Leaving Less to the Imagination

First things first.  I've updated the Week at a Glance page with meal plans and more!  Go check it out!

Now, on to my thoughts for today,..

It's been almost a year since I decided to get serious about doing more with my time.  I started with a basic framework based on a teacher's plan book and using routines suggested  by The Fly Lady. As I've worked within this framework, I've started every week with an understanding of the bare bones schedule.  However, that left some details that sometimes hung me up when it came to fleshing out the plan.  (I spend more time planning/blogging on Monday than any other day of the week.  Not good when I have so many other things to do just to get the week started.

I decided I needed to shore up this early framework with some additional structure.  I started by designating types of meals for each night.  The girls have dance lessons on Tuesday and Thursday, which means we'll be home a bit later those days.  So, Tuesdays and Thursdays are great Slow Cooker nights.  Mondays are usually pretty predictable so that's my night to try a new dish that might take extra time to prepare.  Next, the hubby asked for more "regular food"a few weeks ago.  He's not a big food adventurer so I've been trying to make meals that aren't too fancy and that I already know he likes.  With that in mind I filled in Wednesday and Friday as "Regular Food" nights.  Finally, Saturday and Sunday will be a grab bag of whatever strikes our fancy.  Sometimes we make elaborate meals, but more often we either go out on the weekends or fix whatever is on hand. 

Next I took a look at my mornings.  I had a general idea that I wanted to spend time with Mr. A doing activities I know will help get him up to speed for the preschool program I've chosen.  Since the girls went back to school, I've just been spending time with him, usually doing whatever he wants but occasionally making suggestions.  We've spent a lot of time admiring his massive Hot Wheels collection the last few weeks, but now I want to move in a more directed direction.  Mondays are now set aside for doing puzzles and playing structured games - like Candyland or Alphabet Bingo.  Tuesday will be his day to lead.  If he wants to look at all his cars again, fine.  Mr. A leads the play.  Wednesday is a good day for a craft.  The girls come home from school early, but still at different times, so if I plan it right, I can make something appropriate for my three year old then my five year old and then my eight year old all before it's time to clean up for dinner.  Thursday is the day I'll make plans to play outside.  Mr. A loves playing in the yard, but he's often playing alone while I do yard work.  I realized some time ago that Mr. A wasn't really swinging in a big kid swing the way he ought to be this summer and immediately felt bad.  He just lights up when I actually play with him in the sand box or take him down a walking trail.  I can see it's something he wants more of.  He hasn't had enough mommy time on the playground so whether we visit a park or just hang in our own yard I'm vowing right now to spend at least one morning a week outside playing with him.  Finally, Friday will be our day to push the academics.  I'm not a mom who wants push my child way beyond their peers, but I want to make school easy for them.  I want them to know I value the things they learn at school.  The best way to do that is to spend time doing similar things at home.  The girls have their homework so I'm automatically doing academic activities with them.  I want to do the same with Mr. A.  Of course right now that means simply encouraging him to pick up a crayon - which he has almost no interest in right now - and finding fun ways to learn Nursery Rhymes or the alphabet.  This isn't the age for drills, but there are many ways to bring in school skills through fun. 

Using these new guidelines did make planning my week easier.  Instead of having so much up in the air, I knew right where to start.  I love it already! 

Let's Go! Go! Go!

All my kids like playing Diego games here.

Mr. A is a big Go Diego, Go! fan.  He has a Diego leapster game he's been "playing" every night (he doesn't really understand how to play yet, but he likes to turn it on and listen to it as he goes to sleep).  When I turn on his monitor I hear "Let's GO! GO! GO!" over and over again.  With that running through my brain, it seems like a good theme for today.  The sun is breaking through last night's rain clouds, the birds are chirping and I'm raring to GO!  GO!  GO!  I have loads of plans for today, so here goes!

