Menu Plan Monday-September 9

September 9-September 15

Happy Sunday! Can you believe it, I'm posting my menu plan again?! Shocking, I know. :)
I try and post here  and I have too many posts in my draft pile. Raising girls and running a home keep me pretty busy these days. And unfortunately, this blog is on the back burner for the most part. We're trying and we're here. We read your comments and are encouraged by them. Please keep stopping by!

Monday- chicken nuggets, twice baked potatoes (from the freezer) and veggies

Tuesday- slow-cooker chicken marinara over whole wheat pasta, breadsticks

Wednesday- turkey burgers, fruit

Thursday- italian chicken breasts (from the freezer), brown rice, veggies

Friday- pizza

Saturday- leftovers

Sunday- leftovers

What's cooking in your kitchen this week?

This post is linked to Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday. Hop on over and get more great ideas for your dinner menu!

Room Time

I bought over 100 e-books/pdf's a couple weeks ago and one of the books included was Jamie Martin's, Steady Days (she writes at Simple Homeschool and has her own blog, Steady Mom). I was excited to see it among the list of books I received and started reading it immediately. She is one of my favorites! She's real, funny and is a busy work at home mom who also home schools her 3 young children.

One of the things she mentions is having a routine, flexible to you and your family. She even gives printables at the end to fill out and make your own. I printed it off and started filling it out. So far, it's been very helpful. I consider myself a fairly organized person but our days weren't going like I thought they could, some days at least. I struggled to find productive things for the girls to do at times and just got frazzled. The flexible schedule has helped!

One of the ideas, in the schedule, that really struck me is what she calls "room time." This is a 30-40 minute block (morning or afternoon, whichever suits your family) where your kids go to their respective rooms and play independently. It's not punishment, it's just a chance for everyone to recharge their batteries. Let's just say the girls haven't taken to it all that great. I'm starting out in a 10 minute block of time (she says to start small if your kids aren't used to it) and that's worked well. We'll build up each week and hopefully it won't be an issue in a couple weeks. It's hard getting them up to their rooms, they fuss and think they're being punished. I explain, in a few words, it isn't punishment, but a time to play with your own stuff and not have to share. The girls spend ALL day together and some separation time is helpful to them. I know it'll be good in the long run.

Not only is "room time" good for them, to learn some independence, but it's good for this mama. I can catch up on emails, this blog, switch laundry, get lunch together or just put my feet up. I need a few quiet moments just like they do. Who doesn't?

I can see that this will be a good thing for all of us. We'll build up to the 30-40 minute block and I think they'll be disappointed when "room time" is over. At least that's what I keep thinking in my head. Who knows, maybe we'll do 2 a day.

What routines have you established in your home that make you feel less frazzled?

Airlines Europe [Board Game Review]

Hello again, readers. It is I, Daniel, back with another game review for you. You can check out the previously reviewed games here. This time, I will be taking you through the game Airlines Europe, a fun and relatively fast-paced game about, well, airlines in Europe. Imagine that.

Airlines Europe is the brainchild of Alan Moon, who also created Ticket to Ride. When you open the game box, you can see the similarities, both in the components and in game play.

Airlines Europe is a game for 2-5 players (although a quick search of the Google should yield rule changes for 6 players) and should take about 15-30 minutes per player. Ginny and I played a game Friday night that took under an hour, but a 5-player game could up to 2+ hours. The goal of Airlines Europe is to accumulate the most points through investing in airline companies and expanding their routes across Europe.

On your turn, you have four options: 1) Claim a route for an airline company, paying the money to the bank and advancing the company up the share track and drawing a share of stock into your hard; 2) Lay down shares of stock into your "portfolio," earning money for each share laid down; 3) Exchange shares of stock for shares of Air Abacus, a government-run airline company; 4) Receive money from the bank. Three times during the game, a scoring card appears, and you award points based on ownership in each company. Total all the points accumulated through each scoring round, and the one with the most points wins. As always, the rule book details these steps further.

What I like about Airlines Europe is the simplicity of the game yet complexity of the decisions. What airline do you expand? What stock do you add to your hand? What stocks do you add to your portfolio? When do you add them to your portfolio? When do you invest in Air Abacus? Those decisions make the game fun for me. The game can turn quickly if a scoring card appears right after (or before) you lay down stock into your portfolio.

This game is one of my favorites. It is easy to teach, easy to learn, and a lot of fun. If you've introduced Ticket to Ride to people, I think this would be a good next step game for them. I give it an 8.75 out of 10. A fun game that you should check out.

