It's fall already?! Keep going!

Days before mid Sep, ahead of the calendar officially calling it fall, was when we spied a bit of color on the trees! Already?!

School is abuzz with open houses, picture days, fundraisers, field trips... And not to mention more homework also ;p.

As the trees change, my middle schooler has also to adjust to five new teachers, means new classes and schedules also, he'd been assigned out of the blue because enrolment figures had changed. It's rough, he feels the stress, being one of very few with the drastic changes -- new subjects and also topics taught differently for same subjects to play catchup, after three weeks into the schoolyear.

It really helps he is positive and sociable. Seeing my youngest hang in there with a long dentist visit she needed, reminded me also that kids are resilient like that, and more versatile than this grownup of a mommy, who has so much to keep learning from and with her children as they grow!

To encourage the big boy to keep going, I leave him little "You can do it" messages on his brown bag lunches! 

Younger brother also started his once a week in a second school under a program to tap more potential, that both boys had tested and qualified for. He really likes it there, and I remind him the basics matter also.

When I took him and younger sis in tow from his soccer practice to the regular school open house, glimpsing that first tree on that row always to turn orange, spoke to me to take five amid the daily hustle and bustle!

At the end of the busy, busy week while hubby slogged away still at his worktrips, the kids and I chilled over some strawberry-banana smoothie popsicles...   

Let's press on!

Chop, chop, let's go!

We've got a preschooler, an elementary schooler, and for the first time a middle schooler!

It's exciting, and exhausting, these first weeks back to school! Activities are back in full swing also. We have to keep working on our routines; those homework and bedtime battles are not easy. Hubby traveling for work every week this quarter also means I'm telling the kids "Chop, chop, let's go!" a lot!

So I was going from one thing to another when it hit me there are many things we try to juggle as mom, not always well, but one of the most important things we can do for our kids is to CHEER THEM ON!

Game day... Younger son's stitches on his knee from last month's campout left some "train tracks". Otherwise he is good to enjoy a new season of soccer! He is player #7, and goes all out being goalie, too! 

My sons voted this as their favorite back-to-school dinner AND lunch... 
Ribs with BBQ sauce I'd left to slowcook while I was out and about for the schoolruns and afterschool activities. And the deliberate leftover meat I just plopped into hot dog buns for their packed lunches the next day! 

I am trying to get organized and think simple, think shortcuts like this for my housewifey chores and cooking, what with more driving again and other things to try and fit in also. A mother's job never ends, but hooray for easy-to-make healthy weeknight dinners that do double-duty!

To make this simple, yummy slowcooked BBQ ribs:
- Season 2.5lb of pork ribs with 2TB salt, 1tsp ground black pepper, and 1TB garlic powder.
- Boil the ribs in a large pot with enough water to cover, till they are no longer pink. Then rinse them out in cold water to remove the scum.
- Place the ribs in a slowcooker and coat them with BBQ sauce out of a bottle (yay for shortcuts!). We love ours with the original barbecue-sauce (slow-simmered) from KRAFT! I dumped in a 17.5oz bottle's worth, and that's all it needs!  
- Leave the ribs to slowcook away on high for about 4h (or on low for twice that time) -- till you can easily slip the meat off the bones.
- Serve with greens and potatoes. And roll over the leftovers to eat with hot dog buns for another meal. It is great with rice, and yummy with noodles, too! Any of these works well as a packed lunch for school! It does for us!

Works for me... I adapted this recipe from one that required the ribs to be boiled much longer, and instead of my slowcooker step, it was to bake them with BBQ sauce in the oven. So glad I took the chance to tweak it!    

See the beauty in every season

I really like these beautiful words from Emerson, shared by a friend, Yan:

“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; 
for beauty is God's handwriting - 
a wayside sacrament...

They brought to mind this picture from our weekend spent camping at Glacier NP last month, when I stopped to take a closer look at these wild flowers...

The quote goes on to say this:

"Welcome it in every fair face,

in every fair sky, in every fair flower,

and thank God for it as a cup of blessing."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

A timely reminder to pause and see the beauty in front of us, in simple joys -- and give thanks in these busier days again. It is a hectic season for the hubby, and the kids and me.