Tot School

Well. It hasn't been non-existent...

But I've clearly taken a blogging break with Tot School and our activities have been much less structured and a lot more recycling of past favorite activities.

We have kept up on reading, though!

I suppose that's appropriate for "summer break", but I am hoping to get back into the swing of planning activities and small lessons for the kids.

Poor Will.

He really misses it and has asked almost daily if I would "play a game" with him. When I say "Sure, buddy. What game do you want to play?" He always says "an activity!"... which is his reference to Tot School work. I guess I'm glad he thinks of them as games!

Some of my upcoming goals with the kids include:

1) continued focus on phonics and reading with Will - working more with blending of letter sounds

2) a new ritual of calendar time with Will - acquiring an understanding of yesterday, today, tomorrow... as well as the flow of a calendar and upcoming events

3) some basic writing practice with Will

4) he's into geography lately, so I'll probably play into that some more

5) speech and language comprehension with Sophie

6) continued fine motor activities with Sophie

7) color recognition with Sophie

8) continued sensory stimulating activities with Sophie

And here's a little of what they've been doing over the past month

(you'll have to scroll down on many of these links):

-watermelon seed counting

-transferring pom poms with various tools (fine motor and pincer grasp)

-dot stamping color-by-number pages from MLF

-assembling tree & flower felt puzzles

-patterning game from Lakeshore

-playing with Leap Frog globe

-assembling large Melissa & Doug USA floor puzzle

-ob.sess.ing over his "cars & trucks" - sorting them, racing them, learning all their names

-exploring little critters
-and big critters! (it's hard to see, but we've had a small, red fox in our field -probably eating food scraps- twice now!)

-exploring vegetable gardens

-building with Connectagons

-puzzles

-helping in the kitchen

-various fine motor work such as putting q-tips into a small jar (also see here)

-more puzzles

-ooh! this one is soooo cool! I saw it on another blog and had to try it! we made a hopscotch board on the carpet using colored tape and filled it with double digit numbers so Will could solidify his recognition of the teens numbers... it worked and was so fun (you can see we ran out of tape though :))

(we also used farm animals for markers - LOL)

-gross motor skills - and so funny! - we played wheel barrow!

-used Melissa & Doug animal magnets to practice more animal sounds

-more play with our family flash cards

-more play with nuts & bolts (for fine motor practice)

-and, of course, the calendar... this has been on my to-do list for quite some time and I couldn't bring myself to actually buy one... so I took some tips from a couple other blogs and just made one... it cost me 35 cents for the poster board... I kept it basic - I'm not interested in including weather and feelings in our calendar at home, but I do plan to add more features such as pictures of people on their birthdays, clip art to display upcoming events, some sort of marker for the current day, actual labels that read "yesterday", "today", "tomorrow", etc... I'll update here as I add to this...

(he already knows days of the week, but this is good practice in learning how they're spelled... and it's also good for practicing double-digit number recognition)

-pipe cleaners into a jar

-playing with colorful plastic buttons - sifting them, transferring them, etc.

-dividing handfuls into a muffin pan

-sensory finger-painting with yogurt

-more gross motor skills... balance!

So that's a glimpse of what we've been up to.

I spent some time recently reorganizing my Tot School storage area and am starting to sift back through the notebook I keep of ideas. So hopefully, we can pick things up a little more...

What are your favorite activities to do with your child?

Are you all fired up again for "back-to-school"... regardless of whether or not you have a school-aged child? That's the thing about August, no? :)

Running Log

August 23rd
Distance = 6 miles
Total Time = 48:20
Average Mile = 8.02
Notes = Woo hoo! I made it 6 miles! And it was really no big deal. I think that's because I was at Pearson Park again and runs rarely seem like a chore there. I went around 7:20 p.m. and purposely took it easy after race day, but my time was still decent. Bummer that it's getting darker earlier, though. I think I would like to get up to 7 miles and consistently have a once a week "long run" of 6-7 miles. That should hopefully set me up for the 10K well (which is 6.2 miles, by the way).


August 25th
Distance = 3.5+ miles (broken up as fartleks, stairs and cool down laps at the high school track again)
Total Time = not calculated because of the type of workout
Average Mile = 1st mile was 7-ish mins, 2nd was 7:20-ish, 3rd was 7:30-ish
Notes = 7:45 p.m. There were a bunch of men working on prepping the football field for Friday's game while I ran around the track. I recognized one of the men as the father of the girl who stood to beat my mile record the last few years. (But alas, it's still standing - wink, wink - and is now 12 years old.) So I think that gave me inspiration to push a little harder. Haha! I did a cool down lap between miles before starting another one. And I did 10 sets of stairs in the bleachers between miles 2 and 3.

Also, as an aside... Wes and I have been questioning the accuracy of our chips after they told us we'd finished the 5-miler a few hundred meters before the finish line (even though we'd both calibrated on the track prior to race day). Then a couple other marked runs seemed "off" too. So I checked on both of the first 2 miles today and they are dead on. Weird. So perhaps, there's room for error somewhere, but that 5-miler may have been more like 5.2???

