Friesencold

Because the ABC’s are about Bauer’s favorite thing in the world right now (besides his new-found love for candy), I thought I would write a new list of my own ABC’s.

Apple-picking is something we’d like to do this weekend. TJ wants apple donuts and I want good Fuji apples. But I also want it to be warm!

Balloons from Trader Joe’s are some of the kids’ favorite things lately. I have to tie a car to Cash’s every time to keep it from going to the ceiling.

Cash has crazy hair.

Dragon is what Bauer will be for Halloween. Yesterday at Parents Day Out, Bauer participated in a Halloween Sing-A-Long and Trick or Treat Parade. Cash and I went to see our favorite dragon. And for the first time, Bauer actually sang and did the hand motions on stage!

Everyday Food magazine subscription is about to expire – boo hoo, because I love this little magazine so I definitely have to resubscribe.

Fuhrman Bean Burgers are a new favorite recipe. Bean burgers without eggs! I need to post it and a couple other recipes soon.

GeoTrax yellow train is Cash’s favorite toy of the past couple of weeks. He just totes it around all day and cries when I take it from him for his naps.

Help, The by Kathryn Stockett is the novel I finished this past week. It took me almost 6 weeks to read, but it was such a good story.

I heart Frederick Buechner. Lines from Listening to Your Life (October 30 reading entitled Grace) read: “The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It’s for you I created the universe. I love you.”

James Marshall is a children’s author I recently discovered. We have a bunch of the George and Martha books right now, but I’m not quite sure what to think of them….not much of a storyline, but Bauer seems to like them anyway.

Kleenex box is where Bauer has all his candy stashed at the moment. We haven’t even been trick-or-treating yet, and the box is almost full.

Lou Malnati’s “The Lou” pizza was Monday night’s dinner, followed by…

Movie night with Bauer, watching Ratatouille.

No, I didn’t watch the movie this time. I was at Starbucks with some friends but I was thankful TJ and Bauer got to do something special together. They both love movies.

Oh, why did I not know about Larabars before? Our favorite flavor so far is the Banana Bread. We’ve also tried Apple Pie, Cherry Pie, and Gingersnap. Now if only I could find them cheaper!

“Put on the whole armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Eph. 6:11) is the P verse Bauer is learning. You should have heard him try to repeat the words “devil’s schemes” the first few times – more like “deba’s skis” or something like that. I don’t think he had ever heard the word devil or schemes.

Quinoa Stuffing is the next new recipe I’m planning to make. Maybe I will like it enough to share this recipe too.

Rain, rain, rain has been the theme of our month here. 22 out of 31 days in October. I’ll take that over snow!

Sugar Cookies is the new Amy Krouse Rosenthal book that I saw in Anderson’s Bookshop the other day. I really had to contain myself not to buy it on the spot.

TV show we’re way into now is Modern Family. It comes on ABC on Wednesday nights but we have to wait till Thursday nights to watch it since we get it from Hulu.com.

Up till 11pm has been our routine lately.

Very dramatic, wouldn’t you say?

Well-Trained Mind, The is the most recent book I’ve purchased from Amazon. Two good friends recommended it as a resource about homeschooling. I am definitely interested and am enjoying the book very much.

Xpecting twins in January is my friend Meghan. A boy and a girl! Fun baby shower later this month.

Year 3 in Naperville has come to a close, so I’ve been working very hard on the past year’s MyPublisher photobook. It’s going to be 100 pages! It has been such a fun project for me.

ZZZZ is how Bauer likes to end the alphabet. He really enjoys sitting at our desk, typing out the alphabet and then each of our names before asking to print his paper. I still don’t know where he got the multiple Z’s, and he never will type Cash’s name. Just TJGINGERBAUER.

We already realized that the chores we picked for Bauer last week aren’t going to work out that well, mainly the setting the table and helping clear the table. Not that he can’t do those, but it’s really more inconvenient for me than anything else to have to pull him away from being entertained by TJ and Cash while I’m in the kitchen preparing our meals. It just works a lot better for me to set the table as I’m getting the meal fixed and clearing the table is often a gradual process that I hate to rush him to do until I’m ready to have all the stuff brought into our small kitchen. Anyway, TJ and I decided we are going to just have setting and helping clear the table be chores that we will expect of Bauer anytime we ask, as opposed to being a chore for his allowance. That way, I can ask him to do it when it would actually help me out, as opposed to making it even harder to get everything on the table. Not sure if this makes sense, but you’ll have to trust me.

