Home (Pre) School

The little man has recently had an explosion of verbal skills which I am loving!  (I realize in a few years, I may not feel the same way.)  He has a few that are spot on like, "dada", "mama", "apple", "Hey!", and the newest favorite, "Amen!".  I'll translate the rest:

"nana" = "Mom, I'm hungry" also "I would like to eat that banana."
"uh oh" = "I dropped that on the floor so you'll pick it up and give it back to me so we can repeat the process."
"muh" = "big kiss for this stuffed animal" or "Here, you kiss my animal!"

There are lots more that aren't consistent yet, but he's getting REALLY good at copying us.  This is making me a little more aware of what I say...it is also making me catch myself speaking to adults in toddler-speak...FABULOUS!

Since James is picking up on everything, this weekend I decided that since things are starting to slow down a bit from the mach-speed move a few weeks ago, it is high time I should be getting myself and the little man into a set routine in our new digs.  His eating and nap schedule haven't changed much but I needed a concrete schedule that incorporated a specific time each day for educational/developmental activities, music, outdoor/messy play, and most importantly, a time for learning about our God.  So far these things have been peppered into our days sporadically which means my brain is all over the place.  I thrive in a structured environment and as a SAHM, I have struggled to create that structure for myself.  (I typically have no idea what time it is.)  Since homeschooling is a path we are looking into for the future, I decided to have a trial run at it and treat our days at home like I would if I was in a classroom setting (except we stay in our PJ's and cuddle a lot).  I am a very visual person, so to accomplish this, I need something in front of my face to keep me on track.  Enter, technology.  When the little man first came home, I created a Google calendar with his feeding and sleeping schedule that gave me reminders throughout the day.  The only problem was, I had to be at my laptop to see it.  It invariably fell by the wayside.  I've since used a notebook, a dry erase board, etc, but nothing has worked as well as my current system does.  My husband got a free iPhone a few days ago so I inherited our iPod touch which I've been super pumped about.  I opened my Google calendar for the first time in ages and there was our schedule from the days when the little man nursed every 2 hours.  That made me a little teary eyed, but then I realized I could have his current schedule in my hand with alerts throughout the day (yay!).  I entered his current schedule along with some new elements I wanted to incorporate and customized the alerts.  It has been so great!  I also made some printable schedules and worksheets for myself. (Remember, I like visuals!)  The schedules are going in frames in the little boy room soon.  (pics to follow)

The worksheets are simple.  They just give me a place to write out ideas I have for each of the "subject areas" I want to cover.  I have our afternoon split up into the following categories:

1) School Time
     a. Letters, Sight Words, Reading
     b. Numbers, Counting, Math
     c. Sensory play
     d. Motor Skill Activities
     e. Bible Time

2) Music Time
     a. Listening
     b. Making Music

3) Outdoor Time
     a. Messy Fun
     b. Games, Being Active

I realize that I may not get to each of these points every day, but I like to aim high and try to get in as much as I can.  For now, our School Time lessons consist of me writing words on a white board that James says already while showing him the object or person, counting our noses, eyes, hands and feet, scribbling with a crayon and reading sensory books, and Bible stories.  I hope to branch out to include more hands on activities, crafts, etc.  That's why I made these sheets.  When I find an activity that fits into what we are working on, I'll write it in for that week.  I'm so excited to be able to do this!  I will be happy to email you the printables I've made to help me keep things in order.  Just shoot me a quick message requesting them and I'll send the pdf's on to you.

Fun with Cheerios

I've seen lots of blogs showing scooping and pouring activities for toddlers using dried beans or rice, but my first thought when I see those is...I would be fishing beans and rice out of little J's mouth non-stop.  I've let him play with containers many times and even one time filled a bowl with water for him to dip and scoop...but as you can imagine, that ended up being a splash fest and somehow the water that started out in the kitchen ended up in a HUGE puddle on my carpet...I'm a first time mom.  So having learned my lesson with water and knowing all to well how things would end up with dry beans, I had the brilliant idea of using Cheerios for our scooping/counting/sorting activity today.  We don't typically eat cheerios, but my dad left them here the last time he was here and I figured, if little J eats these it's no big deal, it's a fun snack even!

This is how things began. Containers neatly arranged, measuring spoon to scoop, sun shining, birds chirping

This tranquil scene of learning and exploration...

Quickly turned into this...

:)

He did explore the containers...

...placed Cheerios into containers one at a time...

  

...and crammed lots of Cheerios in his mouth.

 

He's really cute!

And he had a blast :)  So proud of himself!

Lots of love from James! <3 

Leftovers for breakfast? Yes please!

Looking at this picture makes me want to eat it all over again!  Oh man...it was so good!  Even if I did have to eat in 3 second shifts between James bringing me books "boops" to read.  

So here's the quick and easy recipe:

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 a leftover baked potato, peeled, chopped

1/2 of a small onion sliced

1 egg scrambled

your favorite seasonings, salt and pepper to taste

A sprinkle of cheese (optional)

Heat up the oil and saute your onion and potato until they are nicely brown and the onions soft.  Pour your egg over the onion and potato.  Add your desired seasonings.  Let your egg cook.  Your done!  

This dish is really great by itself, but I sprinkled mine with some mozzarella since I've been dairy-deprived with a sick (nursing) toddler recently and being unable to have something makes me crave it all the more.  I typically try to limit dairy, but NOT TODAY! :)  Oh so yummy!  And you should know that I have quite the aversion to eggs (believe me, I've tried to love them).  This was the perfect dish for me since it was quick, it gave me lots of flavor and textures to hide the attributes of eggs that I'm not a fan of, and I didn't sacrifice my AM-essential protein.  

