Menu Plan Monday

Monday 
Breakfast - Soaked oatmeal, strawberries
Lunch - out. My parents are in town
Snack - veggies and hummus
Dinner - Turkey tetrazzini that didn't happen this weekend because we were all too full, salad
To Do: thaw Ham

Tuesday
Breakfast - Scrambled eggs and bacon
Lunch - celery with almond butter and raisins, apples and cheese slices
Snack - Seasoned Popcorn
Dinner - Ham, macaroni and cheese (real food makeover), spinach
To do: boil whatever eggs are left after breakfast from last week, bake bread. Pick up eggs and milk.

Wednesday
Breakfast - kefir smoothies and toast
Lunch - ham sandwiches
Snack - Hard boiled eggs
Dinner - Turkey Pumpkin Chili with all the fixins
to do: pick up CSA box

Thursday
Breakfast - toe in the holes, grapefruit
Lunch - leftovers
Snack - Perfectly Frothy Hot Cocoa
Dinner - Ham and Butternut Squash spaghetti, salad
to do: soak quinoa

Friday
Breakfast - Bagels and cream cheese
Lunch - Roasted Eggplant with feta
Snack - veggies and homemade ranch dip
Dinner - Mushroom Quinoa Casserole
to do: thaw dirty rice ingredients, soak rice, prep french toast

Saturday
 Breakfast - Pumpkin french toast
Lunch  - We're going to Wurstfest so lunch will end up being something delicious and German!
Dinner - Dirty Rice

C Week Report

Will and I have started enjoying some early efforts at home education lately. Yes, he's only 18 months. No, I'm not pushing him too hard or expecting too much from him. I don't think we'll formally do school, whether that takes place at home or away until 1st grade anyway. But why not get our feet wet, have a little bit of intentional learning play, and vary our days at home together by following an alphabet path that exposes him to many different areas of interest and skills.
We started with A week about 6 weeks ago when we focused on apples and applesauce mostly, with a little acorn investigation tossed in. B week brought with it talks of birds, bears, bugs, we baked bread, and played ball. By the time we got to C week (really 2 weeks for each), I felt pretty good about what we were doing so I figured I should take a few pics and record some of our most successful activities and our favorite books.
I was initially inspired by Elizabeth Foss and her Along the Alphabet Path. I've been reading her site for years and wishing I had someone to learn with, but the fairy stories don't resonate with me much and of course Will wouldn't really get them at this point, but her book recommendations are top notch, and I love the inclusion of saints stories, and the picture studies. She links to Starry Sky Ranch who hosts Friday Fun School, with more ideas for the little ones. Both of them have been doing this for a long time. Probably next year or the year after we could really do a lot of the learning activities she posts, but for now it's all about exposure for us. Certainly Pinterest is always a source of inspiration as well.

Virtue of the Week - Compassion
Saints of the Week - St. Christopher and St. Cecilia
Shape of the Week - Circle

Comparing, Contrasting and Counting Coins really got the alliteration in with that one, eh?
Fine Motor Skills, Math

Momma cleaned out her purse and donated all the coins at the bottom, about $7 worth, to this activity. My first responsibility was making sure none of them went near his mouth, nose, or ears. Beyond that, I narrated his play with them, talking about their relative size, colors, and value. I sorted them into different combinations of $.50, which is what caps were going for in one of our favorite books this week, Caps for Sale. I also prompted him to make judgments with which one is bigger? which one is silver? which pile has more? etc. The part he enjoyed the most though was dropping the coins into his Tiffany's elephant bank. He worked through that pile of coins, while I counted, in record time. When he was done he signed more, more. Don't we all want more, Will? Don't we all?

Fall Collage

Art, Nature Study, Sensory Play

We took a walk around our neighborhood and collected as many different types of leaves and flowers and berries as we could find. The highlight of our gatherings was a fallen Monarch butterfly. Whenever I was able I told him the names of things, and we talked about their texture, sizes and colors a lot. Coming home, he took a nap and I set this up to make a collage out of our collection. 

I had lofty ideas about how I'd put another piece of contact paper on the other side, and we'd incorporate our art into our fall decorations for the next couple months. I've read enough parenting blogs to know that the projects never turn out as perfect as you imagine, but somewhere along the way the learning and memories that are made are more than you could hope for. So in that spirit, here is our imperfect collage in progress. 

