YUMMY!

There was one Oreo cookie left in the package and either Daddy or Mommy thought it would be fun for Eli to try it!


What is this thing?


I think I like it!


Oh, yeah, it's realllllly good!


I am in LOVE!

What? There aren't any more? I'm telling!

AND then, she had to take a bath because she was covered, head to toe in chocolate from her cookie! :) Fun! Fun! Fun!

Week in Review- Dinner

In efforts to be more organized, because can't we all, except Amy O'Brien, stand to be just a little bit more organized?, I have put together my menus for the next three months. Yup, three months. I barely know what I want to eat in the next three minutes, let allow three months, but I felt it would be a good place to start.

Part of the being more organized thing for me is to hold myself accountable to my planning and there's no better way for me to do that than to check in on ye olde blog. So, let's see how a week of menu planning has gone down at the Everyday Adventures homestead:
Sunday- Chicken & Biscuits- Made and didn't turn out well. We ate it anyway. :(
Monday- Out- Oh, yeah, we are pretty good about sticking to this one. Eat 'N Park
Tuesday- Breakfast for dinner- Homemade waffles! Yum!!
Wednesday- Hearty Meatball Soup- Ah, no. How about defrosted Baked Spaghetti instead.Mom forgot to buy several key soup ingredients.
Thursday- Zoo- Also an eat out night by default of not being home.
Friday- Pizza- Nope. Hearty Meatball Soup Yum.
Saturday- Spaghetti & Meatballs- Nope. Leftover soup and neighbor's birthday party

All in all, I think it was a good first effort. Part of planning for me is the ability to have some flexibility. I was asked today how I am able to homeschool and my response was that I have a very structured schedule that I very loosely follow. I have a cleaning/laundry schedule that is allowing me to maintain a somewhat clean, often picked up home that I'm not entirely embarassed to have people visit. That's a lot better than I've been able to say in the past! :)

Anyhow... for the week coming up:
Sunday- Chicken & Broccoli Casserole
Monday- Leftovers
Tuesday- Grilled Cheese & Tuna Melts
Wednesday- Chicken Soup
Thursday- Crockpot Mac & Cheese
Friday- Pizza
Saturday-Ham BBQ, leftover Mac & Cheese

We're going to finish up learning about the moon for school and start a new unit on leaves and autumn. Looking forward to it! We also have MOPS, a soccer game, two appointments and the BIG Ultrasound this week PLUS we're heading over to friends' tomorrow to celebrate Matt's installation AND the G-20 summit comes to the 'Burgh. ANNNNNDDDDD The Steelers play tomorrow! OH, AND Jefferson is doing his first wedding on Saturday. WOW!!

Now I know!

Jefferson has often referred to what I call goulash as Johnny Marzetti. I have NEVER heard it referred to that way in my life, but now I know....

Johnny Marzetti
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Johnny Marzetti is a baked pasta dish, or casserole, consisting of noodles, tomato sauce, ground beef, and cheese. Other ingredients and seasonings may be added to adjust the taste. The dish originated in Columbus, Ohio, at the Marzetti restaurant, and spread to other parts of the United States as variations of the recipe were published in magazines and cookbooks during the mid-20th century. The dish is still served in Ohio, especially at social gatherings and in school lunchrooms.

Johnny Marzetti also gained a great deal of popularity in the Panama Canal Zone, where it was served at social occasions and on holidays since at least the early WWII era. The Canal Zone version of the dish typically includes celery and green olives, and is almost always spelled "Johnny Mazetti" by Zonians. The importance of Johnny Mazetti to the culture of the Canal Zone was such that most Zonians are unaware of the origin of the dish and are surprised to learn that it did not originate there.

A version of this dish prepared in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas is known as "Johnny Marzotti" and is usually served with three bean casserole.[citation needed]

Homeschooling Week Three

Hmm... what to write about today? We have just completed week three of homeschooling- two weeks in an itroductary Creation unit and one week in a unit on the Sun. Yesterday I did some informal testing with Superman using a Kindergarten Report Card I found online and it confirmed what I've suspected... he's really ahead of teh curriculum we're using, at least in terms of reading readiness. The curriculum, which I do really love for it's unit studies, has the teacher teaching visual recognition of individual letters in each unit and then beginning to teach the letter sounds. This week's unit was on the Sun, thus letter Ss. At one point, Superman looked at me as I was holding up a foam S in front of him, asking if he knew what letter it was, as if to say, "Uh..yeah Mom. It's an S. Are you okay?"

According to the report card, he can identify all 26 upper and lower case letters, and their sounds, numbers to 50, count to 100, correctly read 32 out of 51 sight words the first time, and did countless other things that a kindergartener should be learning. I don't say that to brag, because obviously there are other areas where he struggles, but I am trying to figure out how to adapt the curriculum we have to best suit him. As I was struggling with this yesterday, my husband walked in the door carrying an enormous suitcase looking cardboard box. A dear woman at the church, Donna, purchased Hooked on Phonics and a SRA package at the library sale for $2 for me (along with Hooked on Math). Now, I giggled a little bit, thinking about the commercials... You remember, right? "Hooked on Phonics worked for me!" But, I got to thinking, maybe we should give it a try and see how he does. SO! I think we'll begin next week as a bonus to our MOON unit.
The plan is to head to the Science Center in a week or so to the Digital Dome to check out some planet shows! Yesterday, Superman and I took a globe and a flashlight into the bathroom downstairs, shut the door and turned off the lights. I showed him how the earth rotates and the sun stands still, we talked about how when it's daytime here, it's night time on the other part of the world. AND! He actually remembered it later, after a brief time of "I didn't learn anything today!" (AAAH!)

All in all, while challenging so far, I am really enjoying being mommy-teacher. It's easier with Ladybug gone two mornings a week to Preschool, while Sweet Pea is napping. Superman is more focused and able to retain what we're doing, so I'm concentrating on the heaviest amount of information sharing on those days and doing the more artsy, musicy, etc. activities when Ladybug can join us. We're all having a ball!

Happy day before your birthday Sweet Pea! :)