My husband- The Liar!

So, this December Shane and I will have been married for 10 years. Last fall, he mentioned wanting to plan a trip for us to celebrate and he wanted to surprise me. Fine, I said, just stick with the continental US. Last Christmas, he gave me guide books and the itinerary for our trip...we are driving Route 66 all the way to the Pacific and staying in this swanky resort on the beach. Although I could have swallowed my tongue at the cost, I got online, checked it all out and have been making plans since....we are redecorating the kitchen as a 40's diner in honor of the trip. I just love stuff like this.

Then last Friday, I went out with a friend. When I got home Shane had a scavenger type hunt set up all over the house. I got to the final stop (on my pillow) and discovered he had been lying the whole time...not about ALL of it. We are still driving on Route 66 (which is good since I just rented a car) but not to California...the resort reservation was a FAKE itinerary that the travel agent made up for him. So what is our final destination?.... The bottom of the Grand Canyon! We get to stay one night on the south rim of the canyon. Then we will get up early to meet the mule train and ride down the canyon. There we will stay one night at Phantom Ranch before we saddle up again and ride back out of the Canyon. Then we have one more night on the rim before we head for home.

So am I happy about the swap? Honestly, I would much rather ride a mule for 2 days on the outside edge of a trail carved in the side of a canyon a mile deep than wear the bikini he insisted I get for the beach in public. So, although my best friend was right and swapping a relaxing beach resort vacation for a 2 day mule ride had a HUGE potential to backfire, I am so much more excited about the trip now than I was before!

We have a few weeks to plan and I have some serious shopping to do. All the little sundresses and tanks, not to mention the bikini, are not going to work at the canyon. The mule ride has very specific rules as to what one can wear...I need jeans, long sleeve shirts, and boots (preferably cowboy). So a great friend of mine is teaching me the joys of resale shops. We hit 4 yesterday and are hitting 4 different ones next week. More posts about that to come.

Monthly Meal Plans!

So I posted about planning my meals out before I go grocery shopping this month on facebook...and quite a conversation followed. So I am going to TRY to include my monthly meal ideas and then my weekly plan as I narrow it all down! I make NO promises though! LOL I plan for a month worth of meals on a calendar (that I print from www.donnayoung.org or www.calendarsthatwork.com). Although I plan them for specific dates, the reason the meal plan works is that it is flexible!!! For the first time, I am also planning lunches. I am not doing lunches on a dated calendar. I am using this one because I think it is cute! :)

For our dinners this month, we will be having:

• pork chops & sweet potatoes
• BLT pasta
• tacos
• fried fish, corn and hushpuppies
• meatloaf burgers & grilled veggies
• homemade corndogs and oven fries
• breakfast for dinner
• crockpot pizza
• mexican stirfry
• tuna burgers
  
• crockpot chicken lickin & rice
• grilled hotdogs & baked beans
• swedish meatballs & mashed potatoes
• spaghetti
• Roast, potatoes, corn
  
• black beans burgers & slaw
• porkburgers & grilled veggies
• BBQ
• tuna casserole
• rotisserie chicken
• grilled shrimp with garlic butter pasta
  
• nachos
• Finger foods (sausage, cheese, crackers, vegs, fruit--everything is eaten with fingers or a toothpick)- I should add some kind of fondue to make this more fun...any ideas?
  
• "Ponderosa night" = I take all the leftovers out of the fridge and put them on the bar...everybody eats what they want...and I clean out the fridge. It's a win-win...and when I don't call it "leftovers" there is much less complaining! :)
  

Some of these meals will repeat within the 1 month (or more) time. We have pizza frequently. Tunas burgers and tuna casserole are both quick and easy and the kids eat them well. And throwing stuff on the grill is always an easy go-to meal for us. :) I also keep frozen and canned veggies to round out a meal.