Note: it was not saved. Will wadded up one side and I took down the other a little later.  

 I think he got a lot of experience with texture, especially sticky. And enjoyed seeing all the leaves and things close up. The berries stuck a lot better than I predicted, and the fall leaves did a lot worse.






Cookies!
umm, Home Ec?

We worked on the sign for cookie, which he had used before, but sporadically. I think today he actually said cookie. The Kindermusik curriculum we're enjoying now is Milk and Cookies, so we had a couple books about cookies from there that we read as well as a couple from the library. Together, we baked Pumpkin Kiss Cookies which I think are just about the healthiest cookies to ever go by that name. Will helped pour and stir, continually identified the oven as HOT!, and greatly enjoyed eating them! We watched C is for Cookie courtesy of the Cookie Monster himself and sang and signed along.

Aditionally, We've been making a letter on cardstock each week and this time I made a capital C, coated it in glue and let Will pour cornmeal on it. It had the effect of being very similar to sandpaper Montessori letters. It hung on the fridge all week except when we practiced clipping clothespins on and off the card. He doesn't quite have the hang of it yet, but thinks its hilarious when I clip clothespins on him.
We also colored with crayons and chalk.

Favorite Books

Caps for Sale Will enjoyed imitating the monkeys who were imitating the peddler.
The Carrot Seed We read this repeatedly during snacks of carrots and hummus
Cookies: Bite Sized Life Lessons loved the extended metaphor for virtues with cookie examples
The Hungry Caterpillar we had a caterpillar caught in a jar which we observed for a couple days then released before we went to Corpus last weekend. Wish I had a picture. I considered a caterpillar craft but decided they were all over Will's head.
In Loyola Kids Book of Saints we read the story of St. Christopher. I also told the story of St. Cecilia, my patron.


I have all my books reserved at the library for the start of D week next week. It should be fun!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday
Breakfast - yogurt with 2 minute raw power breakfast
Lunch - Egg Salad on Triscuits and lettuce salad with grapefruit slices and cilantro cream dressing
Snack - everything bagel with cream cheese (coupon from Einstein Bros)
Dinner - Lentil Vegetable soup and biscuits
to do - Thaw turkey, make bullion sub

Tuesday
Breakfast -  Sausage biscuits
Lunch - Leftover soup
Snack - apple pie kefir smoothies
Dinner - ground beef Quesadillas with salsa and sour cream & mexican rice (from freezer)
to do - Make and freeze extra hummus, make and freeze bean burritos, save most of ground beef for Thurs, soak oats, pick up milk and egg drop off

Wednesday
Breakfast - Soaked oatmeal
Lunch - Egg Salad on crackers, roasted okra
Snack -  carrot sticks and hummus
Dinner - Turkey, stuffing, cranberries
to do - Pick up CSA box

Thursday
Breakfast - Scrambled eggs
Lunch - fried sardines (from Whole Living, can't find it online) on crackers and fruit
Snack - peppers and hummus
Dinner - Tater tot casserole and fried cabbage
to do - bake muffins, freeze most

Friday 
Breakfast - Anytime Muffins
Lunch - freezer bean burritos
Snack - hard boiled eggs
Dinner - creamed tuna & peas over rice
       dessert - bake cookies with Will as an end of C week celebration. Don't know what kind yet.

Saturday
Breakfast - Dutch Baby Pancake
Lunch - Eggplant & onions over pasta
Snack - cookies and milk
Dinner - Turkey tetrazzini, whatever veggies or fruit we have left

*note - where appropriate, and I can afford it, real food substitutions are made in all of these recipes.

