Sunday Worship

JJ Heller shared this song today on Facebook - it's new, not recorded and shows up on Facebook only so hopefully this works!

Click here to here the song (hopefully!)

2020 Weekly Photos #13

This week we went form just being home to "shelter in place" which basically shut down a lot of things and "requires" that people stay home as much as possible.  It doesn't change much for the boys and I as we are home anyway but this pandemic continues to cancel our plans.  Darryl continues to work - you can't drive a Taxi from home and his job is considered "essential" since it provides transportation.  I tried to take some photos of things we were doing this week :-)

Saturday - This was my big shopping day.  When are truly grocery shopping once for the next 7 days, it takes awhile.  BUT I did it, and we had food all week long.  Saturday evening we had dinner at my moms - the last time for awhile since we are practicing "safe distancing" due to the virus.

Sunday - What did we do?  We stayed home.  We watched/listen to church and then just hung out at home as a family and played games.  We taught the boys how to play Dutch Blitz!

Monday - We woke up to SNOW!  Not just a little either!  So, we had a snow day!

 The kids played outside for awhile in the morning knowing that the snow would all melt by afternoon (which it did!) 

 Normally I make the kids go outside for at least 30 minutes in the afternoon but since they had played for hours in the morning AND by afternoon the yard was muddy, we did kids yoga instead.  

Tuesday - It was a quiet day.  We did school and the kids played outside in the afternoon for a while. 

Wednesday - This is when our days start to look the same.  We did school in the morning and they played in the afternoon. 

 There was a lot of fort building this week. 

Thursday - School, play time, riding bikes and . .. I went grocery shopping.  No, it hadn't technially been a week but, I decided I wanted to try and go at about 6:30 to see what it was like and it was wonderful.  The store was pretty empty but the shelves were well stocked.  So now I'm done until the end of next week. 

Friday - Yeah!  We made it through week 2 of staying home.  We did do school today since we took Monday off.  The kids built another fort and then headed outside.  Nate and his friend ended up staying outside from about 2;30-4:00.  I loved looking out the window, seeing them sitting on my swing and in the yard just talking away.   

It is also Dash's birthday!  It turned 7 today.  

Happy Birthday Dash!!!!  We are so glad you are ours! 

That was our week.  Maybe next week I should make the kids pose for pictures every day HA! 

Weekly Menu

You would think that with all of this time at home I could manage to get my weekly posts up on time HA!  I think the days are all running together and, some days, I'm not even sure WHAT day it is right now!  Anyway, we are, of course, eating ALL meals at home so I'm planning three meals a day for all of us.  We are taking advantage of breakfast and lunch program through our local schools so that has been a nice "treat" for my kids - school lunch HA!  It's offered a nice variety, given us lots of milk, and LOTS of carrots (no one eats carrots but me!)

So, here's the plan for the coming week:

Friday - Homemade Pizza!  This is a big deal because our store has been out of yeast and flour!  Guess what?  They had flour when I went to the store on Thursday night AND they had pizza yeast (not regular!) So we enjoyed pizza at home.

Saturday - My mom is bringing dinner over :-)  Ribs, beans, muffins - yum!

Sunday - (as I'm sitting here writing this I'm realizing I don't know where my menu paper went and I can't remember my plan - oops . .. I think I can kind of remember my plan) Chili with Spaghetti and Biscuits

Monday - Pork Chops, Baked Beans, Mac and Cheese and Veggies (probably cooked carrots HA!)

Tuesday - Chicken, Noodles, and a Veggie

Wednesday - French Toast Sticks, Sausage, Bacon and Fruit

Thursday - Pork Loin, Baked Potatoes, a veggie and garlic bread.

2020 Weekly Photos #12

What a difference a week makes.  We are "restricted" to being at home due to the current health scares.  Amazing, I took more photos this week then I have in weeks! 

Here's what a week at home looks like:

Saturday - We were all home together and just hung out and then went to my mom's for dinner.

Sunday - We stayed home and watched church online - a good friend of ours who pastors a church in the Upper Peninsula. 

Monday - This was a huge day.  Both boys got their braces off! 

Tuesday - Our friends are with us all day right now so there is lots going on.  We are continuing to do school for at least a few hours a day while trying to balance keeping things enjoyable for everyone.  We actually have about 3 hours a day that are "no electronics" hours and it has gone so very well!

 There have been many games of monopoly started this week. 

 There is a requirement of 30 minutes outside every day (as long as the weather is nice).  Dash is loving it because he gets to go on a walk every day. 

Nate's crazy hair!

 It was also St. Patrick's Day.  We did as much of our normal stuff as we could - the Leprechaun left gold "coins", used the bathroom (green toilet water!) and the boys had fun shirts too.  Plus we had our normal dinner of Stuffed Cabbage, Crash Potatoes and Rainbow Jell-O. 