Also, the boys want to EAT lunch. What I consider a good lunch and what they consider a good lunch are vastly different. They are growing boys and I need to make them more to eat at noon. I don't want to make two full meals each day but it is time that I bulked up lunch a bit. So these are my ideas...we'll see how they go. There will be fruit (either canned, fresh, or frozen), and either chips or veggies and dip. I would love to get another blender so we could have smoothies...but after breaking 2 of them I'm not sure if blenders and I really get along well enough to live in the same house. Of course, we use leftovers often as lunch. They work best when I can make them as unlike the previous nights supper as possible. (Roast turned into BBQ or Tacos turned into nachos or spaghetti sauce on a little pizzas, etc)

• pb & j sandwiches, chips, fruit
• finger foods (same as dinner finger foods)
• turkey pinwheels, yogurt, fruit, vegs n dip
• scrambled eggs, toast, fruit, yogurt
• tuna turnovers
  
• mini pizzas
• grilled cheese
• nachos, black bean dip
• egg mcmuffins, yogurt
• quesadillas
• chicken turnovers
• banana dog
• pb & apple Quesadilla
• sandwich of their choice
• pizza pockets
• bagel sandwich
• PB & J sushi rolls
  
• tortilla pizza
• nachos
• hot dogs

PS- If anyone knows how to spell Quesadilla I would love to learn. I know it is spelled wrong but I can't figure out how to spell it. Anybody???

PSS- I'm still looking for more ideas...as always!! (especially for lunches) :)

If this lunch plan thing goes well...I think I will do the same thing for breakfast

Mom's Birthday Trip

I had a wonderful weekend last weekend. I traveled to the Big House in the Little Woods near Shipshewana, IN with my mom, sister, aunt, and cousin. It is Indiana Amish Country and just beautiful! We drove up Friday and ate family style at the Blue Gate Restaurant. At the Blue Gate, Family Style means they bring you big bowls of food to be shared by the whole table (but you don't sit with strangers). If you run out of something, they bring you more. Basically, it is a buffet without the exercise of walking to the bar. :) It was SO YUMMY!!!

Gail at the Big House in the Little Woods made a breakfast of champions Saturday morning...we ate baked french toast, eggs, bacon, etc. The neighbor, Ben, came over and ate breakfast with us before he took some of the guests on buggy rides. We arranged to go on a ride in the evening so we could hit the shops earlier. :)

My photo of the Big House in the Little Woods. It is such a lovely home!

We spent the day walking the little town of Shipshewana. It is full of little shops. There were tourist-y shops, artist's shops, bakeries, restaurants, fabric stores, etc. Everything our little hearts could desire and more. The weather was perfect! It was warm but not like here. There was a nice breeze and it was overcast...a few times it sprinkled.

These were along the street of shops in Shipshewana. The flowers everywhere were unbelievable. It made my little flower bed look even more pathetic.

We all piled into Ben's family buggy and Deana (the horse) took us on an hour ride around the country-side. It was a fun time. Heather got to drive (which I suggested may not be the best idea). Ben answered some questions but was often guarded. He was incredibly funny and told a bunch of jokes. I think he thought Heather may be certifiable. :) We saw the schools, Ben honked his buggy horn and we got Deana moving along at a speedy 10 miles per hour. It was a great end to the day. Very relaxing...although I don't think I'd like to actually travel that way.

Here we all are just after our ride. The lighting wasn't good and I'm not sure how experienced our Amish buggy driver was with a digital camera...

This is Ben's buggy and horse named Deanna. She is actually named for a girl who stayed at the Big House in the Little Woods.

On Sunday, after another serious breakfast, we drove around area looking for the quilt gardens and murals. We had a map but it still wasn't easy. We found several...some looking better than others. Then we headed home!Here we all are getting ready to head home.

It was such a wonderful time but I am so glad to be home! Now to start school for the week! :) That is back to real life if anything is. :)

Transparency and Whiplash

I feel like so many times when I read a homeschooler's blog it is all sunshine and roses with 6 kids in matching jumpers playing violin and dancing over their math problems. Now if your kids all wear matching jumpers and are playing classical violin and beg to do extra math drills then bully for you and I don't want to hear about it...and quite frankly, neither does anyone else. So in the interest of transparency, this is what my week has been like. I think you will understand why I am suffering from whiplash as you read.

Sunday- We reminded the kids we were started school on Monday and gave them back to school gifts. This was well received (obviously). I posted about that with pictures a few posts back...if you are interested check it out.

