Busy

I saw a post about a mom's desire to not be busy (I am not judging her wishes... it just made me think about my life... these are my thoughts)... to have her family at home with her... and while I crave my time at home with my family and being "just us", I feel that it ?IS US" when we are together at our events. My kids have learned to support each other, cheer for each other, and help each other. I feel that for the next few years I have to find balance between being just our family vs. giving my kids the opportunities they've asked for.

For us it means we are heavily involved in athletics... they each have a sport each season and in true athletic fashion all of those sports overlap a bit... which can make for crazy times. And now I've found that as my kids get "good" at something they crave it more... individualized lessons, open-play time, etc.




I always laugh when people tell me ...

• just say no... my thought is who do I say no to... do I tell baby girl that she can't swim because it's inconvenient with her older brothers schedule? Do I tell Pepe that he can't participate in math club because I need to take Phinneous somewhere... NO... for me I figure it out.
• I won't allow my children to play/do ________ (aren't these the times that shape who we will be become... I don't expect professional athletes, but I do expect hard workers, the ability to work on a team, to stay focused... all of those skills will transfer into life)
  

The joy I have in watching my children play, focus, interact, find determination is incredible. So my weekend included 6 soccer games, 2 basketball games and one swim lesson... I loved every minute of it!

Play on!

Snow Day

I woke to my phone ringing at 5:25am... it was our school district... I didn't get to the phone in time and I received a non-existent message... did they need me to sub? was school 2 hours late? canceled?

So, I was awake... I kept checking websites, the sub line, fb without luck... NOTHING... every district was canceled but ours! UGH!

Finally, the kids are awake and the news comes through... NO SCHOOL TODAY!

Is it nap time yet?

The following pictures are not from today -- these are from our fun at Government Camp :)

UPDATE: No wonder the confusion... the NewsFlash system crashed this morning (it's the system that emails us when school is delayed or canceled... now it all makes sense!

Wordless Wednesday

Oh, the places you'll go!

Quick, quick... SMART?!?!

KIDS,

BASEBALL, SOCCER, BASKETBALL, SWIMMING, ETC

HOMEWORK

APPOINTMENTS

AND NOW... SUBBING!

Life is very full, and there are times that things must happen quickly around here. One of our go-to-meals is tacos/burritos. Everyone loves them and I can use left-over meat, (and such) to prepare them.

On this particular night I had left over pork... I chopped it, added taco seasoning and let it simmer.

I discovered I was out of refried beans (the kids favorite)... but I had left-over rice and a can of black beans... I mixed them together and simmered.

It was a great taco/burrito night (I try to always have both kinds of shells on hand.) We like to add cheese, olives. avocado, salsa (My kids don't like fresh tomatoes... I do so I add them to mine if I have them, but they will eat salsa.), etc...

What happens next?

I used to wrap everything up individually and store it in the refrigerator for left-overs... not any more!

With the remaining shells, meat, beans and cheese I roll burritos. I can then either freeze them for future use or I put them in the refrigerator for snacks.

1. Roll out cling-wrap.
2. Place shell on cling wrap.
3. Add meat, beans and cheese.

4. Roll burrito and then wrap snugly in cling-wrap.

5. Place rolled burritos in zip-lock bag... on this night I decided that the tortilla bag that was headed for the garbage can would be perfect to store the wrapped burritos in.


Wam, Bam ... quick snacks or lunch... I love doing this as it cuts down on messes in the kitchen and it gives my kids a great snack option!

Also, with subbing, I'm leaving the house early which makes for a hectic morning. I'm trying to cut-down on the things I have to do each morning and making lunches was the first thing to go. After all basketball practices were over I assembled lunches... Baby Girl offered to help. She took orders from everyone (hot lunch or cold lunch... ya know, does mom even need to make you a lunch) (pbj or bagels or sliced salami and cheese) (chips or crackers), etc.

We got everything assembled in the lunch boxes and stacked them in the refrigerator... now the kids just need to grab them in the morning. (I did leave the crackers and chips on the counter... it just didn't seem right to refrigerate them. The kids will add them to their lunches in the morning.)

Whew... one less thing on my hefty morning list... now, what to wear to work?

World Champions!

And that is one happy group of boys at my house!

V-day

I was at the preschool this week... subbing.

I headed off to find a book to read and I stumbled across the box of Valentine books. I love this book... it was a find a couple of years ago and I read it to my class as a cold read. As I read several ideas came to me and I scrapped my entire planned day and we worked on projects surrounding this book.

Mice made out of hearts....

Huge valentines...

Sparkly, fluffy, lacy valentines...

Writing notes to friends...

Loving our families...

etc.Enjoy... you can find it here.