Transformations

Preschool for October

2011-10-16T22:00:00.001-04:00

Mostly this post is for me to keep track of what I have gone over with the littles (the Love is 5, Little Man is 3, Wee One is 9 months). We have been doing some home preschooling, along with a playgroup on Friday afternoons that is mostly play and some learning (that is at a preschool center).

Week One:
color: red
shape: circle
character trait: perserverence
story: The Little Engine That Could
activities: gross motor play at rec center - running, throwing a ball, climbing rock wall

Week Two:
color: orange
shape: triangle
character trait: perserverence

story: The Little Engine That Could (we discussed the different engines and how they responded to the train that needed help; also worked on recall of illustrations and the sequence of events)

activities: gross motor play at gymnastics center - trampoline jumping, swinging on a rope, climbing and jumping from a platform

We also played a new game I call Copy Me, Copycub (from a book we read once). In it, the kids close their eyes while I (the Mama Bear) get into a position. When I am ready, I say Copy Me,Copycub. Then they open their eyes and copy my position. We do three times and then switch, letting the kids lead three times each. They love this game and ask to play it often now.

Week Three:
color: yellow
shape:square
character trait: perserverence
story: we didn't have one particular story. We still discussed The Little Engine, especially if I heard the words "I can't".
activities: library for story time; Color and Shape Bingo
gross motor: at gymnastics center - more jumping on trampolines, climbing a cargo net, balancing on the balance beams
art: paper mache pumpkins

Week Four (coming up Oct 17 thru 21):
color: green
shape:square again (we didn't do much last week with this)
character trait: we will continue with perserverence. I would like to introduce the story of the Tortoise and the Hare.
activities: gym center for gross motor play
art: toilet paper tube scarecrows

Wee One has been working on playing in his chair while Mama is busy. Together we work on object permanence, body part recognition, and some baby sign language. His favorite thing to do right now is to knock down stacks of blocks. He has a fantastic laugh - this deep, belly laugh that sounds like it should come from a man!

A month or so ago,one of my aunts who taught for many years gave me ALL of her teaching materials. We have been using some of the workbooks (I photocopy the pages) for our colors, shapes, prewriting and premathematics skills. The Color and Shape Bingo game also came with the things my aunt gave me. I have about twenty copy paper boxes full of stuff. I haven't been through them all yet! What a blessing it was to our home, especially right now.

October Menu Plan

2011-10-02T22:12:00.000-04:00

I am back at it! Thank God! We have had too many hurried up and thrown together meals, or fast food meals, or just junk in the last month or two.

Working and cooking and child-rearing, oh my! Not to mention laundry and house cleaning, too. All this to juggle has left me with a high appreciation for the time I have in my day and how I use it. Hence, few posts on blogger.

More meaningful ones when I do.

So why post on a meal plan? Because I often look back at prior plans. It helps me. It stimulates my creative meal planning juices.

So for October:

Breakfasts:
Smoothies (now made with a handful of baby spinach)
Oatmeal (instant that I got for a great price at Big Lots)
Cold Cereal (now we are only purchasing ones with 9 grams of sugar or less per serving)
Eggs (omelets, scrambled, sandwiches)
Pancakes
Waffles (homemade with flax seed thrown in)

Lunches:
Refried beans with cornbread and Sunny Fruit Salad
Grilled cheese with bacon and tomato
glazed ham steaks
ham and cheese sandwiches
pb&j
pot pies
pizza muffins
kids meals
chicken and french fries
fish stick and french fries
ravioli
corn bread hamburger pie
ramen soup with chicken
bacon egg salad
waldorf sandwiches
broccoli-cheese noodle soup

Dinners:
lasagna
orechiette w/tomatoes and garlic
spaghetti and meatballs x2
vegetarian cashew chili
tuna casserole
chicken pot pie soup
vegetable pot pie
quiche x2
lentil burger helper
homemade tomato soup, cheese quesadillas
corn chowder, BLT's, baked haddock for hubby
buttermilk chicken fingers, homefries
sweet potato casserole, baked turkey breast
sweet and sour meatballs, golden carrot soup
calzones, salad
pizza, salad
macaroni and cheese with squash, green bean casserole x2
vegetable barley soup, homemade artisan bread
basil caesar salmon, baked chicken, spinach, roasted potatoes
shrimp tossed salad, smoked chops, roasted apples, roasted sweet taters
scallops in cream, swedish meatballs, roasted parsnips
penne in vodka sauce, salad
pancakes, sausage, canned pears (my own)
sausage sandwiches with peppers and onions
hamburgers/veggie burgers, hot dogs
pork loin, corn casserole, fried rice/shrimp fried rice
broccoli casserole, glazed carrots
40 clove garlic chicken, applesauce, roasted brussels sprouts, baked haddock

For those unfamiliar, my husband doesn't eat meat and I don't eat fish, which is why we oftimes have two entrees for dinner.

I am linking up this week at Menu Plan Monday.

The Care Bears Birthday Party

2011-10-02T21:46:00.001-04:00

She turned 5 on September 22.

Hard to believe, five years ago she was a little peanut ("Mommy, why do you call me your little peanut?" asked so sweetly as she was snuggling next to me. "Because, honey, you were! Only six pounds and six ounces.") (Pictured here with my handsome brother)

Now, she runs and bounces and keeps up with all off her friends.

And she asks for things, like a Care Bears themed birthday party. Who could say no to such cuteness?

The Care Bears theme cake. This was my first fondant attempt. Not hard to make, just difficult to get it smoothly on the cake! In case you don't remember, this is Cheer Bear's belly patch. I know that rainbows have the purple on the outside, but American Greetings didn't do it that way on the belly patch!

We did the balloons ourselves. The balloon towers with the white heart at the top were definite hits with the kids.

The top photo shows a vintage Care Bear holding down the balloons. That one is Bedtime Bear....

And this one is Squishy, Huggy Bear! Yes, that's the baby, all curly-locked and smoochable!

Next year, who knows? It could be My Little Pony, or Strawberry Shortcake, or Princess themed...or maybe she'll turn into a tomboy and want something different altogether. Not likely, though. After all, did you see that pink sparkly dress???

It was a great time celebrating her birthday. And now, we are trying to capture every day before next year when she will likely start school!

What We Did This Summer

2011-09-15T23:13:00.001-04:00

Really, not a lot as I started working pretty much full time in July. But we have managed to carve out a few special times:
Our lake up north

A brunch at home with friends (talked about it for a year - finally did it!)

One of the local zoos

My sister and her three children; me and three of my four

spoonbills

our first glimpse of the triplet tigers born earlier this year

my niece and nephew and son watching the penguins

A sad looking little hedgehog spotted at home...my first attempt at watermelon carving. It actually was fun and I hope to do it again.

Now I am in the midst of pear canning and sauce making at home, as well as planning a special little girl's 5th birthday party next week. She chose a Care Bears theme - I remember the 'real' ones that came out in the 80's!! I even had one!

Work is keeping me super busy. I am keeping me anxious and stressed out. I know this is the area God wants me to work on in my life. My word for 2011 is Peace. I guess you can't work on getting it if you already have it. I have many opportunities to work on this one, I tell you!

Hopefully there will be more posts this month, as we have The Love's birthday celebration and our 6th wedding anniversary. We're going to Atlantic City - alone! It will be the first time in 5 1/2 years we have gone away alone just to be together, without some commitment/wedding/training, etc...I am looking forward to it.

Let's Visit again soon!

Thoughts on Meal Plans for Children

2011-07-23T21:05:00.000-04:00

Last week I posted on meal plans for working people. I bet my post title gave away what I am going to write about this week!

I have three children under the age of 5. Two of them eat table food. One is widely selective, the other highly selective. It can be a real challenge to feed them on some days! I am sure you can relate.

Dinner around these parts is a family affair, where we all sit at the same table and discuss the day's events (or, more recently, we spend the whole meal time instructing in proper table manners!).

Lunch is usually just the kids and me, and I try to make it as friendly to themas possible. Here are some tips I've learned throughout the past few years:

1. Finger foods make for a fun affair.
           Sandwiches, pretzels, apple slices, grapes, melon balls, crackers and cheese...these are just some of the things we sample at lunch with our fingers.

2. Location, location, location.
           Changing where you eat can prompt choosy eaters to take a taste - even if its the same carrot sticks you've served at the table ten times before. In nice weather, the picnic table is fun. Don't have a picnic table? Throw an old blanket on the ground! Use your picnicware! Weather not cooperating? Put that same blanket on the living room floor. Another idea - if you have more then one table (we don't) is to change from kitchen to dining room. How about eating at the local park? In the woods? At the beach? Not new ideas, but maybe going to one of these places specifically to eat would be a novelty.

3. Change up the usual.
        We often eat sandwiches. I can cut them diagonally, or vertically, or horizontally. Not so exciting or unexpected. At the dollar store I found sandwich cutters in the shape of a heart and a star. Simple and easy, not to mention inexpensive. Glee in the childrens' voices at their custom cut 'wiches.
         Two weeks ago I found a new Pepperidge farm item in the bread aisle: goldfish shaped sandwich thins. The price was a little steep for 8 sandwich thins, but I decided to splurge. The littles were awed!

Last spring, I decided to make picture plates for the kids. I haven't been so creative since then! Maybe this will give you some inspiration though:

Okay, the picture is sideways. That's a tree of pretzel sticks and celery leaves, with Annie's bunnies frolicking amid fruit leather 'berries'.

4. Let the littles help make the meal plan.

Maybe you are afraid you'll end up with bologna or hot dogs every day, but you might be surprised!

5.Let them help make the meal.

Something about helping to prepare the food is an appetite stimulant for my kids.

6. A rose by any other name...
I haven't done this, but I read it somewhere,sometime while lost in blogland: make up new names for the menu items you serve. Maybe you could have turkey toboggans (turkey with cheese, the end rolled up and held with a toothpick) or Saturn spaghetti (spaghetti O's with meatballs). Or, you could read the book I Will Never, Not Ever Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child (see my review here).

My fount of wisdom for feeding kids is now exhausted. What do you do to get your kids to eat? Do you meal plan differently for meals with just the kids? Leave a comment and let me know.

Linking up this week at Menu Plan Monday.

What My Children Are Reading This Week

2011-07-18T09:53:00.001-04:00

Here are this week's selections (we still didn't make it back to the library :( so these are from our shelves)

Finding Nemo by Disney-Pixar's Wonderful World of Reading. I don't know why it didn't cross my mind before, but this book is a good one to talk about obedience with your child. Or, more specifically, disobedience and it's effects. I wouldn't call it a classic book but it can work for character trait curriculum.

Winnie the Pooh's Easter by Bruce Talkington. Ugh. I like Winnie the Pooh but reading this book always makes me grimace. The kids like it though. In the book, Pooh finds a large Easter Egg. He and the gang discuss what it is and in the end, Christopher Robin explains it all. (I don't even like writing this review! I didn't make my best effort if you couldn't tell...).

The Complete Adventures of Curious George by Margaret and H.A. Rey. This is not the new, politically correct Curious George. These are the original, cigar-smoking stories. The Love's favorite story in the compilation is Curious George Goes to the Hospital. The kids will grab this huge volume and just look through it by themselves. They have even been known to have small disagreements about whose turn it is to look.

I Love You the Purplest by Barbara Joosse. I had heard about this book but never read it...and I just realized I lied at the beginning of this post. This is a library book (as well as the next one I am going to review). I absolutely enjoyed this book. The illustrations are life-like and vary from close-ups to wide views, and compelement the text richly. Maybe I am a sucker for an emotional story...

Bintou's Braids by Sylvianne Diouf. A coming of age story.Or a not-so coming of age story! Bintou wants braids but those are reserved for grown-up girls. She starts off in the story putting herself down...she has just four tufts on her head. By the end, those four tufts are no longer elements of shame. Included in this story are lessons on vanity, pride, family ties, cultural customs,and heroism. The story takes place in a West African country and depicts accurately the dress and customs of the region. These are not Americanized Africans! I enjoyed the story but only read it to The Love. She liked the story as well, and we were able to discuss why Bintou didn't have braids (the Love commented that little girls DO have braids...which led to an explanation of other cultures). Of all our reading choices described here, I recommend this one the most.

Linking at Moue Grows, Mouse Learns.

Thoughts on Meal Plans for Working People

2011-07-18T08:55:00.002-04:00

Recently our bookkeeper/administrative assistant left her position...which is the third one we have been through in a year (but that's a post for another time).

My husband and I talked it over and decided for the next 8 months, I would do all the accouting/bookkeeping/HR functions at our companies. So, I am now working outside of the home! At first I thought I would have to give up my meal planning and cooking ideas. Then I realized how much MORE important meal planning is going to be for us! One difficulty I faced was the fact that we are still on a strict budget for groceries. I have been dealing with that by purchasing less processed/pre-done foods and making many things from scratch. Now my time for that has been cut to about nothing. Or so I thought, until I spent more time thinking. Here are my thoughts on how to still do meal planning on a budget when you are working (probably not new thoughts, but they are my own - I didn't google to see what others are doing...).

1. Make ahead meals when I am not working (not necessarily weekend days, as I will be working some of those).
          -put together casseroles that can be frozen
          -cook meat ahead to use in recipes calling for cooked meat (tacos, goulash, sausage bread, lasagna...)
          -cook beans and freeze for meals like black beans and rice (my recipe below), ham and bean soup, or lentil burger helper.

2. Continue with the monthly meal plans, as I have less time to plan or grocery shop.
           -I can then shop for nonperishables and freezable items once a month, limiting weekly purchases to perishables
           -I can interchange meals as needed

3. Find recipes that use more beans
          -beans are inexpensive if you buy them dried. It takes some more forethought to use them as they must be soaked, but they are not time intensive to use. There are a few steps required, such as the aforementioned soaking, then cooking...but once you put them in the water your labor is done! Rice is another staple I want to use more often (same idea as beans - not labor or time intensive to use).

4. Make freezer cooking HAPPEN (I have been wanting but not doing!)
         -I guess this can go hand in hand with #1 above - will be done on a day when I am not working
         -I will be able to pull a meal out of the freezer in the morning and when I work at night, hubby just needs to warm it up
         -with ready made healthy meals, I won't be tempted to do dinner out when I am exhausted

5. Use the crock pot
       -just so many wonderful recipes to use!

Look for my update on how this works for us next month.

Meanwhile, the black beans and rice recipe:
Black Beans and Rice
To serve about 5 people:
-half pound of black beans, soaked and then cooked to soft consistency
-one can Ro-tel diced tomatoes and green chiles
-half a 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes with garlic
-sprinkle of cumin, cilantro, red pepper flakes and garlic
edited to add: and 1 cup cooked rice (hee hee...I am tired! Forgot to put this in originally!)

Mix all together and heat through!

We had this last night with shrimp, diced ham and cheese quesadillas - here's a photo of the yumminess!

I am linking at org junkie's Menu Plan Monday. Which, come to find out, this week isn't there. It's over here.

What are your good eats? Any tips on working and menu planning on a budget?

Preschool Learning - July 11

2011-07-17T22:10:00.000-04:00

Here's a sampling of what we did this week:

Ice Cream Cone printables from Mama's Monkeys pack.

Foam shape puzzles - a Montessori inspired idea garnered from Tot School. This only took a few minutes to prepare two sets of puzzles for both The Love and Little Man. Little Man was busy doing his Melissa and Doug States puzzle and didn't want to participate. The Love, however, thought this was the cat's meow!

We also played with these Melissa and Doug pattern blocks:
and

It must have a been a week for Melissa and Doug items, because the kids also used these this week:
and

We also have worked on our Kumon Numbers 1-30 and Kumon mazes.

For a little fun in their day, I bought the new Pepperidge Farm Goldfish shaped sandwich flats. Boy, did lunch go down easier that afernoon!

Hope your week was a fun one too!

Linking up at Preschool Corner!

What My Children Are Reading This Week

2011-07-12T16:35:00.001-04:00

Just a short post, as we still have the books from last week.

Tails by Matthew Van Fleet. Another tactile book, with movable parts! This is one on our bookshelf. I purchased it three years ago when vacationing in Connecticut (yes, I visit bookstores on vacation. I love books!). It's been a favorite ever since.

Chirpy Chick by Jo Rigg. Simple text, animals with big googly eyes - even if I don't love it, the kids do!

Dora the Explorer, Scavenger Hunt by Publications Int'l Ltd. A look and findbook that the kids pull off the shelf occassionally.

Who Lives in the Rainforest? by Fisher Price. A lift the flap book, mostly for Wee One, but The Love and Little Man are describing it as 'great. really awesome." (they are helping me write this post!!)

What are you reading this week with your children? Link up over at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.

July Meal Plan - the rest of the month

2011-07-09T14:34:00.001-04:00

Here's the rest of the story,as they say! (For the other meal plans for this month, jump to this post.)
For breakfast and lunch, we will continue rotating what I already posted.

Dinners:
Tacos with beans and rice
BLT's
chickpea edamame burgers
crockpot macaroni and cheese
veggie lasagna
sausage bread
haddock in a cheese jacket
lentil burger helper
fried zucchini with tossed salad topped with chicken or fish
broccoli casserole
quinoa with cranberries and kale
herb roasted chicken (recipe below from naturalhealthanswers.com)
veggie pot pie

I have deemed each Thursday night in July "International Night".
July 14 - Hungarian Night
Kaiser Schmarren
sour cherry soup

July 21 - Hawaiin Night
huli huli chicken
shrimp fried rice
hawaiin cornbread

July 28 - Egyptian Night
Fish braised with tomatoes
Braised beef and cabbage
Fruit salad with minted yogurt dressing

Let the Food Adventure Begin!!!

:)

Herb Roasted Chicken (can be done in crockpot or covered oven roaster)

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp paprika

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp sea salt

½ tsp dried thyme

½ tsp dried basil

4 bone in chicken breasts or one whole chicken

½ c chicken broth (or a little more)

In a small bowl, combine 1st seven ingredients and rub over chicken.

Place in crockpot and add broth. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hrs

***Leftover meat is great for sandwiches or tortilla soup***

To see hundreds of other meal plans, visit Laura!

What My Children Are Reading - July 4

2011-07-05T12:20:00.000-04:00

I have limited my blogging, but this week's reading selections deserved to be highlighted! I hope you enjoy them as much as we have!

Fourth of July, Sparkly Sky! by Joan Holub. This is an easy rhyme, with touchable pages..both 4 year old Love and 3 year old Little Man enjoyed rubbing the sparkly parts of the pages. I liked the ending, "Happy Birthday, USA!" It gave us an opening to discuss the reason we celebrate the Fourth of July. I am not certain they grasped the meaning...we'll keep working on it each year!

The Twelve Days of Summer by Elizabeth Lee O'Donnell. "On the first day of summer..." If you read this without singing it to the Christmas Carol tune, you are missing half the fun! The kiddos liked searching for the purple sea anemone on each page.

Hats Off For the Fourth of July! by Harriet Ziefert. Watching a parade is something we haven't done yet this year, and we haven't seen one on the Fourth in quite some time (unpatriotic?), but this book brought the parade to us. Each page has a hint of what comes next in the parade.

I Really Absolutley Must Have Glasses by Lauren Child. Love's choice...and she is intent on making glasses like Lola does in the book. I am pleased that she is reading the words 'Lola' and 'glasses'...they are repeated frequently enough for her to know...or maybe she is using the context...or maybe both!