So this week, Bauer’s chore chart is as follows:
1. Put away laundry – 3x
2. Vacuum floor (using the dustbuster, mainly around the dining room table) – 2x
3. Put away silverware – 2x
4. Wash mirror

We’ll see how that works out.

The way I worked out yesterday was to run the New Thing 5K that our church put on. It was a chilly morning but nice and sunny. TJ walked around with the kids in the stroller during the race, and he also took some official pictures and video footage. It was a fun thing to do as a family. We got to hang out with a few of our friends after the race so that was fun. I surprised myself by running the 3.1 miles in 24:14. I actually won 1st place in my age group, but I got a lot more excited about the 30 bananas I got to bring home after the race than the medal.

30 because I’m 30.

I did not in fact count them when I was filling up my box with some of the leftover bananas and oranges that were for the runners. But I liked that when I counted them, there were 30.

Bauer is always saying “4 because I’m 4.”

Bauer is also always playing Monopoly Junior these days. Well, just for the past 2 days, since TJ bought him the game at a garage sale. It seems like a great game for his age. I haven’t played it yet, but I am actually looking forward to trying it out with Bauer.

I am also looking forward to going to bed early tonight (I’m fighting off a sore throat) – getting in bed and reading my book The Help. It has been a busy but good last few days and I’m looking forward to some downtime.

First, Cash:

Here is Cash’s favorite pasttime lately….climbing back and forth, and back and forth, between the black chair and the flower chair. Bauer got him started at this game and now the two of them love to clown around together doing it.

Next, more cash:

TJ and I have been taking a class at our church called “Raising Financially Healthy Kids,” and we have recently learned about starting an allowance with Bauer. This week is our first week to try it. We have created a list of 4 chores since Bauer is 4 years old. He will have to do some of them more than once a week for a total of 8 chores. Each chore will be worth 50 cents. The chores are as follows:

1. Help set table – 3x
2. Help clear table – 2x
3. Put away laundry – 2x
4. Spray and wash full-length mirror – 1x (Bauer is going to love this chore!)

Bauer has seemed so eager already to do his chores that we may end up needing to add more to the list. I didn’t want to push it too much at first, and make it seem like he had to help with everything every day. Some days it is just easier for me to set the table instead of interrupting Bauer and Cash’s playtime with TJ after work while I’m preparing dinner. But for now, it’s going to be 8 chores a week. I made a little chore chart for the fridge with the appropriate number of boxes beside each chore, and Bauer gets to put a “Great Job” or “Way to Go” sticker on the chart after he does any of his chores during the course of the week.

At the end of the week, we will pay Bauer $4.00 for completing all the chores. The $4 will go 4 ways: $1 to tithe, $1 to give, $1 to save, and $1 to spend.

The TITHE will be money Bauer gets to take to his class at church to give back to God.

The GIVE will be money that Bauer can use to buy things for others in need. Our church recently started collecting food pantry items for a center that distributes among the poor and homeless in a neighboring town. Each month now, on the first weekend of the month, everyone is encouraged to bring back their reusable yellow totes filled with items from the list printed on the bag itself (talk about a great idea!) and then drop their items in the big yellow bins just inside each entrance of the church. We explained to Bauer earlier this month that this is what the yellow bag is for, and he helped us collect some food and toiletry items from around our house to put in the bag. Next month, though, I’m going to encourage Bauer to use some of his GIVE money to pick out a couple items from the grocery store that he would like to put in the bag. Or if he thinks of a different way he’d like to give, I’m going to encourage that too.

The SAVE money will be money that will go in the bank, or possibly into his blue piggy bank for future transfer to the bank.

The SPEND money will be money that Bauer can use to buy the toys/books/junk that he sees and wants. He will get $1 a week for this, so I’m not sure if it’s going to be hard for him to wait to save up. His big thing now is that if he sees a toy, and we suggest he could use some of his money to buy it, he is just worried whether the toy will still be there later. We will have to see how this plays out.

This morning, we created 4 jars for Bauer to use for his 4 “accounts.” So here is the other cash I was talking about:

Bauer wrote all the letters himself, except for the S in Spend which he wanted me to make in dots so he could trace. After he did that S, though, he was fine doing the S in Save all by himself.

On one of the last warmish days, we went on our first family bike ride since Cash was born. It was fun!

Cash wore Bauer's old helmet.

Hmmm, I wonder where we'll go?

Bauer's in position.

But of course, we went to the train station!

Cool enough for me to pull out my hoodie

Bauer figured this out on his own!

This boy still loves trains!

Cash is in training to love trains, too.