10.28.2013

Autumn weekend (brought to you by pinterest...)

Here's a brief post with a couple things from our weekend.

As I was walking out the door to the grocery store on Friday, this post popped up on my facebook newsfeed, and I immediately added the necessary items to my shopping list.  C was, of course, curious as to why I was purchasing so many sugary items, so I told her about the project and that we would make the houses sometime over the weekend....which meant that for the next 24 hours she asked every 5 minutes if it was time to make them yet....

oy.

So I finally had to say, we will make them Saturday morning.  Fast forward to Saturday morning at 4:00a.m....and our heat is not working on the coldest night so far, so it is 58* inside our house.  C woke up cold, so I got in bed with her and snuggled to warm her up.  We both fell back asleep until about 7, at which point she woke up and the first thing she said was, "Can we make the houses NOW?????"

We managed to hold her off until we could get some coffee and warm up a bit.  It was a lot of fun and super easy.  I absolutely recommend using graham crackers and the sugar glue from the previously (and now again) linked to post.

Here's what we used for decorations (not the bananas)...


And, here we are in the process...





You can never have too many candy pumpkins, and apparently C's house was at the pumpkin patch.  We each made a house, and here they are all finished...



This was a very simple and fun Autumn project, and I'm so glad that I saw it in time on Friday.  We just might make this a family tradition.

We headed to a church event Saturday night, and I'm always looking for creative ways to display healthy foods...it seems that all the really cute stuff is full of sugar and bad-for-you foods (see above...).   Since I had signed up for a veggie tray, I was thrilled to find a cute idea on pinterest and here is the finished product.


Hope you had a lovely Autumn weekend -- happy Monday!

linking up at Women Living Well

10.24.2013

Just a normal day...

I promised a Day in the Life post last time, and so here it is.  These are one of my favorite types of posts to read, both from bloggers I know personally and strangers.  I'm nosy according to some, but I prefer to think of it as just curious about ways to learn from others.  Okay.  I'm just nosy.

It is fun to read about what other people do on a normal day, though, right?  Tell me it's not just me...

So here is a (somewhat) normal Autumn day at our house...

5:30a.m. -- I get up, stumble to the coffee pot to turn it on.  Greg has left for an exercise class, and C is still sleeping so the house is very dark and very quiet.  This is not the time I get up every day...normally I'm dragging myself out of bed around 7, but I'm working on getting back into the routine of getting up earlier because I do enjoy it...once I'm up.  While the elixir of life is brewing, I brush my teeth and light a candle and turn on some soft (coughChristmascough) music.  I enjoy a long time of reading and meditating and remember again why I need to do this more often than once or twice a week. (the getting up early part)

6:40 -- C is awake and calls for me, so I go and give her good morning hugs and kisses and get her settled with some books in her bed.  Our "rule" is that she has to stay in her room until 7:00a.m. in order to give Greg and I some quiet time to read in the mornings.  With the mornings being cooler lately, she prefers to stay in bed rather than play in her room.



6:55 -- I check e-mail quickly, renew some library books due today, and look over my plan for the day.  

7:00 -- C is up and plays with Greg for a little bit before he has to get ready for work.

7:20 -- C watches a movie and eats a biscuit while Greg is getting ready for work and I am making oatmeal for them.  I put a loaf of bread in the bread machine and some fall scented water on to simmer and make the house smell yummy.  Greg and C work on a puzzle while they eat their oatmeal, and since I am trying to eat low-carb, I have Spinach & Red Pepper Quiche and look over my menu plan for the week and then work on cleaning up the kitchen.


8:15 -- Greg leaves for work and I straighten the house while C gets dressed and ready for the day.

8:30 -- C works on starfall.com while I take a shower and get ready.

9:15 -- We are ready to begin school for the day, and C chooses to do some worksheets first.  I have an abundance of books that I select pages from, as well as free pages that I have printed out from online.


9:45 -- C chooses three storybooks for me to read to her, and she feeds Lucy while I pull the bread out to rise.  We snuggle on the couch and read the stories.



10:15 -- Time for a bike ride/walk around the neighborhood for a little bit of fresh air and exercise.

10:30 -- Back home, C washes up and I fix her a snack of fruit and cheese and grab another cup of coffee for myself. :)

10:40 -- We spend some time working on her calendar book and the US State map.



11:00 -- Phonics/Reading time -- C reads to me, and we spend a longer time than usual on this today because we are so close to finishing a lesson and she gets an actual book to read at the end of this lesson so she is excited!  We finish and she reads the first few pages of her book.

11:25 -- I read Little House in the Big Woods out loud to C while she works on a floor puzzle.

11:50 -- We work together on a cutting/gluing puzzle page.

