Dale's kindergarten, part 1

Tonight when we gathered with Dale for bedtime prayers he asked if we could turn the calendar that hangs by his bed.

He got pretty excited to see for himself that August starts tomorrow... August is a big month for him! Not only is his birthday later this month, but he starts KINDERGARTEN on Monday and he is pret-ty excited!

And so am I, to be honest. :)

As I mentioned before, this year will be pretty light. Our focal point for the year will be character studies.

Our basic framework for our character curriculum came from this website.
If you have preschoolers and are interested in teaching activities do at home with them, please go give this website a look! I plan on using it with Alan in a year or so.
I used several of the ideas from their Bible and Rhyme curriculum this spring and Dale and I both enjoyed it a lot. There are fewer specifics laid out for the character studies, but it does give a good list of traits and a rough idea of a schedule.

As a supplement, I ordered this book:

It lists 12 of the 18 or so character traits we will study throughout the year. For each one, it gives a definition, and 4 example stories in which the trait was shown or should have been. One story is from the Bible, the other three are about a child in school, at play, and at home. Short, simple, & to the point!

Some of the character traits we will be learning to adopt as our own:

Being Attentive
Obedience
Contentment
Being Creative
Thankfulness
Joyfulness
Being Prayerful

Each one is also accompanied by a memory verse for the week (more on that in a future post) and we will also be looking to children's literature for other examples of these character traits. I plan on blogging about how we will be doing that, too. :)

Greg and I feel that if nothing else academic gets done in our school day, as long as we get our character lesson in we have done well. Of course, we have plans for things like phonics and math (whew... even more planned blogging!), but the character studies will be priority.

It's tough being a kid, at any age.

Alan fell from a dining chair today.

On his face.

Ouch.

I saw him falling and just couldn't get there in time.

*SIGH*

He's all better now. :)

It did bruise, though. Not surprising, since he has taken aspirin every day since his transplant and bruises easily.

I tried to get a picture of the bruise. Because - you know... all good parents take photographic evidence of their children's injuries. Or maybe that's just me?

At any rate, this one hardly shows up at all on camera.

However, Alan took full advantage of being in front of the camera and really hammed it up. He does that you know. He is the ham in this family.

(I'm not sure what that makes the rest of us.)

It's tough to be the big brother, too. Yesterday Dale played a lot with his Lincoln Logs. The best time for this is when Alan is asleep, especially if one intends to do any serious building.

Yesterday afternoon Alan had gone down for his nap and I came to tell Dale it was time for him to rest too.

He showed me the house he had built all by himself, no instructions or anything. He wanted to show Daddy, but Daddy was on the phone.

I told Dale to go ahead and get in bed and when Daddy got off the phone I would tell him to come look.

Guess what?

I forgot. Completely forgot.

Fast forward about 2 hours:

Alan woke up from his nap and we turned him loose the house. May have even told him to go wake up Dale. We do that sometimes.

What usually happens is that Dale wakes up and the two of them start playing.

Yesterday, Alan did eventually disappear down the hallway.

Moments later I simultaneously heard a small crash and a shriek.

Followed by much wailing. In two voices. And I think even an "Al-annnnn!!!"

I didn't even have to go look. I knew.

And I felt really really bad.

Alan recovered almost immediately.

It took Dale a little while, but all was well again by supper time.

An hour in the sprinkler (even with a perpetrator) can do wonders.

Man it's tough being a kid!

Dale-isms

I haven't devoted a whole post to my little buddy lately. And for no good reason either... he sure says enough to earn plenty of blog time!

A couple of my recent favorites...

Dale sometimes calls Mimi (my mom) 'Meems', just for fun.
This weekend:
"Hey! There's Meems! That's her nick-nack name you know."


And another....

Dale has made several new friends lately, one of which is a 4 1/2 year old little girl, S.

Yesterday he tells me:
"Listen to this song S told me:
'Hanky Doodle went to town,
riding on a pony,
stuck a feather in his hat,
and it turned into a monkey!'"

Followed by hysterical laughter, of course. The funny part? S did teach him the monkey part.
But Hanky Doodle? He came up with that all on his own!!

Living the wild life. Umm...make that living WITH the wildlife!

Sunday morning we were between breakfast and getting ready for church when Greg called out, "Whoa! Look in the backyard!"

