Friday Week Review

Just a quick post to update you all on our first official week of school -

I started the week being very unsure of how we would all survive our new and busier schedule, but...WE DID IT!  I'm actually quite enjoying our schedule because I am getting so much more done and really feel like we are accomplishing things.  The only downside is I am very tired by the end of the day and I'm definitely going to have to guard my Thursdays and Fridays carefully because they are truly the only days that have any free time in them.  I still do NOT like getting up at 6am, but it is nice to see how much I've accomplished by 10am each day (Breakfast, Dishes, Laundry, Corbin on Bus and back home, finished school with Hayden for the day). 

Corbin seems to really love school, he hops on the bus without any fuss.  Of course, when you're going to school for speech, it's hard to know anything about their day.  I ask him did you have fun? and he replies..."Yesssh".  And well, that's the conversation, HA!  So, judging by his demeanor, I'm thinking he's liking school.

His private therapy is going well too, he really loves his speech therapist and she is super sweet!  Wednesday they both came riding down the hall on a plasma car!  Too cute.  Hayden and I relax in the waiting room and work on his AWANA memory verses.  I also now have a bag of fun stuff that Hayden plays with each time.  Things like card games, toys from fast food kid meals that I kept, puzzles, etc.  That seems to keep him busy for the hour.

Yesterday I finished up my lesson plans, copying, cutting, laminating and printing for the month - so I'm completely set till the end of September.  I think I will continue to work on lessons each Thursday like I did this week.  It feels good to have a buffer of lessons in case we get sick or things get hectic. 

The laminator has become my new best friend - I love this machine!  I'm finding all kind of fun games and other manipulatives to make for Hayden!  Plus, it's nice to laminate the items I know I'll use again next year with Corbin.  I definitely recommend this fun "toy" to any homeschooler!

Although it is a lot of work, I'm finding that I'm ending our week much happier than I have all summer - so I think that means Week 1 was a success!!  Come back next week and I'm sure you will find me passed out on the floor covered in worksheets and crayons in complete chaos!  But a girl can dream - and right now those dreams are of a week well done!

 

A Family That Gardens Together...

Another weekend of working on our garden!

Everyone got in on the action.

Dirt and gardening tools - a boy's paradise!

We believe in slave labor. ;)

While the boys worked in the garden...I hooped.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Links

Ala 7 quick takes style:

1. I loved this post I ran across on blog perception vs. reality.  I laughed hard at several of her examples, as I find myself guilty of some of them (i.e. straightening up the background of a picture, haha).  Don't take what you see as pure reality folks.  Not many people are going to show you their dirty laundry piles.  And when I have those great Ah-ha! moments during difficult circumstances, believe me - I was wallowing in it a bit first.  I do some of my best contemplating when I'm wallowing in self-pity. ;)
2. Once I get my house back in order from The Plague of 2011, I definitely want to make one of these - how adorable!  My Sewcial Hour has me thinking that I can sew or something, so we'll see - I will definitely be posting pics of any completed...or not so completed...projects.
3. Last week I posted my thoughts on my issues with admitting fault, and I was directed by Tamra to check out this article - almost a response of sorts to my open ended question!
4. This week at AWANA, Mark and Hayden are working on his Derby Car.  We had fun this weekend checking out all the cool design options like this, and this.
5. Walk Slowly, Live Wildly had some great thoughts on homemaking that I can certainly relate too.  She also sent her readers over here, for thoughts on finding comfort in the cyclical nature of our tasks - which I must confess there is comfort there, despite my complaining.
6. I've been enjoying this cute site for finding out which foods are currently in season - which means fresher, cheaper and often more local produce for my family!
7. After being quarantined in our house for over a week, I'm feeling the itch to simplify!!!  This post really gave me a starting place for some of my most productive simplifications and tips for how to keep things simple after you've purged!  I, myself, have implemented a give-away box (instead of a drawer) that I fill daily with "finds" from around the house.  It's one of the best "tools" I've got for working on my clutter problem.

Have a great weekend!!!

Kid Lunch Ideas?

I'm really interested to get some discussion started on kid lunch ideas.  Specifically, peanut-free, kid lunch ideas.  As most of you know, Hayden is severely allergic to peanuts, so that really nixes a lot of foods/menus for us and totally rocked my world.  I grew up on PB&J! 

