Back to School Week Day 4

Day 4 Tip:  Take a few minutes today to reassess and possibly re-organize your routine. Now you know what the first few days have been like so take a minute to look at your individual situation. Is everything working out? Do you need to adjust wake-up times, nap times, meal times or bedtimes? Were you missing some important school supplies? Have your meals been good and easy enough? Have you been having trouble keeping everything together with the new schedule? See what needs adjusting, and give yourself a little time at the end of the week to do just that. This might sound like common sense, but once we create schedules, it's sometimes hard to admit when they aren't working like we think they should. Just simply tweaking them, instead of throwing the whole thing out the window, is usually all that they need.
Case in point: We have had to make some minor changes this week. Due to road construction, we had to take the longer way to Stenni's preschool, and that takes a few more minutes than we had bargained for, so we adjusted our departure time just a little bit. Also, she's a really slow eater...like 45 minutes for a bowl of cereal slow, and forget real food, that takes forever. So in the future we will try to get up a few minutes earlier so no one feels super-rushed, and stick with less elaborate breakfasts.

Sorry that this post didn't actually make it up in time for the real Day 4 of Back to School Week. I was not feeling great and kind of dilly-dallying during the day. Then due to a crazy heavy rainstorm, we kept losing power at the house on and off. And when the power did come back? Sorry, I was following the story on the news about the Seaside Park boardwalk burning to the ground. My family vacations there every year, about half a block from the boardwalk. The news crews were actually filming from the parking lot next to the house we rent. It's so devastating to think that it's really all gone. Everything that was saved from the storm last year is now completely wiped out, and that includes so many landmarks from my childhood, and now Stenni's as well. It won't ever be the same. 8-9 blocks of boardwalk, as well as what was left of the pier, are just gone, taking over 50 businesses with them. Like Kupper's Fries. Like Berkeley Sweet Shop. Like Park Seafood. And saddest of all, like the carousel that my parents took me on, that Hubs and I take Stenni on, and that she had already planned to take Cuatro on. So just keep the people from Seaside Park and Seaside Heights in your thoughts and prayers. They've been through so much, and this is just adding insult to injury.

It might be a terrible-quality picture, but it's the last one I'll ever get of Stenni (and her Papa) on that carousel on the boardwalk in Seaside, and I'm so glad that I have it.

Back-to-School Week Day 2

So it's the second day of back-to-school week over here, and even though Stenni doesn't have school today (she's only going on Monday and Wednesday, so far), it's still on my mind. So here's my you've -heard-it-before, painfully practical tip for day 2. 

Day 2 Tip: Plan meals in advance, at least for the first few weeks. Plan what you'll have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (at least have a rough idea). Because your new school schedule will take some adjusting to, don't assume that you'll have oodles of time to plan and prep dinner while the kiddos are not home. You probably won't. Keep it simple with minimal prep. When I know I'll be pressed for time, I like to stick with quick and easy things like pastas (I'm a huge fan of the whole wheat pastas and I always have a bag of homemade frozen vegetable sauce in the basement freezer; it doesn't even get easier than that) and basic rice dishes such as jambalaya. Also if you have a crockpot, use it. It helps. 
Start thinking about what you want to eat for the week, and shop accordingly. Keep easy meals and snacks, like granola, fruit bars, cut fruit, yogurt, hot and cold cereals, steamable frozen veggies, and even frozen waffles around the house. I've seen too many meal plans start out with good intentions and then end up turning people into martyrs when they can't allow for changes in their situations. It makes it easier to go with the flow when you have a back-up plan that you don't feel guilty about because it's still marginally healthy and low-effort.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: keep it simple, but don't neglect nutrition. We really like Van's whole grain waffles at our house because they're easy and quick, and I don't always feel like dragging out a waffle iron. Waffles with peanut butter and raisins is an old standby at our house. I'm not always a big fan of "convenience foods" but don't totally rule out using mixes on occasion. If you can find a good complete pancake/waffle mix (again, whole grains are nice, but take what you can get!), make pancakes with fruit or veggies added in. Adding quick oats, apple juice, apple sauce and cinnamon to complete pancake mix equals apple crumble pancakes, which are a huge hit around here (berry pancakes are well-loved too)! And it doesn't hurt to make a few extras in advance to freeze and use when you need them. But seriously, never underestimate the add-ins: things like ground flaxseed, fruits, oats, juices, fruit pulps and that sort of thing can really up the nutritional value of a simple meal, and add some flavor without too much extra effort.
Meals for kiddos shouldn't be a struggle, even if you don't have a ton of time. A little advance planning goes a long way.