I Will Never Not Ever Eat A Tomato by Lauren Child. Little Man wanted this one, and I thought it appropos since he is the picky eater in the family. In this one, Lola is being a very choosy eater...and her brother Charlie uses his cleverness to 'disguise' those foods she despises. I enjoyed this the most of the Charlie and Lola books we have read (which may not be saying much...). Truly this is a unique presentation of the oft-faced problem with toddlers. It has won awards, as well as high reviews.

Splish Splash! Baby's World by DK Publishing. Wee One loves this book! It appeals to his tactile sense as well as visual. Each of my little ones has liked this book at the appropriate age. At the end is a finger puppet that makes the book 'come alive' - literally!

Baby Faces by DK Publishing. (Our version is different from the one pictured) I like watching Wee One's face as he discovers the babies on each page. It is interesting to watch his development as we encounter the page with Sad and Angry babies and he responds with facial expressions of sympathy or worry.

Colors by Little Scholastic. This book has been well loved by all of my little ones too. It is taped together now for Wee One. Another tactile and visual book of exploration.

That's our reading this week. Want to see what others are reading with their children? Check out Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns here.

July Meal Plan (partial)

2011-07-02T21:54:00.001-04:00

Even though I haven't blogged it, I have been meal planning. It's better in my house with a meal plan; how about you? I really do prefer a monthly meal plan, but haven't been able to get one complete in the last couple of months. I don't have a complete one yet for July, but I have a good start!

Breakfasts:
Strawberry, Blueberry, or Mango Banana smoothies (we hae been having these aLOT lately...and they're so delish in the summer!)
Oatmeal (check out Mary Ostyn's book Family Feasts for $75 a Week for a recipe on making your own instant oatmeal)
Waffles - with flaxmeal added in for the omega-3 benefit
Cereal - cold
eggs and toast
sausage and pancakes
Yogurt and either:
a) homemade muffins - strawberry banana, cinnamon, or lemon poppyseed
or
b) toast- french, cinnamon, peanut butter

Lunches:
fish sticks
pizza muffins
ham sandwiches
pb&j - regular and grilled
hot dogs
pot pies
strawberry soup
graham cracker sandwiches
ricotta calzones
salad w. turkey or chicken breast
tuna pita
turkey or chicken breast sandwich, with Laughing Cow garlic and herb light cheese spread (YUM! just discovered these!)
fruit salsa with cinnamon chips
chicken salad

Dinners:turkey dogs and boca burgers with black bean salsa
grilled honeyed chicken
chicken spiedies
focaccia bread
French Dip sandwiches
CreamyChicken and Wild Rice (love crockpot cooking in the summertime!)
BBQ Ribs
Baba Ghanouj
Tuna casserole
vegetable quiche
salmon with cucumbers
eggplant vegetable boats
eggplant parmesan
tossed salad with seafood topping (shrimp or crabmeat)
basil caesar salmon
smoked pork chops
Rerun Turnovers (homemade turnovers with filling made from leftover meat, fish, or vegetables) (can be frozen!)

Yeah, there are many more meals needed for July. Maybe by next week, hmm? For now, I am planning a picnic lunch for tomorrow (a little road trip to here, with a stop on the way for lunch and playtime). What are we taking? I think:

tossed salad with crabmeat
graham cracker sandwiches (peanut butter and fluff or pb&j spread on crackers)
red, white, and blue salad (strawberries, sliced bananas, and blueberries all mixed in with whipped cream)
cheese sticks
dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and walnuts for munching
bottled water, or juice for the kids

Sounds lovely, no? I hope it doesn't rain during the picnic!

Enjoy your fourth of July holiday...and, if Laura's having it, I will link up at Org Junkie.

Weekly Menu Plan

2011-06-06T22:20:00.001-04:00

With so much going on lately, I have fallen back into weekly menu planning. I do so want to get back to monthly planning and cut down my shopping trips! It's hard figuring out how to fit grocery shopping in to a 6 person family schedule!

Here's what we are eating this week:
Monday-
B: cereal (cold)
L: hmm-hubby is making-don't know what it will be!
D: dijon chicken elegant

Tuesday-
B: oatmeal and frozen pre-made pancakes
L: pb&j
D: crockpot cream cheese chicken

Wednesday-
B: eggs, toast
L: ham and cheese with crackers and fruit
D: spinach and artichoke stuffed pork loin, fried rice (rice a roni...)

Thursday-
B: waffles
L: pot pies
D: chicken nuggets/popcorn shrimp/frenchfries for kids - leftover lentil burger helper for me

Friday-
B: cold cereal
L: grilled cheese and tomato soup
D: homemade pizza

Saturday-
B: salmon and eggs
L: leftover pizza
D: marinated london broil, broccoli and cauliflower steamed to perfection

Sunday-
B: fruit, toast, eggs
L: sandwiches
D: lefotver steak, asparagus

I am linking up at Org Junkie!

How I Received Huggies Diapers for 68 Cents Today

2011-05-20T21:21:00.000-04:00

Wow. I've been gone for longer than I thought! Sorry, blogworld, but if you read my last post, you understand why. I needed to focus my energy on other areas besides blogging. I didn't really spend that much time on blogger, or so I thought until I took a break. Then I realized how much time was spent here at the computer when I could have been taking care of household tasks or being with my husband. Ahem. Yes, I did miss blogging at first, quite a lot acutally, but then my withdrawal symptoms wore off and life has been okay.

But now I hope to return with fewer, shorter posts. Just random things that happen in Mrs. B's life. Like today, when I went to Rite Aid, I got an awesome deal. Here's what happened:

Huggies Jumbo Pack diapers were on sale for $10, plus a $5 UP reward when you spend $20 on select absorbancy products. I bought two packs of Huggies, and had a coupon for $2 off a pack (wish I had a second one! That would have been REALLY sweet!). Also on sale were Oral B toothbrushes for $2.99 and a $2 UP reward when you buy one. I had a $1.50 coupon. I also had a survey coupon for $3 off a $15 purchase. All together, I spent $17.05 on these items.

Next, I needed to buy Similac soy formula for Wee One. It is regularly $25.99. With my UP rewards from the first transactions, another $3 off $15 purchase coupon, and a Similac coupon for $5 off, I purchased the formula for $10.99.

All told, I spent $28.04, which is only $2.05 above the price of the formula. Therefore, the way I see it, I got two packs of diapers and a toothbrush for $2.05! That makes it 0.68 each!!!

I've been careful with my Rite Aid purchases lately because it seemed like I would work out my plan at home on paper, and when I would actually make the purchases I was spending more. This time, though, it was just as I planned!

One Thousand Gifts - Holy Matrimony

2011-04-04T14:30:00.001-04:00

For those who read my post last week -The Raging War - I want to let you in on what that is all about. I debated about coming right out with it last week, but was afraid. I was afraid of you, my reader, knowing the truth. I was afraid of appearing less than the utmost Christian (Oh, yeah. That's right. I'm not.) I know all too well what I am - and where I am lacking - but don't want others to see it. I wanted my blog to be one more like this or this - you know, the ones I idolize. Yep. Idolatry is a fault of mine too.

But somewhere between last Monday and now, I realized that my honesty can help others, even if it points to my own weaknesses and lack. I realized that where I am at in life, other women may be as well. I realized that my struggles may actually help someone who is struggling too.

My dear friends, last week's post was about my marriage.

As someone quite familiar with the situation analogized: it's like the nuclear reactor in Japan. It's melting down, and if we don't suit up and get in there to fix it, there's going to be destruction all around us.

The good news? It appears both my husband and I have decided to put on those radiation suits and enter the reactor to get in there and cool things down.

Most enlightening to me was a book I picked up on Saturday. It was sitting on our bookshelf, a wedding gift. The title? Sacred Marriage. The author? Gary Thomas. I've only been able to read a few pages, but there were some powerful words there. Words that spoke to me about me.

"...there's a deeper question that needs to be addressed beyond how we can 'improve' our marriage: What if God didn't design marriage to be 'easier'? What if God had an end in mind that went beyond our happiness, our comfort, and our desire to be infatuated and happy as if the world were a perfect place? What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?"(p.13)

Those are the words that keep rotating around and around in my head, the ones that brought reality to my culturally induced coma of romantic love. If I am in this marriage only for the good feelings, the ego stroke, the sense of happiness that I so desperately have wanted to achieve, then I believe now that I will be ultimately disappointed. And ultimately I will give up the struggle to maintain this marriage covenant.

But what if...? What if this marriage is designed to put me on my knees, to keep me connected to my Source of hope and light?

What if...? What if I give up the struggle to be one flesh? Will I miss one of the opportunities that God has designed for making me into His image?

Will I submit to this reformation? Will I sumbit to a renewal of my mind? Will I accept these counter-cultural thoughts and pursue marriage because of its power to perform the good work that needs to be done in me, rather than pursuing happiness through love?

Right now, I say yes. And honestly, it is made a lot easier because my husband is, too. The real test of my resolve will be if he stops working at it. Will I continue? I pray now that my answer then will still be 'yes'.

And I am thankful for.....

#101 mentors
#102 prayer partners
#103 those who believe when I don't
#104 words of wisdom, spoken and in print
#105 a Faithful Father
#106 living examples
#107 teenager's cheerful obedience
#108 second-and third, fourth, fifth - chances
#109 unconditional love of children
#110 baby milestones

Come see what others are sharing thanks about at

Meal Plan for April

2011-04-02T16:47:00.000-04:00

I was so pleased with doing the almost-full-month meal plan for March that I may be convinced to do monthly meal planning from now on!

Here's what we'll be eating for April:

Breakfasts:
cereal
waffles (HOMEMADE!! I was so thrilled to receive a waffle maker for my birthday!)
banana nut muffins

blueberry muffins
berry baked oatmeal
omelets
vanilla cinnamon pancakes
oatmeal with dried apples
french toast sticks (homemade)
honey pancake puff (a pampered chef recipe)
Fruit Filled No-Roll Crepes (a recipe that came with my GTXpress sandwich maker)

Lunches:
turkey cheese tortilla roll-ups
boiled eggs
macaroni and cheese
corn dog muffins
chicken club brunch ring (another pampered chef recipe)
focaccia bread
spinach calzones
sloppy joe rolled on tortillas
fruit salsa with cinnamon chips (this was such a hit last month we're doing it again!)
tossed salad with sunflower nuts, grapes, dried cranberries, diced apple and shredded cheese

Dinners:
dijon chicken elegant
chicken and biscuits
chicken pot pie
bbq slow cooker ribs
beef stew over noodles
tacos
hamburger vegetable soup

mango chicken stir fry
hamburgers/veggie burgers and hot dogs on grill
baked italian chicken
Jamaican chicken run down (carried over from last month)
BLT's
hot turkey sandwiches
raspberry chicken
roast beef with caramelized onions
sausage with peppers and onions
creamy tomato soup
black bean soup
vegetable soup
fish-n-chips
broccoli casserole
this soup
eggplant parmesan
vegetarian chili
baked ziti
spinach quiche
split pea soup
pizza
noodles with creamy mushroom sauce
salmon with cucumbers
cream of salmon soup (from this fantastic old New England Cooking cookbook I have)
tossed salad with crabmeat
cauliflower almond cream soup
spaghetti and meatballs
spicy tex-mex bowl (a recipe from a Rival CrockPot cookbook)
raspberry-cranberry soup (can't wait to try this one!)
Eggplant veggie boats

Side Dishes:sweet potato fries
mashed cauliflower
roasted carrots
grilled asparagus
roasted potatoes
steamed broccoli with garlic
green beans
peas
corn
creamed corn (I am thinking about trying to make this versus pouring it from a can)
coleslaw
mashed taters
diced carrots and peas
dilled cucumbers
fruit salad
applesauce
sauteed spinach and garlic
pasta salad
stewed asparagus (also from the New England Cooking cookbook)
tossed salad with grape tomatoes

I am still hoping to trim my grocery budget this month. This will mean even more Aldi's shopping, and possibly trekking out to a discount food store about 30 miles from us. I'll let you know how I do!

Hamburger Vegetable Soup

2011-04-02T16:27:00.001-04:00

Hamburger Vegetable Soup:
1 pound ground beef, sprinkled liberally with garlic salt and onion powder, and sprinkled lightly with oregano and basil, then browned (I use 80/20 beef, although I know it is not as healthy. I think it gives the soup that extra flavor)

3 cups beef stock
3 cups water
4 medium carrots, sliced or diced
4 medium potaotes, diced
1/2 cup frozen peas
28 oz can diced tomatoes, with juices
salt
pepper
2 bay leaves

In large soup pot, combine broth and water. Bring to a boil and add carrots and potatoes. Cook until almost fork tender. Add in hamburger, peas, and tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, stir, then add in bay leaves. Turn heat to medium low and simmer for about 45 minutes. Enjoy!

Banana Muffins and Bread recipe

2011-04-02T16:20:00.001-04:00

Banana Nut Muffins:
2 overripe bananas, mashed
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten lightly
1/4 cup oil
1 cup milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts

Mix flour and baking powder in small bowl, set aside. Combine sugars, egg, oil, milk and blend. Add in flour slowly. Add cinnamon and vanilla and mix. Add in banana and continue to mix until well blended.
Gently fold in walnuts.

Grease 12 muffin cups. Fill each cup 1/2 way with muffin mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees fahrenheit.

Banana Apple Bread:

The ingredients are the same as above, except add 1 small apple, peeled and grated, to the 2 mashed bananas and omit walnuts. Follow directions above, but pour mixture into prepared loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 50 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Tot School/Preschool - March 28 - April 1

2011-04-01T21:24:00.000-04:00

This has been a week of slacking for sure! (It may be due to lack of sleep. I don't know how other moms do it!) Oh well. I figure the kids are learning something, no matter what I do or don't do!

My observation skills have been improving as I hope the kids' have too. We went for a walk in our yard the other day when the weather was nice (we had to catch it while it was here - it didn't last long!). It was so refreshing to see the crocus blossoms, and to welcome the tips of tulips.

For math, we counted the crocus blossoms we saw in the yard. This is good practice for the kids as they need some help with one-to-one correspondence. I am not sure how to help them with double-counting. Have to think on it when brain is fresher!

Also in relation to nature studies, we observed the wildlife in our yard. The Love was soooooo excited when she was brushing her teeth one morning and saw a 'red bird' (cardinal) in the tree outside the bathroom window. Little Man promptly took up the mantra "I want to see a red bird too!" (imagine it said with a lisp and whine). So, we have been watching out the window at home and at my sister's for birds. Just today, we saw a tufted titmouse, a nuthatch, a goldfinch, a woodpecker, a flicker, a cardinal, and a robin all within about five minutes!

I put together the Spring sensory box last weekend (I had to get it done while Little Man was napping. He loved the transportation box sooooo much!). Inside are bunny stackable crayons, two small notebooks, two different types of noisemakers, a jumprope, a light-up yo-yo, two bumpy egg-shaped balls, a magnifying glass, silk flowers, and easter grass. There was a lot more easter grass in as a filler, as well as more silk flowers and two foam flower arrangement blocks. Here's what they did the first day:

Didn't they do a good job??

An impromptu math lesson came from using the bunny stackable crayons. Little Man put the two stacks together. One crayon was missing. I had him figure out which one was missing by looking for the one that didn't have its mate.

Basically, the kids had a lot of free play time. The lessons they are learning in this are kindness, sharing, loving each other, and obedience. Honestly, those are the areas we worked on the most this past week. There was quite a bit more physical activity since the snow is pretty much gone. Our backyard playground is usable now, and we visited there twice. They also played in our indoor playground (aka the shop), and we went to the local recreation center to play on their equipment too.

For art, we studied Beatrix Potter's drawings in the Peter Rabbit book we've been reading. I keep mentioning that we will be doing a little drawing of Peter ourselves, but it hasn't happened yet. Maybe this afternoon...

For music, in the car I tuned the satellite to a classical station. Usually it is on a Christian music station, and I wondered what the response would be. The littles really liked the classical music! They would ask, "What's this one?" I was surprised to hear the theme song to Indiana Jones on that station!

Practical arts involved making banana nut muffins. They were really 'yum-o' as Little Man said!
For reading selections this week, we had:

Moon by Steve Tomecek. Some scientific explanations about the moon, with kid-friendly illustrations and simple wording. Little Man picked up right away on the myth about people turning into wolves in the light of the moon. Of course!

How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon? by Jane Yolen. Chosen before this latest round of colds, it is now appropriate!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. A great book for springtime. I was going to do a whole unit on this theme. Maybe next week....

The Best Time to Read by Debbie Bertram and Susan Bloom. A little boy has learned to read, and tries to get anyone (even the dog!) to listen to him. In the end, he has a great audience!

Born to be a Butterfly by Karen Wallace. This is another scientific explanation type of book. This was supposed to be part of the caterpillar/butterfly unit I was going to do. I liked how this book came full circle with the life cycle of a butterfly.

We also continued to read the Peter Rabbit treasury by Beatrix Potter. I was pleasantly surprised when The Love's preschool teacher said they were using a Peter Rabbit counting book, and The Love told the class about the whole story! Narration, and it wasn't even prompted by me!

Also in March, we started doing a nightly devotional using this book I bought for the kids for Christmas:

I purchased the deluxe edition, which comes with the stories on CD. We listen to one every evening before bed, and then have a small discussion about the story. This is a fantastic resource for Bible stories for young children. I would recommend it for kids up to about ten years old.

Linking up this week at:

April Goals and March Review

2011-04-01T12:13:00.000-04:00

Is March done already?! Well, at least we are moving into better weather (I say hopefully, as the weather announcer tells of a foot of snow predicted tonight in some parts of our state!).

I am most happy about achieving the March (and February) goal of setting up a daily devotional with the kids! In order to achieve it, I had to think differently about getting it done. I kept wanting it to be a morning routine, yet was confounded time and again by crazy sleep schedules due to the new baby in the house. I sat and thought about the importance of the morning part, versus the importance of the devotional part. So, the morning part went out the window, and we now do our time together before bed. For Christmas I purchased this:

I bought the deluxe edition with the stories on CD. My pastor recommended it highly, and I can see why. The kids really do sit and listen to the stories, and I love how each one points to Jesus! It takes us about five to ten minutes to listen and then talk about whichever story we listen to that night. For now, this is what works. We all are pretty happy with it!

March Goal 2: Cut out $50 a week on grocery spending. For March, I spent a total of $878.74 on groceries/toiletries/baby supplies/etc. That averages out to $175.75. At this point, it appears I have cut $14.25 a week out of our grocery spending, on average. At first I was disappointed; when I realized this total includes baby formula, my frown turned upside down. My plan was to save at least what I would spend in formula. If I did that, my grocery total would be the same. Since the total was less, I saved more than what I was spending on formula. However, I think I spent more than I intended because of the Rite Aid trips. I have a new plan to only go to Rite Aid for purchases if it is a GREAT deal and something I need, too. One thing I do plan is to get baby formula there, if I have a $3 store coupon and a mfg coupon. I signed up at Similac online, so hopefully I will start getting coupons in the mail (which is what others said happened with them).

March Goal 3: Continue to throw away one thing a day. I was not as consistent in March with this, but I know I have been getting rid of things as I come across them. For example, Christmas cards still(!) hanging up on the wall...they went bye-bye yesterday!

March Goal 4: Discipline the kids consistently. Yes, I think we hit this one. I am a lot better about getting up and dealing with the issue as it is happening, even if it means the baby needs to wait a few more minutes to eat. Perhaps the Wee One is learning patience through this!

