Mod Apron

Modern homemaking for the frugal urban mama.

Posts tagged week

Aug 20
[click to enlarge] Oops! Posting this meal plan a day late. Sorry! Better late than never, right? So the big events this week are: My parents are visiting! They arrive tomorrow afternoon. They’re here for 10 whole days and I’m all atwitter with excitement! Our meals should be simple, summery and easy to prepare for a crowd. Hopefully the dinners I’ve outlined above will fit the bill. Friday is Maya’s 4th birthday! She wants to go our family’s favorite Italian restaurant around the corner from our house. And afterwards, we’re throwing her a little surprise party with her friends and neighbors here at home, complete with a triple-decker chocolate cake from Blissful Bites. Oh man, I might be more excited that cake than she is! Actually, probably not; she’s ridiculously excited about her special day. Just like a very-nearly-almost-4-year-old should be! You might notice that Saturday’s dinner is up in the air. That’s because Maya wants to visit a farm her birthday so we’re taking a road trip about 45 minutes south to Half Moon Bay. We’ll be hobnobbing with goats, chickens, horses and rabbits. And I have no idea how long we’ll be gone so I’m leaving dinner open that day. I’m sure we’ll figure out something yummy. I was hoping to do a big grocery shop today in preparation for my parents’ arrival and the week ahead. But unfortunately, Dennis’ flight was delayed and he got home just before dinner so the shopping will have to wait until tomorrow. Hopefully mom and dad won’t mind tagging along. This time 4 years ago, I was hugely pregnant (Maya was a week overdue!) and excitedly counting the minutes until we’d meet our baby girl. I totally expected that being a mama would be hard work, completely rewarding and a wonderful labor of love. What I didn’t anticipate was the fun, the joy, the bliss and all the laughing. Good lord, the laughing. I’ve never laughed so hard in my life as I have since the kids came along. This motherhood thing is hilarious! And every day just gets better and better. I’m pretty sure there’s no better job than the one I’ve got. Have a great week, folks.

[click to enlarge]

Oops! Posting this meal plan a day late. Sorry! Better late than never, right?

So the big events this week are:

  1. My parents are visiting! They arrive tomorrow afternoon. They’re here for 10 whole days and I’m all atwitter with excitement! Our meals should be simple, summery and easy to prepare for a crowd. Hopefully the dinners I’ve outlined above will fit the bill.
  2. Friday is Maya’s 4th birthday! She wants to go our family’s favorite Italian restaurant around the corner from our house. And afterwards, we’re throwing her a little surprise party with her friends and neighbors here at home, complete with a triple-decker chocolate cake from Blissful Bites. Oh man, I might be more excited that cake than she is! Actually, probably not; she’s ridiculously excited about her special day. Just like a very-nearly-almost-4-year-old should be!
  3. You might notice that Saturday’s dinner is up in the air. That’s because Maya wants to visit a farm her birthday so we’re taking a road trip about 45 minutes south to Half Moon Bay. We’ll be hobnobbing with goats, chickens, horses and rabbits. And I have no idea how long we’ll be gone so I’m leaving dinner open that day. I’m sure we’ll figure out something yummy.

I was hoping to do a big grocery shop today in preparation for my parents’ arrival and the week ahead. But unfortunately, Dennis’ flight was delayed and he got home just before dinner so the shopping will have to wait until tomorrow. Hopefully mom and dad won’t mind tagging along.

This time 4 years ago, I was hugely pregnant (Maya was a week overdue!) and excitedly counting the minutes until we’d meet our baby girl. I totally expected that being a mama would be hard work, completely rewarding and a wonderful labor of love. What I didn’t anticipate was the fun, the joy, the bliss and all the laughing. Good lord, the laughing. I’ve never laughed so hard in my life as I have since the kids came along. This motherhood thing is hilarious! And every day just gets better and better. I’m pretty sure there’s no better job than the one I’ve got.

