What Does “Hospitality” {REALLY} Look Like?

Hospitality is so important to the Christian life. But so many Christians struggle with it...or so they think. When you hear the word "Hospitality" what is the 1st thing you think?

  • I have to fix a 'proper' meal
  • Do I own a tableclothes
  • My plates don't match
  • How are you supposed to set a 'proper' place setting
  • When am I going to find time to make my house shiny clean
  • What in the world will be talk about
  • There's no 'good' time to have ____ over

Read the rest of this post over at the Homemaker's Challenge!

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Beef Dogs {Thoughtful Thursday}

Today is thoughtful Thursday so feel free to share ANY thoughtfulness!

Have a fun recipe? A tool you love? Please share by commenting with a link to your post about your thoughtfulness! Then post the “Thoughtful Thursday” button to your post so other ladies can get lots of thoughtful helps! I know I've been sharing a lot of recipes lately but ANYthing thoughtful is welcome! Consider visiting the link above yours and encouraging them through comments!

This post comes via my hubby's creativity! He was thoughtful the other night {like so many} and helped me out by doing dinner. We were missing pieces to every menu item I had for the week so I was a little baffled. He brushed me out of the kitchen and when he called everyone for dinner this is what he had created:

 

Beef Dogs

1 lb lean ground beef
Season Salt
Hot Dog Buns
Your Selection of Condiments

Divide out beef {we did~5 parts} and season. Smash down just like a regular hamburger patty just shape it into an oval/rectangle rather than a circle.
Grill in pan on stove top.

French Fries

Frozen Great Value Crinkle Cut French Fries {handful per person}
Season Salt {enough to sprinkle over the tops}

I like to sprinkle our fries with season salt before baking.
The bag says to cook @ 400' for ~20 minutes
but if you like that crisper taste without having to fry them {we do} 425'ish for at least 30 minutes.

This kids loved them and they were just as good as if they'd been on hamburger buns!!!

Have you ever had a night like that where nothing was coming together because you were missing some piece of the recipe? What did you do?

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The “Girl Room”, the art of sharing a bedroom

Last night we decided it was time to move the girls in a room togetherJules discribed the decission to move her girls into one bedroom together and all that comes with that. The girls room is about the struggle to keep nap schedules so everyone gets the sleep they need.

We'd tried this once before when Izzie 1st moved into a 'toddler' bed {aka a trundle-bed with a guard wall on it}. Magdalene, our oldest, would encourage Isabella to get up and run around the room all while she watched from the comfort of her bed singing loudly. Some nights Maggie would run over to Izzie's bed and mess with her. There was very little sleeping going on so the "girl" room didn't last long. We moved Izzie back in the nursery with Benjamin.

Now that my babies are all three on different, overlapping nap schedules it's become really hard for anyone to start or finish their entire nap without someone being woke up. For a few days we tried letting Iz just sleep in Mag's bed and Mag's sleep in the guest bed. Izzie hated it! She wanted to sleep in her bed.

This past weekend we had my parents and niece, Anna and nephew, David here for the weekend! We all had so much fun and Maggie got to have her cousins sleep in her room with her. Last night, when they left, Maggie was so upset! She cried and cried about not having "someone to sleep with" in her room. She often has trouble going to sleep; getting her mind to settle down. If she would just get still for 10 seconds she's pass out. When it's feasible, I lay with her for a few minutes to get her to sleep quickly.

