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Week beginning February 24, 2013

Last week had a couple of big winners in the line up!  A family favorite around here was the chicken rice and cream of celery soup (the name incidentally is the recipe) but a new staple is going to be the simple shepherd's pie which was found on the Taste of Home website!  Everyone had seconds which was great because this recipe makes a lot!!  Lent makes planning for Friday's a bit trickier to please everyone but the Tortellini soup was outstanding!

This week is as follows:

Sunday         Family dinner TBA
Monday        Shayla's birthday she chooses dinner at Buffalo Wold Wings (no cooking)
Tuesday        Pot Roast with oven roasted potatoes
Wednesday   Slow cooker pork chops and rice
Thursday       Greg's vegetable soup with crusty bread
Friday           Meatless marinara with tossed salad and garlic bread

This post is linked to http://orgjunkie.com/

2 Stars and a Wish

Like most things I have learned as a lifelong educator, this little gem is so easily applied to my life as Mom.  When I was a classroom teacher I would often use the 2 Stars and a Wish strategy to give corrective feedback and encouragement. A conversation with a student would go something like this "Your story has a really interesting opening sentence" , " You have used some very juicy words" "I wish you would have checked your spelling".  In this way the student gets to see just what they are doing right and also what they need to work on in a particular area.  I often let the students "flip the script" and critique my teaching~ how else to we grow but through candor??!!

If your children give you the same answer daily to the question "What did you do at school today?", then this is a great little strategy to use to mix things up a bit.  To avoid the standard answer of "nothing", simply ask your child to give you 2 stars and a wish about their day.  You will get a quick snap shot of the highs and lows of the day and have a springboard for conversation.

Menu Plan

Week beginning February 17, 2013

Sunday- Shayla's Birthday Dinner  Lasagna, salad and "snowflake" dinner rolls
Monday- Kid's Choice  Chicken Rice and Cream of Celery Soup
Tuesday- Leftover Smorgasbord
Wednesday- Simple Shepherd's Pie
Thursday- Grilled London Broil, mashed sweet potato and garden vegetable mix
Friday-  Meatless  Veggie Tortelllini Soup and Crusty Italian Bread
Saturday- Eat and Run (Finger foods)

This post is linked to http://orgjunkie.com/

Valentine Bliss

Ok, so if you are the parent of a teenager, you know how difficult it can be to get some gratitute and sincere, heartfelt gratitude is even in shorter supply. (we have all been teenagers, we know)  Last night my daughter came in to say good night and then said, "Thanks for a great Valentine's Day, Mom".  Wow! If that didn't go miles!!!  So what did I do?  I have to say that my actions were not contirved for that end result but I will take it!!

I thought about Valentine's Day, what it all means and who are my truest LOVES.  The answer was clear. My family. So rather than a romantic dinner for 2 (me and my hubby) I prepared a romantic dinner for 6 (us and the 4 kids)!  I prepared a dinner not unlike anything that we normally eat, but it was the presentation!
Dinner was set in the dining room, linens on the table, chargers, china, silver and wine glasses (yes, even for the babies!)

On each person's plate I put a bag of their favorite candy with their name on a heart. Their own personal Valentine!  Also the heart confetti added a really cute touch.

We all sat at the table, shared each other's company, plenty of laughs and lingered there well after dinner and dessert.  The best Valentine's Day I can remember, surrounded by the loved of my lives~~ I should have thanked them! ;)

Valentine"s Day Teacher Treat

On my last day off when I should have been working on my concept paper, I decided that I really needed to do something creative. Of course I headed right to Pintrest to see what the clever people were pinning. Knowing that my 2 youngest sons would soon need Valentines,I checked out some Valentine boards.  There was a super cute pin that I thought would make an excellent Teacher gift.  I made a few variations and soon ended up with 5 very cute Teacher gifts which are sure to be l<3ved!!!

I started with a few white cups that match a china set I have. (No one around here drinks coffee after dinner and those that do call for a much LARGER cup).  I used a permanent marker to finish the heart started by the handle! I embellished the heart with some very simple designs.

 

Here are a few of the cups.I did say SIMPLE designs.

 Since I was going to have several saucers without mates I decided to match the saucer designs to the cup designs and personalize them from the boys.

 I then filled the cup with chocolate kisses, because next to LOVE, candy is what Valentine's Day is all about.

To finish off the little gift, I put the cup and saucer into a Valentine treat bag and used a large heart as a gift tag.

Now, to get them to school in one piece!!

So this is blogging...

Seems as though everyone has a blog and most of the blogs that I have seen have some generally good and useful information. As a lifelong educator and mother of 4 I am a firm believer in "give one get one" so here is my attempt to give back to the blogging community which has so richly enhanced my daily living.  ~~ Char