Ash of All Trades

There has been a lot of talk recently about an article shown here .  In short there was another study done in which they "prove" that homework isn't needed.  Grades apparently don't increase with homework and there is no correlation to success from homework.  One school in my area has decided to do away with science homework all together beginning next year.  They feel it is the teacher's job to teach the students during the day and that the kids will be fine and understand the materials. I beg to disagree.  Kids benefit from homework for many reasons.  My oldest daughter is a natural student and brings home great grades without putting forth too much effort.  She completes her homework daily and she and I both see a benefit to it. She would probably still get good grades but not great ones.  In many subjects especially math there are often a couple of problems that she just doesn't understand.  She attempts her best at them and then ...

     It is that time of year when Open House looms on the calendar for all teachers and parents.  It is the perfect time for teachers to show off all that the students have learned and for parents to come to terms with the fact that their child is about to finish their current grade and move on into the future.      With Open House comes projects.  Every teacher wants their classroom to showcase the best work and likely some pinterest inspired ideas.  While most projects occur in the classroom at this time (to surprise mom and dad.)  Naturally one or more make it home to be completed in off school hours.      My oldest two are in the 3rd and 1st grades.  They both have projects looking right now.  My first grader came home with an assignment to learn about an animal and build a pyramid style diorama with writing, a habitat, and a poem.  Cue the complaints from parents.      It seems in t...

My kids are on year round school which means we have 3 separate breaks (we call them Fall, Spring, Summer) rather than one long summer vacation.  Each time we are off track we make a "fun list" of the activities we want to do! Some breaks we have a huge list with activities for every day.  Other times just a handful of really cool things we want to do so that we can leave some spare time open for some spontaneous things.  (I am not spontaneous so we are working on increasing my ability to cope with spontaneity). Here is our Summer Fun List: Swim Lessons Knott's Berry Farm Backyard Camping Individual Movie Nights (each of our girls will stay up late 1 night with mom and dad) Go to the Beach Play date with Good Friends Summer Reading Program at both libraries Go to an Angel's Baseball Game Go Kayaking Make Hygiene Kits for the Homeless Sister's Sleepover (the girls sleep in sleeping bags or on the trundles together) Aquarelle Paintings   Make Ste...

While talking with some friends about playing outside with our kids it dawned on me that kids today don't really play our front.  Some do - a lot.  The vast majority however don't play out front and in the area I grew up in there aren't really backyards to play in. These friends were a bit shocked that I let my girls play out front.  And then I said the magic words: "Yea they play in the street all the time!"  That blew their socks off. Our culture right now is one of caution, anxiety, and fear.  Should we eat organic or ingest chemicals, should we watch T.V. or not, which baby lotions are safe, should kids play on monkey bars they might break their arms.  I am grateful for this information era and all that we know because of course I want my kids to live long healthy lives.  Yet I feel burdened by the weight of all the "what ifs". So yes I let my kids play outside and feel safe doing so.  I am always out there with them and they wear helmet...

This weekend was Memorial Day weekend.  To many people this means parties, barbecue, family, maybe a beach trip or a vacation.  All of these things are good, joyous even.  However, this weekend is not about the start of summer, good weather, or even time with family.  This weekend is time to reflect on life, liberty, freedom, happiness, and so much more.  Sure parties, vacations, and family time are all related to those things but why do we have these things?  How are we free?  We are free in large part due to the sacrifice of our military past and present.  Technically to those who died for our liberty, peace, and freedom. Our Girl Scout troops gathered this weekend to place flags on every grave in our local National Cemetery.  Joining them (or rather we joined) over 1,000 people honored the sacrifice and strife these people went through for themselves and for us.  The sight of a National Cemetery covered in American flags is profound...

Recently our 5 year old under went a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy and I thought I would share some tips and tricks of the process - you know in case you find yourselves in our situation.  Now first and foremost none of this is medical advice.  This is maternal advice - advice from one mom to another. Prepping - We didn't tell our daughter she was having surgery.  She loathes doctors and hospitals and can stress herself out pretty well.  Literally she didn't even ask at the surgery center so we just let it be.  She did great this way and has not questioned us.  Her older sister however was sad that we didn't tell her.  Hindsight - I would do it exactly the same way! Post Surgery: We were told she would need a cold liquid(ish) diet for 24 hours.  What we weren't told is that she shouldn't eat anything with red dye for 3-10 days after the procedure.  This is in case of bleeding - we need to be able to spot it as blood not food right a...