And one more thing: my grandma managed to acquire a list of all the finishers from the 5-miler and it's been interesting to go through it and see everyone's places and times and several other names that I recognize. There were a total of 511 finishers. I placed 162nd overall and 37th among the women. They also list ages and it was just lovely to find out that I was beat by four 12-year olds... 3 of them girls! LOL Good for them. I wish I were that good at age 12.
Anyway... moving on...


August 28th
Distance = 5.01 miles
Total Time = 39:16 (Hmm... really? Questioning the accuracy again.)
Average Mile = 7:49
Notes = It's frustrating to be unsure of the accuracy with these chips. This was a mid-day run (read: HOT!) and my legs were feeling like dead weight again. So it makes no sense that my time was that good. I think it's wrong. Boo.


This week is going to be a little tougher to squeeze in evening runs due to prior commitments. I'm hoping to at least get 2 week night runs in.

What's For Dinner? Week 4

I have some yummy family-favorite recipes to share with you today!


Here's what's on our menu this week:
1. Saturday: Remember we went to Marblehead this morning? Well Craig was supposed to be gone ALL DAY at a car show, but it got rained out. And remember how he's not that big a fan of zucchini? (Ya, I know. He's crazy.) Well I was planning to make a stir fry where the two main ingredients are chicken and... zucchini! And I expected that he wouldn't eat with us. But in the end, he went out to dinner with friends and then to watch UFC at his sister's, so it was still just the kids and I eating this tasty dish:

Lemon Chicken & Zucchini

Here's Sophie's plate (lately we've been giving her an actual plate on her tray):

The stir fry has the flavors of lemon and fresh ginger and it's so good. Here's the recipe (from my mom):

1 1/2# chicken - cut into 1" pieces

3 1/2 cups thinly sliced zucchini
1/4 cup chicken broth (I used stock)

1 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp oil (probably more)

1 tsp grated FRESH ginger

2 Tbsp FRESH squeezed lemon juice

-Blend broth into cornstarch; stir in soy sauce and sugar. Preheat wok and add oil. Stir fry ginger for 30 seconds. Stir fry 1/2 zucchini 2-3 mins. Remove and repeat with remaining zucchini. Remove. Stir fry half of chicken (will need more oil) about 4 mins or until cooked through. Remove and do remaining chicken. Return all chicken to wok. Stir broth and add to chicken. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Add zucchini and lemon juice - cook 1 min more. Serve over brown rice. 4 servings.
2. Sunday: Cecilia's baptism party had delicious food! Barbecue chicken on the grill, sweet corn, my mother-in-law's German potato salad (my fave!), mandarin & candied almond green salad, tomato & mozzarella skewers, strawberry pie, etc. Ahh! Heaven!

3. Monday: Chicken Tortilla Soup with Chipotle and Fire Roasted Tomato. I've made this A TON and you've seen it here several times before. It's the best! 4. Tuesday: leftovers.

5. Wednesday: Peanutty Pork Kabobs. Wow! I can't believe I haven't ever posted this one here before. I used to make it all the time and it's one of my top requested recipes by my more gourmet family and friends. :) Definitely a family fave. I found it over 10 years ago in a Quick Cooking magazine so you know it's fast and easy, but it tastes so fancy with "Thai" flavors.
Here's the recipe for Peanutty Pork Kabobs:

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice

1/4 cup peanut butter

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1# pork tenderloin cut into 1" cubes

2 medium green peppers, cut into 1" pieces

-In a large bowl, combine first seven ingredients; mix well. Set aside 1/2 cup for basting and pour remaining marinade over pork cubes in a large resealable plastic bag or shallow glass container. Toss pork to coat, cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours. Drain and discard marinade. Alternate pork and green pepper onto skewers. Grill, uncovered, over medium heat for 6 mins, turning once. Baste with reserved marinade. Grill 8-10 mins longer. Yield 4 servings.
*Note: Sophie scarfed this stuff right up! I was shocked. I tentatively decided to offer it to her despite the peanut butter... and red pepper flake... and chewy pork... She doesn't eat meat very well so I didn't expect her to touch it. But she did and she ate it really fast! So yay! And I guess she's officially been introduced to peanut butter now!

6. Thursday: leftovers

7. Friday: probably scrounging and leftovers. We're planning to go to the football game so who knows?

Happy eating and I hope you enjoy these recipes!

Fall To-Do List

I checked back on my summer to-do list and found that we have accomplished 20 out of 34 items! Not bad, I guess. But I love making lists, as you know, and I am certain that the weeks are going to fly by in the fall as they always do. So this will help me remember all the things I want to accomplish.

So, here it is...

Fall To-Do List

1) Fleitz Pumpkin Farm - At least 2-3 visits - we LOVE that place!

2) Country Lane Tree Farm - Remember we went there for Easter and last fall? Will loves it!

3) MacQueens Orchards - Pick your own apples plus a farmers market and lots of fall activities.