Wednesday - Another day of school and play. 

30 minutes of time outsie. 

Plus building with Straws and Connectors. 

Thursday - and it's the same routine again :-) 

The cat is wondering why we are always home HA!  He was perched on top of the corner of the bunk bed looking out of his "kingdom". 

Friday - More games and activities. 

 Our homeschool Co-op hosted a Lego building event today.  The kids build their own Lego creations and then we posted a photo on our co-op page.  It was fun to connect with our friends. 

 Josh's creation

 Nate and Cooper made a creation together. 

There is also a whole lot of this going on in this house - Maddan Football on the X-box, and yes, Darryl plays when he is home from work too. 

Weekly Menu

What a difference a week makes.  A week ago, we figured it would be a normal week but then, life changed and everything shut down.  We have eaten every single meal at home.  My shopping list last week was very specific to make sure that I didn't miss anything (and yet, I still forgot one thing!) so that I didn't need to go back to the store if at all possible.  My husband has picked up milk for me - which I never ask him to do - all to avoid going out. Craziness. 

So, here's the plan for this coming week - another week of 100%, 3 meals a day, eating at home. 

Friday - Pizza and Chips.  This week it's just frozen pizza because I knew by Friday I'd be kind of tired of cooking all week.

Saturday - Dinner at my moms. 

Sunday - Chicken Lazone, Pasta, and garlic bread.

Monday - Barbecups, French Fries, and peas/carrots

Tuesday - Baked Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops, Buttered Noodles, and peas

Wednesday - Shrimp Cocktail, Sausage wraps, and fruit and dip (I have the shrimp and little sausages in the freezer left over from Superbowl so I figured we might as well enjoy them!)

Thursday - Stuffed Shells, Green Beans and garlic bread

I'm working really hard at planning meals that are enjoyable in some form by everyone, make some leftovers for lunches at times, and keep the budget well in check. 

Sunday Worship - Keith & Kristyn Getty - He Will Hold Me Fast (Official Lyric Video)

I'm watching a Live Stream service today as we worship at home during this time of "Self distancing" due to health concerns in our country.  This is one of the songs played during the service -what a great song.

2020 Weekly Photos #11

This week was weird.  I was looking forward to a fairly normal, quiet week but the coronavirus has totally changed things. 

Here's a look back at our week . . and it's boring because I have no photos. 

Saturday - The boys had a friend stay the night so they enjoyed having him over for the day. 

Sunday - We had church and then worked on some things around the house in the afternoon.

Monday - A school day followed by TKD. 

Tuesday - We enjoyed our monthly Leadership Meeting followed by Nate's haircut and piano lessons. 

Wednesday - A school day followed by AWANA.

Thursday - We had a great family day.  Both Darryl and Nate had a doctors appointment in the same office so we all went together.  Then, we went out to eat at one of our favorites - Wolfgangs.  Darryl then took us on a tour of the city, which the boys loved.  Once we got home, I went to the grocery story while Darryl and the boys took Dash to the vet.  Finally my mom came over for dinner! 

Friday - We were supposed to have our last day of Friday School but everything was cancelled due to the outbreak.  Darryl worked while the boys and I stayed at home and just . .well, stayed home. 

Weekly Menu

Here's to another week!  We are busy yet in a simple routine so it keeps things, well, simple.



Friday - Tonight is a good night for Chili - I can get it going in the crock pot in the morning and let it simmer all day.  I'll cook a loaf of french bread and some spaghetti (My husband loves spaghetti in his chili!)

Saturday -I think we are going to my mom's :-)

Sunday - I'm kind of ready for a good Roast.  So, roast, carrots and beefy noodles.  YUM!!

Monday - Tonight is TKD so Frozen pizza for Darryl and Josh and Mac and Cheese for Nate and I

Tuesday - It's St. Patrick's Day!  We will have our "annual tradition" of Stuffed Cabbage, Crash Potatoes, green beans, and Rainbow Jell-O salad along with "Green Pudding" for dessert.

Wednesday - AWANA (Pizza)

Thursday -Stuffed Shells and Garlic Bread

March Goals

It's March!  And I'm already a week late on even writing my March goals HA!  But, better late then never, right?  February kind of got away from me - I felt like I was chasing my tail all month long and even "almost" missed a few things because I wasn't keeping up with my daily lists!  But, I didn't miss anything and I actually accomplished some things.  I'd like March to run a little more smoothly so I'm hopeful that better planning will be the trick to success!!

When I write my monthly goals, I always go back to my original year goals that I wrote in January to write my monthly goals. It takes me back to my original focus.  I also think about misc. things that need to get done and add those items too.  I try to keep my list short enough to be "do-able" but long enough to give me a focus of things to get done.