March Goal 5: One t.v. free day a week. Well, we had two weeks where we accomplished this. The other weeks, I have just been trying to limit the television watching. For a while there the kids were getting a LOT of television every day. Ugh. Now, we are down to an hour or so, broken up over the day. Except for today, that is. The littles seem to be getting sick again....and television sometimes is the soothing balm to their achy bodies. Don't understand it, but it does keep them still and resting.

March Goal 6: Work through Weekly Meditations. Fail. Big time. But at least the kids and I are getting family devo time!

March Goal 7: Thoroughly clean kitchen and kids rooms. For this, I give myself a B. Hubby helped with the kids' rooms. They did get pretty well cleaned. I would say I got about 1/2 of the kitchen cleaned well.

APRIL GOALS:
1. Continue with family devo time.
2. Add in personal devo time with the Weekly Meditations book.
3. Laugh every day.
4. Keep on with the purging system - throw away one thing a day. (TAOTAD)
5. Make a memory book for Hubby's birthday.
6. Start exercising three times a week.
7. Finish cleaning kitchen.
8. Be consistent with chores for all the kids (I already started in March with the little ones - they now have to get dressed, make their beds (with help), and eat breakfast by 8 a.m. On Saturdays we started doing some household cleaning together in the morning as well. I hope this will train them now to be a help to the family).
9. Get Little Man in to a big boy bed, and figure out where Wee One is going to sleep once he is out of the bassinette and into the crib. The crib won't fit in our room, which is where he sleeps now. There aren't enough bedrooms for him to have his own. I don't trust Little Man in a room with the baby. So, it is either move Little Man into The Love's room and put Wee One in Little Man's room, or put Wee One in The Love's room. Not sure which is going to be the best choice.

I could continue, but I want to leave something for May! ;)

What are you planning on getting to in April? See what others are doing at: mama smiles.

HSV Garden Challenge - Week One

2011-03-31T14:02:00.000-04:00

I decided, since we are already doing most of what is involved in the HSV Garden Challenge, that we will participate!

We have already started tomato and cauliflower seeds. Here, Little Man is watering while The Love cleans up our mess!

Eventually, the seedlings will be transplanted to our vegetable garden:

The closest end of the plot is where we have gardended in the past few years. I hope to build some raised beds for the far end, as it is very gravelly under that grass! Too many rocks to plant anything! Without that extra space, our little plot is, well, little.

Our plans for other seeds to be sown are pole beans, cucumbers, lettuce, peas, carrots. We may do more, but I have found from experience that this will give us more garden work than we can handle!

I found a plan for building the raised beds in last March's Better Homes and Garden magazine. To help with how to plant and care for our veggies, I have some of Jerry Baker's booklets that I picked up at our library's book sale last year. I forgot all about them until after we already planted the tomatoes and cauliflower above. I plan to plant some more tomato seeds this weekend. We will use Jerry's method and compare to see if there is a difference in growth.

The kids are very excited about the garden and our vegetables. They check the pots every day to see if anything has sprouted yet! I hope that getting them involved will help Little Man to try more vegetables. He really despises those healthy green things!

On a last note, Hubby said last night that he wants to help us do our garden this year! Mama is excited about that one (someone else to haul water!! :) )

This is where the challenge is being hosted:
http://www.thehomeschoolvillage.com/2011/03/hsv-garden-challenge-link-up-1.html.

Come check it out!

Look at this Bad Boy

2011-03-31T13:39:00.000-04:00

He's gonna be dinner!

One Thousand Gifts - The Raging War

2011-03-28T15:43:00.000-04:00

It tugs and pulls, this battle inside my mind. Thoughts are swirling; reasons and justification create a tornado that leaves me baffled, wondering what I should do, what I should think. No matter the number of times I look at this befuddling situation, no matter how much I vaccilate between forgiveness and self-preservation, I keep thinking that there is only One who knows the truth. And His words, His help-you-find-your-way directions, are what is grounding me in the middle of the raging war.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of my mind.

Don't grow weary in well-doing.

When I am weak, He is strong.

His plan is good for me.

Love each other, as He has loved me.

Yes, I have paraphrased and personalized. But that is what is so wonderful about the Word: it's personal.

The Gratitude Continues:
#96 He has not given up on me
#97 He has not given me a spirit of fear, but of moral power and excellence of soul, good will, and self-control
#98 roads less traveled
#99 hope that, in the end, this will be a testimony and encouragement to others
#100 healing, helping hearts all around me

Come join in the count of countless thanksgivings at

Tot School/Preschool March 21 - 25

2011-03-25T21:12:00.001-04:00

I have been reading more of the Tomas Jefferson Education book by Oliver deMille, as well as just yesterday starting to read about Charlotte Mason's educational views. I have a lot more reading to complete, but I think all of this will influence the way I proceed with our weekly activities. I imagine that, if I decide I agree with these theories, you will also notice a difference.

Two of the quotes that have stuck with me from the DeMille book are:
"...the problems of education seem varied and complex; but the complexity is a myth, rooted in a modern misconception about education and educators. Education can't be fixed as long as we believe this basic myth.
The myth is that it is possible for one human being to educate another." (p. 12)

and

"In our modern society, whenever education is the subject, we always want to talk about the kids. We care about them, and we know their education is important, but we also find that it's easier to talk about their education than to improve our own. In reality, you are unlikely to pass on to your children a better education than you have earned yourself..." (p. 53)
For this week, here's what we did:

We planted tomato and cauliflower seeds to start growing for our garden. This was more of an educational experience for me! At least a lesson in patience (see The Love in the background, scooping up the potting mix???)

I found a clip art ice cream cone on the web that I manipulated in my Creative Memories scrapbooking software to make these ice cream scoops. The kids colored them as they pleased, and then I had them order the scoops in the way I indicated (strawberry, cherry, and vanilla please!) (this idea came from someone who posted to Homeschool Creation's preschool corner. As is typical with me, I don't know who! If it was you, let me know and I will give you credit!).

We also started making rainbows using froot loops (an Aldi brand - no way would I use that expensive cereal for a craft project!). I got the idea from All Kids Network.

I consider this project to cover the subjects of art (colors, manipulation of materials), science (the colors of the rainbow their order), math (counting how many loops it takes to make the arc for purple and blue; comparing more vs. less), and nutrition (the cereal is tasty but not good for you in large amounts - and try keeping your kids from eating at least as much as they put on their page! ha!).

In the area of mathematics, I printed out pages from this tot pack. Very cute graphics, perfect for springtime! The Love did counting and identifying the correct matching numeral. She also completed the patterning pages. I printed a couple of sets for my niece and nephew as well. According to my sister, they loved it!

We did focus more on reading this week. Not all of the books are what I would consider 'classics', but I am okay with moving in to the TJEd idea of teaching slowly. Here's what we digested for mental food:
A Treasury of Peter Rabbit and Other Stories by Beatrix Potter. This one was for The Love. I have read to her the Tale of Peter Rabbit as well as Benjamin Bunny while Little Man was napping. With the story of Peter Rabbit, she thought that his mother should not punish him for disobeying and going into Mr. McGregor's garden. I am uncertain if she really understood the story. We will continue discussing the storyline as it comes up in life situations; I believe this is how the TJEd model works. I am curious to see how her understanding of the plot and the consequences of Peter's actions increase as we keep visiting it time and again.

A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. For memory work, I have chosen the poem "Whole Duty of Children". I read it to the littles each day at lunch. The Love is already remembering some of it. The part about manners at the table is particularly relevant at this age! I have read other poems to the kids, too, incuding "My Shadow". The first poem in the book is the one that evoked strong memories of me as a child. It is entitled "Bed In Summer". I think I would like to purchase this volume of work for our own bookshelf!

The Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort. A silly version of "The Wheels on the Bus". I chose this because my kids love the song, and I thought they would get a kick out of a different version. The have! Tonight, I found Little Man 'reading' the book to his sister. What a joy!

For narration work, I asked The Love to retell me the story of Snow White. We have this book on CD; the kids have listened to it several times, but not recently. She did quite well, and only needed me to fill in the part where the Queen falls off the cliff to her demise. I suppose there is a chance she left this out because, every time we get to that part in the story, the kids start yelling for me to turn it off! They really don't like it (I don't turn it off, by the way).

For classic music works, this week we listened to Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. I know it is the wrong time of the year for this, but it is what I have in the house (what a sad statement on our classical music selections here!). I didn't discuss the work with them but I hope to incorporate some question and aswer time as part of our listening in the future.

This week we did not study any classic art. After beginning my Charlotte Mason study, I am thinking of just printing out some classical works by some of the masters and hanging them around the house.

Here's to another week of teaching and self-educating!

As always, I am linking up at:

Monday Menu Plan - A review of some recipes

2011-03-21T14:46:00.000-04:00

So, I created a monthly menu plan here and I have to say, so far, so good. I do like knowing the whole month is planned out. I can purchase groceries either in bulk or plan around sales.

Now that I am a few weeks into it, I wanted to share a few reviews of the recipes.

Fruit Salsa

This was easy and delicious. The cinnamon tortilla chips are wonderful! I still have leftovers that I munch on for a snack here and there.

Shrimp Risotto
I couldn't find any ready made risotto so I made some myself with arborio rice. I have never had this before, but let me say - YUM. Hubby and littles thought so too. For myself I topped it with pork chops, but Hubby had shrimp.

Sesame Tilapia
So easy to make! And, delcious according to Hubby.

Buttermilk Chicken Strips
Again, just so good. I guess I was hitting some homeruns with this meal plan, huh? Even my picky sister liked these.

I have been meaning to write this for a while:
The Beef Stew Bake from this post needs to be modified! As I wrote I couldn't find where the recipe came from, and I should have searched harder. I must have written it wrong, because when I baked it at 350 degrees for 3 hours, this is what I got:

It sure smelled good, though! I was quite funny to see Shades come into the house (we had gone to dentist appointments while it cooked, which is why I didn't catch it burning), sniff the air and open the oven to see what smelled so delicious. His expression was priceless as he called me to check it out!

Linking up at
.

Multitude Monday- Gifts from my Grandmother

2011-03-21T14:28:00.001-04:00

Her hands are spotted with age, but her cheeks are as soft as velvet and hardly lined at all. Her skin has been this way my whole life. I remember her vividly from my younger years, though many memories of my childhood are lost. She has always been loved by everyone who meets her; she is a grandmother to not only her grandchildren but to all children she meets. She's generous. She's a wonderful cook and baker. She has shared many recipes with me: for breads, muffins, cookies, her awe-inspiring, I-can't-make-like-hers-no-matter-how-hard-I-try macaroni and cheese. And recipes for friendship, prayer, perserverence, dealing with cranky babies, and love. Mostly, recipes for love.

And the count continues:

#86 fresh made banana bread
#87 a dozen eggs given freely
#88 sunshine in a snowstorm
#89 the end to all things - especially winter
#90 worship in the middle of pain
#91 a heart that is still soft and teachable and willing to obey
#92 a legacy of faith inherited and passed on
#93 hands that have worked many years and garnered many lessons
#94 a Savior who moves mountains of stubborn habits
#95 a shared heritage

Come see what others are sharing gratitude about at:

How I Received $26 Baby Formula for $1

2011-03-21T13:39:00.000-04:00

I went to - you guessed it - Rite Aid this morning. I just had to get there and grab this deal I figured out almost all on my own!

Here's how I did it:

transaction 1:
The Doctor's Nightguard - sale price $19.99 - $5.00 Mfg coupon; received $15 Up reward
Huggies jumbo pack diapers - sale price $8.99 - $2.00 mfg coupon from newspaper insert
L'Oreal Preference hair color - sale price 2/17.98 - $4.00 store coupon - $5.00 mfg coupon from newspaper insert
M&M's sale price 2/$3.99 (BOGO)

Then I used:
10% off one time shopping pass
$5.00 in UP rewards from last shopping trip
$3.00 coupon from taking Rite Aid survey

My total for the above items (what I paid out of pocket, with tax) was $30.62. Regular retail for these is $75.44 (without tax). That's a savings of 59%!

Transaction 2:
Similac soy powedered 23.2 oz - $25.99 - $20 in UP rewards from tx 1 - $3 survey coupon - $2.00 rebate = .99!!!

wahoo!

Tot School/Preschool March 14-18

2011-03-19T13:50:00.000-04:00

Spring was still the theme this week. We didn't get as much completed as I would have liked, due to the baby having pneumonia and RSV, and The Love coming down with strep throat. Yuck.

Here's what we did accomplish:

Counting and writing numbers - I made these worksheets myself with my Creative Memories software for scrapbooking. It was pretty easy to make a spring themed page. I hope to make more of my own worksheets this way. I am limited by the content I have on the software at this point.

One day this week Little Man chose to play with our clay. After making animals of various sorts, I made words that rhyme. The Love guessed what the words were based on the beginning letters. Rhyming has been an area of weakness for her. The day after we did this though, she came up to me and said, "Frog, log. They rhyme!" Yes! Yes, they do!

For St. Patrick's day, my babysitter read the book

The Last Snake In Ireland: A Story About St. Patrick by Sheila MacGill-Callahan. I found this book through Almost Unschoolers. I printed out maps of the United Kingdom and the kids and I discussed that Ireland is an island and what that means. We also noted that Scotland and Great Britain are the closest countries to Ireland. The kids made play-do snakes, as well as the giant snake-or, Loch Ness Monster as the book tells it, pictured above.

Our last St. Patrick's Day craft was to make shamrock people. Little Man's is the top one, and he said he gave his man a mad face because Patrick (in the Last Snake book) was angry.

The other (not previously read) book this week is:

Action Alphabet by Marty Neumeier. This is a simple, black and white illustration book that has letters (or lack thereof) demonstrating the word that starts with it on the opposite page. Both littles loved it. I thought some of the illustrations were predicatable while others were quite inventive.

I am in the process of reading A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the 21st Century by Oliver deMille. I have about 1/2 left to finish, but I am inspired to change the way I have been working with the kids. You will notice the change in the coming weeks as we aspire to read more classic literature and have meaningful discussions about it. No, not in-depth dissections of the text. And no, we aren't going to read Great Expectations. I am searching for classic literature for preschoolers which will allow us to reinforce their training in right versus wrong, truth verus untruth, good versus bad, etcetera.

The School of Life - learning to play with your brother!

Linking up this week with:

:

This week's grocery spending

2011-03-14T15:21:00.000-04:00

This week I went to both Aldi and Walmart. Aldi's is great but there are some things you can't get there. Between the two stores, I spent $139.29. Here's what I purchased:

ALDI
3 loaves whole wheat bread - 24 ounce loaves with whole wheat flour, not bleached, enriched - 2.97 total
mcintosh apples 3 lbs - 2.19
boneless, skinless chicken thighs 3 lbs - 5.99
pepperoni pizza frozen stuffed sandwiches (like hot pockets) - 1.89
6 fresh peaches .59 each total 3.54
fresh cauliflower (a huge head of it!) - 2.49
strawberries 1 lb - 2.49
kiwi 3 pack - 1.29
aluminum foil 75 feet - 1.99
2 pkg flour tortillas - .99 each total 1.98
8 yogurt - .35 each 2.80 total
2 cans apricot halves - .99 each - 1.98 total
2 cans mandarin oranges 11 oz - .49 each .98 total
kettle style potato chips - .99
light sour cream 16 oz - 1.79
fruit snacks - 1.79
fruit roll (like fruit by the foot) - 1.89
dried packaged tortelloni - 1.25
dozen eggs - 1.29
100% cranberry juice - 1.99
1 lb butter - 2.49
cheddar cheese 8 oz- 1.69
caesar dressing - 1.19
refrigerated bread dough - 1.69
TOTAL $52.18

WALMART
Huggies big box diapers - 25.00 less 3.00 coupon = 22.00
Capri Sun - 5 10 packs - 1.40 each total 7.00 (an ad comp for a competing storee)
2 cans Juicy Juice concentrated - 1.94 each 3.88 total
arizona iced tea 42 oz - 1.00
2 sobe juice - 1.00 each total 2.00
buttermilk quart - 1.40
smoked pork chops - 6.46
prosciutto - 3.98
sliced mozzarella - 2.34
(2)1/2 gal blue diamond almond milk - 2.82 each, total 5.64
sugar snap peas - 2.50
1 lime - .50
grapes - 1.96 per pound, total 4.10
bananas -.54 per pound, total 1.30
heavy cream pint - 1.78
artisan bread - small - 1.50
potato wedges (cooked) - .82
popcorn chicken (cooked) -2.00
clorox 2 - 4.74 - 2.00 coupon= 2.74
Huggies baby wipes refill pack - 5.96
Huggies baby wipes - 2.82 - buy refill pack get container free coupon= 0.00 (free)
tampax pearl tampons - 3.96 - 1.00 coupon = 2.96
tampax multi-pack tampons - 5.00 - 1.oo coupon= 4.00
gain liquid fab softener - 4.32 - 2.00 coupon = 2.32
Schick hydro shave shaving foam - 2.47 - .75 coupon = 1. 72
TOTAL $80.11

So far in March, I have spent a total of $459.98 (including my Rite Aid purchases). That brings my average to $153.32; a savings on average of $37 over what I used to spend weekly. I hope to bring that savings up to $50.

A Spring Appetizer

2011-03-14T13:25:00.001-04:00

As we are teased with thoughts of Spring and warmth, I made a little appetizer for the littles before lunch today.

What do you think?

Pretzel trees with celery leaves held together with p.b. Annie's bunnies crackers and fruit leather flowers....

I posted my monthly menu plan here.

As always, linking up at
:.
for Menu Plan Monday!

Today's Rite Aid Savings - 41%

2011-03-13T20:58:00.001-04:00

So I didn't save as much percentage wise as I did my last trip, but I am still pretty happy with the deals I got today at Rite Aid. Here's what I purchased:

Transaction #1:

2 scrubbing bubbles toilet bowl cleaner (regularly 4.49 each on sale for 3.50 each), 2 clorox cleaning wipes (regularly 3.49 each on sale for 2.00) = 11.88 (with tax) - $1 mfg coupon on 2 clorox wipes from 3/13 insert = 10.88 plus $3 UP reward for purchasing $10 worth of specified products

Transaction #2:

2 Puffs plus (reg 1.99, on sale for .88 each )

2 Colgate toothbrushes (reg 1.99, on sale for 1.00 each)

2 Halls cough drops (reg 1.99, on sale for 1.00 each)
Mentos fruit roll (.85 regular price, as a special treat for my 4 yo daughter who was putting up with this!)
Bounty paper towels (7.99 regular, on sale for 5.99)
Dixie plates (3.99 reg, on sale for 1.97)
Purex fab softener crystals (reg 5.99, on sale for 3.99)
2 Right Guard deodorant (reg 4.79, on sale for 3.00)
Keri lotion (this was on sale last week but they didn't have it so I got a rain check) (reg 8.99, on sale for 6.99)(EDITED TO ADD: the rebate was only good if you purchased between 3/6 and 3/12)
Always pads (reg 4.49, on sale for 2.99)
2 Colgate sensitive toothpaste (reg 4.79, on sale B1G1 free)

Then add in my coupons:
2.00 off Purex
1.00 off bounty
1.00 off 2 colgate toothbrushes
1.00 off colgate toothpaste
1.00 off puffs tissues
B1G1 free Right guard deodorant (the clerk took off the 4.49 coupon max although they were on sale for 3.00!)
1.00 off two Halls
3.00 off Keri lotion
and there are 3.99 in coupons that I don't remember what they are! (sorry! I have to get better at writing everything down...)
3.00 UP reward from Transaction #1

That's $20.48 in coupon and UP reward savings on transaction 2. Plus, I need to check out if its still good, but there was a $6 single check rebate on the Keri lotion. So, really I would save $26.48.