I couldn't imagine what I might see when I got to the window, but didn't expect to see this:

We're no bird experts, but this appears to us to be a wild turkey!

We're not sure if it flew in or walked in through the gate we'd left open, but he couldn't seem to get out. Greg went out to get a better picture. He followed the bird around a round or two, but before he could get a picture it gave a gobble and flew over the fence into the neighbor's yard.

The temptation was great to call her up and say "look in your back yard!" but I controlled myself. :)

Our weekend so far

I hope you are all having a nice weekend. Ours so far has been a pleasant blend of relaxing and staying busy.

I picked up some new library books for Dale (and myself!) Thursday. Dale decided this box was a good place for reading. :)

We went for Alan's labs on Friday morning. Between our house and the hospital someone has planted several large fields full of sunflowers! When you are driving West in the morning, all the flowers are greeting you with their morning faces. It's so pretty. A picture (from a moving vehicle, no less) can't do it justice, but I had to try. :)


At our house, coloring is something usually done at the table. The boys have gotten into the habit the past few days of dumping out all the crayons in the middle of the living room floor. We're going to have to change that before we have confetti-colored carpet! But in the meantime it is so fun to see them elbow to elbow, coloring out of the same book. :)


They spent some time in Mimi & Gramps' sprinkler yesterday. I'm not sure why Alan looks so hesitant. It didn't take him long to get warmed up to it. Or would that be 'cooled down'? ;)
Dale was already on the run. See?


And then tonight? Watermelon! Alan couldn't believe anything so fun to eat existed in this world. He loved it!

How about you? How are you filling the last weekend of July?

A method for our madness.

I mentioned before that as we began to become familiar with various homeschool methods, one in particular stood out more than the rest.

And that one would be.... (no drum roll, that would be too dramatic, lol)....
the Charlotte Mason approach.

Instead of me giving you all of the formal definitions and histories of Charlotte Mason (a British educator from the 19th century), I'd rather just tell how we are applying her ideas.

However, if you are interested in reading more about Charlotte Mason and her methods, try looking here

or here

or here.

In our homeschool, a Charlotte Mason (CM) perspective means:

- Books. Lots of them, and not just any books.
Even before 'discovering' CM, we were big believers in reading to our kids. I think reading exposes them to more than we can imagine, and probably covers a multitude of shortcomings.

CM takes this a step further by encouraging books that are rich in content. One phrase for these types of books is "living" books. Books that are alive with ideas. CM believed that these types of books (and the characters in them) inspire children in many ways, including planting in them a love of learning. (As opposed to what she called "twaddle" - books with thin content.)

As the years go by, books will play an even greater role in our children's education, as they will be a key element in subjects like history and science. Instead of most of their information coming from a textbook, it will come from biographies and first-hand accounts of things. Information that will come to life in their hands, and hopefully, stick with them and inspire (there's that word again) them to learn more and dig deeper. *SIGH* I always knew I loved books. ;)

- A light kindergarten year.
CM was a firm believer that children under 6 years old should not be overwhelmed with lots of lessons and academics. I agree. There is plenty of time. Instead, they should be read to as much as possible, and spend a LOT of time playing outside. Dale enjoys math and phonics workbooks and things like that, so we are planning on doing some of that. But there is no pressure on him, AND no pressure on me (on me from me, lol) for him to reach certain milestones by certain times. Do we have goals? Absolutely. But priority #1? Being a kid.

- Nature study
Spending lots of time in and becoming familiar with your outdoor surroundings is another big part of the CM method. To notice and observe plants, animals, birds and insects. Many families have their students keep a notebook of their own drawings and writings about these things. Other than spending lots of time outside and "seeing what we can find", I'm not sure yet in what ways we will incorporate nature study into our homeschool, but I'm looking forward to that journey. :)

- Incorporating the Bible
Of all "living books", the Bible is the most important, and the only one that truly is alive! If we do nothing else but study and memorize God's word, we still will have given our kids the best education they could possibly have.
One of the beauties of learning at home is that we can show our kids how God and His word are the beginning, middle, and end of everything else we study. We will able to look at God's hand in history, the sciences, literature... even how He is reflected in the absolute truth of math!

One of the major ways we are incorporating the Bible right now is through memorization. It is amazing to see how much Dale's mind can hold! And guess what? When he memorizes a passage I didn't know before, I learn it too!