Welcome back friends and readers!  Above is our first Sunday Dinner of this new challenge albeit late.  Man oh man was it delicious! Thankfully my husband likes to cook so after 4 hours at cookie booths with my daughters I came home to this delicious dinner.  Yes I am blessed and maybe a wee bit spoiled! The recipe for the pork is here . (It is similar but not quite the same ours has cooked bacon in the salsa). The potatoes are just mashed with roasted garlic, green onions and fresh cilantro.  They were awesome! Asparagus and bacon go so well together - I never liked asparagus until we started experimenting with different cooking methods.  This is just salt and pepper dressed asparagus wrapped in bacon and grilled for 20-30 minutes.  My husband is a happy man now that we eat asparagus - he loves it! What did you have for your family dinner this week? - Ash of All Trades

A year ago this weekend I ran my first (and probably last) Marathon!  Yes, 26.2 miles!  It was horribly awful and yet exhilarating and fulfilling at the same time.  I LOVE running.  I did not even like running 26.2 but it has been my life goal for a long time.  In preparation for running a whole marathon I started slow.  Couch to 5k style then up to a 10k finally I ran a half marathon. Let me be clear - I am a runner at heart - I started at age 8 inspired by my dad and his running and ran through high school.  During college I ran off and on however once I had my first daughter exercise in general took the back seat.  Faster forward 6.5 years and I was ready to lose the baby weight.  But something happened this time around and losing the baby weight became second fiddle to so much else. Each of these races proved difficult but thrilling.  Each one was a stepping stone to my ultimate goal.  Every race had its own prep...

Welcome back and boy has this week been crazy!  Our life is pretty jam packed full with three little ones and the activities we feel are important in our lives.  In fact today was the second weekend of Girl Scout Cookie Booth Sales which means we still have 4 weeks where we will eat drink and breathe cookies because I am the troop coordinator for both troops. My pledge to my family during this cookie sale is that I would not let it affect our dinner plans.  Each year something always comes up and I end up dealing with cookies during dinner time.  No bueno.  We eat dinner as a family 95% of the time.  The other 5% is because we have a sports/extracurricular activity and during that time whoever is home eats together.  During cookie time the ratios were reversed! We eat at the table as a family and we all eat the same thing.  Shocker right.  That doesn't happen very often anywhere anymore.  Especially with a somewhat picky husband ...

Well I am back again and this time with a post on kids goals!  Yep we included our kids in our 2015 goal planning session.  We began talking about goals at Christmas time and kept the talk up until the 1st of January - then we sat down and wrote down our goals. Here are their goals: Big C age 7-8 in 2015 1. Run a 5k 2. Learn to read at 11th grade level 3. Reach 100 miles for the 100 mile club 4. Earn the Presidents Service Award 5. Make 50 Rainbow Loom Bracelets and Sell 20 of them. Middle C age 5-6 in 2015 1. Learn to rollerblade 2. Learn to swim 3. Run a 1 mile kids fun run 4. Learn to read at 2nd grade level 5. Earn the President's Service Award Little C age 2-3 in 2015 1. Learn letters and numbers 2. Learn colors and shapes 3. Learn to ride a tricycle/scooter 4. Start a class like gymnastics, ballet, etc. 5. Have 500 books read to her. They are so excited about their goals and have been working almost everyday on at least one of them.  Littl...

Normally taking down my Christmas decorations bums me out.  I look forward to the holidays and family time then bam it is over!  This year I am really enjoying taking down the decorations, deep cleaning some rooms in the house and planning for a really awesome 2015. Throughout the year of 2014 I felt like I wasn't accomplishing a whole lot.  Each time I did a project or finished something it felt great but I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere.  In hindsight it is because I didn't sit down and set any written goals.  I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere because I didn't have a checklist to cross off.  The only goal I felt I had accomplished was running a full marathon and even then I wasn't thrilled with my time.  But last year was a great year and I thoroughly enjoyed our more "free spirit" functioning - in fact it is probably how we thrived during such a busy time full of ups and downs and lots of personal growth I just want to track my...

Wow it has been a long time since I have last blogged and a lot has happened since December 2011!   I honestly thought I hadn't blogged in only maybe a year not 3!!!!!!!!!  I now have 3 beautiful daughters (actually I stopped blogging when morning sickness hit with my third)! Big C is in 2nd Grade, Middle C is in Kindergarten, and my baby is already 2!  Time sure does fly! I am sadly going to skip over 2012 and 2013 and just do a recap of 2014.  2014 was an amazing year for our family with a lot of growing and doing.  While I feel that we were ridiculously busy; in hindsight everything had meaning and shaped us in some way.  When we do have down time (like the last week and a half) we almost don't know what to do with ourselves.  I am going to try and remind myself during this next year that keeping busy is a good thing (as long as it doesn't take over) - it makes us appreciate our down time so much more and it...

A bowl full of ornaments makes the perfect center piece! Yesterday we talked a lot about Advent traditions and now here are some of our Christmas but not so much religious traditions! Stocking with a lighted garland. Some simple ribbon and cricut cutouts transform a closet door into a Christmas Card Wonderland. I absolutely love receiving Christmas cards every year - and yes I send my own out on November 30th so that people can enjoy them (hopefully) all month long! Every year we get the girl's an ornament based upon what they like that year. Unfortunately this year they aren't very telling of their personalities but this picture is. Look at Chloee's goofy look and Caylee's messy hair.  That about tells it all!

