Family Fun - Fourth of July

We had a lot of fun for the Fourth of July this year.  Between our own family fun and heading to my Mother-In-Laws for the actual Fourth - it was just a fun time all the way around.

For the first time ever, we purchased some Fireworks for the boys.  I went with some of my all time favorites that I remember as a kid - Pop-its, Smoke Bombs, Snakes and Sparklers.  

 I'm not sure who had more fun with the fireworks - the boys or Darryl!  We ended up doing fireworks for the entire week after the Fourth of July too.  The boys love them and may or may not have a new interest in Fire :-/ 

 As is our tradition, we went to sit outside on our front deck to watch the fireworks.  Well, the mosquitoes had a different idea - they were awful!  So bad in fact . . . . . 

That Darryl got the truck, parked in the front yard and we all sat inside the truck watching the fireworks! 

On Saturday, the Fourth, we loaded up and spent the day at my Mother-in-Laws house at the lake.  The boys had the opportunity to play with their cousins on that side of the family including several that they had never met.  (Technically they are "step" cousins but they are still cousins!)

 One of the best part of the day for the boys was the swimming.  My in-laws live on a lake so the boys spent a good portion of the day in the lake enjoying their life jackets :-)  They also had multiple rides on the boat and got to go with their Uncle and Cousins to feed their pigs, twice. 

We ended the night taking the boat out on the lake to watch the fireworks.  They were amazing.  About 4-5 residents set off their own fireworks and put on quite the show.  Probably the best firework show I've ever seen!

The boys were sound asleep within about 2 minutes of heading home so that means . . .it was a great day!

Weekly Menu - A Normal Week

What is normal?  I'm not sure but we will call this a normal week.  We are home from camping; have no plans; and will just be home for the most part.  I actually cooked more last week than planned in order to keep our eating out budget from eating up our "need to pay bills" money HA! Along with that, we are on a self imposed "spending freeze" in order to get caught up and, maybe slightly ahead before August hits.  I've tried to budget out a few things like a trip to the huge Ionia Free Fair so there will be much more eating at home over the next two weeks!

So here is the plan for this coming week:

Saturday -Homemade Chicken Alfredo Pizza and Salad

Sunday - Crock Pot Smothered Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Broccoli and Rolls

Monday - Honey Shrimp, Rice, Veggies, and Rolls.  We didn't end up eating this last week so we'll have it this week!

Tuesday -Baked Rigatoni, Salad and Garlic Bread. 

Wednesday : Burgers and Fries

Thursday - Darryl has a doctors appointment and Physical Therapy so he gets home late. The Boys and I will have breakfast for dinner - I want to try a new recipe for Sausage Crescent Bites but will also have Frozen Waffles for the boys, Hashbrowns, and maybe some fruit.

Friday - Tacos! 

Getting Back on the Wagon - Scrapbooking

I am busily working on the basement clean out and making great progress, if I say so myself.  As is always the case, it is never as bad as the walkway into the basement makes it look.  In other words, stuff tends to pile up right at the entrance - I cleaned that out first and thought, "wow, I'm almost done!".  I'm still taking the time to clean out every single bin, though, in order to cut down on what is really being stored, and setting it up in a way that it will function well.

The other huge project that I'm very behind on is our family memories or, scrapbooking.  When the original Creative Memories closed two years ago, I lost all momentum because all of my supplies were form Creative Memories.  I love their albums and pages.  I have tried to find a new source - an easier and less expensive source to work with and because of that, my photos have just sat.  Money is really, always a tough thing to budget when it comes to this hobby so I'm having to find a way to catch up without spending much. 

I would really like to be back to the point of working on the previous months photos in the current month and yes, I was there once - for almost a whole year I was at that point!  To do that, I have to work two ways.  One, I have to start in August with working on this months photos.  The best way to get current is to work on current stuff.  I know it sounds odd but it is true.  The second thing, is to do what I've started to do 100 times before, go back to the beginning and make sure that scrapbooks are complete; finish up pages; and move to the next album.  I have a couple of years, yes, years, worth of digital pages that are done and ready to print.  I have to start printing or print the photos and make regular photos - it might actually be less expensive to recreate each page then to print the hundreds of pages I have to print.

Here's my overall goals by December:
1) By the end of December I will have July-November 2015 pages completed. 
2) By the end of December I will have gone through and completed every album that is currently on the shelf.  This includes page protectors (which I can get from Hobby Lobby for next to nothing when they are on sale)
3) By the end of December I will have started the process of getting those two years of digital pages into books.  Ultimately, I'd like to do one month . . a month.  Printing or recreating - but that would mean by December I would have 5 months done. 
4) By the end of December I will decide how to conquer 2016 photos - I'm throwing around the idea of trying Snapfish books.  I could then sit at night at the computer and create pages each time I have photos.  Then print the book every . . .3 months or 4 months?  I've even considered this idea for those digital pages - plugging them into a book and printing. 

So, time to get moving on this project!

