Weekly Menu

I'm really loving the Thursday shopping day.  I had found that trying to shop on Monday was not fun - after a busy weekend, the last thing I wanted to do was take the boys to the store.  Now, by the time we get to Thursday, we are ready to get out of the house anyway.  Plus, we go into the weekend with a full fridge instead of an empty fridge and a full fridge is ALWAYS more fun :-)

We ended up having leftover Easter dinner on Monday because there was SOOO much left.  And Wednesday ended up being a fun day which I'll post about later ;-)

Here is what the plan is this week!

Thursday:  Stuffed Shells, Green Beans and Garlic Bread - the meal from last week we didn't have.

Friday:  Scalloped Potatoes and Ham, Peas and French Bread.

Saturday: The plan is to eat out - I want to take the boys to play at Playland in the afternoon and we'll meet Darryl for Dinner

Sunday: Easy Peesy Broccoli Cheesy Soup, Rolls and Snicker Salad

Monday: Pan Fried Pork Chops, Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole, Green Beans and Peach Cobbler

Tuesday: This is a busy night!  The boys start gymnastics tonight and I have ladies meeting so we will grab a pizza on the way home from Gymnastics!  For Ladies Meeting I am planning to make Poolside Dip w/crackers and Knock you naked brownies (because I think it is funny to take them to church events HA)

Wednesday: Darryl has practice so the boys will have Mac and Cheese and I'm going to get a french bread pizza because I love them and Darryl doesn't :-)

Another fun week!

March - A Photo A day

March 1 - A Clock

The story: My watch.  It has sat on my desk awaiting a battery for about 2 years.  Yes, 2 years.  Why?  I would never remember to take it with me when I went to the mall.  Finally, on February 28th, I remembered and it is like I have an old friend back.  I have missed my watch - Time is my friend. 

March 2 - Morning

 The Story:  Our mornings consist of . . .watching cartoons so this is a normal occurrence in our house - a kid, kicked back on cushions piled high on the couch.  

March 3 - The Kitchen

The story:  This is just one counter in my kitchen . .  see those misc. cans and boxes?  That is thanks to my boys,  Anytime I say "It's time to fix lunch" the both go downstairs and grab random cans of food from the "extra kitchen" (i.e. the pantry) and carry them upstairs.  Generally, you can always find a can or two of some random food sitting there :-)

March 4 - Where I sat

The Story:  Not much of a story - every night, after the kids are in bed, I sit on the couch, covered in my new lap quilt and play on the computer, watch TV and pretend to work on paperwork.

March 5 - Sharp

The Story:  Icicles.  Sharp, cold and lots of fun.  My kids love them and I actually have them in my freezer so they don't melt.

March 6- What I wore.
Totally did not take a photo today :-)

March 7 - Hair

The Story - My boys have crazy hair especially since they need hair cuts right now :-)  No worries, they got haircuts in the middle of the month :-)

March 8 - A Mess

The Story:  We had a busy day - lots and lots and lots of playing.  Amazingly, it is all cleaned up before bedtime.

Ok . . and this is why I don't do these challenges HA!  I totally did not finish this challenge.  In my defense, some of the ideas were kind of out there and I really had no idea what to take a photo of.  Now, if they post one for April I may try it again . . we'll see!

Too Cute Not To Toot

The boys get more bumps and bruises now so I thought this idea from Cheerios and Lattes for Boo Boo Bunnies.

We love Orange Julius but only make them once or twice a year. Honestly, they have a lot of sugar in them but they are SOOOO good.  So when I saw this recipe from Gimme Some Oven, well I felt like it was something I need to try :-)

I tried one oven cleaning suggestion last month so I figured I might as well post this one from Cook it Allergy Free 
and try it out to see if it will actually work. 

I posted a sewing machine cover YEARS ago but I remember it was a full out sew like crazy cover . . .when I saw THIS idea over at Make it, Love It
well I figured I might actually be able to accomplish this - and my machine needs a cover! 

 
 There is a great envelope tutorial over at Oh Really Becky Forever 
that is just too good to pass by especially since I would like to find ideas to make simple cards for things like . .. thank yous. 

Happy Crafting!

March Preschool

We had a very busy, very active  week and, I will admit right now that the kids totally outsmarted me on my new binder idea.  In the end it worked out because they did most of their work pages even though we didn't have preschool every day. 

