Enjoying the Small Things

Enjoying the Small Things

When Things Change (and my Very Mature Reaction Process)

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We’ve had some big transitions here these past couple of weeks, and I haven’t written much about them because A) believe it or not, there’s so much about our lives that we don’t share (I mean, we could be living in Alaska, teaching ice sculpting lessons to a small village for all you know, and these Florida pictures are all smoke and mirrors), and B) sometimes I need to process experiences before I share them to refine them down to the golden nuggets of truth with dramatic in-the-thick-of-it emotions all sifted away. By that, I mean I’d at least like to portray myself as having a shred of maturity because my initial reaction to change is–well, let’s just say unrefined. Basically, there’s a 5-day distilling process, and it looks a bit like this:

Also, this just in: Back to school sucks the mother loving life blood out of you. I’ve crashed on the couch the last two nights after “just sitting down for a second” and finally crawled in bed at 1 a.m. after I opened my eyes to realize it’s dark, no one’s awake, and everyone just left me there, lying on my casket couch.

We are past Day 5 in Reaction Time, so of course everything’s fine now and I realize these changes are miniscule in the grand scheme of things. The kids are getting older, more firsts, more lasts, new settings, new routines, less I can control because they are out of the house…less I can control because they’re their own people and figuring out their own solutions in life…less I can control because the only thing I ever could control is me.

So that’s what I do. And that’s what they need. I spend the hours they are away on me–writing, connecting, working, running, planning, photographing, organizing, implementing, reading, scheduling and possibly having a little time left to feather this nest they’ll come home to. This is the most important thing I can give them–a fortress of love and support to come home to every day.

It feels good, during this new busy time that threatens to sweep us off our feet, to grab hold to the things I know will keep us grounded–morning coffee rituals, family moon walks, holding hands, reading books, asking questions, beach sunsets, long bubble baths.

Someday, years from now, when my kids are out of the house and no longer depend on the over-the-top school lunches I make them to soften the blow of change, I will wake up in the morning, light my candles, brew my coffee, plan my run, wait for their phone calls to tell me what life adventures they’re enjoying, what hurts are stretching them. And there will be nothing I can do but listen, tell them I’m proud of them, believe in them, check in on them later but carry on with my daily routine of writing, making cinnamon muffins for the bridge group, checking our Amazon account to see what weird kitchen gadgets Brett ordered, redecorating a room that doesn’t need it simply because changing my home makes me happy. My kids will need me to do these things because loving my one wild and precious life is what makes me strong for them when they need me. And I will realize, years of drastic haircuts later, that even though things look different and even though my heart will long for days when our tub was filled with dinosaur toys and our windows were smudged with finger prints….not much has changed.

What have we been sinking our teeth into these past two weeks?

Home.

Slow weekend mornings to make up for the hustled week ones.

An impromptu visit to the beach when we realized we’d be driving by it right at sunset.

Outside toys.

Inside toys.

Getting lots of work done.

…and enjoying this little fortress we’ve built.

Happy Tuesday!

Creating a Study Space for Your Kids: Our Homework Cart and How We Stock It

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One of my favorite parenting pastimes is saving catalogues dedicated to kid rooms and, come some quiet Saturday morning alone with my coffee, finally sitting down to get super envious of be inspired by all the rooms on the pages. My question always is, who are these kids? Did, like, the parents knock down all the walls in the house and give up the use of every other room to accumulate square footage for one grand palace for their kid? Is the rest of the family sardine’d into what I assume is the only 2-foot space left? How can you fit a tree house in a kid’s room and still have room for a performance stage, a vanity “nook” and a “study area” three times the size of my own office? It’s the study spaces that always get me though–gorgeous built-ins, neat desks, staged computers that never have cords showing (Dear God, why aren’t there cords in these photos? Where is the ugly Allstate mouse pad they got for free from their insurance agent? And why isn’t some kid hunched over the screen, eating dry Fruit Loops, watching weird slime D.I.Y.s from a questionable grown woman with the world’s most annoying voice?) And the shelves. The shelves! Rows and rows of shelves with colorful matching baskets labeled with things like “Henry’s Flash Cards” and “Clara’s Stationery”, except Lord knows not “Miscellaneous” because the mother of these children certainly puts everything in its place, throws needless things away and would never have broken calculators, Command hooks that lost their sticky backs, and–oh, I don’t know–random light switch plates thrown in with her kids’ school supplies. And there are posters of periodic tables and color charts, peg boards and cork boards and chalk boards that say, in the world’s most perfect handwriting, “Henry, Practice Oboe!” and “Clara, Horseback Riding, Tuesday, 5:00.” Certainly these children are thriving and happy and bound for greatness.