Also, the Bounty and Purex printed $1 UP rewards, so I have $2 towards my next purchase.

Lastly, both transactions printed off receipts with $3 off $15 purchase survey codes. Yeah! And I found a third receipt with a survey code (and an expiration of 3/17) just floating around in the car...

Now I need to figure my next purchase with those UP rewards and the $3/$15 coupon!

EDITED TO ADD: When I went to check on the Keri lotion rebate, I found out that there is a rebate for Clorox products (1.00 when you buy 2) and for Similac (2.00 when you buy one). I have submitted for those (and while looking at the Similac receipt I saw that there is another $3/$15 survey code!!! That's 4 survey codes I have for purchases over $15. Wish I had seen them before I went today!)

One Thousand Gifts...picking up where I left off

2011-03-13T05:00:00.000-04:00

The phone rings and she picks up. 'Hey you!' She knows it's me, thanks to caller ID. Her voice is smooth with joy to be hearing from me. It doesn't matter that I haven't called in weeks. It doesn't matter that life has been rough and tough and pot-holed. She wants to hear it all, wants to listen to my soul spilling and wrenching and dripping. She is my sister. The only blood we share is that of the One who was pierced for our transgressions, but she is a sister of the heart, a Sister of the Cross. She bears my burdens and fulfills the law of Christ. She is a friend that loves like a sister, as close as one who does have the same blood coursing through her veins.

Counting up my thanksgivings:

#81 Sisters of the Cross
#82 Soul searching conversations that bring change and healing
#83 reminders of rainbows
#84 hymns sung by a four year old sweetheart
#85 caretakers of the heart

Preschool/Tot School - aneasyweek and intro to spring

2011-03-10T21:48:00.000-05:00

This is how our week started off:

This was Monday morning, and that is Hubby and Shades out there shoveling away at 6 a.m. On Sunday morning we could see grass...24 hours later we have 22 or so inches of snow. And of all the days and times throughout the winter for our plow truck to die...it happened that morning. To top it off, we were supposed to be at an appointment for The Love to have surgery (ear tubes and adenoids removed). Well, we were quite a bit late for the appointment, but so was the doctor! The Love did so well with the surgery, but this week has been light on (formal) learning since she was to take it easy.

This is what we did:

Snow painting! With all that snow, and 40 degree temps after, we had to go out and make use of it. The littles loved it. We will definitely do this again. (Thanks Chocolate Muffin Tree for the idea!)

Also:

patterning with our foam shapes, and letter and word practice with our pipe cleaner flash cards

And:

watercolor pictures of spring. The top one was made by The Love. It is the sun, grass, a rose and a dress. The bottom two are by Little Man. They are cars. Not sure what cars have to do with spring...

We are simply anxious for Spring to arrive with sunshine and flowers! I decided that we would start a theme on spring (there will be more activities for Spring and St. Patrick's day next week). We read these books about spring:

Raven and River by Nancy White Carlstrom. This is a poetic book about how the animals featured are waking up to spring, and how the river wakes up in a similar manner. I enjoyed it but the kiddos didn't sit still for the whole book.

Spring by Anna Claybourne. This is a little above the kids level, but I still used it to explain about spring, introducing them to the facts of earth tilt and revolution.

Signs of Spring by Justine Korman. The little mouse is so happy it's spring, she can't stop noticing all of the indication while walking to school. She forgot about it being show and tell day, but her friends help her see that she has something to show and tell after all. The Love almost cried when the teacher called on the mouse for show and tell. She was upset that mouse didn't have anything...but it was good that The Love listened for the end to see it all worked out.

Did You Hear Wind Sing Your Name? by sandra De Coteau Orie. I so desperatly want to read this with the kids. We got about three pages in and they lost interest. Oh well. I am going to keep trying. A lovely book. Illustrations are absolutely gorgeous!

The last activity to report for this week was a trip to the library Tuesday afternoon (which involved waking Little Man and Wee One from naps...argh) for the local Zoomobile visit. Love and Little Man were in awe. They saw, touched and learned about a corn snake (eats mice and rats, has a hinged jaw, lives in corn fields and are friends to farmers), a screech owl (it has 'silent flight', doesn't screech but hoots, eats mice, its head turns 270 degrees, not 360) , a turtle (i was interrupted and didn't catch the facts given on this one but did watch it eating a banana - very cute the way it stretched its neck out and pecked at the fruit), and a porcupine (lives in trees mostly, has 30,000 quills, doesn't shoot its quills, you have to touch them to get stuck, a single quill can kill a bear by traveling through its bloodstream to the heart).

A good week all things considered! Look for more spring activities next week!

I am linking to:

How I saved 43% at Rite Aid

2011-03-10T14:53:00.000-05:00

One of my goals this month is to save money on my weekly grocery spending (FYI - I lump everything into 'grocery spending' - toiletries, diapers, formula...). I have been doing ad price comps with Walmart for some time now, and I usually have some coupons to use, which does help bring down the cost weekly. However, with a new member of the family who needs some costly things each week, I want to do even better than I was.

After reading Amy's new journey with couponing over at Daily Pleasures, and with her link to Money Saving Mom's blog posts on how to play the Drug Store Game, decided to jump on the bandwagon too. I am only shopping Rite Aid right now; I just don't have the time to run around to other drug stores. It's difficult enough to get to Walmart to purchase things we need! Actually, I did shop at Aldi this week to pick up some groceries. I used to go weekly because I can save A LOT of money there, and I hope to be able to come up with a plan to get back to that. You will see below what I was able to purchase and for how much.

Okay, so back to Rite Aid. I sat down and read the linkies at Money Saving Mom for this week's Rite Aid sale and made my plan of what I wanted to purchase. I clipped my paper coupons and printed out online coupons. I hopesd to get there yesterday but didn't make it til today...and seems like others knew about the really good deals (imagine that!) because there were several items they didn't have in stock. This is what I did buy:

Three boxes Mini Wheats (18 oz), Similac ready-to-feed Soy formula (32 oz), Gillette Body Wash, Colgate Advance Whitening toothpaste, Gillette deodorant, SweetTart jelly beans, Snickers candy bar, Reese's king size pb cups, Twix king size, Hershey's Drops king size (not pictured because - ahem - I ate them!).

How much did I spend on all of this? $18.51! If I had purchased all of these items at regular price it would have cost $43.08. That is a savings of 43%!! Not bad for my first time! Here's how I did it:

Mini Wheats on sale 3/$9, Coupon for $1 off 2.

SweetTart jelly beans on sale $1.99, Coupon for $1 off 1.

Similac $6.79, store coupon for $2 off 1, mfg coupon for $2 off 1.

Gillette Body Wash free (acutally, this is a moneymaker of $1.70) (reg $5.29), coupon for $2 off; plus a coupon to get body wash free (up to $4.99) when purchasing deodorant.

Gillette Deodorant $5.79.

Colgate Advance toothpaste on sale $2.99, coupon for $1 off 1.

Snickers candy bar $0.88

Reese's king size $1.59

Twix King size Free - on sale B1G1 free

Hershey's Drops Free - coupon for buy 1 king size hersheys or reeses and get drops free

Then, I used a $3 off a purchse of $15 coupon I had from completing a Rite Aid survey, and a $1 up reward from a previous purchase.

In addition to my savings on these items, I earned three up reward coupons totaling $5.88 ($2 from Colgate, .88 from Snickers purchase, and $3 from kelloggs purchase).

I plan to go back tomorrow to get the following items they were out of (this store gets a truck in on Fridays):

Similac powder

Keri lotion

Airwick air freshener

The Similac powder is reg $25 (and change). I will use their store coupon for $2 and my $5.88 in up rewards from today to purchase it for $17.12.

Keri lotion is $6.99 with a $6 single check rebate. I also have a $3 mfg coupon. I will make $2.01.

Airwick air freshener is on sale B1G1 Free. I have a mfg coupon for b1g1 free. I will get both for free. (At least, that is what others are saying. I hope it works!)

Now, for my Aldi's purchases -

8 oz colby jack cheese

fresh mozzarella

vine tomatoes

cream cheese wontons

1 pound butter

2 pkg breakfast sausage links

pineapple tidbits

deli ham

frozen broccoli florets 8 oz

scrubber sponges

hamburger 80% lean, 2.5 pounds

pork tenderloin

fruit rounds cereal

vegetable chips (like potato chips)

2 frozen stuffed salmon

oyster crackers

4 chicken pot pies

ricotta cheese 16 oz

bay scallops

edamame

Total $49.97.

Not too shabby!

Am I nuts?

2011-03-08T20:59:00.000-05:00

Am I? 'Cause I am sure I heard from God yesterday. Maybe some of you might think that's crazy but it seems pretty normal to me. See, I pretty much grew up knowing that there is a God of the universe, and my parents and grandmother showed me that He talks to his kids. So, I don't think I am crazy. I know I heard from Him. Wanna know what he said?

Well, first I have to ask you a question. Do you know that song by JJ Heller, "Who Will Love Me For Me?" ? I know it. I can't get it out of my head or my heart. I sing it a lot even when I don't want to, when I would rather sing The Song That Never Ends than sing that song. But it is there, the words seem to haunt me.

So, looking in the mirror yesterday and considering my new Wee One, and how he cries so much and sometimes I just about lose it, and how sometimes I am not as gentle as I should be with a wee little baby because I am so darn tired and out of patience (no, I don't hurt him. I am just not kind and gentle like I should be). Considering that, I look at my face and start crying and asking God to forgive me for being such a lousy mother. I start beggin God to forgive me, forgive me please forgive me. And you know what He said to my heart? He said, "I forgive you. I forgave you the first moment you asked the first time. But what I want to know is, when will you forgive you? When will YOU love YOU for YOU?"

And now, I can't get that question out of my head. See, I don't need others to love me for me. They do. I don't. I need me to love me for me. I sing the song differently since that little conversation.

"When will I love me for me? Not for what I have done or what I will become. When will I love me for me?"

And I wait...because it isn't yet. But I think I can work on it, Lord God help me, I think I can work on it.

Menu Plan Monday - The plan for the rest of March

2011-03-08T20:40:00.000-05:00

After reading Hoosier Homemade's monthly meal plan for March, and considering the time (or lack thereof) that I have to blog and plan meals and grocery shop, I decided I would also give it a shot for the remainder of the month. So. Here's our rest-of-the-month meal plan:

Breakfasts:
eggs - various ways such as omelets, scrambled, fried
cereal
oatmeal - baked as well as the usual
pancakes
waffles
yogurt
fruit
couscous with fruit

Lunches:
tuna mac salad
apples, pretzels, and celery with peanut butter
pizza muffins
hot dogs
fruit salsa
ham and cheese
broccoli-cheese-noodle soup
chicken salad
mozzarella-proscuitto paninis
crackers and cheese
pot pies
grilled cheese(with tomato)
Kraft mac-n-cheese

Dinners:
note- there will be more listed than days in the month because sometimes I have to make a separate vegetarian meal if we are having meat.

manhattan clam chowder (x2)
shrimp risotto
sesame tilapia
golden carrot soup
sugar snap pea and shrimp curry
tortilla soup
chickpea-edamame burgers
tortellini spinach soup
vegetable egg rolls, spinach-artichoke dip
cream of mushroom soup (x2)
baked haddock
stuffed shells
broccoli quiche
vegatarian lasagne
spaghetti
tuna casserole
macaroni and cheese
basil caesar salmon
lentil soup
baked chicken
fried chicken
scalloped potatoes and ham
goulash
ground beef curly noodle dinner
Jamaican chicken run down
quesadillas
buttermilk chicken strips
steak
smoked pork chops
pulled pork sammys
pancakes, sausage
swedish meatballs
pizza
chicken broccoli casserole
ramen soup

Sides (I am making a list and choosng what I want to have with whatever dinner I pick for that night):
moroccan carrots
mediterranean cauliflower
roasted carrots
green beans almondine
steamed broccoli
garlic mashed potatoes
carrots and peas
cranberry sauce
baby corn
creamed corn
corn bread
corn on the cob
green beans
sunny fruit salad
apple walnut salad
roasted garlic and spinach salad
tomato mozzarella salad
macaroni salad
mashed cauliflower
tossed salad (several times)

And now, if you aren't bored to death with all of that, I am going to list all the items needed to make the meals above, and indicate what I already have on hand. You guessed it, this is more for me than anyone else!

clams
diced tomatoes (on hand)
tomato juice (oh)
carrots
potatoes
shrimp (oh)
arborio rice (oh)
garlic
sesame oil (oh)
tilapia (oh)
sesame seeds (oh)
vegetable broth (oh)
sugar snap peas
tortilla soup mix (oh)
chickpeas (oh)
edamame
tortellini (oh)
baby spinach
frozen spinach
atichoke hearts x2 (1 oh)
frozen vegetable egg rolls (oh)
mushrooms
heavy cream
haddock (oh)
fresh broccoli
lasagna noodles
spaghetti sauce x 2 (1 oh)
ricotta cheese
frozen broccoli
spaghetti (oh)
frozen meatballs (oh)
tuna fish (oh)
egg noodles
cream of mushroom soup
elbow macaroni (oh)
sharp cheese brick
salmon (oh)
caesar salad dressing
croutons (oh)
lentils (oh)
apple juice
beef bouillion (oh)
apple cider vingar (oh)
cauliflower
dried cranberries (oh)
canned green beans (oh)
canned carrots and peas (oh)
jellied cranberry sauce
canned baby corn (oh)
canned cream corn (oh)
frozen corn on the cob
corn muffin mix (oh)
mandarin oranges (oh)
pineapple tidbits
instand vanilla pudding
cool whip (oh)
apples
walnuts (oh)
mayonaise (oh)
sour cream
roma tomatoes
fresh mozzarella
frozen peas (oh)
chicken legs and thighs
boneless chicken breast
ham (oh)
hamburger
coconut milk (oh)
tortillas
shredded cheese (oh)
buttermilk
chicken tenderloin
steak
smoked pork chops
pork tenderloin
bbq sauce (oh)
breakfast sausage
frozen fruit
yogurt
pizza dough
pizza sauce (oh)
shredded mozzarella (oh)
velveeta (oh)
ramen noodles
celery
peanut butter (oh)
english muffins (oh)
hot dogs (oh)
deli ham
american cheese (oh)
mozzarella slices
prosciutto
crackers (oh)
colby/jack cheese brick
pot pies
ciabatta bread
white wine
waffles
cucumber

Now I have most of my grocery list for the month too. In addition to the items not marked with and (oh) I will have to purchase milk, bread, butter, and lettuce.

Since one of my goals for March is to save money on my weekly grocery bill, I am interested to see if this method helps. Especially since a lot of the menu items were selected because of things I have in the pantry. A great, wonderful, helpfully fantastic site for figuring out what to make with what you have on hand it supercook. com! Try it out!

Linking up with hundreds of others at
:.

Tot School and What My Children Are Reading This Week

2011-03-05T13:31:00.000-05:00

Now that I have FOUR children, I need to multitask! I decided to combine my Tot School Post and the What my Children Are Reading This Week post! Aren't I just the Einstein for thinking to do this?

It has been quite some time since I had a Tot School post. We are just starting to be organized with our activities at home since the birth of the baby. It has been good for me and the littles to get back to our themed learning. Here's what we did and read:

Our theme this week was Transportation (I totally got this from One plus One plus One!).

Here's our sensory bin:

In it are:
wheel-shaped pasta,
lego boats,
lego wheels of various sizes,
road signs,
wooden train cars,
little people-type tractor,
plastic motorcycle,
matchbox cars,
monster truck,
plastic rocket ship,
wooden wheels.

I didn't buy anything for this bin. Everything in it we already had around the house.

Here the kids are playing with the bin and a car mat I made from a piece of black felt (I sewed on the roads):

We colored pages of different vehicles ( I printed them from http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/transportation/index.html).

We also did a build-a-car puzzle (printed from http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/transportation/mshapescar.htm) and I hope to do either the school bus or firetruck from an egg carton that is shown on the link for the coloring pages.

I made up a song to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot:

I'm a little race car fast and sleek

Watch me zoom down the street

Zoom,zoom, zoom, zoom

Beep, beep, beep

I'm a little race car fast and sleek

(So it won't win me a Grammy but the kids liked it!).

We also studied the letter R (R is for road). The hidden letter pictures they colored were from kidzone.ws.

The letter on the left is the 2 year old, the one on the right is the 4 year old.

The books we read this week were:

Elephants on Board by Suse MacDonald. In this book, several elephants are on their way to the circus when they pop a tire on their bus. They happen to be near a construction site, and they try out - rather, ruin - several construction vehicles before landing on the dump truck. Literally. Suse wrote in the book jacket that she got the idea for the book when she saw a demonstration of how much a dump truck can carry by having 18 elephants loaded into it.

Trucks: Whizz! Zoom! Rumble! by Patricia Hubbell. I really like this book. The text is simple, but the illustrations give the brain a lot to consider!

How Things Work: Cranes, Dump Trucks, Bulldozers and Other Building Machines by Terry J. Jennings. This selection came from the young adult reader section of the library, and the text is above the little ones, but the illustrations are wonderful and I have been able to teach them a little bit about each machine in terms they can understand. Little Man really enjoyed this one.

The Diggers by Margaret Wise Brown. I have only browsed through this one. Mostly Little Man has looked at it during rest time. The basic idea is that she uses rhyme to take the reader through various digging things (a mole, even).

From our own shelf, we read

My Truck is Stuck by Kevin Lewis and Daniel Kirk. Incidentally, the illustrations in The Diggers are by Daniel Kirk too! This is a fave we return to again and again. It just happened to fit our theme this week. Interesting note, though, is that Little Man picked it out to read at bed time. We haven't read it in a while in favor of library books. Maybe he made the connection to the theme??

And books that didn't have to do with our theme:

Once, A Lullaby by bp Nichol. Little Man looooooves this book. He asks me to read it almost every day, and will also sit looking at the illustrations himself. Many animals are drifting off to sleep..as are the boy and girl at the end. I enjoyed the illustrations immensely. There are lots of things to notice on each page. I especially liked how the illustrator created each bed for each creature.

and

But I am and Alligator, Boo! Made You Jump, and I Am Really Ever So Not Well..all by Lauren Child. Of course, these are the Love's selections from our library trip. We haven't read the Boo! book before. In it, Lola wants to scare Charlie. She does in the end....sort of!

Wild About Books by Judy Sierra. We actually just read this one this morning(there are so many books to choose to read that we haven't gotten to all that we borrowed last Saturday). An adorable book about a librarian who takes her bookmobile to the zoo. Guess what happens? Well, just like little kids introduced to books, the animals love to read. And, like little kids, they have to be taught the right way to handle books. We all enjoyed this one.

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Simms Taback. This is a Caldecott Honor Book, and the illustrations are cut-out pictures showing what she last ate...cumulatively. Watch as she grows big, bigger...and then drops over. Oh, yeah. If you don't want to have conversations with your preschooler about death, this probably isn't a selection you want. If you are okay with it, you and your kids will most likely enjoy this one.

Ten in the Bed by Penny Dale. A board book based on the classic rhyme. But, in this one, the ten in the bed are the little one and his animals. Each animal is tossed out until little one has the bed to himself. But that's no way for a toddler to sleep, is it? Really cute book, but Little Man kept saying 'That's not nice' when, on each page, an animal was catapulted to the floor. Of course, Little Man sleeps with all his animals tucked in and in their 'spots'!