Monday- School started with much wasted time over copywork (which is basically how we do handwriting practice here). I expected a little belly aching about copywork. I was not surprised by this. But I knew I would persevere and the boys would come to get it done. But besides that all was "sunshine and roses." I discovered how much we are going to like our Science curriculum. Day one-good! Glad we started school!

Tuesday- Copywork was another problem area. But when it gets done their handwriting is great. Lots of whining. I discovered how crappy the social studies book and my plans for it are. I think I am going to have to start over and come up with something else. It is a exciting as watching paint dry. This was not good! Went to a Homeschool Mom's Night Out at a friend's house. There were something like 14 homeschool mom's there (and a couple CUTE babies). Got some great ideas and encouragement. It was the best part of my day! Love you ladies!!

Wednesday- Part of our problem is distraction...so I asked Shane to pick up those tri-fold poster board things that kids use for science fairs to create "cubicles" for the boys. They like them. And after looking at another mom's handwriting curriculum (which was one I almost bought) I decided to change what we do for handwriting. I took those ideas and made the same plan for the boys today. It wasn't hard to duplicate. They did SO much better. It seems like something we can all live with. Science was great and SO MUCH FUN...the mess on the dining room table required us to eat 2 meals in the living room. Decided to get out of the house and go to Effingham and visit the library (LOVE Helen Matthes). It was great. We looked like the perfect homeschool family minus our matching jumpers. :) The boys played nicely. I checked out a BOATLOAD of books to make our study of Native Americans work. And, in the apparent intellectual setting of a library (even in the children's section), I brainstormed new ideas for how to make social studies work this term. We only had to go the bathroom once...Maverick seems to have a "thing" for pubic restrooms and we visit them more often than anyone should ever visit a public restroom. The big boys went to CCC Sport's Camp VBS. I spent the evening cleaning up the house which wasn't really so bad. Griffin and I laughed and played and had a dance!

Today- Apparently, ANY writing is going to be a problem. Woke up this morning with a headache that I have yet to kill. Aiden wasted over and hour complaining about his handwriting. Then he moved to complaining about phonics. Then he complained about math. He huffs and puffs and cries. I can stay calm for about the first 30 minutes and then I get angry...I realized me getting angry doesn't help anything...it just makes the nastiness spread. It is now 3 and he is finally finishing his math...he should finish school by 11 or 11:30 each day. I think maybe someone learned something...but I don't know who and I'm not sure what. And when I spend the whole morning trying to get them to focus I feel like Griffin gets ignored. Oh, and when I went outside to take care of the animals I discovered no one penned up the chickens last night. I thought Shane did when he came home from Sports Camp, he thought I did because I was home all evening. We now have dead chickens in the coop...it is pushing 95 degrees F today...that is NOT a good combination. So, it has been a horrible day and I would like the chance to start over.......

It is good to know I get that chance...tomorrow. I can go to bed at a decent hour tonight and get enough rest so hopefully I don't have a headache. I can start my day with Bible and prayer in the morning (instead of doing it after lunch) and not with email and facebook. I can know that every single homeschool parent has days like these even if they only share the sunshine and roses part.

OK, that was me being transparent (and a little tongue in cheek). I have nothing personal against jumpers, violin, or math problems. :) But I still don't really want to hear about your perfect day today...tell me tomorrow. If we stick with our pattern it should be a better day! :)

Maverick Dressed Himself!

So when any of the kids take care of dressing themselves without any help, I do not complain. I also let them wear pretty much whatever as long as it is appropriate (no swim trunks to church or ties to the pond). That means sometimes I am going about my day with some pretty funny lookin' dudes.

Yesterday this is what Maverick wore to town. The picture just doesn't really do it justice. The tie dye shirt and orange and blue shorts aren't really so bad (although the orange of the cross and the shorts don't match as well as it appears in the photo). The red socks kinda put the outfit over the edge though and they are Griffins and entirely too small for his feet.

I was a little bummed with his shoes. He was wanting to wear brown dress loafers but one was missing so he went with his tennis shoes. Everyone knows that the shoes make the outfit and I think loafers would have made a doozy!

Organizationally Challenged!!

