Dealing with Dinner

I used to love to cook, but then it became a necessity to cook in a particular way to avoid a host of food intolerances.  When Geoff became sick my meals had to be specifically balanced for metabolic stability.  We tried vegetarianism and veganism for awhile too.  I kept up this crazy cooking routine, spending hours in the kitchen every day, for years.  When we moved to Utah I just could not get the good meals plate spinning.  I'm not sure why life is so much busier living here, or maybe it's living in an apartment, but it is.  Our diet has suffered and I can see it in the behavior, moods and ability to focus in my kids.

Adele really likes to know what she is going to eat, and our home is a happier place if she knows what she is going to eat, so about six months ago I started making weekly menus to put on the fridge and it helped her immensely, but it is very difficult for me to find the time to make menus each week these days!  Before school started I spent a day putting together six weeks of our family's go-to meals that we'll rotate and repeat through the winter; very favorites even repeat in the six weeks.

Already this has proven a huge help.  Each week I'm making a grocery list for the week's menu so I'll have that too.  It isn't as healthy as we used to eat but it is better than taquitoes and In-N-Out!

The girls each take one morning a week to make breakfast.  They add their breakfast ingredients to the list before I go to the store so I'll have any special ingredients on hand.  They also are sous chef once a week.  I still do the majority of cooking, but over time I'm hoping they'll share in that load.  For now I'm hoping they're learning the value of a home-cooked meal that is relatively nourishing. 

Sketch of Fall 2014

A new year.  I marvel that I have the energy to do this again!  Here is the plan...

Tennie (9th grade)
Early morning seminary (6:30-7:30AM)
Latin 2 (clrchomeschool.com)
Intermediate Literature & Composition (clrchomeschool.com)
Math (finishing up with Math on the Level)
Physics (Great Courses)
World History (Great Courses)
Greek Mythology (Great Courses)
Music Appreciation (Great Courses)
Current Events (Economist & TED talks)
Gym*
Voice
Piano 
Acting (Professional Actors Workshop)

Geoff is overseeing her learning so he can help improve her study skills and time management.  She learned a lot last year and this first week has shown great self-discipline and focus!  She is up at 5:45 and is actively learning until 2:30 or 3:00.

*All of the girls have a Skills Fitness membership this fall and have two classes a week.  Living in an apartment doesn't encourage a lot of spontaneous exercise so these classes help them stay fit.

Adele (7th grade)
Writing (Bravewriter)
Grammer (Arrow)
Math (Math on the Level)
World History (Usborne Encyclopdedia, 12,000 Years of World History) + historical fiction
Science**
Typing
Art (Art Lab for Kids)
French (Rosetta Stone)
Memorization
1 hour of Explore! daily (this is whatever she wants to learn about)
GoZen! (An online program to help kids learn to deal with anxiety and stress)
Gym
Soccer
Sewing
Piano

French, Memorization and Explore! are her own personal initiatives. 

**I asked Adele & Ceci what science things they would be interested in exploring this year and space was a shared interest so we're spending some time this fall reading about space, planets, etc.  We're using The Night Sky, The Stars (by H.A. Rey) and the Brown Paper School book, The Night Sky Book which is full of experiments and activities.  We'll be taking a few trips to the Clark Planetarium and look forward to looking through the telescopes at the University of Utah.

Ceci (4th grade)
Writing (Bravewriter)
Grammer (Arrow)
Math (Math on the Level)
World History (Usborne Encyclopdedia, 12,000 Years of World History) + historical fiction***
Science**
Cursive (Handwriting Without Tears)
Art (Art Lab for Kids) 
GoZen!
Gym (I'm finally tiring this kid out!!!)
Soccer
Piano 

***Most of the Fall will be spent studying ancient history in preparation for our trip to Israel, Cairo and Rome at the end of the year.  Current events have us watching the news closely!!! 

Friday afternoons are open for field trips, hikes or long weekends.  This past Friday was spent shopping (not quite what the time is intended for) using gift cards won in the summer reading lottery.

After week one I can tell you that this schedule, and their extra-curricular activities, leave very little room to spare!  

Back-to-School Dinner

Last Sunday we had our annual Back-to-School Dinner.  Our focus this year has two separate but connected parts.  At the table the girls found captain hats.

Our first focus is to be the captain of our own lives.  We get to choose what happens in our lives and how we feel about things.  

In our parenting Geoff and I sometimes see a dynamic, or a specific behavior, that we don't necessarily love and realize that we've unknowingly created it.  For example, my days are full to the brim and to keep things moving I have often done a lot for the girls, for expediency sake.  But now I'm wishing they took more control of their lives and realize that my doing things for them, while more efficient, was really discouraging their independence.  Thus encouraging them to be the captains of their lives.  I'm stepping out of the captain's chair and they're taking more control.  What does this look like?  Instead of the excuse, "I couldn't practice piano because mom wasn't there to help me," the girls identify what they can do during a piano practice on their own when I'm not available.  Instead of, "I'm hungry and grouchy because mom hasn't made lunch, yet" the girls create their own "tide-over" until lunch is ready.  Small steps which will make big differences.  They (well, Adele and Ceci) loved the captain hats and wore them a few days this first week of school to remind themselves that they are the captains!

