← The Carpool with Kelly and Lizz
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- [00:01]
Kelly
This episode is brought to you by Google Gemini. With the Gemini app, you can talk live and have a real time conversation with an AI assistant. It's great for all kinds of things, like if you want to practice for an upcoming interview, ask for advice on things to do in a new city, or brainstorm creative ideas. And by the way, this script was actually read by Gemini. Download the Gemini app for iOS and Android today. Must be 18 to use Gemini Live. Hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds. Recently I asked Mint Mobile's legal team if big wireless companies are allowed to raise prices due to infl. They said yes. And then when I asked if raising prices technically violates those onerous two year contracts, they said, what the are you talking about? You insane Hollywood. So to recap, we're cutting the price of mint unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch $45 up front for three months plus taxes and fees. Promote for new customers for a limited time, Unlimited more than 40 gigabytes per month. Slows full terms@mintmobile.com welcome to the carpool podcast with Kelly. This tip's not gonna be for. Not gonna be for everybody. But I do have jeans that fit. Are they the most comfortable jeans in the world? No. But are they fine to wear around the house? Yes. I'm gonna wear those jeans. I'm gonna wear them. I'm gonna be very aware. I think I'm gonna make better food decisions. I'm not gonna go hungry. I'm gonna prioritize my protein. But sometimes when I'm in like leggings and everything's comfy, I'm not always like, thinking about that. And Liz, your mom time off starts now. Welcome back to the Carpool podcast. It is just your girl, Kelly, Morning Glory. Liz and I recorded such an incredible, well thought out, well prepared episode and we lost all of Elizabeth's audio on said episode. Now here's the good news and here's why I'm coming to you solo. I did the majority of the talking on this episode because this episode is all about how to have a productive Christmas break. So I have a few more Christmas breaks under my belt with kids then Elizabeth. So I was sharing some of my tips, some of my plans. That's why I said, okay, you know what? I would love your commentary, I would love your support, but I think I can bring the carpoolers a solo episode. She also doesn't have child care. Today I have Libby only, so we're gonna give it A whirl. We're gonna give it a whirl. It's not going to be as good as the first one, which is sad, but that's okay. So anyway, today's episode, like I said, is going to be all about just really how to, how to, how to crush your Christmas break. Now, I know we all have different levels of our availability and time at home. Some of us are working, some of us are not working. Some of you guys may still have kids in daycare. Some of you guys may be off for two, two and a half weeks. So whatever your case is, hopefully you get a couple of days off at least to spend time with family, recharge and get ready for the new year. Here's what my Christmas break is going to look like tomorrow. Friday, George and Hattie have a half day and Fred does not have daycare. And obviously Libby does not have daycare. So after 12:30 on Friday the 21st, no one goes back to school or daycare until January 6th. The exciting part is Libby will also start daycare on January 6th. And then I will be back to work in a full time, four day, four time, four day a week capacity starting January 6th. So this is like the most, this is like my last stretch to get my life together to spend time with my kids. And I really just want to have a fun, enjoyable break. But one thing about me is I have to be productive because being productive is fun to me. I am like, I have that, like weird cork and characteristic. So I want to have goals and I want to feel accomplished at the end of this Christmas break and not burnt out and fried out. Do you know what I mean? So I have been reflecting on my previous Christmas breaks, what worked, what didn't. And the first, like, tip I really want to bring is the importance of note taking. Now, you guys probably heard the episode we had with my mom where it was all about taking notes for your previous events. And I think that is so, so, so important because it allows you to reflect and improve. A party, a Christmas break, a singular event, whatever the case is. So after the Christmas break comes, or you could even start it now, like with what happened on Thanksgiving or maybe what, like Christmas events you went to write down any notes of what worked, what didn't. So like, one example could be, you know, had fun, you know, making gingerbread houses with my friend Ashley. Definitely, definitely plan to do that again. Here's what, what I got, and I'm making out those lists. Let's say you maybe went to a party and it Was a party you go to every year. You tried to bring the kids and it's like, this isn't fun anymore. Let's ditch this party for a couple of years. Or this was too crazy to have that on the third weekend because we also had this. Just think about like what stressed you out and what didn't work on your Christmas break. I think that's key. I