"Stick"ing to the Schedule

Today concluded the second week of the newest chapter in our lives.  The "having a child who attends school" chapter.  It's crazy how you turn the page and enter the new chapter and there is no going back.  Our lives are so different now than they were just 2 short weeks ago.  The kids and I have gotten into a morning rhythm.  It very loosely involves all of us being awake by 6am, eating breakfast, getting dressed, and watching Martha Speaks on PBS.  I am reminded of the morning ritual I was accustom to growing up and I'm so glad that Barney isn't on so early in the morning...

This week we picked up some extracurricular activities to add to our schedule (as if it wasn't hectic enough).  The kids are starting to participate in the children's choir at church while the grown-ups are taking part in a self discovery class.  Also this week was Isaac's orientation/meet the teacher at his new preschool.  We are pretty excited to have him in such a great school.  I'm not so excited about how much extra work it will put on me, but I will rise to the challenge.  Hopefully.

I'm glad that we are on the topics of schedules and rhythms.  It's a nice segue for what I'm really excited to blog about.  And that is our after-school snack routine.

A couple of weeks ago, in a state of missing Orry, I decided that I would make him a special snack for when he got home from his first day of school.  I made some soft pretzels and he loved them.  I think he really liked being thought of while he was away and coming home to something special.  So I continued on, making muffins and ice cream until we finally arrived at Friday.  On that day I didn't make anything.  I figured that it would be fine just eating all the usual snacks like apple slices with chocolate peanut butter or cheese crackers.  Oh, was I wrong.  Orry was pretty bummed about not having anything special and didn't want to eat the ordinary snacks.  My, how easily they get spoiled.

So this week I made a "new" snack everyday.  We certainly had the repeats, like the pretzels, but we tried some new snacks too.  And here is what I learned.  If you put food on a stick, kids will eat it up!  Do you want your kids to eat more fresh fruit?  Just give them a sharp stick (adult supervision is required (no, really)) and let them stick whatever fruits they like on there.  And I found a great recipe for making "cake pops".  Cake on a stick.  It was awesome.
I've got other things planned like homemade granola bars on a stick and cinnamon rolls on a stick.  But I'm really liking the challenge of coming up with new snack ideas and I really like eating the snacks as well...  And pretty soon I'll have two kids to welcome home with special snacks.

I'm sure I'll find the natural rhythm of my hectic day-to-day schedule.  And if I run into a rough patch, I know where there are plenty of sharp sticks to help me get through it!