12:10 -- Time to clean-up and make lunch...PBJ and blueberries for C, leftover chicken stir-fry & veggies (no rice) for me.  While we eat, we review her verses and catechism questions for Sunday School.  Afterwards, we cleanup and I start the dishwasher and put a batch of rolls in the bread machine.

1:00 -- Time for C to have free play in her room and listen to a story-tape, and I work on e-mail, etc.  I manage four e-mail accounts and am helping out with an extra one this week.  I also quickly peruse facebook and a few blogs that I follow and then work on writing my own blog post.

2:30 -- We head outside for some fresh air and sunshine.  C plays on her swing-set and runs around for awhile and I flip through some magazines.  We play a little baseball and frisbee, and then she's content to blow bubbles for Lucy to catch while I finish up the magazines.

4:40 -- We go back inside and C plays in the tub for a bit while I straighten the house where needed, fix a cup of coffee, slice the loaf of bread from earlier, and unload the dishwasher.

5:17 -- I wash C's hair and get her out of the tub and dressed in PJ's and help her clean up her room from her earlier playtime, and quickly tidy up the bathroom.

5:40 -- C asks to finish a movie she started this morning, and I say ok since Greg texted to say he is going to be late since he's helping out with a fundraiser golf tournament.  C requests cereal for dinner, despite my offering scrambled eggs.  While she's eating, I get the rolls ready to rise, print a Fall cleaning chart, and a recipe for Apple Butter Muffins.

6:05 -- G texts again to say he is eating dinner at the golf tournament and can bring me some! Yay!  Since I don't have to make dinner, I start on the muffins, and C comes to help.  We also make a batch of pancakes for the freezer.  Afterwards, she goes back to finish her movie and I clean up the kitchen and soak the pans.

7:10 -- C and I clean-up the family room and she gets ready for bed.  I read her some stories in bed and she falls asleep before I finish the 3rd book.

7:35 -- I finish cleaning up the kitchen and print some daily planner pages for next week.  I also change into my PJ's at this point, realizing that even though I DID get dressed today, I was in my PJ's when my husband left for work this morning...doh!

8:00 -- Greg is home and we chat while I eat my dinner (grilled chicken/salad) and then we both work on e-mail, etc.

9:00 -- For the rest of the evening I am working on various computer and paperwork tasks that I want to complete.

11:40 -- I'm falling asleep trying to work on stuff, so I decide to head to bed.  I realize I left the muffins, rolls, and pancakes cooling on the counter, so I put the muffins in a rubbermaid box and cover the others with plastic.  I will separate and freeze them in the morning.  I head to bed and fall asleep within minutes.

Whew!  That was probably waaaaaaay more information that you bargained for, right?  Like I said, some of the elements of our day are typical, but some are not.  I decided to do this on Tuesday of this week, and the last two days have been very different from that day, so don't go thinking that this is what every day looks like for us -- either for the positive or the negative.  It's a good exercise for me to record my time and to see where it is being spent and whether or not I am actually accomplishing anything in a day.

If you're a blogger and have posted a Day in the Life post or if you plan too, leave a link to it in the comments section.  Remember, those are my favorite kinds of posts. :)

linking up at Women Living Well

10.22.2013

Catching up...

So I said I was going to take a week or two hiatus from blogging so I could do a bit of traveling...  Well...how about a month and a half...that's almost the same, right?

Since the last post, we've enjoyed a week at the beach with family...


And then a few weeks at home to recover before C and I went on a girls getaway with my mom and sister-in-law to Williamsburg, VA...


The Yankee Candle store Christmas room is where the above picture was taken, and it snows every 4 minutes inside...they both were delighted by this...okay, we all were. 

When we left the store, we needed to remind ourselves that it was only just Autumn, and not quite Christmastime yet...

We are tiptoeing into the world of (official) homeschooling this year by (me) being dedicated to two days per week of structured school-time.  C learns all day long while she tags along with whatever I am doing, but it is good for me to have these days to set aside and to be intentional with her, and it is good preparation for Kindergarten next year.  


Our days are loosely structured in that we have 8 to 10 subjects/activities to choose from, and we typically get to about 5-7 of those during the times that we have set aside.  We generally spend about 20-30 minutes per activity and then move on to the next thing, with attempts at alternating more active subjects with less active.  My girl has her daddy's metabolism and energy so she is moving constantly.

We are settled back in for awhile and enjoyed a long weekend over Columbus Day...  taking advantage of this beautiful weather and our beautiful city...


This past weekend was also gorgeous, though there is a definite chill in the air with the promise of more to come, and we found time for a family hike on Sunday afternoon...

Here's a picture of us along the trail with some cute little blonde girl we found...


That's a brief update for now...I'm working on A Day in the Life post so that those who are interested can see what homeschool-preschool is like for us with only one child.  It's fun. :)

Stay tuned...
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