just had a huge note taking moment for the party that I had on December 16, so I barely posted on Instagram. And I'm sorry about that. But I basically had a couple of. I had about 18 girls over to my house, girls, women, ladies, moms over to my house for two and a half hours. It was a little like makeup party. Everyone brought their favorite beauty product and we played rob your neighbor and I made a ton of flatbreads. Now let me tell you something. The party smacked, okay? The flatbreads were an incredible hit and I wrote that down in my notes and here's why they were so good. It's a very cost effective way to have a wow factor of a meal. Because when I'm having girls over, like I didn't want to have your typical potluck food. I would have if I was having everyone's kids over. Like if kids were coming over, I would have done the pigs in a blanket, the crock pot, meatballs, things like that. But there was no kids. I wanted prosciutto involved. So that's why I went for the flatbreads. Because I all had to do is buy the toppings and I just use those flat naan breads as the base of the pizza super quick because nothing has to cook. Everything just has to melt onto these flatbreads. And it was so fun to pull out all these different varieties of pizzas. There was just something for everybody to enjoy. So I will definitely make those again for that party. And if you have any like adult get togethers, if you want to have like an adult get together party, everyone really, really enjoyed it. I got so many compliments on the party and it. I had, I had no other event like it on my calendar this year. And it was not. It was a pretty low lift for the guest. It was kind of higher lift for me because I had to prepare. But for the guest, I chose a Monday, which I thought was perfect. Six to 8:30, everyone. You know, the husbands could handle it for two and a half hours and all the girls could just get out. Tyler took. I had a babysitter come over to watch Libby in the basement and Tyler took the three older kids to a McDonald's that still has a play, a play place. And he burns like an hour, hour 15 there. And then they ended up just coming home and going to the basement. But for everybody else, they just got to be away from their kids for two and a half hours. And I think that my guests really appreciated it. I just wish that more people would host and get together. I think that in a, in a world not so. I get kind of deep on this level, but I think that in a world where so much of our friendships and our interactions happen online, we are just not getting together enough as a community and with friends and peers and people like us and people not like us and just like gathering together. So I would really encourage you to try to host something of any size. Doesn't have to be during the holiday season either, but maybe just like put that on your vision board for 2025. It doesn't have to be perfect. People are just happy to come over and spend time in person. So that's my. That was, I was. The party was such a success and one of my big personal goals for 2025 is to do is to host more. I also, like, I want to be known as the person who welcomed people into their home. And it's, it's much easier for me to do now that we're in a bigger house. But I wish I even would have done it at our last house more on just a smaller level. Like just having one couple and their kids over for dinner. I mean, people used to do that. They used to just invite, we should have the Johnson's over. And they would come over and you would just share a meal together. And I think it's just a really important part of like, of our, of our life to do that more. So. And I also was funny. I, like, I was listening to. Who was I listening to? I want to say I was listening to a podcast, but it truthfully could have been like an Instagram reel, but it was how much Jesus got together and ate with people in the Bible. So like just in the book of Luke, he went to dinner 10 different times with 10 different people. So like, it is such an important part of our human experience and I think it's just really important. Okay, that was a. So that was the, the scenic route to say, I think taking notes post events like this are a way to do better next year. Now I want to get into Christmas break and what I am going to hope to accomplish and the big theme of my Christmas break is it's about the destination, not the journey. And I know I did not say that quote right. I am going after who I'm going to be on January 6th when my kids go back to school. And I really hope to have my life together in a big way. Okay. I'm going to use this break to teach my kids new skills. I'm going to use this break to take care of micro anxieties and to set up some new routines in my home. So the first one I talked about on my Instagram, but my kids, I've done a very bad job again. I'm always improving. Of my children dressing themselves and being a little bit more self sufficient in the morning now it's very, it was very easy to do when it was just George and Hattie and you know, now that we have Fred and now that we have Libby, I can't be getting four kids dressed and make breakfast and try to get out the door in time. George and Hattie can get themselves dressed. I know they