Behind Already

So here is the first in a series of hopefully not too disorganized and somewhat helpful posts for my Wednesday morning moms group.  Of course anyone else is welcome also....

This weeks menu items are as follows:
Monday:  Ham Steak,  Butternut Squash Ravioli,  green salad and freezer biscuits (w/rosemary)
     This is an easy quick weeknight meal when you run out of time for other things.  The oval ham slice just
     gets heated in a fry pan with a little brown sugar or some pineapple slices.  Quick to make ravioli topped
     with a wee bit of olive oil and garlic salt.  Biscuits made last weekend and a salad.

Tuesday:  Slow Cooker Leaky Potato Soup,  salad and bread sticks.  or these bread sticks.
     I haven't made any of these before so a fun adventure.  and I will not be making the full recipes of either        bread stick recipe.  I do not need 48 bread sticks.  At least not until I know if they are fabulous or not.

Wednesday:  Salmon Cakes,  Cole slaw and roasted Brussels sprouts.
     Make the salmon mix early in the day or night before and chill.  This makes the patties easier to form.
     Brussels in the oven at 400 with some oil and s&p.  When almost starting to burn top with a tablespoon        or 2 of balsamic vinegar.  (I love honey and ginger infused white balsamic in this).

Thursday:   Burgers on the grill,  sweet potato fries and pasta salad.  simple.  make the pasta salad early or        the day before.  or buy some at the store.

Friday:   Pruney Pork Chops,  mashed potatoes, and some sort of veg.  green probably.  This broccoli                 would be great.  This all comes together quickly, especially if you make the broccoli sauce up to a                 couple of days ahead.

Saturday:   Pizza I'm sure, since it will make some room in the freezer.  I like to make pizza at home but the        effort is greatly under appreciated, so I never do any more.  It's okay.  I'm over it.

Other Stuff I plan to make this week:
Whole Wheat bread
Playgroup granola bars

This is a bare bones post to get us started,  I will try to improve as we go along.  Some pictures would be nice too, huh.
This link takes you to about 136 other menu plans for this week.

Linda

April Fool

I am posting this weeks menu plan link here:


Week 7 menu
The last few weeks have been challenging but I think we are on the upswing.  After volunteering tomorrow morning I plan to rearrange our bedroom to the springtime/summertime configuration.  I
will post some before and afters if I can later.

I am starting to plan the summer activities and if anyone has some new things to try I would love to hear them!  Sadly,  the Museum pass program we used last summer has ended so we will be looking for new free and low cost adventures.

We are also going to plant a small garden this spring.  If we could grow these cookies I would be so very happy.....

June 22, 2012
Summer Plans


A couple of people have asked about the summer schedule we have got going this year.  Well, it all came about when I realized that there was not going to be a weekly preschool program I could pick and choose from and have spontaneous fun the rest of the time.  Connor was too old for that.  I needed a plan.  I looked around on line a bit and came across this article called Do It Yourself Summer Camp.  http://powerofmoms.com/2012/05/do-it-yourself-summer-camp/  While I didn't quite that level of structure with just one child to plan for it did give me a starting point.
I decided on a few basics and fleshed it out from there.  For us these are the things that seemed important.

• Have a few tasks we do regularly, if not daily, to provide structure.
• Incorporate learning into some portion of activities.
• Provide lots of opportunities for play and physical activity.
• Access free or low cost resources for 3/4 of weekly outings so the last one of the month can be something that costs money.  (this is further dependent on maintaining good behavior while we go on our field trips to "earn" the last one)

So here is a small snapshot of our week:
Daily Three:  We have 3 tasks that are done daily.  A kid sized chore, a learning task or game and writing in a journal.  Each of these needs to be about 20 minutes long.  We originally did it right away in the morning for an hour straight.  It is now more broken up but still gets accomplished before other kinds of free time activities.


Mop-Up Mondays:  We tackle mount washmore and clean up from the weekend that is usually spent at the cabin.  This also includes menu planning, grocery shopping and general cleaning.  Then some fun action when we are finished.


Tuesday Travels:  We go to the library and get new books for the week and check on Museum Passes for availability.  We will use these passes tomorrow.
Then we have a scheduled playdate.  Location varies widely.  or wildly.


Wandering Wednesdays:  This is our big field trip day.  We either use our Museum Passes or find a free place to visit for 3 weeks,  and "earn" our 4th week spending field trip if needed.  If we can't find a free structured place to visit, we go geocaching using my cell phone.


Thursday (no catchy name has been thought of yet):  We again have a scheduled playdate.  These can range from spending time in someones backyard to going to the beach or park.


Fleeing Friday :  We leave the morning open to whatever comes along.  Then we pack up our stuff to go to the cabin most weekends.  


Well,  that's the basic structure to our summer.  After typing this I am feeling a bit like a control freak.  But I'm okay with it.  This way we won't get to the end of the summer and feel like we wish we had gone to some fun places and learned some new things.