets of twins. Currently ages 7,7,6,2,2. That’s 2 fraternal twin girls, a single boy, followed by 2 identical twin girls. Life After 5 – kids that is, has definitely changed.

Some random thoughts as I look back at the day.

The kids are all young enough that they still follow me around. If I’m in the family room, they all gather there. If I start to work on my laptop in the dining room, they eventually make their way over with a question or two, then linger at the table. When I move to the couch, they want to show me something and stay nearby. I make it upstairs and they slowly make their way up, for one reason or another. Always close, always a hug away. I hope to keep it this way for as long as they’ll allow it. One day I know they’ll want to be in the opposite side of the house. This smaller house helps me keep them close.

And then there’s their stuff. EVERYWHERE. It’s sort of contained. But I can’t imagine having more rooms, and bigger rooms to pick up. The smaller rooms force us to pick up, and stay semi-organized.

Finally there’s the cleaning. I’m lucky if I can get the whole house cleaned in a 2 week rotation. And we only have 1750 square feet. At the age the kids are now, they still can’t help clean up as good as I’d like. Plus my mom OCD means no one can clean like me..so the less space to clean the better.

So yeah I’m lovin’ the small house and feeling blessed we have a home at all. God will let us know soon enough when it’s time to move on..

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About Us

We have five children including 2 sets of twins. Currently ages 7,7,5,2,2. That’s 2 fraternal twin girls, a single boy, followed by 2 identical twin girls. Life After 5 – kids that is, has definitely changed.

Finally! The watch – a mom essential – and my smartphone – combined/synched up in the Samsung Gear S2.

Why did I want a smartwatch?

• I charge my phone downstairs. When I put the kids to bed, I miss texts since I’m upstairs. With the watch, I can still stay up to date while my phone is charging away.
• I miss calls when my phone is in my purse and I can’t dig it out fast enough to answer the call. I wanted to be able to answer the call from my watch.
• I just want to know the time and not have to turn on the phone and unlock it. Or have it be out of battery.
• This one actually looks like a watch!

How useful has it been? VERY. Here’s how I’ve used my Samsung Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic after 2 months:

•  I get alerted of texts, emails, chats, facebook, twitter, and even google hangouts from work even when my phone is charging downstairs.
• I can see who texted me while I’m in a meeting at work  without having to peek at my phone and getting “the look” from my co-workers for not paying attention.
• No need to get my phone out to check the time.
• I can see who is calling and not scramble to get my phone out of my purse when I’m running around or driving. I can answer or reject the call from my watch. (I don’t have the one with speaker though so I can’t actually talk on the phone via the watch)
• It lights up ! and I can see the time – all night.
• It has a flashlight – a small one but enough for me to not bump into the wall when I go check on the kids at night.
• I set the timer when cooking or for whatever I need to restrict the kids time doing something. Also helps for games.
• I use the stopwatch to time the kids running or whatever when we’re waiting around.
• It buzzes! notifications and alarms are via buzz vs sound since there’s no speaker so it’s less noticeable to others.
• It buzzes! and helps wake me up. I no longer wake up via the alarm on my phone so having it buzz on my arm helps.
• I set the timer when I don’t want to be late to an important meeting at work
• It also buzzes for calendar reminders so I set the reminder to pick up something at the store on my way home from work at the time I’ll be near the store – otherwise I’m on autopilot and walking in the door when I remember what I had to pick up.
• I can text someone back with a quick reply, like ok, thanks or see you soon – with just a tap on the screen.
• There’s games! I downloaded magic 8 ball and play with the kids when we’re waiting in line or something.
• I can call uber without having to use my phone. Crazy

So I guess you can tell I use it A LOT. I use it so much I bought a second one so one is charging while I’m using the other. My Christmas present was the “sporty” one with the silicone band. I prefer that one on the weekends, and after work. I got the “dressy” one – the Gear S2 Classic because I wanted to be able to change watch bands, and it looked a little more professional when I’m at work. Let’s see if I still love them in a few months.

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About Us

We have five children including 2 sets of twins. Currently ages 7,7,5,2,2. That’s 2 fraternal twin girls, a single boy, followed by 2 identical twin girls. Life After 5 – kids that is, has definitely changed.

I see all these awesome picks of family command centers on Pinterest and am inspired to do the same.

The only problem is their calendars are tiny, at least for my family.

Between the calendars for 2 schools, the library, family birthdays and events, plus whatever classes we’ve managed to enroll the kids into – there is JUST NOT ENOUGH SPACE to enter them all into the calendar.

So I searched, and searched during my lunch hour at work to find something that could work, and stumbled onto… DESK CALENDARS! The size was big. The boxes per day was big. And some even had lines, 5 lines – to separate out my kids activities. Bonus – my refrigerator is the top/bottom one so the top or freezer door fit the calendar perfectly.

The first month – I used regular pens and filled out on the kitchen table.

The second month  – I used a sharpie so I could write on the calendar while it was on the freezer door and not have my pen quit working on me.