can. I've seen them do it when they want to. I've seen them, you know, strip off their clothes and Hattie can somehow get into her Elsa gown and high heels. That's downstairs. But I asked her to put on her socks in the morning and she has no idea how to do it. So I know they're capable. The problem is every time we go to try, we're running late and I don't have the patience, unfortunately. So I ended up just saying, okay, give me your socks, I'll do it for you. Well, I'm not doing that. This Christmas break we are going to get dressed every single day and we are going to get the new routine in my house being you wake up, you get yourself dressed. So we're going to make a big to do about picking out their clothes the night before, which my kids for some reason love to pick out their own clothes. And we're going to do that before bed. And then when they get up, I'm going to say, okay, go ahead and get yourself dressed for the day and then we're going to have breakfast. Now, I don't care how long it takes them to get themselves dressed because we're practicing, we're just getting in the habit of it. And then they get breakfast. I think this is going to be, I think I'm going to thank myself immensely when we go back to school and I can wake up and my kids are now used to getting themselves dressed. They understand that's part of our routine and hopefully they're a little faster at it by then. So that's one thing that I'm really excited to implement. But if there's something else in your life where you just think your kids, you know, should be able to do by now, maybe it's buckling. Maybe you're finally ready to tackle how to buckle themselves in their car seat. But again, it's hard when you're going out the door to school. Let's use this Christmas break, this time at home, these slower moments to practice skills like that. I also plan on taking this break. And on top of, like, teaching them how to get themselves dressed, I thought it'd be fun for them to just work on new skills and chores around the house. Now, George And Hattie are 4 and 5, and they do a pretty good job of. You know, we also have the right tools, but they do a good job of, like, vacuuming. They can make their beds because we have those Betties. Zip up bedding obsessed. But one chore I would like us to work on is cleaning windows. We have a lot of windows in my house, and we have a lot of fingerprints. And what I like about the chore of cleaning windows is it's a very easy, hey, you got 10 minutes to burn. Go clean all the windows in the house. Here's a rag. So we're going to work on that. And I also want them to work on learning how to crack an egg. I think this is a very important skill in the kitchen, and I. I feel like George and Hattie are a little young to be around the stove still, but I think there's definitely a world where I can say, hey, here's a cup. And, you know, my family, we're a family of, let's see, what, like, six. No, five of us eat eggs every single morning. So, like, we're. We're no stranger to sometimes doing 10 eggs at one time. And Tyler can put away, like, literally, I'm not getting six eggs. So I'm gonna give him, like, a glass. A glass bowl. I'm gonna say, hey, crack ten eggs into here for the. More for our morning breakfast. I think that would. I think that will actually be helpful in the kitchen and a good way for them to learn that new skill. So those are two things that I'm hoping to work with George and Hattie. Fred, you know, we're going to survive with Fred. He is at such a pivotal age where I can almost trust him, but I can't quite trust him. So I hope to Fred just to really try to enjoy him A little bit more. And to get him on a schedule. He's on a very good schedule at daycare and I am not always the best at keeping that schedule. And you know, the next thing you know, we're, we were in a freaking 10am car nap. And then my afternoon shot, and he goes to bed at 5:30 and then he wakes up at 11 ready to party. Like, I need to get a little bit better about keeping him on his daycare schedule. And also with Libby starting daycare soon, I've also, I'm going to attempt to at least write down like, hey, what's working? And attempt to somehow schedule this baby a little bit. Libby also needs to learn how to take a bottle. I normally introduce bottles and pump way more, but for some reason this postpartum journey, I just haven't had the milk supply that I've had in the past. And I also haven't tried to really improve it that much. Like, I'm making enough for her, but I don't have a giant freezer stash. So very much we don't have. We're not giving bottles. I'm just normally breastfeeding her, but she's going to learn how to do bottles. So that's Libby's big goal for Christmas break. Another way that I'm just kind of playing on, you know, trying to break up our days is I want to be really smart about when and if we leave the house because, you know, I'm not going to go crazy. Like, I do want to get out of the house, but I'm going to prioritize leaving around, leaving first thing in the morning and maybe even going out to breakfast. Now do I think I'll take all four of my kids to a coffee shop? No, that sounds crazy. Do I think I'll see if maybe my mom can meet us out for breakfast? Or maybe, you