I am linking up to:

Remembering how..

2011-03-03T13:30:00.000-05:00

to worship in the darkest hour before dawn

to be a child resting in the arms of my Father

to serve out of love and not compulsion

to let go of my burden and take on the yoke of Another

just a little reminder that Spring always follows the winter

March Goals and February Review

2011-02-28T18:12:00.001-05:00

Well, we are all still alive after a month of dealing with a colicky baby. If you've ever had one, you know just how big of a statement that is! Not only are we alive, I actually accomplished some of my goals, as well as doing some things I hadn't planned.

February Review:
1. Morning routine: Unless it has been a particularly difficuly night, I am up by 7. We eat breakfast and do morning hygiene routine for everyone (Shades is already up and out the door by this time, and it makes me sad that I don't see him in the morning before school. But, in this season, that's the way it is. I try to make up for it later in the day).

2. Keep up with the paper: My husband took on the challenge of organizing the computer desk in the kitchen. It has become the catch-all spot...but not any longer. It's clean and (almost) clutter free. I didn't even ask him to do it, either! Also in line with this goal, Hubby has been getting the mail and taking care of it as necessary. We still get a lot of business mail here at the house (we moved to a new location last year) so this is quite helpful.

3. Throw Away One Thing A Day: This is the goal I am most pleased with this month. It was SOOOOO easy to do! For all of the areas of the house that I would look at and think "I have to tackle that sometime", I would simply pick one thing to get rid of, move to a new location, etc. Mostly, things went in the trash. It's not as noticeable as doing a day-long routing of clutter and having a perfectly clean house, but just as water erodes a mountain, the mountain of Stuff is being removed a little at a time. Just a few things I can think of that went bye-bye: a broken Christmas ornament waiting to be fixed, broken toys at the bottom of the toy baskets, maternity clothes (!) (they were given to someone who will need them - and you should see how much more room I have in my closet now!), gift bags that came with gifts for the Wee One, clothes that are now too small for Wee One (put in storage), magazines, empty or almost empty bottles of hygiene products, empty medicine bottles....and really the list goes on and on! If you are bothered by the clutter in your home, you should try this method!

4. Devo routine for the kids: still haven't really managed to find something that works. Usually we go over their memory verse at a mealtime.

For the bonus last month:

before -

and after -

March goals:

1. Devo time - I can't give up on this one.
2. Spend less on groceries - I would like to cut out $50 a week, as that is what I have to spend on formula each week now.
3. Continue to Throw away one thing a day
4. Discipline the kids consistently - we need to bring more peace to our home.
5. Have one t.v. free day a week for the kids - also as a measure of bringing peace to our home (I know that a lot of times I use the t.v. to bring peace, but I think in the long run it undermines that goal)
6. Start working through Weekly Meditiations, a book written by my friend Reverend Debra Campany (her website is http://www.dcministriesinc.com/)
7. Thoroughly clean the kitchen and kids' bedrooms

And, that's enough for now!

I am linking up at mama smiles.

Menu Plan Monday - February 28

2011-02-28T08:00:00.001-05:00

If I was grading my performance on following last week's plan, I would get a C. Minus.

Oh well. Thank goodness for do-overs when it comes to menu planning!

The BBQ Slow Cooker Ribs I made last were delish! I had to improvise the recipe as it called for a major ingredient which I did not have on hand. I told myself that if it turned out well I would post the recipe. Here is my version:

BBQ Slow Cooker Ribs
About 3 pounds boneless ribs (beef or pork)
1 medium onion, sliced
garlic powder, about 1 teaspoon
1 cup prune juice (!)
salt and pepper to taste
1 small bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce

Layer ribs and onion in slow cooker,sprinkling the garlic powder, salt and pepper on each layer. Pour prune juice over all. Cook on low about 8 hours or until cooked through. Drain liquids, add BBQ sauce and continue cooking until heated through.

And here is this week's meal plan:

- sloppy joes, tortellini and spinach saute
- Turkey bake, shortcut shrimp risotto
- Grilled Tilapia with lemon butter, capers, and orzo, vegetable barley soup
- Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken
- Hillbilly Enchiladas, Sweet and Sour Lentils
- Alphabet pasta with sauce, meatballs, salad
- Leftovers!

What are you eating this week? Want some ideas for meals, other than this one? Check out orgjunkie:.

What My Children Are Reading This Week - Feb 26

2011-02-26T08:00:00.002-05:00

And still in the library bag from last week are:

It's Just a Game by John Ferrell. This book is a reminder that young kids playing sports are supposed to have fun more and learn skills rather than concentrate on winning. I think The Love chose this one from the library shelf. Not sure why! None of my kids play organized sports! We read it once, which was enough for me.

I Spy Treasure Hunt: A Book of Picture Riddles by Walter Wick. This was WAAAAY too advanced for my little kids, although they were able to find a few things on each page. I ended up giving them easier items to find. The bonus that I received for pulling this book from the young reader bok shelf? Extra time with my teenager, who seemed to enjoy looking at this one with me three times!

Diego and Papi to the Rescue by Wendy Wax. If yo've seen the show then you know what the book is about. In this instance Diego is rescuing baby pygmy marmosets. I like Diego because he exposes kids to unusual animals and their habitats. At the end of this book, additional facts about pygmy marmosets were given.

Piggy Washes Up by Carol Thompson. Piggy gets clean. Too bad the bathroom isn't! I didn't expect the illustration at the end and laughed out loud. Maybe because I am a mom?

Hello, Clouds by Dalia Hardorf Rendberg. Just as we all do at some time or other in our life, the main character imagines the clouds to be familiar objects. She goes one step further and puts them to action, though. Cute book for the very young.

Daisy Jane, Best Ever Flower Girl by Megan McDonald. The Love chose this one too. It's a chapter book for early readers, and it has everything my girl likes: girls, flowers, dressy dresses, and a wedding. No wonder she chose it!

See what other kids are reading over at

What My Children Are Reading This Week

2011-02-20T21:28:00.000-05:00

Finally, post-baby birth, I am getting back to joining this bloghop. We have been reading during our absence, but a lot of it was the kids looking at books on there own. Now, I am starting to get into a reading-before-bedtime routine, like we used to do. Here's what's in our library bag this week:

I Really Absolutely Must Have Glasses by Lauren Child
and

I Can't Stop Hiccuping by Lauren Child. If you've read one Charlie and Lola book, you've read them all. That isn't exactly the sentiments of my daughter, however, and she keeps selecting these when we're at the library. She knows which shelf to go to now! Ah well. It keeps her interested in reading, and truly, they aren't harmful books.

Around the Pond: Who's Been Here? by Lindsay Barrett George. We read another of the Who's Been Here books by the same author a few months ago. I like these stories as they encourage the reader to use their observation skills and to think! The illustrations are beautiful too.

Before and After: A Book of Nature Timescapes by Jan Thornhill. Little Man likes this one even though the age recommendation is 4 and up. This is another selection that makes the reader observe and think. The author presents a scene in various lanscapes around the world. Each scene is depicted twice: the first is the before and the second depiction is the after (a few seconds, minutes, days...). The reader is supposed to note the changes in nature over the time period.

There Is a Bird on Your Head by Mo Willems. I haven't read this book to the kiddos yet because The Love has it in her room with her quiet time reading books. She has looked at it every day for the last several days.Can't wait to see what it's about!
Frosted Glass by Denys Cazet. This book depicts what can happen to a boy at school. The main character is Gregory, who has some trouble paying attention and following directions. This could be said of a lot of elementary age students! Boys especially, I think. Mostly, though, this book is about friendship. Cute and not sappy.

Elmer's Friends by David McKee. This is about Elmer the Elephant and his friends. It's a board book I got out for Little Man, and interestingly enough it has Arabic writing as well as English. Not that we are learning Arabic...we're still working on the English alphabet! Anyway, it's another book about friends and uniqueness (is that a word?).

The Button Box by Margerette S. Reid. I like this book. The Love and I read it just today. I have a love of buttons and this reminds me of my mom's collection. I, like the main character, would also sort and count and make up stories about the buttons in the box. A feel-good book!

Ten Terrible Dinosaurs by Pail Stickland. Can you guess who picked out this book? Yep, Little Man,and we have read it every day. He has some of the pages memorized. The book counts down from ten dinosaurs until just one is left; each dinosaur has to go for different reasons. Then, at the end, they all appear to surprise the one left. Little Man asks, every time we read it, why the dinosaurs had to go. I think it bothers him that they leave!! Even so, I think Little Man would vote this his favorite book of the week.

We have more books that we borrowed but these are the ones we have read so far. I will post about the others next week (if we get to them!).

I am linking up at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns here:

Meal Plan - Jan 21

2011-02-20T18:17:00.000-05:00

For those of you who were paying attention, my meal plan last week ended on Thursday. It used to be that the meal plan would run through Wednesday because I would do grocery shopping on Thursday; hence, the meal plan for the following week started that day. Since the Wee One (I am considering calling him the Fussy One...but words do matter!) was born, the grocery shopping has changed. There isn't a consistent day right now, but Saturday does seem to be the favorite. So, it was a problem for me when I didn't have a meal planned for Friday! Okay, not really a problem but an oops!

Here is this week's COMPLETE meal plan:
:)

The usuals for breakfast and lunch (not sure what our usuals are? check my past meal plans...)

Dinners (most of these will be made with ingredients I already have on hand):
- BLT's with homefries and Manhattan clam chowder for the vegetarian
- Tuna casserole; BBQ slow cooker ribs
- Turkey bake (recipe below); mediterranean roasted cauliflower (recipe below); Baked Haddock
- Smoked pork chops; Tortellini spinach saute
- Refried bean soup; Party Kielbasa
- Beef stew bake (recipe below)
- Cheesy Baked Pasta ; hamburgers
- pasta e ceci con Vongole

TURKEY BAKE:
chopped cooked turkey, about 3 cups
2 cans turkey gravy
1 box stuffing mix

Combine all ingredients in a baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly.

MEDITERRANEAN ROASTED CAULIFLOWER:
1 head cauliflower
oliveoil
salt
pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
raisins or dried cranberries

Slice cauliflower into about 1/4 inch slices. Lay flat on jelly roll pan. Drizzle with olive oil; sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. Roast in 450 degree oven until cauliflower has brown edges and is fork tender.
Remove cauliflower to bowl. Add in remaining ingredients and toss to coat. This tastes best if served warm.

BEEF STEW BAKE: (I give credit to food.com which is where I found this recipe. I tried to find it again to link to, but can't seem to get back there!)

1 lb. stew beef, cut up
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 can french onion soup
Mix soups together. Pour over beef (in a baking dish). Cook for 3 hours at 350 degrees.

Want more meal ideas? Check out orgjunkie!
.

Wee One in Pictures

2011-02-18T16:40:00.000-05:00

My mother-in-law was here this morning (as she is every mornig, actually) and put the little guy in the recliner with a 'friend'. How cute is this?!

Wee One was seven weeks old yesterday. Maybe I should take a picture of him with this big guy in another seven weeks to see his growth?

Meal Plan This Week

2011-02-14T11:38:00.000-05:00

Breakfasts:
First, a review: the Berry Baked Oatmeal from last Monday's plan was FABULOUS. Even my 2 year old very picky eater gobbled this up! I don't like oatmeal all that much, but this is one tasty way to get it in my system!

grapes and bananas
baked french toast; frozen blueberries
yogurt
cereal
english muffins ( I hope to make my own, even though I bought Thomas' on sale for $1.23 this week!) (If you want to make your own, search allrecipes.com; this is where I got mine. They are much easier to make than I anticipated.)

Lunches:
Ham and cheese
pb&j
yogurt
pizza muffins
stuffed chicken sandwiches (I have this hot pocket-type sandwich maker that I haven't used in a while...time ot get out a lost and expensive-so-I-really-should-use-it gadget!)

Dinners:

Sunday:
Tomato Basil Soup (Thanks to The Frugal Novice for this recipe. I added some tomato juice as well as the cream to increase the quantity for our family)

Spinach Artichoke Dip (recipe below)

Grilled Cheese

Monday:
Sausage Bread
Pioneer Mac-n-Cheese
Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Tuesday:
Spiced Baked Chicken
Baked Haddock for the vegetarian
Corn

Wednesday:
Spinach Quiche
BBQ Slow Cooker Ribs

Thursday (company coming!):
Stuffed Shells
Garlic Bread
Tossed Salad
Brownies!

Now, for the Spinach Artichoke Dip recipe:

1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and water squeezed out
1 15 oz. can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 cup mayo
1 cup fat free sour cream
1/2 tsp dill weed
1/2 tsp dried parsley
3/4 tsp garlic powder (or adjust to your taste)
1/4 tsp onion powder
grated parmesan cheese (please, use the REAL cheese - so much better than the imitiation!!)

Mix all ingredients except cheese. If you desire to have it hot, throw it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle grated cheese on top. Serve with crackers, or, as we like, tortillas cut into wedges.

Hope you enjoy it. My husband raved over it, and I couldn't believe how EASY and fairly healthy it is.

If you want more meal plan ideas, head over to
.
for Meal Plan Monday link-ups.

Back to being a "Goalie"

2011-02-05T15:50:00.000-05:00

It's February. Yes, I know, I missed the beginning by about 5 days. But, I am ready to jump back in to my goal setting. No, life is not any more organized than it was 5 weeks ago when the Wee One was born. It isn't going to get more organized if I don't start setting some goals and planning. I started the other day with my first Meal Plan since the birth of said little one. Now, for some goals for this month. Trust me, they won't be earth shattering, just some things to accomplish and help us get back on track for our family life.

February Goals:
1. Set a morning routine that works with the newest member of the family.
        This might be a little difficult since it is a possibility that this baby has colic. He fusses most of the night. That makes morning time very hard for me - I am exhausted!

2. Keep up with the paper.
         We have a lot of mail. I just want to make sure I sort it daily and throw away the junk. Also, I want to put the papers we need to retain in their alloted spaces. Currently it has been piling up in the kitchen on the computer desk.

3. Throw away at least one thing a day.
           We just have too much stuff. 'Throwing away' may mean giving away,but in either case, the stuff has to go. (I already accomplished this today by throwing out a soap dispenser bottle that was pretty but broken)

4. Begin having the kids spend daily devotional time.
           It seems like I have put this down as a goal before....but I really want to do it! I know in my heart that if they don't start now this habit will likely not happen in their lives.

I think I am going to stop there. With me, when I start making goals, one thing leads to another and I have more than I can accomplish in the set time frame. Let's see how this goes!

I am linking up at mama smiles.

Menu Plan Monday

2011-01-31T14:39:00.000-05:00

Well, the Wee One is a month old, and I am finally feeling a little more energetic. Our life has been chaotic and unplanned for the last month! This time, I was able to go with that flow a little bit easier. After all, what is the sense in getting all worked up when there was nothing I could do about it! Oh, yes, you are right...I could have pushed myself to plan the meals and days, and be so exhausted that I was absolutely no good to my family. I have done that before. I opted for an easier and happier way this time.

Anywho, on to why you are here: the meal plan. I have planned for the next couple of weeks, because my husband is having surgery on Thursday. At that point, neither one of us will be driving, and I have to do all my grocery shopping for the next two weeks on Wednesday.

Breakfasts:
oatmeal (I want to try this recipe: Berry Baked Oatmeal)
cereal
eggs
smoothies (I keep saying we are going to have these and eventually we will!)
yogurt and fruit

Lunches:
pot pies
pb&j
ham and cheese
chicken and french fries
pizza muffins
ravioli

Dinners:
creamy tomato soup and baked fish fillets
spaghetti and meatballs
Vegetable Barley Soup
Pizza (delivery - for the night Hubby has surgery)
Enchilada Casserole and refried bean soup
Stuffed Shells and tossed salad
BBQ pulled pork, macaroni salad and Winter Fruit Salad
Pot pies (chicken for us, lobster for hubby) and garden risotto
Broccoli or spinach quiche
Manhattan clam chowder for hubby, pancakes, sausage and smoothies for the rest of us
Tuna casserole and Tortellini Shrimp Caesar Salad

If you want other meal plan ideas, check out .

Happy Cooking!

Introducing...

2011-01-05T18:43:00.000-05:00

the newest member of our family!

I am IN LOVE! This little boy was born on December 30 at 5:01 p.m. He weighed in at 8 lbs 1 ounce and was 21 squishy, adorable, lovable inches long! He is a wonderful baby. Yes, he gets up a lot at night and he has some tummy issues, but other than that he is just wonderful. Wonderful!

I am not the only one who thinks he is all that. Look:

Pardon me while I take a little bit more of a blogging break. I am just a little too caught up with some snuggling and nuzzling!

December Challenge - Finding Peace and Quiet

2010-12-29T21:00:00.000-05:00

This is the last post on Finding Peace and Quiet, because, believe it or not, this is the last Wednesday of December! How did we get here already?

To review my own journey into finding places of quiet, I believe I have been somewhat successful. Most of that success was attained at the beginning of the challenge. That is not a surprise - we are always better at the beginning of anything that's new (for example, diets and jobs). I am hoping to keep going with this quest to find quiet, especially as the new baby is due to arrive next week.

The biggest advantage that I realized through this endeavor is that it settles my heart and mind so I can be a better wife and mother. Who woulda thunk that a few minutes spent each day in true quietness and peace could actually change the whole course of each day? Well, me. And that's why I started doing this. And why I encourage you to try the same.

So, for this last post, what are the words of wisdom? Well, I don't actually have any except to say, don't give up on making those quiet times happen. If they have been eclipsed by other events or activities, take back that time! Remember, it doesn't have to be a long time. Five minutes...maybe twenty at the most. Be creative to find that time! I think if you give it a try, you'll see that it works for you as well as me.

If you do, please come on back and comment to let others know what your insights and findings are regarding finding peace and quiet. I would love to hear from you!

December Challenge - Finding Peace and Quiet

2010-12-22T20:18:00.000-05:00

Seeking your grace as last week's post for the challenge was missed. I was following my own words and didn't stress about making it happen. It just didn't fit into the schedule we had. As a matter of fact, I didn't blog at all last week. This week, I have given myself permission to blog only as it comfortably fits my schedule.

This is one post I don't want to miss. I wrote it out in my journal a few days ago.

Peace. Quiet. Rest.

Letting go.

Embracing grace.

Eradicating guilt.

Guilt and grace cannot coexist. If I realize and accept the grace God extends to me, then I realize my position with Him is one of acceptance and perfect completion. There is nothing I can add to His grace. There's nothing I need to add to His grace! Jesus was the fulfillment of all I will never be able to do. I can rest. I can stop trying to do things to make myself better in His sight. I can drop the guilt because it isn't necessary! The guilt results from feelings of inadequacy. Well, I am inadequate and nothing I do can change that. If I can believe in God's grace, I can accept that HE makes me adequate. When I've embraced that grace, then I can give grace - to myself and others. When I extend grace to myself, the guilt disappears.
            If I've lost it with the kids..
            If I've eaten too much...
            If my household duties are left undone...
            If I have gone ages since writing in my journal...
            If prayer is so far in the past I hardly remember when I did it...
            If quiet time has ceased to exist...

All of these can be covered by grace. Instead of burying myself with guilt, which only furthers my shortcomings, I can let go. I CAN say, "It's okay. There's grace for that!"

