Hey - There's also a meal plan!

Dinner's ready!

In addition to reveling in my calendar triumph, I also updated my meal plan!  You can check it out here. 

Also, I realized that I'm really stumped for ideas on simple, quick healthy meals that are yummy.  Anyone have any favorite stand by meals they'd like to share?  Please comment below!

Getting Organized for the Week

It has been suggested that I write a post detailing how I get started planning each week.  So, here goes!

Get yourself a calendar.   Make a schedule.  You'll thank me.

First of all, I have a permanent calendar which I save with routine items, like my Daily and Weekly Basics.  I haven't used an hourly time line so far because I am afraid it will make me feel guilty if I stray from it, and then confined when I don't.  So, for now it's a general Morning, Afternoon, Evening layout.  As new things come along it's easy peasy to add them.  (FYI: While I don't post every little detail of my schedule here for a variety of reasons, having general skeleton of it out there in public is quite motivating.  After all, now my friends know I'm scheduled to clean my floor at least once a week.  If they come over and it's crunchy they know where I got off track.) 
 
Next, I plan our dinners.  (This week's meal plan is posted here.)  When outlining my plans for the week, I've found it's easiest to get into organizing/planning mode by starting with a meal plan.  Then I'll move on to making my shopping list (so easy with a custom Pocket Mod!)  I also know how urgent it is to schedule the grocery shopping  for the week.  I generally put it off as long as possible, but if I have a meal I need several ingredients for I know I have to shop before that day so I schedule a trip to the store.

After that I think about things I want or need to do with the kids. Whether it's a special homework project or simply knowing someone needs a little extra time, I make a little note in my schedule reminding me about it.  Then, I think about my own projects or jobs that have suffered from my procrastination.  I decide how urgent they are and pencil in the really pressing ones.

Once those things are filled in, my schedule is pretty complete.  It's really not hard and having things like meal plans or special things for the kids in writing really helps me make sure they happen.  I must say, after Miss M was born almost six years ago I really developed some bad habits.  It's been quite a dig out of them, but organizing my time through this type of scheduling has done more for me than I could ever explain.  If you're struggling to juggle all the demands of a family or just to get out of a rut I highly recommend a written plan of your own.  I think you'll be pleased with the results!

New Week, New Plans, and (non)Rewards

Monday!  Yay!  Okay, I must say it's pretty easy to cheer for a Monday when you're a stay at home mom in the summer.  Even when we have somewhere to go we rarely have to be anywhere before nine.  It's pretty hard to dread a Monday when every day is like a weekend.

Today, I'm still mulling over a schedule and reward outline for the kids regarding their academic skills.  At first I thought I'd set goals linked to rewards, but now I think they don't really need goals and rewards.  They still want to earn the new LeapPad tablet game systems and have been doing extra jobs for money.  However, we've been pretty loosey goosey about actually tracking specific jobs and dollars.  Both girls have continued to be especially helpful, knowing I'm keeping their good deeds in mind.  This lack of concrete tracking is much easier for me, of course, and it hasn't been demotivating for them.  So, for now, I think I'll keep setting aside a little time each day to work on academic skills.  I'll remind them that doing what they are asked is scoring karma points - which may be redeemed at the end of summer for something they really want.

(I may make them some calendars to track their reading minutes, but only because it pleases them to add up the time they spend reading each month.  Miss E always says it doesn't seem like that long.  Of course I have to smile at that.)

Here's to a fabulous Monday and "fabulouser" week!   Oh, and check out this week's plan.  I included a recipe from one of my favorite blogs "Half-Assed Kitchen".  If you don't love cooking, you'll want to spend some time there.  They write about tasty food made as simply as possible.   Everyone loves that!

Regular Food Please: Meal Planning Just Got Easier

This is not my kid, but this is the reaction our dinners get many nights.

Miss E is the second pickiest eater I've ever met.  The pickiest is her father.  He generally has the good manners to at least pretend not to hate whatever he doesn't like.  The last few months have been hard on him because in an effort to make dinner prep more interesting for me, I've been experimenting with new recipes several nights a week.  I thought that was doubly good because it was exposing my picky eaters to new foods as well.  However, the spouse has declared that he's ready for less variety and more "old standby" meals for dinner.  That's a drag for me because I don't love cooking and trying something new fairly often makes dinner prep more interesting, but I do see where he's coming from.  Some of the unfamiliar recipes I've chosen have been really good, but some have been dreadful.  It would be good to know what we're getting in to more often.  I asked if the spouse had any dinner requests and he said "regular food."  That means super simple and meat & potatoes type meals.  Well, okay.  That's easy enough.  Sadly for him, there were some recipes from last week that I don't think he was jazzed about but for a variety of reasons we didn't make them.  They had rather specific ingredients that I don't want to go to waste, so they are back on this week's menu.  I tried to choose simpler, more familiar fare for the rest of the week though.  Hopefully everyone will be happy at least most nights.  (Oh and this week's meal plan is here.)

Now, I'm off to swimming lessons.  Have an awesome Monday!

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!