This week has been a pretty busy week for us. We usually don’t have much going on out of the norm, but we had some fun activities this week.
Sunday was Parker’s birthday. My oldest is now 10, hard to believe. Saturday night we had movie night and watched Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You. Sunday morning Delilah and I set up balloons at Parker’s door and set up a camera to capture the excitement. We had to wait quite some time because Parker loves to sleep. While we waited we made green velvet cupcakes and tried to put Ayden down for a nap about 3 times. Ayden did not want to nap that day I guess, but ended up falling asleep, snuggling mommy, just in time for us to finish up the orange flavored frosting for the cupcakes. We finally convinced Parker to come out of his room but he slowly opened his door and was behind the door so we didn’t get to see his reaction to the balloons. Per Parker’s request I made coconut shrimp and chicken along with fried rice for dinner. Parker loves shrimp but not all the family members can have it or like it. Very early Monday morning my husband went out of town on a business trip for the whole week. My husband travels often for work. When he is gone it is like a mini vacation for the kids and I because I don’t have to cook as often, or clean, but the house is usually tidy when he gets back. I usually spend a lot more time playing with the kids when he is gone, but we usually end up staying up too late because we have fun after Ayden goes to bed so the kids have my attention better. This week there has been a lot of playing ROBLOX Pokémon: Brick Bronze and watching the Pokémon show. Monday was also Martin Luther King Jr Day. We talked a little about who he was and what he stood for, which the kids already know a lot on the slave and segregation topics. I printed off some Martin Luther King Jr word searches and put them on the dining table where everyone can see them. At their leisure the kids will look at the sheets and work on them if interested. I forgot to save the link to the word searches so if I figure it out then I will put them on Pinterest for you. Tuesday was a very fun and exciting day. For the afternoon we went to an arcade and pizza place to celebrate Parker’s birthday. Parker invited a couple of friends to go along with us to make it his birthday party. We ate pizza and cupcakes and played lots of arcade games. Ayden even had so much fun he fell asleep. After spending about 3.5 hrs there we left and ended up taking the friends back to our house. There the kids played video games together on the WiiU. It ended up being a very fun day for all. Wednesday I tried something different with my grocery pick up. I usually go pick up the groceries in the late afternoon, it worked best for naps and different times people wake up. This day I wanted to try something new. I got up early, before Ayden, showered and was ready for the day. We picked up the groceries before Ayden’s typical snack and nap time. Since we don’t have to get out of the car I don’t have to make sure the kids are ready for the day, they just have to have some sort of clothing on and jump in the car. The getting everyone out of bed and making sure Ayden isn’t ready for a nap before my scheduled pick up time can be tricky. Thursday we spent some of the day cleaning up the first level of the house a little because I was hosting our homeschool groups Mom’s Night. I also made some yummy banana peanut butter oatmeal muffins. I have been meaning to make those for the longest time but finally did it so I would have a snack for the meeting, now we have a yummy snack for the week. In the evening some moms from our homeschool group came over and talked about whatever came up. My older kids stayed upstairs and played on their computers while Ayden played downstairs with the moms. Roxy, our energetic chocolate lab, loved having company. She kept trying to get the ladies to pet her constantly. There were also a couple of new babies here and I think Roxy was jealous they were getting all the attention. This morning, Friday, I got up and ready because we were supposed to go to our homeschool group. Neither kid really wanted to go so we are just staying home today. It becomes no fun for any of us if the kids aren't having fun and don’t want to be there. The kids don’t really enjoy the structured homeschool group days. When they are with their friends they would much rather play games and chat. Our old homeschool group in Michigan met up for game days and park days so lesson days aren’t what they are used to or enjoy. Since I’m up and ready for the day I may get something done today, we shall see. So far I am just getting this typed out on my iPad so I can set up the post on my computer when Ayden goes for a nap. Throughout the week I have been slowly organizing our new living room shelf unit. It will have all of the learning materials, crafty stuff, card games, puzzles, writing stuff, coloring stuff, etc. I can’t wait to unpack more and see what I can find. We have been looking for the paints and brushes since we moved into the house, but can’t seem to find them. Delilah really wants to paint again, my little artist. Well, there is a glimpse of the fun out of the norm that we had this past week. Stay tuned for next weeks fun happenings!