God's Words of Wisdom:

John 1:17 grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (NIV)

2 Cor. 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (NIV)

2 Cor. 12: 9 "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. (NIV)

Galatians 2:21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law (doing things, good works, our own power, etc), Christ died for nothing!" (NIV) (words in parentheses are mine)

May you be able to let go of your own high standards and embrace the grace that fulfilled all you cannot this season.

Menu Plan Monday - December 20 - Some Vegetarian

2010-12-20T21:03:00.000-05:00

For those who aren't aware, my husband gave up eating meat over a year ago. I am particularly terrible at planning meals that are both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. I guess it just seems too much like work, especially when I am 9 months pregnant! But, with a Christmas spirit, I am trying to do better this week. So, here we go:

Breakfasts
couscous with peaches (a recipe from Mary Ostyn)
oatmeal
pancakes with sausage
cereal
english muffins
Christmas Brunch: Williams-Sonoma cinnamon rolls (a Christmas gift), omelets, pancakes, sausage, bacon, mini ham quiches, veggies and dip

Lunches
pot pies
pizza muffins
grilled pb&j
easy stovetop mac and cheese
ham and cheese roll ups
chicken nuggets and fries
cheese quesadillas

Dinners
spinach quiche
hot roast beef sandwiches (leftovers from a roast I made Saturday); Sweet Potato, Carrot, apple and Lentil Soup
Cheesy ham and pasta bake; salmon with cucumbers
Greek Lasagna (I think I will try this - I have never made it before. It looks a little time consuming though!)
Christmas Eve: dinner at my grandparent's house with all the extended family. I am taking a veggie tray, shrimp cocktail, chips and dip.
Christmas dinner: crockpot 40 Clove Garlic Chicken, chicken flavor dressing, manhattan clam chowder, shrimp cocktail, tossed salad, angel eggs
Day After Christmas (Boxing Day): we've been invited to a couple of 'drop-ins' and I am hoping we go so I don't have to cook! Otherwise it will be leftover city!

I am linking up at

Merry Christmas Everyone!

December Challenge - Finding Peace and Quiet - Week 2

2010-12-08T10:59:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you, but it seems as though all forces of earth and hell were against me trying to stay in a quiet and gentle spirit this past week! Of course, once we place our focus on something, all of the anti-somethings are bound to be more apparent. It's not that they weren't there all along; we just don't notice them.

In spite of realizing my shortcomings with quiet time, or maybe because of realizing them, I was bound to continue on a path of finding time to be quiet. Mind you, it may have been only 2 minutes each day, but I was determined to achieve at least that. I was also determined to put away all feeling of guilt in this area. The challenge is not in place to bring guilt, but peace! What good is it to my soul if I zoom around my day carrying a weight of guilt because I haven't had enough quiet time? C'mon, now, I already have guilt about most every other area of my life. This is about finding a place to let that go.

I think part of the difficulty with finding a time to be silent in this season is simply that there are so many things to do. Or, rather, there are so many things to CHOOSE to do. There's no wrong in being active, having parties to attend, presents to purchase, wrapping and baking to accomplish. The problem is that, at least for me, I just keep adding activities and busy-ness, and before I know it I am completely stressed out and certainly no fun to be around. Holiday Spirit? Yeah, I got it - if you mean a grouchy, grumpy, guilt-laden one! That's just not the Holy-day Season spirit I want to have. Can I let go of a few things? What will happen if my house isn't decorated enough to fit the cover of Better Homes and Gardens? Will anyone who stops in remember that a year from now? Will the people driving by (consumed with their own agendas and to-dos) even notice?

And what will happen if I do accomplish all of these things? Will I be able to do it with a calm spirit, truly reflecting to my family the Joy of the Season? This year, the answer is no. I must let go of some of the (even good) things that I want to have and experience. Why? Because what will be remembered is Mama's attitude, and Mama's tone of voice, and Mama's facial expressions as she tries to make it a 'perfect' time for the family. I suppose, if I were to ask the members of said family, that they would prefer a calm, quiet, gentle Mama, and a few less Christmas cookies and decorations.

This week, I ask you to think about what is bringing you unnecessary stress. Is there a vision of your house and home life at the holidays that could be let go this year? Could it be a simpler, silent-er season for you and yours? Maybe, because of finances or health issues or just because, you could put off a few of the traditions in your family and find a new tradition of truly experiencing the joy and life that Christ came to bring. Ask yourself 'What am I trying to accomplish through this? Am I acutally reaching that goal with (said activity)? Is this the best way to do it this year?' Look at your schedule, accurately assess your time situation, and then decide what could be pruned, and what might be added...like a few moments for silence. Most of all, pray for God to give you guidance and direction in this area!

Verses to think on this week:
"I said to myself, 'Relax and rest. God has showered you with blessings.'" Psalm 116:7 (The Message)

"But I did say this, commanded this: 'Obey me. Do what I say and I will be your God and you will be my people. Live the way I tell you. Do what I command so that your lives will go well.' " Jeremiah 7:23 (The Message)

If you have participated in this challenge this week, leave a comment and let us know what was revealed to you!

Tot School/Preschool Corner - Week 6 - December 3

2010-12-03T22:14:00.000-05:00

This week ended up being all about birds and things that fly. Sunday night I sat down and came up with a plan of different activities so we would intentionally cover more skills/areas of learning. My plan was imperfect, however, because it didn't account for following the enthusiasm of the kids. We began talking about the great blue heron because we occassionally have one that visits the stream next to our house. Little Man and The Love were taken with the subject (I had intended to talk about the birds that visit our birdfeeder, do some charting about the types and number...oh, all these grand plans that didn't happen). We went with the great blue heron theme instead. Don't you think it is better to follow their interests? My children seem to want to do the 'work' then, and it is a lot less stressful on me!

So here is what we did:
First, we researched the great blue heron on the web. Wikipedia has an article that includes a sound clip of their call. The littles asked me to play this over several days, and now Little Man does an imitation of it! We printed a photo of a great blue heron, and then I printed out clip art of some of the things in their diet.

The Love did the cutting while Little Man pasted.

And here it is on our bulletin board. They were able to tell Daddy about the heron and what it eats.

I printed a map of North America and drew some bird fugures (?) by hand to indicate where the heron lives. We discussed this several times over the week. Little Man especially would ask me to explain over and over again where the bird can be found. We have not used a map before, and I think I want to incorporate these into more of our learning.

The areas we covered with just this part of our learning were: fine motor skills, geography, science

Picking up from there, I planned a little more science for them with a classification activity. I drew pictures of different animals/insects and then had two papers taped on the wall. One says 'Things that Fly'. The other says 'Things that Do Not Fly'. I would show them a card with an animal/insect on it, have them identify it, have them decide if it flew or not, and then tape it to the correct paper. They loved this activity and looked at it periodically throughout the week, naming the creatures and telling if they could fly.

Prereading skills:
Little Man looked at the letters on our pipecleaner flashcards (I know we have used them a lot, but hey...it took me a while to make them!) and then (with assistance) traced the letters into cornmeal.

Also we used our foam letter shapes for alphabet recognition.

Math Skills:

The Love used pages from here to trace numerals and count groups from 1 through 5. She did a fantastic job, and on the five pages only missed one grouping.

Little Man worked on a page from the same website to identify what object is different in a group. He totally did not understand this one at all. We will definitely be doing more of this work.

Also, I printed out the shape flashcards from the same site. The littles knew quite a few, but as I expected the 3 dimensional shapes threw them for a loop. I WAS surprised that The Love knew 'cone'. Not sure where she picked up that information! We also reinforced these concepts with our magnetix.

Gross Motor Activity:
We visited the local rec center again this week for some bouncing, running and hopping fun. Too bad it was only one morning! I wish I was feeling up to doing this more often, but my 8-month-pregnant belly seems to be getting in the way (in more than one way!). Otherwise, we pulled the cushions off the couch and they jumped and leaped at home. They also found a new way to move the cushions on the floor to allow them to 'fall' over the arm of the couch and land on the springs (ouch?). They thought it was fun.

Music:

A lot of listening to Christmas songs this week. Just gettin' ready for the season.

Art:

Nothing to speak of! Whoops..another week with very little to show in this area.

Life Skills:

We made Mini Chip Snowball Cookies. The recipe can be found here. I highly recommend them! I make them every year at Christmastime (but I use regular size choc chips) and they are super easy and fast!

The Love and Little Man helped me vacuum crumbs from the couches. Hey, I take the help wherever I can get it.

I am linking up this week at:

November in Review and December Goals

2010-12-01T19:46:00.000-05:00

This post is linked up at

hosted by MamaSmiles

On my October goals list, I had 'make The Love's nightgown'. I believe I started it in October, but just finished it today. I used Simplicity pattern 3668 (combining the shirt and the dress, and modifying the bodice a bit), and started with this flannel sheet for fabric.

I think it came out pretty cute (escpecially for a novice sewer like me!).

Other November goals were to:

- sign and address Christmas cards (partially completed),

- get a professional photo of kids (not completed - decided I didn't want to do it at this time)

- do lots of Thanksgiving activities (completed!)

- link up at Tot School (completed, and ongoing)

- go to library (completed a couple of times)

- enjoy life more (I think I have! Slowing down helped with that!)

My December goals are:

1. slow down, expect less of each day (sounds funny, huh?), and find quiet time each day (please see my December challenge)

2. organize our paper receipts (I identified this morning how much stress the unfiled mess is causing me - time to get it under control)

3. finish Christmas cards and get mailed

4. spend family time discussing advent and putting the focus on CHRIST this Christmas

5. continue planning preschool and tot school activities for each day

6. get set up for baby!

A December Challenge - Finding Peace and Quiet

2010-12-01T00:00:00.001-05:00

Over the last several weeks, God has certainly been speaking to my heart about finding peace, finding quiet places of breathing Him in, and letting all else go. Now, I am not talking about all day, every day - that would be a task of proportions I can not fathom. No, we are talking about 5 minutes, maybe even up to 20 minutes, a day of quietness.

I started practicing this quiet time...not prayer time, not talk to God time, not think about everything I have to get done time...and can I be the first to say that, like nature abhors a vacuum, my mind avoids being quiet. It is a practice, a struggle, to not allow the thoughts to take over the peaceful quiet I am trying to achieve. Now, I don't mean to say that we can stop our mind from thinking. It was created to think; that's the purpose of our brain. But I have been able to set aside the thoughts...they keep going, but I am not focused on them.

In the midst of this crazy, busy, STRESSmas season, I ask you...would you like to join me in finding slivers of silence, pockets of peace? Every Wednesday in December, I will post a few thoughts about Finding Peace and Quiet, and ask you to join me in seeking out the silence.

For our first week, let's begin to practice a few moments of quietness each day . Find a time when you won't be interrupted (I know how hard that can be, but it is possible - think creatively! Sit in the car an extra few minutes when you get home, or stay an extra few moments in the shower), and spend that time seeking the quiet. Don't fight the thoughts that come. Acknowledge them, then let them go. Notice your breathing. Concentrate on the exhale. Feel the release, find the place of silence between the noise. Start out small, maybe just two minutes at first. For some, this will come fairly easy. For others, like me, it's going to take some work. That's okay. If you only make it one minute, be glad for that! It's a start and something to build on.

Verses to Think On:
But I have stilled and quieted myself, just as a small child is quiet with its mother. Yes, like a small child is my soul within me ( Psalm 131:2 NLT)

The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17 NKJV)

Please leave a comment and let me know if you are joining in, and any revelations you have about finding the peace and quiet in yourself this week.

Giveaway by Mary Ostyn

2010-11-30T11:22:00.000-05:00

Check out this giveaway hosted by Mary Ostyn at Owlhaven. It's for a Smarty Ants phonics program subscription and a $100 Visa gift card!

Menu Plan Monday - Nov 26 - Dec 1

2010-11-29T13:35:00.000-05:00

Well, that Thanksgiving holiday sure has messed me all up for grocery shopping and meal planning! Thank goodness there are left overs to compensate (and peanut butter and jelly to fill in the gaps!) I will post retroactively what we already had (since it's Sunday and I am just creating this post - see above on how T-day messed me up), and what we will have for the remainder of the plan.

Breakfasts:

scrambled eggs, salmon, breakfast sausage, fresh fruit, toast (Yes! I got a new toaster oven!)
oatmeal
cold cereal, english muffins with peanut butter
cinnamon toast and strawberries
waffles

Lunches:
pb&j, veggie straws
leftovers from Thanksgiving
pizza muffins, vegetables and dip
McDonald's
graham cracker sandwiches
grilled cheese and tomato soup

Dinners:
tuna noodle casserole, peas, cranberry jelly
turkey noodle soup, tossed salad, bread and butter
italian spiced baked chicken, vegetable medley, pears
goulash, more tossed salad, italian bread
sloppy joes (we didn't have these last week), mashed potatoes, creamed corn

Tot School/Preschool Corner - Week 5 - November 27

2010-11-28T13:40:00.000-05:00

I've decided to link at both Tot School and Preschool Corner because The Love is 50 months old and not really a 'tot' anymore, but truly a preschooler. Little Man, at 30 months, still qualifies age-wise but developmentally I think he is pretty close to his sister in a lot of ways, and exceeds her in others.

Anyhow....

Here was our week:

Prereading Skills:

- Alphabet work with our pipe cleaner flashcards
- More alphabet work with our foam build-a-letter pages (check it out here, from Tired, Need Sleep)
- tracing letters in preschool workbooks
- writing letters without a pattern to trace (we have an alphabet banner hanging in the dining room and they look at the letters on this and then try to make them on their paper)

Math Skills:

- lots of couting objects! I tried to use every opportunity we had to count (Little Man needs one-to-one correspondence work). Today at the library we worked on a puzzle that reinforced counting one to ten; Little Man loves puzzles and it provided the perfect opportunity to work on this skill.
- size sorting with the awesome Baby Einstein stacking blocks I purchased at Ollie's Army for $3! We also used the blocks to compare sizes by finding objects and seeing if they would fit inside a specific block.

I love these blocks! Each one has a theme, such as day or night, or winter, etc...then each picture on the block is somehow related to that theme. I'm already trying to come up with ideas of more ways to use them. Anyone have a suggestion?

Even big brother got in on the stacking action!

- patterning with a Thanksgiving-themed page printed from http://www.ideasforpreschoolers.com/

Gross Motor Skills:
- We played Red Light,green light as well as Simon Says
- At my sister's house, the kids are allowed to climb up on the coffee table, run the length of it and jump onto a cushion. My kids really like doing this and it burns a lot of their energy!
- Along with our music for this week, we do the motions for I'm a Little Teapot, The Wheels on the Bus, and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Fine Motor Skills:
- A lot of coloring
- The Love is working on tracing her hand. She is getting much better. When she first started, it looked like she might have elephantitis of the hand...now it is a lot closer to the actual size of her hand!
- stringing beads
- 'fishing' with this magnetic fishing game
- also a lot of play-doh and clay work. I like letting them work with both. The clay takes a lot more manipulation to get it workable.

Art:
- Ummm...does making clay ice cream cones count?

Music:
- we listened to the story of Zaccheus and then sang the songs that accompany it on the CD (Zaccheus, Happy All the Time, If You're Happy and You Know It)
- the little ones were making up motions to songs such as Rocka My Soul and Father Abraham (I know this one has movements but they were doing their own)

As for my goal to get organized, Thanksgiving Day turned out to be the perfect opportunity to move out a lot of the kids' toys. Since limiting the number of items to choose from, I find them playing with the ones left behind MORE than they did when they had a gazillion there! Perhaps they were overwhelmed with too many things to pick from.

I still want to get some bookshelf space cleared so I can set up some kind of bin/tray system.

What My Children Are Reading - November 27

2010-11-27T15:37:00.030-05:00

We finally made it to the library just this morning. We have read a couple of the books we borrowed, but mostly this will be a 'What my children are going to be reading' post.

The grass was frosted by a light snow while we slept, which put me in a mood to get books about winter. There I was, at the computer, researching what titles our local library had, writing them down and generally being prepared. It was all well and good, but I left the list at home! Here is what we borrowed:

1. Incredible Me by Kathy Appelt. I flipped through this one at the library and chose it because The Love has been doing a lot of comparisons between herself and her friends. I want her to hear more about people who have security with who they are (she certainly hasn't gotten enough of that from me - I am working on this myself!)

2.Jingle Dancer by Cynthia Leitich Smith. The Love pulled this one from the shelf. We haven't read it yet, but here is a synopsis from the cover: "The warm, evocative watercolors of Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu complement author Cynthia Lietitch Smith's lyrical text as she tells the affirming story of how a contemporary Native American girl turns to her family and community to help her dance find a voice."

3. Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino. Can you believe we have never read this book before? I have seen it around on other's lists of books and finally it finds its place here. I read this to the kids while they had their snack. They enjoyed the illustrations, but didn't understand the ending when the llama finds out that it's HIS mama that's a llama.

4. A Day With No Crayons by Elizabeth Rusch. The Love saw me looking at this one and asked to bring it home. We have not read this one yet either, so I will have to let you know later what it's about.

5. I'm Really Ever So Not Well by Lauren Child. Back to our Charlie and Lola selections. Of course it was The Love who found this on the shelf and added it to our stack. We have read this one before. Lola is sick and convinces Charlie to stay and play with her instead of going to his soccer game.

6. Rocks! Rocks! Rocks! BY Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. Little Man chose this from the shelf! Another one not yet read, but I am looking forward to this one. It's not often that Little Man chooses a book and I hope it lives up to my expectations.

7. I'll Be Home for Christmas (a Toot and Puddle book) by Holly Hobbie. I chose this because of today's falling snow, and because we like the Toot and Puddle show. This one is about Puddle and home getting ready for Christmas, waiting for Toot to arrive from one of his excursions.

8. Watch Your Step, Mr. Rabbit by Richard Scarry. We enjoyed our last Richard Scarry book so much, I wanted to see how another one goes over. The Love looked at while at the library. Her comment? 'There aren't any pop-up pictures!' Ahhh, well. We're going to read it anyway!

9. The Biggest, Best Snowman by Margery Cuyler. I guess the best overview I can give is from the book's jacket description: it's about the little girl who could. Little Nell lives with everyone who is big. They always tell her she is too small, so she determines to do something big.

Hopefully it will be a good reading week! Next week I'll give a review of the books we as yet haven't read.

Want to see what other children are reading? Check out

November in Pictures

2010-11-26T21:13:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to post various photos taken in November. It seems like I only post photos for the Tot School posts, so.....

Pretending to be asleep with Daddy

One Little Monkey Jumping

Two Little Monkeys Jumping

My Favorite Teenager

Doncha just love this smile?

Lost in Cyberspace

The Love and the college student who has been helping me with the kids

Portrait of mommy taken by The Love

My favorite two year old

My favorite girl!

At preschool for the Thanksgiving Feast

Little Man and his cousin rockin' the boat

Mmmm..nothin' like jelly sandwiches to feast on

There are more pictures from very recent days, but with all the holiday to-do I haven't uploaded them yet. I suppose I ought to stop posting to Blogger and start doing some Christmas gift preparations...like completing the photo book for my parents! Ahem, well...maybe tomorrow (said like a true procrastinator, of which I am one!).

Menu Plan Monday - November 22

2010-11-22T16:24:00.000-05:00

See what others are cooking up this week!

As always, my meal plan runs from Thursday through Wednesday...but this one includes Thanksgiving too.

