What I read in July

Here's what I read this past month!

First, I did read two books from the library this month.  I didn't write them down before I returned them.  They were both good but were not Christian based books so there was some language in both of them.

 I actually started this book last month but finished it this month.  It is written by Laura Story who sings the song "Blessings".  It's the story of her life with her husband as he went through a traumatic brain injury due to surgery.  I liked the story but did skip some sections that were more of the "lesson" part.  Why?  Because I found the writing a little elementary making it kind of boring to read.  That happens sometimes in an Biography so I wasn't too surprised by it.  I did enjoy learning about her actual story though so it was worth the read. 

This was another $5.00 special :-)  I would classify this as a cutely written book.  It started a little slow but then got really good in about the last 1/4 of the book and was sad that it ended.  It was a modern day book which is not normally my style but I ended up really likely the main characters and the underlying themes throughout the book.  I would recommend this book as an easy read on a summer day!

Oops, didn't do so well this month!  I did  finish two other books but I put them away before I wrote about them!  Uugg!  So, anyway, six books this month.  I guess we didn't have as many rainy, reading days this month!  (We swam alot instead!) 

Summer Plans Week 9

Can you believe that it is the last full week of July? I can't!  Just like last week, I re-evaluated my original plan to make needed changes.  I am still extremely thankful that I sat down in May and wrote out a plan for June, July, and August.  Yes, as we are hitting the end of July and August, there are changes but it gave me a great focus.

Sunday - Darryl has a concert today.  (This was a "surprise" concert - we had no idea it was on the calendar until a few days ago - oops!)  This went as planned but I didn't take photos this  week :-) 

Monday - We are going to attend a 5 day club in the area.  This is something new to us but it is a great opportunity to take our friends to hear about Jesus :-)  If the weather is nice, we will swim in the afternoon.  The kids attended day one of the 5 Day Club. It was a rainy day though, so instead of swimming, we continued work on cleaning and organizing the boys room. 

 I didn't take a single picture of the 5-day club but I did take photos of these awesome cows :-) 

Tuesday - 5 day club in the morning.  We will swim in the afternoon - weather permitting. Finally, we could swim again!  

Wednesday - Day three of the 5 day club :-)  This afternoon I think we will work on the boys room. A perfect plan.  The boys and I finished up their room and we went swimming in the evening! 

Thursday - We have to miss the 5 day club today because today is the Library Party in the Park!  Depending on the weather - we may have a picnic and play at the park for a bit in the afternoon. The Party was fun!  We then went swimming in the afternoon AND evening! 

Friday - Today is the last day of the 5 day club.  Swimming is on deck for the afternoon. The last day of 5-day club was great but, then it rained so we stayed home and the boys and I worked on their school desks and my desk (ok, I did most of the work and they just did a little HA!)  BUT,  I also took more cow pictures :-) 

Saturday - It's Christmas in July at the campground - based on last year, they had some fun things for the kids to do so we will hang out at the campground :-)  It was an enjoyable day at the campground! 

 The boys played a few games of checkers.

 Decorated some cookies. 

 Hung out at Nana's camper. 

 They got gifts from Santa.

 And . .. we swam :-)  (Nate jumping into the pool) 

(Josh jumping into the pool) 

It was another great week of summer fun! 

Weekly Menu

I'm really enjoying all of the fresh, locally grown veggies - Zucchini, Corn on the Cob, Cucumbers - it's all so yummy!   Here's the plan for the coming week.

Friday - Ham, Cheesy Potatoes, and Zucchini.  (I finally took the ham out of the freezer to cook!)

Saturday - Stromboli and chips

Sunday - We are going to have family in town so I'm not 100% sure what we are doing for food yet.  A Picnic? Sandwiches at the campground? Hot dogs? Who knows!

Monday - Ham and Scalloped potatoes in the crock pot and Broccoli

Tuesday - Tacos :-) (After all it is Taco Tuesday!)

Wednesday - Maybe eat out depending on Darryl's schedule.

Thursday - Marinated Pork Loin, Fried Rice and Broccoli.

Summer Plans Week 8

So at this point of the summer, I am making lots of changes to the original plan.  Naturally, I knew that things would change but it seems like July has brought the most changes :-)  So at the start of the week, I made notes for what we plan for each day and I'll see how it pans out.

