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Midwest Mom & Wife Child Care

In my previous post, I mentioned how I started my own business. Midwest Mom & Wife is no longer just a blog, but a business also! I have many hopes and goals for this business, and I have  started offering child care.

I have started accepting part-time and/or drop-in daycare and I am so excited!

  • Cloth diaper friendly
  • Love to plan activities, but also allow free play
  • Enjoy fun trips and activities in the Des Moines area
  • Knowledgable with breast milk and breastfeeding
  • Love to baby wear (it’s a life saver)
  • Natural minded

Everywhere you turn, in our home, we have something kid-friendly and fun to do!

Upstairs, we have our reading and art “nook”. I have an easel set-up, a small rocking chair, and a basket of books. There is no TV in this area, so it’s a nice place to come and focus on reading, writing, drawing, painting, etc.

The kitchen is where all the messiness happens! This little area is where I keep our paints, play dough, markers, glue, etc. Usually, when we have a particularly messy project, we set-up here.

Downstairs is our “living area”. Off this area, is the play room. The play room is LOADED with lots of toys, train table, an enormous amount of books, puzzles, etc.

Outside! I like to spend as much time outside as possible, because once winter sets in, we don’t get out very often. I have been very blessed with a LARGE backyard. There are two fun areas to our yard …

This is the “natural scape”. There are tree stumps to climb on, a large tire full of sand and sand toys, and a plastic pool that I fill up with water for fun activities.

This area is our swing set and plastic slide area. As you can see, the whole thing is not covered with gravel, yet, so it’s easy to ride around on the tons of trucks and 4-wheeler toys we have.

I have so much to offer for your little ones and am very flexible on days and times.

Also, look for the Child Care tab at the top of the page to keep track of what I am accepting and adding!

Please contact me here for questions, more information, and pricing.

Happy Hump Day!

Happy Hump Day! Yes, it’s Wednesday! We have made it through half of the week and I am looking forward to the weekend.

Have you made it out to the Iowa State Fair yet? If you have not, you have only 5 days left to check it out! You do not want to miss the “one and only”.

This week has been gorgeous out. The weather is hinting towards Fall and it is getting me more and more excited. Yesterday, I opened up our whole house and it felt so nice to get some fresh air. Monte is also enjoying the nice weather. He has been playing outside a lot!

If you look verrrry closely … Monte is down underneath the willow tree playing. He loves it under there!

Yesterday I worked on some Pinterest projects around the house. One project I have been working on since Memorial Day! I HAVE to get it done soon! I will definitely share them, when they are finished.

I also did some baking and cooking. I made Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins and Greek Marinated Chicken. They both turned out great!

I started with the muffins. I have been craving some baked goods in the morning, so I found this recipe to see if it would curb that craving. It is also healthier! So far, it has worked! They are delish!

The original recipe for the Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins can be found here. But, below are the small changes I made!

Ingredients:
2.5 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup plain low fat greek yogurt

2 eggs

1/2 cup honey

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 TBSP ground flax seed

1 tsp vanilla

2 ripe bananas

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray tin with non-stick cooking spray or line 12 muffin tins with silicone or foil liners.
2. Place the oats in the food processor and pulse for about 10 seconds.  Add remaining ingredients to the food processor.

3. Process until everything is mixed together and oats are smooth.

4. Divide batter among cupcake liners, and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

I started by taking the oats and flax seed and placed the ingredients in my Vitamix (which I LOVE).

I pulsed it until it was a flour mixture.

Then I added all the ingredients INCLUDING dried cranberries! This made 18 large muffins!

I also made the Greek Marinated Chicken. I made a few changes to the recipe, which you can find below but the original recipe can be found  here.

I used Greek plain yogurt and I used only about 1 1/2 pounds of chicken. The recipe called for 3 1/2 – 4 lbs of chicken, but while I was making the marinade, I felt that if I added more chicken you would not be able to taste much flavor. I also did not marinade for 30 minutes in the fridge. I took everything, mixed it really well in a large bowl and made sure the chicken was coated. I then placed the chicken directly into a 9×13 baking dish and placed it into the oven.

Boy was I right! I am glad I only used 1 1/2 lbs of chicken because the flavor was wonderful! Our house smelled amazing too! We even had a little leftover, so I can put in a Flat Out with baby spinach and a laughing cow wedge! I definitely recommend this recipe!

What new recipes have you tried this week?