Breakfasts:
eggs, salmon (no toast - toaster oven bit the dust and boy oh boy do I need to replace it!)
cold cereal
oatmeal
fresh fruit (bananas,grapes, red raspberries (a splurge purchase that sounded so yummy to this preggo mama))
yogurt

Lunches:
pb&j (of course)
hot dogs and mac-n-cheese
yogurt
ravioli

Dinners:
goulash, bread, salad
leftovers from last week's meal plan
pizza
swedish meatballs
chicken ring
take out (the night before T-day!)

For our Thanksgiving day:

Appetizers for lunch - shrimp, tossed salad, veggies and dip, lobster, pumpkin bread

The Main Meal -
deep fried turkey (never have had it this way before, but we wanted t do something different - and I hear its delicious)
mashed potatoes
sweet potato casserole
green been casserole
escalloped corn
dinner rolls
fruit salad
raspberry jell-o salad (made by my grandmother and traditional at family get togethers - although it can be made with any flavor jell-o)
mashed cauliflower
salmon
jellied cranberry sauce (one whole can just for Little Man because he loves it so much!)

Dessert -
pumpkin pie
lemon meringue pie
apple pie
chocolate cream pie

The meal plan for Thanksgiving was created with input from my kids. There is a lot of food, but hey - that's what this day is all about, right?

And now, a few reviews from recipes I have had on the past couple of Menu Plans:

Vegetable Barley Soup
This was a hit with most of the family. I didn't have fennel seed, so I omitted that and added in garlic powder and poultry seasoning. I found it a little bit bland, but I also don't add salt to soups as my hubby prefers it that way.

peanut butter baked oatmeal
I liked this and thought it was a lot like eating a cookie for breakfast (I am not.an.oatmeal.fan!!). Instead of warm milk, I mixed in some vanilla yogurt. Yum! Strangely enough, my husband (who is a pb lover) didn't care for this recipe, saying it had too much pb flavor. We discussed and I am going to modify the recipe to have brown sugar and dried apples and see if he likes it better that way. Some day.

Balsamic Marinated Chicken Breast
Oh,My.Goodness.Gracious! This was so easy and very very yummy. The chicken was the moistest I have ever had when baking chicken breasts! A redo for sure!

Tot School - Week 4

2010-11-21T17:13:00.000-05:00

Prereading Skills:
- tracing letters of the alphabet (especially the letter 'Z' for The Love, as she has trouble writing this one. Little Man has a fondness for the letters 'R', 'S', and 'T' right now.)
- letter flashcards - I made my own using pipecleaners for tactile stimulation. Originally I was going to have them trace letters into some cornmeal using the cards as a guide, but that hasn't happened. So, I randomly flipped through the cards and they shouted out which letter was showing.
- singing the Alphabet song - we did this a lot this week, mostly at the kids' instigation.

Math Skills:

- Both kiddos loved playing with their older brother's magnetix which I dug out of storage for something different to stimluate them. We made geometric shapes and talked about them. Little Man was so excited when he made a triangle by himself! We also discussed what it means to be an architect. The next several times that they played, they would tell me, "We are 'artitets'!" These have been a huge hit (the first day they were out, Little Man sat for 2 HOURS playing in the morning), but of course I have to watch them carefully so all magnetic items stay outside of the human bodies using them!
- Counting by 10's - The love and I began working on this skill. We also are working on counting to twenty. She gets lost after 13 and skips to 16 or 17.
- Sorting by size - I didn't print any manipulatives. Instead, I found our bag of silk leaves and was able to use them to separate into three sizes. We also have flat foam shapes that come in multiple sizes for each shape, so we used those too.

We also used these pieces to review some patterning. Little Man gets lost and just wants to pick whatever shape is available, but The Love was able to do AB, ABC,and ABCD patterns with both colors and shapes.

Fine Motor Skills:
- we played with the sensory bin again this week. Haven't had it out for more than a week, so they were very interested in it again. The kids practiced pouring, dumping, spooning and using the funnel. I brought out a sand toy that had to be used in a non-typical way in order for it to work (the holes were too small for the corn kernels). The Love and I discussed why it wasn't working (the usual way of dumping in the top to make the wheels spin)and what we could do to make it work. I showed her how to lay the toy on its side and pour the kernels over the wheels to make them spin. She did NOT like this and wouldn't repeat it!

-Scissors practice for both. Little Man just tried cutting a plain piece of paper. For The Love, I downloaded Carisa's preschool pack for Thanksgiving (found here). She and her cousin worked on the page where they had to cut out the items and them put them under the correct heading of Food or People.
-Coloring

Art and Gross Motor Skills were severely lacking this week. We did play a game of Simon Says and Red Light, Green Light...

And my goal last week of getting organized this week...well, it's gonna roll over a few more weeks too!

To see what others did with their tots this week, head on over to

where I am linked up too!

What My Children Are Reading - Nov 20

2010-11-20T22:05:00.000-05:00

As always, click the link above to see what other families are reading with their children this week!

1. Snow Happy To Be Here: The Slightly Silly Story of the Snowblatt Family by Cheryl Hawkinson. This is a Hallmark Holiday Series book my kids received as a gift a couple of years ago. Little Man loves snowmen, and this story has been a favorite pick this week. It's a corny book about how snowpeople come to life, but hey - the kids like it!

2. When God Made the Animals by Jill Roman Lord. This book was also a gift. Rhyming text with scripture references of when God made the different types of animals that populate the earth. And, it has googly eyes. Just what a 2 and 4 year old love!

3. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. Aww, c'mon. Y'all know this one. This time, though, Little Man was 'reading' it by himself. So cute to hear him tell the story from memory/looking at the illustrations.

4. Sleeping Beauty (a Walt Disney book). This one is The Love's book of choice lately. She won't sit and let me read each page completely, but we are working on this skill. She is quite impatient when there are a lot of words on a page. She just wants to get 'to the bottom line'!

These are all books we own. No library trip so we haven't read too many more books this week. A light reading week after the last few! Ah well, we are busy getting ready for Thanksgiving...but I do hope to improve on our family reading time. Reflecting on the week, I suppose the littles have been reading quite a bit, but it has been on their own. I am not sure what all they have been pulling from our shelves!

Menu Plan Monday

2010-11-15T17:48:00.000-05:00

I have been released from my sentence of bed rest (yeah!!) and can get back to cooking the meals for our family. With that in mind, I still want to take it easy this week so I can be well prepared for the BIG meal next week!
Here's my take on taking it easy (some are repeats from prior menus this month, because I didn't get to make them):

Breakfasts:
banana pudding cups
crepes
yogurt
eggs and homefries
spinach quiche
peanut butter baked oatmeal

Lunches:
spinach and strawberry salad
ham and cheese rollups
tuna melt
blueberry muffins (go here and scroll down for a great recipe) with fresh fruit
toasted pb and banana sandwiches (this is a new recipe, given to me by a friend who swears they're good)

Dinners:
manhattan clam chowder, balsamic marinated chicken, salad
macaroni and cheese, asparagus in cream sauce
chicken and stuffing casserole
Vegetable Barley Soup, rolls, cucumber and tomato salad
scalloped potatoes and ham (using leftover from last week's bake), cornbread
stuffed shells, garlic bread, salad

Tot School - Week 3

2010-11-14T21:10:00.000-05:00

These are the areas we worked on this week:

Fine Motor Skills -
             Little Man and The Love: tweezing foam shapes into ice cube tray; scissors practice; making shapes with pipe cleaners.
             The Love : scissors practice. She did amazingly well for the little amount of time we have spent on this skill.

Math Skills -
              Little Man: identifying shapes (by sorting foam pieces); pattern recognition (by placing the foam shapes into patterns)
             The Love: identifying shapes; graphing (using the foam pieces to make a bar graph first by color and then by shape)

Prereading Skills -
              (both kids): identifying letters made with pipe cleaner shapes; making letters with wax-covered sticks; writing letters on paper (most acurately done by The Love, but certainly attempted by Little Man)

Gross Motor Activity -
               (both kids): using ride-ons in the shop; playing on the swingset; and our Big Adventure of the week (because the recreation center was closed on Veteran's day) was a trip to an indoor play area.

Scripture Memory: Give thanks to the Lord. Psalm 106:1 This is truly our first time that I have given the littles a memory verse. They have had ones from Sunday School before, and they do pretty well with them. I was surprised and pleased that they both were able to recite this with the scripture reference after 5 days of working on it. Even Little Man tries to say the scripture reference! His version of the verse was Give thanks to the world...until I corrected him. I didn't realize how closely world sounds like lord!

Art: Indian Corn craft

The Love's maize

Little Man's maize

Our Thankful Tree with indian corn and paper acorns (don't mind the laundry on the floor in the right side of the picture! This was a skill being worked on by the teenager in the house!).

Next week I am hoping to work on a skill I see practiced by many other bloggers who participate in Tot School but realized I have never done with my own kids: sorting by size. I just need to print off some manipulatives to work with!

A personal skill I hope to work on (regarding Tot School) is to organize our play area in the house. I want to minimize the toys available and create space on our bookshelves to start using a tray system for the kids' activities. This will involve purchasing some organizing materials, but it will be well worth it (for the sake of my nerves every time I look into that corner of our living room!).

I am linking up with 1+1+1=1's Tot School this week!

What My Children Are Reading This Week

2010-11-12T14:39:00.001-05:00

Click the link above to see what others are reading with their children this week!

We still have all the books from last week, as well as these which I ordered through our library:

How Do Dinosaurs Laugh Out Loud? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague. I chose this one just because we like these books, but this one is too advanced for my 'readers'. They fought over who got to lift the flaps, and didn't laugh once.

All Around Busytown by Richard Scarry. This is our first Richard Scarry title. We will definitely be borrowing more of these! This one has pop-up pictures which the kids were enamored with! The storyline wasn't as important as lifting the flaps and discussing what the illustrations were representing...at least that seemed to be the littles perspective. Eash page has a plethora of subject matter to discuss, and when you get to the end, flip the book over! Each page is right-side-up and up-side-down illustrated; what a talent to be able to design that with pop-ups!

Possum's Harvest Moon by Anne Hunter. Thank you to Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns (which hosts this bloghop) for the suggestion. I really enjoyed the book. The illustrations are wonderful! I wish I could say that The Love and Little Man enjoyed it too, but it seemed that they weren't really drawn in to the story. We have only read it once, so perhaps this one will grow on them.

Hello, Hello by Miriam Schlein and Daniel Kirk. This is one from our bookshelves that Little Man has asked for every day. One day GG (my grandmother) visited and she read it to him. I always remember my grandmother making up the most interesting stories when we were little, and this time was no exception. She ad-libs the pages and is just soooo funny! Anyhow, this book is about how different animals greet each other. Daniel Kirk is a fantastic illustrator. The animals are lifelike, especially the elephants!

(no photo)
The Amazing Turkey Rescue by Steve Metzger and Jim Paillot. I can't remember how I ended up choosing this book, exactly, but I think it was through another participant in WMCIR (if it was you, let me know and I will give you credit!). This is a funny book and perfect for getting ready for Thanksgiving. The kids liked the fox, particularly. I liked the way the turkeys deal with the fox and how they outwit him to save the chickens. A truly cute story!

Unforseen Uses of a Meal Plan

2010-11-08T22:15:00.000-05:00

Given the current state of my circumstances, I thought it would be completely useless for me to have a meal plan. I can't cook any of the meals. Boy, was I wrong.

Did you know that, even if you can't cook the meals, having a meal plan can be an invaluable tool to help with creating a grocery list? It also can be helpful to whomever may be in the kitchen doing the prep. When my husband woke before dawn to go do grocery shopping for our household Saturday morning, boy oh boy was it helpful to me to have this plan to know what to put on his list of items to purchase!

Here we go!

Breakfasts:
cold cereal
oatmeal
yogurt
fresh fruit
eggs and salmon

Lunches:
cheese sandwiches
pb&j sandwiches
pb dippers
pot pies
pizza muffins

Dinners:
pasta with chicken and meatballs
baked ham
baked chicken
tuna casserole
sloppy joes

The meals I didn't plan for are going to be brought in by friends and family. Just tonight, a good friend brought a Mexican casserole for our dinner tomorrow night. Can enough good things be said for people who help without even being asked? I hope to be better at that: anticipating and meeting a need.

Linking up this week with Menu Plan Monday (click on button at top of post to see what others are making this week).

Tot School - The inventive edition

2010-11-07T21:30:00.000-05:00

Actually, I don't know how inventive it is, but we have done the best we can with Mama on strict orders to stay off her feet! I don't have the camera with me at the moment, so no pictures at this time. Sorry! I know it is a lot more interesting with photos.

For gross motor activity, the kids went to our local recreation center. They have a room for tots that is open from 9 to noon and is FREE (well, if you don't consider our taxes)! There are monkey bars and large foam climbing pieces, as well as a small slide, balls, and teeter totter. The big draw for the kids, though is this:

and this:

I love taking the kids there. They can run and yell and just be free like no where else! (This was the morning before I was sentenced to bed rest).

For fine motor activity, the kids chose again to work with their tweezers, ice cube trays, and pompoms. I need to change out the pompoms for something else so their interest will be held!

Our letter for the week was G. The kids pasted some pictures of items that start with 'g'. I was impressed with Little Man as he recognized the gold bars and called them 'gold'. The Love had no idea what that picture was representing!

We also spent a lot of time playing games (such as Candyland and Memory) and reading books. For our Thanksgiving activity, we watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

which I got from netflix. The kids watched it fine but they are spoiled by current cartoons and can't appreciate the classics. Something to work on! There is a bonus video on the disc which is a documentary-style cartoon starring the Peanuts characters and describing the voyage and beginning times experienced by the Pilgrims (It is called 'The Mayflower Voyages'). I was the only one of the three of us interested in that! It was just too advanced for my 4 and 2 year old. I did have an Indian Corn craft planned and ready to go, but we had to push that off to this week's activities. I will have a helper here all week! She will be able to help with these types of things.

Hopefully this week will prove to be more photo-full andmore educational. It's not like I don't have time to plan for it!!!

Bed rest list of things to do

2010-11-05T13:40:00.000-04:00

1. Christmas cards - and I can check one item off my list of goals for November (see here).
2. Pray, read the Bible, and write in my journal
3. Plan activities and crafts for the kids (I'll just have to give instructions to someone else to carry them out)
4. Daily devotional time with the family. We always say we're going to do this, but don't. Now is the perfect time to make it a habit.
5. Listen. To God, to my children, to my husband.
6. Watch Netflix movies that I never have time for otherwise. I am looking forward to Mary Poppins (can you believe I haven't seen it since I was a child?) and Sherlock Holmes.
7. Play a game or two with Shades. We enjoy Settlers of Catan

Sequence

Monopoly

(and now I don't have to put him off, saying that I don't have enough time to finish the game!).

8. Work. Believe it or not, I can connect from home to the server and get around to those things that I seem to never get around to when I am actually IN the office.
9. Read (my own books, or to the kids) (Hmmm. That reminds me that we have books at the library to pick up...will have to task someone else with this one too!)

I am sure I can come up with more, but that might make me miss the point of being on bed rest.

Be Still and Know

2010-11-05T07:36:00.000-04:00

Being still....seems like I am going to have plenty of that. After developing a blood clot in my leg, the doc has put me on bed rest. The panic and fear and anxiety set in when I hit the front door of our home yesterday. How, HOW, would I be able to pull this off with a toddler, preschooler and teenager...not to mention husband to care for and businesses to run?

Amazingly the young college girl who has been coming over a couple of times a week (and usually babysits for another family part of the week) has all of next week available to help me during the day. Right there, minutes after melting down, God stepped in.

My husband then took the situation and called our church for someone to come help me over the next couple of days. Within minutes, all of the times I needed to have someone here to help for the next 9 days are covered. I am hopeful that by next week this situation will be resolved and I can be on my feet again.

So what's the point here? I am thinking that God is the one who designed this time to rest, time to reflect, time to reorganize and reprioritize life. Already this morning I have seen how being still has allowed me to change my attention to my kids. The Love needed discipline, which she received, but then my immobility allowed me to have her climb into my lap and cuddle afterward. Normally, I would be moving around getting Little Man rady for school and breakfast on the table. The discipline would have been there, but not the amount of love and care afterward. And what a difference that made to the little girl's attitude!

I don't want to waste this time that God has set aside for me to learn and grow and change my ways. In just the few hours since I've been up this morning, I already can see areas where I need to let go, and areas where I need to be more involved in this family's life. I imagine I will be posting more about that soon.

Amazon Free MP3 Download - VeggieTales Christmas

2010-11-02T22:32:00.000-04:00

Just an FYI - I downloaded this from Amazon.com. It's free!

October in Review and November Goals

2010-11-02T16:01:00.000-04:00

I would have to say, given all the circumstances (mother in hospital, me falling, getting a bacterial infection, sick kids, now having a blood clot in my leg - you don't want to hear any more, I am sure) that October wasn't that bad. At least, not that bad concerning my goals. Here's how I did:

1. two loaves of pumpkin bread made (with real, homemade pumpkin puree, not the canned pumpkin. It is soooooooo yummy! I will have to post the recipe sometime).

2. I submitted one claim to AFLAC, and received payment within two weeks. Gotta love getting $75 for screening tests that we need anyway!

3. Just yesterday morning, before being ordered to stay off my feet as much as possible, Shades and I went out to breakfast before school. We only had a little time, so I gave him a choice of McD's or Dunkin' Donuts. He chose McD's...ugh. But it was time together, after all!

4. I went away to see my best friend for a whole weekend. Other than some serious delays on the way there (three and a half hours in Pittsburgh airport! And an 11:30 p.m. flight!), the weekend was perfect.

5. No sweater for Little Man - I was trying to knit it, and I am teaching myself. The going is too slow for making a Christmas gift when I have so much to do. Instead, I began sewing a fleece shirt for him. It's not done, and I can't sit at the sewing machine right now. Also, I am nearly complete with The Love's flannel nightgown. Look for photos in a future post of how I turned a flannel bedsheet into the little girl's nightgown. Hubby's blanket? Not started. All my crafting time was spent on sewing and crocheting. Yes, right. Crocheting. I learned when I was a girl and it comes much more naturally than knitting. I have made three hats...two of which were for Little Man because he needs a winter hat. I say 'were' because Hubby nixed them as not right. Maybe I will sew one in fleece for him instead.

6. I have one photo for an I Spy book, but I didn't take it. I printed it from a photo on a blog that I saw which was perfect for this book. I reallly want to complete this gift! I think my niece and nephew will love it, but I have to put some time into getting it ready.

7. I did START a prayer log. With one entry. It's also ended the month with the same number of entries!

8. I have purchased a couple of totes, but was able to empty one we had and repurpose it for toy storage. Hubby has been a huge house help this month, and he sorted out toys and put away some for rotation. It wasn't the way I would have done it, but I am trying to let go of that. I need to focus on the fact that the task is complete, not that it's completed the ~~right~~ way I would do it.
I did manage to do other things not on the list! Not only did I spend one-on-one time with Shades, but I also had special time with Little Man and The Love (and it all happened within this past week). Little Man helped me clean up around the yard while we had some beautiful weather (the Love was at preschool).

I know one day this will be too much like work. At two, he loved getting on his work gloves and 'helping'!

Little Miss Love and I went out to an Afternoon Tea. You can read about it here.

November goals:

Christmas cards signed and addressed
Professional photo taken of children
countdown to Thanksgiving with crafts and activites for the kids several times each week
link up to Tot School at 1+1+1=1
go to the library
enjoy life a little bit more....see each day as opprtunities to teach, to love, to share life rather than a list of tasks to be completed

Linking up at mama smiles:

Tot School for the First Tim

2010-11-01T21:22:00.002-04:00

I have been reading 1+1+1=1's blog for a month or so now, and have decided I want to participate in their weekly posting of Tot School. Basically, it is what your toddler/preschooler has done during the week that relates to their learning and education. Since one of my goals was to have planned education and learning activities for the kiddos, I think this will help to keep me on track.