I love to plan! I like to have nice, neat organized spaces. I, unfortunately, am not good at keeping them that way. I try, I really do...but it seems like someone is always messing it up. Take my desk for instance. I clean it off and make myself a bunch of great workspace and within the day it is cluttered with papers, writing utensils, paper airplanes, books, legos, etc. It drives me crazy! How do people keep a space neat ALL the time!? Anyway, I try all the time to find ways to make my space neater. It is a work in progress! And if you see a picture that is all neat and tidy...don't feel guilty if your space isn't neat and tidy...know that I most likely cleaned it up just for that picture and it is messy by the time you see the photo. :)

Now for our "school closet." and the new and improved way I've got it organized. (Did I mention I am FOREVER trying to find ways to keep things neat and tidy?!?!)

So this is the school closet. It is actually a pantry that I don't use for food. I keep arts & craft supplies and supplies for our tot trays in there. I also keep tot trays ready to use in there. The hanging buckets store crayons, markers, colored pencils, and glue. I got them at the dollar tree. They are hanging from the wire shelves with "S" hooks from the hardware store (or maybe I got those at IKEA).


Our art supplies were getting out of control and were hard to find in the big bins I was storing them in. So I got an over the door shoe holder thing at Walmart for $10. It is PERFECT! It stores random craft supplies and containers for sorting. I love it!

The bottom shelves are for tot trays and puzzles. We use these only during school time. These are 4 tot trays the boys have for this week of school Those will change each week to practice different skills.

OK, so now you've seen it all organized....I wonder how long it will last!

Start of School!

Well, it is time to start school in the Cessna house. Summer break is over-rated. We lose so much educationally and I feel like I may just lose my mind. We take the break so we can do fun things but it is so hot and miserable outside I feel like we may as well be studying and getting a few weeks "ahead" to take extra breaks in the fall when the weather is nice (or whenever else a week off sounds nice).

This year Aiden will be "in" 1st grade, Maverick "in" Kindergarten and Griffin will be tagging along and doing some pre-school level work. I put "in" in quotation because we really do very little by the grade level. Our history book (The Complete Book of United States History) is a 3-5th grade book and we are just covering the parts that are appropriate and adding fun activities that address the time or subject we learned. We will also be covering some holidays and things like that. Both are already reading aloud and just need to work on flow and speed and comfort. They will still be doing Explode the Code to work out any kinks in our reading. Our Science curriculum (God's Design for Life by AIG) is also a multi-grade book. We are doing the "beginner" sections and will repeat the book when they get older and do the other sections. For math we are using Math U See. Aiden is partially through the Alpha level and Maverick will start the Primer this year. I don't really know how they coincide with public school math grade levels. We will also do doing copywork (for handwriting), Bible devotions and memory, be looking at and doing art, be ready poetry, and lots of read alouds. This is a huge paragragh and looks like we are way overbooked. But we won't do everything everyday and school will take about 2 hours if we don't whine and waste time. :)Here are our primary curriculum books (I only wish I had the bookends I've been looking for)

Griffin gets to do "tot trays" which can be found at www.1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com practicing skills like stringing beads, fill and spill (pouring), cutting, sorting, coloring, etc. They are a lot like "learning centers" in a daycare setting except he stays in one place and the learning comes to him on trays. He will also have "calendar time" each day to learn the days of the week and practice counting. He will be doing his tot trays at the table while the other boys are doing their other things and will hopefully soak a bit of what they are learning up. I will take some pictures and upload our tot trays soon. They really are pretty cool!

I also color coordinated all of their school supplies (which they will get as a back to school gift on Sunday night). Aiden is red, Maverick is blue, and Griffin is green. Their pencils, erasers, binders, scissors, etc are all "their color." They even have paper clips and highlighters in their colors. Makes everything easier to keep straight. And if I find something somewhere I know "whose" it is and who left it out and where it should be. Each child has his own drawer to keep his own supplies in.Each boy gets a binder, a notebook, and a little pencil box full of goodies in his color.

Each boy also gets a drawer with his name on it to keep his things in. And it will give me a place to put the things I find that are not in their correct place.

This is their little pencil box. It is packed full!!

Here are all their school goodies. I am obviously just showing the blue one. All of them have the same things. Pencils, scissors, heart paper clips, other clips, highlighter, pencil sharpener, soccer ball erasers, and a regular eraser.

YES! I love buying school supplies!! :D And I can't wait to get back to school!!!