Sunday - Today Darryl has a concert so we will attend that together :-) That's what we did :-)  I went swimming in the afternoon while the boys all stayed home and hung out in the AC.  (Give me the pool any day of the week!) 

Monday - I think it is supposed to be rainy today.  The plan is to get laundry done and to spent one hour working on the boys room.  (I was trying to not do this with extra kids here but, it needs to get done so we are starting it this week!) It was no rainy today but was SUPER humid so we totally went swimming :-)  Needless to say, we did not clean but swimming's more fun anyway!  We ended our day (after some amazing burgers) with a trip to Mooville for Ice Cream! 

Tuesday - Today I have a board meeting in the morning.  The plan is to then eat some lunchables and go swimming. The board meeting went as planned but went longer than anticipated so we didn't swim!  We ended up not getting home until 2:00 for lunch.  We did stop by the pool to see my mom and some friends of hers that had come to visit but then headed to the house.  I then made the kids go outside and play for awhile after lunch. 

Wednesday - My plan is to, again, spend one hour in the morning working with the boys on their room.  Then, the pool is on the plan!  IF the weather isn't great, maybe we will bowl. We did spend some time cleaning (one section at a time).  The extra kids left early so the boys and I went to the pool after that and then went out to dinner with my mom. 

Thursday - Today is library day :-)  We'll check out the weekly activity!  In the afternoon we will hopefully swim.  Today at the library there was a Jazz/Blues piano player.  He was really good but I will admit that he entertained the adults more than the kids.  We did not swim!  Instead, we worked on the boys room and then, went to the Free Fair.  Why?  Because the forecast for Saturday is rain all day so we took advantage of a beautiful evening and spent 4 + hours at the fair. 

 The kids singing along with the music. 

 Josh's latest trick HA! 

Ok, I couldn't resist sharing these two photos.

The one on the left is from this year - Darryl and the boys waiting for the Ferris Wheel.

The one on the right showed up in my facebook memories today and is Darryl and the boys waiting for the Ferris Wheel from 2013!!  How fun is that??

 This is the first year both Nate (Above) and Josh (Below) could drive the bumper cars and, in case you couldn't tell by their faces, they had a blast! 

 Another thing I loved about the fair this year is that the boys rode rides together.  In years past, Darryl took one and I took the other and they rode different rides due to their age/height.  Now, they hung out together and had a blast. 

 This roller coaster was significant!  Two years ago, they couldn't ride alone (Nana rode with them - she's a saint HA!).  This year, they not only rode alone, the rode in the front with their hands up in the air! 

 The slide is always a favorite.  Surprisingly, they only went down once - I have a feeling that the climb to the top had something to do with that !  They were starting to get tired by this time of night. 

Josh so wanted to ride the ponies and I'm so glad that we let both of the boys do this.  Why?  Because these ponies have a weight limit and by next year both boys will be too big for ponies.  So, it was a great thing for them to ride a horse.   

Nope, it's not snowing - it's BUGS!  The swarms of moths/bugs around the parking lights was just insane! 

Friday - I'd like to spend 1 more hour in the boys room today.  In the afternoon we will either go to the library to see a movie or swim. Today was a rare day this summer - it was stormy and rainy throughout the day. The gloomy morning was a good time to watch Movies and relax.  For lunch, we headed to Pizza Hut - the kids had all earned a free personal pizza for their summer reading program so free pizza it was!  Throughout the afternoon the boys and I worked more on their room.  Finally, the neighbor boys came over after dinner for "a movie and snacks".  HA!  The kids put together all kinds of snacks and watched a movie together.  Such a fun night! 

Saturday - Today is FREE FAIR DAY!   The boys look forward to this day all year. Obviously, we did not go to the fair today :-)  Instead, we rearranged the boys room.  Now that it is rearranged, we are beginning the seeminly never ending task of sorting and organziing their stuff.  

Weekly Menu

I'm finding it a little hard to believe that we are on the downward spiral of summer.  I'm thankful, though, that our schooling doesn't begin until after labor day so that we have ALL of August to enjoy summer.  This has been such a fun summer I really don't want it to end!

Friday - Pork Loin in the Crock pot, baked beans, make and cheese and corn on the cob.