know, if it's a day that Tyler's not working, like, he could come out for breakfast. I like the idea of doing a breakfast date with my kids versus, like a lunch or a dinner date for a couple reasons. One, I think it keeps us in our routine of getting up, getting dressed and leaving the house. I like that it could be a good way to kind of introduce them. Going back to school in January. So maybe I'll do some breakfast dates like, you know, two days before we go back to school just to kind of get us back in that rhythm. Also, you don't risk a car now. Well, hopefully you don't risk a car nap. Or it's not as risky on a breakfast date versus a lunch date. I mean, me leaving the house 11:00am with Fred, who naps at one ski business. No, no, I'm not interested. I'm not interested. And dinner is too expensive, and I don't want to do that. So we're going to maybe try some new coffee shops, some new breakfast joints, and that's something that I'm looking forward to. I also plan on trying to get my kids to spend as much time outside as possible. Okay. I think outside time in the winter is actually very important because we don't do it enough. And I think the cold air is good for kids. I think it's refreshing. I think they come in tired. They come in appreciating the inside a little bit more. But I want to set myself up for success, and I want to make sure I have the warm clothes ready to go. So I would say, like, one big tip to have a really great Christmas break is to look at your house and think, okay, for these couple of days or weeks where people are home, how could I make this house function a little bit better? So here's what we plan on doing again. I want my kids to spend maybe at least an hour outside every single day. And I'm gonna make a big hubba blue about, okay, we're gonna go outside and we're gonna play. Now, we might do fun things like light a bonfire, go on a nature walk. You know, I also am very blessed to have, you know, chickens and pigs in a barn to keep my kids entertained. But bottom line is, we're getting outside. You could also do this by just going to the park. I don't want to be running around my house finding, where are the gloves, where are the hats? Okay, let's put snow pants on. Because again, even if it's not snowing, we're not going outside for five minutes. We're bundling up. We're getting ready to go. So I plan on putting a laundry basket right inside our laundry room door. And that's where. That's where warm clothes go. So now it's a temporary solution. It's not something I'm going to have to look at when we go back to school, necessarily. But for those couple of weeks, like, I don't want to think about where hats goes or gloves goes. Like, they go on a laundry basket in the room, because we're going outside every day, maybe multiple times a day, because we are going to be home more. So, you know, whether that's just putting the backpacks, you Know, in storage for two weeks. Like, if you're not reaching for your backpack and your backpacks are normally, like, live in your laundry room. Well, leap, move them. They don't have to be there right now. Give yourself permission to rearrange things in a temporary setting to get. Just to make your house function better. So I think that's a great tip. I also really want to try to try to spend and enjoy some time with my children. And these are, like, two tips I have for, I would say, most relevant if you have multiple kids. And again, I know this isn't a. I know this isn't a. A luxury or a privilege that everybody has, but I find it very helpful to just have less of my kids. And you're like, well, Kelly, obviously. But here's what I mean. I think when I think about reaching out to a grandparent or an aunt or an uncle or a cousin to, like, help with kids, it's normally like, hey, I have to do this. Can you take my four kids? Well, that's a big ask. That's. That's a big ask. Like me dropping four kids off at Tyler's mom so I could go to a doctor's appointment or something. Like, you know, you have to do that every once in a while. But there's also this world where you can just say, hey, can I drop Fred off now? If I just don't have Fred, Me, George, Hattie and Libby. World's the oyster. World is the oyster. We could do literally anything we want. If I don't have Hattie and George, oh, next thing you know, me friend Libby are hitting up library time. It's just the number of kids being four makes. Makes fun tasks like that feel impossible because I'm going to be solo parenting for all those days, so. And I also think it gives the person who's watching your kids. I think that's something more exciting for them because if I call my mom and I'm like, hey, mom, can you watch Libby? Okay, well, next thing you know, she gets to snuggle a B on the couch all day. Or if I said, hey, can you watch George? Oh, well, now she gets to, you know, do. Maybe take George somewhere fun and go out to lunch with him. So maybe just think about trying to. I hate to use the word pawn your kids off, but reach out to grandparents or an aunt and uncle or whoever, you know, has always offered to help and just test the waters, being like, hey, can you watch? So and so for two hours, I want to take George to the children's museum. I think it's a good idea.
