Can you believe that summer is drawing to a close? I know it’s just the second week of August, but the Princess’s summer vacation is nearly finished and we’re counting down to the start of school.
Next week, I have a week of last hurrah’s planned for the five of us, but this week we’re doing business as usual and looking forward to our last few leisurely weeks.
I will admit, though, I like when school starts. Forget Jan 1, this is my own personal New Year. I love the return to order and routines and schedules. Oh yes, I do.
Monday
Turkey Bake with Whole Wheat Pasta (leftover from last week) with salad (with veggies from our CSA share!)
Tuesday
Chicken and veggie risotto with garlic bread (There’s no recipe for this, but it’s one of our favorite. Basically, you make risotto and toss in cooked chicken and whatever veggies you have on hand.)
Wednesday
CSA pickup day
Pepper Steak over Rice with veggies
Thursday
Left blank. We’re hoping to take the girlies on a surprise day trip!
Friday
Pizza Night!
Saturday
Kids cooking night.
We started this with the girls last week and while it was more work, it was a hit with them
Easy chicken and cheese enchiladas with veggies
Sunday
Grilled chicken, grilled veggies and foil potatoes. We’re making the most of what’s left of summertime!
Need more menu plan ideas? Check out:
When I was pregnant with the Princess I would sit in a rocking chair with a few children’s books and I would read to her while she was inside me. I read to her as a newborn and I read to her through her infancy. The only time I really stopped reading was that brief period of time she got too grabby. I stopped for a few weeks, but the Princess has always been read to and, no surprise, the Princess loves to read.
I didn’t read specifically to Littlebit while she was snuggled in my rib cage, but I was reading to the Princess all the time. And once LB* was born, I kept reading.
LB-2008
And, of course, I read to Baby Bee now too. We make weekly treks to the library. My girls LOVE books. Of course, there’s no guarantee that reading to your kids is going to foster a love of books and I’m sure there are plenty of parents who HAVE read to children who DON’T end up loving to read, but that’s not the case in our house. We love books.
I already share the books that I’m loving with you, and Ill be sharing the Princess’s favorite books too, but today I want to share Littlebit’s Top Ten FAVORITE books. These are all books we own. I’m linking to amazon, but in the spirit of full disclosure, I make no many from the links or any sales. That should cover the fine print, right?
Littlebit’s Top Ten FAVORITE Books (meaning we read them over and over and OVER and they are in no particular order)
- Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boyton
- Olive by Ian Falconer
- Skippyjohn Jones by Judy Schachner
(we’ve read all of the books, but Littlebit still prefers the first book the most
- Pinkalicious by Victoria Kahn
- Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
- The Monster at the End of the Book by Jon Stone
- Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
- No, David! by David Shannon
- Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
- Gingerbread Baby by Jan Bret
What are some of your children’s favorite books? We’re always looking for new titles to read.
*Littlebit.
I know, I’m trying hard to be creative with these titles, and I’m probably totally just sucking it up, but I should get points for trying.
We’ve had sort of an off kilter week. I think Baby Bee might be teething and all the girls got colds which made them crabby and no one is sleeping well and ISN’T IT TIME FOR SCHOOL YET??!?
And Thursday I had a Costco trip that you probably wouldn’t believe even if I told you. Damn you, leaded juices!! But even crankiness and major faux pas, can’t stop the link love.
These paper stars from City Cradle Design are amazing! Seriously. I’d love to make about a million.
I paid an obscene amount of money for pettiskirts for the Princess and Littlebit two years ago, but this turotial from Make it and Love it for Full and Fluffy pettiskirts makes it seem like maybe I could try making one and getting good results. They look similar to the one I bought, see?
Littlebit-Age 2
I would eat this Broccoli and Chicken Lasagna from Taste of home. Oh yes, I would.
And on the broccoli theme (which may be growing fresh in your garden right now and leaving you wondering what you’re going to DO with it), check out Sweet Jeanette’s Broccoli Cheddar Soup.
This article on how to improve your writing (without improving your writing) by Adventuroo was a fun read on how to make your writing more readable.
Homeschooling or not, these 24 Short and Sweet Preschool Math Activities from Math Insider are totally going onto Littlebit’s activity rotation.
I loved this post from Multiple Mama about all the things she does (or doesn’t have to do) in her shoes.
Living the Good Life talked about 7 reasons why you can’t make up your mind. Is it obvious if I say most of them applied to me.
I seriously did NOT know that you could do THIS many things with cucumbers? Got too many of them in your garden too? This list ought to use up a few of them for you. Cellulite remover? Are you kidding me?
Got a great link you want me to share on my next link love Friday? Leave me a comment and I’ll be sure to feature you.
Once, when I was in college and I thought that maybe I wanted to major in history (and then I realized that history majors made NO money and I might be shallow, but I wasn’t putting five years into a degree to make LESS than I was making working at a grocery store) I took history classes to my heart’s content. It remains one of my favorite subjects.
And while I love the major events and people, the thing I love the most is learning about what life was like “back then”. How people lived. How they cooked. How they raised their children. How they ran their homes.
Not to go all feminist on you, but we know how men lived. We know how they worked. We know what they did and how their lives where. It’s documented history. But the wives and daughters of those men aren’t written about so prominently. In fact, the majority of what we do know about their lives come from records the women kept for themselves. In their dairies and journals.
Today, I was thinking about my blog as I climbed into the shower. About why I blog and why I think SO MANY women blog. And I think I found the answer as I stood in the shower and let my day wash over and off of me.
Women, it seems, are hard wired to find ways to tell our story. We realize that our lives in the trenches aren’t going to make the history books. Well, most of our lives aren’t. And there’s just this inclination, maybe in our genes, to write down our story.
One thing I love so much about reading the blogsof others is learning about how they live. It’s just like back in history class when I was getting snippets about lives people lived “back then”. I think it’s amazing that maybe JUST maybe our lives and our families will be the most documented of all time. That there will be a plethora of first hand accounts floating around about what life is like. Right now.
We’re making history. With every single word we write. Isn’t that profound?
Back when we lived in our little white house and my free time was non-existent and involved packing and freaking out, I found a tutorial to make an awesome planter. I shared it via a link love Friday post and decided that it would look awesome on my new awesome porch and declared that I would be making it! Post haste!
And as soon as we moved, Auntie Awesome and I took the girls for a shopping trip where I bought all the supplies to make the planter. All of them!
And then, I left them sit in the garage for a month and a half.
I don’t really know why. Maybe moving was harder than I thought?
But, on Monday night I finally slapped some spray paint on that sucker and Tuesday the girls and I planted and this is what we have.
Before Plants (obviously, right?)
Isn’t it happy looking? I may still opt to stencil our initial or house address on it. Verdict is out.
After Plants
Also, we decided to plant herbs instead of flowers. It’s really late in the growing season and we love fresh herbs, so it was a win/win.
If you decide to make this, you may find you have trouble getting the pots to sit flat at first. Don’t worry! The weight from the pots will flatten the dirt and everything will be even/flat.
Also, the Princess and I went to Walmart to buy our plants. Plants are hella cheap right now, including big patio planters with tomatoes! I bought three boston ferns to hang on the porch for the stickered price of one. See? More pretty!
Porch ferns. LOVE!
30-something mama of three. In June of 2010 we completed a 450 mile move from the Chicago Suburbs to small town Ohio. Trying to hold all my loose ends togethe.