Saturday - Spaghetti/Alfredo, Green Beans and Garlic Bread

Sunday - Chicken Thighs in the crock pot, baked potatoes, and a veggie - there is so much good fresh stuff out right now it just depends on what I have in the house!

Monday - Sloppy Joes, Daddy Fries, and Fruit

Tuesday - Tacos (Taco Tuesday!)

Wednesday - If Darryl has practice we will probably grab something out.

Thursday - Brats, Sweet Potatoes, and Mac and Cheese

Weekly Menu (A few days late!)

My kids have been using my computer to play games which has limited my time to use it so therefore, I'm a little behind on some posts.  I figured I would still post our menu for the week so my mom knows when to come for dinner HA!

Friday - Brats, Crash Potatoes, and Fried Zucchini

Saturday - We attended the Sunday School Picnic.

Sunday - Daryrl had a concert so we ate out for lunch and then everyone just found their own dinner (Well, the kids actually just tell me what they want and I make it). 

Monday - Burgers, Corn on the Cob, and Chips

Tuesday - Tacos (YUM!)

Wednesday - Assuming Darryl has practice, we'll grab something for dinner.

Thursday - Spaghetti/Alfredo, fresh green beans and Garlic Bread.

Summer Plans Week 7

This is a week of big change.  We originally planned a camping trip but various things made us cancel not limited to Darryl's back continuing to heal from some issues in May.  So, the plan was to be gone Sunday-Wednesday - the good news is I had written down some "Maybe" things on the calendar so I had back-ups ideas!

Sunday - Attending Worship on the Waterfront again to see Zach Williams who we loved seeing in concert before.  We did not attend.  As much as I'd love to get in free concerts, the number of people trying to squeeze into the space is just crazy.  Instead, we went swimming.  

Monday - Camping was on the schedule. Because of the planned camping, I didn't have the extra kids (and won't until Thursday) so that helped our schedule a little.  We went and picked up our fair tickets for the Free fair and then went swimming.  After some very busy days at the pool, it was nice on this day to have hardly anyone in the pool in the afternoon.  Monday evening the boys attended day one of a Community VBS.  

Tuesday - Camping was on the schedule.  Since we weren't camping, we decided to take one of the planned days and turn it into a family day.  So, today we started with breakfast at McDonalds before heading to our favorite Lake Michigan Beach for the afternoon.  It was amazing.  The sand, sun and lake are perfect.  Plus, as the afternoon wore on, the waves grew to 4-6 feet and the boys loved the fun!  We enjoyed pizza at our favorite pizza place before heading to the movie theatre to see The Incredibles.  It was fabulous day! 

 We got to watch the Coast Guard practice drop-in's to the water and water rescues.  

 Darryl and the boys checking out the waves

 The waves got to 4-6 feet by the end of the afternoon and they were awesome to play in.  The boys and I spent a good hour jumping the waves! 

Wednesday - Camping was on the schedule. Today was a recovery day :-)  Laundry, finally turning in the boys books from the school year, and then attending VBS in the evening. 

Thursday  - The library activity is a Magic Show.  If the weather is cooler we will have a picnic and play at the park; if it is hot, we will eat at home and then swim! We enjoyed the Magic Show and then hit the pool followed by the last day of VBS

Friday - Making a craft - a Penny Spinner - in the morning followed by Swimming. We did not make a craft but we did swim!  

Saturday - Today is the Huge Free Fair Parade which is always fun to attend.  There is also a Lavender Festival that I want to attend just because the fields are supposed to be just amazing to see. It was hot and humid so I didn't even bring up the fair :-)  And I decided I really didn't need to see Lavender ;-) LOL  Instead we took advantage of Western Weekend at the campground and the boys had some fun!  We also attended a Sunday School Picnic at our teacher's house.  The boys loved it because there was a pool with a diving board! 

 One of the guys in Darryl's group brought the boys hats back from a trip to Belgium. (Nate's hat is sitting funny because he hit his head on a table and had a huge bump on his forehead that made wearing a hat painful.) 

 The boys got to make stick ponies at the craft time at the campground.

 They had fun in the photobooth. 

 Did pony races. 

 And some roping. 

 And finally jumping off the diving board!