• Take the kids (Miss M is finished with preschool, so she'll be with us every morning again) and a dog for a nice walk.
• Finish pruning the grasses and shrubs in front yard.
• Plant more garden!  I started putting my seedlings out on Saturday and can't wait to get the rest in so I enjoy watching everything grow! Miss M really loves to help with the planting, so this is a good chance to do something fun with her, too.
• Help Miss M clean her room.  The girls share a room, but they can't clean it together without making me insane with their bickering.  I have Miss E clean up her things and put Miss M's in a box, then I help Miss M put her things away.  She has a HUGE box full of things from last week, so that will be quite a job.  
• Read with an alphabet book with Mr. A.  I've been trying to read an alphabet book every day because they are useful for more than just teaching letters.  They always have good pictures of single items so I also say the name of the item and have Mr. A repeat the it.   Mr. A is a little speech delayed, and I think it's good for him to look at the simple pictures and practice saying the words with me.   I've only been doing it a short time and I've already noticed a big improvement in his pronunciation and speech frequency.  With two big sisters he doesn't get a lot of room to talk, so I think it's good to give him specific practice time where he can build confidence. 

And of course, I have all my Morning Basics and Daily Basics, along with this week's meal plan so I'd better get going!  Here's to a fabulous Monday!

Play Ball!

Finally!  After too many days of up and down, mostly down weather, we're expecting some warm sunshine today!  And, since it's going to rain tomorrow we're definitely going out to play today.  Yesterday, Miss M spent the whole afternoon outside and I forgot her sunscreen so her little cheeks are just red.  I spent the day inside cleaning and what not, so I missed out.  I'm not going to let that happen again.  I think we'll take our rather huge collection of assorted balls outside and see what happens.  We did that last fall and had a ball (HA!  Pun intended, of course.  He, he, he...)  Miss M could still use a little help in the catching and throwing department.  I can tell she loves to play ball games, but isn't very confidant because she doesn't have tons of experience.  Mr. A is also becoming more interested in doing more than just throwing the balls around so it will be fun for him to try some games, too.   Since I never outgrew silly bouncing ball games, this looks to be a super fun day for me, too!

In addition to that we have tumbling and soccer practice and all my usual things to do so...  I'm outta here!  Here's to a fabulous Thursday!

The Orphan Blog

Neglecting the blog, having fun with the kids.

I confess, I'm a neglectful blog mother.  I started out with a bang on this little baby last fall, but I took a break to accommodate the insanity that is my life during the winter.  Then, I had a hard time recovering my zeal for mommy blogging.  Oh, I was still planning - especially meals and some special fun with the kids each day - and I have been fluttering along with The FlyLady but I just wasn't in the mood to write about it.  So I didn't.  I also considered moving the whole thing over to Word Press.  I decided I wanted to learn more about Word Press before I made that commitment, and I'm SO glad I did!  I started a little blog over there where I just fiddled around and tried to figure things out.  I had some fun but I spent WAY more time just trying to make things the way I wanted than I'd like.  I just want to write - not reinvent the wheel!  I decided not to move.  I did learn a few fun things that I suddenly wanted to implement here.  Did you notice you can now follow Stay At Home Mom Plans directly on facebook?  Networked Blogs is a good thing.  Also, I've been experimenting with layout design, and depending on how much time I decide to devote to it, you may just see a new design around here soon!  Anyway, that's where I've been.  Here's to the return of Mommy Blogging Zeal!  Huzzah!

Where have you been young lady?

Alright, I know it seems as if I just fell off a cliff and totally disappeared since I've only made two superficial posts in almost two months now, but I do have a good explanation. I decided I need to take a break from blogging because I had bigger fish to fry. Two of my kids have birthdays in December, so to say that it is an INSANE month is a ridiculous understatement. I always try to have all birthday and Christmas shopping finished before Thanksgiving, and this year I experimented with moving the birthday parties forward a few weeks. Moving the parties was a big success because every child we invited was able to come, which is a first for us because December is a crazy month for everyone. It has also spread out the insanity for me, which was actually nice because I had time to recover between events. And, now I'm all ready for Christmas except a few last things I need to pick up for Christmas dinner. Ahhh... I love being prepared.

All that said, I'm going to try to get back into the habit of blogging again. I've really missed having all my plans laid out so nicely. Plus, I want to optimize the kids' time out of school and in order to do that I need to at least make some basic lists of possibilities and responsibilities. So, I'm off to make Mom Plans!  It's good to be back!