Menu Plan

Since I'll be driving home from my parents' tomorrow, I'm going to go ahead & post my menu plan tonight. We won't be home till tomorrow afternoon, so I don't have a plan for breakfast & lunch tomorrow.

Last week I made sourdough bread and still have bread in the freezer so this week I'm going to use my starter to attempt a sourdough muffin recipe (hence my switch from my normal schedule of muffins on Thurs).

My overall menu plan is:



Visit orgjunkie for more menus.

Our Week's Wrap-Up

We didn't do much "school" this week. Monday & Tuesday the girls were literally outside ALL DAY playing in the snow. And yes, I consider that much more important for 5 yr olds than doing history & reading lessons & such :) Wednesday we did a partial school day, but I honestly can't remember why it was only a partial day, I just know we didn't read any history this week LOL.

We also made time for tea parties a couple days this week.

Thursday we spent the morning packing & otherwise getting ready to leave for Mama & Papa' house. We got to their office in time for Papa to give the girls a tour of the Bindery, Press room, etc (Mama & Papa work at the Review & Herald Publishing Association). For our tea parties right now I'm reading out of a devotional book written by a good friend of mine & the girls were very interested in how Miss Vicki could have a REAL BOOK with a HARD COVER, so that reminded me that for the last 2 years I've been meaning to get Papa to take them on a tour of the R&H, they've grown up running around the office part of the building, visiting various of Mama & Papa's (and Mommy's) friends who work there, but had never been back to the bindery, press room & warehouse (well, when they were babies, we regularly took them to the postage scale in shipping to weigh them, but they don't remember that LOL). So, that was our educational experience for that day. Then Papa took them home with him while Mama & I ran over to the Children's Place outlet where we found winter coats (for next winter, though they decided they wanted to start wearing them now) for $12 & some other lovely bargains :)

Friday we visited some friends and just kind of hung out.

I came down w/ a stomach bug during the night Fri night, that wiped me out for Sabbath, but the girls had fun running around Harpers Ferry with Mama & Papa while I recovered.

Today, the girls spent a good part of the day doing "art" projects. Water colors, lots of tape, lots of paper, cut into tiny pieces, lots of ribbon . . . they had great fun LOL.

We head home in the morning.

Gratituesday - Snow Day!

Yesterday we took a snow day! Sunday we got enough snow that the kids spent awhile out playing in it, and it was still there when we got up yesterday morning so after breakfast and such the kids wanted to go play in it so out the door they went. Around noon it started snowing again, Yay! More Snow! And yes, the kids were STILL OUT THERE! Around 1:15 I finally suggested they come in & eat some lunch so they came in for hot chocolate & sandwiches and as soon as they were done they WENT BACK OUTSIDE! DH came home around 4:30, kids were still out there. Soon after that I turned the outside lights on for them. And sometime after 6pm they finally called it a day & came in for supper (and more hot chocolate LOL). They were out there ALL DAY! They had a blast! They got a wonderful dose of fresh air (that's been abit lacking lately with our colder than normal (for here) temperatures, I can't blame them for not wanting to go out & play when it's in the single digits!

So . . . did school happen yesterday? Nope! Did the normal Monday chores happen yesterday? Nope, unless Mom did them. Do I think that's a bad thing? Nope! They got tons of fresh air & exercise (needless to say they slept well last night LOL). And they went ALL DAY LONG without once squabbling to the point that I heard them or had to referee (I can't swear they never did, but nothing very major since I peaked out on them regularly & can hear raised voices through the windows even when closed).

And today is shaping up to be another such day. I did sneak in a couple quick chores while they were in for lunch, and they came in on their own around noon saying they were cold and asking for a tea party instead of hot chocolate so we had a tea party, then ate lunch, and THEN they went back out. So perhaps it's abit colder today than yesterday? Or the cold is building up in their systems & they can't handle it as long? I don't know . . . We'll see if they last out there all afternoon.

I love that we have the flexibility to do this! And yes, while I think chores are important, I also think flexibility is important too. In the grand scheme of life the fact that the microwave door didn't get cleaned this week seems pretty minor compared to a great day outdoors playing happily together!