- Habits
CM also taught to instill good habits in your children. Many of these help them have the discipline and know-how to educate themselves as they get older. Others give them the skills they need to function and flourish in a family, a church, or society in general. Others will help them draw closer to God, learn more of Him, and be more like Him.

The possibilities are endless as we begin to train our children in good habits. And maybe, like the scripture memory, some of those can 'rub off' on us as well, and we can all grow together. :)

So... there it is, in a nutshell (a very large nutshell), what I've learned so far about Charlotte Mason's teachings and methods and how we plan to apply that in the years ahead. This post doesn't even begin to touch the depth and beauty of all her ideas. However, I am still reading and learning. I know some of our views and practices will change while we grow stronger in others.

In the meantime, excitement is building around here and we are counting down the days until the first day of Kindergarten!! (9 for those of you keeping score at home) ;)

If this is sibling rivalry, Bring. It. On!

I love watching the relationship between Dale and Alan grow and change. It seems to take shape into more and more of a friendship almost weekly.

We expect a few bumps along the way, especially as Alan becomes more of a kid and less a baby. As a baby he accepts a lot easier those times Dale takes away a toy or has other sharing... issues. And he is very agreeable about what to play and how.

However, we have begun to see shades of Alan making his own preferences known at playtime. We like seeing our boys stand up for themselves, though, and we think doing so with each other is good practice. As long as it is done respectfully, and without injury, of course. ;)

As far as sibling rivalry, though, we just don't see an overall jealousy of each other. All of us have our moments. But in general, Alan adores Dale and Dale is caring and gentle towards Alan.

There has been one area where they seem to want to compete, especially Dale. And, well, we're just going to let it be and hope it lasts.

And where do we see this competition? At cleanup time, of all things.

We have been teaching Alan how to do his share and pick up toys. All of a sudden in the last few days, Dale can't seem to stand being outdone by Alan. We tell Alan to start picking up and Dale goes even faster.

Sharing issues, perhaps?

Maybe, but at least it gets the job done, and quickly!

What about your kiddos? Is there much rivalry at your house?

We all start out as 'homeschoolers'

From the time I mentioned it in a previous post, I have thought more and more about blogging about our kindergarten plans, and the idea just kept growing on me! Hopefully someone will find it interesting, and if not, it will at least be nice for me to get some of my thoughts and ideas written down in one place!

Before I get into what we will be doing specifically, I want to share a more general look at our philosophy. I have looked forward to homeschooling for over a year now, and done quite a bit of reading about it, from books, to blogs, to quite a few helpful websites.

I believe, like many others, that "homeschooling" starts from birth. All of those interactions with our babies and toddlers that make them feel loved and help their little minds grow are, in their own way, education at its simplest. Many of those things come naturally to most parents, others we learn and pick up along the way.

As our babies grow, we grow too, as their teachers. This is what has happened with Dale as he has come through his preschool years. We picked up more and more planned and/or structured activities as he became more ready and receptive to them.

As a result, he is more than ready academically to enter just about any kindergarten program out there. Plus he has a good variety of miscellaneous skills and knowledge in his repertoire. Not because he is exceptionally gifted or we are exceptional parents. It's just a lifestyle.

Maybe it is because of how naturally the learning has come in the last 4+ years that keeps the anxiety of "officially" starting kindergarten at bay. But it doesn't hamper our eager anticipation. :)

Like I said above, I've been doing lots of reading. I've learned there are lots and lots of methods and philosophies when it comes to homeschooling. And one in particular has really sparked my interest and shaped our plans as we continue to wade deeper into educating our children at home.

I'll save that for a later post. ;)

WFMW - Kids don't have to be entertained to sit still and quiet!

Ever tried to get a little boy to sit still in church... without the use of toys, crayons, and other entertaining things that are both silent and small?

Yeah, me too.

Not so easy, at least in my experience.

But through trial, error, and much blog reading, we have found something that Works for Us!