If you would, suggest a favorite cookie recipe with ingredients I probably already have, or your favorite scratch cranberry sauce recipe, I haven't chosen one yet. Do you make a meal plan each week? Feel free to leave a link, I love new ideas.

an 18 month old linguist

Yesterday was William's 18 month birthday. What a blessing this year and a half has been to us! I sat him on my lap yesterday and told him the wonderful things I love about him, his rambunctious spirit, his generosity with hugs and kisses, how kind he is to dogs and his love of all animals. I told him how much I love the little boy that is quickly replacing my baby. Lately he's been telling me a lot of things too. I thought I should take a few minutes to record his rapidly growing vocabulary at this toddler phase of his life.
Da Da - Da Da
Mom - Mommy (I thought I would get to be Mama or Mommy for a while before switching to Mom in early adolescence, but he's jumped right to it.)
Dog (replacing Dee) - Dog
dat - cat
ssh - fish
boo - peekaboo
boo - poop
boo - potty
boo - stinky
boo - spoon
boo - book
dree - read
go go go - football
bah - ball
car - car
jruck - truck
jruck - duck
choo choo - train
NAK! - snack
NAK - apple
NAK - crackers
jews - juice
jews -shoes
mook - milk
no - no
no - nose
nee - knee
meh - Micky Mouse
meh - Virgin Mary
meh neh - Handy Manny
beeby - his baby doll
beeby - anyone under 5

I bet there are a few more I've missed, but it's wonderful seeing him learn to identify the important things around him. He also does a few signs including please, more, bath, water, and pointing to his forehead with his thumb which is a request for us to bless him or a reminder to say grace, the start of the sign of the cross. It's the sweetest little thing! Even more amazing might be how well he understands us! Given that he's in the mood to take directions, we can tell him pretty complicated things once and he goes and does it right away. Of course that makes the many times he's not disposed to listen to his mommy all the more frustrating because I know he understands me. Which reminds me of the one last not so cute thing he does. doh accompanying a raised hand means he does not like whatever I just told him and I'd better catch that hand or get out of the way because he'll hit! Yes, like I said, the dearest most lovely little 18 month old boy, mostly!

Bringing the toddler to Mass

The game is how long can Will make it in Mass before being taken out at least to the grotto for a quick cool down or to the cry room to finish out the rest of the service?
On a really good day he lasts until the Our Father. (We haven't had one of those in at least 4 months)
Last week he lasted until the Gloria.
This week he made it to the Gospel.
So we're showing some improvement. I know all kids' temperaments are different and that I shouldn't expect  more than he can deliver developmentally. Comparing him to other kids at storytime or Kindermusik I already know he's on the rambunctious and demanding end of the spectrum. But it's hard walking that fine line between exposing my son to his faith and teaching him virtues like reverence and patience on the one hand and overwhelming him with something he's not developmentally ready for, turning Mass into a struggle it doesn't need to be on the other. He hasn't hit me repeatedly in Mass in a few weeks and his squeals for the sake of squealing seem to be lessening. Instead he's moved onto throwing himself in the aisle crying, slamming the kneeler and making fart noises. I like to think I stay pretty calm about things. I offer him distractions in the form of religious books and toys. I narrate what's going on in Mass in my quietest whisper and point out areas of interest to him around the sanctuary. For the most part, none of those help at this stage.

What does help immensely is to be smiled at by the sweet mom I've noticed in Mass with her 3 kids. The one nursing her youngest in the narthex who tells me he's doing exactly what he's supposed to be doing at this stage and that I'm doing a good job too. The mom who points out her phone number in the bulletin in case I have to go to Mass by myself again and I can tag team with her and her husband and the kids. She recommends a couple books put out by Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and refers to Kimberly Hahn when she talks about how important it is that we encourage other moms. Yes, that helped a lot. And I am so thankful that even though my prayer for William to behave in Mass wasn't answered the way I hoped this week, God is so faithful to put people in my life to answer prayers the way He wills it.

I write this in part to commiserate with any of you who are going through the same thing and ask for suggestions from anyone who has passed through this stage. But also because I have faith that one day my little boy will be an altar server or maybe even a priest, or at least someone who can participate fully in Mass with a willing spirit. I'm going to tell him how he used to be and let it be a testament to how hard his Mommy worked to get him there and how God answers prayers.

Tasty Treat Thursday

Last week's attempt at making a treat was a disaster, so even though this is the second week my beautiful friend, Allie , has hosted her Tasty Treat Thursday link-up, this is my first time to join in. 

I'm bringing yall a super easy recipe from the Paula Dean Southern Cooking Bible that Brian got me for Christmas. It's Dr Pepper Pecans and if you start now, you'll have a yummy snack in less than 30 minutes. 

Here's what you need:

1 can Dr Pepper 

3 tbsp butter. You knew there was going to be butter as soon as I said Paula, right?