Have a great week, folks.
Posted at 10:14 PM Tagged: meal planshoppinggroceriesparentingmotherhoodkidsfamilybirthdaybreakfastlunchdinnerbudgetfrugalsimplecookingfoodweekmealshappyhealthylove

Aug 12
[click to enlarge] Good morning, friends! And welcome to the first weekly Mod Apron Meal Plan - Sunday Edition! Why am I posting this on Sundays now? Read all about it here! So this promises to be a very interesting (read: crazy) week. First off, the husband is away from Wednesday to Monday. And, Maya is off on a 2-week break in between the end of summer camp and the commencement of the preschool year. So it’s just me and the kids at home all day for the better part of the week? Yup, you read that right! It’s not so bad. I’m actually kinda looking forward to it. Specifically, I’m interested in implementing some new parenting tips and tricks that I’ve recently gleaned from the new book I’m reading. I think this will be easier to do starting with just one parent in the mix, in order to maintain consistency. I’ll debrief Dennis when he gets home. Also, I’d like to get quite a bit of organizing accomplished while husband is away. I’m hoping his absence will afford me a bit of extra time around the house, as I won’t feel guilty for taking my time away from him. I can also stay up late blogging, which is a one of my favorite things to do. My best writing inspiration tends to strike at night, but Dennis always makes me come to bed. Ha! In terms of the meal plan, this means that from Wednesday on, our dinners will be nice and simple. I’m not going to slave over a hot stove just for the kids and myself. They enjoy simpler meals much more anyway. So you’ll see some easy stuff - omelets, grilled cheese sandwiches, veggie corn dogs - on the dinner menu this week. (Notably, mama might just skip the kid fare altogether in favor of some more civilized steamed veggies and salads.) Also, notice that this week’s meal plan features a lunch menu on Saturday. That’s because I have a friend from my old Seattle life coming into town, and I’ll be serving her and her friends a light lunch at my home on Saturday afternoon. It’ll be a very simple, light, “throw together” lunch but with the warm weather and my little kiddos afoot, I think it has to be this way. Notably, we will be serving my Seattle friend Gâteau au Yaourt for dessert and to give Maya a fun project, I’m going to let her make this cake ALL BY HERSELF, with only my vocal instruction to guide her. She loves to cook (just like her mama!) and she’s really excited about baking this cake. We’ve got several playdates lined up, as well as a new daily schedule (sans the preschool part) happening this week. Today, I’ll be stocking up on groceries and getting the house in order to prepare for the insanity full week that lies ahead.

[click to enlarge]

Good morning, friends! And welcome to the first weekly Mod Apron Meal Plan - Sunday Edition!

Why am I posting this on Sundays now? Read all about it here!

So this promises to be a very interesting (read: crazy) week. First off, the husband is away from Wednesday to Monday. And, Maya is off on a 2-week break in between the end of summer camp and the commencement of the preschool year. So it’s just me and the kids at home all day for the better part of the week? Yup, you read that right!

It’s not so bad. I’m actually kinda looking forward to it. Specifically, I’m interested in implementing some new parenting tips and tricks that I’ve recently gleaned from the new book I’m reading. I think this will be easier to do starting with just one parent in the mix, in order to maintain consistency. I’ll debrief Dennis when he gets home.

Also, I’d like to get quite a bit of organizing accomplished while husband is away. I’m hoping his absence will afford me a bit of extra time around the house, as I won’t feel guilty for taking my time away from him. I can also stay up late blogging, which is a one of my favorite things to do. My best writing inspiration tends to strike at night, but Dennis always makes me come to bed. Ha!

In terms of the meal plan, this means that from Wednesday on, our dinners will be nice and simple. I’m not going to slave over a hot stove just for the kids and myself. They enjoy simpler meals much more anyway. So you’ll see some easy stuff - omelets, grilled cheese sandwiches, veggie corn dogs - on the dinner menu this week. (Notably, mama might just skip the kid fare altogether in favor of some more civilized steamed veggies and salads.)

