More Than a Mommy

Meal Planning with Kids + a Kid-Friendly Meal Plan

I LOVE eating healthy and challenging myself to feed my family right. My main motivation in writing this blog this morning is to help make natural & healthy living easier for other families. Certainly, this job is easier said than done, and getting kids to actually eat the healthy foods we prepare can be difficult.

I’ve also found that having kids help with acquiring the food (through gardening and shopping) and preparing the food with kid-appropriate tasks like chopping with a crinkle cutter, stirring food or helping serve goes a long way toward helping my kids want to eat the food I prepare.

By Mary Bockert, ago

Staying Active With Your Kids on Rainy Days

I don’t know about you but winter/ grey skies/ rain/ etc. gets me into a FUNK! I could just wrap up in an overly soft blanket with a good book and read my day away…and then there are kids 5 and under…which want nothing to do with sitting still and reading books all day under a blanket. Humph! What is a momma to do?

By Mary Bockert, ago

Creative Ways to Get Your Kids to Eat Their Veggies

Getting my girls to eat their veggies can be tricky if it isn’t one they prefer. I usually have to think creatively, be mindful of their nutrition, and a bit sneaky as well. Here are some tips that may help keep your little one from turning up his/her nose at the dinner table. I know there are some I have not used yet that this momma plans to implement!

By Mary Bockert, ago

40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge

I am one of those people who truly loves “STUFF!” I love nick knacks, I love my girls’ things, I love things from my past, I love clothes…you get the point. When someone loves “stuff” you can pretty much guarantee that they have a house full of “things” with “significance,” making it difficult to get rid of.

“But it was Annora’s first pair of shoes!” or how about “But I wore that at my high school graduation!” or even better….”That is the shirt I got when I graduated Safety Town!”

Really???

By Mary Bockert, ago

The Complete Crash Course on Clean Eating

Clean eating is a deceptively simple concept. Rather than revolving around the idea of ingesting more or less of specific things (for instance, fewer calories or more protein), the idea is more about being mindful of the food’s pathway between its origin and your plate. At its simplest, clean eating is about eating whole foods, or “real” foods — those that are un- or minimally processed, refined, and handled, making them as close to their natural form as possible. However, modern food production has become so sophisticated that simply eating whole foods can be a challenging proposition these days.

By Mary Bockert, ago

How “Help Me Grow” Changed Our Lives

When our daughter (Annora) was just 13 months old, I was out of town on a work blitz and my husband was holding down the fort with her. When I returned, he explained to me that she had been doing some strange head thrusts and he wasn’t quite sure what it was. I quickly grabbed our baby girl to embrace her. As I was holding her, sure enough she demonstrated the head thrusts my husband had just described. My heart sank! I couldn’t wrap my mind around what was going on and I did what any momma would do, I frantically called the pediatrician’s office. They directed us to go to the hospital where Annora was admitted for further testing. She was poked, proded, tested, retested, etc. and the tests came inconclusive. We were referred to a developmental pediatricianwho got to the bottom of our daughter’s ailments. She quickly realized that Annora suffered from hypotonia (low muscle tone) and that her iron levels were low as well. She referred us to a GI doctor for peds and also gave us the information for an organization called Help Me Grow.

By Mary Bockert, ago

St. Patricks’ Day Crafts/ Science Experiments You Won’t Want to Miss with Your Young Kids

So I may be a little late with the March calendar of crafts/ science experiments, but I figured the 11th was good enough to get it out there. Most of my “crafts” are science experiments because my kids LOVE to tinker and explore. I also like my “fun things to do with the kids” to be educational and allow deep conversation to brew. Don’t get me wrong, there are times for the cute crafts, but I use them sparingly because there are so many amazing experiments out there with basic ingredients/ materials you have hanging around the house…so why not right!?! I have done some research on Pinterest and various teacher sites and have come up with a fantastic list sure to make your March fun and a HIT with your kids!

By Mary Bockert, ago

How do I effectively Explain Easter to Children?

As my kids get older and are ready to learn more in depth about Jesus, I find myself scrambling to explain and worried that they don’t “get it.” Explaining Christmas is so much easier than Easter right?!? – babies, sheep, angels, stars. It’s pretty much all about love and presents: things your kids can relate to. Sure there’s the nasty part where Herod kills the baby boys, but that’s not an essential part of the story and you can leave it out if you want to.

Easter, on the other hand, is much tougher. You have the joy and celebration of Palm Sunday and the even bigger joy and celebration of Easter one week later. But in between, there is betrayal, denial, torture, pain, and death. How do you explain all this to children?

By Mary Bockert, ago

The Stay-At-Home Mom Game Plan

I don’t know about you, but as a stay-at-home momma, I can start to go out of my mind if I don’t have a game plan for the day. Winter months are always the worst because many days we are stuck inside. On days we stay home, sisterly tiffs can break out, television gets turned on, and momma gets TIRED! The best of my days are the days when I have various activities planned throughout to keep the girls “busy” and entertained. Here are a few of my go-to activities:

By Mary Bockert, ago