Happy Labor Day!

-D

Menu Plan Monday-August 26

Y'all, it's been forever since I've done a Menu Plan Monday post! I've still been planning our meals they just haven't made it onto the blog. Raising two girls keeps me busier than I ever imagined. :)

I've been reading Nourishing Traditions  and it's changing my thinking of what we put into our bodies. It's A LOT to take in and will take me reading it a few times to really grasp all the information. It's more than a cookbook and much like a workbook full of good information. There are over 700 recipes as well as tons of information about eating real food. Real food is food that grows in fields and on trees, comes from animals and food we can recognize. This book has brought my focus back to making more from scratch using real butter, real fruits and vegetables, whole grains, real eggs, real meat, etc. I know I'll still eat junk and processed foods but if 95% of the time we can eat real food, that would be great!

Another book I bought back in the Spring, that I really love, is by Laura of Heavenly Homemakers, Oh, For Real: Real Food, Real Family, Real Easy. She uses much of Nourishing Traditions suggestions on real food but it's MUCH easier to understand. She's hilarious, love shortcuts in the kitchen but not at the expense of good food, has 4 boys that she home schools and has beautiful freezers stocked full of goodies! I've been a follower of her blog for quite a few years now and she makes me laugh out loud at her posts a few times a week. She's real and knows we're all strapped for time in the kitchen. Read her blog, you won't be disappointed. And buy her book, too. It's awesome!

Anyways, enough of that. I think you'll see more of our real food adventures in the future. On to the menu plan for the week. I have way too much food in our freezers and I'm trying to clean out so we're working on what my mama calls "old" food. :)

Monday- bbq chicken baked potatoes

Tuesday- italian chicken sandwiches, whole wheat burger buns, vegetables

Wednesday- lasagna and whole wheat breadsticks

Thursday-pancakes and bacon

Friday-pizza (I've found a new pizza sauce recipe and it's the best ever! I'll share it soon.)

Saturday- lunch: convenience meals
                dinner: turkey burgers

Sunday- lunch: sandwiches
              dinner: week's leftovers

I'm still following my breakfast menu for the girls and me, for the most part. As for lunches we eat leftovers, sandwiches, noodles, cheese, fruit. It depends on what's in the fridge and since the girls are older and a little more vocal, I let them choose a little more.

What's cooking in your kitchen this week?

Nyla turns 3!

This post is only a month late, but at least I'm getting it done, right?!

On July 13, Nyla turned 3! And I actually made it through the day without weeping uncontrollably. I usually lose it on birthdays. I know that sounds crazy, but it's going by so quick! With each of the girls birthdays come big tears from Mama. I know they're doing what they're supposed to do but I can be a little bit sad. 

Nyla had a big day! The day of her birthday turned out to be KidFest at our church (a block party for the neighborhood to promote our children's ministries). It turned out to be a beautiful and perfect day for the block party. There was face painting, indoor carnival games, a train the kids could ride, petting zoo, pony rides, bouncy houses, sno cones, free hot dogs and chips, the Bartlett K9 unit demonstration, Shelby County K9 demonstration, Shelby County boat patrol unit and Bartlett fire truck and firemen. There was a lot going on and it was awesome! We had quite a few people from the community come and enjoy all the activities. Of all these activities Nyla did every. single. one. This was truly shocking ya'll! She's been scared of everything the past year and we thought we'd go, support our church and be gone in an hour. Turns out she had the best time of anyone. For some reason she got over all her fears that day. I guess that's what happens when you turn 3?! At first she didn't want in the bouncy houses but with a little pushing from Daddy and Mimi (our preschool director, her name is actually Kathy) she went in and loved it! And so continued the day of her surprising us! 

Be prepared for picture overload! We had a busy day.

This picture is out of place but I had to show a close-up of Nyla's birthday cupcakes. I ordered special Sesame Street cupcakes from a local in-home baker and  they were very cute! This is something I decided was fun but fairly pricey. I'll be baking her cake or cupcakes next year. :)

Daddy and Nyla enjoying the bouncy house.

Yes, Daniel loves the bouncy houses more than anyone. And he's not afraid to admit it. :)

The petting zoo. It had a llama, goats, sheep, horses, a donkey, bunnies, a duck, ferrets, turtles,  and chickens.
The baby goat in the cage was about a week old. He or she was so cute!

