Our Week in Photos #46

This was a busy week for us!

 On Saturday we spent the afternoon at the campground.  There was a cute petting zoo where this super adorable Donkey.  She was my favorite. 

 We also spent a few hours in the pool :-) It was a near perfect day! 

 The boys put on their costumes and did trick-or-treating around the campground.  It was a great evening with the sun setting and the weather was perfect plus they got full bags of candy. 

 This is proof of a great day - a kid sound asleep on the couch before I could even get him in the shower! 

 On Sunday we went to Darryl's concert. 

 On Thursday the boys had their well child checks in the morning (they are both well and both children HA!) In the afternoon our local 911 dispatch office had a customer appreciation day so we went to see all of the vehicles. (Kind of like a big touch-a-truck event)  

We ended our week at Friday School where Josh got to work on his science experiment. 

Weekly Menu - the one where I try Aldi's

Ok, I admit it.  I'm a food snob.  I like what I like and that's all that matter.  But, I also want to try and save more money on groceries so Darryl and I decided to try the Aldi challenge for a month   week (ha!).  He's even willing to eat Aldi yogurt instead of what he loves - Dannon Fruit on the Bottom - so that I only shop at Aldi's.  I'm not so willing to give up a few of my favorites (like my favorite Crystal Light flavor for my water - I've tried the cheaper versions at Walmart and don't like them!)  So, to help with this, I searched for Aldi Meal plans on line to come up with the best plan.  There is one that I've looked at before that gives a menu based on the Aldi ad but looking at it for this coming week - it's gross HA!  So I found another one that looks better so hopefully I can still get it on the cheap.

Friday - BBQ Cups and French Fries

Saturday - Quesadilla's and Chips and Salsa

Sunday - Darryl has a concert so hopefully we can grab something quick afterwards before heading home.  Dinner will be Velveeta Beefy Mac and Cheese and Roasted Zucchini.

Monday -Beef and Black Bean Tortilla Stack, Savory Rice and Salad

Tuesday - Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas and Chips and Salsa

Wednesday - Spaghetti and Bread

Thursday - Sweet and Sour Chicken, Rice and Broccoli

Our Week in Photos #45

It's been a few weeks since I've done a photo post with the summer posts ending!  Well, this week I think I actually have photos for you! There are a few photos from last week too!

 On September 11th, my mom and I went to hear Beverly Lewis speak about her latest book.  It's always a treat for me to hear an author that I've read for years.  The photo is small but if you look closely you will find my mom and me . . .oh, and Josh and Nate too!  

 On Thursday we attended a Homeschool event at one of our local Libraries.  The boys always enjoy gathering with friends to do something fun. 

 The boys started Piano lessons Thursday night.  They were both excited.  Their teacher is wonderful - she could be my sister we get along so well - and, to brag just a little, she said they are both naturals and she looks forward to teaching them!  She is already talking about them playing duets together! 

 Friday was our 2nd week of Friday school.  I'm thankful for other people taking photos because I just don't get it done!  The boys helped in the morning opening with the song.

 Josh working in Science Fair Class

 Tae Kwon Do!  The boys do so well! 

 Nate's in the red shirt on the right in the photo - Gym class! 

 Both Josh and Nate in Camping and Survival Skills. 

This weekend is Halloween at the campground!  Tonight we carved pumpkins. 

 The boys played some pool 

And we went on a wagon ride.  Oh, and I went swimming - it might have been about 65 degrees with a wicked wind blowing but the pool was warm and relaxing!  I enjoyed 30 minutes of quiet swimming!!  

Weekly Menu

I'm becoming an expert on "quick" meals.  You know the ones.  They live in the freezer section and the "packaged dinners" aisle.  They are quick and easy and that makes me happy.  I think you might start to notice alot of repeats on the weekly menus on certain days just because that also makes me life easy!  So, here's the plan for the coming week.

Friday - Pulled Chicken BBQ, Mashed Potatoes, Mac and Cheese and Crescents.  (Everything premade - super easy HA!)

Saturday - Taco Crescent Rolls (I have left over taco meat!!), Leftover rice and beans, salad and I might try some fried plantains for something fun.

Sunday - Darryl has a concert in the morning so I want to keep dinner simple too.  Crock Pot Chicken and Stuffing with veggies and Rolls

Monday - Cream Cheese Spinach Stuffed Chicken, Crash Potatoes, and Roasted Asparagus

Tuesday - Lasagna, Green Beans and Garlic Bread

Wednesday - Chicken Noodle Soup and Crusty Rolls

Thursday - Hawaiian Meatballs, Savory Rice, and Corn

Looks good!!

Weekly Menu

I feel like maybe . . .just maybe I"m getting back into the cooking grove.  We have busier evenings now though so I'm having to be a little creative with ideas of quick meals that can be eaten in "shifts" based on when we are home.  That's ok, though, my kids have limited tastes so they don't mind repeat meals HA!

Friday: This is our first week back to Friday School and I can promise you that we will be so tired by the end of the day.  The last thing I want to do is any major cooking so, instead, we will have Lasagna (and spaghetti) and garlic bread.  And, yes, it all came out of the freezer section HA!