And as much as I appreciate how the "chicken nugget" has become a staple of our diets - I'd really like to branch out into less processed territory.  I have no problem with side items - my kids have a love for fruit!  And Corbin is truly an oddball with his love for veggies - especially raw spinach.  Cracks me up.

But, when it comes to the "main course", I come up short!    I have a few menus to alternate, but I'd love to mix things up with some new offerings. 

As you post in the comments, I'll update this post with your ideas so we all can share!


**Here's what we came up with! Thanks ladies.  I'll update as we get more comments.**

I'll go first.  I saw this one in Parenting Magazine and tried it out last week - the kids loved it.

Banana and strawberry (or your kids favorite fruit) sandwich.  
Basically just puree or mash banana and spread it like peanut butter - same for the strawberry (or you could use jelly, but I think the less sugar route is just as good).  Throw it on some bread of your choice and Tada!  It's almost like PB&J!


Breakfast for Lunch!
Several of you have mentioned serving Breakfast for lunch!  An idea I think will get rave reviews from my kiddos.  They love breakfast foods, and apparently a lot of other kids do too.  Guess I just needed to start thinking outside of the box.


Serve up some Hummus
Laura gave me a great idea on FB to get in some extra protein with hummus and pita bread.  A great finger food that I will enjoy too.  Yum!


Baked Potatoes, Pasta Salad, and English Muffin pizza!!
Katie sent me some awesome ideas including pasta salad, baked potatoes (I can't believe I've never tried that one - I love baked potatoes), some great ideas for English muffins, and a ton more!!


Homemade "Lunchables"
Robyn's idea of making my own lunchables was a hit today!  The kids loved making a "sandwich" out of their crackers, cheese, and chicken.


Leftovers
Gail likes to serve up leftovers from dinner - a great idea.  Of course, this assumes that I A.) cooked dinner and B.) they liked it.  Hehe.  


Get out the crockpot
Yes, I need to pull my crock pot out more often.  It's been neglected this month and I know my kids could appreciate some yumminess from it.

Obligatory Snow Post

And here is my obligatory snow post!  

Since it snows typically once (if at all) a year in Austin - we all get very excited about it.



Hayden told me that since it had snowed that Santa would be here soon...hehe.



Of course we had a good old fashioned snow "fluff" fight - making balls was a bit of a stretch with this sprinkling of snow.



And being official "Texans" we braved the snow with rain boots, haha.  Poor Corbin had socks for mittens and cowboy boots (I could only find one of his rain boots)



I couldn't resist adding a little love to the experience.



And Mark made a Texas-sized snowman:



Hayden, of course, thought he was in a winter wonderland.  One day we'll have to show him some real snow.



All my boys had fun this morning!



Except for Corbin - He spent the whole time mad that he had socks on his hands - The Indignity!






And after our 15 minutes of "snow" play...



We all ran back into the house to thaw out!



Of course, now the snow is melting and Hayden is watching it slowly drip away in horror!  Every five minutes I hear him "Momma!!! The snow is melting."

But it was fun while it lasted.

Now I must go pack for GIRLFRIENDS 2011!!!!

Love Is In The Air

Love is in the (cold/freezing/frigid) air at the Zavala's!

Valentine's Day is fast becoming one of my favorite holidays to decorate!

Mostly because it involves my favorite color - Red - and the sum total of my decorations can all fit into one plastic bag.  I love simplicity.

The whole thing made me want to go out and buy something beautifully red. But, alas, I, er, I mean the boys -  needed naps.

So, I settled for some Amazon and Etsy window shopping.  I have a delicious amazon gift certificate to use up!  Just thinking about all the possibilities I could use it for makes me giddy.

In the end, I bought nothing.  But had lots of fun imagining what I could
buy and drooling over what I probably would never
buy!

All that decorating inspired me to pull out my red mixing bowls and start on the cookies I wanted to make for the retreat this weekend.

Meringue Cookies!  Look scrumptious right?  Don't let their innocent appearance fool you.  After 4 slow cooked hours in my oven they took on the flavor of last night's chicken dinner...Even Hayden wouldn't eat them - and that's saying something

.  Don't worry ladies, I won't be bringing these.  Mark was willing to "take one for the team" and eat my "chicken" cookies.

Guess I'll have to come up with another dessert - chocolate sounds good...we'll see what reasonably edible treat I can concoct.

In the meantime, I'm trying to stay warm in my drafty, frigid house. 