Nyla petting the ferret. Very surprising!

And Nyla holding the ferret. I flipped when she held it. It was shocked and so proud. This was a big deal!!!

The petting zoo came with the cutest little train that the little ones could ride around in. It was a hit!

The full train.

Enjoying her first sno cone.

Sitting in the fire truck. I forgot how tall they are!

Face painting time! She got a beautiful butterfly

This is pretty much the best picture I got of Naomi. She got a heart painted on her face.

Riding the horse, "Ladybug." Again, shocking!

Naomi's favorite thing of the day were the turtles.

Naomi and I tried to enjoy the puppet show but we left when the camel started talking. It freaked her out.

Beginning of the birthday party pictures!

The birthday girl! She wore an Elmo shirt and a skirt my mom and I made her (it has Sesame Street characters on it and it's so cute) and her birthday crown.

Excited for cupcakes!

The table!
The Ernie cookie jar, on the right, belongs to my sister, Erin. For some reason I started calling her Ernie when we were younger and it's stuck with her all this time. The girls even call her Aunt Ernie, which she loves!
 The lunch boxes on the left we had as well as the little snack boxes sitting below Ernie. I printed out Cookie Monster and taped him to the chocolate chip cookie plate. I bought Elmo napkins and cupcakes and I had the rest of the decor. 

Y'all, she was so excited about everyone singing her "Happy Birthday." She talked about it for two weeks, asking if we would. She really understood that it was her birthday and loved every minute of it. It was fun watching her face light up when everyone started singing to her!

I didn't get a picture of her blowing out the candle but she did it, all by herself. We didn't even practice beforehand either. She did great!

Her friend, L, enjoying a "Super Grover" cupcake. So sweet!

Mmm, Elmo cupcake.

Ernie likes Nyla's birthday crown.

I made the 3 out of two taped together posterboards (green, her favorite color). We wrote some of the funny things Nyla's said this year and put them in the shape of the 3. I had intentions of putting a current picture of Nyla at the end of the 3 but I never got around to it. She's grown so much from her going home picture 3 years ago. *tear*

A bigger view of the dessert/decoration table.

We had a great day celebrating Nyla! Now, I must go cry a little bit. My girl is getting too big!

Our School/Playroom 2013

Since our girls are only 3 and 21 months, our room is more of a playroom than a school room. And that's a good thing! 

In March, we moved into a bigger home and we are blessed to have a separate room for our playroom/school room. Yes, the toys still get taken into all the rooms downstairs but they are mostly contained in the playroom. This is good for my sanity!

You can see how we use our room in this picture, toys!

When you walk in, to the left, this is what you see. I just moved our shelving units together so all our "stuff" can be right next to one another. The white mesh shelves I've had for a long time. In our old house they were split into 6 and 6 and placed in our closets for storage. Now, they hold out of rotation books and toys, as well as in rotation toys, which is what the majority of the boxes are. I recently labeled them all so I know where everything goes. The boxes hold dress up shoes, jewelry, dress-up clothes, blocks, musical instruments, hats, birthday hats and CD's. The buckets on top are from the Dollar Tree and hold craft supplies, play doh and play doh toys and flash cards. The big metal shelf in the corner I bought at Target after we moved in. It holds (from top to bottom) extra craft supplies, the girls "work boxes" (these hold coloring books, basic art supplies, books, paper, workbooks; stuff to keep them busy for awhile) and our craft organizer, puzzles, our farm and animals and our doll house and basket of books in rotation.
To the right is the table and chairs the girls sit at. Above that is the calendar I just got done making. It's so cute and I love it. It's helping Nyla with what day of the month and day of the week it is. I know this will come into play more as the years go by.

This wall holds our US map and our twine with clips to hold the girls artwork. The top is Nyla's area and the bottom is Naomi's. I recently cleaned this off and we're starting over. :)

If you keep moving to the right you'll find the girls kitchen/food prep area. I think this area gets the most use right now; they love to cook!
The chalkboard above is where I write our Bible verse for the week.

And that's our playroom. There's not a whole lot going on as I've taken a lot of stuff off the walls and cleaned our the toys recently. It was too much and driving this minimalist crazy! Plus, I want to make more room to play "school" with the girls, which they love. It'll be fun to see how our room changes shape over the coming years!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

-Ginny

This post is linked to iHomeschool Network for the "School Room Week." Stop by and visit other bloggers rooms!

Puddle Fun

Why splash in a puddle when you can sit in one?