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Every week, on Tuesday, I work on my meal plan and grocery shop. This is usually an all day endeavor but is all done on my iPad and phone. I make a list of normal groceries that we are running low on so I have that when ordering groceries. I usually use Pinterest to make a list of meals for the week, sometimes a member of the family will throw a meal idea at me. I don’t plan meals per day, just a list of meals. I don’t know what I’ll be in the mood for on a certain day of the week. Yet I do plan for easy meals or meals to go along with busy days. I plan lunches if we need to. Once I figure out what meals I want I will start my grocery shopping.
Let’s just say Walmart grocery pick up has been very good to me. I take my time to put my groceries in my cart. I go meal by meal making sure I get everything, still doesn’t always happen, but less often than when I grocery shop in the store. Once I have my meals in my cart I then go through and put my grocery list in my cart. I then go look in the cupboard, fridge, and freezer to make sure I didn’t forget to put something on my list. I review my cart over and over trying to make sure I don’t forget anything and to see if I can slim it down to save some money. Why does healthy food have to cost so much?! If you haven’t tried the grocery pick up you can try it for $10 off of $50. Just click on this link! It doesn’t seem like this should take all day right. If I had uninterrupted time to get this done it wouldn’t take me so long, but I have 3 kids and a dog, so yea, it takes me all day, a little here, a little there. Before kid #3 and our move we used to go to 2 grocery stores in a matter of a couple hours and pretty much plan meals as we shopped depending what the first store had in stock. Right now Walmart is the only cost effective store I have found in the area. Those of you that have an Aldi will understand how much I miss it. I will start sharing my meal plans with you weekly. There will be attached links (just click on the meal name) to meals if I get it off of the internet, which I usually do. You can also check out my Pinterest page (<—click there) for the weekly meals. This weeks meal plan: Dinners: -Chicken Cacciatore -Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken Thighs, Salad -Pasta, Homemade Spaghetti Sauce -Smoked Sausage, White Bean, Veggie Soup Lunch: -Italian Minestrone Soup -Homemade Soft Pretzels -Salads It may not seem like a weeks worth of meals but that's just how our week is going to go. We have lots of left overs and the husband is out of town for part of the meal week. From week to week you may see the same meal on the menu, usually that's because we didn't get to that meal due to eating out or just eating out of the fridge and pantry. A couple weeks ago Delilah had me blow up a few water balloons with air. They were the only ones she could find and they are a pain to blow up. So I put regular balloons on the grocery list, I only spent about $1.
Buying those balloons was one of the best things I have done for my kids in a while. The possibilities with a blown up balloon are endless. The kids and I have been moving around more, great for winter. The older kids have been playing together more because of these balloons. They will start playing games with the balloons then go off and play something else together. The big kids have times when they don’t do anything together for a week or more, 2 totally different people. Parker will even put away his iPad and video games to play with the balloons, or he will play with a balloon in one hand while his iPad is in the other arm and listening to a video(multitasker). Ayden likes to watch his siblings hit the balloons around but will only play with balloons himself for a very limited time. I am sure the fun of these balloons will fade away sometime soon, but it’s good while it lasts. Now I will keep them stocked for when the kids are in a slump and need something to motivate them to move around or play together. Some games the kids made up: -keep your balloon off the ground while trying to knock the other persons balloon down, using short sticks or wands -have one try to keep the balloon up while the other tries to knock it to the ground -jump on the trampoline with the balloons bouncing around, or hit them with a pool noodle -rub them on your hair and attach to the wall -just throw them at each other -put a string on the end and use it as a bopper, I am about to go do this one right now -hit it back and forth like volleyball Buy a bag of balloons and see what your kids can come up with. |
About UsTake a step into the life of Auer (pronounced like our) homeschool. We are a family that likes to learn through life experiences. We would like to share our experiences so maybe we can make a difference in the lives of others. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook to get the smaller activities that go on that don't always make it to the blog. Archives
May 2019
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