Ever have those extra hot dog/hamburger buns or bread that is almost too old to eat. Turn it into a simple weeknight side dish - garlic bread! This simple idea saves food from the trash and costs no extra money! For buns - slice in half and spread with butter. Sprinkle some garlic powder (or garlic salt) and parsley flakes. You could add chile flakes if you so desire. Add some Parmesan cheese (or any cheese you have). Broil until crispy (5-10 minutes depending on your bread). Serve with almost any meal! What are your quick time and food saving recipes?

Our Nativity Scene Which we often stop and talk about all of the pieces and the story. The girls also have a little people set that they can play with. Every year we look forward to the holiday season.  It begins with Halloween and moves rather quickly to Thanksgiving.  We try hard to enjoy these days in and of themselves but part of us is secretly excited that soon it will be the Christmas season.  Now in the true religious sense the Christmas season doesn't begin until midnight mass on Christmas eve.  The season that truly lies between Thanksgiving and Christmas days is Advent.  As a family we have been trying to instill some advent traditions which enlighten us to the true meaning of Christmas: the birthday of Jesus.  Please don't kid yourself when you think we don't also fall into the hustle and bustle of modern Christmas season: shopping, decorating, baking, eating to much - yep we do that too - we just try to also have some fun memories of ...

Whew - it feels good to be blogging again!  These last few (well almost 6 weeks) I have been stepping in as an administrative assistant at my old job and thus things have been quite busy around here.  While I am not done helping out we should have a little reprieve and the posts should be more regular (although they probably won't be daily still).  Thank you for all the stop ins while I was away - you all are the best! Here is our menu for the week: Monday: Egg McMuffins (homemade), Mangos Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Cheez Its, Carrots, Blueberries Cheese Enchiladas, Refried Beans, Spanish Rice, Corn Tuesday: Chocolate Chip Banana Bread , Persimmons, Yogurt Egg Salad Sandwiches, Cheez Its, Apples Pasta Carbonera with Lemon & Leeks , Garlic Bread, Salad Wednesday: Egg McMuffins , Persimmons Potato Soup , Garlic Bread, Salad Tacos, Nachos, Peas Thursday: Chocolate Chip Banana Bread , Apples w/peanut butter Soup & Grilled Cheese, Pears Breakf...

         Having visited Pennsylvania Dutch Country recently I have been on a big Amish novel kick.  While this infatuation of mine definitely stemmed from visiting the area I really do believe my continued love for these novels is the simplicity of life.  Now don't get me wrong, no one's life is simple, however there are so many endearing qualities of Amish life.  Lot's of family, nature, and quiet time.  Tons of home cooked food and fresh grown produce.  No wondering what to wear or how much gas will cost this week.  Yes they deal with having to hand wash everything, hand make everything, and the physical labor of growing their own crops - it's not candy land but it is just really gratifying to sink into that world of theirs and know that my heart yearns for many of their tightly held principles (obviously technology is not one of them).  Without further ado here are my reviews for the second and third books in t...

This past week a very exciting thing happened in our garden: the pumpkin turned completely orange! And for that we are giving thansk - well for that and a whole plethora of other things! .094 lbs .42 lbs 9.937 lbs! .03 lbs .93 lbs .72 lbs 1.06 lbs 3.84 lbs A very blessed week at: 17.031 lbs! Annual Total: 163.598 lbs

In honor of Thanksgiving we watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving! Read plenty of Thanksgiving books. And did the following crafts. We made handprint mayflowers and talked about the long voyage the pilgrims had. We used pinecones from our Big Bear trip to make turkey's and talked about how it is a more recent tradition but a good one at that. We use old toilet paper rolls to make corn cobs and talked about how hard it was to grow vegetables. We also made this pilgrim hat out of a clay pot to adorn our table. Lastly we made turkey handprints and talked about the things we were thankful for! (For more detailed instructions google each craft and you will find several sources).

We are so blessed to be spending two separate days celebrating Thanksgiving this year and I am also continuing the training process at my old job (I am training someone else) so this week is a bit different than normal. At any rate we have some great food planned and are looking forward to lots of family time and the start of Christmas preparations!  Happy eating all! Breakfasts: Granola Bars , Applesauce, Eggs English Muffin Sandwiches , Blueberries English Muffin Sandwiches , Grapefruit Muffins (flavor tbd), Oranges, Peanut Butter Oatmeal with craisins, Juice Omelets, Toast, Juice Cinnamon Rolls , Juice Lunches: Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Carrots, Applesauce Chicken Nuggets, Peas, Apples Turkey Sandwiches! Cranberry Sauce, Green Bean Casserole Quesadillas, Black Beans, Oranges Hot Dogs, Mac N Cheese, Peas Leftovers or Peanut Butter Sandwiches Snacky foods before Thanksgiving Dinners: Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Corn Mexican Food with Family Szechaun Chick...