On Monday we actually had a full lesson and it was fun!

 We started our lesson by looking through a scrapbook album the boys found.  It was an album I had recently finished of our animals so we turned it into a counting and color adventure. 

 Yes, they are both sitting on the table - it is fun, what can I say?   We then worked on our Rising Rock Stars lesson from 1+1+1=1.  This week we were working on the letter "C" and our verse was "Children Obey Your Parents" (Trust me, we reviewed that verse a LOT  HA!)

 We also worked through a few of the Resurrection Eggs.  I will admit, I should have remembered that I bought these and had them downstairs well over a week ago but I didn't.  I will be adding notes to my Easter plans for next year so I that I DO remember because the boys really enjoyed them.

 I found two awesome preschool books at Micheal's last week and have started incorporating some of the pages into our daily lessons.  Nate was busy working on some counting in this picture.

Josh is really getting great at cutting AND cutting on the lines.  This is hard for the little perfectionist.

Now, we got to the end of Monday's lesson but . . the boys turned the blank page in their binder and saw Tuesday's lesson so they just kept going. (I heard, "Mom, just one more page, just one more!!")  My error - next time I will only put one day at a time in the binder.

On Tuesday, we took a field trip with our Homeschool Group to see the butterflies at a local Garden/Sculpture park. 

 Lets keep it real.  The place was packed.  Josh doesn't like busy, new, loud, spaces so Darryl got dragged through the Butterfly section while I let Nate wonder through and see everything he wanted to see.  We lasted about 30 minutes with the butterflies and then Josh dragged us outside.  I think he needed the wide open space to clear his senses :-)

The boys ran and ran and ran outside around the sculptures before we managed to get a few photos.  It was a fun day, really, especially since we ended with lunch at our favorite Mexican Place  - The Beltline Bar :-)

Wednesday both boys had Dentist appointments so that took up our morning. They both got perfect reports - no cavities and they both were perfect in the chair.  We have a fabulous dentist which helps a lot!

The boys got out the dot-to-dot paints, though, and we made Easter pictures - can you see the cross?? 
Oh, and we made our first trip to Dairy Queen for the season.  YUM!  It was so cute -when we got there I asked Josh what he wanted, he told me a Hot Dog.  That was it.  Well, he knows his mind so I figured, if needed, I would get him a small fry after the fact.  Well, as he finished his hot dog he said, "Mom, now I want my ice cream, that is why I only wanted a hot dog" hahahaha   He remembered that he gets a small cone with his meal and did NOT want to fill up on the real food :-)

On Thursday, we went to the church so I could practice a song before heading to the grocery store and going out to lunch.  Needless to say, that was our day HA!  But, the boys asked for their binders so they could work on more pages.

One of the sections we were working on were these great "Just Color" pages from 1+1+1=1.  They boys loved coloring all of the different pictures related to Easter.

Friday was a beautiful day.  The boys played outside ALL afternoon.

They got the gator out and decided to take a trip to the "park" so they managed to load that gator up with just about every toy - even holding things on their lap.  You can't see it in the photo but they even built a "campfire" out of old sunflower stems.  Imagination is the best teacher, is it not?  I have to say, I am so thankful that my brother and sister-in-law gave us this gator AND that my dad did a lot of work to get it running perfectly.  My nephews played with it when they were younger but outgrew it.  It is such a wonderful gift and my boys LOVE it. 

We really had a great week.  I'm reminded that "preschool" isn't just work book pages and lesson plans but learning how to live every day life, getting to experience new things, and yes, just getting to play.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter - may you take time to celebrate the reason for this holiday - the fact that Jesus IS Risen for each of us!

Goals for April

Check out the progress in March HERE

Here are April's Goals:

Home
1. Get an estimate on doing the kitchen Floors so I can save for it - we know what we want to do, just need to price it out- I have the estimate; now to save to get it done this summer
2. Get an estimate on doing the kitchen counters so I can save for it. - again, I know what we want to do, I just need to double check the price. Again, I have the estimate, hoping to also do this during the summer too
3. Purchase the first 3 gallons of paint for the house so we can start painting - we already know the color, etc., just need to purchase and start painting.I will be picking this up in May - April was very cold so there was no painting happening anyway :-)