Saturday:  Our planned eating out night.  Whether we order in or eat out, I just don't want to cook :-)

Sunday - Tacos.  I am attending my niece's babyshower that is little bit of a drive away so I'll leave Taco fixin's for the boys and also it's easy for me to make a taco if I'm hungry when I get home!

Monday - Creamy Sausage Pasta and Cheddar Biscuits

Tuesday - Velvetta "Hamburger Helper" - this stuff is awesome HA!, Garlic Bread and Green Beans

Wednesday - Tonight starts AWANA.  It's so easy to eat out when it is just the boys and I so I'm trying to plan simple meals.  Tonight we will have Pre-packaged BBQ Pork, Bob Evan's Mashed Potatoes, and Mac and Cheese.  It's not real cooking but something we all like.

Thursday - Tonight the boys start Piano lessons.  So dinner has to be easy and quick to eat before we go so Spahgetti it will be!  (Nothing like giving their teacher garlic breath on the first night HA!)

Decluttering Fun

I have some great friends who enjoying creating facebook groups for cleaning goals!  We do various things throughout the year like the Frozen 15 in February (15 goals to accomplish in February).  Well, in September we are doing "Toss the Day".  Basically, we are supposed to toss the same number of things as the date so on September 1st, you toss 1, September 2nd, 2 things and so on.  I thought I would share my progress in photos :-)

Now, in all honesty, with the first week of school happening this week I really didn't have the time to actually do this throughout the week so instead, yesterday I took an hour and did one specific thing for each of the first 8 days of the month. 

 Day 1 - I cleaned out the boys winter things so I would know what they needed.  (Obviously it was more than one item HA!) 

 Day 2 - I cleaned out my underthings drawer.  There was some trash in there (it's amazing what ends up in drawers!) and a slip (I have others but this one was like 25 years old HA) I believe there was 4 things in this pile.

 Day 3 - Some scentsy bars that I did not like the smells of, a pair of trouser socks with holes in them and a piece of trash.  Four items all together. 

 Day 4 - One of my dresser drawers.  I cleaned out 3 shirts that I haven't worn all summer and a really old pair of PJ's that I haven't worn in forever.

 Day 5 - My other dresser drawer - I cleaned out several pairs of pants and a handful of shirts I haven't worn in over a year. 

 Day 6 - The stand by our bed - Two almost used up rolls of wrapping paper, two out-grown swim suits, and two worn out pillowcases. (so yes, 6 items!) 

 Day 7 - This is all from a bag that was hanging in the bathroom.  Some magazines, trash, three scentsy bars that I didn't like and a bag of flylady purple rags that, quite honestly, I'll never use.  (My mom didn't use them either so she passed them on to me HA!) 

Day 8 - One shelf in the bathroom - We painted our living room a year and a half ago and those are all paint samples that we used to pick our paint.  Plus some old medicinal supplies, two well worn body scrubbers and some used up makeup.  Lots more than 8 items!

I decided to use this months challenge to clean out drawers and cupboard shelves one at a time.  If I don't find enough items for the day, I'll move on to the next shelf until I have enough (or more).  This next week, I'll continue cleaning out the bathroom cupboards until they are done and move on from there!

Our Week In Photos

Honestly, I didn't take many photos this week so this post will be more "what we did and a few photos" HA!


Labor Day weekend was a quiet even around this town.  Saturday was rainy so we actually just all hung out at home together until my mom came over to watch the boys so Darryl and I could go out to dinner.  We went to our favorite Mexican Place, Cancun, and enjoy a quite dinner.   On Sunday, the boys and I swam (I think HA!) and then we went to some friends house for dinner.  It was such an enjoyable night - the kids all played and the adults all laughed and laughed.  Darryl worked on Monday but the boys and I swam at the campground and then my mom came over for dinner - Chicken on the grill, lots of veggies and my mom's famous homemade Cheesecake for dessert (hahaha - it's so famous that Walmart sells it!!)  It was actually a very relaxing weekend even though "poor" Darryl only took Saturday off from work. 

And then, school started!  Tuesday brought the start of lessons and our annual "First Day Photos".  I've already shared many of them in another post but figured I'd post a few here too.  My biggest disappointment this year is the Etsy shop that I've gotten their awesome grade shirts from in the past is no longer in business and I did not find any other shirt I liked enough to order.  Nate even asked me where their shirts were at this year :-(

 I love these two guys.  I feel like they have grown so much in the past year and it is just crazy! 

And of course, we also went to the pool because it was HOT!  

Wednesday we did school, our friends got dismissed from their school after a 1/2 day due to the heat so then we got to spend the afternoon swimming! 

Thursday it cooled off!  Darryl was home but we also did school.  Darryl and the boys got a rousing game of "play where it lands" for PE class ;-) and we still got all of our lessons done!  

Friday we were off to a "Meet and Greet" for our homeschool co-op which was a lot of fun.  Sadly, for the second day in a row, we couldn't swim because the temps didn't get out of the 60's!!!  My mom came over for dinner and that's a wrap!  

So despite the lack of photos, we actually had a great week.