1 1/2 cups Pecans Get local if you can. I'm embarrassed as a Texan using these big-name Illinois pecans.

Salt

The ingredient line-up is always my favorite part of recipe tutorial posts.
I like to see the ingredients getting friendly right from the beginning.

 Preheat your oven to 350* and line a baking sheet with foil. Then put your Dr Pepper and butter into a pot together over medium-high heat and let them get all melted in together. Bring it to a boil and then let it keep on boiling for about 15 minutes. It says simmer which made me think I needed to turn the heat down to low, but it's better if you just leave it hot and let it go for a while. It'll reduce down and look something like this.

Yall really didn't need to see that picture, it just shows my damaged stove 

 Stir in your pecans and a Melissa-D'Arabian-sized-pinch of salt and let them cook in the sauce for a few minutes, maybe 5, until they get all sticky and glazed. Then dump them out on the cookie sheet, spread them out and pop them in the oven for about 10-15 minutes stirring and flipping them a little every 5 minutes or so. Remove to a plate and let them cool. They'll get crispy again once they're cooled off.

I liked the first batch so much that I made two more and took some to the ADPi house to share for Alumnae Skit Day and gave some to my father in law. 

7 Quick Takes Friday

One.
I'll start by putting the humble out there. If you're ever feeling particularly bad about yourself just let me know. I'll let you come over to my house and get a good look at my kitchen. Guaranteed you'll be feeling better about yourself in no time! There's nothing like company coming to get the motivation to clean it up though and I have a friend and his new fiance coming Tuesday, so it should be better by then.

Two.
In the spirit of reciprocity, would you care to share a failed baking story to cheer me up? I used to think I liked baking, but my goodness I am terrible at the sport! I managed to turn award-winning cookies into the most mediocre things ever to boast chocolate chips. Clearly, I couldn't offer those to the new neighbors I had intended them for so I was forced to eat them all instead. I tried to make a chocolate pie that my friend from college recommended on facebook that he said was easy and perfect for summer. A broken pie crust later I have 2 soupy chocolate pies with melted whipped cream in my freezer. I can't go into anymore details on this because I have a lengthy post planned that's sure to contain lots of pictures and complaints that I may post some day. Breathe easy, my last post was in June. It's pretty likely Will will wake up from his nap before then and I'll scrap the idea.

What it was supposed to look like.

Three.
At what point does chocolate become sinful? How much would I have to eat to consider it a venial sin? Do I need to bring this to confession? Really, it bothers the heck out of me when desserts are titled "sinful" and cheese fries are "guilty."






Four.
Inspired by this pin  I taped off a square tile in the kitchen and taught Will to pick things up on the kitchen floor and put them in the square. He doesn't quite have the dexterity for sweeping yet, he drags the broom around and then yells when it gets stuck immediately. The problem is that taking stuff out of the square and spreading it back around the kitchen is just as much fun so I have to be pretty quick with the dust pan. Still it occupies him for about 6 minutes which is longer than any other toy except the bubble-blowing lawnmower that blew bubbles exactly once.

Five.
My kefir colony has gotten too big and cultures too quickly now. I need to divide it so I posted on my Crunchy Mama Meetup group offering some kefir grains to anyone interested in starting to make their own. Someone else is actually interested and is going to swap me some of her sourdough starter culture for them. How's that for crunchy? I think I'm officially past the baby steps stages now. I'm not sure I'm ready for another growing thing I have to take care of daily, but I tried making kefir bread and it was about as successful as my chocolate chip cookies. Maybe the sourdough will be more edible.

Six.
I've made my travel plans to go see Brian again in Yorktown, VA for the second and final time this summer. William and I will be flying into Richmond with him in his own seat! The 31 lb kicking lap baby routine was tired. We'll spend a few days there with Brian until he graduates then drive home to Texas, stopping on the way for him to run a 50K trail race. Sounds like a peaceful easy trip right? Maybe I'll consolidate both trips into one and post some pictures when we get back.

Seven.
William learned the sign for love and it melts my heart every time he does it for me, or the dogs, or his Baby Blue doll! He also knows more, all done, please, bath, bird, up, down, and help. We're working on thank you, sorry, and go the **** to sleep.

For more quick takes, head on over to Jen's place.