- [19:14]
Liz
Today's episode is brought to you by Rocket Money. I really love using Rocket Money because it breaks down my finances and such an easy way for me to track and understand. I literally just got an email saying that I spent 300 more last week than I do on average. That's thanks to Christmas shopping, but nonetheless it helps me keep track of what I'm spending and where I'm spending it. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that finds and cancels your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps you lower your bills so that you can grow your savings. Rocket Money's dashboards gives you a clear view of your expenses across all of your accounts. Rocket Money has over 5 million users and has saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 a year when using all of the app's premium features. So cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to Rocket Money.com Carpool Today. That's Rocket Money.com Carpool RocketMoney.com Carpool Today's episode is also brought to you by Zocdoc. Sometimes searching for the right doctor is like a bad Mad Libs. You need a blank specialist who takes blank insurance, who is within blank miles of you and who actually makes you feel blank. Well, ZocDoc makes it easy to fill in those blanks and to help you find the right doctor for your specific needs. ZocDoc is a free app and website where you can search and compare high quality in network doctors and choose the right one for your needs and click to instantly book an appointment. Word talking about in network appointments with more than a hundred thousand healthcare providers across every specialty from mental health to dental health, eye care to skincare and much more. You can also see their actual appointment openings and choose a time that works for you and Click to instantly book + Zach Talk Appointments happen fast, typically within just 24 to 72 hours of booking. You can even score same day appointments. So stop putting off those doctor's appointments and go to Zocdoc.com carpool to find an instantly book top rated doctor today. That's Z O C d o c zocdoc.com Carpool this episode is brought to.
- [21:22]
Kelly
You by Dutch Bros. Get stoked for all the Holly jelly vibes this season at Dutch Bros. Stay cozy with returning winter faves Hazelnut Truffle Mocha and Candy Cane Mocha plus the new Winter Shimmer Rebel energy Drink blends up sweet cream and blue razz. Flavor with soft top and shimmer sprinks to keep those spirits energized all winter long. Download the Dutch Bros app to find your nearest shop, order ahead and start earning rewards. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. There's nothing sweeter than baking cookies during the holidays. With Prime, I get all my ingredients delivered right to my door, fast and free. No last minute store trips needed. And of course I blast my favorite holiday playlist on Amazon Music. It's the ultimate soundtrack for creating unforgettable memories. From streaming to shopping, it's on Prime. Visit Amazon.comprime to get more out of whatever you're into. I also love I use this hack so much and that my friends is called a Mother's Helper. Okay, you know who else is on Christmas break? 9 to 12 year olds. A 9 to 12 a 9 year old. Now I don't have one but I have nine year old. I have a nine year old niece. She's so helpful. I love the idea of reaching out to a mom who has kids slightly older than yours and just asking if you could, if they're 9 or 10 or 11 or 12 year old would come over and be a mother's helper for the day. Now I'd pay her a little bit of money, but you can pay a 9 year old $20 for 5 hours. I mean where, where else are they going to get income? Like they're just excited to get out of their house probably and make a little bit of money. It is so helpful to have just a slightly older kid at your house when you're trying to juggle a bunch of small children. Vice versa. If you have a 9 year old or a 10 year old and you're like what am I going to do with them all? Break. Why don't you reach out to maybe a mom of younger kids who you know and say hey so and so is looking to make a little extra money. Would you interested in a mother's Helper? They'll probably say yes. They'll probably say yes. So whether no matter what side of the aisle you're on, I love the idea of just older kids and younger kids connecting. I think it's good for the younger kids to play with someone who they feel like is more their friend versus like a babysitter. And I think it's good for the younger kid for the older kids to spend some time with. Younger kids work a little bit. Think about babysitting as like you know, something that they can maybe do in their future. So I'm a really, really huge fan of Mother's Helpers. Okay? Another way that I. And let me be clear, another way I really plan to get some things done this Christmas break is with Mother's Helpers. So it's something as simple as like, you know, when Fred's taking a nap and Libby's, you know, sleeping in this. Sleeping. Someone's playing with George and Hattie in the basement. And I'm tackling a micro anxiety, I'm tackling projects. I'm really going to focus on going deep and not wide this Christmas break. I'm going to let my house go a little bit. I'm going to be honest, I might not see the kitchen table for a couple of days. But that's