So, after all of that, here are my March goals

1) Spring is arriving so this month I want to make sure we take time to visit one of the amazing places in Grand Rapids to take a photo.  Darryl is my key to making this happen because he knows where everything is!  I know we will be downtown two different times this month so we just have to make it happen.

2) Scrapbooking - This months goals are as follows: 1) Upload all March photos through 2020 2) Find time to scrapbook - I'm not putting a time on this or even how far I want to get through photos; just that I want to find time to scrapbook this month.  There are no crops scheduled this month so I'm on my own  3) I would like to order photos/photo pages for the previous month.  So, basically order all February photos that I don't currently have on hand.

3) Reading - I have my same goal as the last couple of months.  I'm in the middle (ok the beginning) of two books so I want to finish both of those.

4) Cleaning - I am trying to keep to my "20 days of cleaning" schedule but I don't always have 20 specific days to set aside during the school year so I'll set up my schedule based on the days I know I have the time to put into it (I usually set my 3:00-4:00 hour for cleaning)

5) Family time - Some things on my radar this month 1) Going out to breakfast at a favorite place downtown GR 2) Going to a Hockey game 3) Celebrating St. Patrick's Day 4) Celebrate Darryl's birthday with just him and I (I have the plans - just need to find the day!) 5) We have a few field trips as well as a trip to the symphony planned 6) We also have a little get away planned with my mom.  I guess that means we have a lot planned!

6) It is time to start thinking about the graduation album I have to make.  My goal for March is to gather and print all of the photos I want for the book.

7) This is what I cause my "Darryl list" - The list includes 1) Replace the light over the sink 2) Run Ethernet cords for the Xbox's 3) Hook up our new antenna and see if we want to cancel cable to save money 4) Help Josh set up two of his gifts - his telescope and VR headset (He's better at figuring out all that kind of techy stuff) 5) Hang up shelves for Nate's broken wood boards from TKD

8) Homeschool - My goal for March is to end the month on or ahead of schedule.  I'd like the boys to master their 4's-6's in multiplication facts as well.  They also need to be current in AWANA as we end the month as well.

9) Here's my misc. list:  1) Clean up and put away a bin in the bathroom that just needs, well, put away 2) Get new dress pants for Josh (again HA!) 3) Clean out the boys clothes - both winter and summer and see what they need for summer 4) See what both Darryl and I need for summer as well (as far as clothes) 5) Sort my music - I need to organize it all, clean out what I've held on to for years and never looked at and make it all easier to use 5) Nate got a wall hanging birthday calendar that I need to finish up for him (the writing of the names and dates!)

10) Set up at least one camping date this summer

11) The basement - the goal this month is just to clean up and organize the laundry room area

12) The garage - get the garage door fixed - that's the main goal.

13) Finances - Work on putting my small savings goals into action.  Plan out our weekly "money" plan and stick to it.

14) Music - Learn my song for church this month; practice one piano song this month

15) Take my dog for his yearly vet visit!  It's hard to believe that we adopted him a year ago this month! 

So, there are my goals for this month.  We have a super busy month with lots of fun things planned!  It should be an amazing month!

February Goal Recap

So, I had this whole post updated and ready to go before the end of February and then  . .. it totally disappeared!  I'm still not sure what happened but it made me kind of mad at blogger so I had to wait a week to redo it HA!  Here's my recap of February goals.  I felt like February was here . .. and then it was gone . . and never quite got on top of my goals.  Even though I accomplished some things I really didn't tackle others.  I'd like to say March will be better but, lets be real, my March goals are just getting posted this week too ;-) 

February recap:

1)Again, one of my yearly goes is to take fun photos with my kids before they get too big so my goal this month is to find a fun photo op!  We've had a pretty brown winter so it's been difficult to even do some awesome "snowstorm" photos!  We didn't go far in February but we did get snow.  While we didn't do any "location" photos - I at least got photos in the snow! 

2) Scrapbooking - This will look similar to last month.  1) Clean off my desk and organize it for scrapbooking 2) Organize January and February photos in snapfish for all years not done 3) Go to a scrapbooking crop on February 29th!  My desk was cleaned off about 6 times in February HA!  As I cleaned up some other "hot spots" around the house it would get piled upon again but I can honestly say that as I type this, it is cleaned off and organized.  I also created a spreadsheet of photos uploaded to snapfish so I could see what still needed to be done.  All of the January and February photos are uploaded.  I also went to the crop on February 29th. 

3) Reading - My goal is to once again read 4 books!  1) The Printed Letter Bookshop 2) The Bright Season 3) The Boy in the Photo 4) The Power of a Positive Mom.  I'm still working on finding a book to support my goal word -Perfect Peace I'm not getting a lot of reading done lately!  I did start "The Bright Season" but haven't gotten very far yet. 

