Menu Plan Monday

Things are busy around here. Still trying to figure out a routine to get some structure to our days. I found some short free ebooks about Charlotte Mason homeschooling that I am looking forward to reading soon. This style of homeschooling interests me and it's the style presented in the preschool curriculum we are doing (Heart of Dakota - Little Hands to Heaven).

Thought for the past few days...It's God's kindness that leads us to repentance.

....oh how I am struggling these days with the whole disclipling/training a 3 year old. Just being honest :-). How to be firm, but kind...encouraging/requiring obedience, decreasing "attitude", trying to get her to quit harassing Nathanael....I'm at a bit of a loss, and I've read all the books, by the way :-). So much work to do, so much prayer needed....admittedly, much on my own heart & attitude. Parenting is a truly humbling ordeal. It is good for me. We took some time to dance around the house this evening. Elianna loved it...even my crazy chicken moves (it was Baby McDonald we were all watching). It was fun and we laughed a lot :-). Today, she looked out the window at the icicles on the garage and exclaimed, "MOM! Look at those cool HANG NAILS!" She had us in stitches over that one.

Sunday: Lunch: Invited to friends' house after church
            Supper: at Mom & Dad's

Monday: Lunch: Leftover pizza
             Supper: Veggies, tortilla chips & guacamole

Tuesday: Crockpot steak fajitas with all the fixings

Wednesday: Leftovers or toasted ham & cheese sandwiches

Thursday: Homemade chicken noodle soup & biscuits

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Homemade Pizza

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Random Post

• Nathanael is almost walking. He walks around coffee tables, along window sills, etc. I've caught him standing with no hands a few times. He's 9 months old. Elianna walked at 10 months. My guess is he will definitely be walking by Christmas. We'll see.
• We are on Day 2 of "official" homeschool preschool. Yep, we started late. Oh well :-). She's only 3! Elianna LOVES it...especially the music part and the poems with actions. So far I love the Little Hands to Heaven program. 30 minutes a day of super fun Bible-based learning. Fun & Fast. Love that.
• We are also on Day 2 of our chore system. I was 100% sure I wanted to do chore packs until I went to Staples and discovered I had to buy like 25 of those clear name badge thingies for wayyy more money than I'm willing to invest right now. Plus what would I do with the other 24???  You can't buy just one. I checked. I decided to do a very simple, visual chart based VERY loosely on the Workbox concept. I'll try to take a picture of it and explain in more detail some other time. If it works well for us, we'll stick with it. If not, I might buy the Maxwell's chore book/system at the homeschooling conference next year. 
• Elianna is listening to her Singing Bible cd right now and just yelled out "MOM! God made Adam and Eve too!!!" as she's dancing and clapping in her room. Love her :-)
• I've been feeling very unlike myself lately. Not sure why. 
• Anxiety, worry, and stress seem to be rearing their ugly heads lately. Maybe that's why.
• I hope to use a similar concept to our chore charts to get a bit more routine to our day. Our mornings are a bit more structured now that we've started the chores system and preschool, and I'm liking it.
• Obedience. We're working on obedience. All of us. 
• We've been selling stuff like crazy lately. It's kind of fun, a lot of work, takes a lot of time, but I am excited about selling our "junk-to-us" for cash. 
• We started a Save, Give, Spend system with Elianna in conjunction with the chores. She has "expected-to-do" chores and then also "paid" chores. She LOVES doing the chores! If only that would continue well into her teen years.....hehe.
• Elianna loves doing crafts and making things. I am so not a craft person, so she's stretching me. Kids do that sometimes. Stretch their parents, I mean. :-)
• I wish Nathanael would sleep through the night. I'll think we're close and then he'll be up 3 times the next night. 
• Nathanael seems to cough. all.the.time. He always gets croup. This bout has lasted a month now and it's the 4th time he's had it since he was born. I feel bad for him and wish I knew what to do. The humidifier seems to help a bit.
• My "little" brother got married last month...to a very kind-hearted, beautiful, Christian girl. They were engaged for only 8 weeks and had over 200 people at the wedding. The bride baked the yummiest, cutest cookies for the wedding favours/in lieu of a wedding cake. The decor was kind of "country" with mason jars and wild flowers with wheat. It was ridiculously cute and beautiful.  Who says you need a long engagement to pull off a wedding?? Not me.  I am not a fan of long engagements.
• I've been feeling rather "blah" lately, if that makes any sense. I'm trying to be "all there" but most of the time I think my mind is in another place. It's kind of driving me crazy, especially when I'm talking to people, but I'm not sure how to fix it. 
• It snowed today. A lot. Elianna is SO excited about the snow. Where we adults think "scrape the windshield", kids think "SLEDDING!" To see the world through a child's eyes is a wonderful thing....:-)

Have a blessed day, 

Menu Plan Monday

Here`s what we plan on eating this week:

Sunday: Homemade Macaroni & Cheese with Tomatoes, Veggies & Dip

Monday: Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli

Tuesday: Slow Cooker Steak Fajitas & Guacamole

Wednesday:Hearty Beef & Vegetable Soup (making up my own recipe) & Biscuits

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Homemade Pizza & Salad or Veggies & Dip

Saturday: Leftovers

*Alternate Meals or Ideas for Next Week*
                      : French Onion Soup
                       : Chicken Fingers & Fries
                      Firecracker Salmon , Stir Fry Veggies & Rice

Flexi Clip Giveaway

There is a flexi clip giveaway going on at the Growing Home blog. Check it out here if you are interested. I have one of these and I love it!

Choosing the Best Things

Sometime I drive myself crazy. I want to have it all, do it all.

Part of me wants to be able to cook gourmet meals, have a super organized, super clean, and nicely- decorated-according-to-the-season-house, have perfectly cheerful & obedient children, have a fantastic relationship with my husband, a growing relationship with the Lord, sleep 8 hours straight, run a 10k, sew my own clothes, make over furniture, craft, garden, knit, crochet, can all my gardening produce, read a dozen books in a year, extreme coupon, check facebook, play dates, blog, have my kids in soccer, violin, piano, and awana....

But I can't do it all.

I've been reading about time management lately. I am frustrated that I don't seem to get anything done in a day. Maybe the reason I don't seem to get anything done is because I'm trying to get everything done. My perfectionist tendencies drive. me. crazy. Pinterest feeds my supermom tendencies; according to Pinterest, I can have it all and do it all :-). Nope. Real life doesn't work that way.

Remember the post about thieves? Perfectionism is perhaps one of my biggest thieves. Those who know me well and have known me a long time will likely agree. I do believe perfectionism to be sinful as it is relying on myself rather than on the Lord. It make a to-do list an idol.

Over the next few weeks, I will be praying and seeking the Lord's guidance as to how to better handle the time he has given me.  I will try to work out my priorities and how I can get the most important things done. I am going to start my Heart of Dakota preschool curriculum soon. My plan was after Thanksgiving, which is this weekend, but we will see.

One thing that struck me as I read this ebook from Money Saving Mom....
Sometimes the good things have to be given up so we can have time for the best things.