The third month – I found my system. I used different color fine point sharpie pens so we could color code by kid.

Here’s hoping we get through the rest of the school year.

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About Us

We have five children including 2 sets of twins. Currently ages 7,7,5,2,2. That’s 2 fraternal twin girls, a single boy, followed by 2 identical twin girls. Life After 5 – kids that is, has definitely changed.

 

Our kids have gone through their fair share of water bottles since the older twins started pre-school. I also love thermal water bottles for cold water or my hot coffee.

Here’s some quick reviews on the ones we’ve tried.

• Top pick- Zojirushi. Available on Amazon. Most expensive, but worth every penny. When the older twins started school I got them the pink ones in 120z. They were a great size for their age and were used the next year in Kindergarten. Our younger twins are still using them 3 years later. We bought the older twins 16 0z bottles for first grade since they were running out of water with the 12 oz.
  • Pros: Great quality. All pieces on the lid are removable and can be taken apart for a thorough cleaning and sanitizing unlike the Contigo mentioned below. Keeps drinks cold for hours even when water bottles are in the sun at school.
  • Cons: Higher price, no “fun” kid designs but the classic colors means they’ll grow with them
• Cozyna – Available on Amazon. Seemed like a great deal – I got two for the price of one Zojirushi. They look like the Zojirushi but they are definitely not the same quality. After 2 weeks, the lids broke. I exchanged them for new ones but they broke again 2 weeks later. All 3 went back to Amazon and that’s when we got the 16 oz Zojirushi.
  • Pros: Looks like Zojirushi, and cheaper
  • Cons: Poor, poor quality lids.
• Contigo- I really wanted to like this, and thought I found the “one”. Before I bought any for the kids I used it myself for water, then coffee. The insulation is so good! Then one night as I was washing it, I saw “crud” drop into the sink. I thought – please no. More and more came out and with my mom OCD – I used straw brushes to get it all clean. I soaked the lid overnight and was horrified at what came out the next day. I can’t imagine what I was drinking every morning! It looked like dried creamer. I was so sick. The lids on these are “innovative” but you cannot take it apart to clean every nook and cranny. After that, the search for a water bottle with lids I could fully take apart started and that’s when I found the Zojirushi mentioned above.
  • Pros: press open lid is easy to operate
  • Cons: All the working parts of the lid means you can’t get to all the parts to clean it.

Update September 2016: The Zojirushi’s have held up after a whole year of school. This is the 2nd year we’ll be using the 16 0z’s, and the 4th year of the 12 oz’s for the toddlers. They get banged up a lot, only have minor dents and the lids are as good as new.

 

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About Us

We have five children including 2 sets of twins. Currently ages 7,7,5,2,2. That’s 2 fraternal twin girls, a single boy, followed by 2 identical twin girls. Life After 5 – kids that is, has definitely changed.

I adore those little kid plate sets with the matching cups and spoons and forks. I am thankful when anyone gives those to our kids as gifts.

But.

They are usually not BPA free, or if they are, not microwave safe and only safe on the top rack of the dishwasher. That means heat causes them to melt some of the materials, which could be toxic.

One day I hope to find a set that are BPA free, microwave AND dishwasher safe. In the meantime, they are used for snacks and food we don’t heat or are not hot when they hit the plate i.e. we don’t put freshly cooked eggs or steaming veggies on them.

I also try to remind dear hubby and anyone who helps with the kids they should be handwashed only to avoid the heat problem.

So cute, but also, so dangerous.

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About Us

We have five children including 2 sets of twins. Currently ages 7,7,5,2,2. That’s 2 fraternal twin girls, a single boy, followed by 2 identical twin girls. Life After 5 – kids that is, has definitely changed.

If you haven’t discovered it yet, IFTT or If This Then That, is a service that lets you schedule things to happen automatically between apps you use all the time.

IFTT has “recipes” you can “program” to make these apps talk to each other or consolidate all the different notifications, feeds, updates you get into your favorite app.

For example, I use Gmail, Google Calendars, Evernote and much much more to manage our life with kids plus work. Like everyone else I need to know the weather first thing in the morning, check our schedule, the latest news, and things I planned to do that day. Before I started using IFTT, I was opening/checking at least 5 apps.

I set up an IFTT recipe to send all that information to Evernote first thing in the morning. When the alarm on my phone goes off,  all I need to do is

• See the weather for today – and delete the note
• See a digest of my daily calendar from gmail – and delete the note
• Read my daily Skimm of news – and delete the note
• Scan my notes with reminders due that day in case I need to add to my calendar or send a text/email.

By that time, the kids are awake and my “alone” time is over. The rest of my apps will have to wait their turn to get any attention, if there’s any time left before bedtime.

 

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About Us

We have five children including 2 sets of twins. Currently ages 7,7,5,2,2. That’s 2 fraternal twin girls, a single boy, followed by 2 identical twin girls. Life After 5 – kids that is, has definitely changed.