A month of food

I just finished planning a month's worth of meals for our family.  My plan is to use it for a month and then repeat.  We'll throw in some new things every once in a while, but I want to have a good basic idea of what we're going to have, and I don't want to feel like I need to spend time thinking hard about this every week.

In a typical month we have 1 dinner with the Crum family, and 1 dinner with the Billey family.  I used 4 weeks as a "month" - so there are 26 meals on my list.  Some repeat themselves.  I only am writing down the main dish, the sides will vary depending on what's available.

This is a vegetarian menu for the month, most recipes are vegan.  I hope to fill in recipes later on.

1 - Bean Pie
2 - Egg Rolls
3- Meatless Burgers
4 - Chili
5 - Stir Fry
6 - Nachos
7 - Crum Family dinner
8 - Raw Fruits & Veggies
9 - Lasagna
10 - Tacos
11 - Veggie Soup
12 - Curry
13 - Pizza
14 - Sandwich Wraps
15 - Taco Salad
16 - Stir Fry
17 - Chili
18 - Nachos
19 - Egg Rolls
20 - Billey Family Dinner
21 - Red Beans & Rice
22 - Raw Fruits & Veggies
23 - Tacos
24 - Vegan Chicken Patties on Salad
25 - Tortilla Soup
26 - Meatless Burgers
27 - Pizza
28 - Lasagna

And once again...

My artist has appeared silently during nap time. 

Orange nail polish today.

Wordless Wednesday: Before

The rest of the story

I just realized that I didn't finish the story about Monkey's concern for the man that needed food.


As we pulled away from the library, Monkey became increasingly agitated.  He insisted that we needed to go to the bank so we could get money to help that man so he could buy food.  Mr. Crum informed me that he did have a bit of cash in his wallet.  We decided that we would help Monkey show compassion today.  We circled the block, pulled up in front of the library.  Unbuckled Monkey and handed him the cash. 


Monkey walked around the van, directly to the man that was hungry and handed him the money, stating, "Jesus loves you".  The man grabbed his hand and shook it and thanked him, and hugged him, and shook his hand and thanked him, then he thanked him some more.


Monkey was a blessing to that man today because he showed compassion.  He made that man's day by giving.  My boy learned today that he can bless others.    

Compassion is Costly

You read that right.  True compassion can be expensive.  I'm pretty sure that I have 1 little boy that's going to help us learn that lesson.


Compassion is one of the words that I want my oldest son to remember about himself as he grows.  I wrote about that just over a year ago and was trying to figure out how I could teach a young child to learn how to practice it.  

Today, this lad made me proud as he practiced compassion, without being prompted.  He overheard a conversation that his mama had with one of the homeless men outside of the library - as I threw away an empty pizza box that was in the van, the man asked if he could have the pizza.  The man was kind and polite, but obviously disappointed that the box was empty.  When I got back in the van, Monkey was concerned.  "Why that man want pizza?"  "Why he don't have money for food?"  "We need to give him money... we need to go to the bank and get money so he can have food."  

Wow.

This little boy is going to be expensive, because he loves people, even strangers, deeply enough to share his resources.  (If you remember, this is the little boy that sleeps with a handful of change because he loves money).  

 

A few things about compassion:

- If I have compassion, but don't act on it, what I really have is pity.  Pity does not make change happen.

- Compassion can be costly.  Sometimes acting out of compassion means buying a meal for a stranger.  Sometimes the "cost" of compassion is your time - maybe a listening ear for a friend who has lost a loved one.  

- Compassion happens when we learn to love others enough to put their needs ahead of our own.

- Compassion can be taught.  We teach our children in everything we do.  By practicing compassion myself, I am teaching my children to treat other people with love and respect.  (I might also be teaching someone else about compassion without realizing it).

 

Some practical ways to help children learn compassion:

1.  Make a loaf's worth of peanut butter sandwiches and hand them out at the park in the summer. 

2.  Read stories about children who don't have as much resource as your own children.  Make a plan to do something that will help them.  Follow through with it.

3.  Think of ways to earn money as a family so you can buy a flock of chickens for a village in need. 

4.  Be available for the people around you to help with childcare, construction projects, raking, baking - fill needs for others as you see them.

5.  Let your children see it when other people are compassionate and generous of their time and resources in your life.

6.  Visit friends and family in the hospital or nursing home.

7.  Take meals to families with new babies, or who are recovering from surgeries, deaths in the family, loss of job, etc.

8.  Teach stories about Jesus.

What ideas do you have about teaching compassion to your children?  What does compassion mean to you?

This might be silly

Or - maybe it's just mama talk...

But I am convinced that as this little man grows, he will be a very gifted communicator.

If you know Monkey and if you've ever had the opportunity to talk with him, you are aware that he is often very difficult to understand.  He knows a lot of words, but has a hard time with a lot of letter sounds, and that makes life a guessing game much of the time as we have converstations.

Very rarely, however, does he get frustrated when it is obvious that people cannot understand him.  At 3 1/2 he has figured out that if someone can't understand him, he can gesture to help them figure out words - if he can't figure out how to gesture a word, he will describe an item or take you to it, or sometimes just come up with another word.

Last night, he surprised us.  He made his mama laugh and feel pride in his growing communication abilities.  The conversation went like this:

Mama, did you get wasss?

Did I get lost? No.

NO! WASS.

Washed?

Did you get wass?

Buddy, I don't know, I can't understand what you're asking me.

(singing) If you like to talk to tomatoes...

OHHH.. did I get SQUASH!

Yes. Did you get wass?

SimplyFun Leap Forward Set: Review & Giveaway

You read that right!  More SimplyFun!

This is our favorite game out of the Leap Forward set - Tangrams.  Monkey decided to try making his own game out of the shapes while I was in the office one day.  He had a great time building a... whatever this thing is.  Tangrams are fantastic because of their LARGE size.  They are easy for preschoolers to handle, and the game itself is easy to understand.  Did you ever play Tangrams in school?  I remember them!

Here, my niece, Little Lou, is showing the boys how to put the shapes together to make a picture.  There are 2 sets of large foam shapes in this package, that makes it easier to play together, or as a competition.  There are so many ways to play with Tangrams that it has entertained my boys for hours!

A finished picture - I think this is a dog.  It was Little Lou's first experience with Tangrams and she needed just a little bit of help after she had finished so the picture came out looking like the one in the book.

 

Ice Hop is an incredibly cute game where the kids work to get their penguins to safety by hopping from ice burg to ice burg!  It is helping my boys practice counting - and in a sneaky way, helping them practice addition!  This was especially fun for Little Lou (6), Bugsy (4), and Monkey (3) to play together!

See those cute little sheep?

I have never seen another game like Clover Leap.  It truly is unique.  It's a bit difficult to begin playing with Monkey right now, but as soon as he starts to get a better mastery on word recognition, we will begin helping him understand it.  Mr. Crum and I played it together (he won).  When we were finished, he was ready to start again.  It is a fun game of silly sentences!  I can't wait until we're back at my sister's house so I can share this one with Little Lou.

Mr. Crum is proud of his sentence "I see hairy bikes".  (He's also proud that he won Clover Leap).

You too can own this set!  You can buy it online from SimplyFun
OR
You can win it right here on Life With My Boys!  Enter using the Rafflecopter form below!

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