Penciling It In

While I was pregnant, I was so exhausted that if I didn't plan things in advance, my poor little toddler would be stuck inside with me all day, every day, because I just didn't have the energy to think of something to do with him every day and then actually go do it. I found a great suggestion on a parenting discussing board on how to keep things exciting and productive for you and your child by planning a different activity every day of the week. It was specifically for kids home during the summer, but since my son isn't in school yet, it's like summer all the time, and I want to keep him stimulated, happy, and hopefully that will be good tantrum prevention. The idea is as follows:

"Make It Monday": Make a fun craft
"Time to Read Tuesday": Go to the library and check out some awesome books
"What's Cooking Wednesday": Do a recipe with your child. Not only is it fun, it teaches great life skills!
"Thoughtful Thursday": Do some thoughtful act of service for someone, like writing a note or taking a treat to them
"Somewhere Fun Friday": Go somewhere exciting and, obviously, fun

Like I've said, I'm a list/chart junkie, so I immediately wanted to make a spreadsheet for this :) I switched my library day to Thursday because our local library has toddler story time on Thursday mornings. I also added a "Family Outing" on Saturday to make sure that I wasn't staying inside all day Saturday doing chores on the one day that my husband doesn't have to be at school. I need to remember that family memories are more important than a clean home. (But I do have another spreadsheet to help me keep up with my chores :p )

We don't go anywhere on Sundays because they're reserved for going to church and other quiet, Sunday-appropriate activities, like spending time at home with family, reading good books, etc., so I used my Sunday line for FHE (Family Home Evening), which is typically held on Monday evenings, where we have a short gospel lesson and a fun family activity and, of course, a treat. Right now we're going through the Nursery manual because our toddler is 2 and has a short attention span. It's the best. I'm not sure what we'll do once he graduates from Nursery, lol.

Anyways, here's my spreadsheet! It's the month at a glance, although I fill it in one week at a time so that we go places that are interesting to my son at the time, and do service for someone who really needs it at the moment.

Enjoy!

Family Activities			Week of:
Sunday	FHE	Lesson:	Treat:
Monday	Make It Monday	Craft:
Tuesday	Thoughtful  Tuesday	Person:	Item/Service:
Wednesday	What's Cooking Wednesday	Cooking:
Thursday	Time to Read Thursday	Library
Friday	Somewhere Fun Friday	Destination:
Saturday	Family Outing	Destination:
Family Activities			Week of:
Sunday	FHE	Lesson:	Treat:
Monday	Make It Monday	Craft:
Tuesday	Thoughtful  Tuesday	Person:	Item/Service:
Wednesday	What's Cooking Wednesday	Cooking:
Thursday	Time to Read Thursday	Library
Friday	Somewhere Fun Friday	Destination:
Saturday	Family Outing	Destination:
Family Activities			Week of:
Sunday	FHE	Lesson:	Treat:
Monday	Make It Monday	Craft:
Tuesday	Thoughtful  Tuesday	Person:	Item/Service:
Wednesday	What's Cooking Wednesday	Cooking:
Thursday	Time to Read Thursday	Library
Friday	Somewhere Fun Friday	Destination:
Saturday	Family Outing	Destination:
Family Activities			Week of:
Sunday	FHE	Lesson:	Treat:
Monday	Make It Monday	Craft:
Tuesday	Thoughtful  Tuesday	Person:	Item/Service:
Wednesday	What's Cooking Wednesday	Cooking:
Thursday	Time to Read Thursday	Library
Friday	Somewhere Fun Friday	Destination:
Saturday	Family Outing	Destination:

The Ultimate Menu Board

I'm a sucker for lists, charts, and ultra-organization. I find a new technique and go crazy on it, totally committing myself for life to it...for about 2 weeks. My husband just kind of shakes his head now when I tell him about the latest and greatest thing that I'm trying out.

I made a dinner menu board from a Pinterest pin a few months back and I was really excited about it. I spent a lot of time putting it together and used it faithfully. For about 2 weeks. But after having our second baby and slacking off for 6 weeks while I recovered and got to know her, I'm ready to get my household affairs back in shape, and cooking dinners for my family is high on my list of priorities (after trying to keep up with the new girl's feeding/eating rhythms and showering/brushing my teeth every day :p ). But having a toddler at home, I have 3 meals a day that I really want to plan out in advance so that I make sure he's getting good, balanced meals. (This drive may have been strengthened by the fact that while I was in the hospital and for a few weeks after, his breakfast consisted of his dad pouring some dry cereal on his tray and giving him a banana.)

So I designed my ultimate menu board to cover breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I drew from a bunch of different aspects and ideas from menu boards I'd seen on Pinterest, and here's what I made:

Ta-da!

I have all of the entrees, side dishes, and desserts I like to make and we like to eat written on individual cardstock tags. They're stored by category in the boxes along the bottom of the frame, and each box is divided into two so that I can put meals we've already eaten on one side to keep them separated from the "fresh" meals, so we don't end up doing the same thing all the time (unless we want to!). I love having everything on its own tag so that I can "layer" each meal with an entree, sides, and dessert to make it as simple or elaborate as I want. On the back of each tag, I have all of the ingredients listed so that I can put together my shopping lists quickly and easily. I also note where each recipe is found in my cookbook library, and how much time it takes to prep and cook so that I can make sure to save the time-intensive meals for days when I can cook at my leisure and stick with simple, fast meals on hectic days.

I got the corkboard (17"x23") from Hobby Lobby using a 40% coupon from their emailer, and spent some time in the scrapbook aisle with Jason picking out printed paper for the day, meal, and box labels. The boxes along the bottom are made from an "upcycled" Lucky Charms box, and the individual meal tags are cardstock. I want to switch the brass thumbtacks to plastic pushpins (clear plastic for aesthetic purposes) because the thumbtacks are a huge pain to take out of the board.

Enjoy! :)