School starts tomorrow....

...and I have mixed emotions. I'm very much looking forward to having some kind of a routine around here after a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants summer. I'm not looking forward to the homework, the struggle getting them both to bed at a decent time (for their benefit, as well as mine - I get up really early for work), and the piles and piles of paperwork that get sent home from school every week. And, in order for them to get to bed at a decent hour, I need to be able to pull together a healthy dinner quickly after getting home from work. My friend, Christina, turned me on to Eatingwell.com. Such a great site, full of great information and recipes! Keep in mind that this is the first Sunday of the first week of school when I tell you the following. So far this afternoon, I have done some food preparations in order to make pulling dinners together this week, hopefully, a little faster. I've cooked a batch each of whole wheat penne and brown rice, that I can heat up with sauce or garlic and olive oil (I picked up some sun-dried tomatoes last time I was at Whole Foods). I also blanched some carrots (I picked up a big, five-pound bag last time I was at Sam's). I cut some in slices and some in julienne strips. We can either eat them cold or I can toss them into something I'm making or heat up for a side. I also cooked a couple extra chicken breasts tonight when I made dinner for tomorrow night. I'm ready to put the last load of laundry in (whites) and we'll be ready for the week. Oops...lunches! Gotta add lunches to my "to do" list for tonight. I'm also starting a responsibility chart/reward system....I'll keep you posted on how that goes - wish me luck on that, I haven't had much success in the past. Claire has Picture Day already, this first week back to school - ugh! I still have a couple of hours before the bed-time struggle begins - eeeeeek!

~ Cyn <3