okay because remember what I said earlier, it's not about the journey, it's about the destination. Who am I? January 7th. That's what I want to know. I'm a girl who now has a clean kitchen table and an organized storage room. I'm a girl who now has an unloaded dishwasher and a junk drawer that's completely cleaned out. I am going deep. I'm tackling the fridge. I'm tackling, like I said, the junk drawer. I'm going through my closet. I'm going through kids clothes. I'm doing it all. I'm doing it all. I'm letting things go and I'm really going to focus on that. One of the things I plan to do is a little toy rotation because I think that's always very important during this time of year. Your kids just got a lot of new toys. Now you realize you have way too many toys. Here's how I like to do toy rotation rotations. And we know, Liz and I, on the episode we recorded, we talked about this a lot. But a few episodes ago we talked about like just how to Kelly something and Kelly something is just taking the moon and what does the stars look like? You know, shooting for the moon and landing on the stars. So is there a world where, you know, you could do a super organized toy rotation? Yes. But here's my version of a toy rotation. Are you ready? I take a storage tote tote and I bring it out. And you know what goes in that storage tote? The first things I see, I don't worry about, oh, let me collect all the trains to put the trains together. Oh, I'm gonna grab all the baby doll stuff and put it here. No, it's to me. I'm to the point it's just about less. So I take that storage tote out. The first things I see, fill it up. The first things I see. If I only find one Barbie shoe, I don't care if that one Barbie shoe's going in there. I'm not looking for the second. I'm getting things out of my life, and I'm putting them in the storage tote. I'm then going to put that storage tote away. Now a week's gone by, a month's gone by. You know, whenever you decide before you bring that storage tote out, you know what you do? You go get another storage tote and you do the same thing. That way there's no cross contamination. Do not bring a storage tote out until another storage tote is put away. Once you have your second tote filled again, which is the first crap you see, first things you see, just grab it. It. Then I'll bring out the first storage toe. Now it's Christmas morning again. It is. It is the only way I have found to actually toy rotate. If I were to, like, not do something because I felt like I didn't have an organized system, I would never develop a system. This works for me. Would it work better if I did gather up all the trains? Probably. Because it's kind of weird because now we only have three trains. We used to have 25. Okay. We were going to play with three trains for a while. Let's find. Let's use our imagination. What can we do with three trains, a Barbie shoe, and a baby bottle? What can we do? I love. It stretches them. It'll stretch your kids a little bit. So that's huge for me on toy rotation. I also think that, you know, it's a time where we're going to be home, okay? It's a time where we're tired of looking at our items. So we're home, and we're tired of looking at things in our home, probably. What a great time to utilize Facebook marketplace. What a great time to poshmark to sell things on a Facebook group. Let's recoup some of our Christmas money. Am I right? You're gonna be home, so why don't you just throw up that chair that has been sitting in your basement that you don't really like? Why don't you throw up that giant hot wheel thing? Throw it up on Facebook Marketplace. Give it a week. If it doesn't sell, then take it to Goodwill or take it to a resale shop or like a once upon a Child, but just try. You're gonna be home. You can do the porch pickup. Love Poshmark. Elizabeth talked about this. We'll have to get her back on because when Liz was living in Dallas, she got really into Poshmark and she made a couple thousand dollars off just selling things, buying things, reselling them on Poshmark. And if you're going to be home and you got the printer set up and you've got a couple of, like, poly mailer bags, you can be moving and grooving through some of your stuff. Same thing with Facebook groups. Like, if you have any of those good bamboo jammies, like a little sleepies or a kite baby, those things resell. Find a group like little sleepies resale on Facebook. Put up your little sleepies Jamies that you don't have, say, 25 bucks shipping included. I probably. You'll get bites. You'll get bites immediately. And you're home. You're home. What else are you going to do? Let's recoup. Recoup. I think that's a great tip. Also a good time to maybe take on a home project. Now, I'm not saying that you have to build a fireplace, but I'm saying, you know, maybe since you're also going to be home and available, maybe you could scour Facebook marketplace and finally find, like, the coffee table that you've been looking for and then go pick it up. Or maybe you could, you know, work on a bathroom or do a peel and stick wallpaper project or just, you know, hang a piece of art. Just think about, like, what's one thing that I've wanted to try to accomplish, whether it's like, even if it's just looking for the right piece. I think when you spend some time in your house, hopefully