The more I thought about it I realized I've rarely slept in a room by myself and never really liked it. Maggie's never said it but maybe she's scared? Uncomfortable? Uneasy? Lonely? Matt agreed that we could try it. I mean, we were going to try it when we moved anyways; who knows when that's gonna be ;o) I told Maggie this morning as soon as her sleepy, bed-head wandered into my bathroom, "Maggie, guess what!?! We're gonna move Izzie into your room." Maggie, half asleep, "Really?!? Today? Right now?" Me, "Yep, we're gonna have a girl room and a boy room. Are you excited to have Izzie sleep in a room with you?" Maggie, "Yes! {eeeek}"

I called Izzie upstairs to talk to her about it as we moved the beds. "Izzie, do you want Mamma to move your bed into Maggie's room?" "YEAH!!!!!!" {insert Dancing and jumping!} She watched, giggled, and danced as Matt and I moved her trundle-bed into the corner of Maggie's room. Izzie grabbed sheets in an attempt to help make up her bed. She threw her pillow on top and grinned from ear to ear as we told her this was now the "Girl Room"! She and Jamin jumped on the bed, pretended to sleep and wrestled one another after everything had been set up. Awe, the simple things.

The true test came this afternoon when it was...{dun dun dun}...NAP TIME! Jamin was finishing his nap in his bed and we told the girls it was their nap time. Grumbles. Then, we reminded them that we'd moved the bed so they could share a room. Zooooom, up the stairs they flew.

Izzie snuggled down into her bed. I was still unsure about Maggie singing and wiggling herself to sleep while keeping Izzie awake so we laid her down in the guest bed again. Izzie passed out immediately in her own bed in the "Girl Room"...Maggie, I found dancing on the guest bed ~30 min later. I went to tuck her back in and she ask why Izzie wasn't in there with her. She remembered that we said they could "sleep together". She was right, this was kinds defeating the purpose. I reminded her that Izzie was already asleep so she couldn't sing or talk because it would wake her up. I snuck her into her own bed. She grinned as she snuggled down into her covers, gazing across the room at her sleeping little sister. I kissed her goodnight and returned to Jamin in his highchair eating lunch down stairs.

Another 30 minutes passed. No noise. Hmmm, I snuck upstairs to gloat over my accomplishment only to find Maggie sitting up in her bed grinning. As I walked over to scold her she whispered, "I've only been over there twice to check on her. I just gave her kisses." Awe, how can you scold that kind of sweet disobedient child? I told her that Izzie would be fine and she needed to SLEEP with Izzie in her room.

20 minutes later, just now, I went to check on them. I WIN!!!! They were both snooze'n! In their beds. Still tucked in. Now we just pray Izzie wakes up peacefully and wonders out of the room without waking Maggie.

This thought is something new I'm mulling over: God didn't create us to be independent. WE make up the body of Christ therefore we are all incomplete without one another. God's persona is too big to be complete in a single person. Thoughts???

I've had several questions from friends about how/why we do certain things around the Rothacher house. I want to write about them but don't know which one(s) to start with. What do you want to know?
Why do you have that tacky brown sheet covering the wind?
How did you figure out your child's nap schedule? What is your napping schedule?
Why do your children share a room when you have a guest room?
Who made the name canvases for the doors?
How long do your children sleep?
How can you just take them to their bed(s), lay them down, and them go to sleep without getting up {minus the lonely one ;o)}?
Or any other questions not listed?

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How-To Make Preschool “Centers” at HOME

Remember you own preK or kindergarten?

I sure do! As a kindergartener I remember hours of fun; moving from one area of the room to the next. Feeling like a grown up being able to find exactly what I needed, being able to put it away on my own, having freedom to travel the room choosing what to do.

Have any of you ever worked at a preschool? Visited a daycare?

I have worked in several as a work-study job and in many others as a substitute teacher. While studying in college to earn my Psychology degree I remember going back and forth between class and subbing. It was amazing to see the things I was learning in class in a tangible way as I watched the children. "Centers" help hone in their creativity. Simplifies so while still having choices they are not overwhelmed. Simple organization goes a long way in making them feel secure and not scattered like their toys. Here are the centers we have INside:

Manipulative Center

We currently have lots of different manipulative: Puzzles, baby toy manipulative, Playdough, etc. These toys and tools enhance children's fine motor skills and helps strengthen their hands, helps with eye-hand coördination, helps improve their writing skills.

