Free Printable Letters

We just had our meeting with J's kindergarten teacher and we need to get working on her reading.  The academic expectations are really high this year compared to last year when Ainsley was in Jk.  We did not get homework last year and the focus was definitely more on making school fun (aka play).  While I have been working with J on her letters, it seems that she still does not know all the letters should at this point in the school year.

I have been searching the web for printable letters to paste on flash cards so we can start making small words.  I found this great site with beautifully coloured letters which I know J will like.  They can be printed at Mrprintables.com.




Mrprintables.com - Printable Letters

Glow Baby Included in Parentables Calendar Feature

I am excited to announce that our Organized Family Calendar was included in Parentables' article on 5 Efficient and Useful Calendars.  Of course our calendar was the prettiest :) 



The Organized Family Calendar

You can read the whole story here.

Menu Plan - September 24 to September 30

This week's menu plan is done.  I'm finding the planning goes much quicker now that we have been back to school for a few weeks.  I have a better idea of what items the girls like best for lunch and while I still add new recipes and foods into the mix, I can now go back to the previous weeks plans and pick from them as well.



Menu Plan - September 24 to 26



Menu Plan - September 27 to 30

Menu Plan - September 10 - 16

Here is my menu plan for next week.  I have found making school lunches and snacks SO much easier with the menu plan done.  Taking the time once a week to plan out the menu and search for different and yummy lunch ideas is so worth it.  There have been no complaints so far from the girls about what I have been packing.  It has only been one week though...



Menu Plan - Sept 10 - 12
 

Menu Plan - Sept 13-16

Prepping Ahead for School lunch - Menu Planning

Now that I have a bigger freezer (YAY!)  I can start planning ahead for school lunches.  I've never been one to make multiple batches of anything because I never had the room to store it.  Not anymore! 

I was looking through Today's Parent special flyer for Picky Eaters with lots of great recipes and came across this recipe for Bake-Ahead mini-pizzas.  My girls love pizza and these don't need to be warm (no microwave at school).  The best thing about this recipe is that it makes 20 individual mini-pizzas and they can be frozen for up to 1 month.

The recipe can be found here.

I've put four of the mini-pizza in the fridge for Tuesday's lunch.  Yum!  I altered the recipe slightly to make the pizza with mushrooms and pepperoni (the girls' favourite toppings).

Mini-Pizza

The other 16 mini-pizzas were divided into four bags with the expiration date written on them.  This way, I can defrost one bag each week until they are gone.  That means that I have at least 1 lunch each week for the next 4 weeks covered.  Awesome!

Frozen Mini-Pizzas

The First Week of School - Menu Planning

I cannot believe that the first week of school is next week!  Where did the summer go! 

This year we have a lot of firsts happening.  It will be Juliet's first year of school and both Ainsley and Juliet's first year of full-day school.  This means, that I have to put together snacks and lunch for the girls everyday. 

I don't know about you, but I remember hating lunches at school.  They were always so boring.  There are only so many times that you can eat a sandwich before you never want to eat one again.  Also, here in Toronto, all our schools are peanut free so there goes the staple of peanut butter to mix things up.  I am determined to provide a variety of yummy and not monotonous lunches for the girls this year.  The first step: Menu Planning.

I have always been a menu planner.  Last year during the school year, I would plan loosely for breakfast and lunch and then I would always make a clear plan for dinner.  When I mean loosely, I would jot down lunches where we were going out and then make sure I had staples on hand such as mini pizzas, Kraft dinner, hot dogs and sandwich ingredients.  This year I am taking it to a new level.  I want to make sure that I am packing healthy and delicious lunches and snacks. 

I sat down on Thursday and created next week's plan.  I did all my shopping on Friday  so I was ready to go for this week.  I find that planning ahead makes things so much easier.  I have on hand all the healthy food I need and I don't have to think about what's for lunch this week (or dinner or snacks).

Here is the plan:






Glow Baby Organized Family Menu Planner

Glow Baby Organized Family Menu Planner

 

As you can see, all meals are planned and to the right is my shopping list.  This way I can make sure that I am mixing things up regularly and if I'm really stuck one week, I can go back to a previous week and pull from them. 

 

I hope everyone has a great first day of school.  At least I know my girls will like their lunches :).

 

 



 



First Day Back at School

Today is Ainsley's first day back at school and this year Juliet is joining her. Ainsley was super excited to go back. This is her third year at this preschool and she loves her teachers! There are quite a few returning students as well so she still has her friends but the most exciting part was that she gets to show Juliet the ropes.

Juliet was pretty excited too. I don't think she really knew that we were going to school until we pulled up to the building and she recognized it from dropping Ainsley off last year. She then got excited and off the girls went as quick as can be to their classroom. I wasn't sure if Juliet would be ok although last year she never wanted to leave when we were dropping off Ainsley. When I went to say goodbye this morning, she waved and went off and played. Clearly she felt comfortable and was excited to finally get to stay.

I am so glad that the two of them are finally at school together. I think this will be a great year. The two of them are very close and play well together. I look forward to seeing them grow over the next year and make new friends. I am so glad I found a great preschool in our area. It really helps to minimize first day of school anxiety. For me especially!