Kids
1. Continue the Diaper boy challenge - no comment. Success !!!  Josh is almost 100% trained and Nate is about 50 %
2. Complete Lessons with the boys - the goal in April is to do D, E, F, and G.We completed lessons D, E and F :-)
3. We want to start taking walks! Hopefully the weather cooperates We actually got a few walks in amazingly enough!
4. Make one thing related to the birthday board I have a Too Cute idea to make but just haven't had the chance to make it yet .
5. Chore Chart I let this slide this month - we jumped into the potty training thing and I only want to "push" one thing at a time.
6. Begin taking the boys to the Library on Wednesdays- the plan is to go every other Wednesday, when Darryl has practice. We started this on the last Wednesday of April :-)
7. So confession is good for the soul, right?  I said I set up Nate's savings account last month - we'll  I MEANT to, but our scheduled changed so the day I planned to do it,well, we were busy.  So I want to do that this month and also make a small contribution to each of the boys accounts.Confession is still good for the soul - this isn't done yet.

Me
1. Scrapbooking - My goals this month are to: A) Finish 2012 - I'm trying to do a two page spread every single day.  All that I have left is December so this is doable!   B) Put memorabilia in 2008 album - the albums have been done for well over a year but I have a whole envelope full of stuff that I need to add or throw out. C)Stick all pages in the 2009 Album- thanks to a sale I was able to order the last pages digitally for 2009.  D) Stick the pages in the boys baby books and finish them up -  it will take me a total of like an hour to do this project E) Do Josh's monthly pages for his second year.  Yes, lots of projects but other than the 2012 project - the rest are only 1-2 hour projects total.Got a few things done but need to do more!
2.Work on my step level - I've slacked off on this but want to pick it back up now that (hopefully) we can walk outside more. 
3. Read a book on my topic study
4. Learn to play 1 piano song
5.  Maybe this will be the month I go on a snack strike :-)
6. Get a radio for the kitchen - I have an idea how I can do this for free! I remembered our little Short Wave Radio that Darryl has had for YEARS . So I put in new batteries and it is now sitting in the kitchen.  I will say, that I just saw an under the cabinet Radio, CD player for only $34.00 - I'd love that so I can practice Soundtracks for church while in the kitchen so I might still upgrade :-)
7.  Last month I did my feet; this month, I'm working on my hands (and trying to keep up with my feet!) Both are done - it's kinda nice to have them painted again :-)

Marriage
1. Dental Insurance
2. Begin "A Word da Day"
3. Have a movie night with the hubs
4. Plan May's budget before May 1st
5. Pay $25.00 towards the balance on our truck
6. Subscribe to the sentinel
7. Get our Will done - we found out about an organization through a college where we can get this done. 

Travel
1. Reserve the hotel for our family vacation in June
2. Go through camping stuff and make a list of what we need

Crafts/decor Photography
1. read "How to Photograph your baby and do it
2. Make a list of 100 things about me
3. Make Nate's John Deere Blanket
4. Do Pinterest and Too Cute Projects
5. Find racks to hold current Scrapbooks in the living room (a pinterest idea, actually)

Organization
1. Finish the basement
2. Organize manuals into three ring binders
3.Organize our tax documents into a file box
4. Organize DVD's - need to order system from Amazon
5. Get racks to hang under the cabinets in the kitchen to store recipe binders

Holidays
1. Plan one family fun activity to do in May

Food Friday - Cherry Turnovers

Cherry Turnovers
Adapted from Lemon Sugar

There isn't a whole lot to say about these sweet, breakfast treats except they are fantastic.  Wow.  

Ingredients

• 2 cans store-bought crescent rolls
• 1-1.5 cups cherry pie filling
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 2 Tablespoons heavy cream (or milk or half & half)
  
  
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
  

 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to temperature specified on crescent roll package. (Ours was 375 degrees F).
2. Prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat.
3. Unroll the crescent roll dough and separate the triangles.
4. Place a heaping tablespoon or so of cherry pie filling at the wide end of each crescent roll, and gently roll it up.
5. Place on baking sheet, and bake according to package directions, 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
6. While baking, prepare the glaze.
7. Combine confectioners sugar, cream and vanilla in a small bowl and whisk until smooth.
8. The glaze should be thin enough to coat and run off a spoon, so add more sugar or liquid as needed to achieve desired consistency.
9. Generously pour glaze over hot rolls, and enjoy warm