Dale will be 5 in August and is already reading very well. To help him
1 - keep busy during the sermon
and
2 - hear what is being said during the sermon,

I came up with this form for him to fill in:

I listed a few words that I felt were most likely and commonly used, and then left blanks for several more words. I print one every Sunday morning before we leave. (I suppose I could *gasp* plan ahead! and have several printed up and waiting to go... but hey. One thing at a time here.)
When the pastor gets started and I get the gist of what he's going to be teaching on, I fill in the blank spaces with other likely-to-be-used words. Since these change from week to week they keep the 'game' interesting. (For the record, Greg did the 'filling in' this week, and that is his handwriting above.) ;)

Dale then puts one check mark each time he hears one of the listed words mentioned. He has caught on and does really great most weeks. It doesn't always hold his attention for a full 25 minute sermon, but it does get him a good bit of the way through it. And I love seeing him light up at what is being said, and I know that he is listening and hearing!

And THAT (and the being still and quiet... or mostly still and quiet) Works for Me! Be sure and click the link to head over to Rocks in my Dryer to see lots of helpful hints from all sorts of bloggers! :)

Oh the blog....

....it is a-suffering.

Here's what's going on around here:

We are getting temporary living quarters ready close to Greg's new school. It's a long story to explain WHY this is best right now, but we are really excited about it. It was amazing and fun to see how God provided this and all the things he provided. There will be more on that in the weeks ahead.

We were hoping to go spend a few days there late this week or early next, but because of some stuff going on with Alan we are sticking close to home for now. Not sure when our first nights in the new place will be.

We are planning to start Kindergarten on August 4th. That will be Daddy's first day at school with kids so that will be our first day, too. As soon as we get a chance, Dale and I will be going shopping together for school supplies and a box. Yay!

I'm thinking about posting about our curriculum here, if for no other reason than the fact that I think about it a lot and it would at least be something going up on the blog! ;)

Other than those things, there isn't a lot going on around here. Doing laundry, eating, trying to keep the house clean.

On the subject of eating, I'll leave you with a recipe for the discovery I made in the kitchen this weekend. I was so excited!

We have several boxes of jello that need to be used, and on a whim I poured one into some pancake batter. Yum!

Be advised, if you aren't big on 'colored' food these may not be for you. They sure made for a bright pink breakfast!
However... the colored batter would be great fun to use for pancake shapes!

I bet you could empty a box of jello into whatever boxed pancake mix you are using, but on this particular day I was using a recipe. I made these twice, using sugar-free jello one day and regular the next, and I couldn't tell the difference! (The first day was strawberry, the second day was cherry w/ chocolate chips! Cherry-covered chocolate!)

1 egg
1 cup milk
2 Tb oil
1 cup all-purpose flour (I like to use 1/2 c. whole wheat & 1/2 c white)
1 box any flavored gelatin
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Beat egg; add remaining ingredients in order listed and stir until smooth.

Enjoy!

Song Tag

I've been tagged by MyFriendConnie at Smockity Frocks! Yay!

Here are the rules:
List seven songs that you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your Summer of 2008. Post these instructions in your blog, along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what their favorites are this year!

I had planned to write a clever little post, explaining my reasoning behind these choices while being both witty and touching.

But I am tired, and my bed is calling my name. :)

So, here they are! My top 7 songs of summer 2008. At first I thought it would be hard to come up with 7, but as I begin to think through the 2 genres that are currently filling our days, we have lots of favorites.... even if they are from just two categories, and it ended up being hard to narrow the list down to only 7!! :)

We Are So Blessed

Victory in Jesus

'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus

Jesus Loves Me

The Monkey Dance

Hot Potato

Rock-a-bye Your Bear


And while I had a hard time limiting myself to 7 songs, that was not the case as I tried to think of 7 people who wouldn't mind being tagged. I love receiving a tag, but I'm always worried about inconveniencing someone else. Hmmm. Do you like getting tagged? Let me know, and next time I can pass one on to YOU... guilt free! :) For now I am passing along this fun by tagging:


Lisa at Simple Journeys

Kristin, My Reddie Sister

Sam at Family Blog with a Difference

Michelle, one of the 5 Little Wolfs

Karen at Candid Diversions


P.S.
My "Honorable Mentions"

Trust and Obey

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

Tell It to Jesus

'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus

From the Wiggles:
Toot, Toot, Chugga, Chugga, Big Red Car

Get Ready to Wiggle

And finally:
On the Road Again, because we seem to be on the road a lot lately. But it didn't make the cut, simply because it has the line "just can't wait to get on the road again". Not true.
I love home. :)

Scoot over and say cheese

This time last week we were in Arkansas at Grandma's house, along with Greg's brother and our nephew.

The male chromosomes, there were many.