What We Are Eating - Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak

Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak
 adapted from Sidetracked Sarah 

At the beginning of the summer I mentioned that I wanted my crock pot to become my best friend this summer to help keep the kitchen cooler.  I've also wanted to try a recipe for a Salisbury Steak for awhile so this seemed the perfect fit and, guess what?  It was!  Talk about comfort food at its finest.  The flavor was perfect and the gravy was rich.  I think if I were to do one thing differently next time it would be to go with ground sirloin instead of ground chuck just to cut down the grease in the gravy.  In reality because of all of the seasoning in the meat itself, I might even try ground pork since it is super lean.  This would also be a fabulous Sunday-after-church meal because it only needs to cook for about 5 hours so I can throw it in the crock when I get up in the morning and it would be done by the time we got home and made biscuits ;-)  

• 2 Pounds lean ground beef
• 1 Envelope of Onion Soup Mix
• 1/2 Cup Italian Bread Crumbs (can use crushed crackers if you prefer)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 Cup milk
•  Flour (enough to dip your patties into)
• 2 Cans cream of mushroom soup (or use cream of chicken, like I did)
• 1 Package Au Jus mix

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together beef, onion  soup mix, bread crumbs, egg, and milk.
2. Form beef mixture into 8 patties.
3. Dredge the patties in flour to coat
4. Brown the patties on both sides (You don’t have to fully cook them if you don’t want to since they’ll be cooking for 4 or more hours in the slow cooker, too)
5. Place the browned patties into the slow cooker, layering them if you need to
6. In a medium bowl, prepare the Au Juis mixture according to package instructions.
7. Mix in both cans of cream soup
8. Pour the mixture over the patties.
9. Cook on LOW for 4 to 6 hours, or until beef is done.

 

Teaching Tuesdays - Making a Change

Over the past two weeks we've made some decisions that will impact how we will do school this fall.  Yes, we are still homeschooling but, I've done some chatting with a few friends about another option.



                                                                                                  Connections Academy is a homeschool option that allows the parent to be the lead at home but the curriculum is planned and provided by the academy.  Each family also has the opportunity to get a desktop computer to use along with a few other benefits as well.  I've been busy over the past week gathering the required documentation and filling out the on-line application. 

This was a slightly difficult decision for me because I was excited about the curriculum that I had picked out for the boys this fall and was looking forward to planning out our year as well as executing all of our activities.  I also was concerned about losing the control, and therefore freedom, to plan our "year" and our weekly schedule.  I was concerned that I would be tied into a regiment that would be difficult to follow.  Darryl, on the other hand, loved this idea from the beginning because it is all planned out; grades are kept and testing is required each year.  He viewed it as the perfect blend of both worlds - teaching at home but with everything else planned for us. 

So, why the change?  One main reason.  The Cost.  The cost is totally 100% free.  Everything is provided from that computer to the textbooks and work books.  Due to some unplanned financial things this year such as a root canal for Darryl, car repairs and more, I have been unable to put away the funds I had planned to purchase books for the fall and was starting to feel the "stress" of needing to get things ordered.  I was praying about what we would do when I heard a commercial for the Academy and remembered two friends who used this option.  I spent a few days asking them lots of questions via messages and they calmed every single concern I had and, on top of that, raved about the program, the teachers, and the overall layout. 

What Now?  I'm waiting for our paperwork to be approved and to hear that we got in - the academy takes a certain number of students each year so I'm hopeful that we will get in since we are applying fairly early for the fall.  I'm 100% on board with this idea despite my initial concerns and am actually excited to NOT have to do all of the extensive planning for K-5 and 1st grade.  I was also encouraged when Josh took the placement test for first grade and got 100% on the math portion and 96% on the Language Arts which proved to me (not that I needed it) that he is where he needs to be at this point.  This commitment is for one year.  We'll try it this year and see how it goes.  If I don't love it; if the boys don't excel with it then we will evaluate what to do next year.  Ultimalty though, we are still homeschooling - just using a different format. 

Make It Monday - Tornados

My boys have become enthralled with tornado's over the last few weeks.  They actually got to see the aftermath of a tornado that struck not far from our house which has heightened their interest.  We get all kinds of questions from "Where do we go if there is a tornado on the "big road"?" to "Where do you go if a house doesn't have a basement or a bathroom or a middle of the house?"  We've talked alot about how a tornado is formed and watched videos on You Tube about all kinds of storms.  So, this past weekend we also made this:

Yep, the classic "Tornado in a bottle".  All it takes is a couple of two liter bottles and some duct tape.  I added blue food coloring to the water for the effect but it isn't needed. 

To be honest, the boys were not that impressed.  It took about two times of making the "tornado" before they walked away.  Oh well, at least we tried!

Things My Kids Say

It's been awhile - maybe my kids have been quite lately or maybe they just aren't as funny (or maybe I forget to write things down!).  What ever it is  - here's a few gems from recent weeks.

* Recently, the boys and I were driving into town and it was raining.  Nate says, "I wish we lived with Papa and Nana that way Papa could drive."  I asked him why and he said, "Because Papa can drive in anything and never stops even when it is raining hard.".  This stems from one time several years ago when, on the way home from my parents, I had to stop on the expressway due to severe weather.  Well, I was tired of hearing that "Mom can't drive in the rain" so I told them the truth - the reason I had to stop was because we were actually in the middle of a tornado so all of the cars had stopped on the expressway - I had no choice but to stop.  (For real - the tornado went above us and touched down on the other side of the expressway)  I figured this would nip that story in the bud.  NOPE!  Josh states, "Well, if Papa had been driving, he would have just driven right out of that tornado!!". 

* The boys were discussing their future jobs.  Josh wants to be a State Police and has stated that he will tell his boss that he cannot work Saturday and Sundays.  Nate is going to be a City Police and said he will never work Sundays because he loves church too much AND he will tell his boss that he won't work on rainy days.  They won't be as busy anyway and won't need as many people.  HA!

* Nate has decided that he also wants to be a storm chaser; and on days he isn't working, he'll be a father.  hahaha