4) Susan Komen Race for the Cure - I think we're going to sign up for the one mile walk this year and have Will walk/run alone (if possible - that's a little far yet for him) and I'll walk with Sophie on my back.

5) Eat fudge and kettle corn and sip cider while browsing the shops and craft booths with my friend Jill at the Apple Butter Festival in Grand Rapids - October 10th this year!

6) Cooking & baking with the flavors of fall: butternut squash soup, pumpkin waffles, chicken & bacon roulades, stove top oatmeal cooked with cider and pears, dried cranberries and walnuts, apple crisp, squash ravioli with sage, etc.

7) Road races, including a 10K in October (hopefully!)

8) Fall Tot School themes and activities

9) Corn maze & hay ride

10) Monarch Release on September 25th at The Butterfly House

11) Celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary on October 2nd - weekend getaway??

12) Football games

13) Fall fondue party with friends

14) Street Fair and businesses Open House in downtown Genoa - haven't heard when yet, but they do this every year

15) Enjoy getting dressed in fall-ish attire: scarves, boots, hats, jackets, layers! My favorite season!

16) Celebrate Craig's 32nd birthday on October 18th

17) Halloween! - crafts, costumes, decor, pumpkins

18) Flea Market in Sylvania in September

19) Continue with the Nature Tots program at ONWR - we missed it in August because of his race and now I'm realizing we're going to miss the September one for the same reason - bummer

20) Weekly library trips

21) Walks and bike trailer rides

22) Take the kids bowling for the first time?

23) More date nights with Craig!

Okay! I think that's good for now. We'll probably add to it as we hear of new things.

What are your favorite fall activities?

WIWW

Hooray! It's Wednesday again!

I love Wednesday now.

And guess what! My friend Amy participated this week in all her preggo glory. I'm pretty sure Amanda will be posting again this week. (Tonight?) And Casey agreed to start taking pictures to post next week since she's back to work again. I'm going to hold you to it, Case!

So here's another installment from me:

Thursday

Work

black & white tank dress - Ann Taylor Loft, borrowed from Casey

(It seems we're all borrowing clothes from Casey, huh Amy? And the best part about this is: she wanted it back that night so she could wear it the next day... so I didn't even have to wash it! Haha. In fact, she was wearing it in my 5-Miler post. And it looks better on her.)

black leggings - Kohl's

white cardi - Target

black flats (not pictured) - Target

Friday

Work

vest - Gap

white tee - Boden

khakis - Gap

I'm feeling blah about this outfit. I used to love it, but today it feels boring. The white tee has gotten stretched out a bit in the wash and now it looks sloppy under. For pete's sake, could someone please invent a perfect fitting white tee? How hard can that be? And I just don't have any cute accessories to pair with this. I want some funky necklace that hangs down over the tee, just above the vest or some bold earrings or a bracelet. Whatev... I'm used to being boring. But I do love accessories. I prefer simple clothes and fun accessories in general - a pin, a scarf, a necklace - something!

Saturday

Visit to Lakeside in the morning and then around the house and meal prep in the afternoon.
cotton dress (one of my new favorite things to wear - LOVE the color and LOVE the fit) - Target ($15 - score!)
white cardi - Target

It was cool in the morning. But it did warm up and I dropped the cardigan. The dress criss-crosses in the back. And doesn't this purse look cute with it?
Here are the shoes (Target) I wore with it.

Sunday

Cecilia's baptism and party after

dress - Ann Taylor Loft (circa 2005, I think? or maybe 2006?)
same white cardi (gettin' a lot of wear this week) - Target

I wore those brown beaded sandals from last week with this. Remember those? From Kohl's.

The dress is actually a halter. I love it! And the cardi came off almost immediately. It warmed up quick on Sunday!

In the evening, I put Saturday's dress back on to save on laundry and 'cause it's so comfy!

Monday Work
green tank - Kohl's (love the ruffly top)

white pants - Express (super old - debating if I still like them - haven't worn in forever)

black cardi - Kohl's

necklace - a gift from my friend Jill who got it at a festival craft booth

Monday evening

Goin' runnin'

tank - I have no idea where this is from - it's super old

BGSU shorts - University Bookstore circa 2001
Nike shoes (not pictured)

Later Monday night (LOL)

jambos - ha! reality bites, huh?

tee - Susan Komen Race for the Cure

boxers - Vic's

sweatshirt robe (LOOOOVE it! wear it constantly in winter) - Vic's

Tuesday

Work

top - Gap

gray pants - Gap

And P.S. - can I just add that I love hiding my face behind the camera in these early morning pics? Sometimes it just ain't pretty! Especially on mornings like this when my hair just drip-dried overnight and looks super nappy.

Also, I'm changing my week in pictures to end on Tuesday and start on Wednesday so I can write this post earlier on Wednesday. So next week will run Wed - Tues. Make sense?

Isn't this fun?

And I appreciate any and all feedback.

Better yet... why don't you join me?? :)

See you next week!