We spent most of last week there. I think we've about recovered.

The blog however, has not, as you may have noticed.

As a peace offering, I bring you a couple of pics from last week.


You give them a big ol' swimmin' pool, and they all crowd in one corner. They called it the "safety boat". We notice this phenomenon a lot in our family. Not the safety boat thing, but the crowding into a small space. We can have a whole house at our disposal, and all 4 of us be sitting/standing/wedging ourselves into a single-digit square foot space. We love togetherness around here.


And do you know how difficult it was to get the following picture? Getting three boys to look in sort-of the same direction with a somewhat decent smile is quite possibly...impossible. And somewhere along the way Alan has learned how to "say cheese" whenever the camera points his way. So expect to see more of this expression in the days to come.
If I can get around to posting to the ol' blog, that is!

For the scientific minded

Dale: Why do boats float?

Mama: ..... hmmm...I don't know.

Dale: It's because they don't have wheels.

Read this! (Please)

Alan has known and used the baby-sign for "thank you" for quite some time now. A couple of weeks ago we introduced "please" in hopes of replacing grunts and whines for getting what he wants. It has worked great and, as an added bonus, it's really cute!

Ah... but manners are a two-way street:

Greg and I read recently the suggestion to give your little ones opportunities to choose to obey.

I went through one of these little exercises with Alan yesterday. We were at a playground, and it was hot. He had been sitting in the shade with me drinking gatorade and began to wander off.

That was fine, but I didn't want him carrying his cup around. Instead of just taking it from him, I asked him to give it to me.

"Alan - give me your cup."

He threw it down.

I swatted his bottom.

And gave him back his cup.

"Alan - give me your cup."

Alan looked me right in the eye and said/signed "please".

I felt like a bird in a zoo - I cocked my head at him, eyeing him and wondering if he was doing what I thought he was. I decided to test my theory:

"Alan - give me your cup, please."

One great big grin from Alan and he promptly handed the cup right over!

Did I feel manipulated? Slightly.

Would I let that little trick work for him again? Probably not.

Was it adorable? Absolutely!

What day is it?

Do you ever find yourself asking this question? I often have to stop and think what day it is, especially in the summer or any time that you are out of your usual routine and the days all run together.

I am completely lost right now (as far as what day it is) - we left early (7:45, lol) yesterday morning to go to Arkansas to Grandma's house. It's a pretty big deal... the first time Alan has ever been here, and the first time Greg and I have been in 2 1/2 years! Greg's brother and his little boy are also here, so we are just all! up! in! the! fun!

We have a kiddie-pool-water-park-deluxe thing, along with fireworks, food, and a room full of toys. I'm sure you can just imagine.

If I can figure out how to get my pics from my camera to Grandma's computer then I'll post some. Otherwise it will have to wait until we get home. :)

Y'all have a good week. You know where we'll be. ;)

Fun, fun, and more fun!

July 4th

Finger painting!

When you get covered in that much paint, the best thing to do is....

head for the sprinkler!
Not much later, it rained, leaving a nice puddle for stomping and tricycle riding.

Later, we headed out to my parents' place for hot dogs and fireworks.

A few weeks ago my parents hosted a couple dozen tadpoles in an aquarium at their house for Dale to watch. They released them when they began to turn into frogs. Yesterday Dale got to hold one of the many baby frogs hopping around!

Alan got to hold one of the super-long sparklers. We all had to be careful though.... he liked to swing it!
After sparklers we started getting setup for a few fireworks. Dale was ready!



July 5th
Back out to my parents' land....

Does this look good or what!?
When we got home the boys had a much-needed bath. I put Alan to bed, but Dale got to stay up for just a little while longer to wait for dark to light one or two more little fireworks in the driveway. I think everybody is going to sleep good tonight! :)

O say can you see?

A few days ago Dale announced that our local fireworks display would be Thursday night.

How did he know this?

He read it in the newspaper! Of course!

And then he talked about it for days.

So when we had to make an out-of-town errand late yesterday afternoon, we were planning very carefully and crossing our fingers we would make it back in time.

Which we did. We even had time to take a few pictures: This was Alan's first fireworks display. Last summer he was too small to enjoy it (plus we had a tube-feed that had to be started by that time of night). At New Year's he was a little busy. So - last night was the first time for Alan to see fireworks. You never can tell how a kid will like those bright loud things, but our guess was that Alan would do just fine - and he did!