Doing What Works

Everywhere you turn, people are always trying to give you advice.  And generally, it's good, well-meaning advice.  We all have opinions on just about everything!  We've read the blogs, books, and watched the documentaries or shows on X, Y, or Z.

But, then there's reality.  What I should do verses what I can do.

I have spent a lot of effort over the last 10 years failing at what I should do and this month I gave up and started doing what I can do.  Let me elaborate.

1. My grandmother once told me never to put my knives in the dishwasher because they would get dull.  For years now, I have had knives continuously on my counter piling up to be hand washed because "You can't put knives in the dishwasher".  This has led to me having an ongoing dirty dishes issue that I just couldn't conquer.

This month I decided that they were my knives and I'll throw them in the dishwasher if I want to.  I'd rather buy a new set of knives every year than see another dirty knife piled up on my counter.  And you know what?  I haven't had dirty dishes sit longer than a few hours in my kitchen over the last month.   This small change has made a huge impact in my life.

Regardless of how good the advice was, it just wasn't working for me.  It was good advice, but as a mother of two small children - I just don't have time to hand wash dishes.  Using the dishwasher saves me so much time and time is limited right now.

2. Being "green" and "natural" is a hot topic everywhere you turn.  I am constantly inundated with ways I need to be greener or more natural, and how this or that product is giving me cancer.  It's enough to make you hide under the covers.  So, of course, I was trying to do my part to use more natural products for cleaning and laundry.  Only, my "new and improved" products don't actually clean as well as my old ones.  I have to scrub longer and more often, and stains don't come out as easily of my clothes, and now I'm having to spend time making some of my cleaners, etc.  Basically, that meant my bathrooms looked grungy, our clothes had stains, laundry was piling up, my new natural deodorant was giving me a rash, I was spending a lot of effort trying to do just basic cleaning, and let's not even talk about my shampoo experience.

Although, I love the idea of "going natural" with my cleaners and products - I just need to step back for a time and regroup.  Maybe I will keep a few things, but for now I'm going to do what works.

3. Health is an important topic as it effects every part of our lives.  And there are a LOT of opinions on what we should and should not eat, drink, etc.  One of those being the great caffeine debate.  I am a caffeinated woman.  I like my morning latte.  No, scratch that, I need my morning latte.  At this stage in the game, with kid filled days, early wake-ups, late catch-ups (i.e. doing all the work that I couldn't do with the kids awake), and everything else - I need that extra boost.   Is caffeine unhealthy?  I'm sure.  But right now, not having my morning coffee just doesn't work for me.   Now maybe in the future I will wake up peacefully, do some yoga and sip some decaf tea - but right now I'm full-octane baby.

It all just wasn't working for me.  And read that correctly, I said "For me!!!".  Me, the person who is typing this, not you, the person who is reading this.  I have no idea what works for you.  I only know what works for me.  Maybe you spend luxurious hours hand washing your knives, while composting your kitchen scraps, whipping up a new batch of deodorant, and saving the world!  But, I, alas - am not that skilled.  And yet, maybe one day I will be.  Maybe this is just the me right now and the future me will be able to try some of these things again.  Because, like I said - the advice is good!  It just doesn't work for me.

And yet, lots of other things do work for me.  I've been able to happily incorporate them into my life without killing the quality of my life.    Although, those will be different for each of us.  I may never use paper plates, but for you that might be the pivotal piece that keeps life turning in your household.  And that's good!! Do what works for you and what keeps your family going during these seasons of chaos.

My hope is that, as women, wives and mothers (and you guys too), we can support and encourage each other instead of judge and criticize for what we can't accomplish or what we need to do just to stay sane!

So, if you can relate - what "advice" do you need to discard so that you can begin to function? :)

Investment in Hospitality?

Mark and I have been known to throw some parties in our time, pre-kid days of course. They generally have included copious amounts of both decorations and alcohol - adding up to lots of preparation and cleaning for us.

As a tip for the general public, don't serve lots of alcohol unless you are ready to also clean up that mess in all the different forms it can and will take. I'll just leave it at that.

But those days are long gone. I don't have the energy for cleaning or decorating with two little ones, so the fun is not worth the hassle.

So how do you replace that and still have a really good party where people stay until the wee hours of the morning without being passed out in your bathroom?

I give you...

the Wii.

I had no idea the power "The Wii" (I think that will be it's official name in our house) had over people! If you're looking for the perfect way to get your friends and neighbors over for some fun and games - "The Wii" is it.

