Starting Over

I have been pondering for the past two weeks what I should post for Works for Me Wednesday, and coming up with nothing. "Come on Amanda, this isn't that hard!" , I chastised myself, "What works for you?"

That's when I realized, it ain't working.

For the past month I've felt like a dog chasing my tail, running, running, running in circles and never catching it. The days have not been going smoothly, the house is cluttered and it feels like things are somewhat out of control. Jeremy had surgery so he is not able to be up and around much and he is now off of work until January! Usually we hardly see him during the holidays because work is soo busy then, we are blessed to have this time with him.

Typically, when he has a day off of work, we just "hang out" for the day and then I catch up on things the next day. Well I can't just "hang out" for 3 months and think things will still run well around here. So I finally realized instead of beating myself up everyday about 4:00pm for not getting my whole schedule done, why don't I reevaluate and make a new schedule for the time he is off work? *ding* LIGHTBULB! We want to make the most of this time and still get things done that need to be done..

Since this literally hit me about an hour ago, tomorrow I will go over our schedule and see where changes need to be made, and also get Jeremy's input for how he would like the day to run. (It's not all about me ya' know. ;) )

This oughta be good. :)

I've been at this place before: starting over. Life changes all of the time and we have to be flexible enough to change with it. What about you? Are your routines and schedules working for you or are you working for them? Maybe it's time to start over!

For more ideas to make life work visit: We Are That Family.

Quick and Easy

One of my favorite things about fall is pulling out all of the recipes that we only get this time of year; casseroles, soups, stews, all those warm things that nobody would want to touch in the summer heat. My favorite way to make soup is to let it simmer on the stove all day so we can smell it's yummy goodness. Sometimes though, simmering all day doesn't fit into my schedule and I want something to warm up with quick! This is my favorite go to soup for that. It is relatively cheap, quick and easy, and most importantly, delicious!

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Broccoli Cheese Soup (from Jeremy's Aunt Jill)

3 T. Butter

3/4c. chopped onion

-saute in pan for about 3 minutes, then add:

6 c. water

6 chicken boullion cubes

8 oz. very fine noodles

1 t. salt

-cook for 5 minutes, add:

6 c. milk

1 1/2 lbs. Velveeta

-stir until smooth

1 bag frozen broccoli

1/4 t. garlic powder

-cook until broccoli is heated through and noodles are done

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There ya' have it! This makes a HUGE pot of soup, I usually make half of the recipe for our family. They all love it and that, works for me!

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For more clever tips and tricks visit We Are That Family for Works for Me Wednesday.

Helpers for Homeschooling

Since I homeschool my children in 3rd, K, and Pre-K and I have a 2 month old baby, I have to be able to have some things each one can do independantly during the day. They all love to be on the computer so... these websites have been a great help to me because the girls are learning, they are having fun and their attention is being kept for the half hour or so that I need it to be. Yay!

Spelling City is awesome! Each week I input Lauren's spelling list and she can learn and practice her words, play a bunch of different games, and take practice tests. The site will say the word, then a sentence and then the word again just like I would do for the practice tests. When you sign up for the site it keeps track of all your lists, so all she has to do is click on the correct one. All for free! If you pay a membership fee, it will also keep track of test and game scores too. This would be awesome even for kids in public school to have fun with practicing their words.

Starfall is a fun website for prek and k or any little ones learning to read. They have phonics practice with different songs, stories that the child can "read" along with, and a number of different games to practice sound blends. It is very easy to navigate, my 5 and 3 year olds have no problem playing by themselves.

For more ideas that make life work, visit We are That Family for Works for Me Wednesday.

3rd Annual Summer Camp

The days of summer are quickly slipping away, along with all the things that make summer, summer. Two years ago when we first started homeschooling I wanted to think of something to get back into "school day schedule" that would be fun for the girls and not very stressful for me. So we started "Summer Camp".

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It's that time again!
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This year I decided that we would do a different theme every week and we would incorporate everything into that theme. This week is "Water Week" and we're focusing on obedience and serving others. (Cuz believe me, we could use an extra dose of obedience and servanthood around here. Yikes.)

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Yesterday, we read about Jonah and the Whale and we made these whales. (Do you think I could use this story to threaten my children that if they don't obey I'm calling the whale? Probably not a good plan.)

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We made these bubble snake things that I found in Family Fun magazine and the girls had a blast with them. They played with them for an hour!

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Instructions:

1. Cut the bottom of an empty water bottle.

2. Secure a piece of old towel that's a few inches larger than the bottle to the bottom with a rubber band.

3. Dampen the wash cloth in water, then dip it into a shallow pan of dish soap.

4. Blow gently into the top to make the snakes.

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For snack we had "Beached Whales". I honestly did not know what we were going to have for snack until the girls were outside playing and it came to me. It worked well with the theme though! Basically it was smores with the marshmallows dyed blue, and whale crackers.

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But, most importantly the girls got up early, did their chores and morning routines on schedule for school, and had many blessed opportunities to obey with a joyful heart, and serve one another too. :) So far this summer camp thing works for me!

Getting Back on Track

I'm pulling out the big guns. This nonsense has gone in for far too long. It's threatening the sanity of our family and I have to put a stop to it. What is this monster of which I speak?

Disorder. No schedule. Chaos.

Call him what you want he goes by many names.

For the past few months I have been "flexible". You know the pregnant, tired, just getting through the day kind. Now that pregnancy has been relieved and the baby has been birthed so I've been the no sleep, new baby kind of "flexible". Now, don't get me wrong I need to be flexible and I have learned some good lessons about letting some things go so more important things can get accomplished. I have also learned the lesson that my family needs me to keep them on schedule and none of us really thrive without it.

So the large home organization/schedule binder has come out. The schedules and charts have been revamped to fit our family where it is now and I am ready for action. So although this is a very simple post about getting back on track. I just want to say it loud and clear for the world (or the few people that read this blog.. "hi, mom" :) ) to hear: SCHEDULING WORKS FOR ME!!!