I’m here to tell you that you too can have thriving kids with whatever ramshackle corner in your house you call a study space. I did it! I turned a sliver of available wall space into our homework headquarters, and WE LOVE IT. We’ve done the whole designated study space thing in our house, and Lainey still has a desk in her room, but do you know where my kids always end up choosing to do their homework or write a story? Our kitchen counter. As long as it’s not necessary for them to be in a quiet zero-distractions space, they seem to work best when they are out in the open and near us where they can ask for help or read us something they’ve written or yell for Alexa to give them an answer.

Ladies and gentlemen, our fits-all-our-needs, does-everything-Clara’s-palace-does-without-hogging-all-the-square-footage-in-our-home Study CART. That’s right, a cart.

There are a few things I love about our cart system, and I use the word “system” lightly because terms like “system” and “chart” when referring to parenting give me hives and are usually code for “something I will implement for two weeks and then disappointingly fizzle out on” (I’m looking at you, chore chart). We started using our cart system (you have no idea how responsible I feel throwing that term out) to organize our school schedules and learning materials toward the end of the year last year, and it’s been the easiest thing to maintain. Plus, we use it frequently which brings me to my favorite thing about it–it’s centrally located where everyone can see it and have access to it. That means we are more likely to pull out writing practice, learning games, flash cards. etc. and are reminded to encourage our kids’ learning goals. Technically, I’m one of those moms who likes a living room to look like a living room, not a day care; but the cart doesn’t scream “kids!” And besides, that smiley face Dash wrote on the wall at our entrance? The jig is up; we have kids.

Other arguments for a study cart:

*It’s easily moveable if a child wants to roll it to a more quiet space.
*It doesn’t take up a lot of room
*It’s low enough where even kindergarteners can get their own paper and sharpen their own pencils.

So, what’s in our study cart?

First of all, we use this 3-tier cart from Target. I’m obsessed with it. I have one in my office, Dash has one in his room for little toys, and I’m damn near tempted to just line up all the walls in our house with them for all of my MISCELLEANEOUS things. You heard me, Henry and Clara’s mom. Light switch plates and Command hooks.

Above our cart is a large paper roll (we use this one) that’s been great for displaying lists and fun quotes, but at least for the start of the year, we are using it to keep track of school information we refer to often–things like the little ones’ related arts schedules, lunch times (if we want to surprise them at school), student numbers, etc.

On top of the paper roll, we hung a large calendar (I bought this large kraft wall calendar – a nice subtle design that blends in with the paper roll and one where you can choose your start month and either a Sunday or Monday week start) to keep track of the kids’ events and family appointments. I spent a good twenty minutes the other day transferring all important dates from the school district calendar to this one so we can have everything in one place.

In the cart:
notebook paper
electric pencil sharpener (gets used sooooo much!)
cup of pens and pencils
crayon box filled with crayons, markers, colored pencils, glue stick, kid scissors
blank books (like these) for writing stories. We pick up packs of them from the Target Dollar Spot a lot. I love having blank books for creative writing in our home, and they are cheap enough that the kids can write a book a day if they like.
leveled readers I love this set we have for Nella and Dash with recognizable sight words and small sentences.
…and lots of learning manipulatives and educational games. Our favorites in the cart include…

Montessori Phonetic Reading Blocks (you can flip any one of the three letters to see how letter components change the word)

Sight Word Flash Card Ring Deck

Counting and Arithmetic Manipulative

Hape Magnetic Letters Set

Dry Erase Letter Board

We have a lot of early literacy materials in our cart because it’s important for all kids but especially for Nella. Because her learning goals take a little longer, they require patience, hard work, consistent practice and a FUN approach; and our little study cart is stocked to help us stick to those goals.