So here is our get-out-the-door-on-time breakfast menu for this week: 
Monday: Jack-o-lantern pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes (add apple juice and pumpkin puree to complete pancake mix, throw in a few chocolate chips, shape like a pumpkin and make a face out of the rest of the chocolate chips)
Tuesday: Peanut butter cheerios with milk and a banana
Wednesday: Whole grain waffle (yes, the frozen kind) with peanut butter or hazlenut spread and raisins, apple sauce
Thursday: Egg over easy in a pepper "flower" (just cut the pepper so that it still retains the ring shape, then cook the egg inside), pepper slices and wheat toast
Friday: Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins (hopefully Stenni and I will have the time to make them together on Thursday afternoon!)

If you need some great recipes, check out  http://www.parents.com/recipes/ or Allrecipes' Back-to-School page.

What are your summer plans?

 

Last year for Father's Day, Stenni (& I) made one of those cool, pinterest-inspired summer bucket lists and gave it to hubs for Papa Day (which is what we call Father's Day around these here parts). It was awesome and he kept it in his wallet and checked things off as they went, accomplishing feats like going to 5 different parks, swimming in a pool, lake, river and the ocean,  picking berries (photographic evidence of us at the field above...we went to pick strawberries 2 days ago, the only dry day we've had in weeks, and it was such fun!) and other assorted feats of fun-ness. This worked incredibly well for us last summer, as it gave us plenty of ideas for cheap or free activities and kept us busy all through the season.

But this year, I want to take a different approach. As Stenni is getting a little older, I want her to be able to pick out what we do based on how she feels that day. And I want to be able to spontaneously say "yes" more, so we've scheduled less to fill up our days in general. Also, growing a baby human is pretty hard work, and I just don't have the energy I did last summer, so I don't want to hatch some grand scheme and end up too tired to follow through. I want to be able to go with the flow and let her give in to whims...if we feel like making a fort and pretending to be bears all day, so be it. If it's nice out and she wants to go to my parents' house and play in the pool, we will. There's only so much longer that Stenni will have my undivided attention, and I want to make this summer magical. 

So my over-arching plan is...well, not to plan. Or not to over-plan, at least. The weekends are already pretty full up until the middle of August, so I want to at least play the weekdays by ear. We'll still go blueberry picking and to the zoo, and have playdates and BBQ's, but we'll take them as they come. It's a little hard for me to let go of my lists and my schedule, my type-A personality and my control-freak nature, but I think it'll be worth it for the whole family in the long run. Once the baby comes, the schedule goes out the window anyway, so maybe we'll consider this an intro to the new normal? 

What are your summer plans? Anything set in stone, or everything easy-breezy?

my daily schedule, or how my husband is a creepy horndog in absentia

in a pathetic, feeble attempt to organize my days and actually get things done, i occasionally write a daily list of all the things i want to accomplish with some completely outlandish tasks that i know i'll never do thrown in there for good measure. my list generally looks something like this:

• gym
• walk dog
• bathe kid
• dishes
• make bed
• sweep
• mop
• vacuum
• load of whites
• wipe down bathroom

you get the idea. everyday tasks, tailored to what i've got to get done or what in my house is looking particularly dastardly. i usually leave a space all the way at the bottom to write out what i'd like to make for dinner. i tend to write these a few days in advance, leaving a couple of blank spaces to add in this or that.
when i opened my little kitten notebook today after my husband had already gone to work, it looked like this:

• make out with ted
• give husband two compliments
• dance with teddy

so that would be romantic-ish and all well and good, until i get down to the dinner section.
"topless nachos"
yeah, ok. this is not really a valid dinner option. at least he's thinking about me!