you'll feel more motivated to start tackling some of those. Those. Okay, I want to move on to some food topics of discussion because one thing that I'm really going to try to focus on this year or this Christmas break is I want to clean out the fridge, pantry, and freezer. And what I think is going to be why I think this is going to be a really fun challenge is because people are going to be home for meals that they're not normally home for. So typically we're, you know, we're always home for breakfast, but normally no one's home for lunch. And I'm going to give myself permission to make kind of weird must go lunches. And I'm also going to say, you know, I'm going to Stretch myself on what I think is a good lunch food. Do you know what I mean? Prime example is I have half a box of orzo. It's been staring at me for months, Months, this half box of orzo. Because half a box isn't enough for my family. Is it enough for a couple people to have it for lunch? Yeah, it is. It is. We're going to use it up. We're going to make fancy lunches. We're going to make fun lunches. And I love what naptime kitchen says about, you know, if. If it works better for you for your nutritious homemade meal, homemade hot meal, to be your lunch versus your dinner. Okay, so we may have baked chicken thighs and half a half a thing of orzo for lunch and have PBJs for dinner. What does that. What does it matter? What does it matter if Fred takes an early nap and I can whip out a great launch? That's what I'm going to do. That's what I'm going to do. Or I'm going to double it and then have some for dinner. Also, I'm really excited to look through and just start cleaning out the pantry and using up items. Liz and I have both separately talked about how we both planned our meals for the rest of December this month. And this has been so helpful. One thing I'm always looking for is, you know, I love. You know, I love things that save me time, save me money. What I love the most is saving headspace. My headspace is the most valuable thing to me because my mind, between the four kids and the car mom and being a wife and a mother and all of those things, I'm always short on headspace. Always. Being able to have all my meals planned out for December has been so nice. And I thought this was a really great tip that got shared in the carpool Facebook page. Two tips, actually. The first is do a physical calendar and print it out. And then you know what you do with that physical calendar for December? Oh, I'm going to save it for next year. Oh, guess now. Now you know what I don't have to do next December. Plan my meals again, because I already did. Now will I have to change around? Okay. You know, now the Christmas program falls on this day, so let's move this here, of course. But bottom line is, I have a December planned out, and I'm going to put in my notes this year, like, what worked. So, you know, for example, I have on Christmas Eve, on Christmas Day, we're having barbecue pork nachos. For dinner. And that may sound weird to you, but we don't do anything on Christ Day. We have my mom's on Christmas Eve and we have Tyler's family the following week. So Christmas Day, it's just me and my little family. And that sounds like a fun thing that we could make together. If it doesn't work out, if I find it's too many moving parts with a crock pot and whatever, I'm going to put that in my note and I won't do that next year. But bottom line is, I am going to try. That's going to be my starting point for next December. The other tip that was shared was looking at the grocery store sales and doing your meal plan off of that. That. Now, I loved that for a couple of reasons. One, like, saves a little bit of money. Great. I also, though, think even if you're not necessarily on a tight grocery budget, it gives you a starting off point. And who doesn't like to save a little bit of money? When you look at an empty calendar of like, what am I going to make for dinner? Then it starts going through your head. You know, you can't remember anything you've ever made, ever. But by getting the grocery ad and seeing like, oh, sweet potatoes are on a good sale. Okay, now you have inspiration. Now we have let's do a sweet potato dish then. And what's good about this is normally grocery ads stay the same every single year. So, like, what's on sale in December will likely be on sale in December next year as well. So, again, a good way to just make your grocery bill go a little further, save a little money, and give you some inspiration. So that was a incredible tip from a carpooler. Okay. This was a tip from Elizabeth that she did not get a share. So I'm going to try to do her justice because she really had it thought out. But Elizabeth made the point that, you know, the holidays are a time to have fun, and the holidays are a time for joy. And we put such pressure on these kids, on these little kids to eat what's on the table. And it just doesn't feel like the time or the place to try a green bean casserole. Okay? Not if it's going to cause meltdowns, not if it's going to, like, ruin. I mean, the holidays are supposed to be about joy. So let's just all give ourselves permission to let the kids eat Mac and cheese and chicken nuggets in a roll at dinner and then still have a cookie. It's one or two days out of the year. I