Here he is seeing his first few:

He watched the first 3 or 4 pops in awe and then clapped his hands. After 7 or 8 he signed "all done". Lol. But then he settled in and watched for a while:
I dunno... do you think Dale is enjoying the fireworks he talked about for days before?

After a while Alan got more into it and began wandering around in front of us. We couldn't figure out where he was trying to go. To get closer to them maybe?

But we can tell you it is very difficult to stay upright on toddler legs while looking at the sky and trying to clap!
And whaddya know!? My camera has a setting just for fireworks! Fun!

Doesn't this one look like a dandelion blowing away in the wind?
We don't have any definite plans for today. By bedtime the day will probably have included some cook-out type food, some sprinkler or pool time for the boys, and some sparklers as it gets dark. What about you? How are you spending this Independence Day?

WFMW - The 5 ingredients or less edition

For Works-for-me-Wednesday this week Shannon has requested recipes with 5 or fewer ingredients.

This has been a favorite of ours for a while:

Cheesy Crockpot Chicken
1 pkg boneless, skinless breasts OR thighs
1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cheese soup

Place chicken in crockpot. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder as desired. Combine soups. Pour over chicken. Cook on low 6-8 hours.
*Sometimes I add some frozen broccoli for the last half hour or so.
Serve over rice or noodles (we prefer noodles!)

More easy crockpot goodness:

CP Pork Chops
4- pork chops
1 can cream mushroom soup

1 Ramen noodle seasoning packet

Place pork chops in pot. Combine coup and seasoning packet. Pour over chops. (You can add water, but I find it makes it too thin for a good gravy.) Cook on low 6-8 hours. Serve with Ramen noodles.

Another one:

CP BBQ Pork
1 pork roast
1 onion, chopped
3/4 cup cola
1 bottle barbecue sauce, divided

Combine onion, cola, and 3/4 cup bbq sauce. Pour over roast in crock pot. Cook all day, until very tender. Drain, reserving liquid. Shred pork. Moisten with desired amount of liquid from crockpot. For stronger bbq flavor, pour in bottled sauce. Serve with buns for sandwiches.

Can you tell I love my crockpot? :)
For lots of other 5 ingredients or less recipes be sure to visit Rocks In My Dryer!

What's on my mind:

1 - Getting up early. I have always enjoyed mornings, and since being a mom things tend to go smoother for me when I get up early. Today is day 2 of my latest onset of determination. The final push came from this realization:

Not too long ago Alan was getting up reeeeally early every morning. As tough as it was to roll out of bed that early, now that I look back on it I have to admit that I functioned just fine the rest of the day.

Which means, if I was getting up that early on my own and acutally making something of that time, things oughta be really swell.

So far, so good. But we're only 24 hours in. ;)

2 - Supper tonight. Simple Crock Pot Thai Chicken.
I lost the recipe after the first time I made it, so the second time I just 'winged' it (haha) and it went just fine. So I'll be doing the same tonight.

I searched the internet but didn't find the exact recipe, so I'm going to do it something like this:

chicken legs (thighs would work just as well)
peanut butter (about 1/2 a cup, maybe?)
salsa (a cup, perhaps?)
soy sauce (oh... 1/4 cup? maybe a little less)
some ginger
fresh cilantro

Place chicken in crock pot. Combine PB, salsa, soy sauce and ginger. Pour over chicken. Never mind how gross it looks now. It will be fantastic later.

Cook on low (high if you're pressed for time). Toss in fresh chopped cilantro with 30-60 minutes to go.

Good with rice or baked sweet potatoes.

Y'all have just gotten a glimpse into the haphazzard way I cook. Even if I have a recipe I have a hard time leaving it alone.

Which probably explains why I have trouble with baking, lol. Yesterday I made a plum cobbler that was supposed to have crumbles over the top, but I couldn't just follow the directions (flour, sugar, cinnamon, 1 egg) and ended up with gummy knot cobbler (added milk to the flour mixture).

You'd think I'd have learned by now.

Well there are things 1 & 2 anway.... there are other things going on to think about, but my latest organizational blitz list/schedule says it time for me to move on to laundry & breakfast. ;)

And to think... blogging didn't even make the list! :-0

What about you? Are you a morning person?
Do you work by schedules or lists?