Also, notice that this week’s meal plan features a lunch menu on Saturday. That’s because I have a friend from my old Seattle life coming into town, and I’ll be serving her and her friends a light lunch at my home on Saturday afternoon. It’ll be a very simple, light, “throw together” lunch but with the warm weather and my little kiddos afoot, I think it has to be this way.

Notably, we will be serving my Seattle friend Gâteau au Yaourt for dessert and to give Maya a fun project, I’m going to let her make this cake ALL BY HERSELF, with only my vocal instruction to guide her. She loves to cook (just like her mama!) and she’s really excited about baking this cake.

We’ve got several playdates lined up, as well as a new daily schedule (sans the preschool part) happening this week. Today, I’ll be stocking up on groceries and getting the house in order to prepare for the insanity full week that lies ahead.
Posted at 8:26 AM Tagged: meal plankidsscheduleparentingcookingfoodweekweeklyhomehomemakinghousesummerlifeorganizefriendscakebusyhappy

All the days in the week

Further to my last post, I thought it made good sense to set out a weekly schedule is well. Why stop at a daily schedule? Let’s look at an ideal week! You know I just love to be splendiferously organized!

Maya’s preschool schedule this year is a little funky. That is, she’s only in preschool on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she’ll be taking part in some extra-curricular activities (soccer and ballet/tap). Additionally, Henry is enrolled in a baby music and baby gym class once or twice a week as well.

Also, I’ve recently discovered that our local library has a ton of free activities that both Maya and Henry can attend together. The library schedule is posted the previous week and features activities such as puppet shows, story time, rhyme time, family movies and more. Most activities happen before lunch, and there is a delicious park behind the library so we can pack a picnic and have lunch in the park before preschool. Ideally, we’ll fit a couple of library mornings into our week as well.

All this, coupled with my housekeeping schedule, means that I’ve had to move my grocery shopping day to Sunday (instead of Monday) for the foreseeable future. Our family’s weekly schedule is looking like this:

—————

Mondays:

  • Maya - preschool
  • Henry - gym class
  • Mama - cleans kitchen

Tuesdays:

  • Maya - soccer
  • Mama - cleans bathrooms

Wednesdays:

  • Maya - preschool
  • Henry - music class (either Wed or Fri)
  • Mama - cleanse kids’ bedrooms

Thursdays:

  • Maya - ballet/tap
  • Henry - gym class
  • Mama - cleans master bedroom

Fridays:

  • Maya - preschool
  • Henry - music class (either Wed or Fri)
  • Mama - cleans dining room/living room/hallway

Saturdays:

  • No scheduled plans

Sundays:

  • No scheduled plans
  • Mama - grocery shopping
—————

This schedule will be implemented starting tomorrow. Which means that, going forward, you can expect to see my weekly meal plans posted on Sundays from now on.

If it seems like I am a little too crazy militant enthusiastic about keeping us on a tight schedule, I’d agree that you’re probably right. But, as far as I can see, it’s the best and only way to keep an organized framework in place. My family seems to thrive on routine and honestly, it makes my life a lot easier too. There will always be days where the schedule falls apart, and that’s okay; it’s to be expected. But, maintaining a schedule is my only hope to keep this machine running smoothly. And more often than not, the day flows effortlessly and naturally through our scheduled activities and when that happens, it certainly makes for a peaceful and happy existence for everyone.

Keeping a schedule like this is certainly not glamorous, but it’s real and it’s a slice of our lives right now. And it keeps this mama (somewhat) sane and balanced.

Posted at 7:16 AM Tagged: scheduletime managementweekkidsmamaparentingmotherhoodbalanceefficiencyfamilydailyweeklyhomehomemakinghouseactivitieshousekeepingbusylifemotheringorganizeproductivitypreschoollibrary