4) Cleaning - Work through my February cleaning list. My main focus was the dining room.  I organized my scrapbooking bookshelf and cleaned the dining room.  I had hoped to clean the laundry room but, honestly, it was too cold  HA!  Now that the weather is warming up I'll be more inclined to get some work down in the basement. 

5) Family - Valentine's day!  Make Valentine's Day fun for the whole family with our yearly traditions.  Darryl's birthday is also this month so I need to plan that as well. We had a great Valentine's Day and fun for Darryl's birthday so this one was a total success. 

6)  Get Josh new dress pants.  I also need to find him new snowpants . .. unless we never get snow! I bought Josh new dress pants; I returned said dress pants HA!  So back to square one - he needs to try them on!  BUT, snow pants WERE a success!!  (Which was a good thing because we got more snow! 

7) Pick out a piano song to practice and practice it. I did pick out a song but I only played through it once - finding time to practice is always the hard part :-) 

8) Pick out a song to sing at a special service at the end of February and also my next special music.  Maybe something for Easter as well. Well, I totally did not sing at the praise service but am scheduled to sing at the end of March so I need to practice that song.  I don't have to worry about Easter though - Nate and I will be home as he recovers from surgery! 

9) Finances - Stick to the February plan. February was a tight month but . . we made it (Yeah!) 

Now, here is my super specific "Frozen Fifteen" list:

1)  Find Josh a pair of dress pants that fit. done (kinda)
2) Clean my desk and make it "scrapbook" worthy. done
3) Attend a scrapbooking crop on February 29th. done
4.) Read four books not done
5) Plan and execute Valentine's Day for the family done
6) Plan and execute Darryl's birthday weekend plans done
7) Pick out a song to sing at a praise service on February 29th and practice it not done 
8) Pick out a piano song and practice it until it's perfected. not done
9) Return/Exchange the last of the Christmas gifts done
10) Upload and organize January photos to snapfish from all years done
1) Upload and organize February photos to snapfish from all years done
12) Replace the light bulb above the kitchen sink. not done
13)  Update my Holiday Journal through St. Patrick's Day (and read through St. Patrick's Day reminders to plan ahead) done
14) Complete my "20 days of cleaning" checklist for February not done
15) Finish Nate's birthday calendar chart he got for Christmas. not done

Weekly Worship - Rend Collective - Counting Every Blessing

Rend Collective was in concert nearby this past Friday and several friends of mine went . . I was a little jealous!  I love concerts and I know this one would have been fun but, Fridays are tiring nights for us and I knew we would enjoy it to the fullest :-)  Instead, we can just enjoy this song!

2020 Weekly Photos #10

Welcome to a new week - a "not many photos" week!

Saturday - I had a wonderful day!  I got to spend the day scrapbooking and then we, as a family, enjoyed a night of worship at church.  We did take our LEAP DAY photo though!

Sunday - It was a beautiful day!  Sunny and "warm".  So, a day of church and family day was just what we needed.  Nate also had a friend over the afternoon but I never got a photo - they kept hiding HA!

Monday - Total school day followed by TKD

Tuesday - We enjoyed another day of school followed by piano lessons

Wednesday - Just school and AWANA

Thursday - We actually just had a quiet day. We had some plans that had to change last minute so all of our school work was done.  The boys enjoyed a day off

Friday - Friday School!! Plus the boys had a friend over to spend the night.

Weekly Menu

Nothing really exciting going on; just working on our normal things of school and, well, daily life. Ironically, sometimes that is when it is easy to fall into a boring rut of food!  I'm continuing to work hard at planning meals so we don't eat out as often as we used to!

Here's the plan for the coming week:

Friday - The adults are heading to a Potato/Chili Bar Fundraiser for a local organization.  The boys are getting McDonald's and Pizza :-)

Saturday - Oven Roasted Pork Loin (it smells so good when it is cooking!), "Crash" potatoes, and mixed veggie

Sunday - We are supposed to have some beautiful weather this weekend.  We need to grill.  Plain and simple!  Either steaks or Burgers - I'll decide when I go to the store on Saturday.  Our sides will depend on what meat I get - either asparagus and garlic bread or potatoes for homemade fries. We will have this after church. Late in the evening we will have grilled cheese sandwiches and soup

Monday - We should have pork loin left to make pulled pork BBQ along with french fries

Tuesday - Rigatoni (or some other fancy pasta) with homemade spaghetti sauce, green beans and garlic bread

Wednesday - We are actually heading to a Hockey Game as a family.  The boys got free tickets this past summer for reading and have been begging to go.  Honestly, this is one of those things you do for the kids - neither Darryl nor I have a big desire to go HA!

Thursday - It's time for Crock Pot Fajitias again - my mom is coming for dinner!