Now, what to keep and what to throw out from all the things they’ll be bringing home from school this year? That’s a whole different post! Happy Studies!

Chicken Lo Mein

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This post is sponsored by Blue Apron.  The first 50 readers who sign up here will get $50 off their first two weeks of Blue Apron.

While I admit a vacation involves privilege and is a completely predicable catalyst for detaching from life’s stresses, our summer escape to Michigan represents a significant unpacking of feelings for me every year. I call it my annual “defibrillation of soul” where I recalibrate my intentions and desired habits, shedding unpleasant behaviors that accumulated by the end of the school year–things like morning hustling and slapdash dinners–and restoring routines and rituals that connect us and keep us grounded in purposefulness–the art of lingering, big breakfasts on the back deck, nature walks, book reading, hammock naps, crafting and cooking and setting the table with pretty dishes. I think a lot about how much I want to keep the calm restorative vibe alive back home as we emerge back into reality early August, but it’s amazing how easily the hustle sneaks back in. The demands of schedules, home and back-to-school responsibilities are jolting, but I know that I can create a home where both halves of our life can peacefully dwell together–Motivation & Responsibilities with Rest & Rituals.

A great way to keep our intentional dinner commitment alive was setting up a Blue Apron delivery for our first week home. There are a good handful of Blue Apron posts on this blog, so it’s not the first time I’ve talked about it, but if you’re new here, here’s what Blue Apron is…figuratively, it is an invitation to the table, an all-call to the kitchen for chopping and simmering and sitting together to enjoy a good, nutritious meal. Literally, Blue Apron is a service that delivers all the farm-fresh ingredients you need, right to your doorstep, in exactly the right proportions (no grocery store trips! No waste from unused ingredients!), to make a delicious meal for your family from chef-designed recipes. There’s no commitment–you can skip or cancel service at any time, and there is a large selection of recipes to choose from. Blue Apron adds new dishes to their menu every week with vegetarian options and plans for different family sizes. 

Our favorite thing about Blue Apron though, is that it encourages us to cook together as a family, slow down and enjoy the process, and it gets us out of the rut of our same old meal repertoire. We’ve introduced so many new foods and spices and ways of preparing things to our kitchen because of Blue Apron, and this week one of those was the most delicious Lo Mein sauce. I am all about the sauces in life, and this one is now a favorite. And, can you believe I’ve never made Lo Mein before? It was so easy, and the added marinated cucumber and scallions made it interesting and flavorful.

Dash helped me make our meal this time, and with the easy-to-follow how-to steps with beautiful accompanying photos, Blue Apron recipes are a great way to teach kids to follow recipes and get involved in meal prep.

We cooked our chicken in a pan (you can also grill it) and added it to our cooked pasta with broccoli, but the secret to this meal’s amazingness is in the sauce.

We added together (all proportioned and provided in our Blue Apron delivery): the white bottoms of scallions, tahini, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, hoisin sauce and 2 tablespoons of water. That’s the magic Lo Mein sauce. You know the secret now, you’re welcome.

We tossed our sauce with our pasta and broccoli, added our chicken, chili sauce and marinated cucumbers, and behold, the result:

Best part? The entire family loved it, especially the kids (“Can we have saucy noodles again?”). From the cooking together to the gathering at the table to enjoy our meal, our Blue Apron night was exactly what we needed to remind us that even amid our new busy schedules, our home base is what matters most.

Blue Apron ships to most of the country and arrives in a refrigerated box so ingredients stay fresh even if you’re at work. Busy schedule? Want to try? The first 50 readers to sign up with from this link will get $50 off their first two weeks Blue Apron!

The most important rule with the craziness that is back to school? Don’t forget to nourish yourself!