Think of it as an investment in hospitality. Seriously. It's better than any food you could cook up. I could invite six people over, throw them a bag of chips, a pitcher of water, and the wii, and I would have an instant party.

Do you have a Wii at your house? What are your favorite games? Has it brought success to your gatherings?

P.S. Wii is also going to start working with Netflix - woot!

Menu

August 31st - September 6th Menu

Breakfasts:
Monday: Oatmeal & peaches, english muffin
Tuesday: Steel cut oats & plums, bagel
Wednesday: Omelets, bagel
Thursday: Oatmeal & granola, english muffin
Friday: Oatmeal & granola, bagel

Lunches:
Monday: Grilled cheese, grapes
Tuesday: Chicken Nuggets, apples - Ramen noodles for adults!
Wednesday: Jelly sandwiches, cheese sticks- leftovers for adults
Thursday: Quesadillas, rice and beans
Friday: Bagels w/ egg & cheese
Saturday: Shredded chicken tacos
Sunday: Eat Out

Dinners:

Monday: Grilled seasoned chicken quarters, quinoa, asparagus, homemade bread
Tuesday: Chicken fajitas, rice and beans
Wednesday: Leftovers + community group snacks
Thursday: Spaghetti
Friday: Layered mexican casserole
Saturday: BBQ Chicken & artichoke heart pizza
Sunday: Chicken & potatoes

Snacks: Grapes, graham crackers, saltines, cheese sticks, apples

I was in Heaven!

Teacher Heaven that is...I love that store! It totally feeds into my love of learning. I could SO have my own preschool. I'm so energized by all that. And yes, I was the kid who liked school - well to a point - the teacher had to be good and interesting.

With Hayden's speech delays, our days together often are morphed into learning times. Hayden wasn't picking up speech like a normally developing child would, so every word and phrase was deliberately taught and scenarios are set up with the specific purpose of making him use his words.

I'd like to continue that same learning with other topics now that he's getting older and his speech has progressed.

I'm really excited about all the new "tools" I bought to get him interested and learning.

I'm leaning toward a Montessori-style approach - setting up stations for different activities and letting him rotate through. This will work well as Corbin gets older and wants to be involved more. It would be fun with more kids rotating through the stations, but for now I'll have to be content with just Hayden.

So far we have a "Cutting" station, a puzzle/matching station, "Coloring", and a new station I will be adding, a "Sorting" station. I love the counting bears and I found a set that came with sorting cups that matched the different colors of the bear. For those that haven't seen these, they are small plastic bears of different colors which are often used for counting, sorting, pattern and color skills.

I bought lots of other things for future "stations". But we will be starting with only three at this time since Hayden's attention span is limited. As he learns to focus on each station we can increase time or number of stations.

Today we cycled through the "Cutting" and "Coloring" stations with NO tantrums. Whoa! In fact, he very politely gave me the scissors and said "No more, all done. Color?". So we moved on to coloring. A big step in the right direction for us. Coloring has really helped his vocabulary. Coloring begins as independent play but ends with Hayden identifying different objects and shapes in the books. Today he learned about squares.

The next stations was a "Play" station with lots of little army troops, but which really works on his hand eye coordination and balance skills. He loves his army men and threw an enormous fit at the end of this one - but only because it was nap time too!! I'll have to come up with a better transition for that. Perhaps moving into book time in his room to get him settled for his nap.

Oh the endless possibilities of things you could do! It's all so much fun. I wish I had loads of money - I would have really come home with some stuff. As it is, I spent way more than I thought I would - but it's so worth it.

Activity Pouches

Activity Pouches have been something I've wanted to try for awhile. I'd seen them over and over on preschool sites or blogs and they sounded great. But my first few tries at even finding the pouches flunked! They had pencil boxes but not the soft pouches!! Now that it's back to school time, I've been able to finally find them - and on sale.

Our first activity pouch - Cutting!! I put to use some of our old paper and cut it into four squares. Then I bought a pair of safety scissors and voila!
It's an easy and cheap activity that he's been doing now for 30 minutes. At the end I grab a plastic bag and we "clean up" all the paper. Today's transition wasn't without a tantrum, but the tantrum ended quickly when I pulled out the Buddha Board.

I'm hoping to make several of of these activity pouches, including some that work well in the car.

Anyone else done this? I'd love suggestions for what to put in them!!