And so, today, I'm thankful once again for our lifestyle. I'm thankful that the kids can play outdoors all day w/o any scrambling to rearrange schedules. I'm thankful that such days don't mean missed work, with lost pay or taking vacation time for me. I'm thankful that we live somewhere that it's safe for the kids to play outside on their own (because I can tell you I'd have frozen solid LONG before they came in yesterday if I'd had to be out with them).

See more Gratituesday posts on Laura's blog.

Menu

This week is a short week, menu-wise, since the girls & I will be going to my parents this weekend (and dh will be left to fend for himself LOL), leaving Thurs afternoon, so that's when the menu stops.

First a quick rave from last week, we had Chocolate Cranberry Muffins for breakfast on "muffin day" and the girls LOVED them :) and they really aren't THAT unhealthy either!



Other menus for this week are here.

What We Did This Week

We had a nice, uneventful week this week, History emphasis was on the writing of the constitution. After being anti-reading so far this month, A sat down this week & read all the necessary books to finish out her Jan. reading chart, silly kid. L finished hers as well, but has been working on it throughout the month instead of all in a 2 day period. So, a trip to pizza hut will have to happen in the near future.

I resorted to bribery of sorts (though really it IS a natural consequence) as far as the whining/tantrums over the phonics sheets goes, I was looking through some art options while I waited for them to do various independent parts of schooling & they asked when we could do art again. I told them I'd love to add in some art projects, music projects, etc but as long as we're having tantrums over "homework" (their name for the phonics sheets) we don't have time to add other things in, that at least led to one or 2 tantrum free (over school anyway) days this week.

For our "extra" (for the no-tantrum day) I pulled out the window planter set I won in a blog giveaway before Christmas. The seeds that come with it are sunflowers (not sure how fast those grow & didn't want to be contending w/ sunflower trees in the house before it got warm enough for transplanting outside), basil (which I had just started in a random pot a week or two ago) & a flower of some sort (zinnias?) which would be fine, but I'm hoping to do some serious seed starting this spring & so I'm abit stingy w/ my sun-lit window space until I see how much I use for seed starting. So . . . I pulled seeds out of the freezer instead (fingers crossed they actually grow, they're a couple years old but I THINK have been in the freezer the whole time) & let them each choose one then I did the 3rd. So we have spinach, lettuce & cilantro started (which should go nicely w/ the basil, parsley & chives I started a couple weeks ago).

In SS this week the girls were the only kids there for most of it. One of the teachers, who works w/ dh, had seen the thank-you notes I had the girls write to another co-worker for Christmas gifts, so that cued her in that they can at least semi-read (though actually they could've copied the thank-you notes last year & wouldn't have been able to read the Bible text but anyway . . ) so she asked if they wanted to read the Gracelink Bible text that went w/ the story she told them. They did well & the teachers all ooh'd & ahh'd so they got positive feedback LOL.

I also had to laugh, one day this week we were planning to eat at IHOP but got there & it was a long wait so dh suggested that we go to Chili's, right next door, instead. The girls had never been to, and to my knoweldge, never heard of Chili's before (I won't swear I didn't go sometime back when I was auditing and such but I don't remember for sure). But as soon as dh suggested we try it, A's concern was "isn't everything there spicy?" I thought that was rather good deductive reasoning (if it's called Chili's and chili peppers are spicy, it must have spicy food) for a 5 yr old.

The girls' play this week has included a couple "homebirths" LOL. They've also been dealing w/ "sibling rivalry" since, as they explained to to me, Jeanie (one of their dolls) doesn't like that the baby gets all the attention so she has been being mean to both the baby and big brother, so they have to watch her extra close.

Driving in the car this week the girls re-discovered the Eric B Hare story CDs and are thoroughly enjoying them again. I was watching an interview w/ the current "Uncle Dan & Aunt Carol" on 3ABN yesterday and realized we don't have any Your Story Hour CDs, tapes, etc. Need to look online & see if they're available for download. When the girls walked in while I was watching the interview, at first they didn't know who Uncle Dan & Aunt Sue/Carol (why they changed her name, I'll never know, especially since the interview yesterday indicated that the first 2 "Aunt Sues" were neither of them named Sue either! If they addressed why the current Carol had to use her real name instead of sticking w/ the Sue theme, it wasn't while I was watching) was, but then one of them, A I think, said, they say Uncle Dan & Aunt Sue on our Bible stories we listen to in the car (My Bible Friends CDs) so they at least have heard of them LOL.