mean, come on, you're a good mom. You do it. You make them eat it the other days. You deserve to have a good Christmas too, though. Okay? I want you to have fun. This is your day too. I don't want you to have to be power struggling with a four year old who doesn't want to eat grandma's peas. They're disgusting. Okay? So a couple of things you can do. Pack the food. Pack the food and be unapologetic because you're having fun. Pack the food. Feed them before. Feed them before. If it's a safe food. I mean, the holidays are so overwhelming and overstimulating as is. Again, the last thing you need is a plate of food that you don't recognize. And then Liz also shared the hack of like, if you're worried about the nutrients, you know, a great way to just fill gaps this season is a smoothie. Okay. There is. You want a very balanced meal is chicken nuggets in a smoothie. Okay. Some berries, maybe a handful of spinach, a little protein powder. Okay. That's fine. That's great for a toddler. And then you can go to the party knowing he had protein, he had a nutritious smoothie. If he doesn't eat anything but like mashed potatoes and a Christmas cookie, that's fine. It's not what it's about. You don't make an adventurous eater on Christmas Eve. You have fun and you keep the magic. So I thought that was very, very well said by Elizabeth. Okay. I wanted to look at if I had anything else on my notes because I did take notes. But then the problem is I deleted a lot of these notes as we were. I think I got them all. Oh, nope, I got one more. I got one more. Okay. I also really want to, I told you, clean out my closet. But I want to work on myself a little bit this Christmas break and I want to get myself dressed and I want to really nail that five minute makeup routine. Okay. Because we all talk about it like, oh, it's like one, like a little light makeup to make myself feel better. But does anyone else feel like they have. They either like, have to have no makeup or like do their makeup fully. Like, I don't love how my like light, how my five minute makeup look is and I just want to get a little better and faster at it. And I'm really going to pay attention because I'm going to do this five minute makeup routine every day over Christmas break. And I want to pay attention to, like, okay, yeah, that blush, like, took too long to blend. Or like, I need something quicker for my brows. Maybe I'll stop doing a pencil and I'll look at a powder or I. This foundation is too heavy and too hard to blend. I just need a tinted moisturizer. I want to nail the five minute makeup routine and I'm going to set a timer. I'm going to get her down to a science on how to do a good five minute makeup routine. I'm also going to get myself dressed and wear the clothes in my closet. Now, I'm going to be honest with you. I'm on a little bit of a weight loss journey. I am happy with my body, of course, birth four children. But I also am. My clothes aren't always the most comfortable right now. And I would like my clothes to be a little more comfortable. So this tip's not going to be for everybody. Not going to be for everybody. But I do have jeans that fit. Are they the most comfortable jeans in the world? No. But are they find a way around the house? Yes. I'm going to wear those jeans I'm going to wear. I'm going to be very aware. I think I'm gonna make better food decisions. I'm not gonna go hungry. I'm gonna prioritize my protein. But sometimes when I'm in, like, leggings and everything's comfy, I'm not always, like, thinking about that. So I plan to put on jeans every day because one when I go back to work. Talk about routine. Your girl's gonna have to do that. I can't be wearing, like, sweatpants and a Detroit Lions hoodie into the dealership to film all day. So I gotta get back to one. Finding out what fits me. I don't even know. I don't even know which one of my clothes fit me right now, what fits me. And I want to get into that habit and I want to make good, good food choices. I need a little waistband accountability, if you know what I mean. So that's something that I plan on doing personally to, you know, hopefully improve. And then hopefully, you know, by the end of it, I'll know, okay, these are the pants that fit. I got a really easy, good five minute makeup routine. And then it's like, oh, I have seven minutes today. Let me do a little bit more makeup. Let me step it up a notch. But, like, I want to have those levels and I want to feel really good about them. So those are some tips that I plan on using to have a great Christmas break. I'm excited. I am looking forward to reconnecting with my kids, spending, like, my last couple of days with Libby, and just having all my family together. It's really fun to now, like, know that I'm done having kids, and these four kids, like, are my family, and I want them to spend as much time together as possible. So I don't enjoy a solo episode. This felt very awkward. Yeah, I don't now. I'm, like, forgetting how to podcast. But I hope you guys have a very merry Christmas, a very happy new year, and we will talk to you next time. Thank you for listening to the carpool podcast with Kelly and Liz. Make sure you're subscribed so you never miss an episode. And if you enjoyed riding with us, tell everybody you know there's room, room in the car for everyone.