 

Art Center

The art and Playdough supplies are on the top shelves because I don't yet allow my kids to do these things without supervision or at least permission. We do these while the "baby" is napping. There are infinite numbers of how this center developes creativity in children as well as motor skills through working with the Playdough, steering scissors, maneuvering glue, paper and other supplies, and yelling writing utensils.

Music Center

We currently have lots of different instruments that all fit on this shelf {minus the large piano} including record player, piano, 2 microphones, bongos, radio, and 5 maracas. This center may seem like a pointless reason to have unbearable noise but music can "enhance the intellectual development of children, stimulate brain function, and produce gains in test scores." (1)

Block Center

We currently have a set of large Lego blocks {multi colored} and a small set of Jinja blocks {light wooden brown}. These are great for all ages. Just some of the possibilities for learning are: construction, transformation, measurement, spatial relationships, classification. It can even built language skill when they are asked to tell about their creation.

Board Game Center

We currently have LOTS of board games. This shelf only contains the building, matching, and simple games they can do on their own.

Little People Center

We currently have a set a basket of people, a basket of animals, and a few vehicles for the Little People. This center is similar to the dramatic play center but has smaller 'dolls' to play with works as a 3rd person play, pretending what someone else is doing rather than yourself. We often add empty boxes to this play as furniture, buildings, etc.

Vehicle Center

We currently have this center divided into trucks/trains and cars/buses just because we have so many. Our favorite thing to do with our vehicles is

Dramatic Play Center

Currently we have a large kitchen set with tons of food play {lots of variety}. We also have a 'dress up' corner, baby shelf, and lots of baby accessories throughout the playroom. This provides the opportunity for learning rolls for later in life: Parenting, cooking, home maintenance, cleaning, and endless number of other career options that can rotate in and out of this long-term center.

 

Reading Center

We currently have a single book shelf that houses all of our children's book {except a small basket of "bed time" books and Bibles in the girls bedroom}. I have them sorted according to age-appropriate by height {unfortunately my ~18 month old can almost reach the top shelf}. I have the baby books {ie board books with mainly pictures} on the bottom shelf accessible to all ages but most enticing to the youngest {shortest}. THe middle shelf has more board books that contain more words {needing longer attention span} and are reachable by all kids. The top shelf has "real page" books/paper back books as well as books with pop-ups, or pieces that would be better read by an older child or with help. Having access to books builds a love for reading. They feel more like toys or privilege and not an assignment or chore. This center developes a love of words, encourages motor skills, thinking skills, reading comprehension, as well as the ability to sit still building on attention span. "The number of words one knows as well as the depth of understanding of those words is related to the ability to think."

I couldn't find a simple way to summarize the importance of reading so I've added links to some articles about reading at an early age:
10 Reasons Why You Should Read to Your Kids
What is the importance of reading to a child?
Another article on Ten {more} Important Reasons to Read to Your Child

That may sound complicated but we basically group like things together to help my children know where to find things, where to put them away, and makes it easier to have them play with few things at once cutting down on mass chaos in the playroom.

Do you have a toy "system" that works for you? Please share!!!

Another great read is by Alina Joy over at HC, My Toy System That Keeps Itself Clean!

 

Return for 5 Days of Organizing & Cleaning TOYS into centers!!!

 

Citations
(1) Rausher, 1995 via Isbell & Raines "Creativity and the Arts with Young Children 2nd edition

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Advertising Your FSBO Home {5 Major Tips}

The key selling your home yourself is Advertising, Advertising, Advertising! A realtor once told me, while showing me a house, "The main thing people pay for realtors to do is advertise their home." So if we learn to advertise our home and consider it a job then hopefully it will pay off!


{photo credit modified by Jules}

The other day I told you How to Stage Your Home for Sale. That needs to be done before any advertise can take place. You're going to want people driving by wondering why your home suddenly has so much curb appeal. You will want your rooms to be clean, de-cluttered, and be ready to show before you take any pictures. If you're looking for a quick sale then you must be ready to show your home the day after you advertise it's on the market!

Check out what I've boiled all my researching down to at The Homemaker's Challenge!

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