Guess that's about it for this week. Next week will be a short week, as the girls & I are going to my parents' (and letting dh have a weekend to get caught up on work in peace) for the weekend. While we're there I'm hoping to get my Eric B Hare chapter books back from a friend who borrowed them (she said she'd give them to a mutual friend I'll be seeing while I'm down there, if she forgets, I'll raid my parents' bookshelf instead LOL). We're enjoying Anne of Green Gables as our current chapter book, but I think since they enjoy the short Eric B Hare stories, they might enjoy the chapter books as well, and would give us Sabbath chapter book reading.

Works-for-Me-Wednesday - Kids and Chores

A few conversations I've had with various people recently has led me to realize that some moms don't ever stop to think about what their kids can be capable of. And since chores are fresh in my mind after recently reading Managers of Their Chores and implementing a version of their system, I thought I'd take a couple minutes to give people some ideas of things that 5 (almost 6) year olds are capable of given the opportunity/encouragement/training.

First the disclaimer: Only you know YOUR kids. Don't turn them lose with a knife or other tools just because someone on the internet says THEIR 5 yr olds use them. Supervise, watch how they do, discuss safety procedures, and make final decisions based on your own children.

So, here is our current "chore chart". A couple other disclaimer type things, keep in mind that we are homeschoolers, I don't think my kids would have as many chores if they were away from home for 8+ hours a day in school &/or various extra-curriculars, but thanks to our lifestyle we spend a maximum of a couple of hours per day on "school" type stuff, we spread our chores out through the day, they work alongside me, and they also have plenty of time for independant, creative play. Also, our system is rather complicated because I have 2 kids who are the same age & at the same skill level. Rather than having whining about "why doesn't she have to unload the dishwasher" or "why does she get to feed the dog & I don't?" I opted to alternate days/weeks for most chores (laundry is the one that is currently all one kid, A has a fascination w/ laundry, L has no interest, I didn't see a reason to have L whining about having to do laundry AND A whining about not GETTING to do laundry just to keep things "fair").

Ok, so NOW here's the chore list:

Daily Morning:

• Read Bible (1 verse per day at this point)/Pray
• Get Dressed
• Ask Mommy to Brush Hair (I put this one in because I am horrible about remembering to brush their hair, this gets it "scheduled" so that it happens regularly AND so that we're not scrambling to get it done when I suddenly notice it needs doing as we walk out the door)
• Unload Dishwasher (alternate days, we had them working together on it, but they kept fighting, so now we're trying alternating. They can leave things they can't reach/don't know where goes in the dishwasher for me & they leave the sharp knives on the counter (or I pull them out in advance when I'm in the kitchen while they're doing it) for me to put on the magnetic knife bar. They know to hold knives pointing down & be careful with them)
• Feed the dog, make sure she has water, let her out (& back in) to potty. (alternate days)
• A helps sort & put laundry in the washer
• Help prepare breakfast
• Put their own dishes in the dishwasher after breakfast.
• A helps hang the laundry (outside or in the bathroom) or (a few loads in the winter) put them in the dryer)

Daily at Lunchtime:

• A sets table & helps prepare lunch if there's more to do once the table is set
• L helps prepare lunch
• L clears table
• A helps clean up kitchen

Weekly after Lunch:

• Monday- A cleans the microwave door & L cleans the dishwasher door
• Tuesday - they work together to water plants (with mom's help to make sure they don't overwater)
• Wednesday - they work together to gather small trash cans & put in the outside trash can and L dusts downstairs while A dusts upstairs
• Thursday - Clean bathroom sink (alternate weeks), clean bathtub (alternate weeks), vacuum bathroom w/ rechargable stick vac (alternate weeks), mop bathroom with small microfiber mop (alternate weeks)
• Friday - work together to clear all toys & trash from car, work together to make sure all outside toys are picked up and put away.

