Sit-down dinners

Since we got married, we always agreed that dinner time would be sacred for our family. We made it a priority to sit down together for dinner every night with all other distractions like TV, computer, phones shut off.

We love having dinner together- not only just enjoying delicious meals together, but also just being able to catch up with each other's days, be silly with the kids and have a good laugh! I recently came across a great show on FoodTV called "Fixing Dinner". ( http://www.foodnetwork.ca/ontv/shows/Fixing-Dinner/show.html?titleid=83516) It has some great tips on how to help the modern super-busy family make dinner time together a priority! Delicious, fast and easy recipes are developed by Sandi Richard- who also happens to be a mother of 7!!!!

I've gotten so many good tips like:
-washing your fruit before you store them in the fridge so it's easier for kids to just grab and go
-freezing your pre-portioned and sometimes pre-marinated meat flattened in ziplock bags; it's way quicker to defrost and you don't have to deal with raw meat every meal!
-splitting up prep time for meals
-using cheaters
-having a meal plan for each week
-involving other members of the family to help with food prep

I'm a firm believer that involving children in the kitchen is great for teaching the life skill of cooking, responsibility and just a love of food! A family that eats together, stays together!

Do you have any good tips?

Unused Nalgene Bottles?

Do you remember how there was a point in time several years ago when we disposed of all our Nalgene bottles (and the like) because it was leeching bisphenol A into our drinks?

Well, while we were able to get refunds for some of our bottles, we still have several of them sitting in our cupboards and we aren't using them- at least not for drinking purposes!

With two toddler boys who are toilet trained, I found that my trips out with them could only be around 1 hour long so that they don't wet themselves, as it is difficult when you are in any store to bring three young children into the bathroom. We have had them pee several times in the van into old cups or even just on ground beside the van when they needed to 'go'.

Well, we found an even better solution- we just designated a pee bottle (a small Nalgene bottle) that we tote around. Now we can pee them anywhere, discretely and most importantly, without worrying that someone will spill the pee!!! It's made my life a whole lot cleaner and easier because it's SO convenient! We come home and dump the pee, rinse and use again!

...now we just have to label the bottle "pee"...and we don't have to worry about bisphenol A leeching into pee....

Any other ideas on how you use your old Nalgene bottles??