So this past week, here is what I captured for The Love and Little Man's learning (I am sure there were a lot of moments I did not capture!!):
Sensory Bin

I loved this idea as I saw it on many other Tot School posts. In keeping with our month of Thanksgiving theme, I wanted the first sensory bin to be somewhat related. Dry corn is the filler, with items such as plastic farm animals, glittery beaded fruit, and tools for pouring added in (spoon and funnel - not pictured are a big plastic cup and 2 cup plastic measuring cup.)

A project I found on no time for flashcards was to make a ripped paper acorn. I had the kids do this as an activity with the babysitter while I had to work, hence no photos of the craft in progress. Sitter said the little ones really enjoyed doing this, too. I was pleased with their results.

I found this foam clock at the Dollar Tree. The Love used it to start learning about time, Little Man was more of number recognition and reinforcement.

Some fine motor skill activity - tweezing pompons into the ice cube tray. We haven't ever done tweezer work before and both enjoyed this. I had to remind them it was available on the shelf, but when they got it out it was a good 15 to 20 minute activity.

Look at the concentration!

Another fine motor skill activity, borrowed from another Totschooler...covering the letter of the week (Ff) with small stickers.

We had some beautiful weather last week, so we got outside for some gross motor skill work (and some practical life work).

We are blessed with a building on our property that used to be used for our business, but now is partly for the kids' indoor play area. As you can see, they are able to ride their trikes or bang the drums!

Lastly, we use Starfall.com for fun and learning. Here is Little Man with his favorite activity on that site - the reading snowman!

What My Children Are Reading This Week- Getting Ready for Thanksgiving edition

2010-10-31T22:15:00.002-04:00

I want to do a lot of preparation in anticipation of Thanksgiving this year. Not just meal prep, mind you, but heart preparation. We are going to spend each week doing activities and reading books to talk about why we celebrate Thanksgiving. In relation to this, some of our books we have out from the library are on the topic of Thanksgiving. Others are simply 'of interest'.

1. Insects and Spiders by Matthew Robertson.

Little Man picked this one from our bookshelf. He has been looking at it on his own as well as asking us to read parts of it to him. It is waaaay above his comprehension level (it is one of Shades' books that he has since outgrown - though I did catch him looking at it this morning before church!). We spend most of the time looking at and discussing the illustrations (they are very detailed). I will read a sentence or two from the page that I think Little Man can understand. I also ask him questions based on the illustrations.

2. One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims by B.G. Hennessy

This is one of the Thanksgiving picks (as if you couldn't tell!). It is an interesting contrast between the activities of the Native American (correctly reffered to in the book as Wampanoag) and the pilgrim children. I particularly like the Bibliography at the back of the book, giving me some more possible reads for Thanksgiving (not for the kids as they are above their attention span and geared to older children).

3. Can You See What I See? Dinosaurs by Walter Wick.

Another pick from our bookshelf. Simple text, fairly easy to find pictures, but loved by both of the littles.

4. The Very First Thanksgiving by Rhonda Gowler Greene

A library pick. The story is told in cumulative verse (think of "The Green Grass Grows All Around" song - it is not to this tune, but in this style of adding a verse and then repeating the previous ones). I really enjoy the illustrations in this book, but the kids seem to prefer the other Thanksgiving book. I am going to use some of the illustrations from this book to make crafts with the kids. One interesting point - the Love did notice the dress and hairstyles of the Native Americans. She was confused as to why the boys have long hair, and why the men have very little clothing!

5. Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming.

I checked this one out as a follow up to Lunch! and Alphabet Under Construction. The kids haven't been as interested in this one. They enjoyed it the one time we read it, but haven't selected it again as a reading choice. I am not sure why.

6. Moving Circles by Baby Einstein Company.

The Love picked this one out while we were at the library. The kids fight over who gets to look at it, but Little Man has trouble moving the circles (you have to tip the whole book to get them to move from one point to another on the page).

7. Click, Clack, 1,2,3 by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin.

I chose this from the library as simply a board book that Little Man wouldn't be able to ruin! We have read it a couple of times. I was surprised when I got to the end to see that I missed an important clue to the story in the first illustration! A fun book.

8. Cowpokes by Caroline Stutson.
I found this one by browsing through someone else's post to WMCIR last week ( I am too lazy to go find it again and give credit - sorry~). I thought maybe I could get the littles interested in something besides dinosaurs or bugs. Guess again. We read it once, but it also hasn't been chosen since then.

9. How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague.

Another in the series which we all seem to enjoy. The kids love to say No! Dinosaurs Don't! If only they would realize that THEY shouldn't either! (A particularly favorite page of Love and Little Man is the dinosaur spitting out his broccoli).

10. Miss Spider's New Car by David Kirk.

Since the last Miss Spider book went over so well, I thought we would try this one. It is a board book, in deference to Little Man again. The story is fine, but the kids lose interest pretty quickly and have asked a lot of questions on each page. I don't think they really understand the concept that Miss Spider and her husband are looking for a car and they are trying out vehicles from other insects - and sometimes they ARE other insects.

I guess we have quite a few choices this week! A good thing since I have spent the weekend with my leg elevated. Reading is a good way to pass the time with toddlers when mom is supposed to be off her feet!

I am linking up at:

Meal Plan-changing it up

2010-10-29T16:47:00.000-04:00

Since joining in with Meal Plan Monday, I have been looking at how others do their planning. I thought I would implement one of the ideas,which is not to assign meals to specific days but to simply plan enough meals for the week. My meal plans start with Thursday since that is when I do my grocery shopping (my planning is done at least one day in advance. I prefer to plan a few days ahead so I have time to cut coupons and shop ads for the deals).

Breaskfasts:
peanut butter baked oatmeal (found here from another MPM participant)
cereal
banana pudding cups
yogurt
pb toast, eggs
crepes with nutella
spinach quiche

Lunches:
cheese quesadillas
pb&j
pot pies
pasta & sauce
hot beef sandwiches (with the leftovers from dinner)
yogurt, pb dippers
egg salad/tomato and mozzarella salad

Dinners:
roast beef (we didn't have this last week...I forgot to take it out of the freezer)
balsamic marinated chicken breasts (recipe here) I haven't tried this one yet...will post a review when I do.
homemade creamy tomato soup
haddock in a cheese jacket
sloppy joes
tuna casserole (the teenager is going to cook Wednesday night - he chose to make this.)
something in the crock pot (not sure what at this point)

Side Dishes:
sunny fruit salad
sweet potato casserole
creamed carrots
roasted brussels sprouts*
green beans
rolls
*N.b. I don't care for brussels sprouts - but Mary Ostyn encouraged those who read her book Family Feasts for $75 A Week to try them roasted. I cut mine in half, sprinkle with salt, drizzle with olive oil and bake at 400 degrees Farenheit until they are slightly browned (about 20 minutes). This is the only way I will consume this vegetable! Did you know they are a good source of Riboflavin, Iron, Magnesium and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Thiamin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Potassium and Manganese?

Last night I simply chose a meal from my list. I think I like the increased freedom this method provides! We'll see if it is tooo free...and leads me back to not having dinner prepared when all are complaining of their empty (?) bellies.

Time for Tea

2010-10-28T20:57:00.000-04:00

My sister and I have daughters that are three months apart. They have been playmates since they were old enough to play. They are quite different girls, but one thing they both adore is playing tea party.

I was so excited when I found out that a local restaurant hosts Afternoon Tea! Since my sister rarely has a whole week off from work (like she did this week), we planned our Girls' Tea for this afternoon. Here are a few pictures from our lovely and ladylike day.

(Please ignore the terrible red-eye. I don't at this point have a photo editing program!!)

Pretty little things!

Waiting for her tea.

Apple juice 'tea' for the little ladies....hot tea for the Mamas.

Oh, and French Silk pie that was divine!

We had the restaurant practically to ourselves...so why not let them twirl their pretty dresses?

The Love sat next to me this evening while I was crocheting (she was pretending to knit). In such a grown-up conversational tone she asked me, "And what was your favorite part of the day, Mama?" I replied, "The afternoon tea, I would have to say." She said, "Yes, that was my favorite part, too!"

Just too sweet. Trying to capture and hold these moments that are already memories...

1,000 Gifts - Multitude Monday

2010-10-25T06:00:00.002-04:00

"If you fall apart, I will catch all your pieces."

This was spoken to my heart last weekend while I was spending some time away from home. It was amazing that being away from family and home responsibilities brought such a focus on what has been happening with me. It was more amazing that I have been so oblivious to how I really feel! I mean, how much pain I have been in, not physically, but emotionally. I suppose the busy-ness of work and family have been the buffer, allowing me to ignore this deep, soul-rending pain.

When I faced the pain, I cried out to God,"I think I am going to fall apart!" So gently, so sweetly, my heart heard the response of my Lord. With that, the release of tears came, the sobbing that brought a rending. And in a way, I fell apart.

Colossians 1:17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

#75 not having to hold myself together
#76 freedom to cry
#77 knowing I will be put back together, and it will be better than before
#78 reunions
#79 a new joy in my children
#80 a Word that brings life

A Fall and A Meal Plan

2010-10-20T21:51:00.000-04:00

Swell.

That is what I hope my knee doesn't do while I am sleeping tonight. While walking with the littlest ones to the house after a gorgeous afternoon playing with their cousins, I fell in the driveway. Thankfully, I caught myself with hands and knees...no belly injury! Unfortunately, knees don't take too kindly to being landed on by a 7 month preggo woman!

While I sit here with said knee elevated, I figured I could work on this week's meal plan and grocery list.

So here we go (might as well be as productive as possible! I might not be able to wash that sink full of dirty dishes but I can do this!)

Meal Plan
Thursday
B: oatmeal or cold cereal
L: frozen pizza
D: roasted turkey breast, stuffing, cranberry sauce (I have a hankering for T-day dinner!)

Friday
B: banana nut muffins (if I can stand up to make them)
L: cheese wontons, apples, grapes
D: hamburger vegetable soup

Saturday
B: pancakes and sausage
L: grilled cheese, tomato soup
D: vegetarian chili, rice (making a double batch of chili to freeze some for when baby arrives)

Sunday
B: omelets, fresh fruit salad
L: pb&j sandwiches
D: tossed salad, baked potato bar

Monday
B: yogurt, toast
L: pb dippers
D: pot roast with caramelized onions

Tuesday
B: eggs, toast
L: yogurt, pizza muffins
D: spaghetti and meatballs, sausage bread (tumbling night for the Love)

Wednesday
B: smoothies (with rasperries in the freezer from the summer!)
L: chicken nuggets, fries
D: salmon and cucumbers, ham steaks in mustard sauce

I am glad to have a plan for the week (few things are more stressful for me than trying to figure out what to cook for dinner). Now, how am I going to get the groceries to actually pull this off?

Being led or being herded?

2010-10-12T09:23:00.000-04:00

I am following along as Sheila at To Love, Honor, and Vacuum hosts a Simplify Your Life challenge this month. One of the parts of simplifying your life that she encourages is finding your purpose. I am all for that one!

Sheila's post yesterday was about being called verses being driven, and she used a sheep analogy to illustrate her point. When I wrote in my journal early this morning, I mistakenly wrote about being led or being herded!

My prayer this morning was to hear and follow The Lord's voice leading me, and to recognize those places where I am feeling pushed, herded, or driven. In those places of being driven, I realize I have much stress and little peace. I am tired, oh, so tired, of feeling like that. It is born out of being on the wrong path, pursuing the wrong activities.

I want peace today!

I need to walk away from all that distracts and wears me down. I really need the Lord's help here, to identify what it is that causes me to feel this way. You would think that I could just think about my life and identify them, but it doesn't seem that simple when you get down to it.

After all, which factor is causal, and which one is correlated? If I 'fix' the factor that is correlated and not causal, the problem will not be solved.

Did I lose you there? Let me give an example. Currently I have no regular babysitter to watch my children because my mother, who filled that role, is in the hospital. Between myself and the children I have several doctor appointments to get to in the next week. Many of these are during naptime, because they were scheduled when I didn't know I wouldn't have a babysitter. I am stressed about this issue. Is it the fact that I have to interrupt our daily schedule that is bringing me stress? Or am I stressed because there are so many appointments? Do I need to just get on the ball and find a regular babysitter/nanny now? Or do I need to change these appointments?

Okay, maybe you feel stressed after reading that! It's just one small example of how I am looking at this, and perfectly relates how much I need help to figure it out!

One Thousand Gifts - Multitude Monday

2010-10-11T08:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome to my little plot within the Gratitude Community! Let us join together in being concious of benefits received.

Thankful (adj.) 1. concious of benefit received; 2. expressive of thanks; 3. well pleased: Glad. (definition courtesy of merriam-webster.com)

65. windfalls
66. a Savior who relates to me
67. resolution
68. perserverence that results in reconciliation
69. miracles of healing, not far removed thousands of years ago, but now, close to my heart
70. a Savior to look to when I want to scream, swear, or lose my temper
71. sin foreclosed
72. a Savior who turns the ordinary into extraordinary
73. a friend who loves me at all times
74. life all around, if I look to see it

What My Children Are Reading This Week

2010-10-10T06:20:00.000-04:00

Well, I decided to get back to this meme hosted by Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns (do you know, every time I use that word I don't even know what it means! Guess I should find out!).

Here goes (we have a lot!)

1. Alphabet Under Construction by Denise Fleming. This is the same author who brought us Lunch, and the kids do seem to like this little mouse. A simple book that cavorts through the alphabet in a completely new way. We like it!

2. I Know It's Autumn by Eileen Spinelli. Mama enjoyed this book more than the littles, I think. I chose this book from the library simply because we have been doing a lot of fall-ish things around here and I wanted to support that with some literature.

3. Barn Sneeze by Karen B. Winnick. Definitely a favorite this week for Little Man. He can almost 'read' it himself. Many mornings I will find him sitting on the sofa with this book! A simple and easy story following a sneeze through the animals in the barn. Can you say Cock-a-doodle-choo?

4. Chugga-Chugga-Choo-Choo by Kevin Lewis. Speaking of choo...we have a book on our home library shelf by the author entitled My Truck Is Stuck. That one is a repeat read, so when I saw this at the library I decided to grab it. We haven't read it yet!

5. Leaves by David Ezea Stein. This book won an Ezra Jack Keats award. Follow bear as he is puzzled by the change of seasons. A sweet read about change and growth.

6. But Excuse Me That is My Book by Lauren Child. Another favorite read, both of Little Man and The Love. I only take these books out because they like them so much. Lola and Charlie take a trip to the library to get out her favorite book, only to discover that someone else is borrowing it! What a disaster for Lola until she realizes there are more books in the library that can be her favorite.

7. Max Cleans Up by Rosemary Wells. Typical Maxand Ruby style, with Max annoying Ruby all the way. The kiddos love these as well. Mama tolerates them.

8. Prairie Primer A to Z by Caroline Stutson. This is another alphabet book, showing the alphabet through the times of the early prairie settlers. I thought I might be the only one who likes this, but to my surprise the littles do too. They love to point and call out the letter names!

9. Seymour and the Juice Box Boat by Walter Wick. Since the kids like the look and find books so much I thought we would give this one a try. Sure enough, it's a hit. Some of the pages did stump them. I like the fact that each page has much more to discover than what they are asking you to find. Also, it is a great book to help with teaching how to use the photos to discover the plot.

10. Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw. We read this once. Not as much as a hit as I thought it would be. Rhyming text, simple sentences (two words or so) would make this good for beginning readers.

11. Slowly, slowly, slowly said the Sloth by Eric Carle. We like this book because you can learn about different animals that live in the same habitat as the sloth. The kiddos really like flipping to the back cover to find out what those different animals are.

12. Miss Spider and the Sunny Patch Kids by David Kirk. The Love asked so many questions on each page that I could barely read the story! It's a book about helping, sharing, acceptance...a lot of good character qualities but I think most of them flew over the kids' heads. They just like the very colorful pics!

After writing all of this, I remember why I like participating in this carnival (hmmm...meme=carnival?). It helps me remember what we have read! I can look back over older posts to see what we were doing when. Frequently I try to match books to other things that are happening in our life at the time. A great way to jump start my journaling when I scrapbook, I think.

A Little Motivation

2010-10-05T21:31:00.000-04:00

...Goes a long way! Over at To Love, Honor and Vacuum, Sheila is hosting a month of simplification. I have decided to join in (not that I haven't tried this on my own...you can read about it here) and hope with the group momentum that I am more successful than past attempts.

Simplify Challenge #1 is to Declutter One Area. Sheila suggested taking 15 minutes to work on one area. This is what I tackled:

Both of these areas are in the dining room, and we can see them each time we sit down to a meal. The clutter is distracting and disruptive to my digestion. From my seat at the table I have a perfect view of both the bulletin board and the high chair (not in use currenty and perhaps that could be put into storage until the new wee one needs it).

It took me just a little under 15 minutes to turn these areas into this:

So what did I do with everything? I took all items from the bulleting board and sorted into: trash, relocate, and leave. The items to relocate have a few piles depending on where they need to be filed. The actual filing hasn't been done, but they are in the appropriate places to make that happen.

From the high chair, I moved items into the homes where they belong (headbands to the Love's room, toys into our toy storage). There were some very pretty ribbons there which had come on gifts Hubby gave me for our anniversary last week. I kept them at that time believing I would reuse them at a later date. I held them in my hands tonight, appreciating their prettiness, but thinking that I didn't want to actually go down to the basement to put them where they really belonged. I then had to admit that once I did put them into the proper storage area, the likelihood of me using them at another time was slim to none. Alas, into the trash they went. After all, if I need pretty ribbon in the future, I believe I will have the resources to purchase it.

See, some of the reason I hold onto things is because of a poverty mentality (what if...I need it in the future?"). That is why I am trying to retrain myself to think differently..."I believe I will have what I need, to get what I need, when I need it". Hence the decision to toss the ribbon.

For the papers that were on the high chair, these are my store ads that I need to look through and create my shopping list for this week. I have them set and ready. When I finish this post, I am going to go watch 19 Kids and make my comparative shopping list for this week.

I feel pretty good about this little bit of time and a lot of accomplishment. Oh what a relief it will be to sit and have a meal without the physical (and mental) clutter!

Thanks, Sheila! I needed that!

One Thousand Gifts - Multitude Monday

2010-10-04T11:55:00.000-04:00

Today, I am finding it difficult to be thankful. My mother is still in the hospital, Little Man started limping and needs to go to the doctor today, and on and on I could go with the litany of complaints and stressors. Yet, here I am trying to find the pathway into the Gratitude Community. Maybe sometimes for you it is also overgrown with briars and weeds, like it appears for me today.

When I am like this, I must resort to those things for which I can be grateful, those things that seem obvious and are not soul-shattering deep. Yet, to get to the depths we must begin in the shallows.

55. Free entertainment/learning for the littles

56. soaring on eagle's wings (can you see the little fellow?)

57. doctors who are trustworthy and knowledgeable

58. clearance sales on pajamas that are just my little one's size

59. new sewing projects

60. apple crisp and vanilla ice cream

61. understanding people

62. grocery store shelves that always have food on them

63. being made new in the attitude of my mind

64. a living God who hears, sees, loves, and acts