Evening Daily:

• L sets table for supper and helps prepare supper if there's more to do after table is set
• A helps prepare supper
• A clears table
• L helps slean up kitchen
• Work together to pick up/put away any toys on main level
• Work together to pick up/put away any toys upstairs
• Brush teeth, go potty
• Fri night L takes a bath (A either takes a bath Thurs night or a shower Fri morning, her choice)
• Put away clean laundry: hang up their clothes (I put them on hangers, they put in closet), match socks, fold their pajamas, put all socks, underwear & their pajamas where they go.
• Bedtime

Meal prep can include lots of things depending what we're having, including:

• stirring things on the stove
• chopping/slicing soft things with a knife (broccoli, olives, cucumbers . . .)
• Putting things through the food processor or salad shooter
• Tearing up lettuce for salad, etc.
• We get big bags of frozen vegetables & such from Sams and don't have room for them in our upstairs freezer, once I've used however much we're using for that meal they can carry the bag back down & put it back in the basement deep freeze.
• Cracking eggs (we always crack eggs one at a time into a small bowl & then pour into the pan or mixing bowl (w/ free range eggs this guards against the very rare egg w/ blood in it or similar, AND means it's pretty easy to fish out pieces of shell if an egg isn't cracked perfectly)

After meals, clearing the table involves:

• Putting dirty dishes in sink or on counter next to sink
• Putting anything that goes directly into the fridge away (water, milk, ketchup bottle, etc).
• Putting other food on the counter for me to put into storage containers to put away
  

Helping to clean the kitchen generally involves putting dishes in the dishwasher.

We use vinegar, baking soda, etc. to clean most things so I don't have to worry about young children using dangerous chemicals.

Seeing their pride & excitement when they tackle a new chore is so fun to see. Also as we anticipate the arrival of a new brother or sister, they enjoy talking about how they will be able to teach & help the baby learn chores as she or he grows. They like knowing that as time progresses they will be able to do the "hard part" and pass the easier parts on to their younger sibling (ie. they will put the high up dishes away and "the baby" will put the silverware away when it's time to unload the dishwasher).

Involving kids of all ages in chores works for me on many levels. It teaches them valuable skills and habits, it gives them a sense of pride in accomplishment. AND it helps me have more time to play games, read stories and otherwise do "fun stuff" with my kids.

Gratituesday - Putting on a Gentle and Quiet Spirit

I keep a running wish list of books on half.com. It is mostly either religious books for me, homesteading/homemaking type books for me, and all sorts of educational books for the kids. Whenever I "need" to order something from half.com I go through my wish list and if the same seller has books off the wishlist (at reasonable prices) I go ahead & get them and combine shipping. Many of the books I want are in the $1 range but if I order each individually the end up being close to $5 (I think shipping on one book is $3.85). BUT if I order them when I'm ordering something else the per-book shipping for each additional book from that shipper drops to $1.85 (or something in that range). Not a huge difference, but every little bit helps (Amazon, incidentally does NOT do this with their used books, which annoys me to no end!). Anyway . . .

Awhile back I was ordering something & going through my wish list & one of the things on my wish list is just kind of a general "books by Elizabeth George" category. So, as I usually do, I searched the seller's list for her name. Weeded out the OTHER Elizabeth George (there are 2 popular authors named Elizabeth George. One (the one who I was searching for writes Christian books (A Woman After God's Own Heart is probably her most well known), the other writes mysteries). And started looking at what was there. One of the books was, Putting on a Gentle and Quiet Spirit and since that is a verse that I've felt strongly speaking to me in the last year or so, I ordered the book. I didn't realize until it came, that it's a Bible Study guide for the book of 1 Peter. Since at the time I was using a "read the Bible in the year" plan for my devotions, so I set it aside for this year. I'm now about halfway through, I am LOVING Elizabeth George's Bible Study guides (& have since ordered several more so that I can continue using them through the year). If I had realized, prior to ordering Putting on a Gentle and Quiet Spirit, that it was a study guide rather than just a book to read through, I probably would have skipped it, so today I am thankful that I didn't realize this. I'm thankful that God led me to order this book that has been such a blessing to me and that I anticipate the others in the series will continue to be a blessing as I go through them later in the year.

Gratituesday can be found here.