Oh! Idea!  Top this with some black bean and corn salsa instead of cheese and you've got a Southwestern breakfast feast!  I'm going to have to make some more tonight for the hubs to take with him for breakfast tomorrow morning!

Try it!  I'd love to know if you love this as much as I do!

Snow day!

This was a few weeks ago but I haven't taken the time to share it. Little guy's first time in the snow! There are great videos too :)

Owl always love thrifting!

I found this adorable pair of owls at a local thrift stores whose description on their sign literally included the word "junk". I knew I had to check it out. There were lots of fun items but these love birds (hehe) caught my eye. I had to have them. They weren't priced so I asked the man at the counter and he concluded that $4 for the pair was fair. I agreed. So here they are enjoying the view! Don't they make the cutest couple!

Smoothies = So much nutrition, so little time!

As the mom of a 1 year old, I, like many moms, do not take the time to make myself a proper breakfast or lunch.  I say to myself, "I'm not going to cook a meal just for myself."   It feels like a waste of time and energy to do anything but warm up leftovers or eat some cereal which doesn't always make for a well balanced diet.  And, since the little man gets the majority of his nutrition from me, I know I need to step my game up.  My diet lately has been close to horrendous...I have my excuses but I won't bother you with them since there really is no good excuse for a poor diet.  Especially in our country where healthy food is at our fingertips.

Cutting out junk and adding in as many fruits and veggies as possible is my strategy and one really easy, super yummy way for me to accomplish this has been by adding smoothies to my dietary line-up.  We have a little blender that allows me to make one smoothie at a time and drink it right out of the cup I blended it in.  This makes it a little easier for me to make one concoction for myself and a slightly different blend for my husband.  If you don't have one of these, never fear!  Any blender will do the job!  One thing I started doing when our little guy was a newborn was add spinach to whatever smoothie I was making.  You really can't taste it and spinach is chock full of SO many important vitamins and minerals.  I have also been trying to keep lots of different produce in the house which helps us stay excited about our fruits and veggies.

With my husband's busy schedule and a mobile baby, I feel I can dedicate about 5-10 minutes to meal prep for breakfast and lunch.  That means, if there is any chopping, slicing, measuring, washing or anything other than "throw in ____.", it's not going to happen for these 2 meals.  That's why smoothies have been so great for us lately.

Here's my basic go-to recipe right now:

1-2 bananas
a handful of frozen fruit
appx. 1/2 cup of liquid (water, almond milk, juice, apple sauce, etc.)
appx. 1 cup of organic pre-washed spinach

I throw the banana, frozen fruit and liquid in the blender first and get it nice and liquefied.  Then I stuff (when I say "stuff", I mean cram in as much of that goodness as possible!) the rest of the cup with spinach and blend it in.  Insert a straw and voila!  You are holding 2-3 servings of fruit and a serving of vegetables in one hand!  Enjoy!

Tips:

1. All measurements are approximations because remember, measuring is not a part of this recipe :)

2. For your liquid, use almond milk if you want a milkier smoothie, water if you don't want to add extra calories, juice or apple sauce to sweeten it a little more. We are trying to cut back on our dairy intake since there is more and more research that suggests that dairy isn't a great source of nutrition for us, but if you have dairy milk or yogurt on hand and you feel ok about using, feel free!  The liquid really just helps the fruit blend more easily.  If you have a super powerful blender, you may not need it.  If you like a thicker smoothie, use less liquid, if you like a thinner smoothie, use more liquid.

3.  This gets its own point because I think it is great and I don't want you to miss it!  Cranberry juice is the liquid I use most often right now for my smoothies.  There are many health benefits associated with drinking cranberry juice.  When I got a UTI, my doctor's office told me to try drinking cranberry juice since I wanted to avoid taking antibiotics if possible.  It helped tremendously.  I would recommend buying a juice that is just cranberry if possible since you use very little in each smoothie.  Most 'cranberry juices' have much more apple juice or grape juice than cranberry juice. Check the label.  Straight up Cranberry juice is VERY tart so you will probably want to add a little more sweetness than normal to your smoothie if you use it.

4. The number of bananas you use is based on your desired sweetness and the other ingredients you choose.  For example, my typical smoothie has 2 bananas since I use cranberry juice as my liquid.  If you are using other fruits that have a lot of sweetness, like peaches or mangoes, you'll be ok with 1 banana.

5. In my opinion, it is totally worth it to spend a little more to get organic pre-washed spinach.  I don't usually buy things pre-washed, pre-sliced, or pre-anything if it means I have to pay more, but in this case, doing so means I will actually use it before it goes bad since I have it ready to go and I've learned the hard way that wasting food wastes money.  I also rest better knowing there are no harmful pesticides or fertilizers in my smoothies.

6. From time to time, I will find a good sale on fresh produce and stock up.  In that case, I take some time during nap time or on a weekend to clean, slice and freeze my fruit.  I love when I am able to do this, but when I can't, I find the best deal I can on frozen fruit.  Some of our favorite frozen fruits have been a berry blend with raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries as well as the bags that have peaches, pineapple and grapes. The latter is a bit sweeter so I only use 1 banana when using those.  I love these bags because you can get a little bit of a few different fruits in every smoothie.  In the morning, I don't have the patience to prepare a quarter of a peach, 4 grapes and 5 pieces of pineapple for 1 smoothie, but since these are already sliced and frozen in one bag, I have the luxury of getting all of those flavors at once.  Again, for us, the convenience means we will actually eat the food therefore saving us from wasting money.

What are some of your favorite smoothie combos?

Today's Walk

I realized today that the little man and I have too few pictures together over the last few weeks so on our walk today I snapped a few to try to remedy that :)

Beginning our trek

We took a break to warm up and see Daddy in the weight room.

Sleeping boy...all the excitement wore him out :)