The second focus is striving for excellence in all that we do.  After dinner Geoff taught a little lesson on excellence.  He shared several quotes asking the girls to listen for common characteristics of excellence so we could define what excellence is.  Here are some examples (the girls LOVED these):

All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.  -Spinoza

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry.  He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, "Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well."  - Martin Luther King

Anything worth doing is worth doing right.  - Hunter S. Thompson

If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?  - John Wooden

People of excellence go the extra mile to do what's right.  - Joel Osteen

We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.  - Aristotle 

Be a yardstick of quality.  Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.  - Steve Jobs

If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters.  Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.  - Colin Powell 

Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.  - Booker T. Washington

No student ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him.  It is the amount and excellence of what is over and above the required, that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction.  - Charles Kendall Adams

Don't strive to be perfect.  Strive for excellence.  - Victoria Pincipal

There were many more quotes but I'll stop there.  We're rotating these quotes on the bathroom mirror throughout the year to remind us of our school year theme.

Geoff talked about the difference between perfection (no mistakes) and excellence (100% effort and focus).  That difference is critical to understand and we're making the distinction often in piano practices, school work and other efforts.

Lastly, I typed up all of the girl's daily/weekly jobs listing the tasks of each one. The girls evaluated how they are currently doing on these "small tasks" and noted room where they could improve.  We talked about excellence in small things leading to excellence in big things.  They really got the concept and were eager to be better.  After our first week of school I can say that they are all making a huge effort to be the captains of their lives and are striving for excellence in all they do.  We've had a great start.

One more thing we squeezed into the evening is the lottery drawing for books read over the summer.  Prizes included gift cards to Jamba, Barnes & Noble, Claires and a few other little prizes.  Luckily they were equally drawn and everyone was happy (phew!)  Tennie earned all three Golden Tickets, Adele earned two and Ceci was just short of two.

And Everything Else (to Wrap Up Summer)

In between our trips Tennie took an acting workshop, Adele went to the week long Brighton Camp (a camp just for Beehives - ages 12 & 13), and Adele did a week long sewing camp.  Geoff took the girls to Vernal, Utah to go to the temple there, and visit Dinosaur National Park.  I stayed home to prep for a new school year.

Still no swimming allowed

We went tubing down the Provo River.

Geoff took Adele and Ceci rock climbing in Rock Creek Canyon in Provo.

And now summer is over.  My oh my it was full. 

A Visit to Uncle Nate's

My brother Nate, and his wife Kim, live in the spectacular mountains of Colorado.  We haven't been for a visit in five years.  Geoff and Tennie stayed home for various commitments, but Adele, Ceci and I met up with my mom in Grand Junction and drove together for a 4-day visit.  We actually didn't do much.  Kim is an incredible cook and spoiled us with delicious meals every day, we played two new favorite games a lot, Phase 10 and Moose Farkle, watched several episodes of America's Got Talent and Chopped, the girls did their nails and hair with Kim's daughter Annie and played Salon on Annie's husband Nate and mom and brother Nate, we made (or attempted to make) mozzarella cheese and ate lots of Kim's homemade salted caramel ice cream.  We went fishing and both Adele and Ceci caught little trouts, which we came home and Nate cooked into a yummy snack.

Did I mention the girls had a constant supply of Popsicles?

Kool-aid hair dye

Annie's husband Nate is the ultimate good sport

Ceci and Adele adored Nate and Kim's three dogs, Aspen, Rudger & Hank

Nate & Kim are two of the hardest working, resourceful people I know.  I love how Kim nurtures every living thing.  Her garden is incredible and her family well-nourished, her chickens and turkey are well-cared for, she feeds dozens and dozens of hummingbirds, her yard is blooming with robust and brilliant flowers, her pregnant fish is even being watched over so the other fish don't eat her eggs when they come.  And she does everything out of love.  Nate pulls together whatever he can find to work alongside Kim in creating this beautiful home.  He's scrappy and creative and always coming up with ways to fight off the deer, bunnies, mountain lions, bears, you name it, that come to reap what they haven't sown!

I love their chicken house

It is difficult to capture the beauty of their surroundings

On our way out of town we drove down the North Fork of the South Platte River, through the Colorado Gold Rush territory.  It was a gorgeous drive.

We stopped in an old Mercantile from the late 1800s that is still functioning with its original trappings

We stopped for lunch at the Buck Snort Saloon in a little, historic town in Spinx Park.

We added to the dollar bill decor

Cabins were built on the rocks to fit into this cute little canyon town.  Can you see the original cabin clinging to the rocks?

And from there we drove back home.  It was a surprisingly relaxing end-of-summer trip.