Healthy Meal Ideas

I have been trying to save money and eat more healthy. One way to do that is to eat less fat and sugars. I decided to cut back on meats and dairy. Here are some easy, inexpensive meal ideas...

My idea is to make these changes without having to buy a lot of items that I never use. All of these can be made with things you always have on hand without meat and cheese!!!

Bean Chili
Veggie Burgers
Mexican Casserole
Spaghetti
Bean Tacos or Crunch Wraps
PB and J Sandwiches
Pizza
Baked Potatoes
Pancakes and Fruit
Split Pea Soup
Meatless Minestrone
Pot Pie

If you need any recipes just comment!

Do you have any meals to add??? Lauriel...I'm going to call you out!!!

Favorite Book

We have been going to the library once a week because I am trying to see how many books we can read throughout the school year. So far we have read 30 new books in a month. (A lot of them we have read over and over.) So a lot of the books we get I read once and avoid till we return them. Some I really love. Here are a few that I love and the kids love as well...

Conversations...

Today I'm watching 4 yr old Miles. He is so sweet and plays so well with my kids...probably because of his 5 other siblings. It is fun to watch him and hear the things he says. He is the reason I sometimes want to have a lot of kids.

Here is a conversation between Atti, Miles, Phoenix and me...

Me - Lets pray on our food while it cools down a little.
Miles - I don't need to because I'm a man.
Phoenix - I don't need to either.
Atti - I got hurt by the bee
Miles - Did you cut the stinger off?
Atti - YEAH I killed it!
Phoenix - NO we just put mud.
Atti - I got a popsicle.

I have been hearing little cute conversations all day so far!! I can't believe they actually understand eachother.

PS this is the 3rd time Miles has commented on his manhood. (does it still count if I caught him and Nix in the bathroom trying to put a pretty in her hair?)

Have a SPOOKY Day!!

 We had some fun taking pictures after bathtime yesterday. SO CUTE!

Blog Friends

for some reason I can't comment on other blogs!!! Help!!! I promise I'm not ignoring you!

Home Preschool Ideas

Preschool is to prepare kid to go into kindergarten. They need to learn social, emotional and intellectual things. When looking at my children and my situation I decided that I could provide a preschool environment for my children and save the $75 - $100 per month spent in tuition and gas.

The targets that children need to reach before entering preschool are these...

(these are from Ready! for Kindergarten)
Language and Literacy

• enjoys being read to and can retell a story
• recognized the names and sounds of 12-15 letters (lower case)
• repeats beginning and ending sounds in words
• speaks in complete sentences
• prints his or her first name (Capital first letter and the rest lower case)

Math and Reasoning

• counts in order 1-20
• recognizes numbers and quantities 1-5
• names and sorts items by color (12 of them), shape (15 of them), and size
• understands concepts like more, less, same, over, big and small

Social and Emotional

• settles into new groups and situations
• can concentrate for 5 minutes
• follows simple directions
• shows kindness and concern for others

With this guideline I have come up with a way to school my kids at home. Here are a few ideas...

 I created a closet with lots of kids games, puzzles and craft supplies. I then filled a jar with blue sticks with the activities and another jar with songs. Here are the games that I had or made up that I thought would be great learning for them...

• twister
• name that letter
• your baby can read video
• string beads
• color pictures
• nursery rhymes
• read a book
• freeze dance (freeze when the music stops)
• name that color
• I spy (colors, shapes, letters around the house)
• Sorry
• Bingo
• blocks
• red light, green light
• yahtzee
• duck duck goose
• simon says
• Prepositional friend (name a prep like under and then have someone hide a toy under something)
• playdoh (make letter or number shapes)
• name that shape
• Hide and seek
• hokey pokey
• musical chairs (teaches kids it's ok to lose)
• sing songs
• cootie game
• hang man

 below are the nursery rhymes

 below is a game that I made up. The kids have to sort the beads into piles and put then in the right place in the eg carton. Teaches sorting, number recognition, and colors.

 Below is "I spy" I say I spy the letter K. What sound does the K make?

 We decided to read all the books we could. So far we have read 16 new book since the 1st of September.

 Preposition cards are fun for the kids.

 After we read a book we talk about the feelings of the characters. We talk about what would help them to feel better and what we should do if we felt like that. This has been great!

 There are a lot more things I have made up but I want to talk lastly about this book. It has been so good in giving me ideas. My friend lent it to me and afte I kept it for so long she gave it to me!! Check it out!!

Bedroom

 Look what I did today! I gave my room a makeover!